I warned Matt not to get his expectations up because Milan is no match to Rome when it comes to history or things to see and do. The first stop was my school. I returned my backpack to my room and showed him around campus. We actually found a WWI monument on campus that I did not even know was there. We then ate doner kebab sandwich for lunch: sort of a pregame for Morocco.

I then showed Matt the Duomo and the Galleria Vittoria. There was an exhibit in the town square that showed some military vehicles including fighter planes and navy seal equipment. A fun fact is that the average fighter jet costs over $64 million dollars to build (more expensive than fanciest mansions in the world).We then went to the castle Sforcezo and the park around it.

Matt wanted to see the Brera Art Academy. I did not know the specific location, but knew the general area around it. Like many times in Milan, I ended up getting lost and wandered in a random part of the city. I saw a store that sold American sports magazines (SI, Athlon College Hoops Preview, etc.), but they sold the for 12 euro ($18) a piece which was not worth it. After an hour of wandering I found Constantine’s cathedral and the Mexican restaurant Papas and Beer. From these points I knew how to get back and took Matt to the metro station to go back to his hostel. At the metro we split up and I went to bed early for a long day on Friday when I arrived to Morocco.

Due to my website crashing, I lost post #1 (didn’t say much), and posts 7-8. However, I had preserved posts 2-5 that cover my arrival to Italy and trip to Florence. At the bottom of this post, I will recap posts 6-8.

Here is an archived recap of Nick’s International Adventures parts 2-6:

Country #1 United Kingdom

Destination 1: London, UK

As I am writing this post I am sitting in the London Heathrow airport. However, by the time this is published I will probably be in my hotel in Milan (It’s not worth four pounds for the Internet access required to publish in Italy). My trip so far has just been airports and sitting on an ten hour flight. Due to a lack of LA traffic, my mother and I arrived to the airport quite early at 4:00 for a 7:50 flight. This ended up in a lost of time waiting in LAX. We had dinner at Chili’s and my fajita was the worst fajita I ever had with cardboard flavored tortillas, and low quality meat. The chicken wings were awful too and tasted like teriyaki chicken nuggets. Restaurants like Chili’s, Olive Garden, and T.G.I. Fridays are what American food and chain restaurants to gain such a bad reputation.

After dinner I went to the bookstore. I debated between getting a biography of Andrew Jackson or A Year Living Biblically. I ended up getting A Year Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs, because some of my college friends recommended it and looked really funny. It’s a story of an agnostic Esquire writer who decides to try to live for a year abiding every rule in the Bible from the Ten Commandments to the most obscure Jewish law. I read the first sixty pages on the plane and think the book is humorous and entertaining so far.

The one thing I do not like about international travel is long flights. Los Angeles to London was a ten hour flight and was horrendous. For a person who finds sleeping on a couch as “roughing it”, trying to sleep on a chair in an airplane is impossible. I stayed up the whole flight. I felt cramped the entire way and I wonder how somebody taller than me can even fit in a coach seat of an international flight. I ended up spending my flight watching part of season 2 for Chuck and listening to an audiobooks.

I then landed at London Heathrow and ate a mediocre cheeseburger for lunch. My flight ended up being delayed an half and hour. The three hour layover provided me the time to write this part of the post. Then after the layover, I boarded my flight to Milan. At this point I was so tired that I was yawning every five seconds. But due to being in an airplane seat, I could never fall asleep.

Country #2: Italy

Destination #2 Milan, Italy

After a two hour flight my plane landed. Customs was really easy and all I went through was a three minute line and a stamp of the passport. I was able to get my stuff at the baggage claim, but my mother’s suitcase never showed up on the conveyor. While my mom was panicking about here missing clothes and make up, I told her it was just got misplaced on the connection. After talking to the Malpensa lost and found, that ended up being the case and her bag was sitting at London Heathrow. The Marriott driver then picked us up in his Mercedes and we headed to the hotel. The Milan Malpensa airport far away from the airport as we went through thirty minutes of suburbs and forest before we got to the hotel. As soon we checked in I got ready to bed and went to sleep.

Last night I slept incredibly well. One thing that Marriott’s do well is their bedding. The sheets and the mattress pad felt like new and the made the bed extra sof t and comfortable. I woke up at 11:15 AM this morning. I then took a bath to wash up. Next to the toilet there is this odd shaped bowl with a small faucet. I asked my mom what this was and she told me it was called a bidet. I later learned that many Europeans use this bidet instead of toilet paper.

We then went to a bar for breakfast. In Italy, bars are different than in America. It more like a coffee shop except with a soda fountain and a beer draft. However, there are no bar stools, and they charge extra to sit down in the restaurant area, so I ate my croissant standing at the bar. After breakfast we went to the train station. After an hour wait, we caught the train to Florence. The train from Florence to Bologna bolted at high speeds of over eighty-five miles per hour. The seats were also comfortable and the trains were modern. Comparing this to Amtrak is like comparing a Mercedes to a Kia. After stopping in Bologna, the train slowed down, but the ride was still under two hours. During the train ride, I listened to some more Italian lessons, but I still did not understand when a passenger complained to us for sitting in the wrong seats halfway there.

Destination #3: Florence, Italy

We got off the train and quickly boarded a taxi. This station was less mazy than Milan. We then went to our hotel that stands on the banks of the Arno River. After unpacking, we went to a statue park where filled with Roman and Renaissance statues including a statue of Nero for cutting heads, a copy of Michelangelo’s David and some mythical figures. We then went to dinner at a small restaurant in an adjacent alley. My pizza was good, but the restaurant was overpriced and service was slow.

A common theme of Europe so far has been how everything is incredibly overpriced. I know the dollar is weak to the Euro (1.43 to 1 as of writing this), but the ways people nickel and dime you is ridiculous. First the currency exchange shop ripped my mother off of seventy-five dollars at the airport. Then every time you go to the restaurant, the restaurant charges a 1-5 euro cover charge per person. Also when they say an appetizer is for two people the restaurant charges twice the price of the stated menu price. Other annoyances include charging for public bathroom use, 10 percent value added tax on all goods, and the general prices for things are overinflated.

Service at the restaurant was also slow as it took over two hours to eat. This may be also a cultural difference. After dinner, I ate a Gelato and walked to the Ponte Vecchio (a bridge with houses and shops attached to it). Then I returned to the hotel and went to sleep.

On the second day in the Florence my mother and I woke up early to catch a tour of the Palazzo Vecchio. The Palazzo Vecchio was a castle in the heart of Florence. Our tour focused on the secret passages within the building. The palace was owned by the Medici family: a clan of bankers that was known for their sneakiness. We went inside the secret rooms of Cosmo and Francesco Medici. They used these rooms to hide rare collectibles behind paintings while using art to provide clues to what is hidden in the room. In Francesco’s room, he used it to hide his passion of alchemy from his father.

Secret room in Palazzo Vecchio

After the tour, I went to lunch and ate rigatoni Bolognese and penne pesto. The pasta was great, however it has been increasingly difficult to find any pasta not named spaghetti or gnocchi in Italy.

After lunch we went to the Galileo museum which tracked the history of the solar system theories up to Galileo’s proof of the heliocentric theory. I thought the museum was incredibly interesting as it showed exhibits from cuneiform tablets to original copies of Copernicus’s writings and Galileo’s telescopes. My mom on the other hand disliked the museum and the only thing resembling physics and astronomy she cares about is astrology.

After the Galileo museum we went to the Academic Gallery to see the statue of the David. Overall, the museum was unimpressive. The surrounding exhibits of knockoff 19th century Roman sculptures and experimental photography showings to the David were awful. We then got gelatos and walked to the hotel and took a nap.

For dinner we went to the Golden View restaurant. This place had the best food I ate so far in Italy. I ordered lobster spaghetti and a four cheese calzone. The pasta was the best dish I have eaten at a European restaurant; however the calzone lacked marinara sauce which made it taste more like a quesadilla than a calzone. Dinner runs late, if you are not in a hurry it lasts easily over two hours. Also at this time realized that pepperonis are part of American cuisine and not found in Italy. During dinner, I was hit with jet-lag and after I finished eating I walked back to the hotel to sleep while my mom got a tarot reading.

The next day, I slept in. After breakfast, my mother went shopping and I went to the Duomo. First I went inside the church and was told that I had to wait in another line if I wanted to climb to the top. So after a prayer, I left to the other line. The line initially went smoothly. However, when I reached the front, the guard would not let me in and told me to wait ten minutes. Twenty-five minutes later, they actually let me in the Duomo and I began my ascent. I climbed up the staircase, which was just stone, old, and narrow. I reached a room filled with statues of old popes, but then I walked down the hall and saw another flight of stairs. I climbed these stairs and then at the top was only the base of the dome. The interior of the dome is filled with an elaborate fresco of the fate of the soul. The fresco was filled wit detail and creativity of all the possible ways demons can eat people. Medieval and Renaissance artists seemed to always be more imaginative about the punishment of hell than the joys of heaven. Even as a Catholic myself, I think the church used these displays as scare tactics to keep people in the church since peasants had no way of actually reading the Bible. I walked around the base of the dome to find another staircase. This one was extremely narrow and with people coming down the stairs that led to a lot of sidling against the walls. As the dome curved upward the ceiling curved inward forcing me to slightly crouch. I finally reached the top after a series of false endings that resembled the third Lord of the Rings movie.

Once I reached the top I could see the whole the city from roof. I saw the rolling hills and villas perched on top of the rolling green hills of the Tuscan countryside and mountains. When people think of Italy, Florence provides the scenery and most uniquely Italian look of all of Italy. It also seems to have the most culture in such a dense area (Rome is more spread out) area. Ten minutes later I make climb down to the ground. I almost trip on the spiral of the staircase, but it was not a big deal. After the climb, I waited for my mom at the entrance of the church. After meeting up with my mom we headed to the Boboli gardens. However, my mom got caught up buying clothes and the gardens ended up closing before we could get there. After that we decided to eat. After getting lost in the alleys, we found a place. It was of good value, but the food was mediocre. I then went to the gelato shop and had one of my new favorite deserts. My desert was vanilla Italian cream sandwiched by two freshly baked waffles. After eating my desert, I went to sleep. The next day, I took the train to Bocconi and my trip to Florence ended.

The train arrives in Milan and the first thing I do is pickup my stored piece of luggage at the Marriott. After going to the Marriott, we took a cab to the Best Western Hotel Major. This is there I will be staying for the next six nights. The reason that this is the case is because during the last minute in July, I was kicked of Arcoboleno (the international student dorm) and ended up signing up for a different student dorm. However, they do not open until August 31st, and I start my language class on the 26th. As a result I lose $400, on a hotel (more Italian nickel and diming). I plan on appealing this as soon as possible to try to get some of my money back from the school. After checking in, we took the bus 90 to where we thought goes to the university. We ended up getting off two stops too late on a bus to bus that only takes you half way there. We had to backtrack for a half-hour to get to the school. The weather report said that the daily high was only 86 degrees, but the humidity made the oppressive. We finally arrived to the international student desk and got in line for registration. I ran into Austin, a girl I knew from high school and some UCSB classes, and a friend of hers but I was tired and did not feel like extending too long of a conversation. When I reached the registration, they told me they did not get my passport pictures I mailed them, so I had to remake my Bocconi ID card at another time.

We went to a bar by campus to have a ham sandwich after registration. It looked more like a lounge club with waterfall walls and with a mixed set of couches and lights, but this is Italy so bars are open all day. We then walked down Bligny Street to find an electronic store to get some power adapters. I usually not a fan of international standards, but I think the amount of different power plugs cause more confusion for no change in electrical efficiencies. For any electrical engineers reading this, can you explain what (if anything) is significant of the power plug differences across the world? We bought some adapters and Gelatos and then rested at the hotel.

For dinner, I ate at a local regional restaurant by the hotel. I stuffed myself with a two course meal of spaghetti with tomato sauce to start and big Florentine steak as my main course. The meal was great but I left uncomfortably stuffed. We then walked back to the hotel and waited for the taxi to pick up my mother. The taxi came and we said our goodbyes. After my mom left, I read a few articles on the internet and tried to sleep. However, I was restless, because I am starting school tomorrow.

This first four days of my Bocconi experience have been quite similar, so I am going to condense them into a one day narrative that will mention all of the unique things. Around nine every morning I started my intensive language classes which lasted between five to six hours. We would have a lunch break for a half hour which generally expanded to forty-five minutes and was often awkwardly the first one back to class by a large margin.

One thing that I care about that Italians do not is timeliness and efficiency. Meals routine last over an hour (up to two when I was in Florence), and the waiters seem to loiter their way around before they serve you. Class always starts ten minutes later than they are supposed and breaks are doubled. I guess I inherited some Swiss punctuality from my mother’s side of the family which does not seem to carry over to their southern neighbors. Stores and restaurants are also often close in the middle day for lunch, early in the afternoon for the day, random days of the week, and even sometimes the whole month of August. August is vacation month in Milan, and it is the first time I ever seen a major city almost completely close down for a month. I think these effects of socialism on a society along with a cultural attitude that is a little lax. With 60+% income tax rates and 10% value added taxes along with regulations that control the business hours of companies, I cannot blame the Italians to naturally take an artificially low cost of leisure the Italian government creates with this system. Not to get too political, but America will its edge as a center of hard work and innovation if we let Obama get his way with things such as healthcare and cap and trade. Italy could be a comparable example of the best case scenario of a socialized America (system works better with smaller countries).

After class I would run errands. I had to get my phone set up, train pass, ID card, school supplies etc. However, I still cannot get it to activate, so I have to go to the phone store on Monday to fix it. Also when I tried to appeal to the housing department and asked if I could pay on a lump sum for my rent. They said they would not do anything, that the housing director is still on vacation, and if I have any problems, then move into a hostel. My stuff would probably get stolen in a hostel (can’t fit two large suitcases in a locker), and I heard there was no air conditioning in the hostels so I felt good about staying in a hotel. However, going out ever meal other than the complimentary breakfast made my food a lot more expensive. After errands, I would do my homework and rest a little bit.

During the evening, I would wander around the southeast section of town and go eat at various restaurants. When it comes to lunch, dinner, and dessert, Italy’s food cannot be beaten, and I have loved every meal I’ve eaten at a decent restaurant. On Friday night, I changed things up a little but taking the metro to the Milanese Duomo area. I saw the cathedral which was nice, but not as impressive as the one in Florence. I then went to a mall like complex with large glass arches as roofing over the walkways in the square. As a fan of architecture I was impressed by the structure, but in general the city of Milan is incredibly drab an industrial looking. Even Bocconi University has an industrial theme. The restaurants around the Duomo were triple the price of the rest of the city, so I found a passteria a few blocks a way. I found rigatoni for the first time in a while (They call it maccharoni here) and it tasted great. I then walked around and explored downtown. No shops or nightlife institutions were open except for a cougar den by the Duomo and a cheap souvenir shop so I just to a walk around the area for an hour and a half. I saw an old Roman gate, Fiat car shaped tree planters parked on the curbs, and a bunch of designer displays. Around 10:30 I decided to head back. Since I had Saturday school, I could not stay out too late, so I hopped on the Metro back to the hotel.

This morning was the first time I ever had Saturday school. In California, Saturday school was an alternative to detention or a punishment to go to if you broke the law (like traffic school). I had a hard time getting up early, due to not being used to going to school on Saturday. Fortunately this the only Saturday I will ever have school. In fact when my language program ends, I will not class on Fridays either. Coincidentally half the class did not show up to class today. After school I took a nap and now I am writing this post.

Overall, I do not like Milan so far. Depending on my budget, I may expand my travel plans because there seems to not be much to do here other than nightlife and walking. So far only exchange students have arrived on campus. While I was in Florence, they moved into Arcoboleno and formed their set of cliques. I am not here to hang out with Americans, but it has been kind of isolating and lonely since I have been in Milan. I never hear about the student events/meet-ups at apertivos (mix of a restaurant and bar) until the day after. Besides all I ever hear anyone talk about is drunken shenanigans, so I probably would not get along with them anyway. However, I cannot make any judgments until my real classes start. Things will get better when I start travelling on the weekends, the town opens, and my normal school starts. Also my best friend from college told me he will be visiting Milan for a week starting on Monday so I am excited about that.

Posts 7 and 8 continue with my difficult time adjusting in Milan, exploring the city, and some cultural observations and waiting for Jared to arrive from Santa Barbara as he later would on Friday night.