Today, I received my new bank and credit cards. As most of you know already, upon my return from spring break travels, my wallet was stolen. Today, I also went to get a new public transportation card, so its like I have my wallet back, although senza the wallet.
The public transportation system in Milano is extensive and quite efficient, at least most of the time, but sometimes seems a bit faulty. For example, I have a card which I can recharge each month. It costs me 17 Euro for one month, but then I have unlimited rides on all buses, metros and trains within the Milano system. The strange part, however, is that I must carry my receipt as proof that I paid the 17 Euro. My first month here, before I was informed of this information, I threw out my receipt. The next time I rode a train, the transportation police came around to check tickets. I showed my card and he said something in Italian which I did not understand at first. Eventually, I gathered that he was asking to see my receipt. I managed to lie and say it was at home, and the guy was nice enough to let me go without a ticket, but I was lucky. For people who do not have one of these electronic cards, they must buy paper tickets for each time they ride any form of transportation. So for me to go to and come back from school, it technically takes 4 tickets, or 4 Euro. The metro, however, is the only transportation where you have to use a ticket in order to get on (unless you jump over the turn style, which I have seen people do). The trains and buses are basically on an honor system. There is a machine on the bus and at the train station, but a lot of people take the risk and do not use their tickets. Thus, why they have transportation police. I have been taking the risk since I lost my wallet because it was actually cheaper then recharging my card for April again. The monthly recharge on the transportation card goes by the literal month, versus 30 days, so if I had immediately asked for a new card, I would have had to pay 17 Euro for only 2 weeks. Long story short, it was cheaper for me to buy the regular tickets when I needed them instead of recharging a new card. But, now that the first of the month has come, I got my new card (replacement fee of 15 Euro) and charged it (17 Euro) for the month of May. I feel a lot more secure now that I have this card back. Dodging the transportation police is doable, but not exactly easy. These police, however, are what I find faulty about the whole system. It takes a lot of money to pay these guys and it takes very little money to install the ticket machines at the front of the bus and make people get on only in the front.... This is how it works in Turkey. You must get on the bus at the front door and swipe your ticket or pay the fee (some buses have a guy sitting behind a change counter selling the tickets). Why on earth would you pay 1000s of people to patrol the transportation system when you could get rid of them so easily?? I would not have to carry my receipt around either....that would be nice.
Anyways, thats my rant of the day...
One more week of classes here, then 3 exams and my semester is over. Shortest semester EVER.
My interview got rescheduled for Monday due to the fact that tomorrow is Labor Day in Europe, so the Consulate is closed.
No real other news currently. I will try to take some pictures this weekend and post those. Apparently I am going to have lunch with my friend in the 'country' on Saturday. We shall see how that goes. Ciao
The public transportation system in Milano is extensive and quite efficient, at least most of the time, but sometimes seems a bit faulty. For example, I have a card which I can recharge each month. It costs me 17 Euro for one month, but then I have unlimited rides on all buses, metros and trains within the Milano system. The strange part, however, is that I must carry my receipt as proof that I paid the 17 Euro. My first month here, before I was informed of this information, I threw out my receipt. The next time I rode a train, the transportation police came around to check tickets. I showed my card and he said something in Italian which I did not understand at first. Eventually, I gathered that he was asking to see my receipt. I managed to lie and say it was at home, and the guy was nice enough to let me go without a ticket, but I was lucky. For people who do not have one of these electronic cards, they must buy paper tickets for each time they ride any form of transportation. So for me to go to and come back from school, it technically takes 4 tickets, or 4 Euro. The metro, however, is the only transportation where you have to use a ticket in order to get on (unless you jump over the turn style, which I have seen people do). The trains and buses are basically on an honor system. There is a machine on the bus and at the train station, but a lot of people take the risk and do not use their tickets. Thus, why they have transportation police. I have been taking the risk since I lost my wallet because it was actually cheaper then recharging my card for April again. The monthly recharge on the transportation card goes by the literal month, versus 30 days, so if I had immediately asked for a new card, I would have had to pay 17 Euro for only 2 weeks. Long story short, it was cheaper for me to buy the regular tickets when I needed them instead of recharging a new card. But, now that the first of the month has come, I got my new card (replacement fee of 15 Euro) and charged it (17 Euro) for the month of May. I feel a lot more secure now that I have this card back. Dodging the transportation police is doable, but not exactly easy. These police, however, are what I find faulty about the whole system. It takes a lot of money to pay these guys and it takes very little money to install the ticket machines at the front of the bus and make people get on only in the front.... This is how it works in Turkey. You must get on the bus at the front door and swipe your ticket or pay the fee (some buses have a guy sitting behind a change counter selling the tickets). Why on earth would you pay 1000s of people to patrol the transportation system when you could get rid of them so easily?? I would not have to carry my receipt around either....that would be nice.
Anyways, thats my rant of the day...
One more week of classes here, then 3 exams and my semester is over. Shortest semester EVER.
My interview got rescheduled for Monday due to the fact that tomorrow is Labor Day in Europe, so the Consulate is closed.
No real other news currently. I will try to take some pictures this weekend and post those. Apparently I am going to have lunch with my friend in the 'country' on Saturday. We shall see how that goes. Ciao
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