Overdue

So my second week of classes is almost over. It’s a strange transition going from working for six months back to classes (and in Italy at that). I have much more “spare” time on my hands, but more things to actually do in that spare time. Classes are going well. My schedule changes nearly every day, so it’s hard to get into a routine of making lunches and dinners, etc., although I suppose I should be used to that after working in the hotel for 6 months.

Anyway, today I did laundry for the first time. I have heard some horror stories from people who have spent upwards of 4 hours in the laundromat attempting to get all their clothes clean, so I was a little worried going in as I had to get to class in a few hours, but I gathered up my dirty clothes along with a book and headed out. The laundromat is just up the street from my apartment, so it’s in a convenient location. Everything was going fine until I tried to put money into the machine. For some reason it was refusing to read my paper money and I only had €2.59 in coins on me, but a wash cost €3.00. I went out to a small grocery store nearby and asked (in somewhat broken Italian) if I could have change for a €5 bill. They refused. I checked with a few other places and received a similar response until, finally, I asked the owner of the café below my apartment who gladly exchanged the money with me. Getting that over with, I started my wash. Several minutes later, a couple of other people came into the laundromat and put their wash in as well. A wash is supposed to take about 25 minutes. By some magic the other people’s laundry finished first and they put their wash into the only two driers in the place, but I took solace in knowing that surely my clothes would be cleaner than theirs, having spent more time in the washing machine. My wash finished a few minutes later, leaving me to wait around for their load to finish before I could get my clothes dry (and by dry I mean slightly warm…Italian driers don’t seem to be very effective). Once my “drier” finished, I gathered up my clothes and brought them back to my apartment where I spread them all over the open areas in my room to give them a chance to actually dry. All-in-all it was a relatively smooth experience and I finally have clean clothes.