"I LOVE Milan"

I am enjoying my summer study abroad program so much. The immigration classes I take are interesting because they are offering me a new scholarly perspective on an issue that I typically approach sociologically. My program is made up of a super small group of girls, so we do just about everything together, from eating meals to movie nights and even travelling. Recently, we had a long weekend, so the six of us headed to Milan for a quick getaway to a bigger Italian city.

On Thursday, we got up bright and early to catch an 8 a.m. train out of Nice Ville. After the long trip we arrived at our Airbnb, threw our stuff down, and immediately headed to lunch in the Brera district. I had a pizza and amazing focaccia bread that I probably won’t stop talking about for a while. Afterwards, we strolled around the city for a few hours. Something I was super excited to come across was the Pinacoteca di Brera. This is a public gallery, but my inner former Latin student was totally nerding out at the library with incredible old books and inscriptions written in Latin. The trip to Italy was certainly the only place where I’ve been able to recognize and use my foreign language some. My first impressions of Milan were as follows: I love this city, the shopping is amazing as expected, and I will surely be eating my weight in this food.

Friday was spent shopping and exploring the city. We went to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the oldest Italian shopping mall, and were absolutely in awe of the beauty of the architecture. We kept walking through into the Piazza del Duomo and saw the Duomo di Milano. The building is almost incomprehensible in its sheer size and detailed structure. I kept wondering how a building of that grandeur could be constructed and opened in the 18th century. After we stared for a good long while, ensuring everyone knew that we too were tourists, we walked around the city some more and enjoyed several street performers.

We took a day trip to Lake Garda on Saturday. After a quick train to the region of Lake Garda, we took a ferry over to Sirmione and trekked through the quaint but busy town to Jamaica Beach. The beach is a popular destination (it can be hard to find a good spot on nice days), but it is absolutely beautiful. The water so blue and clear that you can see the big flat rocks underneath the surface. On the horizon, you can see mountains, and behind you, there are ancient ruins of a castle. Although it can be a bit difficult to get all the way there, the breathtaking view makes the trip entirely worth it.

After a fun and full weekend, we got up pretty early Sunday morning to get breakfast and head back to Nice. We had such a good weekend—I wish we could have spent a few more days exploring the beautiful city. I have to say the food was probably one of the highlights for me. I absolutely adore Italian cuisine, so I was living for all the bread (Italy does focaccia the best), pizza, and pasta. If you ever get the chance to go to Milan, go! The amount of times I said “I love Milan. Like seriously, I really love Milan,” borders on obnoxious; you can ask my friends, and they would probably agree.