Let's Play Catch Up

My, oh my have I been awful about writing or what! I’ve literally been sitting here for the last who-knows-how-many hours trying to remember everything that’s gone down over the past two weeks. Guess time flies when you’re busy! I haven’t been traveling much but have been spending more time just enjoying Milan and getting to know this city in a more personal way. Granted, I’m a little frustrated that I haven’t been taking advantage of my ideal traveling location but I guess it’s just as important to really “live” in a new city as it is to travel and explore and experience different cultures. I’m off to Morocco come next Friday so I can’t complain too much, right?

Sunday 04/25: It was a slow morning but the weather had finally turned to beautiful blue skies and warm rays of sunshine. Milan had been bipolar for a while with its various rain showers, cloudy skies, and gusts of wind. I was more or less getting over it. This particular morning, however, things were looking up and Isma and I decided it was time for a day trip. Unfortunately, I had a project due the next day and that meant nowhere too far.

After getting ourselves up, fed, and ready to go we hopped in the car to make our way towards Bergamo. Bergamo is Isma’s hometown and a beautiful classic Italian city located outside of Milan. Isma, not being the most responsible car owner, was driving on near to empty and had been in need of getting his breaks checked for the past month. Good one…not. As we’re making our way around a corner, the car starts to sputter and slowly begins to die down. Yup, that’s right folks, the car broke down in the middle of the road. The two of us pushed the heavy BMW wagon for a good 10 minutes until we found an area that it could sit safely while we walked to get gas.

Sweaty, hot, and irritated, we started marching along the side of the road until we found a gas station, which thank the Lord wasn’t too terribly far away. I kept telling Isma that he should probably check his oil level as well but God forbid that I know anything about cars. We bickered like brother and sister the whole way there and back.

With enough gas to get the car functioning, we were off but not before I insisted that we fill the ENTIRE tank up. This time he actually listened to me. At this point, I was grouchy, sweaty, irritated about the day being somewhat lost, even more irritated that I STILL didn’t have a camera to take pictures, and stressed about my project. This rather agitated mood of mine was only exaggerated as Isma decided to drive around and around and AROUND for a good 40 minutes trying to find a back way up to the old city of Bergamo. The normal entrance was closed to the public for the day and that meant no driving up. Isma was convinced, however, that we could make it work. We literally kept going in and out of old streets, turning this way and that way, going up this hill and back down it, until finally I absolutely insisted that we forget about driving up and just walk. I was ready to strangle him.

Having found parking, we started the trek upward. It was just the little kick in the butt I needed to get my heart pumping and my attitude back to a happy and enthusiastic one. Plus I couldn’t help from laughing at how hard Isma was panting the whole way up the stairs, the cobble stone streets, and the little hills. He told me my legs were too long and my speed too fast for my own good. Oops!

So Bergamo…amazing, amazing, AMAZING! I absolutely loved it. It’s exactly the type of place you think of when you imagine traditional Italy. Lined with cobblestone streets and cute little restaurants, Bergamo reminds you of a fairytale. Everywhere you looked, people were holding hands, eating gelato, and enjoying the warm touch of the sun. Even better, the old part of the city sits high on a hill and looks down onto beautiful countryside and the new city. It was absolutely spectacular.

Enamored, I couldn’t help but wander in and out of the little stores and cute restaurants. Oohing and aahing the whole way up through the city, Isma had a huge smile on his face knowing just how happy I was. He said I was far too easily pleased. What can I say, I like the simple things!

There were little arts and crafts markets and a beautiful square with a giant bell tower. With every step further, I fell a little more in love with this place. I begged Isma to come back sometime when I had a camera and could spend the day exploring. He comes out to Bergamo about twice a week to see his brothers and sisters and have lunch with his mom, who is 98!!! Ya girl, rock it. He suggested that one day, when I don’t have too much class, the two of us could drive out there, he would eat with his family, I would toodle around, and then we would meet up later and have dinner at one of his favorite restaurants. Sounds perfect to me!

From the old city, we took a little tram up to the very tip top of the old city, which was absolutely magnificent. Isma knew the owner of this amazing restaurant and had been planning on taking me there to grab a bite to eat, as I was famished and begging for food consumption. Unfortunately, the owner wasn’t there and the kitchen was closed. Luckily, I convinced the waiter to whip us up a little something. And let me tell you, that little something hit the spot. Everything was so fresh, the colors beautiful, the flavors to die for, and ugh, the view…just spectacular. I was in heaven!

We said our goodbyes to the beautiful restaurant and decided to walk our way down from the very top. I wanted to see the backside of the hill, which offered an absolutely breathtaking view of greenery, old houses, and brilliant colors of rustic red and mustard yellows.

As we made our way down, however, we had to stop for gelato. I mean really people, do you actually think I’d go a day without my gelato…hell no! Thank goodness we didn’t pass up either because Isma and I both agreed after ordering that this was the best damn gelato we had ever had. In addition to other flavors, we both got a yogurt flavor with real pieces of red raspberry in it. Holy. Crap. All I can say is died and went to gelato abyss. We couldn’t stop raving for a good 30 minutes and we officially now joke that whenever we want gelato, we ask, “Bergamo?!”

We made it down the hill in quick timing (thanks to me) and upon hopping in the car, la mommacita called! I love love love when my mom calls to chat…it’s always so wonderful to hear her voice and catch up on what’s going on back at home.

After we arrived back at the apartment, I had to get to work on my big project. I’m in a course called Intro to Management Consulting and I’m in a group of 8. In the beginning of the year, we were assigned a huge field project where we have to consult about a specific topic, do research, and create a proposal. My portion just happened to be a rather extensive part and I more or less took it to the extensive level. I was satisfied with the work I had accomplished but it still wasn’t done. Thank goodness our team was WAY ahead of schedule and I had enough time to keep working.

Dinner was eaten at home and we just whipped something up quickly. Then it was time for showers, catching up with friends, and going to bed early. 8:45 am class was lingering and that meant waking up at 7:15 am in order to get ready, make breakfast, take the metro, and then walk to school in time. Yuck.

Monday 04/26: Once again, it was an absolutely gorgeous day! We are talking 25 degrees Celsius people…the hottest day I’d experience in Milan thus far! I was sending kisses to the weather Gods, of course. That was until I realized that walking to class now meant being somewhat hot and sweaty by the time you actually get to your classroom. I’m not so big on sweatiness.

After class, Ava and Blakeney and I had agreed that we would all meet up for lunch to catch up on life. It had been forever since I had really seen them since all that fun eviction stuff had gone down. Blakeney didn’t wake up in time so it was just me and Avs. We ended up having an amazing time just talking and sharing stories about spring break, my epic plague, her fun in Barcelona, and all the other shenanigans that had gone down.

From lunch, I was back to the methodic schedule of class and more class. You all know how I feel about that subject so I’ll just leave it to your imagination to decide what I was thinking this fine Monday. I’m going to go ahead and say, it really shouldn’t be that difficult.

I went straight home from school to work, work, and do some more work. I had so much research to do and notes to write in order to make sure that the information I was providing in my portion of the project was accurate and well composed. That meant taking lots of time and effort putting together a lot of information.

Isma came home late from work and I was working away on my computer. We made dinner quickly only to follow it up with a surprise that Isma had brought home for me…BANANA GELATO! Okay so here’s the story…while I love gelato in general, my absolutely favorite flavor is banana. It tastes like you are eating a real banana because they actually make it with fresh bananas. I may or may not be super addicted and crave it every second of every day. No big deal. Anyway, every time that Isma takes me to get gelato we always go in search of banana and way too often end up without it…it’s not that common. We’ve gone so many places that the people actually know when I come in the door to say “Banana!” or “Non c’é banana” At this point, we usually hit up two places each time we go for gelato, which in reality isn’t so great because now we ALWAYS end up getting two gelatos every night. Don’t judge. You know the saying, “2 gelatos a day keeps the doctor away!”

So anyway, on this particular night, I guess Isma had stopped in one of our favorite gelato places and what do you know, they had banana!!! He picked up a big container of it plus yogurt flavor (my other favorite) and macadamia and white chocolate for him. We literally sat and ate the entire thing in about 10 minutes. Who are we?!

After getting some more of my paper done, I decided to make it an early evening and go to bed. My plague was still harassing me and I really didn’t feel very well. I figured sleep was the best remedy at this point.

Tuesday 04/27: Tuesday meant I had all morning to work on my portion of the project and that’s exactly what I did right up until the time I needed to get my butt out the door and to class on time. After class I met with my group to quickly discuss the details of our project and work out a few things. When the meeting ended, Luke, my partner for the project, and I spent a great deal of time just chatting it up, discussing out part, and getting to know each other better. It was amazing! He’s such a wonderful guy and he’s actually studying in Milan all the way until December!

As we made our way out of Bocconi, I ran into Amir. Amir is one of the students from Bocconi who spent last semester at USC. He and I started chatting and he offered to walk me to wherever I was going. We caught up along the way and just as we had parted, I ran into Gab. Talk about a day of seeing amazing people. Gab is Flaca’s new lover friend who works for Marc Jacobs and lives here in Milan. The guy is absolutely incredible, so sweet and couldn’t be a nicer person to have meet here in the city.

Thank goodness I ran into him because he was on his way to share an aperitivo and dinner with Flaca and her uncle, who was still in town visiting. They asked me to join and how do I say no to a group of 3 fabulously good-looking, lively, and amazing people? I think the answer to that one would be you can’t.

We ended up having a great time talking and sharing stories about the weekend. The three of them plus Vincent and Kammer had all gone to Amsterdam for Flaca’s 21st. Based on the recounts of the weekend, let’s just say they had a super unforgettable weekend.

After an hour and some time of sharing in perfect company, I left to get picked up by Isma, who was on his way home from work. He’s essentially my uncle now and has embodied family for me here in Milan. He takes care of me as if I were his own blood and has been exceptionally good to me. Being as sick as I have been these past few weeks, he’s really looked out for me and made sure I was aokay. I’ve been so blessed to come into my new living situation and to have two people who genuinely care so much about me and tell me so all the time. Isma has even adopted nicknames for me: principessa or bombolina. Almost three times my age, I really think that he looks to me as his own and someone he can care for and protect, just the way my one and only Poppabear would. I mean, no one compares to Peter B Wile, but still, it’s nice to have something similar here.

We decided on dinner at a restaurant called Amore. Best choice ever. As if the ambience didn’t already make the restaurant spectacular, the pasta I ordered was to die for. The pasta had been freshly made that day and the sauce was a rich, delicious pomodoro and mozzarella. Mmm, mmm, mmm!

I didn’t want dinner to end but I had work to do and that meant getting home. Too bad my cough was attacking me from all angles and I was hating life. Sleeping through the night was still a very rare occurrence. Enter the need for antibiotics.

Wednesday 04/28: I woke up a little late and had to bust my tail into high gear this morning. When I got on the subway, there was some weird-ass stuff going down. First of all, there was this violinist guy who was playing ever-so passionately. Only in Italy. Then, right as I was about to hop off at my stop, a woman’s cell phone went off. She was a rather frumpy, older woman, with a totally butch haircut. Her ringtone? Single Ladies by Beyonce. Yesssssss.

I had classes from 10:30 unil 2 pm, after which I met up with my Portuguese friend, Nuno. We had been trying to grab dinner for the longest time so we opted, instead, on getting some lunch. Seeing the day was as beautiful as ever, we chose the Navigli area for an outside lunch on the canals. Ready for a shock? I actually got too hot (me too hot? I know) and we had to move inside. Nuno, I could tell, was thrilled.

Lunch was delicious and we both ordered really amazing pastas. I was quite satisfied with my meal but not enough so to turn down a gelato. We finished paying and made our way up Porta Ticinese to a place called Frozen, where we both cheersed to large cones.

Nuno continued to keep me company as I made my way to the old apartment to drop off the keys and head towards the Duomo. Once we got there, we parted ways and I made my long walk back to the apartment. On my walk, though, I got hot again and stopped in this cute little gelato place only to find BANANA!!! I wasn’t that hungry but I sure as heck wasn’t passing it up. Isma and I had tried to check this particular gelateria about 4 times and every time we checked, they were closed. Thus, there was no turning it down now.

When I got home, I got to working on my project only to be hit with a giant slap of exhaustion. I passed out on the couch and found myself waking up at 9:15 pm. Umm oops…was definitely supposed to have been at Blakeney’s birthday aperitivo at 8 pm. Thank you sickness for your ruining of my body.

Isma and I ate dinner at home followed by project finalizing and a much needed good nights sleep. I was finally on antibiotics at this point, so I was hoping legit sleep would soon be on its way.

Thursday 04/29: I woke up a little earlier than expected and left the house with time to spare. I got to class early, which gave me the time to catch up on e-mails and do other social things on my computer.

During class, I was having a bit of a rough time with my cough. Granted, I had a water bottle and was doing my best to control the issue but I was pretty much in the midst of a bad coughing fit and there wasn’t too much for me to do about it. Had I been on the aisle I might have gotten up and left but seeing that I was smack dab in the middle of the room, I wasn’t going to cause the commotion. Yeah well, maybe I should’ve caused some commotion because every couple of minutes this group of girls kept turning around to give me dirty stares. Really? Come on now people, I’m not some leper. Apparently, I was though, because the dirty stares were followed by the teacher calling me out. “Are you alright?” I was asked. I spit back, “Yeah I’m fine. I’m sick and I’m doing my best to deal with it, don’t worry about it.” Sassy? Perhaps. Necessary on her part? Absolutely not. People get sick you kook.

After class, I met with Luke to go over the corrections I wanted to make on his contribution to our portion. After he and I finished talking, I spent the rest of the time just going over the paper and making sure that it was up to par. It was.

Class #2 was boring and I was having a hard time focusing. Hmm, not a new phenomena at Bocconi. When I finished class, I sent out some emails and did some work on my computer until Isma picked me up form school. He wanted to get a new camera and I was off to help him pick one out. We were successful.

From the camera shop, Isma wanted to get some wine at this beautiful little restaurant that was once a flower shop. They have all these gorgeous bouquets in the windows and all throughout the tiny little place are grandiose flower displays. It was gorgeous! He had been having a really rough day at work and just needed the unwinding. I was happy to join.

I made dinner at home and followed it up with two different gelato stops afterward. This is what happens when you try one for banana and then go somewhere else in search of it again. I don’t hate it, though.

Friday 04/30: I woke up and spent my precious time leisurely hanging out around the house and cleaning up. I tend to clean on Fridays when I’m not traveling. I’m a weirdo.

I decided that I’d had enough of doing nothing but cleaning and headed out to do some shopping. The weather of sun and warmth called for some shorts and little skirts so I was in search of both.

I made my way towards the Duomo and Via Torino only to find massive groups of people, which we all know I don’t like. In the big Zara, there were way too many people to handle and I kept running into the issue of not being able to find my size. This left me searching through the unwanted racks in the dressing room, only to be yelled at by a sales woman. Umm, hello? Why are you yelling at me? This is what you do when you want to find your size and the people on the floor are incompetent and can’t seem to help you.

I ended up having to resort to the other Zara on Via Torino to actually find the right size in one of my discovered items. While I was there, however, I spotted this AMAZING shirt on the manikin and knew it was mine. Too bad the shirt didn’t exist in the store nor in the back room nor in any of the other stores. Why advertise a product that can’t be purchased? I figured I could charm the people there by asking if I could just buy the shirt off the manikin. Nope. I spoke to two different managers and the best they could offer me was putting my name on a reservation list to wait 2 weeks before purchase. Annoying.

After shopping, I met up with Flaca and her uncle at the Marc by Marc Jacobs, where Gab works. Tio, or as I like to call Flaca’s uncle, was buying a few things and Flaca was visiting with Gab. Little lovebirds! I was supposed to have met them earlier for lunch but was dealing with the irritation factor at Zara. Flaca had a spa appointment so Tio and I decided to go grab an aperitivo at the top of La Rinascente, overlooking the Duomo. Fortunately, the day had turned to sunny skies and it was ideal weather for sitting on the patio.

The aperitivo was wonderful but we witnessed a few interesting ordeals. 1. When I asked if they were still serving food to order, the hostess asked me, “You eat?!” Umm, yes I eat your rude weirdo! 2. There were these three girls, completely over dressed, sitting across from us, smoking cigs, and blatantly staring as Tio and I ate. Unnecessary much? 3. One of the waitresses managed to explode, not one, but two bottles of Prosecco directly after the other. Oops! It was an eventful sunset on the patio to say the least.

Soon enough Flaca and Vincent met up with us but I had to leave short after because Isma had been dying to take me to some special restaurant/aperitivo place and tonight was the night he wanted to go. I hopped on the metro and headed to his office, where he met me outside and we proceeded to Invilla.

Holy moly! This place was unbelievable. Giant white cushions, incredible artwork, countless beds of flowers, and food stations everywhere. The place had a complete and utter ethereal feel to it and the outside ambiance was delightful. It was picturesque of some fancy hotel in South Beach Miami or somewhere in Greece. I was in love! My favorite part, however, was the food. Unlike a regular aperitivo, where there is a buffet of different plates and pickings, Invilla had stations for different types of foods. 1. There was a “to-order” grill whipping up kebabs of chicken, sausage, shrimp, or beef with grilled vegetables. 2. An omelets bar, or an Italian version at least. 3. A to-die-for fresh veggies and dip/fresh fruit station. 3. Cheeses, olives, mini sandwiches, and pickled artichokes, onions, and other aperitivo-type foods. 4. A variety of different salads, including a bean, tuna, and fennel salad (yummm!), a couscous salad, and plenty more. 5. A fusion taco bar! 6. Fresh cold cuts. And 7. A make them on the spot, French-fry booth. All I have to say is that I kept going back and back and back around the place re-filling up my plate with things that tasted too good to be true. The chicken on the grill was delicious, the pesto for dipping your veggies was some of the best I’ve ever had, and holy crap, that bean salad was bomb dot com.

By the time we left, I was stuffed to the brim and could hardly move. I was worried that Isma was going to have to roll me to the car. By the time we got home, I was totally wiped and while I was supposed to meet the crew for a night out on the town, I couldn’t bring myself to it. Instead, I opted for 3 movies on-demand and fell asleep on the couch.

Saturday 05/01: I woke up bright and early at 12 pm. Isma had gone to Bergamo for the day and I spent my “morning” eating breakfast, getting ready and going out to adventure. What I found, however, was anything but the means for an adventure. The skies were cloudy and every dang store in Milan was closed, including a mass majority of the restaurants. Apparently, today was the Italian equivalent of Labor Day or something along those lines. Thus, everyone had the day off to be free of work.

I decided my best option was to meet up with friends so my boyfriend Ken, I mean Vincent, and I went out to play. He was planning on going for a run but I convinced him that our rendezvous would be much more exciting. He ditched his Nikes and dressed himself right up. I ended up walking from my place to his apartment and from there we began our perfect day together.

We walked in the direction of the castle, only to stop first and get gelato to savor as we strolled through Parco Sempione. The clouds were slowly starting to dissipate so we made the executive decision to soak up the park’s incredible serene beauty. To savor the moment even more so, we sat and had a coffee and a tea at a little café set in the middle of the park. It was pure loveliness.

So funny thing happened when we were at the café. As we were getting ready to pay the bill, I obviously whipped out my wallet to pay for my tea. Granted, Vincent almost always insists on paying seeing that he is a complete and utter gentleman but I ordered the tea and so I deemed it my responsibility to pay for it. Too bad the waiter disagreed. As he saw me take out my money, he looked at me and said, “Women no pay in Italy. Never ever ever.” Haha He’s the 5th waiter to tell me that! Apparently these Italian men really like to take care of their women. I don’t hate it.

As we finished up our last sips of tea and coffee, we lovingly grabbed hands and walked around the park until we found our way over into Brera. At this point, we were hungry so we searched for somewhere to grab a little bite to eat. We ended up looking here, there, and everywhere until we found somewhere cute, quaint, and with a perfect menu. The menu had ideal first plates and included a drink and “coperto” (table charge). Ideal. The food was good but not great. Regardless, we had the best time laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Never a dull moment when Ken and Barbie (Vincent has adopted the nickname Barbie for me so I, in return, call him Ken) are together. The only icky part to our dining experience was the smoky Spanish woman sitting next to us who kept billowing her puffs into my face. Yuck! Oh, that, and the waiter had a serious issue dealing with our debit cards and took about 2983596108704 hours to take care of the bill and then added the total incorrectly. Blah.

We continued our stroll into the more boutique area of Brera, where we met up with Ayano. Ayano is the most amazing girl from USC and happens to be studying through the IES program at Catolica. In other words, she had met Vincent and the two of them had become friends. Until today, I had NO idea she was even in the city! Obviously, I was so excited!

We met Ayano right near the Marc by Marc Jacobs store only to be interrupted by some crazy parade. There were weird floats filled with hippies and loud, obnoxious youth. The music was so overbearing that we could barely hear each other talking let alone think. I had to run to the bank mid-parade and let’s just say I got a fine whiff of weed and some creepy views of people. I was more or less finito with the parade.

When I returned to the table, I suggested our departure. Everyone was in agreement so we took off towards the Duomo and walked around a bit until I insisted on taking the two of them to one of my favorite gelato spots. Bastianello is a beautiful, yet rather expensive, Pasticceria in San Babila. The ambiance of the café is so dainty and enjoyable and the gelato, aperitivo, and tea are all so delicious.

Obviously Ayano and Vincent agreed because we ended up getting two rounds of aperitivo, which the staff prepares and brings directly to you. We stayed a good 2+ hours just talk, talk, talking, sharing fun stories and engaging in the most interesting conversations. It had to have gone down as one of the most enjoyable outings I’d had in a while. So much to think about and share. It was perfect.

We spent a small amount of time walking around afterwards but realized it was 9:30 pm and we needed to part ways. I parted by giving hugs and kisses and then made the journey towards il apartamento. Upon arrival, I made a quick dinner, watched the Laker game and spent some much-needed relaxation time. I had pretty much walked a million miles and my legs were in need of calm. That, however, didn’t stop Isma and I from walking the couple blocks to our favorite gelato place. We’ve essentially become best friends with the guy who always works there. He even lets me lift up the gelato tops to see which flavors look good to me. I get to sample whatever flavor and he always loads my cone up as big as possible. Sometimes he even gives me an extra little cup on the side when I’ve finished my cone. Isma and I have been known to double round it so he knows to hook it up.

All in all it was an absolutely ideal day. I took a nice hot shower and slid under my covers to fall into lala land.

Sunday 05/02: The weather was shit again so instead of taking off to Portofino, as planned, Uncle Isma decided that he wanted to treat me, his little bambolina, to a delicious Sunday brunch. He knew how much I had been wanting to go so he surprised me with the news when I woke up. I could hardly wait! We ended up getting a table at a beautiful hotel somewhat close to the apartment. In the garden area was an eye-opening, mouth-watering, god-thanking buffet!!! There was steamed salmon, a roast, fresh pastas, amazingggggg rolls, fresh fruits, all sorts of veggies, carpaccio, tomatoes and mozzarella, yogurt, and the list just goes on. I know what you’re all thinking…Katie must have been the happiest girl alive! Damn right I was!!!

Isma and the waiters were baffled by the food consumption. 3 dinner-sized plates later and 4 rolls down the hatchet, I could hardly move. Maybe stuffing your face with deliciousness isn’t the best of ideas. Oh well, we only live once!!!

Feeling like the blueberry girl from Willy Wonka, I decided that it would be best to walk into the center to go meet Vincent rather than take the metro. This way I could get my stomach pumping and get that bad boy digesting the massive amounts of yumm that were currently settled in my tummy.

Day 2 with Vincent was another perfect day, spent walking around, shopping, laughing, and visiting “our place”, Bastianello. There is never a dull moment together and I couldn’t be happier to have made such amazing friends with him. Love you Ken!

Once again, we managed to close Bastianello and come 09:30 pm, I was walking in the door of the apartment. Isma wanted to watch a movie on TV so I took a shower and joined him before hopping in bed. As I turned the lights off and cuddled into my brown furry blanket, a loud boom of thunder sounded. Next came the lightening and then the downpour. Oh Milan, you really do have climate PMS.

Monday 05/03: Thank you Milan for the rainstorm…NOT! Morning class meant a 7:15 am wakeup and a joyous treading through the nonstop rain. Ick.

Class was class but I spent a good time talking with one of the girls in my consulting team. We are working on a huge final project and like myself, she definitely takes on the leader role. It was great to share ideas and discuss how we wanted to finish editing the paper, set up a private meeting with the professor and so on.

I quickly headed back to the apartment to make some lunch, a fresh pot of tea, and recharge my computer before hading back to classes. While Monday classes are generally such a bore, I was pleased to find a new teacher for my least favorite class…you know that one where I always want to bash my head in thanks to the horrific English speaking abilities. The new professor is really passionate about the subject, incredibly smart, and rather interesting. I’m excited to see what happens.

Today was a happy day, despite the gross rain and ugly cold weather, because I was getting my hair cut!!! All those that know me well know just how much I love to have my hair cut. Unlike most girls who wait every 4-5 months to get their trestles trimmed, I prefer a good 8-week interval. I like to freshen up the ends, get that head massage, have someone wash and blow-dry my hair only to leave feeling sparkling and beautiful.
The cut looked great and my hair felt brand new, especially because Mirko, my Italian hairdresser, decided that I was need of a gratuitous protein treatment. The weather does a number on your hair and a protein treatment is always super beneficial to your locks. As you can imagine, my hair was silky smooth and shining like gold. Mmm, mmm, mmm!

The gross weather, however, wasn’t loving my hair as much as I was. Thank goodness for my devout love of hoodie-wearing. Isma was kind enough to pick me up in the city center near my salon and invited me to join he and his best friends/colleagues for dinner. I always enjoy his and his friend’s time because I get to enjoy warm company, practice my Italian, and eat delicious food. What more could you ask for?

We ended up going to this little random hole-in-the wall pizza place that made pizzas unlike any of the kinds I had eaten in Italy thus far. While they were good, I wouldn’t go back. These little guys were really small and had thicker crusts. I prefer the huge pizzas with thin, homemade crusts. Thank goodness I have a list of other places in Milan that I absolutely adore for exactly that.

After dinner, I insisted on gelato so the gang and I made our way to Chocolat for a perfectly delicious cone. It was gone in about a minute! Warning: If you come to Italy, be ready to eat more gelato than you ever possibly imagined humanly possible.

When we got home, I had an invitation to Skype and I was on top of that invite in a second! Too bad technology hates me and it lasted a good 10 minutes. Italy, why you always hating on me like that?! Too bad 20 minutes later it ended up working and I had the most amazing time chatting with a near and dear to my heart friend. Danielle, if you are reading this, I cannot begin to explain who much it meant to spend that time with you! I love you so much and I hope you kicked butt on your finals!!!

Tuesday 05/04: I was supposed to meet David and Max, my beloved boys from Austria and Germany respectively, for a group meeting. We’re all in the same group for our Fashion Field Project and have been working on putting together our final version. Too bad the weather was atrocious and I’m a lazy bum who didn’t wake up until a wonderful 2 pm. Something must be wrong with me.

I spent the rest of the time until classes finishing the final edits on the consulting group paper. I hate to sound like a total butt but I could hardly contain myself. The writing was atrocious. With the exception of Rachel’s contribution, I was editing and hacking away at the writing for hours. I know that I’m a picky editor when it comes to written pieces but I was so baffled. Oh well!

Class was same old class followed by another consulting group meeting. As soon as it finished, I treaded out into the rain and made my way to Isma’s office to print out class slides and other papers necessary for lecture. I had so much to take care of and it was starting to weigh heavy on my shoulders. The problem is this: the classes are boring and you lack the motivation to follow along with the reading assignments. You think I would have learned my lesson with the whole midterm issue but I guess I’m stupid. I’m just going to have to buckle down big time in the next few weeks before finals begin so that I can give myself a little confidence.

While I dealt with school drama, Isma was in the other room with a client. By the time the two of them finished, it was near to 8:30 pm and he suggested the three of us go to dinner. I was starving and his client was headed in the direction of the restaurant, so we all made our way outward. We revisited a place that I had been before but the dinner was just as delicious as I had remembered. In addition to a salad and fresh bread, I ordered the bass with baked apples and balsamic. It was absolutely wonderful. I obviously followed it up with fresh fruit and on our way home, a gelato at Bianco Latte.

Wednesday 05/05: I started the day off as I always do: alarm, washing of the face, a little makeup, preparing and consuming breakfast, getting dressed, throwing my backpack on, hopping on the metro, and heading towards Bocconi. Fortunately for me, my day was a little shorter than I thought it would be. My 12:30 class was canceled, which meant I was done at noon.

Thinking I had office hours with my Law professor at 2 pm, I headed home for a quick lunch before turning right back around to meet with her. As I made my way towards school, the rain busted a rather uncool move and started pouring down. Let’s just say my pants, shoes, and socks were soaked and I resembled something along the lines of a drowned rat. After discovering office hours had been canceled THAT morning, I spent the next 30 minutes in the bathroom under the hand dryer attempting to extract all moisture from my shoes and socks. It looked a little something like this: me, oversized backpack, standing on one leg, hands in socks shoved underneath the dryer. It worked to an extent but I wasn’t all that impressed. The toes were frozen and I still needed wads of toilet paper to absorb the rest of the moisture.

As I was leaving the building, I noticed my professor in a classroom. Standing outside the door was a girl a girl in my Business Law class so I struck up conversation only to found out that Professor Franciossi was holding a mock final. Hmm, no wonder office hours were canceled. I had NO clue about this whole review session because, well in normal Bocconi fashion, there had been no email nor class announcement. Thank goodness for the run-in.

After the exam prep, I made my way up to the Duomo to walk around. I decided to hit up Vincent to see what he was doing, and lucky me, the boy was in the Duomo piazza as well. I flipped through fashion magazines until he came and found me. We raved about who knows what and then decided it was a perfect day to have tea at “our place” (Bastianello, in case you’ve forgotten).

We sat and enjoyed the deliciousness warmth of tea and each other’s company. Clinking cups and sipping away, we spent a good 2 hours walking down the memory lanes of our past. Soon enough, though, we both realized that home was calling. When it came time to pay, we looked at the bill and realized that “our place” was no longer going to be “our place.” 5.50 Euro for a tea, thank you very much…I don’t think so mister! We laughed and brushed off the absolute insanity of charging an arm and a leg for tea. I mean, yes, it’s great tea but not worth that much. I’d only pay that much for delicious, take-your-breath away gelato.

I made my way home and took a little nap on the couch until I was abruptly awoken by my cell phone. Isma called and told me he was waiting outside to go to the grocery store. I ran down and hopped in only to find myself on a 30-minute search for groceries. As I had warned on the phone, it was too late to make it to the stores before they closed. Italy isn’t like the US, where Albertson’s stays open until 12 am. Here, you’re lucky if they let you in at 8:55 pm. Given that buying food was no longer an option, I convinced him that we could make due with the last bit of food in the fridge. As I expected, we ended up creating something pretty darn delicious together. We grilled a steak on the stove and invented a fresh arrabiatta tomato sauce with veggies and fresh bread. You know we didn’t stop there, though. Of course we followed it up with gelato at our favorite place down the street. No favorite banana but the coffee, mixed berry yogurt, and pineapple flavors hit the spot just right.

With happy tummies, we made it home for lots of movies, tea, and resting. Oh how I love you Milan.

Thursday 05/06: Today was just one of those days. It was still raining, I woke up late, class sucked, then I had to bust my butt back to the salon because I realized that Mirko needed to cut a little more off the length, had to eat my packed lunch while walking as fast as possible to get to the tram, which then got stuck in traffic, so I had to hop out and really bust my butt to get to class on time.

Things turned up for the much better when Ava and I got to talking and she invited me to join her for a quick aperitivo at Taxi Blues. We ended up having the best time and she had the most wonderful and kind things to say. It was wonderful to finally catch up and get all dialed in on what had been going on in her life and with the new apartment. No longer roommates, I hardly see her anymore!

Ava had to run because she was off to Paris in the morning so I decided to make a surprise stop at Carolina’s apartment, which was right around the corner. The quick visit was the perfect addition to my day. I just love love love those girls so much. Perhaps I’ll stuff them into my suitcases rather than sending them back to Portugal and Greece. That, or looks like I’ll have to come back to Europe asap! ;)

While at the girls’, Isma called to see if I needed a ride home out of the rain. What a savior! Soon enough he was waiting outside and insisted on taking a detour before heading home. We stopped into a rustic little wine shop, filled with Italians. That’s how you know it’s a good place. I’m for sure going back to pick something special up for Poppa Wile. That man would have been in hog-heaven.

From the wine shop, we finally made our way to the grocery store. The fridge was baren and begging for food and we certainly weren’t about to deal with another situation like last night. We picked up all the necessary goodies for the house and had the pleasure of getting a call from Olha, who is currently in Ukraine visiting her family. She comes home Monday!!!

Famished and too hungry to go back to the apartment before eating, Isma suggested we just grab dinner. He opted for one of his favorite places in Brera called Trattoria Pisa. Nestled in a small little side street, it was exactly what you think of when you picture a classic Italian restaurant. The pleasure of the restaurant was quickly dampened when Isma decided to turn from a 60-something year-old man to a 7 year-old. Story goes like this: when the waiter came to take our order, I wanted to pose a few questions about the menu and practice my Italian. Isma, on the other hand, decided he was going to order for me and interrupted my question-asking. As he and the waiter conversed back and forth, I politely interrupted to ask why he had said I wanted tuna, when I didn’t. This is where he threw a giant fit and slammed the menu closed and said, “Fine, you order. Sto finito! The waiter awkwardly walked away and Isma went into a fit. Apparently I always assume he is trying to do something bad and don’t trust his judgment and that I should just let him take care of things and blah blah blah. I was trying to be calm and rational and explain that I was just trying to understand what was being exchanged between he and the waiter as I am attempting to learn the language and embrace the culture whole heartedly. He sat pouting, crossing his arms, and turning his eyes away from me. For those of you laughing, you have no idea how pissed I was. I mean, come on, act your age and grow a pair buddy.

The best part of this little bickering battle was the British couple sitting to my right. You could tell they weren’t trying to eavesdrop but, who are we kidding, they were. Attentive to their listening ears, I struck up conversation with them when the time was right. They turned out to be just the nicest people and we enjoyed their company the remainder of the evening. James and Bridgette are from Essix and were in Milan for the first time on a romantic weekend away from the UK. As we chatted about my time in Milan, my studies here, etc, etc., I was giving recommendations left and right and suggesting fun places to eat, where to find the best gelato, and what would satisfy her shopping needs. Bridgette admitted that she had never eaten gelato and I just about died. NEVER eaten gelato? That’s a downright sin.

Oh funny little fact about our conversation. While Bridgette and I were talking, she casually asked me if Isma was my boyfriend. My heart stopped for a quick second in shock. “No, absolutely not! Gross!!! I view this man as my adopted family and let’s not forget that he is more than 3x my age. I’m NOT one of those girls.” Bridgette laughed and said that she had hoped that was the case. Oh man, people and their silly assumptions. Let’s be real world, why would a 21 year-old date a 60-something year-old man? 1) I’m not a hooker. 2) I don’t dig old men. And 3) Really, that just isn’t me; never will be.

We parted ways with our new friendly couple and headed for gelato, the apartment, and more specifically the couch and movies on demand. I decided to transfer from the couch t bed but too bad I didn’t go to sleep until 5 am due to the oh-so-convenient time difference between Italy and the states. It’s worth it when talking to friends, though.

Friday 05/07: Ugh what a boring day. At 1 pm, I woke up to an ugly, disgusting, rainy day. Milan why are you so moody with your climate?

I spent an hour cuddled in the big comforter on the couch watching Sex and the City and eating breakfast. I followed that up with a nice hot shower before quickly getting dressed and packing all my laundry up to take to the dorms. That meant heading on the Metro then getting on the 15 Tram for 25 minutes and waiting at the dorms until my laundry was finished. But hey, clothes must be washed from time to time so I had no other option.

I spent the mass majority of the day at the dorms blog writing and reminiscing on what had gone down the past 2+ weeks. You’d think I would just be smart and write at the end of each day but God forbid I do anything logically.

As I headed back on the Tram, Uncle Isma called to see what I was doing. He posed the idea of going to our favorite fish restaurant for dinner (think back to the day when we went to that amazing fish place that just kept brining us all those different things to try and what not). I was obviously in, so I told him I would take the Tram to the center and he could pick me up there. Bad idea. I waited in the rain with a giant bag of clean laundry, tired, cranky, and cold until he showed up 15 minutes late.

When he finally arrived, I threw my stuff in the car and was overwhelmed with joy for warmth. Rather than go straight to the restaurant, which would have been ideal in my book, Isma wanted to aperitivo first. He was convinced that while I wasn’t keen on going that I would love where we were going. Despite not always agreeing with everything he says or wants to do, I can’t deny how truly sweet and attentive he is to making sure he knows just what I like and ensures that I get it. As I said before, it’s a real blessing to have a “family” here in Milan. Isma treats me as if I was his own.

As promised, I liked the place. With a full buffet featuring some of all time favorite veggies, broccoli and brussel sprouts, I was a very happy girl. Not to mention it was the perfect stomach prepping for dinner. Speaking of dinner, let’s just dive right into it. I arrived to a huge line of people waiting to be seated. This particular restaurant is insanely popular and both visits, I witnessed large groups waiting to be seated. I walked right in, though, told them that Isma and I were hoping to get a table and boom, I was seated in 3 minutes. Royal treatment? I don’t mind it one bit.

The food was just as delicious as I remembered. This round, however, I decided to expands my horizons and try any and everything that was offered to me. Last time I tried prawns, scallops, and oysters so now we were going to dabble with a few other options. The waiter started by bringing us a giant dish of tuna carpaccio followed by marinated sardines with onions and spinach. I had never eaten sardines nor considered it. Interestingly, I had just read an article on Yahoo! about how amazingly good they are for the body. I couldn’t be a wimp and not give them a shot. . And ya know what? They’re pretty darn good. Granted I had the amazing bread to accompany the fish but I still found them to be rather delicious. Next up? We were served the same baked scallops with pistachio crumble. Then the lobster arrived. I had never eaten lobster before and this particular restaurant is known for its lobster dish. I’m not kidding when I say that EVERYONE in the restaurant orders it. They serve the lobster in these big white dishes with fresh tomatoes, onion, and olive oil. Plain, simple, and delicious. To my surprise, I really liked the lobster. It was a bit squishy in texture but the flavor was nice. I might prefer to try it when it’s hot but one step at a time.

We were going to order some grilled sea bass but I kept eyeing a pasta dish with clams that kept coming to every table around us, including the couple sitting directly next to us. As I was eyeing their plate, the woman realized we had sat next to each other the last time. This obviously struck up a conversation, which transitioned into how their pasta dish was and blah blah blah. Before I knew it, Isma was ordering two small plates so I could try it. When our dishes arrived, it was a simple plate of pasta, with fresh clams, and what looked like grated cheese on top but what was in fact grated fish eggs specific to Sicily. A very popular item here in Italy. Again to my surprise, it was delicious and I can now admit that I like clams.

Pleased with myself for trying a bunch of new things and enjoying them all, I was stuffed to the brim and ready to go home. But there was something missing…GELATO! Of course, we stopped on the way home and with that, it was the perfect end to another day in the life of my Milan adventure.

Saturday 05/08: Sick and tired of having not traveled anywhere recently, I decided to make it a day for adventure. My other Milano family (Vincent and Flaca) were going to Torino for the day with Gab to meet up with his best friend Salvatore and his girlfriend, Francesca. Invited to join, I was excited for an incredible day with the loves of my life.

Originally we were supposed to leave at 11 am but that most definitely didn’t happen. I set my alarm, woke up on time, got ready, ate breakfast, and headed towards centrale. Vincent told me to come straight to them, however, because they weren’t ready and we were now taking the 11:58 train. I made my way to the apartment only to find my babies in underwear and nowhere near to day-ready. Oops! By the time we got our butts out the door, we had 15 minutes to make the train on time. We thought we’d make it until Vincent realized that something was missing: his wallet. That resulted in a treasure hunt to find the missing wallet and a major scramble to make the train. Running up stairs, through corridors, down escalators, and waiting in a long line to get our tickets, we missed the train and had to wait an hour+. Flaca was not happy but there was nothing we could do but enjoy the waiting time and grab a bite to eat. We had to switch train stations anyway so we probably wouldn’t have made it anyway.

We spent the time waiting by getting snacks before what would be an ever-so-fun 2-hour train ride. With 15 minutes until departure, I made a run for the store to grab some requested fresh fruit and cheese. What can I say, I live on the edge. Oh and I have long legs, so I can move.

Ugh the train ride. For someone who doesn’t get hot, I was dying. There was no AC in our car and we couldn’t find any 4-seaters free to move to. We sat roasting until the ticket-checker-guy came to stamp our train tickets. He was this funny, large man who just chatted and chatted away as if he’d known us for years. Talking about basketball, he started bragging about how he met Lebron James years ago when Lebron had come to do some European basketball tournament. At the time, Lebron was still really young and had to stay with a family and apparently that family was this guy’s house. Excited was an understatement as he told us all about it. Oh yeah, and he kept flattering the boys for being with such “bellisima” girls. What a character.

After his 20-minute visit, I was desperate to go to the bathroom. As much as I wanted to avoid the usage of a train bathroom, I couldn’t stand to wait. I had to go through 7 cars until I found an open bathroom and just my luck, it reeked and I mean reeked of urine. It was as if 198749860983 men peed on the walls and then no one ever bothered to clean it. Disgusting. I sucked it up, held my breath, and dealt with it. Things only got worse, though, when I realized toilet paper was lacking. Again, I had to deal. Final surprise? No soap and nothing to dry my hands with. Awesomeness.

I went back to the crew and warned Flaca, who was also in need. But hey, when you gotta pee, you gotta pee. While she left, Vincent, Gab, and I realized that the heat was escalating and that seat reassignment was necessary. As soon as Flaca came back, we grabbed our stuff and marched a few cars upward. Although our tickets didn’t say first class, we decided that we were worthy and that’s exactly where we sat the rest of the way.

When we showed up to Torino, it was as gloomy as it had been in Milan. While the weather may not have been ideal, the city was beautiful. Flaca, Vincent, and I all agreed that we would have loved to spend more time exploring seeing that our trip was more for the company of friends than tourism. Speaking of friends, Salva and Fra came to meet us at the train station and drive us further into the city. Despite insisting on walking, the 4 of us were convinced to cram into the back of their tiny car. Salva, by the way, is the most insane driver you have EVER seen in your life. The four of us couldn’t help from laughing because he’d speed by traffic, drive on the other side of the road, zip in front of people, and totally disregard regulation. Sure we got there quickly but not without wondering whether or not we’d be alive upon arrival.

We parked the car and stepped out into the most fabulous Piazza. Apparently Torino hosts the largest Piazza in all of Europe. See my album for pictures if you want to check it out. Anyway, the four of us were starving and slowly withering away from hunger. All the restaurants were closed because it was around 4 pm and that meant the time between lunch and dinner. It also meant the time before aperitivo, which usually starts at 5 pm. This left us with little option other than to just sit somewhere and see what we could get. We chose a café, grabbed a table outside, and waited to order. The crew was all about boozing it up but I was, as usual, just interested in food. I headed straight inside to see what my prospects were. Four sandwiches and a small snacking buffet. I asked if I could have a tuna sandwich and whether or not the buffet ood was open for serving. Thumbs up on both, hallelujah. For the next 30 minutes, we all just kept going back and forth and back and forth from the buffet trying to satiate our stomachs. Unfortunately, the food wasn’t substantial and there hadn’t mean much to eat anyway. While I was irritated by their lack of food, I noticed a bajillion paltes of fresh food wrapped in cellophane. I asked the waitress and the bartender if the food could be eaten. The answer? Not until 5 pm. For the next 35 minutes, I kept going back inside to check on the status. Consistent no’s. Miserable and pure cruelty. Sitting on the tables were 30 plates of food and we weren’t allowed to eat it. Once 5 pm hit, Vincent and I bolted for the food and filled plates and plates until we couldn’t move from fullness.

Our giant group finished up food and drinks and headed down the main street to a store called Frav. It’s a really eclectic boutique that originated in Torino and hosts one store in Milan. Vincent had taken me to the one in Milan but none of us had been to the one in Torino, other than Salva that is. As we made our way, we stopped and browsed all the cool tables filled with jewelry, crafts, art, and other fun trinkets. I struck up conversation with Fra and Salva, both of who don’t speak much English, and was soon in deep Italian convo with the two of them. Before you know it, we’re onto the subject of gelato and they are pulling us toward the “best place” in Torino. Sure I was full but you never turn down gelato. And oh am I so glad I didn’t. The coffee was the best thing I’d ever had, with little bits of ground coffee bean in it. Yummmm.

Right across from the gelateria was Frav and this is where our shopping began. Gab ended up finding an amazing trench coast, Flaca bought a sassy little shirt, and I found a couple great finds. Two of the people working there kept throwing stuff at me to try on and by the end I had everyone voting on what looked good and what color was best. Let’s just say, I was having fun.

After shopping, we marched back to the car and onto another adventure. This other adventure was a second aperitivo for another round of drinks apparently. Must love my crazy, beautiful (and drink loving) friends! I wasn’t complaining, though, because the company, the food, and everything about the day with them had been perfect. Oh and let’s not forget that Vincent and I had been pretending to be madly in love all day, holding hands, and longingly staring into each other’s eyes. The goal was to convince the world that Ken and Barbie were meant for one another. It worked.

Aperitivo round 2 was just as delicious as round 1 but I definitely didn’t eat as much…might have popped otherwise. The 6 of us sat around until we got kicked off our table because the actual people who had reserved it just arrived. That left us standing around, no place to sit and eat. Gab and Flaca improvised and grabbed a bench next to one of the tables outside. Best part? Gab just plopped his drink down on the people’s table, no thought whatsoever. Ballsy yet impressive.

Come 9:20 pm, we realized we needed to head towards the train station in order to make our journey homeward. We made it with time to spare, found our seats, and all found ourselves mellow and quiet heading home. I was exhausted and had another headache. I swear I’ve been prone to getting them lately. Every other day another one appears. What’s a girl gotta do to be left in peace?!

We pulled into the station around 11:45 pm, kissed and hugged goodbye, and reminisced in what an absolutely perfect day it had been. Ken and Barbie (Vincent and I) plus Kate and Pete (Flaca and Gab) had fallen in Love with Torino and each other. Couldn’t have asked for a more amazing day.

I walked home to the apartment, took a nice hot shower, and slid right into bed. These baby blues were too heavy to keep open a minute longer.

Sunday 05/09: Katie Wile epitomized a complete and utter bum today. I woke up around 2 pm to Isma, lightly stirring me from my slumber. Apparently he had already been to Bergamo and back and had been calling me nonstop. Uh oh!

The rain was pouring down outside and that gave me little motivation to do much of anything. I rolled out of bed, still groggy and exhausted, and made some breakfast before getting on my computer to take care of some work.

A little while later, Isma wanted to go out and get “our lazy butts out of the house.” I needed to run an errand anyway so I was up for heading out. We hopped in the car and made our way towards the center. As we started walking, Isma was acting weird and walking at a snail’s pace. I asked what the deal was and he responded by saying, “I just want to be calm, go do what you want.” Irritated because I had told him before that I could’ve taken the metro to run my errands if he didn’t want to come with, I said to him, “Isma, if you didn’t want to come with me, why didn’t you just tell me at home?” Acting like a child, he responded, “Just go do what you want. I don’t care.” He crossed his arms and continued to pout so I said, “Fine”, and took off to take care of things. I told him exactly where I was going and expected to meet him there. Wrong. 15 minutes later and still no response to the text message I sent him, I tried calling. That ass-bite had turned his phone off!!! Furious for the immaturity of his behavior, I walked back to the apartment…in the rain!

I walked in and he completely ignored me. Silent treatment doesn’t work well for me so I brought up the situation, which spiraled into an argument and his whining and screaming about how rude I had been and yah-di-yah-di-yah-dah. Apparently his leg had been bothering him and that’s why he had been walking more slowly. Okay well tell me then, geeze!!! I explained that had he needed me to walk slower, he should have told me rather than just huff off and tell me to go do my own thing. I kept calm and explained that I absolutely hate petty fighting and that everything is avoidable as long as communication is clear and well delivered. After rationalizing with him for 15 minutes, he finally understood and apologized. The skies were no longer cloudy, thank goodness! (Too bad Milan’s skies weren’t!)

Once things were peachy and back to normal, we made a delicious steak dinner, watched a little TV, made some tea, took a shower, did some homework, and hopped into bed. Monday morning class was around the corner. Blah.

Monday 05/10: I was up and ready as usual and made it to class for a rather boring lecture about a case I didn’t know I had to read. Bad student Wile. After class, I needed to print out another case for my Entrepreneurship class that afternoon. What a joke. First I went to the computer lab in attempt to print the document. First trouble posed was the issue of needing to put money on my Bocconi card, which I never even use. Luckily I convinced some girl to let me use her card and I would just pay her in coins. Problem #2: the computer wouldn’t let me download the dang thing, nonetheless print it. New friend and I went to the library in order to try on their computers seeing my document was from the library course reserves. Problem #3: major irritation factor. You have to swipe your card to get in and out of the library and it takes a blasted forever to do so. Why in the world do you need to use your card to get out if you HAD to have a card to get in? Seems stupid to me. Problem #4: printing the blasted thing. So we go to one of the help desks and talk to a really sweet woman about what we need to do. She tells me that I need to go down the stairs to another lab, charge my card, then download, then print. Too much time for the little time I actually had to read and prepare for the case. Thank goodness I convinced her to let me use her computer and attempt the issue there. Problem #5: Bocconi has the stupidest system known to man. First I needed my id and password to get into the first area of the website. Then I needed the same id, new password to sign into the library, and last I needed a Bocconi email address and new password to download the document. Despite knowing my passwords and ids by heart, the system would NOT cooperate. I ended up having to reboot my password and create a new one. 30 minutes after I started the process, I finally had the documents in hand. Took long enough, ya think?

I went straight to my next class’ building and got down and dirty with my reading. In the midst of trying to focus, some guy to the right of me asked me a question, which started a 25-minute conversation. Must love making new friends at school, right?

After Andrea (name of friend to right) distracted me from my work, I finally got my shit together and started reading farther than page 7. Halfway through the case, I found my self drifting off and before I knew it, I was passed out on my backpack, hands over head, and missing my 1 pm class. I’m an embarrassment. No really, I am.

I did, however, wake up in time for my 2:30 class, which just happened to be a double today. We worked on the case and did an in-class assignment, which was prep for the final exam. While the new teacher might be strict and demanding, at least the class is far more interesting and engaging than before. 3 hours, though, was too long and by 6 pm, I was begging to get home.

Before going to the apartment, though, I stopped into this amazing antique store and looked around for a little something special for a very special sister of mine. I left victorious and CANNOT wait to give her my present! Get ready Sloany!

I made my way back, the rain sprinkling lightly, and plopped straight onto the couch. I needed to relax for a second. I was wiped and starving on top of it. Isma came home pretty soon after and we made leftovers and whipped up a few other things. Then it was the usual routine of shower, computer, and sleep.

Tuesday 05/11: I woke up nice and late to find a crazy rainstorm outside. I didn’t have class until 4:30 pm and it was 2 pm so I vegged on the couch watching Revolutionary Road. Whoa, what a depressing movie. I hope I never end up like either of those people. Agreed? Yeah, I thought so.

Class turned out, to my surprise, to be really great. For the first time, Bocconi had an amazing speaker. Round of applause for Bocconi everyone. This guy was from Porsche Consulting Group and was so full of life, very entertaining, and quite interesting. He had my attention through and through the entire presentation. Best part of his speech? Ending on the fact that when you work for the company, you immediately get a Porsche. If that isn’t reason to join, then I don’t know what is.

After class, my Consulting Group was meeting for an aperitivo and to discuss the final necessary additions to our project. The restaurant was amazing and I ate my life away, only to be laughed at by all the boys. According to Francesco, it’s “so nice and refreshing to see a girl who can eat more than I can.” Apparently he thought I didn’t eat much seeing that I’m a bit of a lanky one. All I have to say is never judge a book by its cover people. These scrawny arms are no indication of the size of my stomach, thank you very much.

The aperitivo was such a success and I had an amazing time better getting to know the members of my group. I had always liked them from the beginning but spending a little social time with them outside the classroom was just the thing to take our relationship to the next level. I couldn’t be happier to be working with all of them.

I walked back home in the rain, once again, but totally distracted by my FIRST PHONE CALL with my boojitos, Sarah Dime. I could go on and on about how happy I was but I’ll just sum up the phone call in one word: Amazing.

Isma came home pretty late and I sat with him while he ate dinner. An hour or so later, he looked at me and threw out our code word, “banana?” Two seconds later, we were outside the apartment and walking towards the gelato shop. With giant cones in our hands and fatty smiles on our face, we waltzed home.

Not feeling too hot and with a killer headache again, I hit the sack a little earlier than usual. Goodnight world.

Wednesday 05/12: Class was class and I went straight from 10:30 until 02:00 pm. I spent a little bit of time around campus before making my way over to Carolina’s for some catching up. When I got there, no one was answering the doorbell. Uh oh, I thought I was supposed to come over. Did I miss the memo on the change of plans? Nope, the girls were still sleeping, those lazy bums. Luckily, Carolina finally heard me knocking and came to open the door. I insisted on coming back later but she said she really wanted me to stay. Okay fine, she convinced me.

While she ate breakfast, I ended up eating lunch. With more of their delicious Portuguese soup and other goodies, I could hardly contain myself. After we finished, though, I suggested gelato. Carolina loves her Italian ice cream the same way I do…well, probably not as much but still she loves it. She showered and I hung out with Mercedes until she was ready to go. Then we were off on an excursion for amazingness.

Cones in hand and with the weather finally clearing up a little, we started walking up Porta Ticinese to Via Torino. Carol had been telling me all about her most recent discoveries so I decided to embark on a search of my own. I needed both a bathing suit and a presents for my loved ones. I was triumphant in both categories.

After our shopping rendezvous, Carol had to head home and I needed to do some research for my fashion project. My Management of Fashion and Design class assigned a giant field project on a brand of your choice that you and a group are supposed to fully analyze and create a giant PowerPoint. I’m in a group with Max, David, Phillip, and Brit and we chose Dsquared2. I decided to hit up the flagship store to see what I could find out and to take pictures for our slideshow. Without a problem, I struck up conversation with someone in the store, who turned out to be the Visual Director. I asked for permission to take pictures and bam, I was around shooting this, that, and the other. Before I left, I asked if he might be willing to set up a personal meeting to discuss the company, their image, their message, and all that good stuff. To my luck, he agreed happily and told me that anything I needed he would be happy to help with. I was ecstatic because apparently Brittany had been denied taking pictures 3 times and had been more or less pushed out of the store. I must have had some magic working for me.

I left the store feeing rather proud and headed home to get to work, do some packing, and figure out my life. I was feeling a little overwhelmed because as the semester moves closer to an end, I realize more and more how much I need to start preparing for my exams. Why is it so dman hard to study here? I feel like the world is outside my window waiting and sitting inside reading some Harvard case about management consulting seems pointless. I need to focus. Help me?

Isma and I quickly ran to the store, grabbed some food, and headed home to whip up some fresh filets and homemade spicy tomato sauce. Deliciousness once again. As soon as we finished up dinner, in walked Olha!!! She’s home! The rest of the night was spent catching up, enjoying her homecoming, and doing some homework. By 2 am, my bed was calling me and my eyes were begging me to sleep.

Thursday 05/13: I woke up to find it thundering…AGAIN! Ahhhh Milan I hate your stupid weather! I blame the volcano. Science easily verifies that something of that extent could easily throw off the weather. Thanks a lot volcano too-long-of-name-to-pronounce!

Fashion class was pretty interesting and we had a speaker from Ray-Ban. A lover of Ray-Ban, I was the only kid in the class who had the guts to speak up. The speaker appreciated the interaction because otherwise it would have been downright awkward. No one likes to stand in front of a big group of silent kids, blank stares and all.

I needed to do some work and was hungry so I had to cancel plans with Ayano (tear!) and go back to the apartment before my second class of the day. Already annoyed, I showed up to find that the maid had decided to bail no his duties. The kitchen was a disaster zone and you know me, I hate a dirty kitchen. Thus, I was left cleaning and scrubbing dishes until I could no longer ignore the hunger pains. I scarffed up lunch, threw my stuff in my backpack, and headed back to school for my last class of the week.

When I showed up to Room 212, not a single recognizable face was sitting in lecture. Well, there was no one sitting in lecture. Did I miss something? Yes, yes I did. Class was changed to 12:30 pm and I had completely forgotten. I have a class conflict at that time anyway but still, I could’ve avoided the 30-minute trip to campus.

I chose to spend my time at Bocconi on my computer taking care of emails, getting important documents taken care of, organizing my life, and just tying up loose ends here and there. You know, the necessary. At the time my class would have finished, I walked to the metro and made my way to Isma’s office. I needed to print my boarding pass and some school documents before heading off to Morocco tomorrow morning!!! That’s right, yours truly, is off to Casablanca and Marrakech for the weekend. Culture shock, I’m ready for you.

We stayed at the office until about 07:15 pm before heading back the apartment. I was ready to eat dinner, take a shower, and go to bed immediately seeing that I needed to wake up at a beautiful 4 am in the morning. Isma had other plans and wanted to go for aperitivo. I agreed only as long as we could go to the yummy place near the apartment. I figured it would save time and I knew I loved what they served. Unfortunately, there was no parking in front of the apartment or anywhere else close by and we spent 15 minutes driving and driving and driving. I was done with the idea of going but Isma had his heart set so we went.

Aperitivo was short and we quickly walked home to cook dinner. Isma’s sister had sent him home with leftovers. She’s a professional cook and a really really good one at that. So yeah, dinner was amazing.

Stomach full, bags packed, and exhausted, I took a nice hot shower before saying my goodbyes and I love yous to Olha and Isma. At 11 pm, I slid under the covers and drifted off, a 4 am alarm waiting for me.

Get ready for all the Morocco fun and other adventures come next post! Love and miss you all so much…can’t wait to see you in 7 weeks!!!

Xoxo
Me