Question about Milano the city (1 Viewer)

OP
ZAF3000

ZAF3000

Senior Member
Feb 14, 2005
5,347
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #22
    So malls and departments stores close??? Isn't Milan supposed to be a hot toursit location? Tourists travel in August. Ateast in the first 2 weeks of august. So whats up with closing shops?
     

    isha00

    Senior Member
    Jun 24, 2003
    5,114
    #24
    ZAF3000 said:
    So it is a bad idea to go shopping in august in Milan.. She won't be so thrilled to hear this news.
    When exactly do shops usually close and reopen again? Is it the whole month of august? More? Less?
    In many cases they get the whole month off. If not, they usually close at least for the week of Ferragosto (15th, bank holiday).
     

    un altro alex

    Senior Member
    Jan 15, 2006
    633
    #27
    isha00 said:
    In many cases they get the whole month off. If not, they usually close at least for the week of Ferragosto (15th, bank holiday).
    Ferragosto is the only time where i'm bloody happy to be living in Cyprus. with the closest beach max at 30 minutes driving from home, and 35 degrees outside, its the best thing there is. That's probably where all the Italians are :D I can see no point of remaining in Milano, they probably all go to the coast, or to France.
     

    Byrone

    Peen Meister
    Dec 19, 2005
    30,778
    #28
    Alucard Belmont said:
    what country is RSA?
    and I guess this work if and only if you're student.
    as greg pointed out South Africa,but no majority of corporate South Africa go on holiday within that time frame.
     
    OP
    ZAF3000

    ZAF3000

    Senior Member
    Feb 14, 2005
    5,347
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #29
    isha00 said:
    In many cases they get the whole month off. If not, they usually close at least for the week of Ferragosto (15th, bank holiday).
    So for the period between 21st July till 4th august she should be fine right?
     

    Slagathor

    Bedpan racing champion
    Jul 25, 2001
    22,708
    #30
    ZAF3000 said:
    So for the period between 21st July till 4th august she should be fine right?
    She should yes. Tell her not to wait with her shopping until August 3rd though. That would be bad :D

    ZAF3000 said:
    Il Re, can u tell me more about this vacation thing on august?? Are clothing shops and department stores really closed??
    In August; the whole of Europe shuts down (particularly Southern Europe). Not just shops, but factories, schools, universities and where they can, even hospitals :D August = holiday. August = an empty Europe. In August, we shut down. We close, we stop working. We do *nothing*. I'm sure out of every 5 shops, 1 will be open, but if she's really going there for the shopping - that's not good enough, is it? Late July might work though.
     

    Matteo..

    Senior Member
    Apr 30, 2006
    767
    #33
    Erik said:
    Apparently not...

    BTW have you decided on that Erasmus destination yet?
    No, but I still have loads of time to do so. I wonder how it'll be to be in Italy for such a long period of time though. I hope I get to adapt soon enough.
     

    Slagathor

    Bedpan racing champion
    Jul 25, 2001
    22,708
    #34
    Matteo.. said:
    No, but I still have loads of time to do so. I wonder how it'll be to be in Italy for such a long period of time though. I hope I get to adapt soon enough.
    Oh you will; from what I remember of your picture at least you won't stand out being blond et all (like yours truly). And anyway; as soon as you speak the language relatively fluently, the Italians are social enough to just start random conversations with you. I remember I once had a conversation of an hour and a half about Van Basten at a hairdresser (the guy was a Milan fan. He kept stopping the haircut to talk to me with them hand gestures that they do, took 5 times longer than it does here in NL) as well as discussing thoroughly that yes, we do speak English in Holland but no, it isn't our mother tongue at the library. By the time I had made the guy understand they were closing gah :D

    Anyway Italy is one of the easiest countries to waste time having pointless conversations. And as an Erasmus student; there's no way in hell you're going to be lonely in a country like Italy
     

    Matteo..

    Senior Member
    Apr 30, 2006
    767
    #35
    Erik said:
    Oh you will; from what I remember of your picture at least you won't stand out being blond et all (like yours truly). And anyway; as soon as you speak the language relatively fluently, the Italians are social enough to just start random conversations with you. I remember I once had a conversation of an hour and a half about Van Basten at a hairdresser (the guy was a Milan fan. He kept stopping the haircut to talk to me with them hand gestures that they do, took 5 times longer than it does here in NL) as well as discussing thoroughly that yes, we do speak English in Holland but no, it isn't our mother tongue at the library. By the time I had made the guy understand they were closing gah :D

    Anyway Italy is one of the easiest countries to waste time having pointless conversations. And as an Erasmus student; there's no way in hell you're going to be lonely in a country like Italy
    :D. I guess being a football fan gives me a first topic I can talk about as well. I wonder how long it'll take me to speak the language fluently. After all I will have been studying Italian for quite a while, and although that's far from actually having to speak it all the time at a pace I'm not used to, it should help a lot.
     

    Slagathor

    Bedpan racing champion
    Jul 25, 2001
    22,708
    #36
    Matteo.. said:
    :D. I guess being a football fan gives me a first topic I can talk about as well. I wonder how long it'll take me to speak the language fluently. After all I will have been studying Italian for quite a while, and although that's far from actually having to speak it all the time at a pace I'm not used to, it should help a lot.
    It should yeah. The best thing you can do is surround yourself with Italian radio, tv and newspapers etc. That's what I did. But my education also focused on dialogues. All I had to do was talk, hold presentations and even do small plays with other students. At least they gave me a simplified version of Romeo's lines or I'd never have been able to pull it off lol
     

    Matteo..

    Senior Member
    Apr 30, 2006
    767
    #37
    Erik said:
    It should yeah. The best thing you can do is surround yourself with Italian radio, tv and newspapers etc. That's what I did. But my education also focused on dialogues. All I had to do was talk, hold presentations and even do small plays with other students. At least they gave me a simplified version of Romeo's lines or I'd never have been able to pull it off lol
    Though it's fairly simple Italian, I read la gazzetta dello sport every day (I buy it through internet). At college we have to do some dialogues, but quite frankly it's going way too slow there. I don't know what the exam will look like, but the classes have been horrible due to.. well, my fellow students..
     

    Slagathor

    Bedpan racing champion
    Jul 25, 2001
    22,708
    #38
    Matteo.. said:
    Though it's fairly simple Italian, I read la gazzetta dello sport every day (I buy it through internet). At college we have to do some dialogues, but quite frankly it's going way too slow there. I don't know what the exam will look like, but the classes have been horrible due to.. well, my fellow students..
    Oh I know, I switched to a higher speed course later on.

    Didn't you study Latin? I imagine that would help a lot. My knowledge of French also helped me.
     

    Matteo..

    Senior Member
    Apr 30, 2006
    767
    #39
    Erik said:
    Oh I know, I switched to a higher speed course later on.

    Didn't you study Latin? I imagine that would help a lot. My knowledge of French also helped me.
    Yeah, I studied Latin and since I'm Belgian I'm supposed to be able to speak French. Let's just say I can completely understand and write it :D.

    It does help, that's for sure. There are even some infinitives that are just the same. To be frank, I even have the idea Italian's slightly easier than French. Could be that it just suits me better as well.
     
    OP
    ZAF3000

    ZAF3000

    Senior Member
    Feb 14, 2005
    5,347
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #40
    Matteo.. said:
    Beats me why anyone would go to Italy in the summer to do some shopping. Can't she go at another time FFS?
    Unfortunately she can't. Her vacation is supposed to be in august (for two weeks) but she will try to take half late july and half early august.
     

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