My Takeaways from Making Pasta in Milan

If you've been admitted to a study abroad program through IES Abroad, you can count on there being support every step of the way, and this was made clear to me long before I ever left the United States. Leading up to departure, I had the chance to connect with housing specialists, internship coordinators, and more, but something I was kind of surprised by was the fact that there was also a team of people planning a wide variety of events and field trips at every price point for students in my IES Abroad program. Reading about all the possibilities of things that I could do while abroad was really exciting, especially during a time when studying abroad might feel really daunting and overwhelming, as you are preparing to be away from friends, maybe registering for a visa or passport for the first time, and beginning to research/book flights to your study abroad location. 

After talking to the wonderful Alessia Palmieri and Vittoria Mussio, my events and field trip coordinators, I can confidently share about the kinds of activities made available to me (Milan Summer 2024 Internship program). For full disclosure, know that while the events and field trips offered may change across the seasons/semesters, many are offered time and time again to both summer and semester program students: 

• €15: Viewing of The Last Supper ("Cenacolo") by Leonardo da Vinci
• €23: Face mask making workshop at Lush
• €29: Wine tasting at La Dogana del Buon Gusto
• €30: Pasta cooking class at Mi Scusi
• €30: Italian movie night and apertivo
• €35: Tote bag painting at Oh My Crunch
• €40: Clay workshop at Clay Lab Ideamondo
• €50: Blindfolded yoga and apertivo at IES Abroad Milan Center
• €50: Field trip (day trip) to Lake Maggiore 
• €80: Field trip (weekend) to Lake Como for a "Mountain Retreat Adventure"

If any of these sound exciting to you, then as a pro tip, I recommend that you prepare to sign up for them right when registration opens. Being an anxious person, I had my browser open to sign up for these events the minute they dropped, and to my own disbelief, I had hardly refreshed the page at the moment that registration opened just to see that for most events, every spot had already been filled. Thankfully, there was a space to add my name to the wait list for most of the events that I was excited about, and I was thrilled when just a few weeks after, I received an email from Alessia saying that she was able to add extra spots to the pasta cooking class that I have just recently attended, and that I would be able to sign up if I was still interested.

The way that these events work is that they almost all start in the evening, making it easy to add to your schedule, despite normal Italian working hours ending at 6 p.m. In my case, this was what my day looked on the day of the pasta making class at Mi Scusi:

8 a.m.: Leave for work/my internship

9 a.m. : Arrive at and begin work

10 a.m. : Go on a coffee break with my coworkers

1 p.m. : Grab lunch (and then another coffee) with my coworkers before returning to the office

2 p.m.: Return to work

5:45 p.m.: Leave for Mi Scusi

6:30 p.m.: Arrive at Mi Scusi and begin cooking class

8:30 p.m.: Finish cooking class and head home to cook the pasta and eat dinner

At this event, I loved getting to be around my friends and roommates within the IES Abroad program, but I also loved getting to partake in the cherished Italian art of making pasta by hand, something I was told that most Italian grandmothers do as they feed their families every single day. Our teacher was actually a lovely Italian woman who only spoke Italian, but lucky for us, she was a very hands-on and diligent teacher, who demonstrated how to do things very clearly. On top of that, she had an assistant who translated everything she was saying into English for us, and we also had a student companion at our table who helped translate instructions too. It felt magical seeing flour and water come together to become pasta, and I can't deny how much I loved learning the intricacies of how to fold one's pasta into perfect shapes. At the end of the night, we were sent on our way with the pasta we made, a new keepsake apron, and a bright smile - a perfectly relaxing end to a long day at work.