Ciao!
As promised, here's the post on Milan!
On Saturday, September 24, 2011, I went on a class trip with my IS199 (White Lies and Timid Heros, Italian Storytelling on the Stage) class to Milan.
This trip was led by my professor, Fabio Ferrari, who is easily one of my favorite professors at Franklin.
He even received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Connecticut College, which makes him even greater.
The train ride to Milan was an experience in itself, as we had to take a train with reservations on it; while this seems efficient (as the Swiss are known to be) it was not. First we had to find the seats that were for us, and people would sit in them if they did not have a reservation of their own.
I finally got my seat, only to be blessed with a group of people speaking in Italian, and I quickly gathered they were talking about me.
Turns out they had made an agreement with a girl from our group before I got there and switched seats so their friend could sit with them, so it was actually no longer our seat.
This actually worked out for me because I got to sit with our Academic Mentor, Melissa, as well as Professor Ferrari on the hour-long train ride!
He asked Melissa and I for music recommendations, so we quickly suggested our favorites.
Some of them included: Pitbull, Sara Bareilles, Adele, Mumford and Sons, The Fray, and Maroon 5.
We arrived at Milano Centrale, and Professor Ferrari informed us that it was actually designed after Union Station in Washington D.C. which I thought was interesting because I took a train to Union Station in the summer of 2010!
The pictures I have aren't great, as they're from my iphone and I was walking while taking them, but here area few of Milano Centrale:
Our first stop in Milan was to get some lunch! Professor Ferrari led us to this restaurant called The Factory. It was a nice immersion experience, as the menu was in Italian, which was fun to order off of, not knowing what everything was..
I ended up getting Eggplant Parmigiana pizza. Like a true Italian restaurant, we were served massive pizzas, individually! It was pretty much like if you ordered a small pizza back home. That's a typical single-serving Italian pizza! So good!
From the restaurant, we headed over to a pre-screening of an Art Exhibit. It was an interesting experience, and it was definitely not for everyone. The artist described his collection as a modern-day hero, and whether or not there was anything he could do to prevent the second plane from hitting the World Trade Centers. It was a very critical piece on American culture, and done in a very... dramatic fashion.
I can appreciate art in a variety of different views, and I'm sure that this artist had his reasoning for why he portrayed his art the way he did, but it was not something that I fell in love with.
Perhaps it is because I'm an American and September 11 is viewed differently for me than someone from Europe...
It was a great experience, but not one of my favorites.
After we left the art exhibit, we started to make our way to the Duomo di Milano, the largest Gothic-styled cathedral in Italy, and the 4th largest cathedral in the world.
Professor Ferrari told us that he was actually taking photos from the roof of the Duomo on September 11th, and that's where he was when he found out about the attacks on America.
(Duomo di Milano)
(S. Dionigi - preserved inside the Duomo)
(the alter of the Duomo)
(view from the roof)
(sideways view of the roof?)
Milan really is a great city. It's not your typical major city like New York or anything, but it has character. I'm sure I'll be back in the future, and I'll make sure to bring my camera so I have better photos! :p
Well, that's it for now. I'm caught up with the most exciting events so far..
so updates won't be as often, unless something exciting happens in the city.
The next big event, that I can think of, will be Academic Travel, when I will be traveling to Lausanne and Geneva (October 15-27).
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