Friday Finding Work and the SPA!

Friday was a long day. We started with our first 2.5 hour Italian class that we would have for 3 days a week before eventually dropping down to 2 days. At 9:00 in the morning that was definitely a wake up call. After class we stopped to try gelato again and I did not so successfully order in Italian this time. But it was great. See photos. 

We had one last orientation session on that Friday and this involved a required-by-the-Italian-government "Safety in the workplace meeting" as well as our final task the "Rush Hour Test". It was as lame as the name is but I was glad that they made us figure out where our job was. Essentially, we had to head out at 2:00 to find our workplaces and send a picture to the internship coordinator that we had found our way. I ended up finding out in my session the previous day that I would be working in the Startup Incubator along with three other IES interns. We were together working for three different companies, ZesTrip, Gourmet Italy and Pikablink, but were all in an open area room which meant that we could commute together. 

The commute was rough. For one 2:00 in the middle of a June Milan heat wave is not fun to walk in period but our google maps also made us walk most of the way, which we researched the next day and could take the metro to cut out at least 15 minutes of walking. (We would later start going home before our Italian class ending at 11:30 and work starting at 1:00 to grab lunch and not carry our computer around the whole time.) But our commute involves metro from Saint Ambrogio (or Lanza our home station) to the train station of Cadorna where we have to take a surburban train pass Milano Domodossola to the Bovisa Politecnico stop where the Politecnic university is. We then walk about 15 minutes with only about 5 minutes of shade, passing a lot of super cheap university cafes that we plan to visit, and eventually walking upon the PoliHub which consists of several brightly colored modern buildings. 

By the elevators into the office

This first day we knew that one of the girls had a meeting with her boss but the rest of us hadn't heard anything. We walked in, literally dripping sweat (not lying), thankful that we did not have to meet our bosses. We took a picture of the doorway and as we were waiting for the elevator, my bosses come out excited to meet me. I held a 10 minute conversation while I constantly wiped sweat off my face and tried to be positive about it being so hot. They showed me around the office with a color scheme of white, yellow, green and blue, large text like "Enjoy" on the walls, glass conference rooms, a large "Arena" or cafeteria-type room for collaboration and even foosball and pingpong on the rooftop terrace. It was super cool but we were dying of heat so I was very thankful when the introduction ended. 

Some graffiti on the walk home

We survived the 45 minute commute home with the reminder that we were visiting the Spa that night. Milan has a spa that is located on natural springs and has been featured by Vogue. (crazy). We had reservations at the spa, which we found was only 40 euro to go to and spent the rest of the night relaxing in their element rooms of fire, water, earth, the hot and cold pools, the jacuzzis and waterfall rooms, the rock tables that pour burning hot water on you, the glass room full of people in robes eating candies as well as fantastic bruschetta and fresh fruit and the open bar of chapagne, wine and fresh squeezed juice. That was awesome. We spent some time also at the outdoor pools soaking up the city and relaxing after our first few, and very hot, days.

We went to Just Cavalli the night club that night, owned by Roberto Cavalli. That was an experience. We walked two miles to get to another group's apartment then from there went two miles to get to the club (which was only about two blocks from our apartment...). It was a fun night of dancing but after hours on our feet and reminding ourselves of the cover charge we were ready to go home and sleep. 

First days with the Program!

The second day on the trip was the day I moved into my apartment. I got the chance to wake up at a decent time, pack my things from the hostel and call a taxi. I correctly pronounced my new Italian address and the taxi driver dropped me off out front. I had forgotten that in Italy you do not tip but luckily the man was nice enough to remind me and give me full change back. 

Also "luckily", I was the first one in the apartment. Score. Well, this was after I knocked on the 4th floor IES apartment and had to be directed down one more floor. Midly awkward. But moving in first meant that I got the chance to scour the rooms, (pick the one with the balcony and bathroom attached) and settle in for a bit without having to worry about introductions for about an hour. My roommate was the next to arrive, a Dallas girl that goes to UT Austin named Katie. Her luggage had gotten lost on the way over and seeing her first-day jet lag, I was happy that I planned to get to the city a day earlier. Next to arrive was a Miami girl named Marissa and the fourth, a Minnesota girl girl named Anni who left to spend time with her parents before they left. 

Because Katie was pretty out of luck with clothing we headed to the Duomo shopping area to find basic necessities and grab lunch. After quick stops at Zara and the coolest bathing suit/pajama store we found a restaurant through the Gallerie Vittorio Emmanuelle II (see the last post for picture of this beautiful mall). 

At the restaurant I ordered a margherita pizza. Here, that is what we would consider "cheese". I asked the waiter what size it was and he said "personal". When I got it, it was definitely not personal. I left with only finishing about half of it and already started hating the taboo to-go box concept. We went back to the apartment so that we could have our "orientation lessons" with our Italian CA where she taught us how to use the 6 recycling bins, where the electrical box is, how to take out the trash to the scariest basement I've ever seen in my life, etc. Oh, and she informed us that we did have air conditioning (but it was broken) so that was a nice surprise. 

Our Italian CA is a 25? year old named Titi, short for Tiziana. She has short and wild curly hair and smokes cigarettes out her bedroom window. She is one of the nicest people I think I've ever met in my life and she has been super helpful in telling us places to go around the city for food, music, groceries, etc and she's started talking to me in Italian!

Overall the apartment was way nicer than I would have ever expected. I truly had imagined my bedroom as two twin beds pushed together at the feet and no closet. I had no idea that we would have any kind of a living room, especially one as big as ours. I did not imagine that there would be air conditioning, a washer and drier, dishwasher or even wifi. I also did not expect that we would be living in one of the nicest areas of the city, Brera. This area is known to be pretty "uppity". It's the artistic area full of boutiques (that I could never afford), beautiful restaurants and cafes and several theaters and art galleries. The Marc Jacobs cafe is only a few steps from our apartment. This is good and bad in terms of food prices and even grocery prices but luckily I learned that early on. (Photos of the apartment to come). 

View from the kitchen window

Continuing on, we had an orientation aperitivo that night at 7:00 and we were supposed to meet at the Duomo to walk to the restaurant which was set in the courtyard of the Piccolo Teatro. This meant that on Italian time, all of the other groups showed up at 7:30 and we eventually started eating at 8:00. I've come to find that these dinner times are completely normal and often don't even start until 8,9,10 at the latest. Titi, urged me to try the Spagliato, an Italian drink that was the strongest thing I've ever tasted. The alcohol was Aperol, an Italian favorite. Not an Emily favorite. It's very bitter tasting and also bright orange, two downfalls. We picked at the food provided at the aperitivo which was a variation of nice cheeses on fancy crackers, piled pieces of sliced meat, corn salads in tiny bowls and grapes on a stick. The presentation was very nice but even the Italian CAs were complaining that there was not much food. This definitely wasn't a meal, for Americans or Italians. (After trying new places for Aperitivo we've come to learn that it is god's gift to Italy, this was was let down though.)

Aperitivo

Our "meal" ended and the Italian CAs were ready to go down to the "columns". None of us had any idea what this was but also few people wanted to be left out. We lost a few members of the group due to jet-lag and over socialization on the first day, but otherwise we walked about 7 blocks to gli Collone di San Lorenzo. It's essentially a large open block, that does indeed have large historic columns through it, but also has small bars tucked in the bottom floors of the building that sell drinks for 2euro. Everyone sits around the large square and socializes. It's a really neat atmosphere if you're prepared for the mosquitos. 

Two roommates at the Columns

Our group, the girls in my apartment and a few from the apartment upstairs, ended up staying for about an hour or two then wandering back. "Wandering" here would be the appropriate word for trying to use google maps on spotty internet and making gut decisions on where we were in the city. We ended up finding the Duomo which meant that we could locate our apartment off of that, and we also came across an Amersterdam frites store along the way that ended up being our dinner for the night. 

Walk back through Brera - crappy iPhone photo

Walk back through Brera

The second day was filled with orientation meetings with a large group about "Italy" and "the culture" as well as navigating the city. (These meetings were held in a classroom with no air conditioning and desks that were fixed in rows and we could hardly move out of.) It also included individual meetings informing us of our schedules for the next few weeks. (These rooms had air conditioning). Katie and I both had later meetings after our sessions ended earlier in the morning so we both went back to the apartment to take a nap. On our way back (we successfully found Universita Catholica and stopped for gelato along the way).

This is where our classes are. Italian is the second door on the left and up two flights of stairs. And past the BMW.

Girls on our walk back

We went to the grocery that night and got a few things to fill our fridge for the next few days but my Italian CA along with the CA upstairs, Elena, prepared us a dinner of two different pastas which was absolutely delicious. 

Two apartments at dinner

We headed back to the columns that night and ended up making the trek a few more blocks from that to the Navigli. I didn't know this until after researching Milan, but Venice isn't the only city with canals! We sat along the Navigli and swatted mosquitos before again heading home for the night. 

First Day in Milan!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for my status as M.I.A. on this site. I promise I'm alive and (very) well. After looking back at the calendar I'm blown away that I've now been in this city for two weeks. Or blown away that I'm in this city at all but I'm loving it. So I'm going to attempt to recap what I've been doing for two weeks, and in the future, work on posting more consistently and frequently now that I've got a routine. This recap might involve multiple posts for the purpose of time and making sure pictures actually load so bear with me. Without further ado, here we go.

My day of traveling was a long day and by long day, I mean about a 38 hour day. I left on June 1st at 3am from my hotel room, and after after a lost passport scare..., I flew out of Cincinnati at 6 in the morning. I arrived in Atlanta at 8 in the morning and was supposed to have a flight to JFK in NYC at 6:00. My time in Atlanta started with a Qdoba burrito at 10 in the morning, acceptable because I had then been up for 7 hours so it was my lunchtime despite the stares from other airport-goers and even the burrito rollers at Qdoba. Shameless. Anyways, this layover ended up turning into a 6 hour layover and me, along with the others that had my same flight in New York, panicking about missing our international flight. We took off from the ground in Atlanta at 3:30, made it to JFK at 5:30 and the 10 of us sprinted to the moving sidewalks, to the trolley, and then to the gate making it with about 10 minutes till they started boarding the plane. Though this paragraph is a little boring, it's all to show that it was indeed a long day.

When I finally sat down on the plane I landed in Italy. It was the start of being surrounded by completely Italians. The flight attendants were having difficulty getting the outspoken Italian women to sit in their seats, understand which seats were their correct ones, how to actually put their luggage in the compartment and get their seatbelts buckled so we could take off in a timely manner. At that time, I was wondering what the hell I got myself into. Now, after two weeks here, I understand that the behavior I was seeing is completely normal and now funny to me.

I ended up with a super kind Milanese man sitting next to me. I think he got the sense that I was nervous and started asking why I was going to Italy. When I responded to his Italian saying that I didn't speak Italian, I think he started to get the picture. Over the ride, he continued to talk to me while I had headphones in, in which I would have to pause my movie and then later rewind to get to the part I was at, which didn't seem to bother him and, ultimately, not me either.

On the plane, I enjoyed two terrible Delta meals (Delta you really let me down this time), one movie, about 20 minutes of cumulative sleep (no bueno/non bene), and several good tips from the man next to me about where to go and what to do while I'm in Italy. When we got off the plane he told me good luck and that I was going to have a great time. After 7 hours on a flight and over 24 hours already traveling I was not buying it.

I got off the plane at 8am Milano time, saw that I had a $300 charge already billed from ATT from solely landing in another country, navigated Italian signs until I got to the longest customs line I've ever seen, picked up my luggage and then kicked into panic mode when my credit card was locked and I had $12 US dollars in my pocket. I attempted to call my bank forgetting that it was precisely 2:00 in the morning until I scoured around the airport and found a "cash machine" that allowed me to withdrawal my money. I used my first 40euro to buy an Italian sim card (which long-story short I haven't had to use yet because ATT was being somewhat helpful) and bought my ticket from the airport train station. It was here that I figured out that "binario" means platform and I got to the train just as it was about to leave from the station.

My train ride was fairly view-less and I overheard a group of Italian women talking (in Italian which gave me a little confidence about my skills) about the Caitlyn Jenner magazine cover and another Italian business man complaining on the phone. I got to the Central Station and was already in awe of the sheer massiveness. You can feel the bustle of the city in that train station. I walked with my two bags of luggage, getting tons of stares with two bags instead of one, tried to find "armarios", which is the Spanish word for lockers, with no success for the solely Italian speaking workers, because my hostel room did not open until 12pm. (I've come to find that I know more Spanish than I realized and this Spanish will come out when I'm trying to speak to Italians. It's about a 50% chance that they understand what I'm saying). I decided to go ahead and head over there anyways so I got a taxi and got my first glimpse of Italian driving.

To get straight to the point, I thought I was going to die. For a road designed to be two "lanes" there were three cars cramming to fit each on the left and the right side of the white line that used more for suggestion than anything. About the only two rules they abide by are to stop at red lights and try not to hit the pedestrians. Vespas are fair game. This kind gentleman dropped me off at the corner of a street, gave me my bags and then took off. Real nice. (Are you getting the picture that my 36 hours was a bit of a hectic whirlwind?) I had no idea where I was but luckily found myself about 4 blocks away from my hostel and myself and my two bags rang the doorbell outside and walked in.

The hostel was actually really nice and the two asian kids behind the counter (I now know that I was staying in Italian China-town) happily checked me in early. She was super excited to find out that I was America, which was apparently very clear, and she put me in a double room that was open despite the fact I bought a single room. A room all to myself was exactly what I needed. It was the best feeling to lay on those two twin beds pushed together after a long and hectic day. I stayed in the room for a bit and tried to get ahold of ATT to unlock my phone for the new sim card (again realizing it was now only 4 in the morning in the states and I'm pretty sure the kids behind the desk thought I died. I finally got up, put on my new Supergas, "the Italian peoples' shoes" which now show the signs of constant walking and public transportation, and did some in-depth research on the Milan metro system. I've come to learn that the Milan public transportation system is one of the best in Europe and it is absolutely fantastic. There is no real reason to own a car in this city and you can get pretty much anywhere you would like to go by foot, bike-rental, car-sharing, tram, bus, metro and train. Go Milan.

I got on the yellow track and headed to the Duomo. When I was climbing up from the metro underground onto Piazza Duomo, the massive Duomo was opening up before me and it was incredible. I walked around the Piazza and also got my first glimpse of the insane amount of pigeons and the insane amount of soliciters trying to sell me bracelets, selfie-sticks and anything else you can imagine. I took a walk through the Gallerie Vittorio Emanuele II, which is absolutely amazing. I walked into the intersection of Prada, Versace and Louis Vuitton and knew I was in the fashion capital of the world. I took a stroll around a few of the blocks and decided that my initial plan to climb to the top of the Duomo was not going to happen today. I went to a caffe and had my first experience ordering, which involves first buying a sandwich and then handing your receipt to get your sandwich. Ended up explaining the wrong sandwich to the cashier but did manage to ask for it "caldo" and got my first hot panini. I picked at my sandwich at the stand-up counter, very common here as people apparently have 0 time to sit and enjoy a panini or a coffee (will explain their coffee shops later) and stared through the window at the Piazza watching the people.

I got back on the metro and headed to my hostel around 2:00 in the afternoon and I was asleep by 6:00. I woke up around 12 completely confused about where I was, what time it was and struggled to fall asleep again. This gave me a good amount of time to call ATT and get my phone straightened out. Figure out my route to my apartment the next morning and finally fall back to sleep.

So there we go. Day 1!

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Back Again to Say "Arrividerci America!"

Well I can't believe I'm firing this up again but my bags are packed yet again for a trip to Europe and my journey of plane rides and layovers all across the United States begins tomorrow at 4:00am with a final destination of Milan, Italy. Hard to believe, but I'll be spending this summer across the Atlantic again working instead of studying. I received the Morelle Legg International Internship which grants me $10,000 to work abroad in a city of my choosing. I was blown away in November when I won the award and I'm still pretty shocked when I truly think about what a crazy opportunity this is. And really. Crazy. I could go on for a while about the "craziness" of this trip but at the same time it is exciting, unbelievable, daunting and other words that cannot fully begin to describe it. However, at this point one thing that is finite and that is my 3:45 wake up call tomorrow morning.

So to get to the point of this opening post: I will keep this blog updated again with photos and stories about my experiences; however, they will be a little more sporadic than last year's consistent posting. If you just can't get enough of my super cool posts, you can head over to the Rhodes Abroad blog {Whoo! Link here!} where I'll be posting for Rhodes this summer. (I'll make sure to put a link in the sidebar for easy access because I know you'll be dying to read more.)

See ya on the flip side!
Emily

Au Revoir Antwerp!

Wednesday was pretty bittersweet. 

I was excited to get home but I'm going to miss Antwerp.

We left the hotel at 7:00 but my morning had started at 5:00 because of my last minute packing. Getting the tickets the day before was a good idea. We opted against getting a taxi because we were only about a mile away but by the time we finally got to the train station my arms were jelly. 

Waiting at the intersection of the Meir.

We made it to the trains in good time with about 30 minutes to spare before it was to take off. That's actually our train in the background of the photo.

I had packed a sandwich from the Ibis breakfast. That had been my daily breakfast that I would carry onto the bus for our trips. I'm going to miss the fresh brie, ham and baguettes every morning.

We spent the whole train ride talking about the most memorable parts of the trip. It's hard to believe we're already reminiscing. We've had such a blast.

The train and airport were all a breeze. The flight was also a lot easier than the one entering Belgium. I moved my seat to the window the night before and it was such a good move. I ended up getting over 4 hours of sleep on the 9.5 plane ride. 

I sat next to a San Francisco native who has been living in Antwerp for the last 10 years. Pretty neat to talk to. We'd talk during meals otherwise it was all movies and sleep.

I also watch Monument's Men which was a great one to see after the visit. We had seen so many things that were in the film including the mines!

Waiting on the ground in Brussels.

Till next time, Europe.

Emily