I think I was overly excited, maybe overly tired, or over ambitious with hopes of waking up early. Well, lucky me to wake up at six am, as my body had absolutely no desire to go back to sleep. There is so much to do with so little time! I rose from bed and made myself a delicious breakfast... Two eggs over easy on a piece of toast topped with a slice of Swiss and prosciutto, adding the perfect amount of saltiness! I added a nice glass of Airborne to fight off the scratch in my throat, so hopefully that comes through for me! I took off on the morning adventure I had been planning for the esteemed La Rinascente located right next to the Duomo. What an experience in La Rinascente! Was it eight stories or ten stories high?! I lost track both on my way up and on my way down... That is when you know you are in the fashion capital of Italy! Well now looking at the map I realize there are 8 real stories with a ground floor, balcony, and a -1 floor along with three floors of wings attached across the street, that clears things up right? Upon my entrance to the store, I could tell by the flashy names of high end brands and variety of gorgeous workers dressed in sleek black that I probably would not be able to afford a single thing in the store, but I didn't care. When in Milan, right? The topfloor was probably the most interesting, scattered with numerous restaurants including a sushi bar, juive shop, and a cafe garden with a gorgeous view of the Duomo! There was even a chocolate store with macaroons and finely crafted chocolate shoes! Venturing to floor negative one, I spotted a ton of people clustered around a small table filled with stamps and notebooks. The sales lady, a very sweet middle aged woman speaking English, Italian, and Spanish, invited me to join in a Moleskin workshop. Given a free beige or gray small writing journal, there were hundreds of stamps with a dozen ink pads to garnish your notebook. I was thrilled to find every single word describing what I wanted to do on my journey to Italy: see, do, create, go, desire, chase, grow, travel, evolve, change, feel, be, and so many more! I quickly and enthusiastically speckled my notebook with all these verbs encompassing my whole purpose of being over here. On the back, I decided to stick with one word: Adventure, truly embodying what this incredible trip has been. What a perfect way to start my day! The overwhelming department store truly embodied Milan's reputation as the fashion capital of Italy.
I proudly navigated the metro correctly (very surprisingly...I am improving!) to return to the IES Center an hour early for class because I really needed to study and catch up on the material we have been learning for class. It is not too difficult, but I don't have the slightest clue what will be on the test. During our daily mid-class coffee break, Alyssa and I ran to discover the cutest little Italian bakery, speckled with fresh ham and cheese stuffed croissants, spinach quiches, chocolate cannolis, and so much more. Three little treats for one Euro... What a deal! After class we wandered the streets in and out of little Italian shops filled with toys, shoes, pastries, and wine.
Returning home, we tried to study some material for our midterm in our class next week, until we realized that the textbook posted online conveniently contained no material we have covered...how convenient! Yet it was nice to have an excuse not to study. After cooking another yummy pesto penne pasta dinner, Alyssa, Karina, Bre, and I hopped on the 94 bus to Calonne, the hopping Italian hangout spot! This was right by Yguana, where we had gone for aperitivo earlier in the week. We have finally found the great place to go out in Milan! The Italians all gather in a huge square in front of a church. They grab cheap drinks (another first we encountered) at bars from around the square and just hang out. A tradition in Calonne is when the famous homeless Milanese man starts a clap, everybody gets riled up and joins right in. When we first saw this event, it literally looked like a huge cult like drum circle with everybody dancing and chanting, what great entertainment. With the communication barrier, we had a tough time ordering drinks, so usually ended up with whatever the bartender felt like giving us, which was not a very bad option. My favorite was the lemon lime shot at the bar down the street, or the lemonade and strawberry vodka drink at the corner bar. Although we still cannot figure out how late public transportation runs, Bre and I managed to take the bus home (after going through the entire bus loop to arrive back at our starting point), but we somehow eventually found our way back to the apartment. Another eventful day in the life of an Italian traveller :)