Milan

 

Hey Blog People,

Well, as you may have noticed, I took an accidental little break for about a month. But since it is now Christmas Break, I have the time to catch up on all the adventures I have gone on in the last month. We will start with my trip to Milan, the last school trip of the year. 

On the first of December, we woke up around 5 am and left the school at 6. It was forecasted to be rainy and cold, so I was expecting freezing weather. But it wasn't really that bad. I felt comfortable in my long trench coat and scarf. We took the bus up to Milan with a fully packed schedule. As soon as we arrived, we started walking to the Duomo in Milan as our first stop. 

Side note: the pigeons near the Duomo are Aggressive! People sell food for the pigeons, so they are not afraid of getting near people. I even saw some people who let multiple pigeons land on their arms. We were taking a group picture and a small flock of pigeons flew toward the group. Some of us screamed. I cannot confirm or deny that I let out a small yell. 

One thing everyone should know is that the Duomo in Milan is ICONIC and absolutely gorgeous! I think it is one of the most beautiful duomos I have ever seen. We were given these programmed cell phones that provided us with an audio tour of everything from the doors in the front to the stained glass artwork on the inside. The Duomo is really big, obviously, and has a lot of interesting details. We walked around for a little bit, listening to the audios and just exploring. We were excused for lunch whenever we finished walking around. 

I went to a local pizza place with a group of my friends. I liked the pizza they served. It had a thin crust and reminded me of greasy arcade pizza from back home. Even though that doesn't sound good, it was actually very delicious. 

On the way there and on the way back, we walked past the luxury stores, which Milan is known for. High fashion and Milan Fashion Week are some of the most famous things to come from Milan. It feels so weird to walk past all these luxury stores and just look at all the people shopping, spending exorbitant amounts of money on these products. Walking past stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Dior, Versace, and so many more is just crazy. After lunch, I decided to walk through the Tiffany & Co store by myself and, I kid you not, it took my break away. The diamonds were absolutely stunning and sparkled with every move you made. The displays were elegant and chic. There were no prices shown. I suppose you know just about how much money you would be paying if you were to go shopping at the Tiffany Store. It was so fancy that the doorman locked and unlocked the door anytime someone went through. I hope I own something from Tiffany someday.

We met up with the group again in front of the Duomo and walked to our next stop: Teatro alla Scala. This is one of the most famous opera theaters in the world. Every year, on the 8th of December, they celebrate the beginning of the winter season the President of Italy comes to officially start the season with a ceremony. Afterward, they go to the first opera performance of the season at this theater. Super famous Italian opera singers have performed in this theater. Needless to say, this place is famous. We got to go inside and look at the theater from the boxes. They weren't doing much of anything, just blocking and lighting. But I looked around the theater and just everything that was happening and I started to cry a little bit because I miss theater so much> I need to get back into it when I get back to the States because I miss it so much. After watching them block for a few minutes and just admiring the whole theater. We were able to walk through the theater museum and an exhibit honoring a famous opera singer. It was cool to hear about the history and see how far back it went, even if I don't care about opera that much. 

The final stop we made was just to see a famous castle in Milan called Sforzesco Castle (Sforzesco was a famous family that once ruled Milan). We just took some pictures from the outside. The castle was actually MASSIVE! Just looking at the outside wall I knew this castle was big. I would like to go back someday and explore the castle and walk around Milan a little bit more (preferably in a little bit better weather). 

There was one more adventure that I experienced and that was on our way back to Villa from Milan. We stopped at a gas station for supper on the way back. At one point, I went to the bathroom, hung up my fanny pack, and forgot to grab it again. By the time I realized I didn't have it, we were about 20 minutes away from the gas station. I freaked out a little bit making sure it wasn't on the bus, and then had Miranda call the gas station to see if they could find it. For those 10 minutes, I had hope they would find it, But even with the description of what it was and where it was, the workers didn't find it. That's when I knew it had been stolen. 

I will be honest. I did cry. I was angry that I had left it and knew just where it was, angry at whoever took it, and frustrated that there was nothing I could do about it. I quickly locked my credit and debit cards. I called my parents and told them what happened. One of the chaperones, Erica (my grammar teacher) called the gas station and went into mom problem-solving mode. I'm really grateful she was there and able to help me through this whole process. I had an AirTag in the pack and I was able to see where the fanny pack was. For a while, it was still at the last station. But then I saw it move, and I watched it drive south toward Florence, past Florence (THAT was irritating), past Rome, and down to the outskirts of Naples. It was so hard to watch it move around, but also sort of entertaining, knowing that this person didn't know I knew where they were. 

The next morning Erica took me to the police station to talk to them and see if they could do anything. One of the workers at the gas station had said that there were security cameras, but only the special road police could check them and they would have to be called to the specific gas station the next morning. We talked to the policeman, told him what happened, showed him the location, and figured out what our options were. If we wanted to do anything to get my fanny pack back, we would have to go through the whole process, and then go through filing charges and going to court (Italian court) with whoever stole it. The police couldn't just go and get it cause then they would be stealing from the person who stole it from me. In the end, we decided it was too much work and not worth it to try to get it back. We did end up filing missing paperwork just so we had the documentation. I was really glad that Erica came with me because the guy didn't really understand English and she was able to translate and help me figure out what to do. 

Throughout this whole thing, I recognized, both in the moment and in hindsight, that the whole situation could have been so much worse. I still had my passport, phone, and AirPods. I just got left in a place, so no one physically took it from me and no one was physically hurt. Nothing was spent on my debit or credit card, and I didn't have much cash in my wallet, only about 25 euros. And I was going home soon, so I could get new cards and a new driver's license when I got back home. There were a lot of things that could have been a lot worse. It was just unfortunate and angering that it happened. 

So yeah, it wasn't a great ending to the trip, but I did enjoy my time in Milan. I am hoping to go back at some point because I know there is more to see in the city. It's not the biggest tourist attraction, like Rome or Florence, but I would like to spend more time there. Thanks for reading!

Ciao,

            Ellie