Weekend in Milano

Ciao regazzi!

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!

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

I've Survived My First Month Here!

Ciao amici!

Well... I've survived my first month here! Interestingly though, I've yet to start my classes. That changes tomorrow; thus living my European vacation life is about to end. But no worries, I have much more planned for the next three months. My classes will no doubt change things, but all of my classes are going to be super interesting and I think I am going to enjoy all of them.

I last wrote about the my trip to Venice and the Ravens winning the superbowl. Thus this past week, I've been living on Cloud 9.

My European life is amazing, but I was particularly envious of my brother and all of my Baltimore friends who went to the Ravens parade and celebrated our amazing win in the 410. My facebook exploded with pictures and statuses about it, and it made me just a little bit homesick.

That went away of course when I spent the afternoon on the top of the Duomo and watched the sunset up there. You can see the entire city of Milan around you, and it is possible to see the alps in the background. It's so beautiful and amazing. With the sun setting... its breathtaking!

Is this seriously my life?

This week I have been cooking for myself. I made chicken parmesan and I made homemade lasagna for my friends and I. This was not just any lasagna; I made it from scratch and with an authentic Italian recipe. I used a bechamel sauce instead of ricotta cheese. It turned out pretty well, except for the fact that the noodles didn't really cook (because the only noodles I could find in the supermarket were no-boil noodles). So the taste was wonderful but it was a bit chewy lol. I am determined to make it again and make it amazing.

On Friday, I went on a day trip that IES planned for us. It was a trip to several abbeys in Lombardy near Milan. We went to Certosa di Pavia, a beautiful and very decadent monastery near Pavia. We also visited Vigevano, a small town nearby. We visited Ducal Square in Vigevano, a beautiful piazza. We also went to Chiaravalle Abbey. This was probably one of my favorite churches that I've been to yet. It was significantly more understated than the other decadent churches that I've visited while here. But there were such significant and intricate details and reasons behind certain paintings and designs. The most memorable part, however, was our crazy amazing tour guide of Chiaravalle Abbey. He was like the classic eccentric Italian artist. He kept flailing his arms in excitement, touching everyone, and would interrupt the interpreter just to emphasize something. He was great!
It is essential to note, that on this trip, I had the most delicious pizza I have had yet. We grabbed lunch at a local pizzeria in Vigevano.  The pizza was HUGE, and the waiters expect you to eat the whole thing! Look how big this pizza was! It was a bufala mozzarella pizza... YUM! 

For the rest of the weekend, I rested up from these crazy past few weeks. I went to the Navigli (the canals) with some friends (Brent, Sadie, Chris, Victoria, and Nick) for drinks on Friday night at Vintage, one of our favorite bars by Navigli. We've become good friends with the beautiful bartender, Ross. On Sunday night, we (Brent, Brent's friend from home, Sadie, Arturo, AJ, Chris, Hugh, and I) went to Spritz, for an aperitivo. Everyone had been telling us that it was mandatory to do an aperitivo at Spritz... it was wonderfully delicious! We particularly enjoyed eating nutella pizza :) (This for sure beats dessert pizza at Skiddy's DHall for Wafflefest).

Just to update you on my future travel plans: I am off to Florence next weekend. I have booked my tickets to Dublin for a weekend. And I am all set to go to Spain for Spring Break with Zozo. Also, I am going to Rome for Easter and am going to Easter Mass and will hear the new pope speak. UM.. WHAT IS MY LIFE? COULD THIS GET ANY MORE AMAZING?

OK, well, I have got a busy week ahead of me... now that I actually have classes :-/ I am still working on my pictures- but they will be uploaded ASAP.

Baci Baci,
~E

When You Come to a Fork in the Road... Take It

There were two mottos for my trip in Venice this past weekend:

1. When you come to a fork in the road... take it.

- Venice is completely a walking city... there are no cars; people use boats and the water taxis to get around. The streets are tiny and wind around in no organized fashion, but somehow through a combination of 100 rights and lefts through alleyways, you can get to when you want to go. So over and over again, we would be confronted with a fork in the road, and the only way to know if we'd end up where we wanted was to take it.

2. Do it for the story.

-My weekend in Venice was one of the greatest times I've ever had. We had such an amazing experience and there were so many moments that happened that makes fabulous stories to remember and so we left with no regrets and just great stories.

We left Milan on Friday in the afternoon and arrived in Venice in the early evening. It was already dark, but we still decided to walk from the train station to our hotel, which was near Piazza San Marco, the famous square in Venice. On google maps, the hotel was a 45 min walk away, but considering we had to stop at every mask store and freak out about being excited to be in Venice, it took us over an hour. We got lost in the tiny streets, making a million turns down alley ways, and we constantly used our little bit of italian to ask where go. We finally made it and were shocked to realize how amazing the location of our hotel was. It was literally a half a second off the Piazza. When we checked-in, they upgraded us to a suite in a neighboring hotel, Hotel San Marco (a 4 star hotel)!! We were freaking out! I seriously thought that we had been "punked" and I was waiting anxiously for someone to jump out and say "HA Joke's On You". The room was beautiful and huge and we were so lucky!

On Saturday, it rained and poured all day... But that didn't stop us. We ventured out, exploring the city, and looking for food. Our feet got completely drenched; all of our clothes and everything was so wet!! We were freezing and wet, but we had positive attitudes and laughed 24/7 so we still had such a great time. We became masters of the city, exploring all the nooks and crannies of the city. The advantage of having the hotel so close was that when we got too wet and cold, we could come back to the hotel, dry off, blow dry our shoes, and rest until we were ready to brave the weather. At one point, the rain and wind was so hard, that all three of the umbrellas we had broke.

What did we manage to accomplish on Saturday? Well we did go into the Basilica di San Marco, which is the fabulous basilica off Piazza San Marco. It was absolutely beautiful, and unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos (you should look it up to see how beautiful!). We also had the best meal I've had since being in Italy. We went to a small local restaurant, where I had the best pasta I've had yet.

Venice is completely different than Milan, but the thing that struck us the most besides the obvious differences was:
A. how touristy Venice felt, especially with Carnevale happening...
...but more importantly...
B. how much English was spoken and how many Americans were around. I realized how much I appreciate Milan not being very touristy and how almost no one knows English. I like going into stores and not being spoken to in English. In Venice, whenever we tried our Italian, people would just ignore it and speak in English.
In addition to that, our encounters with a lot of American students made us kind of embarrassed, in that the reflection of Americans or Americans our age was particularly negative. The students were rude and ignorant and it forced us to be aware of our behavior and try to not come off in a similar fashion.

Anyway, Sunday was really the best day. No rain! Plus the most beautiful weather! We woke up at 6am in order to catch the sunrise on a bridge over the canal. We had hoped to go back to a bridge we had found earlier in the trip, but we couldn't manage to find it that morning. So we were running through the alleys of Venice and made it back to the Rialto bridge and watched the sky gradually get brighter. We got some fabulous photos, and the whole experience was so great, especially because there was no one out on the streets; we had the city to ourselves. Just a few hours later, when we crossed the bridge again, the place was packed with tourists. After our sunrise on the Rialto Bridge, we went back to Piazza San Marco, where the carnevale festivities were beginning. We saw so many people dressed in fabulous costumes and we saw a drum performance. The sun was shining and the square was packed!

My experience in Venice showed me three main things that Venice is known for: masks (masks, and more masks), murano glass, and little bridges. We came and conquered all of them.
- We went to a million mask stores and ended up in one of the most famous ones, La Bottega dei Mascareri. All of the masks were absolutely amazing! We met and talked with the artist of the masks; we even watched him paint one for a short time! Chris bought the most amazing mask from him.
-We all managed to get our little piece of murano glass. :) I got myself a wine bottle stopper of murano glass... fitting for the wine of italy and in honor of my 21st birthday (well.. in 6 months)
-While we had gotten lost a million times, we stumbled upon small neighborhoods with beautiful bridges and amazing sights. Please, if you (all of you) have a chance to get lost in the alleys of venice, DO IT! It's such a magical city! The bridges are so adorable and it's so funny to think about using small power boats as a method of travel. SO INTERESTING!

My last major element of my trip of the Jewish Ghetto. It was one of my main goals while in Venice to make it to the Jewish Ghetto. Well, a. because I am me and thrive off exploring my Jewish roots wherever I go. But, more than that, I remember sitting in 12th grade Shakespeare class with Mr. Paulson reading the Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare and loving every moment of it. Probably my favorite quote of all time is from the Merchant of Venice:

Shylock:
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands,
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same
food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases,
heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter
and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If
you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, do we not revenge? If we are like you in the
rest, we will resemble you in that. (Act 3, scene 1, 58–68)

It's amazing that issues occurring 500 years ago are still relevant today. Anyway, Venice has a rich presence of Jewish history and it was really cool to explore it. We walked forever to get to the Jewish ghetto, and I am so thankful to my friends for going so out of their way to explore this with me. When we finally found Gam Gam, the Kosher restaurant, I was so happy! I was ready to find my Jewish husband (apparently the Jewish Italian waiters at Gam Gam are super cute!) but the restaurant was packed so no luck :( We walked into the Rabbi's wife outside the kosher Jewish bakery in the ghetto; she was absolutely the sweetest (kind of typical for an American Chabad Rabbi's wife- at least in my experience). She was from America, but her husband is Italian. She invited me for Passover seder and future shabbats, which was so nice of her and I am hoping to do. I bought a murano glass mezuzah and saw some beautiful Jewish artwork in the ghetto shops.

Ok... here's my embarrassing story for you to laugh at me for the rest of time: WE MISSED OUR TRAIN! We got the time wrong. We had been wrong about the train time all weekend. We were off by 2 hours! Luckily, there was another one within the hour to take; unfortunately, our ticket was non-transferrable so we had to buy a whole new ticket (molto costoso!!) :(

...At least we got home! ... and were safe and healthy... and we had the best time. I could not have asked for a better weekend! THANK YOU TO SADIE, CHRIS, and BRENT!


A necessary and important message: THE RAVENS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!! AHHHH CAN MY LIFE BE ANY MORE AMAZING! I got home exhausted from the weekend in Venice, and couldn't stay up to watch it last night. But immediately when I woke up this morning, I checked the score and saw that the Ravens had won! I called my mom and woke her up at 2am and she gave me a synopsis of the game. I SO PROUD TO BE A BALTIMOREAN! So happy for Ray Lewis! What a special win. I am so bummed I missed watching it and am not in Baltimore to celebrate, but I am so ecstatic that we won! I BLEED BLACK AND PURPLE (even a million miles away!)


Well that's all folks. Pictures to come. I promise. I have over 300 to sort through!

Ciao!
~E

Week 3

A blog post is necessary for this week because it seems like my first real REAL week in Milano. I've done so much this week and since this weekend is sure to be exciting (Venezia per Carnevale! and RAVENS IN THE SUPER BOWL), it will merit its own blog post.

Monday (Jan 28)
To start, Monday was my Italian roommate Alessandra's birthday. In honor of it, my housemates and i and another apartment made an American dinner. We had hamburgers and made grilled cheese. We decorated the apartment in happy birthday hello kitty decorations. It was adorable and perfect for the most adorable Italian.

Tuesday (Jan 29)
The following day I spent the afternoon shopping with Sadie and Amanda and then met up and continued to shop with Chris, Brent, Arturo, and AJ. We have some dapper dressing men in this program after our shopping day :) We came back to my apartment and I served (as usual) as the Jewish mom trying to host and feed everyone. We cooked fabulous pesto pasta (I am getting a lil too obsessed with pesto since being here) and drank a bottle of wine.

Wednesday and Thursday (Jan 30, 31)
Wednesday I walked endlessly looking for Instituto di Moda Burgo to have my first fashion design class. For hours I searched in Piazza San Babila and couldn't find it. Not to worry, I was able to soak up Prada, Gucci, and Dolce and Gabbana as I strolled the famous fashion streets of Milan. I got a fabulous panzerotti at Luini (it's actually my third time going because it is just too delicious. look it up: http://www.luini.it/   yumm yumm yumm is all I can say. Plus you can't beat the price ... 2.50 euros!... Amazing!)

Thursday was super exciting. I went to the Instituto di Moda Burgo to have my first fashion design class. EEK how fun. This is me: intimidated much; excited beyond all belief; overwhelmed like cray.  I spent three hours drawing boxes with certain dimensions, aiming to draw symmetrical faces and silhouettes; I was clearly miserable at it, but the teacher, Giovanni, was super nice and encouraging. I met some really cool people there. A guy from American University who took the semester off to come and take classes at Burgo for the semester; and two girls, one from the Caribbean and one from Dubai, who came to Milan to take classes at Burgo. All three of them were so nice to me and I unfortunately didn't get their contact information since I said I'd see them Monday. Unfortunately!!!... it turns out that the schedule for the fashion design classes do not fit into my schedule, so I cannot take the course. Thus I had my one day of being a fashion designer. I don't think it matches my skill set much, but it was fun nonetheless. Why not! I'm in Milan!

Tonight, for Ale's birthday, we went to the Executive Lounge for an aperativo. It was so much fun! It happened to be swing dancing night and so the night was spent eating delicious food, watching seemingly expert or at least very good swing dancers. Super cute! I felt like I was living in the '20s. I wish I had worn a flapper dress; I would have fit right in. Some embarrassing attempts at swing dancing  with Chris and Sadie occurred of course and plenty of photos were taken!

What a day! Well the next few days are going to be amazing! Venizia per Carnevale and SUPERBOWL! Can't wait to tell you all about it.
I PROMISE TO UPLOAD PHOTOS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Peace love and swing dancing,
~ E

The Tower is Actually Leaning!

Ciao amici!

Everything is going so fabulously here. I have been attending Italian class every day, which is going very well. My background in Latin and in Spanish has made it fairly easy. My teacher is this young, super adorable, girl. She is so fun, bubbly, and charismatic; it makes the hours of Italian grammar go by fairly quickly.

I live with five other girls in a really nice apartment. One girl is a local Italian girl named Alessandra. She is the cutest girl in the whole world. She is always smiling and is so happy all the time. She has been really helpful: showing us where the supermarket is; showing how to use the metro; giving us restaurant, bar, and club recommendations; and helping us with our homework. She even helped me throw my friend, Chris, a 21st birthday party here at my apartment.

Today was her birthday so my housemates and I made her dinner: American dinner with burgers, grilled cheese, and french fries. I think she loved it; she almost started crying when she saw all the hello kitty decorations. She has been really great; I am really lucky to have her as my RA.

Unfortunately, I've been sick all week, so I haven't been able to explore Milan as much as I would like, but thankfully I have another 4 months to do so. :) This past weekend I went to Pisa, and I have a trip to Venice planned for next weekend. Next weekend, it is Carnival in Venice! I am so excited... Carnival of Venice is supposed to bring out the true colors of Venice. The masks and the costumes! Oh it's going to be so amazing!

I did visit Pisa this past weekend! The trip was so great and luckily so successful for my first trip. It was certainly an experience. Chris' birthday was Friday, so I threw an aperitivo at my apartment for him as a get-together before everyone went to a club. Everyone got back at 3am from the club, and our train for Pisa was at 6am! I managed to get everyone out the door and to the train station on time... it was quite a production. Working off an hour of sleep, we arrived in Pisa four hours later!

I have 300 photos from yesterday. It is going to take me a while to sift through them and put them up. I will post a few in the coming days. We had the nicest weather; we were so lucky. The square, where the Leaning Tower of Pisa is located, is made up of a Basilica, a Duomo, and several other museums. The whole area looked like it was out of a movie set. Nothing looked real. It is hard to believe that you are staring at a building that is leaning at a 5 degree angle. There were ten of us from IES who went to Pisa, but we ended up splitting into smaller groups early in the day. Chris, Sadie and I spent a good hour trying to take the best photo of "holding the building up."

After our photo shoot, we climbed the Leaning Tower!  It's scary how much you can feel the angle of the building. The view from the top of the tower was breathtaking. I could see the city of Pisa and the mountains in the background. There aren't words that are strong enough and descriptive enough to explain how amazing the view was or how extravagant and regal the duomo was. No wonder a picture is worth a 1000 words. But even pictures don't do it justice. I've visited many cathedrals throughout my travels, and this duomo was certainly in the top 10 of regal churches. It was such a great day and there are many more to come! (Can't wait to post the photos for you!)

... In other news...
I just signed up for classes. BEST SCHEDULE EVER... I am taking an Italian Fascism and Anti-Semitism course. The teacher is supposed to be great, and the course is completely ME right? I am also taking an environmental sustainability course for my International Affairs major. AND I am taking a fashion design course at the local university! I am taking a fashion design course at one of the top fashion design universities in the fashion capital in the world! AH! It's going to be super intense and I am going to be way out of my league... but since when have I ever backed down from a challenge?? Going to be epic! ... next Armani here lol

Anyways, everything is going great and I have plans to get a few other trips on the calendar. Hopefully I can visit Zoe in Florence and Kayla K. in Copenhagen.

My dad asked me today whether this was my best abroad experience. And I have had a lot of abroad experiences and my response is always that each and every one is completely different and cannot be compared. Visiting a synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia where Jews and Muslims live together peacefully; Sailing through the Panama Canal; Praying at the Western Wall; Trying to make the guards outside of Buckingham Palace laugh... They are all unique and unforgettable experiences. The next four months are going to be amazing... with great people, a new language, and new fantastical sights (like Paris and Venice and Berlin). What an experience I am having! Can't wait to keep you updated.

Hugs and Kisses from halfway across the world.
~E

Finally in Milano!

Ciao friends and family!

I am in Milan, Italy! Can you believe it? I can hardly believe it. I have been waiting to study abroad since middle school. Traveling is one of my favorite things to do and I have been so fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel to many places in the world. I have travelled and explored London, Australia, Israel, Tunisia, Italy, and Spain for example. I love learning about new cultures and exploring new cities and learning new languages (although I am certainly not good at speaking them). Studying abroad was high on my to-do list in college and I am so excited to finally get to this stage in my college career.

If you told me a few years ago that I would be studying abroad in Italy, I wouldn't believe it. It never crossed my mind that Italy would be where I would study abroad. Many of you know that I spent a summer in Barcelona studying there and it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. You probably know how much I struggled in making my decision on where to study abroad. At some point over the past year I considered Israel, London, Paris, Prague, and Cape Town. For a variety of different reasons, I chose to study through IES Abroad in Milan, Italy. I am sure that whatever city I chose, it would have been an enriching experience, but nonetheless I am so happy with my choice. Just look at some of the photos I posted- how can this city be any more beautiful!?!

Well, to begin... I am in the world of the most amazing food, culture, architecture, language, and fashion. On the streets, everyone is so beautiful, and they are all so well dressed. (It's hard to not feel a little bad about yourself when you have 6 feet beautiful models in gorgeous clothing at the same bar as you... but its exciting to just be in their presence I guess). The food is so delicious; the mozzarella is amazing. But to be honest, I am already sick of eating pasta for every meal- I have yet to have a meal that wasn't pasta. The buildings around me are just so exquisite. It is important to note that Milan is much less touristy than other major cities in Italy. Rome is filled with tourists for all its famous sites, while Milan only has a few famous landmarks to visit (like the Duomo and the Scala... photos coming soon!!). But Milan has so much activity- in business, in fashion, etc.- so there is still a lot going on.

I've just finished my orientation week. It was long and exhausting, but I learned a lot and I now feel very comfortable getting around Milan. My apartment is in an amazing location, fairly close to the center of the city, and where my classes take place. The people on my program are from all over America; everyone seems really nice and I am looking forward to getting to know everyone. I live with 5 other girls- one is a local italian girl who is absolutely adorable. She speaks a good amount of English and has been so helpful in helping us Americans get acquainted with the city and the language barrier.

I want to post a few photos from the past few days. I will certain upload much better photos over time- but it is just to give you a taste of what I am experiencing.

Getting internet has been challenging so I will post as soon as possible. If you have recommendations on where to travel in Europe or Italy, please let me know. EEK how exciting is the next couple of months going to be!?!

Ciao!! E.

My first view of the duomo! So beautiful... there will be many more photos of the duomo I promise!

Singing opera outside of the famous opera house, the Scala!

View of my Universita Cattolica, the partner university for IES ABROAD. 

Apparently it is good luck to put your heel on the Torino bull's balls and spin around on it.... theres actually a hole in the mosaic there where people have dug their heels in.