first week in Trieste, Italy

hey  all,

so I know it is the same day of which I wrote the first chapter, how ever I only got to the day of arriving to Italy and there is a week to catch up. this might be a longer one but I would really want to put every thing in written and to pass to you what I have experienced so far. so I hope you`ll find it interesting.


Aug 24th.

The Taxi driver from the airport was very nice, and surprisedly he knew english and was very kind to call the landlord to tell her that I`m on the way, and that she should meet me in the apartment. I gave the driver a note with the address and he said "no problem, 60 euro". it took about 40min until he stops next to building number 27, and I get of and paid him. I went to the door and was looking for the name "Fragiacomo" it was no where to be found in that place. I called the owner and told her that I`m down here, but she never came down.... I took about 15 min until I realized that the driver dropped me in the wrong street!!!!!! so, carrying a 18k duffle bag + luggage + suite + bag-pack I start to walk, and I found that it was a parallel street (still about 400m walk and then about 300m more up hill), I wanted to kill that driver.....



found the owner that was waiting for me outside, she could say on the that I`m on the wrong street but I realized pretty fast that she is not speaking english well, I can say that she speaks most defiantly she does not understand...


however, they took me to another place which was away up on the hill away from the center. got into a place with no internet not even from the neighbors. no supermarket, no coffee nothing was around. only old people that screamed all the time.

I have spent in this place that temporary place, was told everyday by the owner, tomorrow your apartment will be set. The thing was that they re did the shower and some of the kitchen in the apartment. very nice of them, but why not start earlier when you know that you have residents from abroad?


Never mind, it was the first morning in Italy (Aug 25th) , and the sun was shining, I went to the school to say hello and to try and get some more information about what`s going on, by this time I understood that most of the participants will not be around until the weekend before school starts (Sep 6th) and that I have plenty of time for my self; So, I have decided to take advantage of that time to know the city and to figure out all the important things around AKA busses, internet , phone and such. Getting to the school I have met the program manager Barbara that showed me around a bit, and Barbara Sepic that helped me with the permission of stay, right away I went to to find the post office to deal with bureaucracy in Italy, fun fun fun.

the city is very nice, and the bus system is very handy. once you figure out which number you need to take and where you want to go, nothing is in English not even the transportation web site. it took me about 3 days to find out that I should by the bass tickets in the Tabacchini (small tobacco stores) its been 10 days and I didn't, (almost got caught with out a ticket but was saved by the bell, that would have been cost me 50euro panelty.)


That day I was traveling around the city, finding out where things are happening and I have found out that actually no where, this is kinda of a ghost city. things are closed pretty early, they have a lunch break in restaurants, meaning that the restaurants are closing around 2pm until 4pm or something like that the schedule here is weird.

having no internet, I was reading my book which I highly recommend to you all (got it as a goodbye present from 888, thank you Ronna) the name of the book in La Sombra Del Viento (צלה של הרוח , A shadow of the Wind) by Carlos Ruiz Zaf`on. really good book that keeps you in tension the whole 450 pages.

Thursday, arrived and I have met Heather which will be taking the MBA with me and her boyfriend Nate that is living and working here. It was very nice to finally talk to someone after few days :) and having a great beer.


I have met in the school library where I have spent a lot of time because of internet access, there is no such thing as WiFi in coffee shops or restaurant anywhere around Trieste, I have met there couple of guys from Brazil that are doing a 3 month program in the school, i have joined them for a party in a city near by on Friday night. cool guys it was fun times.



Then it was Saturday Aug 28th and it is important to mention it not because that I do anything, actually I didn't do anything but it is the weather that is taking the leading part here. I woke up to the sound of rain the wind and I was shocked. the windows were slamming against the walls and things were flying in the air. I was looking for witch from Oz to arrive the wind was so strong. then I remembered that Heather was telling about this, it called "La Bora" , it is the famous wind of Triste that can get up to 180kph which is ridiculous fast and strong. I left home just to find out again that there is nothing close where I can buy food... and I was hungry.

First thing on Sunday I was looking around for an open store to buy food home, but then it hits me, it is europe and all the places are closed during sunday, everything, including most of the restaurants, I found my self wondering around scouting for food, finally found near Piazza d`Unita which is the main and biggest piazza of Trieste, a nice pasta place where I had my first pasta in Italy.  then I have spent that day walking around the piazza and looking at the amazing architecture that is around me.

Piazza D`Unita

I`ll make Monday short, but I will say that I have learned that even if the weather seems nice when you wake up, the sun is shinning the sky are blue it doesn't mean that it wont rain two hours after. once I got to the center of town to have lunch with Heather  the rain started to hit. I had to run to the supermarket and then wait for the bus while wearing shorts and T shirt. I was soaked and freezing cold by the time  I got home. but I have learned two important Trieste lessons; one - prepare your self in advanced to have food at home for sunday (which I didn't do the following week but that was because I have met Angus the New Zealander and went rock climbing with him on Saturday....again explain later). The second lesson is always have a jacket with you, the rain might come as fast as some thing that comes fast I don`t really have a metaphor for that.

by this time I had set my self with Internet and a local pre paid phone, the internet is pretty cool. It is by a company named Tre.it, its a internet hub with 300 hours per month for only 19Euro a month. seems to be a good deal but I will be able to comment on that in a couple of month from know, so far so good. Having Internet back did made my life much easier, this was back on Friday when I got it and I have started to look for Ultimate Frisbee people around here. I found this cool website which shows a map of Italy and have contact details of key players in each area, I have sent few emails hoping to get some respond. Sunday night and I get reply from a guys namds Bostjan, that he is from a city close by (40 min in a train) and he told me that my email on Friday missed him an hour of so and that the had this amazing HAT tournament during the weekend, bummed I was and then he even sent me pictures to see what I have missed. looking at the half full glass, I found the person I wanted and right away he invited me to practice on Wed in ljubljana in Slovenia with the local team. Slovenia is just about 15 minutes from Trieste, and Bostjan lives in a city Called Gorizia which was divided between Italy and Slovenia. the drive to ljubljana was very nice just about an hour but we saw that we have some time to kill so he decided to give me a little bit of a de tour. he took me to this special natural made bridge that the water dug into the mountain. it was very nice and interesting. 

Practice was very nice, I love Ultimate people, always welcoming and how Jasmina said it "it is right away like you have a new family." and it is true. the level of the game was very good, they play a bit different from what I used to but it makes it only more challenging. after practice we hang out and drank some beers in the bar which is right on the sideline of the fieled.... amazing huh ?

chatted and got to know the team, was surprised by Anja (Anna) that announced that drinks on her, because she has just graduated from college at that day. Usually I know that it is the other way around but it was a nice moment.

Maybe this is the time to say a word about girls, yes the Italian girls are beautiful, must say very beautiful. but they have no competition with the girls from Slovenia, and I`m not saying that it is always like that off course not but there is something about the Slovenian beauty that I just like. By the end of the drinks that night Jasmina offered to drive me to Trieste even though it was about 40k out of her way, and I was thinking to my self maybe this is a new family, did I mentioned that I love ultimate people?  I hope to go with this team to as many tournament that possible there are two planed for October one in Bologna, Italy and one in Budapest, Hungary which I hope to attend both of them. during practice and before and after I have heard a lot about a guy named Angus, a guy from New Zealand that moved to Trieste to do something with Quantum physics, and a great ultimate player. on the way back to Trieste with Jasmina I have decided that I must contact this fellow.

Wrote to Angus on FB and on Friday night he invited me to to dinner with him and his friends, off course I went, the took my to Osmizza, which is a rural restaurant up in the villages around Trieste. the story tells that during the role of the Austrian empire the land owners were allowed to sell their products only 8 days a year. so the tradition is still existing and maybe more then 8 days a year but you can never know when a specific Osmizza is open. So how do you know? you are looking for a branch with green leafs and you just follow the signs. we found one that is actually had also warm food. the idea of the Osmizza is that they have local wine, white or red and they serve it with meat and potatoes with some Horseradish on the side. this place also had sausage and sour cabbage, which was amazing. for desert we had unbelievable apple shtrodel. we were there with 3 of Angus friends that are working with him and they are great people, during our conversation of getting to know each other I have mentioned that I like rock climbing, then Angus right away said "Really? I`m going tomorrow you should come, meet me at 9:30am in the train station", should I refuse for an offer like that ? I don`t think so.

the morning after I packed my stuff, my climbing shoes, that I have sent in the package from Israel and that arrived on time, and tool the bus to the train station, still never bought a ticket to the bus always said, huh I`ll just do it next time. I knew that there are inspectors that are checking the tickets but I have never seen them, you know in the 10 days that I have been traveling around Trieste. however, one stop before the train station an inspector gets on the bus, and I find my self with only 5 americans that are separating me to a 50euro penalty. lucky me, one of the american girls had a ticket but she didn`t stamp it in the machine, so the guy was busy with writing here a ticket while he was doing that we arrived to the stop and  I bursted through the doors running to the train station, gladly I got out of this but I promised my self that I will buy a ticket as soon as possible (this will be done tomorrow before school) met Angus in the train station jumped on a train towards Gorizia to meet his friend who is also an ultimate plater Simon and we all went rock climbing. It has been along while since I have climbed and I`m sure out of shape, but this two guys were so nice and understanding and also pushed me a bit to work harder. It ended up to be a great day in the out doors. We went to climb next to a village called Vipava in Slovenia, huge walls with hundreds of climbing routes in different level all you need to do is just to pick the ones you would like to do and that is fitting you level, although I did the easier ones, my mussels were hurt after that day, I have climbed all together about 30m and I was hurt like I did 100m.  I must say that both Simon and Angus showed some good skills and I hope to climb with them again as soon as possible.

Simon in action

Got back home that night and I opened the door of the apartment knowing that the third roommate was suppose to arrive, the first one is Alexey that has arrived from Russia a few days ago, the third guy is Jose from Argentina, I found out a cloud of cigarette smoke in the apartment. I couldn`t breath, he was smoking in the living room with all the windows closed not something that I or anyone I know would love to live in. I have left a note asking not to smoke in the house, and got a very nice apology from Jose and a promise that he wont smoke inside again I a have appreciated him a lot at that moment.

remember that things that seems to be elementary to one guy may not seem to be the same to a another person.

sunday arrived and school starts tomorrow, was planing on finishing the readings but this never happened. I went with Alexey and Jose to eat Pizza for lunch after writing the first chapter of this blog, then got back home tired from a long walk, and around 8 Angus contacted me for dinner.... he promised me to show me where is the best burger in town, the place was closed unfortunately. so we just walked around with another two very nice of Angus friend had some Pasta and beer.

And here I am. Sunday Sep 5th actually 6th few hours before school starts, again I hope it will go well and that the people will be nice and friendly. this is a great experience ahead of me and I truly hope to learn a lot.

this was a fast gist of the last 10 and first days in Trieste Italy, I hope that I succeed in passing some of the feeling of those days, in the future I would try to write much more often. I believe that I have forgotten many things that happened to me during those days but I guess they weren`t important enough.

I`m excited to find out what I would write in the next chapter till then

arrivederci