BUON NATALE

Hi everyone Merry Christmas or as the Italians say BUON NATALE.

As we celebrate the birth of Christ may His love pervade our hearts that we see the true meaning of why he came today .

Love you all.

CIAO.

THANKFUL

 

Hi there, its a new month tomorrow and the last month of the year.Thank God for bringing us thus far and i must say we have a lot of things to be grateful for,i read a quote on someone's blog today and it got me thinking.

• Be grateful for what you have now…What you have now, some people are earnestly praying for…be grateful for it…Rather than focus on or whine about what you don’t have, thank God in advance for things to come, and see what He would do….

This led me to think of all the thing which the Lord has done for me this year,from the miraculous way in which i obtained my visa,to my having a new addition to my family(I have a nephew,cute little boy) and of course the mum(my sister’s) safe delivery,my brother bagging awards in his university,the health and well being of my entire family,down to the so little things as God answering some very funny and frivolous prayers i ask Him.

I might not have all i want,but He is all i need,and so just after reading that i did exactly what it said.

Sunday was Thanksgiving in my church here in Milan,was very awesome.

Earlier that morning i had received a call from Nigeria about the death of a friend and the leader of my departmental group in church,i was shocked cause she had  called me when i was in the hospital and i had just sent a message to her inbox on Facebook the night before,it felt like a joke,i kept telling myself she would see the message and reply.She was buried today.

The Bible says ‘In all things give thanks’.That's what i did.

Decided to lift my gloom,so browsed the web for jokes and funny pictures,hope they are to your liking.

And this is my favourite

Have blessed month

CIAO

IT IS WELL

19th November

It’s the day of the surgery,the night before,a male nurse had come in to take my vitals,he knew i was slated for surgery the following day and had asked if i was afraid,to which i answered no,he seemed kind of taken aback,i think he did not believe me,but the truth of the matter was that truly i was not scared.The surgeon had told me the surgery was for 12 noon and that it would be a 45 minute surgery.

9.50am

A surgical assistant enters into my room with a gurney and a green surgical gown(i can’t remember what its called again) and tells me get changed and that i was going in for the surgery,l was wheeled to the surgical unit and had to be prepped before being taken into the operating room,all this while someone would come and ask how i was and when i said fine,the next question would be are you scared to which i would say no.Counted seven medical personnel in the operating room  including the surgeon and anaesthesiologist.I had made up my mind that i would know the exact time i went under and i think i was lucky cause i was facing a clock,i went under at 10.15 am.

11.35am

Coming out of a very deep slumber,looked at the clock,was no longer in the operating room,thank God i made it.Wheeled back to my room and then tried to rest.My roommate, a very old Italian lady  was happy to have me back.She does not speak a word of English and though her children have told her repeatedly that i don't understand Italian,she always has something to say to me,and i try to decipher what it is she is trying to say.

Being sick and far from home is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone,i am normally a mummy’s pet,but this time i had to be strong on my own.I have only been in Italy for 5 months and the little friends i had made were very supportive,from the people who live in my building to my course mates and most especially my church members everyone was so supportive.

As i go home to await the result of the surgery,i lean on God’s hand,as i said before ,i had been in the medical profession before leaving Nigeria and i have a clear understanding of what it is my doctors are looking for,but i will not let that faze me cause i know whom i have believed in.God is my healer.

CIAO  

P.S.-One of the things i enjoyed about my stay in the hospital was the lovely view from my room window,took the the pictures with my phone,at night it is so beautiful,wonder why i don’t have pictures.

  

 

PEACE

18th of November

Still at the hospital,it’s 10.50am,the doctors just left after making their rounds,i  am scheduled for a minor surgery tomorrow to take out a lymph node to analyse.That will be the second time i am going under,i have never been admitted into a hospital all my life and this one time i have ,it seems the hospital wants to take all it can from me,well i won’t complain as long as i get better.

My day is usually boring,mostly lying down and reading a novel,i ran out novels to read until i got my laptop yesterday,now i have a good companion.

Being sick is not nice, but being sick in a foreign language is worse,notice i did not say in a foreign land,right from the point at which the ambulance came to pick me i had to have an interpreter,when i got to the hospital they had to look for doctors who speak English for me,i have like about five doctors on my case but i can tell you with all certainty that only two speak English fluently,meaning that they speak so well that they also know the medical terms in English.

I move around the ward sometimes and try to get a look at other patients,some are strong enough to move around like me,some are permanently confined to their hospital bed,one in particular  is always crying and wailing i think from pain,i remember talking with a friend when i was back home in Nigeria and he had jokingly said that he prays to just be sick for a day or two so he could call in sick at work and then i had told him then that being healthy is a blessing,we should never take our good health for granted.

I am in the Unit of Medicine in the hospital and with all the test i have been through and yet no definitive diagnosis,i can’t help feeling that i am in a scene from HOUSE,but i think my friends who have visited would prefer a scene from ER or GREY’S ANATOMY cause all my female friends are always asking if there are any hot and sexy male doctors,as if i would notice,i just want to get well and get out.

I hope it happens soon.

Time 15.54

The surgeon and the anaesthesiologist just left,came to assess me for the surgery tomorrow,its funny you know,i just have peace,through out all the test and exams including this proposed surgery, i have not worried or imagined the worst which is quite unlike me,my sense of imagination can travel places,you need to be inside my mind to see where it goes at times.I just have this sense of peace,i don’t know what the future holds but i know my life is in His hands and all things are working together for my good.

FINALLY MY LAPTOP

Wednesday 17th November.

It’s been 11days and i am finally getting my hands on my laptop.I was rushed to the hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning 7th November with acute chest pain and shortness of breath.I had not been feeling well for sometime and i put it down to my not being used to the cold weather,had not been able to sleep most nights because of the pain.I had told my roommate the day before that she would have to take me to the hospital the following day,which she agreed to,she had then gone out and returned sometime around twelve midnight only to meet me wide awake and in pain,there was no other option than to call for the ambulance that night.

I have been at the hospital for 11 days,been through three roommates and the doctors still don’t know what is wrong with me,i have done all types of tests and its not particularly easy for someone like me who was in the medical profession before coming here to have a knowledge of the said test and the expected diagnosis.I have cried times without number,trying to understand why this should be happening to me.My colleagues are busy studying and i am stuck here in the hospital until they can figure out what is wrong with me.I had been advised to ask that i leave while they await some test result,but i say that i would rather spend time here no matter how boring than go home and have the pain return,which has actually happened here in the hospital.The pain had actually ceased for about four days only for it to return,i am basically living on analgesics here.

I thought there would be Wi-fi here at the hospital since its actually a teaching hospital and a university campus,but it seems not to be the case,however i will try to chronicle my stay here till i leave.God  willing i believe i will come out of this better.

CIAO

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ?

Hi everyone,its been long since i last blogged,just got back from a two week stay at the hospital,was rushed to the hospital in the early hours of Sunday 7th November with acute chest pain and difficulty breathing.First time being admitted in one,been healthy all my life except for the occasional malaria.
I went through a series of test and exams,had a surgery and still the doctors are yet to diagnose my problem,i am home now awaiting the result of the surgery.
Got a hold of my laptop the last three days of my stay in the hospital,so was just able to write a bit.Will post my writing later.Its just so good to be back.
CIAO

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

Sometimes in life,the good,bad and the ugly seem to happen all at once,you think all has fallen into place ,you think I am finally at peace,but just when you are just laying down your head to rest,something just happens,yes you are happy but at the same time you have to worry about something else.

I have been at such place a lot of times in my life,but one thing which has kept me through is the title of today’s blog,every little opportunity i get,i just scribble it on any piece of paper i see around,if you get into my room now,its on every free piece of paper,i even have it as the wallpaper on my phone,just to remind me that i am not in this alone,that He will carry me through it all.

The good being i now have a job,the bad being that i have not been to work for some days because i have no been feeling too well and the ugly being that the weather here is just not agreeing with me,my chest hurts and breathing is difficult,all these happening all at once.I  do know one thing though He is the shepherd and i am His sheep

IT’S NOT FUNNY

I just got off my facebook page and i must say, i am really really really pissed,what is the problem you might ask,well while moving around,i decided to go to my cousin’s wall,you see he has this video of a lady Rita, by name, that was in the KOKO MANSION reality show,this video which i believe a lot of Nigerians have seen,shows when she was being asked a question and her response,if you have watched it, you would know, that was no response, but words just plucked and strung together with no sensible meaning to make a sentence.My kid sister had told me about it last year,but i had not seen the video,i finally got to see it when i moved to Milan,to say i was disgusted would be making light of my reaction that day,i kind of forgot about it till i came across it on my cousin’s wall,i just decided to read the few comment people had made about it and that was when i got really pissed,in generality they all found it funny,don’t get me wrong i enjoy a funny joke and laugh at all things funny but at times we should draw the line on what is funny and what is embarrassing.

I am made to understand that she is an undergraduate, meaning she has gone through primary and secondary education and still cannot string her words correctly,do we realise that thinking that this is funny we actually let people who are not Nigerians thinks this is how we all are.Just before you say i am self conceited let me just tell of an experience i had on my third day in Milan.

I had just arrived and was trying get my paper work done and trying to register at school and as you know Italians don’t speak English,so when you see someone who speaks it,it’s like a life line has been thrown out to you.I needed to get a phone and a phone line quickly,so i was directed by the school where to buy both,on getting there ,i was browsing through their collection and trying to make a decision, at the same time wondering how i would communicate to the shop assistant when i finally make it,out of the corner of my eyes i noticed a young African guy and his white friend staring at me.I  am used to such things so was non pulsed,the African walked up and asked if i was from Senegal which i answered no(once you are above 6ft and you are black you must be from Senegal,that’s the way it is in Milan).He told me he is from Ghana and i was like thank God one English speaking brother,he has lived in Milan most of his life so he knows the language,so he basically turned to my interpreter ,as the shop assistants were trying to get my order,we got talking about a lot of things,then out of the blues he just dropped a bombshell ‘You know you speak good English for a Nigerian’ and I'm like, what did you say? he then went on to tell me about meeting and knowing Nigerian that don’t speak English  very well and that basically all we speak is pidgin.I then took my time to educate him that Nigerian speak good English but that to majority of us the pidgin English is like a melting pot as Nigeria is a very large and diverse nation with a lot of languages,the pidgin kind of brings everything together,i also him told that i was not the exception but the rule,i said as long as you have gone through primary and secondary education then you should speak  English well.

You can then imagine my horror and disgust when i came across the said video and some of us find it funny,really should we? Have we gotten to the stage as a nation where an undergraduate speaks like that and we find it funny instead of being embarrassed and this video i believe was shown on international TV,we should learn how to project positive things about our country,don’t allow others think it is only those that school abroad that speak well and i am not talking about having an American or British accent.My point is we really need to re-evaluate the things we let out as a nation to the outside world and most importantly the things we should take a positive stand on.

There i have said my mind maybe i can now calm down.

That’s a first,two post in one day.See you later

CIAO

THE HAND OF GOD

As I sit down in my room,facing my laptop and shedding tears(i seem to be doing that a lot since i moved to Milan) I ask myself,girl what is wrong with you.My family tell me i cry at the slightest thing,notice i did not say provocation,but i would say i see myself as the girl who is hardly touched by emotion,what others would normally jump up about,i would just say ‘Ok what’s next.But maybe there is some truth in what they say or maybe i have a dual personality,but why was i crying.

I believe you must have been following the story of the Chilean miners who had been trapped underground when their mine collapsed ,I first came across the story when they just found out they were still alive,and then i read that they might be in there up till the Christmas season,normally the first thing that came to my mind was how would i feel if i was one of them in there and secondly if i was a close family member.Then I read they were drilling a tunnel to get to them ,at this point i decided i was not going to follow the story anymore,reason being that i was getting too attached to it and having watched so many American movies  in which some rescue attempts have not ended so well,i just wanted to save myself the emotional stress.That was not going to happen as long as I switched on my laptop and logged on to the internet,I just seemed to run into the story,so i would say i was unconsciously following the story by just reading the headlines.Then I saw the headline that the digging had been completed and they were putting a shaft in to try in get them out by Wednesday (usually i am very thorough when i talk about something but you can see from my bad reporting that i was really trying not to follow the story) I was like thank God. Now comes the hard part,you know the part in films where the rescue is going on fine and then something just goes wrong and someone dies,yes that part,well i just said a short prayer for them and really did not think about it.

I said I was not going to read about it again,till I could see they were all out safely,but alas I logged on and there was this headline on yahoo news ’CHILEAN MINERS TASTE FREEDOM AFTER MONTHS IN HELL’,I quickly clicked on it to read,as i entered the site, a link came up ‘click to watch video’ I said to myself,girl you don’t need to cry now so don’t watch just read,half way through reading I was in tears  and that brings me to the topic of today’s blog.

A particular miner after being pulled out made a statement ‘I have been with God and with the devil.I fought between the two.I seized the hand of God,it was the best hand.I always knew God would get us out of there’ This is from Yahoo News UK&IRELAND.Those words set me off,God’s hand is the best,when it seems that all is lost ,when it seems that you can’t just move forward or back,when you are in that dark tunnel,when it seems that help is so far away,when it seems that your existence is in the hands of mere mortals,when your mind rages with thoughts of ‘what if’,when you are not sure of what the next day brings,when you just can’t hold on much longer,when you have two hands reaching out to you,one says give up,after all, what good will it do if you hope and the other says ,what good will it do if you do.

Faith and hope are what keeps and oils us in our trying times,but most importantly it is who we decide to put our trust in and total dependence on that guides us through those times,that miner could have chosen the path of least resistance and given up instead he chose the part of hope and faith in God,10 weeks underground is no joke,a lot of sneaky thoughts will enter your mind and you start to question the very existence of everything,I cried because God was speaking to me,NO SITUATION IS TOO HARD TO FIX.When i remember how their story started and the doubts i had for them,i just thank God that someone in there decided to seize the right hand and i intend to do just that.

SEIZE THE RIGHT HAND’THE HAND OF GOD’

CIAO

INDEPENDENCE

Yesterday was Nigeria’s Independence and though i am not presently in Nigeria,i would say i was kept informed of all the activities that would take place that day via blogs and other forms of the media.I thought the Nigerian Embassy here would do something but nothing like that featured on the website,so the few Nigerians I know here just resorted to wishing ourselves Happy Independence.

I came home and just decided to browse a little,lo and behold,a bomb blast in Abuja and rumours of clashes in the north,i quickly called my kid sister who is schooling there,she had not heard about the bomb blast or the rumours,so i just told her to be careful,sent a message to my cousin resident in Abuja asking if he was alright and then just prayed for their safety and those of fellow Nigerians.Later at night my mum called to wish me Happy Independence,i don’t think i replied to that,because the next thing i asked was about the blast.This was her reply ‘My dear,it was a nice celebration the devil just wanted to spoil it for us’,that kind of shut me up,which brings me to the crux of this post,why are we Nigerian’s so negative about our country especially if i dear to say ,those in the Diaspora,we seem to think that leaving our country to the white man’s land gives us some utopian power and thus we can just say anything,who knows i might just be talking now because i just got here,i might turn into them after a long stay here, who knows ?

Nigeria is not where it should be,i agree, i don’t want to be abroad monitoring events in my country and calling to tell my kid sister to be careful because she has no internet or ways of getting information in her university campus up north,i don’t want to think of our bad health care,road security and all the problems that plague my country,no i don’t, but i will not be among those who will add a nail to a coffin that is already tightly closed,sad i should use that analogy,i would rather help to dig up that coffin and remove every nail inserted into it and free that living being that has been in there.

A being that has been held bound by corruption etc,that being carries within it great scholars,writers,poets,musicians,entrepreneurs,fashion designers,inventors and what have you,a being that knows to keep striving against all odds,that is Nigeria.

I will make my little contribution to representing my country well in this foreign land,Nigerian females do not have a good reputation in Italy but i chose to be different and so do other fellow Nigerian female student and workers i know,we need to take one step at a time and believe that we are capable of good things as a nation and as individuals,and that is my problem with all this bloggers ‘THEY DO NOT BELIEVE THAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF GOOD THINGS,’until you believe in yourself no one will believe in you.

Nigeria is a great nation,what has shaken some countries to their roots has occurred in Nigeria and we are still standing against all odds,to some we should have been forgotten history,but we are still here ,we’ll get there, but we should contribute positively to our great nation.Do your own good piece and i do mine and collectively all our pieces will come together to form a large piece.

As i leave you i wish all Nigerians Happy Belated Independence  CIAO

 

P.S. To all families who lost loved ones,may God give you the fortitude to bear the loss.

NOTHING IS ACHIEVED THROUGH VIOLENCE

NOT BLOGGING

I have not blogged for a really long time, classes have commenced and i really don't have enough spare time on my hands cause my pattern making class also commenced.At last i can now say that i am om my way to being a fashion stylist,i am really enjoying myself now,though its stressing i love it,these are the steps towards a destination.
I have a lot to write about , i started this blog to chronicle my life as a Nigerian female in Milan,i will try to do justice to that from now on,at least i will try to blog twice a week about the things,i have seen and events.
Milan fashion week has started and i am hoping for a free show as shows are strictly by invite,almost got into Frankie Morello's fashion show(as a dresser) but missed out because some vital information was, i would say 'lost in translation',all these people who claim to speak English but don't know zit caused me my first fashion job,well that is a story for another day.
We are now four Nigerians at my school,three ladies and a guy who just joined us this month,i am so happy, at least Nigerians are representing positively in my school.Got to go now,have pattern classes in the morning tomorrow.CIAO

CLASSES

School has started and I went for classes today,it was fashion drawing and I can tell that after a month of not doing any real drawing ,I was a bit skeptical of how my first drawing would be,well let me just say that this will be the first drawing I have sketched that my instuctor would ask me to repeat,can you imagine,holidays are not so good sometimes,but i expect to be back in my groove by my next drawing.
I think autumn is upon us,today was really quite cold and I decided to be a brave girl and not go out with my jacket or a sweater,will never try that again.Nigeria is a tropical country and even back home I get cold easily,so you can understand how i felt today,one of my mum's fear when I was leaving for Milan was how I was going to cope with the cold especially the winter,a friend told me he would never travel anywhere abroad during the winter season because for the period of time he was there he had a really massive headache and he was sure it was because of the weather.God will help me.Well, let me go practice my fashion drawing.CIAO

God is Faithful

I really did not want to write this post,but it is a burden in my heart and if you read it ,i would just want you to pray for them.

A couple in church had announced a few weeks back that they were pregnant and of course the whole church was happy and we praised God on their behalf,as weeks went by, we would ask on the progress of the pregnancy,everyone was happy for them.

Last week Sunday,i got to church,and i heard some whispering about the pregnancy,wasnt so sure what it was,but from what i could hear,i thought she had miscarried,not so.It turned out that the couple had gone for a check-up and they found out that the foetus had a developmental problem,the cranial cavity had no sealed up properly,thus the brain was developing outside of the skull,meaning that the foetus would grow in the womb but would not be able to survive outside,they were advised to terminate the pregnancy.

In their words to the church they said:

"As some of you already know,we found out last week that our baby has terminal complications.There is no chance for survival.Our counsel was for termination.We began to work down that path,but God has convicted our heart that this is not His way.We have decided to carry the baby until God takes him/her.We know this will not be easy,but we believe this is the right thing to do.

This child is not our own...it is God's.It is His life to take, not ours.Psalms 139:16,"Your eyes saw my substance,being yet unformed.And in your book,they all were written,the days fashioned for me,when as yet there were none of them".

We believe God has determined the number of days for our little baby from eternity past and it is not in our place to decide when that life should end even if the end result is the same.Please continue to pray for us as we grieve and walk through this time God has appointed for us."

This was a letter they wrote to the church.The only thing i can say is that i have been praying and i hope you do.CIAO

MY MONTH

This is September,my birthday month and the start of a new era for me.I have been leaning on the Lord through out the month of August and believing that He would answer my prayers and i know He will.Though sometimes i feel like things should happen in a certain way,you get to a point in your life when you know you have to totally trust Him ,things might not make sense and it looks like all hope is lost but i know to hold on a little while longer.
School has started and it is back to drawing class,also will be starting pattern making class,can't wait for that.This is the opportunity of a lifetime and i will not mess it up.
The road ahead is not so clear to me but i will take every step with the assurance that He who brought me here will see me through.I will get to my destination.CIAO

FOOD

I am particularly happy today,why?,well i had been telling a fellow country girl that i was sick and tired of eating only pasta and pizza,i mean i needed some variety,no scratch that,i needed to eat a Nigerian meal,lately i have been perceiving egusi soup wherever i go,i know that's my minds playing tricks on me cause i am the only Nigerian where i'm staying,a friend for home even made matters worse by saying he would e-mail the food to me,that was hitting below the belt.
Well my fellow country girl finally had mercy on me(she had refused at first saying i needed to blend into the new society,be open and learn new things-food,culture etc) and took me to a market,the name of the market is AFRICA,ASIA AND SUDAMERICA.It did not look like much from outside but once i stepped in it was like entering the gates of heaven,i mean i saw everything even UDA(a spice for pepper soup),i was just walking round the store like someone in a trance,garri,yam you name it,and the prices are cheap,i mean really cheap,i will be coming back to buy,this is my little Nigeria in Milan.
Egusi soup here i come.CIAO
P.S
I am perceiving OWO AND STARCH now.

My Name

You know when i was in the university in Nigeria,a lecturer told us the story of how he had been in the US in the early 70's for his undergraduate and master's programme,among the things that i found intresting was the issue about his name,of course he had an english name(as we normally call it)as a lot of our parents born during that era had due to the influence of the churches they wey born into,so you had names like Maria Uchechukwu Okoro or Peter Chukwunonso Agu(you get my drift),well my lecturer said he always introduced himself by his native name and this seemed to be a problem because the American's could not pronounce it well,it got to a point where they asked him if he could shorten but he told them no, that he had learnt how to pronounce theirs and so they should his.
I don't know how that worked for him but i sure know he had his name mis-pronounced a lot.I am not going to bore you with the different variations of which i have had my name being called and shortened,some have even abandoned calling me my first name and calling me the first part of my surname which is a compound name and the first part has just 3 letters.I have even had someone copy my name and gone home to study and then come back to pronounce it very close to the real thing.(was actually happy when i gave him a pass mark)at least he made the effort.
My is name is not that hard,i wish my name was CHIMAMANDA,KASARACHI or SOMTOCHUKWU, then i will really give them something to learn,i mean they would have to pronounce it all,well i will think of a very conc name and then change my name and see how that goes.CIAO

I'LL KEEP PRAYING

Hi there,you know i woke up thinking today is Thursday,thats what happens when you are indoors all through,you kind off miss count,well i was surfing the net and came across a group that had won a reality tv show back home,i remember following that particular season of the show and really wanting the particular group to win,i think what really endeared me to the group was a song they wrote and did a video of,as far as i was concerned they had won before the finale with that song,which of course they did.
The song if you listen to the lyrics goes to show the never dying spirit of the Nigerian,we have been through a lot as a nation yet we still have hope that it will be better,i mean i just left the country some months back and being where i am,i just wonder why can't we get our acts right and start to make things work for us,i mean it just takes discipline and dedication.
If you have noticed i have not critisized anyone or finger-pointed at those we normally blame,the reason being that enough of that has already been done and is still being done,i open some blog or online forum and you read comments from readers bad mouthing their own country as if the international media has not done that for us already,the truth is,if you do not have anything constructive to contribute then just shut up.
There are people in Nigeria striving to make it a great place to stay,i am here because i need to study and i have met people from other countries who can't just wait to finish the course and head back home to their country to start practicing,well i can't say i'm that enthusiastic what with the power supply,security and all ,but i do know one thing Nigeria is my home and i have to make it work,we will get there,i don't know when,but we will definitely get there.
That's the reason why i love the song from the group' THE PULSE'.It is called SOTE,i'll keep praying until Nigeria turns out to be good.CIAO

I LOOK TO YOU

I am at a place right now in my life where i can only look up to God,He alone is the Author and Finisher of my Faith(though at this point i would really want to write FATE)but God's word is complete,everything just seems to be happening at once but i know i will overcome at the end because' God is not a Man, that he should lie,nor the son of man,that He should change His mind.Does He speak and then not act?Does He promise and not fulfil'(Num 23:19).
I am rest assured that He will come through for me,i may cry,doubt,worry and become anxious sometimes, but it all comes back to my knowing that all these will not bring a solution,He feeds the sparrows how much less me,He will surely provide.He will be there right on time.I look to HIM.
CIAO

God help me

This is the first day of my holiday and i can tell you that i have done nothing but look at my computer all day,i am either watching a film on it,reading an ebook or just browsing mostly for recipes,this in no way looks like my well laid out plans of practicing my drawing techniques 'God help me'.
Yes, i was looking for recipes online because i have only been eating pasta and tomato sauce since i got here and it is getting boring,i am a little careful now about what i buy,initialy when i got here i would just buy anything that looked nice,trust me i had to throw a whole lot of them away or give them out because my tastebuds just did not agree with them.
I remember my second day in Italy, i went out to buy pizza and somehow forgot that i was at the pizza mecca, entered a pizza shop and saw about 20 different recipes,it didnt help that i did not speak the language, so i just chose one that the name looked familiar, like i had come across it in a book,i put it in my mouth and knew instantly that i was in serious trouble,but what could i do,the last meal i had was on board the aircraft,so i had to kind of will my taste buds not to work and just kept biting off,chewing,swallowing and quickly downing it with Sprite it was not funny,but a month and half later i actually love that particular pizza.
Went to DUOMO on Saturday around 10pm,don't have a camera yet so dont' have any pictures but it was nice,stayed for about an hour and then left for home,got in around 11:45pm,can you believe that,i have never been a night person but i hear it crawls up on you here,i can,t even think of doing that in my home country unless i have my own car,but here i used the Metro and its really quite safe.
My not having a camera is really dealing with me, i have really seen some weird things and would have really wanted to take shots of them,to some they have seen it all,but this is my first time abroad as a mature person and even though i have come across some of these in films they just seem weird when you see them for real,i mean i was behind this lady as we were exiting the Metro she had on a gown and i was thinking to myself what a nice gown with a nice dragon print on it,but when i did a double take i noticed she actually had on a halter gown and
that what i was actually looking at was her skin with a very large tattoo of a dragon ,it did not help that the gown was her skin colour so i did not immediately spot the difference ,THE THINGS I SEE HERE.GOD HELP ME CIAO

SCHOOL BREAK

It's official,the school has gone on break to resume in September,what am i going to do with myself till then,i am a little cash strapped so i can't go on a vacation like i hear everyother person in class is doing,well lets just say there is a time for everything.
Today is Saturday and my fellow country girl who is also student has asked that we go to DUOMO,hope i got the spelling right,the thing is that it's just a stone throw away from my school and i have passed it a lot of times on my way to buy stationary for class work so i don't really look at it,well maybe today i will be going as a tourist.
Been sick of late,i think it's malaria that did no clear before i left my home country,but i will deal with it.
Really need a job.God help me.
Lets talk about the country i stay.Well i am in Italy precisely Milan the Fashion Capital of the World(it really is ),i would love to say is a beautiful place and all things people say when they get to a place but i have not really moved around,just school,church and fashion shows,but the area where the church is really nice,it's called MILANO TRE it does not have noisy streets horns blaring and all the mayhem you will find in main city Milan,maybe this holiday i will devote my time to knowing my city of residence much better and give a more descriptive post.
You know everytime a friend of mine from home calls or i get an IM from my younger brother after asking how i am faring the next question is'Do you now have a boyfriend?'what is the hype all about,i mean you can be alone right?well thats a topic for another day.CIAO

Finally got back the internet at my apartment,you know i wrote on my facebook wall that 'God is always closer than we think,'but actually He is always close no matter what we are going through,even the slightest murmur He hears and He will answer right on time.
Went to church today and sang in the choir for the first time in like five years,it was nice to finally be behind the mic again,just have to learn their type of music,leading in praise and worship is a gift.
Will be back at school tomorrow,missed two days last week,that will never happen again,worrried myself sick so could not go to classes,but like i said God will make all things beautiful in His time.CIAO

Hi its been a long while,well i lost internet connectivity at my residence they have not been able to work on it since then.
Living in a foreign land where you don't understand the language,you sometimes miss things when communicating,for instance the fact that i thought i had paid my house rent for 2 months but only to realise that i had infact paid for 1 month and that the rest was caution fee was really scary considering the fact that i had gone more than half into the month before i was notified,also a fellow country girl had told me that they would use the police to evict me was not heart warming ,you just miss the saftey and comfort of your home land.
Like i said there are things you have to endure to reach your goal.
Enough of that,lets talks about why i am here,FASHION.It's been really hectic going to class and drawing,thats all i have being doing since i got here and i must say that i have really improved,i was so scared before i got here that i would not be able to draw much less design,but like i said i have really really improved thank to my teachers.
Well i'll stop here for now cause i have to go to class.see you later CIAO

My journey so far

It has not been easy,had to look for a place to stay,report to immigration,get finger-printed,take lectures and all these not knowing a word of Italian except 'Ciao',which can mean anything as far as i'm concerned,I dont want to talk about the food,some will say bush girl so you have never tasted Italian food before leaving Africa'No I Have Not',my local food was always enough for me,will have to learn now.

The start of a new season.These are the musings of a black girl living in Europe.Well you will ask if that is new,but you will have to consider that this is one girl who has to leave her country but doesn't want to,she is drawn by the comfort of every thing familiar as against going to a new place.
I read a novel by John Grisham:The Broker, where the main character was whisked off to Italy and had to learn the language,he complained that Europe was not as large as the US which had only one language,so you can imagine when you have 3 countries next to your country of residence all speaking different languages.
New here,dont know the language and i have to be here for the next 2 years,but if you look at what you hope to achieve,you will take the pain.
Hope to be a Fashion Designer so Milan is the place to study,no pain no gain.
Will be writing more of my experience as i go by.