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After some mix-ups with transportation in Freiburg, I finally made it to Milan! My sister Leah was there with a church group giving English Clubs at the University and spreading Christianity through that, so I stayed in their hotel with them and hung out with them a lot.

On Friday, Leah and I went sightseeing in Milan! She took me on the subway to the middle of the city, so we walked up the stairs out of the subway and immediately came upon the staggering façade of the Duomo. It was incredible. We were hungry, so we skipped right past to the big shopping center… I don't even know what it is called but it is a big stone passage shaped like a cross and it is really huge with a glass dome ceiling and the floor is COVERED in non-patterned tile. There were all these intricate details in the tiles, and tons of symbols and pictures. So many colors! ;) So we ate at a nice restaurant there (thanks, Dad!) and I had the best pesto I have ever had in my life! We ordered the Pesto and the Penne al'arrabiata (spicy tomato sauce), and they were both great! I was very impressed. I mean, maybe impressed isn't the right word. I WAS in Italy, after all… ;) So my first food goal was down! (Pasta!)

We then walked around the fashion district and took pictures, which was super fun because we would walk past a super expensive store like Cartier or Dior or Jimmy Choo, and there would be a security guard inside the doors just waiting to kick someone out. I feel like they almost either judge you by what you are wearing, or ask you to make a down payment to be able to prove that you are interested in buying something for real… almost like in Pretty Woman. I didn't want to cause any problems, so I didn't experiment. Ha.

But then we couldn't really find the old castle since we were so distracted (I think Leah and I both learned a bit about each other… she knows that I am in love with shoes now and I know that she is really fun to just walk around and take pics with, despite the fact that we couldn't go in anywhere or buy anything!) So after some fun picture-taking, we ended up going back to the Duomo. It is SO different than any German gothic cathedral I have seen—instead of one huge spire it had many little ones (in the same Gothic style), and It was like a thick house shape rather than a long skinny body. It was really interesting that the outside is all white marble but the inside is really dark marble… so dark in fact that they need lights on inside in the daytime to see well! I wonder how they did that before electricity… loooooots of candles! Yes but the duomo had tons of statues, some creepy, some beautiful, and lots of cool tile, again. I enjoyed taking pictures of this LOTR Moria-looking place!

Then we pretty much just went to the University after getting gelato, where we were meeting with the group to have a little graduation ceremony for the students. This was the first time I had met them, and I had heard a lot about them, but meeting them was really fun. They were mostly Chinese (Apparently China has a program with Italy that makes it very easy for the Chinese to study and live there) with one Romanian (she was really nice) and 2 Italians. I was surprised at how well the Chinese spoke Italian, and how good they all were at English! It was fun to even meet a few who were taking beginning German, so I got to speak very easy German with them. They were so excited! ;)

Italy. Hm. Well, it is VERY different than Germany, that's for sure. It's interesting to study in a place where everyone minds their own business and does their own thing, and where they never try to upsell you because they assume you know exactly what you want… hehe. And then, of course, it's fun going places that are the opposite of that. Where people will talk to you everywhere, even sometimes forcing pigeon food in your hand and asking for money, and they always make sure you don't want something else when you buy something, and they are loud by nature! It was funny. I knew on the train over that I was in Italy when the train got REALLY loud. Ha. But I mean, then again, I was only there for a day… It was fun to go from comfy, what I thought was fashionable, Freiburg, to SUPER fashionable boot-essential Milan, and then back to sneaker-and-north-face-coat Freiburg… It's just a different world entirely. On the train back, We went from beautiful sunny Italy through the Alps of Italy and Switzerland, covered in newfallen snow, and finally reached snow-covered Freiburg, where I encountered a LOT of people on the tram carrying Christmas presents from the Christmas market, which started a week ago. I almost missed seeing the designer-name scarves, high-quality leather boots, and perfect wool coats… but the ride home was definitely cool. The town pictured in this post is of Spiez (in Summer). Just picture this scene covered in snow, and that is what I saw. It was beautiful. One stop after this one was a seriously snow-filled landscape of just plain white mountains, no trees. It was beautiful, and of course the minute I start thinking about skiing, 3 skiiers/snowboarders walk into the cabin I am sitting in. Ski boots and all. I would have given anything to have been able to get off there and just go skiing… that would have been amazing. I love trudging through snow! ;)

Well, there was my next culture shock of my time in Europe! Now I must try and get to the library to get some sources for my Art History paper… I hope I get it done before our ice cream topping party! ;)

Love,

Ariel