Upon arrival in Milan, I was ripped off immediately. I get off the bus from the airport, and a guy asks me if I was looking for a taxi. Sketchy as he was and going against all my mental training for these situations by watching the movie "Taken," I said yes, because I did, in fact, need a taxi. He puts my bags on a cart, wheels them a total of 20 meters to the line to pick up a taxi, and holds his hand out for 5 Euro. Wait, you're not my taxi driver? You were just taking me to the taxi line? Excuse me, but I could have carried my bags there myself. I've been carting them all over London and through the airport, I can handle another 20 meters. But, I was in no position to argue, especially not in a foreign language, so I reluctantly handed him 5 Euro and sighed resentment to myself.
When I finally arrived at my accommodation, I was shocked. Tina, my landlady, came down to meet me at the door. I knew that Tina was in her early 70s, but she had a daughter that speaks English. Well, when this lady met me at the door, I thought she was her daughter Monica. Tina is so fabulous. She does NOT look like she is 74. She's incredibly in shape, dresses beyond fabulously, and is much more of a party animal than I am. I go to bed at 11:30, she goes out at 11:30. She goes for walks in 4-inch suede wedge heels with her taupe crocodile skin handbag. If I am half as fabulous as her in my 70's, I'll be thrilled.
The apartment itself is gorgeous. It's a nice size, well decorated, and my room here is much bigger than my room even at home. I have a corner balcony off my room, which makes up for the clown picture that hangs above my head when I sleep. Seriously? It just had to be clowns? Don't you know I'm terrified of clowns? That should have been one of the questions on the housing questionnaire. The only downside to the accommodation is that I don't have internet access consistently here. Tina doesn't have a computer, so she obviously doesn't need internet. I have been stealing some from a neighbor, but it doesn't always work, so I don't want to rely on it for anything important. This is why I haven't posted a blog this week: in the rare moments I do get internet, I have a lot of other stuff to take care of on the computer, like for my CollegeFashionista internship.
Otherwise, my language school is fantastic. We have class 9-10:30, cappuccino break, 11:00-12:30, lunch break, and then 1:30-3:00. I live about 45 minutes away from the school walking, but my friend Alana lives a street away from me and we walk together. Besides, I've been living in London for 5 months... walking is not foreign to me. I actually really enjoy the walk. The classes are conducted all in Italian, and I am definitely one of the furthest along in the class with the language. It helps, of course, that I've taken Italian before and have my Rosetta Stone, but I've actually been studying almost every night after school.
I have my interview for my internship on Tuesday, which is at Wivian's Factory. The showroom looks absolutely beautiful, and they're known for their marketing team, which I will be working with I assume. The showroom isn't even open to the public, so it's very exclusive, and they have a lot of Italian designer brands as well as some others. Some are well-known internationally, like Dolce and Gabbana and Tommy Hilfiger, but others are more specific to Italy. Either way, I'm really excited, and hope that they give me a lot of tasks so I can really get the most of it.
Overall, I absolutely love Milan. I know that Cori, Amanda, and Mike didn't like it when they visited here, and I can understand why. It's not a touristy city, but I knew it wouldn't be. Basically, the only things you can really see here as a tourist are the Duomo, the castle by Parco Sempione, and the fashion district. I saw all three in one day (though I haven't gone inside Il Duomo yet because I was not appropriately dressed for it that day). However, I am living here, attending school and going to work, and as a place to live it is lovely. I would love to live here someday. It reminds me of Paris a lot, but in Italian obviously... and Paris in my later trips when it was more enjoyable, not the first trip.
Also, I don't want to speak too soon, but my friend Lilianna is getting two tickets to fashion week here in Milan and told me she would bring me. She is going to ask for another ticket so that Alana and I can both go, because the three of us have become friends here. How cool would that be? As soon as I land my internship, I'm getting business cards printed immediately, so I can hand them out to everyone and anyone at fashion week.
So, basically, Milan is already well underway to being conquered.
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