Sorry for taking so long to update my blog. I’ve been sort of busy, but I also always just forget that I should write these updates in Microsoft word and then post them online when I have Internet. Instead I usually think about writing something when I’m sitting at an Internet Train paying to use their Internet.
Speaking of which, I’ve had quite a grueling time with the internet. I’m so very, very close to having a connection in my apartment. In fact, after I write this it may even be uploaded from my room! But we’ll just have to see. As the Italians say, “Non c’è fretta” or “there is no hurry.” So, how am I so close to having Internet? Allow me to chronicle the tale to you, and teach you all a bit about the Italian system!
So, I’ve been calling my landlord every week for about a month about the Internet situation at my apartment. He kept telling me that he had given Vodafone (telephone and Internet provider) his number and that they would call him when they were available and then he would call me. Now, this seems very useless to me. Why not just have them call me? Though I guess my Italian is a bit limited, but most of them speak English well enough. So this went on for a while until it became, “I’ve signed the contract. They should be there this week. Ten days at the max!” Well, of course they tried to schedule at 6 p.m. on a day when I have class until 5:45 p.m. I my landlord, whom we shall now refer to as Nello as that is his name, that it was possible but I might be a few minutes late because I had a class. He decided we should just put it off until Saturday. I said, “No, I’ll be there. We can’t keep putting this off.” He said fine, then changed his mind to 8:30 A.M. Friday morning. Ugh. Well, of course I arrived home Thursday evening right at 6 p.m. and Nello and his wife were there and we talked for a bit and he dropped off the router with me. Yay! Il rooter!
So, next morning I wake up early, have some espresso, save a bit for my guest, and then get the place ready for company as best I can. The young man that showed up may not have slept for a week, but it had not phased him one bit. He was wired super tight. All I said was, “Buongiorno!” and “Va bene,” in response to him and all of a sudden it was understood that I spoke Italian, and then some other stuff was said…idk.
Now I know I’ve been complaining and dying to speak more Italian, and I was happy to speak with him, but I have quite honestly never heard anyone speak Italian that fast (even faster than the Don Pasquale duet I believe) and he thought I understood it all! And this was 8:30 in the morning! On a FRIDAY! But it was still funny as I woke up more and more and we talked a bit and as I understood every third or thirtieth word. There was a lull at one point and I asked if he would like a cup of espresso and his response was, “no, grazie,” followed by an explanation of why he didn’t want any and some gitters like a Thriller Zombie that gave me the impression that if he drank any caffeine his head might explode. That would have been bad and left me with no DSL. Or ADSL as it seems to be referred to here.
Okay, so, everything was installed in the walls, lines checked, very little cell phone service in my dungeon, but the router was hooked up. Now, this makes no sense to me, but the router is plugged into the wall by a data cable (resembling telephone wire), but it also needs a jumpdrive that holds a SIM card to be plugged in as well. I’ve never seen something like this before, and it sort of makes sense for paying on your cell phone bill, but it was very annoying and useless to me. Why? Because the jump drive and SIM card weren’t in the box! The codes for the network access and SIM card were in the box, but no such luck otherwise. So, I mentioned that maybe Nello had them. I guess he didn’t get this because he just kept telling me that I needed to go to the Vodafone store and talk to them and I could get it taken care of. I said okay, we chatted a bit, laughed, and he left. Very nice, very crazy guy.
So, it’s about 9:30 a.m. at this point and I get ready to make the long walk across town to the Vodafone store. I thought several times, “Just call Nello; he probably has it,” but it seemed early and I was ready for a bit of a walk and maybe some store browsing. I arrived at the store and explained that my landlord had purchased the router, the guy and I set it up, the line was good, but we didn’t have the “Internet Key.” He told me I would have to get a new router because whoever had it before probably kept the key and I needed a new one. Then proceeded to sale me on a new plan and such, though I was pretty sure Nello had all that taken care of beforehand. So I stepped outside to call him and of course he had the key and he and his son were coming by on Saturday to set it up. He had already mentioned this to me the day before, I remembered, it just didn’t click. So, now I had a whole day with a brand new router sitting at my house and no Internet.
Okay, so I anxiously wait all day long for Nello and his son, Luca, to arrive and set everything up. Got some reading done and listened to Joyce DiDonato’s “Pasion” CD, very soothing. They arrived and began working. So, I needed to install a program using a CD/DVD and we tried this and it just wouldn’t work and we couldn’t figure it out. Then I remembered, haha, I’m in ITALY! My computer è Americano. Stupid region codings. This was pretty hard to explain (neither of them speak English), but Luca agreed with me and then explained it to Nello. Luckily they had brought another laptop and it worked. Now, at some point while the ball was rolling I didn’t notice that Luca went through an online setup and established the password encryption as WEP instead of WPA, which it had been originally and I had actually connected my computer and iPod to it regardless of the lack of Internet. It’s still a network, after all. The problem with this is, other than the fact that WEP is less secure, is that my computer only recognizes WPA encryptions, so I couldn’t connect to the network anymore. It took a while but I finally figured out what he had changed, but I didn’t know HOW he had changed it. I explained a few times what I believed the problem to be, and I think he got it and sort of agreed, but kept trying other things. This went on for a very long time and at one point Nello asked if we were done with the other computer. I was thinking, “NO NO NO!” but didn’t say anything fast enough so it went away. In all our waiting and deliberating though Nello did bring us a couple of espressos, which was very nice and a good little break as we sat and sipped on them and discussed what was going on with the Internet.
Luca decided at one point that maybe it was because Vodafone had not yet activated the DSL line and thus we couldn’t connect to the Internet. It took a bit but I explained that I had already connected my computer to the network and that there was wireless in the room, but just no Internet. I explained that it shouldn’t matter if there is or isn’t Internet, there is still a network. After a while more of staring and clicking I finally got out my iPod with my handy dandy UltraLingua app (thanks Carnegie Mellon) and figured out a few new vocabulary words and used a few stronger words such as “I believe” instead of “I think.” This worked a little better, and then I thought to connect my iPod to the network. I did this and it did work (because though you may all think this is a win for Mac it just proves that they care less about their quality of wireless security as compared to PC users who won’t even acknowledge WEP :-P) and I was able to go to the webpage and change the encryption back to WPA. I did this, the iPod disconnected, a few seconds of anxiety passed, and all of a sudden my laptop connected to the network! Tutto bene!
We were fairly celebratory. But still, no Internet; just a network connection. My hopes had been that I would leave for a while and some server off in the distance would switch on my Internet. No such luck. It apparently must be a person somewhere. So, I wait. I watch all the little flashy lights and wait for one more to pop up. In fact, only 3 out of the 5 are on now. There were 4….must investigate. Oh yeah, there is a LAN connection light. I’m not wired in anymore so it’s off. No worries. So yeah, still no Internet. Maybe one day. It’s almost my one month anniversary in Florence. Maybe that will be my present.
Okay, that was a really long post, but that’s only one of the crazy things that have happened since I last wrote! I have a few more good stories that will hopefully be sorter. A few more quick words about Nello and Luca. Before they left Nello sort of showed Luca around and he was using regular vocabulary and I have recently learned new vocabulary for such tiny living conditions and I was sure to point that out. Also, Luca had seen my goggles sitting on my desk and asked if I was a swimmer. I said I try, but I’m more into biking and only do the swimming because I was interested in doing triathlon. I also pointed out that I had noticed his RoadID bracelet, which is a little bracelet to wear with all your medical information on it so that if you’re in an accident on a ride or run it helps the doctors work faster with you. He then pointed out that he was wearing a Florence Half-Ironman shirt and that he will be going to the world championships in Florida next year! How cool! I mentioned an upcoming 5K here in Florence and found out that Nello is the organizer! So I kind of have to run. It’s actually next Sunday and the furthest I’ve run without stopping is 2 miles; 5K is 3.1. I told him I didn’t know about church obligations yet (bum, bum, bum! What’s this?! A preview of a future post?!), but I would find out and try to be in it. So I’m free and will try to enter tomorrow to run in it and spend a couple days this week trying to build up my mileage.
So, that’s it for now. Sorry it was so long and drawn out, but that’s what it’s like in Italy!
Update: Internet has worked at my apartment long enough so far the I could update my Facebook status once. I had to get a Vodafone SIM card to call the service line, which doesn't work in my phone so I have to pay for it with my Wind SIM card anyway. And the service in my house isn't really good enough to stay connected and understand the Italian anyway, so I'm kinda stuck for now. I spent all day today working on it and by the time I get out of class I'm betting that they won't be open anymore. Another update very soon.
