Travel Weekend #1: Milano e Lago di Como

During orientation, the director of CIMBA announced to the students his wishes that at some point on this immersion we get lost, get on the wrong train, make a wrong turn, miss the bus, or I suppose, have something relatively unfortunate happen that would put a dent in our travels and as a result "build character". Such kind words, haha. Well, on our first weekend trip, his wishes were granted. A group of 8 of us had plans to travel to Milan for the weekend - somewhat of a last minute decision in hopes to catch an AC Milan game (which fell through). On Friday, a large group of us participated in CIMBA's Da Vinci Challenge - a series of physical challenges, exercises and leadership building (5 foot trust fall, body surfing, eleven individuals climbing a straight wall with nothing to grasp onto but each other, human knots, and the list goes on). Soon after, we took a taxi to a train station where we had to catch a connecting bus to another train. Long story short, the stereotype that Italians are always late is true. Our bus just never came. As a result, we missed our train - the last one of the night - and had to spend the night in a grungy hotel in Padova, Italy (Hotel Monaco) so we could catch the earliest train at 5:45 a.m the next morning.

It turned out being a lot of fun and forced us to get a head start on seeing Milan! Immediately, we saw The Duomo, a gothic cathedral that took five centuries to complete! Duomo is the largest gothic cathedral and the second largest Catholic cathedral in the world. After walking around a bit in the City Center and taking some pictures, we decided to climb the stairs of the Duomo and get the roof top view. It was absolutely incredible. I can't even explain the detail on that building - let alone all of the buildings in Milan. They are made of such high quality stone and materials. Much of the building was under restoration so we didn't get the complete authentic view, but nevertheless, it was amazing. Being the design capital of the world, we were surrounded with stores such as Prada, Louis Vuitton, Mercedes Benz and ones that actually fit up our ally like H&M :] I felt it was too early in the trip to splurge on clothes in Milan, but it definitely would have been memorable!

Our teachers here at CIMBA warned us of 3 typical scams that occur throughout Milan (other than simple pickpocketing). 1.) People will come up and put "free" bracelets on your wrist and once tied, will charge you money for them 2.) People will give you bird seed to feed the pigeons and then charge you an arm and leg for it 3.) Human statues will pose and distract tourists while their belongings are taken. In Milan, we saw dozens upon dozens of men trying to scam us with the bracelets! I find it funny how many of them targeted the boys, seeing as they're more gullible and all :) During the rest of the day we visited Castello Sforzesco, toured the inside of Duomo, walked around the City Center and financial district, "spun on the bull's balls'' for good luck, witnessed Italian students protesting university reforms, and pigged out on street vendor sandwiches, the best gelato I've ever tasted, Milanese "fast food" (a dough ball filled with rice, meat, peas, sauce - kind of like a pot pie), and cannolis :]

That night we decided to go to a sit-down "Italian" restaurant. I say "Italian" because it was owned by chinese people?? Very interesting, but the food was good! We then went to a bar close by our hostel. Ironically, it did not at all resemble an Italian bar, but looked like it came straight out of America - cowboys, horses and all. It did have slot machines there, though, which I found very interesting. Even the tabacchi's (small local stores) have slot machines in them too! 

Sunday morning, we went back near the City Center and walked around a park by The Arch. It was pretty chilly at 35ish degrees, but the sun was out which helped a bit. The park somewhat resembles Central Park in New York, so there were many beautiful things to look at. So many people brought their dogs on walks, and for some reason, they are all extremely tame. Rarely did I ever see a dog on a leash. 

Passing through the metro, we saw that trains to Lake Como were only 6 euro round trip and the ride was only an hour long, so we decided to go! We had a 6:30 p.m train home, so we only had so much time to visit there. I would go back in a heartbeat. I keep saying how beautiful everything is that I see, but this was a different kind of beautiful. There was nothing but hills, mountains, colorful houses, and water. It was a peaceful place to be.We rode a trolley up to the top of a big hill where we were able to see absolutely everything - even the Swiss Alps! There was a quaint coffee shop at the top so I ordered a cioccolata calda, or hot chocolate. I guess true italian hot chocolate is closer to pudding, and that is exactly what it was. I had to use a spoon to finish it up! All in all, it was the best I have ever had. 

When we came back down, it was time to take the train back to Milan. The rest of the night was filled with good quality bonding time during all of the train and taxi rides :] We arrived back on campus at about 10 p.m. while the Packers were playing to go to the superbowl. Overall, it was a great trip, and I am so glad I went. Opinions from many said that Milan was not at the top of the list of places to see compared to others, so I am VERY curious to see other Italian cities because Milan was wonderful!! This week is just filled with classes and homework. One marketing assignment was to observe and document interesting things about Italians - let me tell you, that was a piece of cake. The PDA here is unreal. People kiss heavily on train stations (or generally everywhere), men keep women very close to them, and bunches of girl friends hold hands. Meat dishes here are rare to find. We are typically served some kind of thin cut of veal, pork or chicken in the cafeteria. Not even comparable to America. Menus mainly consist of pasta, fish and wine. Toilets here are just, weird. Some of them are literally just holes in the ground. Others are extremely low to the ground and you have to face the opposite direction that Americans are accustom to. Plus, the fact that in some locations you have to pay to use the restroom is just insane to me. I think it's safe to say I have just been avoiding public restrooms at all costs. Diet Coke is Diet "Light" here because the word "diet" is looked down upon. As expected, Coke in general here does not taste the same. Nutella is the rage! There are Very little accommodations or accessibility for the handicap. Drivers do not yield to peds whatsoever. Where I have seen, there are very few shoulders or sidewalks. Graffiti is EVERYWHERE. Portion sizes here are tiny. Breakfast almost doesn't exist to Italians. Out to eat, individuals have to pay for water and there are cover charges. I could go on and on.

That is all for now! Heading to Florence this weekend. Can't wait!!