Hola from Granada! I am sorry, owe you several blog posts that come from the few weeks before this one, but I figured I should not get behind on what's happening now. Well it's Spring Break and I'm in Spain! No more Italian for me! It's back to Spanish! I took Spanish for 8 years, but learning Italian this semester has made speaking Spanish was very hard. I have been saying si grazie instead of si gracias and come estai instead of como estas. What a mess.
On Friday, I hopped on a plane to spend spring break in Spain with Zoe, Chris, and Sadie. I arrived in sunny Barcelona, but of course my bag didn't arrive! Chris and I met Zoe at the bus station and went to find our hostel- for only 10 euros a night, this place was great! Very clean and high tech, but very close living quarters. There were also weird quirks about the hostel that we soon learned... Like that the overhead lights automatically go out at 12, that the sink was in the room with the shower (which was separate from the toilet), and that the water in the shower didn't stay on...we had to keep pushing the button every 30 seconds to keep the water going.
My return to Barcelona was bitter sweet. It reminded me how much I loved that city; everything about Barcelona is great. It's enough city to be city-city, but it has the resort town feel that calms the cityness down. Everything is bright and light and airy. In contrast, Milan seems so dark, rainy, dreary. I also love that Barcelona is so lively, both day and night. But I had felt like the last time I was in Barcelona I had came and conquered the place. I mostly remembered my way around the city and served as a tour guide for my friends. I was sad that I didn't get in touch with my old host mother- it would have been nice to see her again!
I took Chris and Zoe to Placa Catalunya and into the gothic district where we had lunch. Yumm yumm! Having alioli again makes me so happy inside- alioli is like a garlic mayonaise that pretty much tastes delicious with everything. Afterwards we strolled down Las Ramblas, stopped in La Boqueria (the market) and chilled by the Barcelona port. Being back at La Boqueria also reminded my why I loved barcelona so much- THE FRESH FRUIT! Its just to die for- I get fruit in Milan but there's no market that nearly compares to the deliciousness nor the price! We walked through Parc de la Ciutadella and saw the beautiful fountain there and then saw Arc de Triomf. Another thing about Barcelona that is so great is that it is a very young, lively, creative, and fun city. There were people slack lining, jamming and playing guitar and, juggling in the park. There were people roller blading through mazes they set up for themselves with cups. Everyone is just so chill and casual; its a great atmosphere.We stopped at a little pastry shop by the Arc de Triomf to kill some time before we picked Sadie up from the bus station (her flight came in later than our). Turned out that we fell in love with this pastry shop and came back every day. Chris got these donuts- 6 donuts for 2 euros!! They were amazing and we all feasted on them every day.
Once Sadie joined us, we went looking for our first dinner to kick off our vacation. The stress of midterms and the disorganization of our lives had put us in a slump for a while, so the commencement of our vacation was something to be celebrated. The thing about Barcelona is that food is really expensive, and we have trouble (although we do try) finding the local places that are cheap and still have good food. After wandering and looking for a while, we stumbled upon a restaurant serving 3.50 euro margaritas and mojitos- which in comparison to 8-10 euro drinks in Milan seemed like a steal. The restaurant was a super cute Mexican restaurant! Despite not being Spanish food, it was still great. We went to bed super early since we had a big week ahead of us.
I did not receive my bag until Saturday morning! We woke up on Saturday and headed to La Sagrada Familia, the most famous landmark in Barcelona- Gaudi's amazing church. Everyone was in awe at the gaudiness (lol) and decadence of the building. The line to get in was horrendous and the price was very steep. We decided that we'd try to get into Sagrada for palm Sunday mass the next day. In order to preserve our metro rides, we walked to passeig de gracia and looked at the ritzy stores and Gaudi's other famous buildings: la pedrera and casa batllo. We ended at Placa Catalunya again and feasted on food and fruit from la Boqueria.
Afterwards, we went to the Picasso museum. This museum was great when I was taking my art history class in Barcelona and learning about all of the artwork. I didn't remember much, but it was still exciting to see such masterpieces again. That is one of my favorite things about Europe, seeing the most famous artwork in the world. We concluded the day with squishing some sand beneath our toes at the barceloneta beach and drinking sangria. That night, i wanted to show everyone the magic fountain in Placa Espanya, so we had dinner on top of a mall, which used to be a bullfighting ring converted, which had an amazing night time view of the city. After dinner, to my surprise, the magic fountain wasn't working! What a bummer!
On Sunday we woke up early and headed to La Sagrada Familia to go to Palm Sunday mass. We had heard that it would start at 12 (we got there at 10 expecting to wait in line for a long time to get in), but no one told us it was required to get tickets and to get them way in advance. There was mass in the chapel below the main church, which we made it to just in time for. This was my first mass! It was interesting- kind of what I expected mainly because it was all in Catalan and some spanish, so I couldn't understand it. But I watched people do communion for the first time, so that was interesting. When we got out of mass, there was crowds of people outside sagrada, all with their palms, waiting to listen to the mass going on inside La Sagrada Familia and to see the archbishop and have him bless their palms. What a cool cultural experience. We didn't stay to hear the mass, but Chris waited and did get to see the archbishop.
Afterwards, we headed to Parc Guell which is one of my favorite places in Barcelona. We got off at my old metro stop, Vallcarca, on the green line, and walked to Parc Guell which is a schlep- it is up a huge hill! The view from the top was not great since it was a cloudy overcast day, but Parc Guell is still cool with Gaudi's funky architecture and amazing mosaics. We ate at a real local restaurant nearby and really feasted- for 12 euros we got 2 courses, a drink, and a dessert. Wow! Stuffed, we headed back to the beach to conclude our trip and were serenaded on the beach by a man playing the guitar and harmonica. Of course, our traveling luck, it began to rain. We headed back to our hostel, but because of the pouring rain, ended up stopping in Parc de la Ciutadella's community center and watched a basket game of cute Spanish boys. When the rain cleared up, we made our last trip to the donut shop and then had a light dinner at a local chain restaurant before boarding our overnight bus to madrid!
Oh what a mess. We booked this bus over a month in advance and were the only ones with tickets for the bus. We figured we'd be the only crazies doing an overnight bus for 7 hours. We figured we'd spread out and lie down. Nope- the bus was packed! None of us got much sleep since every few hours we'd make a stop, the lights would go on, and the loudspeaker would announce the stop. It was not the most comfortable way to travel- but it got us to Madrid and it worked out that we wouldn't have to pay for a hostel for that night. We got in at 5:30 in the morning! The metro doesn't even run until 6! We struggled to get to our hostel- no working wifi and no map of the city made it really difficult to figure out. We ran the wrong doorbells a few times, but finally ended up at our hostel. They nicely changed us to a room in a partner hostel that had a room ready for us right then so we could rest before starting the day. Good thing because at 6 am, that city was dead. Not a soul in the streets. So we wouldn't have anything to do anyway. Our room had absolutely no room to walk in, and it was a maze to get there. Through 100 corridors with no labeling- we were definitely in a building out of Harry Potter. We slept and rejuvenated before we began our Madrid adventure.
Of course, it rained and was chilly while we were in Madrid. Plaza Mayor was our first stop. We happened upon a group of people with an umbrella that said join a free tour! Naturally we signed up, but of course nothing is really free... the tour guides rely on tips as their wage. I introduced myself to the tour guides and said: Hi I am Erika. And one guide responded: Hi, I'm from Madrid. I was very confused. Turned out they thought I said: Hi I am from America. LOL. Our tour guide's name was Sebastian; he was cute!!.. He was very enthusiastic and very funny. He used everyone to play parts in Spanish history and explain the importance of buildings and monuments. It was a very thorough tour and we definitely learned a lot. I was the first victim of being used in his history-telling. It was very funny! Boy was it cold and rainy during the tour. During the tour, we saw the oldest restaurant in the world! That was very cool. We also saw the beautiful royal palace! So regal! When the tour was over, we walked to the Reina Sofia museum, which had free hours from 7-9! Reina Sofia is where Picasso's Guernica is held. This is what I was most looking forward to in Madrid. I cannot tell you the number of times that painting has come up in different classes that I've taken. But I had learned a lot about it in that art history class, so I really wanted to see it. The Reina Sofia is a huge museum and there were a lot of people there because it was free. The artwork was mainly modern art- some surrealist Dali, some Miro, some cubist Picasso, photography, and a lot more! It was a great museum, but we unfortunately only had two hours and we zipped through it. When I finally saw the Guernica, I was in awe! Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures of it. There was a huge crowd of people in front of it. Chris had never even heard of the artwork before, so when we got to it, he said "this piece of art seems famous." I said "Chris thats the Guernica!" OY! The Guernica is HUGE... GINORMOUS... ENORMOUS! So many intricate details that you can't appreciate in the picture on a computer screen. It's dark and twisted....as Meredith Grey would say. Powerful, disturbing, and enlightening!
We left Reina Sofia and went to dinner. It was our last dinner together! How sad! This was Monday night, which also marked the beginning of Passover. I tried so hard to find a seder for Zoe and I to attend. I emailed and called all the major synagogues. I did find a community seder at the JCC of Madrid, but it would have cost 40 euros per person! :( I was really disappointed Monday night because everyone's Facebook statuses were about pesach, Matzoh balls, and not eating bread. I told myself that I would try to keep Passover to the best of my ability here, but honestly that quickly failed by the next morning when the only options for breakfast are croissants and pastries. We had a very nice dinner on Monday, but being me (a picky eater), I struggled to find something on the menu. Everything in Spain has pork in it! And if it's not pork, it's seafood! Oy! Well, i decided to take a risk and order tempura cod. I don't eat fish, but I figured I should try it (when in rome...) Well, its slimy. Non mi piace. But I should get a lot of props for trying it!!
Tuesday we woke up and walked around Retiro Park. So beautiful. It's very large, so we didn't get to see it all, but we saw this beautiful clear sunroom building, the Palacio Cristal. Outside there was a fountain with a baby turtle and black swans! The swans had red beaks- so unique and very beautiful! Across from the Palacio Cristal was the Palacio de Velazquez. The park in general was beautiful; I just wanted to sit there and enjoy the park for the rest of the day. Afterwards we walked down Gran Via, the major commercial street in Madrid, and met up with a local girl, who is coming to spend next year at Skidmore and living with Zoe in Northwoods! We also met up with Chris's friend. The six of us walked to Placa España and then to Puerto del Sol to grab lunch. Lunch was very nice, but it took much longer than we expected. We expected to have time to go to the famous El Prado museum after lunch before our (Zoe and my) bus to Granada. But there wasn't enough time! :( Honestly I am really bummed that I didn't get the chance to go to El Prado; so much famous artwork is there! Las Meninas by Velazquez! Well, I just keep telling myself that hopefully I'll be able to come back to Madrid and go to El Prado. Zoe and I got churros and chocolate from San Griges Choccolateria before we left Madrid. To be honest, I didn't really like it. Neither the churros nor the chocolate was very sweet. Chris and Sadie went back to Milan to go to Macbeth at La Scala on opening night! While Zoe and I were off to conquer Granada and Sevilla!
I will update you on our adventures soon! WHAT LIFE AM I LIVING THAT I GET TO CASUALLY TOUR SPAIN FOR SPRING BREAK! It really is so amazing; I am so fortunate! I am so sad that I only have 2 months left in Europe!
Ok well wishing you all a good Passover and Easter!
Besos,
~E
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Adventure in the Alps
Ciao amici,
What an amazing and crazy week!
The highlight of the school week was making pizza from scratch with Sadie! As you can see below- we rolled out dough, made our own sauce, piled on the mozzarella and spinach, and man oh man was it delicious! One of the best pizzas I've had!
On Thursday, I had a skype interview for a possible internship for this summer. I still really don't know what I am doing this summer :-/... but these interviews are at least good practice for me!
Zoe came into Milan later that Thursday night and I picked her up at the train station. Unfortunately I had class early Friday morning, so she explored all the touristy sites while I was in class. I took her to Luini for a delicious panzerotti for lunch that day! Yes, even the girl who gets access to Gusta Pizza for a whole semester thought Luini was amazing!!
Friday was quite an adventure. I booked hair cut appointments for Zoe and I at the Toni and Guy Hair Cut Teaching Academy. We weren't quite sure exactly what we were getting ourselves into, but a free haircut is a pretty sweet deal. Here are a few of the 1,000s of reasons why we were nervous:
1. What if they don't speak english??
2. These people are new hair cutters- what if they totally mess up??
3. There are two options for the hair cut- the classic haircut or the advanced avante-garde haircut... these people are training to be amazing hairstylists for like Fashion week- so people were saying that they could try to convince us into getting an avante-garde haircut.
So what did happen?
Strangest experience. We had no idea what to expect. What ended up happening was the teacher (this amazing visionary professional hair designer) went around with the students to each "model" (us- those who voluntarily gave our heads to these newbies) to determine the best haircut for the person and then the teacher instructed the student what to do. Everyone was talking in Italian and we started to freak out. He finally got to us, and luckily spoke English. He gets to me and says that I should have an advanced haircut- and in my head I am freaking out thinking that he wants to shave off half my head of hair or something. He gave me a look book to pick from and we agreed upon a style. There were 8 models and only 6 students so two people had to wait for the other 6 to be done. Of course Zoe was one of the models who didn't get their hair cut right away. I got stuck with the most new student there was. He was afraid to cut a single strand of hair. He was incredibly nice but it took him 2 full hours to give me the most basic hair cut. By the end, I got a little frustrated because everyone else was on the hair drying stage when he was still cutting the first layer of my hair. Anyway, he gave me the basic haircut and then the professional teacher came over and fixed it and added the bangs and the pizazz that we agreed upon. It was one of my best haircuts! I loved it. It had body and curls and it was great. I wish I could have my hair like that every day!
Zoe's haircut did not even start until mine was over (which took 2.5 hours!). The teacher professional had a little thing for Zoe and agreed to cut her hair! She was getting the premium experience. Everyone stared in awe as he cut and shaped her hair. He was like in a trance envisioning the end result. It was amazing. Zoe's hair cut was great and despite being at Toni and Guy for 3 hours more than we expected, it was an extremely successful day.
We met up with Sadie, Chris, and Hugh for aperitivo at Forestawood Bar that night. After dinner we got lost on our way to go to AJ and Arturo's apartment. We got there as everyone was walking out the door. We decided to go with them to Alcatraz. It was a fun night there and it was especially great because we not only got in for free but figured out the bus system home so the travel home was free too! That's a sign of a successful night!
On Saturday, Zoe and I went to a Asian restaurant for lunch. I actually live a minute from Milan's Chinatown and had yet to explore it. Afterwards, we took an adventure and explored around the Navigli area. We got lost trying to find the Bagel Factory and wound up in a flea market. Our adventure eventually landed us at the Bagel Factory (WOO!) and I stocked up on bagels for the next month! Hugh, Sadie, and Chris came over for dinner- we cooked an epic feast with amazing normal lasagna, pesto lasagna, garlic bread, two chocolate cakes! YUMM, we ate ourselves silly! I have mastered making lasagna at this point. I LOVE IT!
Zoe left early the next morning to go to Lake Como with her friends, and I was off to the Alps to go skiing!
IES planned a fabulous ski trip for us! The bus left early Sunday morning and we got there around midday. We had a hotel right on edge of the ski mountain. The ski town we were in was called La Thuile in the Aosta Valley region, which is in the Italian alps, northwest of Milan. THE ALPS ARE AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL! It looks like a scene out of a movie. It was not real. We had the most amazing weather; it was sunny and beautiful and was not cold at all.
As soon as we got there, a lot of us immediately put on ski clothes and went to hit the slopes. I started the day skiing with Ale (the RA- a local Italian), Paula (who basically lives on a ski resort is a skiing and snowboarding master), Nini (from Skidmore too!), and AJ. They were all fantastic skiers and I got myself a bit over my head.
The first run went fine until someone crashed into me, which kind of made my lose my confidence. We took a chair lift up the mountain and ended up on a red slope. :-/... The leveling here in the Alps is different than in America. The lowest is blue, the middle is red, and black is the hardest; but, each level is one level higher than in the states. So the lowest in the Alps (Blue) would be equivalent to a blue in the states (which is the second after green, the easiest). Red in the Alps would be like an American Black! So we ended up on a red slope and boy was I out of my league. I ended up just sliding down the mountain on the side as I had a minor panic attack that I was going to die on the top of the mountain. Meanwhile, the others causally skied on down the mountain. That was the end of me skiing with these amazing skiers. I spent the rest of the day on the easy blue slopes with another girl Sarah. The blues were a bit to easy but for my first day it was a good warm up for the next day!
The buffet dinner provided by the hotel was amazing! Of course most of the food was like "too fancy" for me; if you know me well enough, I am a picky eater and do not eat fancy food. They served like rabbit and fish and pork, etc. Not for me. But I feasted on the delicious pasta! Later that night, a large pack of IES people went to the local pub, King's Pub. We were expecting a really cool bar or discoteca like we have in Milan. Nope... we were the only ones there! It was a cute pub, with a pool table and foosball table. I lost miserably in pool with Anna against Nini and AJ. I actually like pool, but I was uber miserable- like missed hitting the ball every time. Doesn't matter how you play as long as you enjoy it!
Monday we woke up early to be on the slopes when they opened. Little did I know that I was going to wake up with incredible pain around my ankles from skiing the day before. I was in such a rush the day before to get onto the slopes that I was not very careful about socks and pants layers; it ended up bruising my ankles pretty badly. I could barely make it down blue slopes that morning, but I did my best and skiied a little with Erin, Cassie, and Kala.
I took it easy that morning because I scheduled a 2-hour lesson with an instructor so that he could take me down the red slopes. This was the best two hours ever! The lesson started out shaky because he spoke very little English and we struggled to communicate. After a while we figured out how to communicate- mainly me just mimicking what he did. He took me down some amazing slopes and took me to other sides of the mountain I hadn't gotten to get to yet. What's cool about the La Thuile mountain is that you can ski into France! I am not sure entirely because the teacher kept saying French...French... so I think that means I skied into France! We went down all reds for the entire 2 hours! We even went down one black at the end of the lesson! I WAS SO PROUD OF MYSELF. AND I NEVER FELL ONCE! It was an amazing day and the mountain was just so beautiful. Another note about what was cool... It was possible to see Mont Blanc- the tallest mountain in the Alps- from the slopes that we were on! Honestly the tops of the mountains all look similar, but people pointed it out to me!
Same thing as the night before, we feasted at the hotel buffet. My roommates on the trip, Anna, Paula, and Nini bought a bottle of the local wine. It ended up costing double (like 5 euros more) than we expected; we expected some amazing local wine...nope.. it ended up tasting like a lumberjack or a log cabin. oy. lol We went that night again to King's Pub because its the only bar in town. I played pool with Arturo and actually improved! I hit a few balls in! WOO
On Tuesday, most of us took a bus to Courmayeur, a neighboring town. It was described to us as an ritzy ski town where many Milanese locals vacation. The town was really cute, but like everywhere else, shops and stores close down in the middle of the day. So a half hour after we got there all the stores were closed. We ended up getting pizza/focaccia at a really cute local place and then sitting and eating gelato until the IES bus picked us up to go home. It was a really long and exhausting weekend but it was so amazing! I SKIED IN THE ALPS! Look at these photos- aren't these mountains incredible??
What an amazing and crazy week!
The highlight of the school week was making pizza from scratch with Sadie! As you can see below- we rolled out dough, made our own sauce, piled on the mozzarella and spinach, and man oh man was it delicious! One of the best pizzas I've had!
On Thursday, I had a skype interview for a possible internship for this summer. I still really don't know what I am doing this summer :-/... but these interviews are at least good practice for me!
Zoe came into Milan later that Thursday night and I picked her up at the train station. Unfortunately I had class early Friday morning, so she explored all the touristy sites while I was in class. I took her to Luini for a delicious panzerotti for lunch that day! Yes, even the girl who gets access to Gusta Pizza for a whole semester thought Luini was amazing!!
Friday was quite an adventure. I booked hair cut appointments for Zoe and I at the Toni and Guy Hair Cut Teaching Academy. We weren't quite sure exactly what we were getting ourselves into, but a free haircut is a pretty sweet deal. Here are a few of the 1,000s of reasons why we were nervous:
1. What if they don't speak english??
2. These people are new hair cutters- what if they totally mess up??
3. There are two options for the hair cut- the classic haircut or the advanced avante-garde haircut... these people are training to be amazing hairstylists for like Fashion week- so people were saying that they could try to convince us into getting an avante-garde haircut.
So what did happen?
Strangest experience. We had no idea what to expect. What ended up happening was the teacher (this amazing visionary professional hair designer) went around with the students to each "model" (us- those who voluntarily gave our heads to these newbies) to determine the best haircut for the person and then the teacher instructed the student what to do. Everyone was talking in Italian and we started to freak out. He finally got to us, and luckily spoke English. He gets to me and says that I should have an advanced haircut- and in my head I am freaking out thinking that he wants to shave off half my head of hair or something. He gave me a look book to pick from and we agreed upon a style. There were 8 models and only 6 students so two people had to wait for the other 6 to be done. Of course Zoe was one of the models who didn't get their hair cut right away. I got stuck with the most new student there was. He was afraid to cut a single strand of hair. He was incredibly nice but it took him 2 full hours to give me the most basic hair cut. By the end, I got a little frustrated because everyone else was on the hair drying stage when he was still cutting the first layer of my hair. Anyway, he gave me the basic haircut and then the professional teacher came over and fixed it and added the bangs and the pizazz that we agreed upon. It was one of my best haircuts! I loved it. It had body and curls and it was great. I wish I could have my hair like that every day!
Zoe's haircut did not even start until mine was over (which took 2.5 hours!). The teacher professional had a little thing for Zoe and agreed to cut her hair! She was getting the premium experience. Everyone stared in awe as he cut and shaped her hair. He was like in a trance envisioning the end result. It was amazing. Zoe's hair cut was great and despite being at Toni and Guy for 3 hours more than we expected, it was an extremely successful day.
On Saturday, Zoe and I went to a Asian restaurant for lunch. I actually live a minute from Milan's Chinatown and had yet to explore it. Afterwards, we took an adventure and explored around the Navigli area. We got lost trying to find the Bagel Factory and wound up in a flea market. Our adventure eventually landed us at the Bagel Factory (WOO!) and I stocked up on bagels for the next month! Hugh, Sadie, and Chris came over for dinner- we cooked an epic feast with amazing normal lasagna, pesto lasagna, garlic bread, two chocolate cakes! YUMM, we ate ourselves silly! I have mastered making lasagna at this point. I LOVE IT!
Zoe left early the next morning to go to Lake Como with her friends, and I was off to the Alps to go skiing!
IES planned a fabulous ski trip for us! The bus left early Sunday morning and we got there around midday. We had a hotel right on edge of the ski mountain. The ski town we were in was called La Thuile in the Aosta Valley region, which is in the Italian alps, northwest of Milan. THE ALPS ARE AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL! It looks like a scene out of a movie. It was not real. We had the most amazing weather; it was sunny and beautiful and was not cold at all.
As soon as we got there, a lot of us immediately put on ski clothes and went to hit the slopes. I started the day skiing with Ale (the RA- a local Italian), Paula (who basically lives on a ski resort is a skiing and snowboarding master), Nini (from Skidmore too!), and AJ. They were all fantastic skiers and I got myself a bit over my head.
The first run went fine until someone crashed into me, which kind of made my lose my confidence. We took a chair lift up the mountain and ended up on a red slope. :-/... The leveling here in the Alps is different than in America. The lowest is blue, the middle is red, and black is the hardest; but, each level is one level higher than in the states. So the lowest in the Alps (Blue) would be equivalent to a blue in the states (which is the second after green, the easiest). Red in the Alps would be like an American Black! So we ended up on a red slope and boy was I out of my league. I ended up just sliding down the mountain on the side as I had a minor panic attack that I was going to die on the top of the mountain. Meanwhile, the others causally skied on down the mountain. That was the end of me skiing with these amazing skiers. I spent the rest of the day on the easy blue slopes with another girl Sarah. The blues were a bit to easy but for my first day it was a good warm up for the next day!
The buffet dinner provided by the hotel was amazing! Of course most of the food was like "too fancy" for me; if you know me well enough, I am a picky eater and do not eat fancy food. They served like rabbit and fish and pork, etc. Not for me. But I feasted on the delicious pasta! Later that night, a large pack of IES people went to the local pub, King's Pub. We were expecting a really cool bar or discoteca like we have in Milan. Nope... we were the only ones there! It was a cute pub, with a pool table and foosball table. I lost miserably in pool with Anna against Nini and AJ. I actually like pool, but I was uber miserable- like missed hitting the ball every time. Doesn't matter how you play as long as you enjoy it!
Monday we woke up early to be on the slopes when they opened. Little did I know that I was going to wake up with incredible pain around my ankles from skiing the day before. I was in such a rush the day before to get onto the slopes that I was not very careful about socks and pants layers; it ended up bruising my ankles pretty badly. I could barely make it down blue slopes that morning, but I did my best and skiied a little with Erin, Cassie, and Kala.
 |
| View from the Gondola up the mountain |
Photos of Courmayeur:
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| Courmayeur |
Well what an amazing weekend and just a few days later I was in Copenhagen to visit Kayla K. What an amazing few weeks. More stories of my Italian adventures to come!
Snow angels and butterflies,
~E
Monday, March 11, 2013
F is for Fashion Week and Florence!
Pronti? Ready to hear about my super fabulous weekend in Florence?
I do want to preface my description of this past weekend with some details of this weekday. As I said, Milan Fashion week started. Thus... what is life like in Fashion capital of the world during Fashion week? Well the city is a bit more crowded, and the people and clothes are just a little extra beautiful this week. Casually there are a lot models (noticeable because they are over a foot taller than me and have legs like toothpicks) on the metro. All of the stores have upped the designs of their windows.
To kick of Fashion week, my fashion class visited the first Prada store (ever) which is in the Galleria in Milan. I didn't feel worthy enough to be even be walking in the store haha. We also visited La Rinascente and Excelsior, two large department stores here in the city.
On Wednesday, the official start day of fashion week, we (Sadie, Chris, Victoria, Erica, and I) went to Martini Bar, which is a bar that is jointly owned by Dolce and Gabbana and Martini. SO CLASSY! and FABULOUS! We all dressed in our finest to be worthy of the experience... the other people were in pretty high fashion; it was a great way to start Fashion Week! Chris bought a pair of boxers from Dolce and Gabbana to celebrate.
...
What does it mean to travel with me? First, it means that it rains. Of course, Florence rained for pretty much the entire time I was there. Trip #2 with immense amount of rain. Second, it means that every thing that there is to do or see gets done...it means conquering the city.
This past weekend, I went to Florence with Sadie, Brent, Arturo and Chris to visit Zoe, my very best friend from Skidmore who is studying in Florence. Florence is such a beautiful city; the atmosphere feels like Italy- maybe its the yellow toned buildings, the stone streets or the statues everywhere. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming my life of living and visiting Italy. In contrast to Florence, Milan is so urban and so industrialized, so it doesn't necessarily feel like Italy. BUT... Florence has so many Americans, so many tourists, and so much English. Milan makes me have to use my Italian and makes me feel like the odd one out (in a good way!- like in a I am studying abroad way). So there are pros and cons to studying abroad in both locations.
Friday in Florence
We got to Florence on Friday around 11am. Our train took an hour later than expected because it was snowing on the way there. We stayed in a hostel for the first time; it was called Soggiorno Primavera. The people that ran it were so nice and very helpful; the place was pretty ok- clean is all that matters!- but it was far from the center of the city.
Zoe gave us a tour of the city that afternoon. We saw and went inside the famous Florence Duomo. We went to Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge in Florence. We went to Piazza della Signoria (where the fake david is). We went to the leather market- everything was beautiful but it was kind of hard to tell what was real and what was not. Florence is a small city- it is possible to walk everywhere in maximum 20 mins, so we were able to get an introduction quickly to all of the things there were to see. It started to rain, so we decided to go to the Galleria dell'Accademia, which is the where the real David, by Michelangelo, is located. Of course, we stared at the David from all 360 degrees in awe. It was exquisite. The details are incredible. Umm.. just saying- shouldn't the David be circumsized since he was Jewish?... Michelangelo check your facts?? Haha
Afterwards, Zoe and I decided that we wanted to go to Shabbat services. The synagogue in Florence is pretty famous- it's very decadent and so beautiful! Actually there is a synagogue in Baltimore that is modeled after this Florence synagogue. We went to the synagogue and a Chabad rabbi found us standing outside and invited us to light candles with him. Us girls (Sadie, Zoe and I - we met a girl from Baltimore(!) who lit candles with us) lit candles with him. We (Chris, Sadie, Zoe and I) all then went to the synagogue for Kabbalat Shabbat. This was Sadie and Chris's first time at the Jewish service- I think they really enjoyed it despite not understanding anything. Inside, the synagogue was breathtaking- so many intricate details. The service itself was not what Zoe and I like in a Jewish service because the rabbi did the prayers very fast and on his own and there was no real community aspect to the prayer. The men all did their prayers individually. I tried to catch up and follow along but it was difficult.
After the service, the Chabad rabbi invited everyone to Shabbat dinner at the local Chabad. WHAT AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE THIS DINNER WAS. There were Jews visiting Florence from all over the world and they all came to the dinner to share in a Jewish experience abroad. We talked with Jewish girls from Chile and from Israel!! One of my favorite parts of being Jewish is being able to go anywhere in the world and finding a home in the Jewish community, having the prayers be the same (all in Hebrew) and have an immediate connection with the Jews from all over the world. For Sadie and Chris, this Shabbat dinner was a brand new experience. There was so much to observe and learn for them. And they couldn't stop talking about how much they loved it! We left the dinner early and grabbed dinner part two from GUSTA PIZZA...THE BEST PIZZA EVER! IT WAS AMAZING...if you are ever in Florence promise me you'll get GUSTA Pizza...yumm.
Saturday
We woke up EARLY so that we wouldn't be stuck in a line at the Uffizi. Of course, there was of no line. We spent two and a half hours at the Uffizi. WHAT AN AMAZING ART MUSEUM. Unfortunately, after the first hour, a lot of the art was blending together, but we made it through seeing all of the artwork. Of course we stared in awe at the Birth of Venus for a good half hour. When I studied in Barcelona, I took an art history class and was then able to go to the museums and know about all of the artwork. There are a lot of significant pieces of artwork at the Uffizi that I saw but I do not think I was able to appreciate it as much because I didn't have a background in this artwork. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful museum and I am really glad that we had devoted that much time to it.
After the Uffizi, we went inside Santa Croce Basilica. This was a really cool Basilica because it has the tombs of a lot of famous people. I saw the burial monuments for Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo! This particularly was really cool!
Of course it started raining at this point. We were a bit disappointed that we weren't going to be able to go to Michelangelo's lookout and the Boboli gardens like we had planned to because of the rain. We decided to go back to Zoe's apartment and have a mini- wine and cheese party to pass the time until the rain stopped. We chilled there until dinner when we went to ZaZa's for dinner. Yumm. Arturo and Brent shared a 50 dollar ginormous Florentine Steak- it was super rare and super delicious! Arturo, Brent and I grabbed yummy gelato from Venchi (although I am sorry but I have yet to have amazing gelato). We then met up with Chris and Sadie who was at Chris's friend's apartment and hung out with his friends. We went to a really fun local bar afterwards to kill time until 2am, when we were supposed to meet Zoe to go to a secret bakery.
Ok. Secret Bakery. Coolest thing ever. Secret Bakeries are the bakeries that prepare the pastries for smaller pastry shops that do not cook the desserts themselves. Thus, these secret bakeries start baking at 2am to be able to distribute the fresh baked goods. These secret bakeries sell the goods they are baking for like a euro- but the catch is that it is a secret and you have to be very quiet. There is no sign- you are supposed to be able to sniff out the goods baking. Zoe and her housemate had already found them so they took us there. There was already a line of people waiting outside and shushing anyone who was too loud. They were cooking mini brioches and pizza at the time- so I ordered 4 brioches- 2 filled with chocolate and 2 filled with creme. FRESH BAKED, STILL WARM. OMG! It was amazing- I savored each one- having one for breakfast the next morning, dessert for dinner that night, and then breakfast the following following morning. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trips.
Sunday
On Sunday, we woke up and checked out of our hostel. It was not raining so we thought that it was a perfect opportunity to go to Piazza Michelangelo for the lookout over the city. Of course right when we get to the top of the hill, it starts raining. Always our luck! But the lookout was beautiful- a panaromic view of the city. Because of the rain, there was a rainbow in the sky over the city which was just fabulous!
We concluded our stay in Florence with Gusta Pizza again (we couldn't get enough of it!) and gelato! It was sad to say goodbye to Florence - what a beautiful and cute city it is- and it was really sad to say goodbye to Zoe- but luckily Zoe was coming to visit me in Milan 4 days later!
Ok - I am so sorry that I am so behind in my blogging. So much has been happening. Blog post about the alps and Copenhagen coming soon.
Fairies and Rainbows,
~E
I do want to preface my description of this past weekend with some details of this weekday. As I said, Milan Fashion week started. Thus... what is life like in Fashion capital of the world during Fashion week? Well the city is a bit more crowded, and the people and clothes are just a little extra beautiful this week. Casually there are a lot models (noticeable because they are over a foot taller than me and have legs like toothpicks) on the metro. All of the stores have upped the designs of their windows.
To kick of Fashion week, my fashion class visited the first Prada store (ever) which is in the Galleria in Milan. I didn't feel worthy enough to be even be walking in the store haha. We also visited La Rinascente and Excelsior, two large department stores here in the city.
On Wednesday, the official start day of fashion week, we (Sadie, Chris, Victoria, Erica, and I) went to Martini Bar, which is a bar that is jointly owned by Dolce and Gabbana and Martini. SO CLASSY! and FABULOUS! We all dressed in our finest to be worthy of the experience... the other people were in pretty high fashion; it was a great way to start Fashion Week! Chris bought a pair of boxers from Dolce and Gabbana to celebrate.
...
What does it mean to travel with me? First, it means that it rains. Of course, Florence rained for pretty much the entire time I was there. Trip #2 with immense amount of rain. Second, it means that every thing that there is to do or see gets done...it means conquering the city.
This past weekend, I went to Florence with Sadie, Brent, Arturo and Chris to visit Zoe, my very best friend from Skidmore who is studying in Florence. Florence is such a beautiful city; the atmosphere feels like Italy- maybe its the yellow toned buildings, the stone streets or the statues everywhere. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming my life of living and visiting Italy. In contrast to Florence, Milan is so urban and so industrialized, so it doesn't necessarily feel like Italy. BUT... Florence has so many Americans, so many tourists, and so much English. Milan makes me have to use my Italian and makes me feel like the odd one out (in a good way!- like in a I am studying abroad way). So there are pros and cons to studying abroad in both locations.
Friday in Florence
We got to Florence on Friday around 11am. Our train took an hour later than expected because it was snowing on the way there. We stayed in a hostel for the first time; it was called Soggiorno Primavera. The people that ran it were so nice and very helpful; the place was pretty ok- clean is all that matters!- but it was far from the center of the city.
Zoe gave us a tour of the city that afternoon. We saw and went inside the famous Florence Duomo. We went to Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge in Florence. We went to Piazza della Signoria (where the fake david is). We went to the leather market- everything was beautiful but it was kind of hard to tell what was real and what was not. Florence is a small city- it is possible to walk everywhere in maximum 20 mins, so we were able to get an introduction quickly to all of the things there were to see. It started to rain, so we decided to go to the Galleria dell'Accademia, which is the where the real David, by Michelangelo, is located. Of course, we stared at the David from all 360 degrees in awe. It was exquisite. The details are incredible. Umm.. just saying- shouldn't the David be circumsized since he was Jewish?... Michelangelo check your facts?? Haha
Afterwards, Zoe and I decided that we wanted to go to Shabbat services. The synagogue in Florence is pretty famous- it's very decadent and so beautiful! Actually there is a synagogue in Baltimore that is modeled after this Florence synagogue. We went to the synagogue and a Chabad rabbi found us standing outside and invited us to light candles with him. Us girls (Sadie, Zoe and I - we met a girl from Baltimore(!) who lit candles with us) lit candles with him. We (Chris, Sadie, Zoe and I) all then went to the synagogue for Kabbalat Shabbat. This was Sadie and Chris's first time at the Jewish service- I think they really enjoyed it despite not understanding anything. Inside, the synagogue was breathtaking- so many intricate details. The service itself was not what Zoe and I like in a Jewish service because the rabbi did the prayers very fast and on his own and there was no real community aspect to the prayer. The men all did their prayers individually. I tried to catch up and follow along but it was difficult.
After the service, the Chabad rabbi invited everyone to Shabbat dinner at the local Chabad. WHAT AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE THIS DINNER WAS. There were Jews visiting Florence from all over the world and they all came to the dinner to share in a Jewish experience abroad. We talked with Jewish girls from Chile and from Israel!! One of my favorite parts of being Jewish is being able to go anywhere in the world and finding a home in the Jewish community, having the prayers be the same (all in Hebrew) and have an immediate connection with the Jews from all over the world. For Sadie and Chris, this Shabbat dinner was a brand new experience. There was so much to observe and learn for them. And they couldn't stop talking about how much they loved it! We left the dinner early and grabbed dinner part two from GUSTA PIZZA...THE BEST PIZZA EVER! IT WAS AMAZING...if you are ever in Florence promise me you'll get GUSTA Pizza...yumm.
Saturday
We woke up EARLY so that we wouldn't be stuck in a line at the Uffizi. Of course, there was of no line. We spent two and a half hours at the Uffizi. WHAT AN AMAZING ART MUSEUM. Unfortunately, after the first hour, a lot of the art was blending together, but we made it through seeing all of the artwork. Of course we stared in awe at the Birth of Venus for a good half hour. When I studied in Barcelona, I took an art history class and was then able to go to the museums and know about all of the artwork. There are a lot of significant pieces of artwork at the Uffizi that I saw but I do not think I was able to appreciate it as much because I didn't have a background in this artwork. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful museum and I am really glad that we had devoted that much time to it.
After the Uffizi, we went inside Santa Croce Basilica. This was a really cool Basilica because it has the tombs of a lot of famous people. I saw the burial monuments for Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo! This particularly was really cool!
Of course it started raining at this point. We were a bit disappointed that we weren't going to be able to go to Michelangelo's lookout and the Boboli gardens like we had planned to because of the rain. We decided to go back to Zoe's apartment and have a mini- wine and cheese party to pass the time until the rain stopped. We chilled there until dinner when we went to ZaZa's for dinner. Yumm. Arturo and Brent shared a 50 dollar ginormous Florentine Steak- it was super rare and super delicious! Arturo, Brent and I grabbed yummy gelato from Venchi (although I am sorry but I have yet to have amazing gelato). We then met up with Chris and Sadie who was at Chris's friend's apartment and hung out with his friends. We went to a really fun local bar afterwards to kill time until 2am, when we were supposed to meet Zoe to go to a secret bakery.
Ok. Secret Bakery. Coolest thing ever. Secret Bakeries are the bakeries that prepare the pastries for smaller pastry shops that do not cook the desserts themselves. Thus, these secret bakeries start baking at 2am to be able to distribute the fresh baked goods. These secret bakeries sell the goods they are baking for like a euro- but the catch is that it is a secret and you have to be very quiet. There is no sign- you are supposed to be able to sniff out the goods baking. Zoe and her housemate had already found them so they took us there. There was already a line of people waiting outside and shushing anyone who was too loud. They were cooking mini brioches and pizza at the time- so I ordered 4 brioches- 2 filled with chocolate and 2 filled with creme. FRESH BAKED, STILL WARM. OMG! It was amazing- I savored each one- having one for breakfast the next morning, dessert for dinner that night, and then breakfast the following following morning. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trips.
Sunday
On Sunday, we woke up and checked out of our hostel. It was not raining so we thought that it was a perfect opportunity to go to Piazza Michelangelo for the lookout over the city. Of course right when we get to the top of the hill, it starts raining. Always our luck! But the lookout was beautiful- a panaromic view of the city. Because of the rain, there was a rainbow in the sky over the city which was just fabulous!
We concluded our stay in Florence with Gusta Pizza again (we couldn't get enough of it!) and gelato! It was sad to say goodbye to Florence - what a beautiful and cute city it is- and it was really sad to say goodbye to Zoe- but luckily Zoe was coming to visit me in Milan 4 days later!
Ok - I am so sorry that I am so behind in my blogging. So much has been happening. Blog post about the alps and Copenhagen coming soon.
Fairies and Rainbows,
~E
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
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!
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
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
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
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
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
Monday, February 4, 2013
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
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
Thursday, January 31, 2013
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
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
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