It is finally starting to warm up here in Milan, Italy!
For the first couple weeks, the weather was so cold. Milan is only about 2 hours from Switzerland, so although it makes sense for the weather to be cold, I wasn’t ready for the low temperatures in my apartment. I am staying in a small apartment 2 minutes from my classes; I share a room with a fashion student from Kazakstan and a German girl lives in the other room of our flat. Although the location is ideal, the building itself is very old. They key to our apartment is longer than my hand, and the walls are very thin. I can hear loud conversations from the street from our third floor apartment.
I have mixed feelings about my experiences so far, ?mostly because my health has been a problem since before arriving. I had what I think was the flu on the way over but there was no way to change my flight (I tried). After a 12 hour layover in JFK, I spent half of the flight asleep in the empty half of the plane (my flight attendant was so kind and let me switch to have a row for myself), and the other half coughing and nauseous. After Im landed, I was able to get to the apartment and check in, and I slept for two days. Needless to say, I scared my roommate who was already here. But when I was finally able to leave my apartment, I was so excited to be in such a great city for a whole semester. The underground subway has a stop at the Duomo, and the exit is 50 feet from the front of the Duomo. It’s a breathtaking sight.
Milan is ideal for a student who wants to travel. There are two major airports, a central train station, underground subways, above-ground metros, and major bus stops. Tickets from Milan to most places in Europe are very affordable, and my bus ticket to Zurich was about 20 euros.
My first trip was to Zurich, and I broke my finger skiing. We did some sightseeing the first day we were there, and the next day was ski day. We traveled an hour outside of Zurich to Mt. Brunni and arrived at around 8:30am. After renting the gear, paying for my day pass, and getting on the t-lift, I skied for about 30 seconds before falling down the mountain and hitting a girl’s skis on the way down. I spent the rest of the day at the local hospital. Although it was quite painful, the experience was actually quite pleasant. The EMTs who took me to the hospital made jokes the whole time, the hospital was spotless and looked brand new, and the doctors were very kind when they re-set my pinky. It has been over 2 weeks, and my finger is still crooked and quite swollen, but it has been difficult finding a doctor here to see and the Italian emergency room was packed so I wasn’t able to get seen.
Classes started on my birthday, February 4th, and I have enjoyed them all so much! I am in E-marketing and E-commerce, Psychology of Marketing, Management of Fashion Companies, and Personal Selling. I really think they will help me in my career. I signed for my internship yesterday to work for Levi’s in San Francisco this summer, and I think what I am learning this semester will be easy to carry over with me. Bocconi University is a well-known business school, and one of the best in Europe, and I feel so lucky to be here studying with bright students from all over the world. Some of my closest friends I have made in classes are from France, New York, California, Morocco, and Canada.
I am so excited for the rest of the semester. I want to make the most of my time here because I know it is going to go by so quickly. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to make lifelong friends, see new things, grow in character, and learn as much as I can in a place so beautiful and rich with culture.