Pre-session Summer 2018
(May 16-May 30) 
Our last two days, here in Italy, were spent in Milan. My entire life, I knew Milan as the capital of fashion and design, as well as home to many famous fashion models and designers. Working for a private fashion boutique, and loving to stay current on fashion myself, a major excitement sparked for me and my visit to Milan. Not even five minutes off the train, and I was able to spot models and all the fashion brands (some native to Milan) I knew. While walking through the city later on, and while sitting on the steps of the duomo, I spent a long time people watching, and admiring the styles of the Milan natives. It was easy to spot a tourist over a Milan resident, as the differences in style were practically slapping you in the face. Hand in hand with fashion is shopping. So, I was in complete amazement while walking through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is Italy’s oldest active shopping mall. Named after the first king of the Kingdom of Italy, the Galleria presents as a four-story double arcade in the center of town. My second favorite experience of Milan was another major landmark, the The Gothic Duomo di Milano cathedral. I was in complete awe of its gothic structure and intricate architecture. Luckily, I was able to do a spire walk. After climbing the many many stairs to the top, I overheard a possible tour guide say that there are more statues on this gothic-style cathedral than any other building in the world. There are 3,400 statues, 135 gargoyles and 700 figures that decorate this Duomo. The view from the top was breathtakingly beautiful. It gave an amazing view of the city of Milan, and especially of the Galleria from the top. I decided to sit on the rooftop for awhile, and as I did all I could think about was how lucky I was to have this experience, as it was one I would never forget.
...Category: Blog postings for Milano
For my final destination of my Italy trip, I got to explore the city of Milan. This place is known worldwide for its reputation in the fashion industry; it is one of the most popular places for fashion designers and models. It was an interesting atmosphere, because it reminded me a lot of New York City. I people-watched the whole time and was facinated by the way that most of the people dressed. Seeing so many people who looked like they just stepped off the catwalk was a big shutdown for my confidence. It is amazing that there are certain parts of the world that specialize in different passions. I love how people who are into fashion can just go to Milan, Paris, or New York City and be surrounded by other people who share their same passion for apparel. I would imagine that it is the same feeling that I have when I am at a horse show or a rock concert; it is comforting to know that you are in the presence of people who understand what really matters to you. I really felt the determined energy in Milan and I could tell that it was a city full of dreamers and believers. It is important for large groups of people to radiate positive energy together. I am not particularly interested in fashion or models, so that is why Milan was such a new territory for me to enter and attempt to relate to. I think Milan was the perfect end to the trip, because it was so familiar, yet strange to me.
...
The last stop on the incredible tour of Italy was Milano, a city I only remember learning about during my Italian class in highschool where we had to remember a handful of major cities in the country. I had zero expectations, except for the idea that I would be seeing a lot of supermodels who dressed better than I did. (That part was true). I had no idea that there was a Duomo in Milan (now I find it strange when I arrive in a city where there ISN’T a duomo to climb to the top of) but I was eager to see it because the duomo in Florence still remains to be my favorite piece of architecture, although Milan’s comes very, very close. As I expected, the duomo took my breath away. It looked so out of place and unmoving in an eerie sort of way. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of it in the hopes that I could capture its essence. I didn’t, of course, but at least I tried. Climbing to the top was far less challenging than Florence’s duomo (although I wouldn’t know firsthand) but surely just as worth it. I remember standing at the top staring out across the city. I’m not sure how long we all stood up there. Again, I felt out of touch with time wandering around such a historic monument. I wish I could articulate the feeling. The last day of the trip, we were given the option to travel to Lake Como. After seeing some of the images, I knew I had no choice but to go, and I’m so, so glad that I did. It was the perfect way to end the trip even though the morning was pretty stressful. We only had about ten-ish minutes to buy our tickets and find seats on the train, but, thank goodness for Dr. Permenter, we all made it in time. My favorite part of the day was spent in Bellagio, which is about an hour’s boat ride from Lake Como. It was the quaintest little town filled with small shops and restaurants. Although slightly touristy, Bellagio still felt authentic. My friends and I all wandered around for awhile before stopping to sit as close to the water as we could get. It was a beautiful day. I remember closing my eyes and just listening to the sound of the water hitting the rocks and the seagulls from above me. We even saw a mother duck swimming along with her babies, which was probably the cutest thing I had seen. We all ate at a really nice restaurant where I had the best ravioli I have ever had (RIP) and then we got gelato as well, which I’m sure Dr. O’Connor would be proud of. After that we regretfully got on the boat to Lake Como, which was still very nice but nothing compared to the beauty of Bellagio, at least in my opinion. I wish I could relive that day over...
On our very last full day of the Italy trip we had the choice to go around Milan or Lake Como. I took the opportunity and saved 30 euro for train tickets and spending money while we are there. I am so happy that I chose to. There was about 15 of us maybe less that went and we all got very close. We separated into small groups and wondered the 3 different cities. First we got a train ticket from Milan to Varenna. The view just at Varenna was breathtaking. Being so close to the Swiss Alps was unreal. Then a ferry from Varenna to Bellagio. Then another long ferry ride to Como. Walking around Como was interesting. We weren’t exactly sure where we were going to go or what we were going to do. We walked around just looking at sights we haven’t seen before and explored. Once we had spent most of the day hopping from city to city we decided to head back to Milan. What seemed to be an easy and not long train ride turned into something much worse. We walked a mile to the train station that was supposed to take us to Milan. We went to to platform that we thought was taking us back to the central train station in Milan. We hopped on the train and settled in for the ride. It wasn’t even five minutes and I got a text message saying “Welcome to Switzerland! Data and texting rates apply where you are located.” We realised we weren’t going in the right direction and started to worry. There were 5 of us in the group and one of us didn’t have our passport in case something happened. We went inside and looked at trains back into italy and found one that left in 5 minutes to go back to Como. We weren’t thinking, so we didn’t buy train tickets we just went out to the platform and waited to get on. The bad part about that was we didn’t have tickets for that train and could’ve gotten into big trouble. We lucked out though. We got back into Como and bought new train tickets for Milan and made sure to get on the right train to Milan. We made it back after 2 hours of going to another country and coming back.
...
It was our last full day in Italy and the group had the choice of staying in Milan or going to Lake Como. I chose to go to Lake Como. Our departure there was a little stressful. We all walked to the metro together and rode it to Milano Centrale. In Milano Centrale, we bought train tickets to Varenna. By the time everyone that was going had bought their ticket, it was 8:06 and our train would depart at 8:20. This is where things got a little stressful. We all raced upstairs to look at the departing trains to find our platform. The tickets we buy usually have a train number on them, but since this was one of the local trains, we didn’t have the luxury of figuring it out by train number. We had to look for where each local train would go. Thankfully, we had Dr. Permenter with us because she was the one that was able to find out which train we needed to be on and we all hopped on, just in the nick of time. We were almost at our stop, Varenna, when we were starting to see the Swiss Alps and some of Lake Como. We had finally arrived at our destination and started walking towards the ferry. Once we were close to the ferry, we saw beautiful Lake Como and the Swiss Alps. We stayed in Varenna for a bit doing a little shopping and having photo sessions. Our next stop was Bellagio. When getting off the ferry and into the town, I noticed some steps that lead into the water and told my group that we should sit there for a while, they all agreed. We all sat there enjoying the views and taking our last looks of Italy in. After about an hour or two, we went to a restaurant for some lunch. I had to try their minestrone soup, mostly because I was a little chilly, but it was a must try while in Italy, because they have a yellow broth instead of a brown broth like America does. It had to have been the best soup that I have ever tasted in my life. After lunch, we all decided to move onto our next destination, Como. We had barely made the boat to Como. When we got on, we saw that the entire group was already on the boat. It took about an hour to get to Como from Bellagio. When we arrived, we all decided to find out where the train station was so that we could get our tickets back to Milan. After buying our tickets we went to a park by the Tempio Voltiano. We sat and watched the swans for the last few hours. It was kind of bittersweet at the end of the day because we had seen some breathtaking views of Lake Como from three different towns and it was also our last full day here. We will miss you Italy and we...
Milan is known for being the city of fashion. However, I do not keep up with fashion and I am definitely not a fashionista. So, instead of looking at the next clothing item to buy, I did a spire walk. It was quite interesting to walk up a spiral staircase with hundred sixty nine steps to get to the edge of the roof of the Duomo di Milano. We had an amazing view of the spires from the moment we walked out of the door of the staircase. I think it was even better that we were able to walk up another seventy one steps to be sitting on top of the roof. The view from up here was absolutely breathtaking! Nothing could have made the city more gorgeous, except maybe the removal of all the construction work being done of the Duomo and the buildings nearby. While I didn’t get to go up in the Duomo di Santa Maria and see the entire city of Florence, I was able to climb the Duomo di Milano and see the entire city of fashion. When in Milan, you should visit the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and spin the balls of Taurus the Bull. Spinning on his balls three times is said to bring one good luck. This has actually created a divot in the floor. Also, if you are able to do one complete spin without touching your other foot to the ground in this very divot, it is said that you will return to Milan one day. I might not have spun around in the divot three times, I was able to do a complete spin on my right foot without my left touching the ground.
...
I didn’t think I could love another city in Italy as much as I loved Florence, but I definitely loved Milan. It was so different from the other cities we visited, perhaps because a majority of the city is more contemporary and new as compared to the buildings that have been around since ancient and Renaissance times. The cathedral was so different from the others we had seen. Its architecture definitely stood out: instead of columns and domes, it utilized several spires. The stained glass windows on the inside are what stood out to me though. /they were so beautiful, colorful, and different from anything we had seen at the other churches. Milan also had the most attractive people of all the cities we visited, of course it is the fashion capital of the world and it’s flooded with supermodels. I actually saw a male model and a photographer taking pictures in the street on our last day there before Miranda broke her shoe and we had to go back to the hotel. We ventured out later (after Miranda had changed shoes) to find a tattoo parlor so I could get a tattoo. Eventually we found on that was still open. None of us could speak Italian enough to communicate what I wanted and only one of the artists spoke English. Fortunately, we were able to figure everything out and within a half an hour, I had a tattoo on my foot that reads, “La dolce vita.” Getting a tattoo in Milan was kind of a fun experience because it happened pretty spontaneously and now I have a lasting reminder of this trip.
...
During my stay in Italy, I’ve been relatively convinced that the most impressive cathedral would be the Duomo in Florence. In a lot of ways, this sentiment was definitely correct. However, upon entering the Cathedral of Milan, I was shocked and amazed. For whatever reason, perhaps because Milan is widely regarded as being the capital of the fashion world, I wasn’t expecting to see a lot of beautiful structures. I was extremely pleasantly surprised by Milan’s cathedral. As we climbed to the very top of the building, I was struck by the most beautiful view. It was truly incredible to be physically among the spires and statues atop of the cathedral. It was a very unique and beautiful experience. This, of course, was before having entered the cathedral itself. The giant pillars were simply incredible. As we strolled around the pews, an organ played in the background. I could smell the incense in the air as May’s Sun gently cascaded through the amazing stained glass windows. I’ve been waiting to feel a real connection with a cathedral here in Italy. Having been raised Catholic, I expected to feel much more in tune with my faith here given that culturally, Italy is a very Catholic country. For whatever reason, the Cathedral of Milan was really the first time I felt that way. I would certainly recommend visiting Milan’s Cathedral if you find yourself in the city of fashion. Even though it isn’t as flashy as the Galleria Vitorrio Emanuele II, but it’s a beautiful sight that is worth remembering.
...
Unfortunately, when we were in Bologna I caught the SRU Plague that everyone seemed to be getting and that put quite the damper on the rest of my trip. I able to really explore Bologna or Milan but I did get to see the cool things that we did as a class together. The Milan Duomo was my favorite cathedral that we’ve gone to all trip and I was surprised that it seemed kind of downplayed compared to the other churches that we visited. I loved the spire walk, which was when we got to climb on top of the Duomo and explore sections of the marbled roof. I was super glad that I took my polaroid and was able to snap a few pics. The inside of the church was huge and incredibly beautiful even though it wasn’t all frescoed like the churches we’d seen in Florence and Rome. The pillars the lined the church were magnificent and smooth and all of the windows were filled with beautiful stained glass. The Milan Duomo really reminded me of the church that my parents made me go to when I was little. On either sides of the aisle were candles lined up that people could light for offerings. I really liked that there were so many candles because in each church that we’ve visited I’ve lit two candles wherever there are candles to be lit. When I was little and went to church with my family my grandmothers would give me a few dollars to go light candles for other people in my family that had passed away. I’m not a religious person, but since my grandmothers have passed away I knew how much it would mean to them to have candles lit in their memory, especially candles all over Italy.
...
...
