MILAN: Fashion Week 2012
I have been hesitant to write this blog post, because
leaving Italy left a bad taste in my mouth. I have been slightly bitter, and
figured I should cool down before I wrote a bunch of terrible stuff. Yesterday
I wanted nothing but to forget about the previous weekend, but as I thought
about it, I realized that there was a lot of good that happened this weekend. I
will try to focus on those things, but I do have to start out by talking a
little about the bad. It was just too ridiculous! Firstly, when we showed up to
our hotel (that our school booked for us), the walls in our room were
completely covered with mold. It STUNK! I mean, it really stunk. Stunk
to the point that I was never able
to adjust to it. I then must have been allergic to this mold because my eyes
burned and cried for a good portion of the day after leaving the hotel. Now
comes the major bummer of the weekend that left me fuming! It was the very end
of the trip, and we were about to head out. I was in the city center, and
decided to take one last picture of the Duomo. After snapping my last shot, I
zipped my camera back in my purse and headed for the metro. We have been told
that pick pocketers are especially sneaky in Italy, so I made sure my hand was on
my purse the entire time and was conscious not to stand too close to anyone.
Clearly I was not careful enough because as soon as I got back to my hotel, I
realized that my purse was zipped open and my camera and Nook were missing! No
matter how hard I try, I cannot think of when they could possibly have taken
it! It just blows my mind. GRRRRRR!! But things happen, and it stinks, but it
is time to move on. I keep trying to remind myself of that anyways.
Unfortunately, because I no longer have a camera, this blog
post will be lacking in fun and exciting pictures L I did manage however, to snap
a couple on my phone, so hopefully these will provide a tiny sample of my time
in Milan!
Luckily, all travels went without blemish, and we arrived in
Milan early Thursday morning. After checking into our darling hotel (cough
cough), we hit the streets exploring! It was pretty hard to miss the
spectacular Duomo as soon as we hit Milan’s city center!
The Duomo is the fourth largest Cathedral in the world, and
is absolutely immaculate in detail and design. I wish I had a way to express
just how massive AND intricate this building is, but even a picture can’t
capture the enormity of the Duomo!
Milan is one of the five fashion capitals of the world, and
we happened to be there during FASHION WEEK 2012! The streets were lined with
fashion advertisements, fashion shows, and lots and lots of people! There were
also fashion boxes, where you could go watch shows, read magazines, and sip on
FREE water.
Not only was it fashion week, but some sort of week long
festival was also taking place. People were dressed in costumes, and there was
silly string, balloons, and confetti EVERYWHERE we went! Needless to say, there
were all sorts of people out and about in Milan, and people watching was at its
prime!
Because it was fashion week, and I am in the fashion
program, we were required to venture out to the “Golden Square” and peruse all
the high-end retail stores. This area of
town was insane. Prada, Versace, Valentino, Dolce & Gabana, LV, Ferrari,
and countless other luxury stores came on after the other, stretching across
many block. The merchandise in these stores was unbelievable. Sweaters for
7,000 Euros, and purses for 10,000 Euros…I couldn’t wrap my mind around these
steep price tags! The window displays were the most extravagant I have ever
seen. Shiny products, bright lights, gold trim, sparkly crystals, everything
had a near perfect façade. The Golden
Square is a modern day Babylon at its finest! It is interesting because some of
my classmates were in heaven walking these streets. These are companies they
want to eventually design for, so they couldn’t be happier! They couldn’t stop
staring and were giddy with excitement. For some reason, I couldn’t get as
excited about this place as most of my peers. Don’t get me wrong, it was so
neat to see, but I just don’t care all that much about high-end fashion. Oops,
sorry!
After a long day of traveling and walking, Kimberly, Yoojin
and I found us some REAL ITALIAN GELATO!! I have always loved gelato, but THIS
gelato was out of this world!! Here was my first of many cups of this creamy
deliciousness! I am not ashamed to say that I had it every day in Milan…and
sometimes twice!
On day two of our Milan adventure, we got up early and
headed over to la Scala. La Scala is one of the most famous theatres in the
world, and is renown for producing the best of the best performances.
After leaving La Scala, we
began our painstaking “tour de museums.” In the next three days to come, we
went to seven museums. SEVEN! Don’t get me wrong, museums are cool, but SEVEN??
If I go the rest of my time in Europe without going to another museum, I will
be perfectly content. By the last museum, I couldn’t even laugh about the
situation any more. I was DONE. Here are the three musuem pictures I have…
One of the very best things about the weekend was the
weather! It was 65 and SUNNY! Praise the Lord for the beautiful weather!
Whenever we had free time, Kimberly and I would go get gelato and find a place
in the sun just to sit. I loved being able to relax with my eyes closed, as the
sun warmed my face. Those peaceful moments that passed all too soon, were the
most refreshing and rejuvenating moments I have experienced since being in
Europe. It’s funny how the ritz and
glamour of Milan didn’t capture my heart. It was the warmth of the sun that
made Milan shine!!
Later that night, we went down to the Canals for dinner and
desert- pizza and Nutella filled crepes! Yummm! The canals were designed by
DaVinci, and were put in place to cart the massive amounts of marble and
granite that were used to build the Duomo. This was a perfectly quaint and
relaxing place to end a long day of exploring.
Day three we got to
explore the Duomo! This was one of my favorite things we did all weekend! Not
only could we look all throughout the inside, which was extravagant beyond
words, but we were also able to scale the roof of this colossal cathedral! The
views were AMAZING up there, and these are some of the pictures I will miss the
most. At least I got a couple…
We then did some more museum hopping, and when we were free
to go Kimberly and I ran for the sun! We strolled around the grounds of a
castle on our way to more gelato and sun sitting.
Before reaching our
sitting sanctuary, we somehow found ourselves in the middle of a fashion show
that was just letting out. It was insane seeing all the paparazzi and models
and designers and fancy cars that swirled all around us. Seeing as Kimberly is
a six-foot GORGEOUS model herself, we thought it would be hilarious to play a
fun trick on all the camera crazy paparazzi! We set up our game plan and got to
work. We pretended she was a model who didn’t want to be seen, and I was her
side-kick agent that was trying to conspicuously shield her face with an
oversized magazine. As we swiftly walked straight through the craziness of the
crowd, it was shocking how many cameras we got to chase us (well mainly her)!
It was hilarious how many flashes were directed toward her, and by the time we
made it out of the mob, we lost it! It was all too funny that our devious plan
actually worked, and now many cameras now held pictures of two silly study
abroad students!
As I said earlier that people watching was at its prime! We spent
our last afternoon sitting outside the Duomo, just watching as the world passed
us by. We saw people after people, from every walk of life. We saw the richest
of rich with shopping bags in hand, yet a couple feet away we watched a man
grab food out of the trashcan to eat. We saw children playing tag next to old
couple slowly walking hand in hand. There were extremely tall people, very
short people and people all in between. We saw people from seemingly every
country, and as I sat there in Milan, I was reminded just how small I am in
this big BIG world! I feel like I got a rare chance to slow down and pause in
the midst of a rapidly moving city, which was a humbling experience. An
experience that I am definitely grateful for!
So as it was time to leave Milan, I was angry and couldn’t
be more ready to get back to Prague. I was leaving with less than I came with,
and had a hard time finding anything good about the trip. Since I have been
back though, I have realized that there was a lot of good that took place in
Milan. I got closer to many of my classmates, and I was reminded of the
important things in life. Though I don’t have a camera or many pictures to
show, I still have the memories. My family, friends, and I are all in good
health, and my stolen items are replaceable. So all is still good!
In all seriousness though, I AM getting extra sneaky
and creative in keeping my belongings safe! I’m actually really impressed
with my new tactics. There is no getting past me again, so watch out
pick-pocketers…YOU WILL NOT WIN!!
Ciao!
FUN FACT: Your brain cannot actually feel pain. Yes it processes pain, but the brain itself is incapable of feeling any pain at all.
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