This past week classes started. It was a rough adjustment, but at least I am not taking two Odekon classes anymore lol. The worst part about classes starting is that my day ends at 5:30pm every day and thus I do not get to explore the city during the day.
The highlights from this week:
-An adventure to the police station trying to get my permit to stay. I missed my first appointment because of that IES trip to the abbeys. Everyone who had gone to their permit to stay told horror stories of waiting for 3 hours and being treated horribly. I had no idea what to expect since I didn't even have an appointment. So Sadie and I ventured into the snow (Oh yeah it snowed here!) and found the police station. There were a lot of people, including families with kids, waiting in line. I struggled to articulate to the beautiful ginger police officer my dilemma about missing my appointment; he started doing my paperwork right then and skipped over all the other people in line. The first time that I truly recognized the privilege that came with being a young American girl.
-Another highlight this past week was going to the local synagogue. I had started feeling a bit homesick this past week, and thought that a visit with other Jews would help me make Milan more of a home. I went to the synagogue for Kabbalat Shabbat services. The whole experience was weird, a little bit rewarding, but also disappointing. I was checked-in by a young Israeli guy who works at the synagogue and is in Milan studying. I hope to try to become friends with him over the next few months, although he wasn't very friendly because he was busy working. I sat in the upstairs balcony, dedicated for women, although there was a section in the downstairs section allowed for women, but it was in a tiny corner and basically boxed in a cage. The service started 25 minutes late because it took them that long to get a minyan (Italians are always fashionably late!). The synagogue was Sephardic, but a nice old man gave me an Ashkenazi siddur to borrow. The service was fairly familiar, and it was refreshing to be surrounded by Hebrew, a familiar language. But it made me homesick to not have the service and the atmosphere be like it was in Baltimore or at Skidmore Hillel. Overall, I think it was a good experience, and I hope to go back maybe for Saturday morning services where hopefully there will be more people there.
-This past weekend, I lived up Milan nightlife. On Thursday night, Chris, Hugh, Sadie, Victoria, Anna, and I went to a restaurant called Maya for an aperitivo. Possibly one of the best aperitivo's yet because it had a huge display of different pastas. We met some Argentinian boys studying in Milan at the table next to us; we ended up meeting them at the club Le Banque later that night! Of course, we stopped by Navigli first, to go to the Sofa Cafe just for Chris! (Just to fill you in, the Sofa Cafe is this small bar/cafe/lounge that is very serene and different than all the other bars on the Navigli strip. The Sofa Cafe has hand carved checkerboards, while other bars have disco balls and crazy lights. Afterwards, we ventured to Le Banque, which is now my favorite club yet. It is located in an old bank, so the place was really nice. It was Carnivale in Milan this past weekend so everyone was dressed up in costumes that night. By 3:30 we left the club and looked for a cheap means of getting home, since the taxis are so expensive! We ended up outside the duomo, which was amazing because we were the only ones out there! We went into the Galleria which was amazing because it was empty and we spun around on the bull's balls. I am realizing that the best time to see places in the city is at night when no one else is around; it can be pretty amazing.
On Friday night, Victoria kindly had Sadie, Chris and I over for dinner (pesto pasta of course!), which was delicious. We went to AJ, Arturo, Connor and Ale's apartment where a bunch of people met up before we all went to Alcatraz, a huge club venue. I was skeptical that I would enjoy Alcatraz because it's kind of like a big warehouse music venue, but I ended up having a lot of fun and it was great to be with so many IES people. Again trying to not take a taxi home, Ale took us from bus to bus and finally got us home!
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| Before going to Alcatraz |
Wanna hear my next few weeks: Florence this weekend, Zoe coming to Milan, skiing in the Alps, visiting Kayla in Copenhagen, Midterms, Traveling around Spain for Spring Break!!! WOOOOO
The only other important thing to mention is that Milan Fashion Week starts tomorrow!! So exciting! It's the week we've all been waiting for. Can't wait to show you photos.
xoxo,
~E
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