Soooo, the last time I wrote was 2 and a half weeks ago-so I have some catching up to do-bare with me! The week after my last post was quite eventful-On Monday the 7th after class we went to a mexican themed restaurant for a meal they call “Appertivo” here..Its like a little meal before dinner from around 6:30 to 9, some people actually go for dinner there also. It is usually about 7 euro and you get a drink and a plate for the buffet. They serve appertivo at just about every single restaurant in Italy, which is great because its so cheap and you can find it where ever you go! The next day after class, Jaclyn and I went to get dinner at the Mayflower, which is a restaurant about 10 feet away from campus. Then, of course, we went to do a little shopping near the Duomo :) The Duomo has the best shopping near us! Thats where i bought my Louis Vuitton bag ;) The next night we went to the Old Fashion Cafe. That was A LOT of fun…we met a lot of people that night. It was 10 Euro to get in and you got 2 free drinks with that!
On thursday there was an event called Fashions Night Out hosted by Vogue. It is one of the biggest events during this time of the year because of Fashion Week and all of the new collections of clothing coming out. It was held near the Duomo (again). When we got there we didnt really know what to expect, but the first store we went into we had to get a stamp on our hands (still not quite sure why) but it was PACKED. They served champagne and alcoholic drinks and most stores had extra discounts for the night. We all bought a limited edition Tshirt that says “Fashions Night Out Milano 2009” on it…40% of the proceeds go to planting trees in Milan :) I also got a really nice Roberto Cavalli bag for school. Walking back to the area of the Duomo after shopping a bit, we stumbled upon HEAVEN ON EARTH! (See the first picture above) Male models in suits; first in black, and then they switched models and they were all in white. it was perfection. When we got near the Duomo we sat at a little bar/cafe and got a few drinks. This guy that Jaclyn met at Old Fashion named Robert (who is absolutely beautiful) met up with us with him friend and they sat at the bar with us.
The weekend of the 11th to the 13th, the girls and I went to Genova, which is in Northern Italy, its a beautiful city with a very popular Seaport. We spent 1 night and 2 days there, and it was beauuuutiful. We went to the beach (which was covered in rocks-NO SAND, ouch) the weather was perfect, especially the 2nd day. I was baffled by the amount of speedos and naked women. I was even more confused by the kids playing with shovels in the rocks…….? Dont you think they are a little deprived? What are they building, rock castles instead of sand castles?! The sad part was, they looked like they were enjoying it! I wanted to steal one and bring them to the Jersey Shore and see how they would react to sand! At night time (obviously during the night we stayed) there was an event called the White Night. Apparently there was a holiday in Italy that they were celebrating, of course we had no idea, and I show up wearing an all black dress….but thats besides the point. It was so crowed. On top of that event, MTV europe was there and there was literally an Italian Warped Tour going on! The city was flooded with italian teenie boppers haha it was classic. We wound up waiting 45 minutes for a table for dinner, but the food was worth it. Plus we had a few beers while we waited, so it wasnt so bad ;)
My next week here was I think even more entertaining than the first. Megans birthday was on the 1st of september and we decided to go out to the canal. We stayed and drank some drinks at this place called the virgin cafe, which is where I met Michele….an adorable italian guy who is the most respectful sweet(did I mention adorable) guy ever! Anyway, this past week kim and I met up with him and his friend fabio again at Mayflower. It was appropriate that we went out with them on the night of the 15th because as soon as the clock stuck midnight it was officially kims 21st birthday! So I was with her as she consumed her first LEGAL (well, in america) drink! The next night for kims actual birthday we went to a restaurant that we’ve been to before with NABA that we absolutely loved. Kim polished off an entire bottle of wine hahaha yeah she had a good night. The rest of us split 2 bottle between 6 of us and got these amaaazing salads. It was so nice to finally eat a salad, its been far too long!
On the 17th we went back to old fashion cafe..this time I met a guy named Ermal. He was quite a good dancer ;) the next morning we slept in and later on went down to the fair grounds from the metro and went to a leather exhibition. We were personally invited to go by our NABA coordinator, glenda. it was so exciting to be able to go because its an exclusive event just for buyers and stylists to see next season shoes and bags. Its where the buyers come and choose what they want in their stores for the next coming seasons. We clearly looked so out of place (six 20 year old girls walking around amongst 500 older business people)haha it was a great experience though, considering its my dream to be a buyer! the next morning was rough, we had to wake up and be at the police station to get our permesso (the permit to stay in the country for s months) by 830!! The process was so long we were there for 5 hours! It was a lonnnng day, but once again, we went to the duomo afterwards haha we ate dinnr at a mcdonalds (which are everywhere here) and then shopped a little.
The next day, which was my favorite day of that week, jaclyn and I went to the spa!!! My god, it was amazing. It was my first experience at a spa, and let me tell you it was an EXPERIRENCE ha! We were naked for 2 hours in front of 4 women who gave us full face and body exfoliation and full face and body massages. It was unreal. We will definitely be back there again soon! After the spa we came back to the apartment, only to find out that anias dog had been put to sleep back home, and stacia got pick pocketed on the metro! So as jaclyn and I had a flawless day, everyone else was miserable. But later on that night it got better: ania and megans friends ryan and kyle were in milan for the night and we all decided to go back to the canal. We went back to the virgin cafe (and guess who met us there? Michele and fabio haha) we came home around 2ish and stopped at this stand on the corner of the street our apartment is on. We like to call it “wawa” because its where we stop to get our drunk munchies lol! We all got sandwiches and walked back home.
Which leads me to yesterday and today. Yesterday was pretty uneventful. Class from 2 to 5 and then back to the apt to make dinner and study for our italian midterms (which are today at 2) so I guess that means I should go head back to studying! Ill post again tomorrow hopefully! Enjoy the pictures :)
