During the past two weeks I’ve really taken some time to get to know Milan. I’m going to be traveling so much in the coming weeks—Venice, Qatar, Rome, Naples, Capri and Paris, to name a few—and I wanted to make sure I had time to connect with my temporary home. Europe can be overwhelming, in the sense that there are so many wonderful places to see, and they are all so close and relatively inexpensive. However, I chose to study in Italy because I wanted to immerse myself in the culture and learn to live like an Italian for a little while. So, I dedicated the past two weekends to exploring Milan inside and out, caught somewhere between a local, a tourist and a wide-eyed American gal.
My first stop was the Duomo, the most magnificent cathedral located in the heart of Milan. The cathedral was originally commissioned in the 14th century and it took almost 500 years to complete. There are so many beautiful statues of angels and saints carved into the outside and on all of the spires. I actually started counting them (because I count everything, it’s a bizarre thing I inherited from my mother), until someone told me there were 3,500 statues in the whole Duomo. For a small fee, and the energy required to climb 500 steps, my friends and I got to go up onto the roof. It was incredible, an aerial view of the whole city that stretched all the way out to the Alps.
Down below, in the piazza where the Duomo is located, there was a huge piece of paper set up with paint and brushes for a children’s charity. There were hundreds of little kids just sitting on the ground painting and having the best time. So right there, standing in front of the cathedral where St. Augustine was baptized, I took the opportunity to paint my initials on the giant piece of paper.
I also took a stroll through the Galleria, one of the first indoor malls. Now, its home to all of the luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Prada, but it’s a beautiful walkthrough that leads directly to La Scala Opera House. I’ll admit, La Scala isn’t all that impressive from the outside, but the theater itself is remarkable. I got to tour the museum and see old costumes from operas and ballets and even sneak a peek at the theater from one of the boxes.
After a long day of touring and picture taking, my friends and I heard about this great place where locals go for fried pizza. So, without hesitation, we followed the directions to the side street where about 30 local Italians were lined up to get in. A line always means good food. So we waited on line and then ate our food sitting on the sidewalk like all of the other locals during their lunch breaks. We almost would’ve blended in if it wasn’t for our large tourist cameras and loud discussion of the “Kardashian Wedding Special.”
While I’m loving Europe and all things Italian, there are inevitably things I miss about home. Stupid things, really. Things like coffee to-go and breakfast food and granola bars. Well, you can imagine my excitement when we found a fabulous coffee shop that not only served iced coffee, but in paper to-go cups! As much as I was thrilled to be holding a coffee that I could take on the run, it did kind of feel like cheating. In a country where coffee and food and time are so valued, it feels cheap to not sit and enjoy it. So I indulged in my American nostalgia and then vowed to do caffeine the Italian way from now on.
However, the next morning my friends and I tried this fabulous American bakery, the “California
Bakery,” to be exact. It serves American-style breakfast and brunch; I’m talking eggs, bacon, pancakes, French toast and even bagels. As a snobby New Yorker who truly knows what it means to eat a good bagel, I passed on the faux everything bagel and went for the pancakes with Nutella.
It’s fun to be a tourist and take pictures and visit amazing places, and it’s also fun to be a local and read the Italian paper and buy my fruit from the cute old man that has a stand outside my apartment. But sometimes, it’s just wonderful to be an American girl, eating pancakes and experiencing the wonders of Italy.