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Tons of stuff to set up, which is a combination of easy and fun and time consuming. It's the same moving stuff that would exist anywhere, plus the added level of complication that I'm in a culture where things are definitely not open 24 hours and I speak the language badly and I don't know many of the brand names. It's been weirdly hard to find mid-range stationery, and since I know I've found mid-range Italian stationery while outside of Italy, I suspect that either I'm looking in the wrong kind of store or that because these are small shops with limited space and it's back-to-school time, none of the stationery is on display right now because instead that space is being used for backpacks and binders.
Another example is that it took me until today to find the kind of chocolate bar I wanted, because I didn't know whether they were sold at cafes or tobacconists or vending machines or pharmacies or what. I found some at the supermarket, which required finding a supermarket rather than a fruit market, meat market, etc. There has to be another source for chocolate bars. Not that I'm not happy with the supermarket, but I'm mystified. I have however found a really good hot chocolate cafe that's right around the corner from me, FYI if you come visit.
The composition book I brought over to be my notebook was stolen (along with a bunch of other stuff; I'll write about it sometime) so I had to jump to a backup; specifically, I went from someone carrying around a generic composition book and The Martian to somebody carrying a Moleskine and short stories by Roberto Bolano, which obviously signals a different set of values, like the value of being pretentious and insufferable. (Never mind that I am someone who had in my suitcase a Moleskine and Bolano book. Private selves and public selves are not the same.) However, I discovered today that Moleskine is an Italian brand and the reason it's everywhere here is not the same as the reason it's everywhere in the States. Here it kind of is the generic composition book. So I feel a bit better about that.
Also I stole from Ciro and have already finished reading Americanah, which I liked very much even though its main character is a writer (as are the main characters of everything Bolano) and writers writing about writers, with the presumption that the readers are also writers or aspiring writers, is something I generally try to avoid. No helping it at the moment, I suppose.
Another example is that it took me until today to find the kind of chocolate bar I wanted, because I didn't know whether they were sold at cafes or tobacconists or vending machines or pharmacies or what. I found some at the supermarket, which required finding a supermarket rather than a fruit market, meat market, etc. There has to be another source for chocolate bars. Not that I'm not happy with the supermarket, but I'm mystified. I have however found a really good hot chocolate cafe that's right around the corner from me, FYI if you come visit.
The composition book I brought over to be my notebook was stolen (along with a bunch of other stuff; I'll write about it sometime) so I had to jump to a backup; specifically, I went from someone carrying around a generic composition book and The Martian to somebody carrying a Moleskine and short stories by Roberto Bolano, which obviously signals a different set of values, like the value of being pretentious and insufferable. (Never mind that I am someone who had in my suitcase a Moleskine and Bolano book. Private selves and public selves are not the same.) However, I discovered today that Moleskine is an Italian brand and the reason it's everywhere here is not the same as the reason it's everywhere in the States. Here it kind of is the generic composition book. So I feel a bit better about that.
Also I stole from Ciro and have already finished reading Americanah, which I liked very much even though its main character is a writer (as are the main characters of everything Bolano) and writers writing about writers, with the presumption that the readers are also writers or aspiring writers, is something I generally try to avoid. No helping it at the moment, I suppose.
