Ciao, Italia!

Ten days.

That's how long I've been on my crazy adventure in Milano, Italia. It doesn't even feel like I've been gone for that long. I really planned on blogging every day, but I now found that impossible. Our first week has been so busy that I have been too exhausted to stay up at night to write at all.

First & Second Day

My first official day in Milan started off with hanging out with my sisters, Cleo Rogers and Jessica De La Torre. The first night we just went out to eat somewhere close to our hotel. The next day was more fun! Since Cleo had already been in Milan a few more days than us, she wanted to show us Duomo. First of all, let me just say Duomo has definitely been my favorite part of the city to visit thus far.

Me, Jessica, & Cleo (left to right)

It has the Duomo Cathedral, which I did not get to visit the inside until later on the next week. 

Duomo Cathedral

We also went to eat that day! I had spaghetti alla carbonara, and it was one of the best things I've had! I was really scared to try something new, but I thought, "Whatever, you only live once, right?" That has been my train of thought since coming here.

Spaghetti alla carbonara

We also had our first taste of gelato that night! Oh. Mama. It was the best thing I have ever tasted. I will admit, I will miss the gelato the most from Italy. Overall, the day was spent amazingly and we got to see a lot of cool things! The Duomo square is mostly busy during the early day. There are photographers that go around and try to get you to take pictures that they can print off but you have to pay. One tried to do this with Jessica and I, but we refused. He got pigeons to land on our hands to help convince us, but we just took each other pictures to get them for free! It was really cool how he just whistled and a whole bunch of birds just land on your hand or arm.

Me holding a pigeon!! Credit: Jessica De La Torre

There was a lot of entertainment and I will really miss this place.

I wonder what trick he did to float this way...

Day 3

Our third day, we arrived at the hotel that we are staying at for the rest of our stay. It's called Zumbini Hotel and we got room 210 (crazy, the same room we had back at home in our dorms!). One of the administrators from UNK showed us around that night (Michael!) since Tim hadn't arrived yet!

We went to the Navigli area, which is pretty awesome at night. It's lively and has a lot of places to eat. We did aperitivo, which to put it simply is eating whatever you want, for how many times you want, from a buffet of appetizers after you buy one drink. It's delicious.

I Navigli

Day 4

The next day, Monday, we started classes. We had two amazing professors: Massimo and Filippo. They taught us so much in such a short amount of time. I will miss them teaching us!

Class picture with Massimo (in the middle!)

Group photo with Filippo (on the bottom left)

That night, Michael showed us around one more time before he left. We went to Duomo where a few went for the first time. It was a lot of fun and we ate out together.

Statue of Leonardo Da Vinci

Roaming the Duomo area

Milan's official first skyscraper!

ESN Hosted Events 

At school that week, we got invited to two events from this group on campus called ESN. It's pretty much for foreign exchange students to help them get comfortable in Italy and have a fun time. The first night was an aperitivo night at a club called Old Fashion. It was Cuban night that night so the dancing was super fun. I had a lot of fun and was very glad I went!

My favorite part so far in the club was being under one of the roofs of the dance floor outside while it rained. The air was chilly, people were swaying, and nobody gave a care in the world. We were just dancing and having a good time, enjoying each other's companies. It was amazing. I thought, "This is the life."

Group photo with Fausto at Old Fashion (on the very left), who is one of the leaders of ESN.

They also invited us to another event they hosted, which is "Prom." They told us they try to make an American prom, but I'll just say their proms are wayyyyy better than whatever proms we try to pull off!

First Field Trip

We had our first field trip on Saturday (the 11th of June). My feet were already hurting from the night before (because of prom), so this day was kind of killer.

It was still a lot of fun, and we got to view a castle, the inside of the Duomo cathedral, and the inside of the Teatro alla Scala, which is one of the most precious theatres to Italy. It was beautiful and overwhelming to see everything. I loved every minute.

Castle

Castle

Teatro alla Scala

Close up to the Duomo

Inside of Duomo

Group photo with our tutor, Ilaria!

Our tour guide, Manuela, did teach us something that I thought was super interesting. On the Duomo cathedral, there is this statue at the front that kind of looks like the Statue of Liberty. Well, she said that the artist, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who made us the Statue of Liberty came there for inspiration. He saw that statue and that's how the Statue of Liberty came to be!

The statue that inspired Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who did the Statue of Liberty

Everyone so far has been so amazingly kind. One thing I have noticed is that they have so many dogs around here! I love that. I love dogs so much. They allow them in many hotels, restaurants, shops, and on the metro! It's kind of awesome! It's a big difference from where I live where they are so picky about where dogs are allowed.

And to top it all off, our hotel is right next to a dog park! What better way to end the day than to come back and see a whole bunch of dogs being happy??