Day 13: Last Day in Italy, Reflections

Last day in Italy! But unfortunately for me, I couldn't go to the company visit with the group because my condition was still not the best. Luca told me that a dermatologist would see me sometime today, but I had to stay in the hotel and wait for them. So I spent the whole day in my hotel room, mostly sleeping and packing to go back home. I guess the upside of doing nothing was that I wasn't straining my hands and feet, which began to feel a lot better halfway through the day. My feet ended up getting well enough that I was able to venture out of the hotel room once to get lunch at a nearby cafe. My lunch was risotto, a signature dish of Milan, which I really liked. The cafe I went to had MTV playing on the TV, and it was a little funny to me because I recognized some of the foreign songs, because I had heard them before in the clubs.

Not much happened after I got lunch. I went back to my hotel room, where I slept more and packed more. Around 7pm, the dermatologist finally arrived. She wasn't exactly sure what I had, but she suspected that it was hand, foot, and mouth disease. This seemed a little off to me, since I had never exhibited any symptoms in my mouth, but oh well. She assured me that the redness and pain in my hands and feet would go away on their own, I didn't need to do anything, and I was clear to get on the plane to go back home tomorrow, which was all I needed to hear. Wasn't the ideal last day in Italy, but I'm thankful my medical condition wasn't serious.

I'm so thankful for this time I got to spend in Italy. This trip has definitely allowed me to gain a new outlook on life and opened my eyes to new perspectives. I have learned so much in just 2 weeks, and I would definitely come back if the opportunity presented itself again. To conclude these daily blogs, please enjoy this list of cultural practices and conventions that I have taken note of while in Italy, not because they're bad, but because they are different than how things are in the US.

• One of the first things I noticed when I got to Italy is that all their cars are small. In these two weeks, I never saw one truck or SUV. There are a lot more smart cars than in the US. Also, the variety in car brands is not as diverse.
• There are dogs everywhere, because it seems like every place is dog friendly. There were dogs in the clothing stores I went to and our hotel in Milan allowed dogs to be kept in the rooms. Like the cars, Italians seem to lean towards small dogs. Also, a great number of dogs I saw weren't on leashes, yet the still walked alongside their owner. I loved seeing that, because it gave off the vibe that the dog and human are buds, not just a pet and its owner. And the dogs are a lot more well behaved.
• Food service at restaurants is exceptional. The waiters I had were always really nice to us, even though it actually doesn't matter to them how their service is, since they don't work for tips. This just makes their hospitality all the more admirable.
• I love that Italians take the time to appreciate their food and their company. In the US, I feel like everyone always rushes through things and never slows down. But in Italy, they sit down, enjoy dinner together, and talk for hours, which is really nice.
• Every window has a balcony, and usually that balcony is covered in plants.
• There are so many ways to flush a toilet. Sometimes you push a button on top of the toilet, sometimes it's a switch on the side, sometimes the button is on the wall, and sometimes you have to press on a button on the floor with your foot. It was so confusing sometimes that I was in the bathroom for 5 extra minutes just trying to figure out how to flush the toilet. Why doesn't Italy standardize their toilets? 
• Aperitivo is great and it should definitely be a thing in the US.
• Water is not free and that confuses me. I can't wait to be back in the US specifically because I can't wait to not pay for water. 

Day 12: Rainy Day on the Lake, Another Trip to the Hospital

I gotta be honest, today was not the best day. There are two reasons for this: 1) It was raining pretty heavily, and 2) I had to go to the hospital again.

The day started off with us leaving Verona for the Peschiera del Garda Village, a tiny town on Lake Garda. We were scheduled to get a walking tour of the area, then have the rest of the afternoon free. However, the weather gods just couldn't give us a break, because it was raining from the moment we arrived to the town. It also didn't help that my feet were hurting a lot more today that it was painful to walk. As a result, I stayed in a cafe with Dr. Duquin while everyone else went on the tour. We ordered cappuccinos to sip while we waited for everyone to return from the tour. I thought the rain would stop while we waited, but it just kept on downpouring. When it started to lighten up, I gathered enough energy to explore the area with a few others. We went into a few of the shops, but I didn't see anything particularly eye-catching. We walked along the lake for a bit, which was a nice view with a lot of pretty looking buildings around it. One of the restaurants along the water had fettuccine alfredo on the menu, which I found amusing since we had been told beforehand that alfredo wasn't a thing in Italy.

After walking around town for a bit, the rain started to pick up again, so we returned to the cafe. I ordered a delicious pesto ravioli for lunch, which turned out to be the most pleasant memory of this day. After I finished the pasta, I inspected my hands. They appeared more red and swollen than yesterday. The antihistamine I was prescribed obviously wasn't doing anything and I seriously needed medical attention. I guess it was a good thing that it was raining so hard, because our professors and Luca agreed that the weather was too harsh to do anything and decided to head back to Milan early, which meant I could get to a doctor quicker. We caught the earlier train to Milan and then Luca and I went back to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 6pm, but we were waiting around for 4 hours until I finally saw a doctor, who thought I probably had some type of viral infection, but she couldn't say for sure, so they drew blood to do tests on, which meant more waiting. We got the results an hour later, but they all came back negative, so we left the hospital at midnight with no answers. Luca arranged for me to see a dermatologist tomorrow, so hopefully they'll be able to diagnose me.

Day 11: Company and Doctor Visits

Today was definitely our busiest day on this trip, because we had 3 company visits planned. Our first visit was the Mozzecane Fashion Consortium, a company dedicated to helping fashion companies find new markets. It was the nicest company visit we've had yet. I felt like I was in an actual business meeting; we all sat together at a long table with the manager and president at the head of the discussion and they all had water for us to sip during the meeting. They talked about how companies were based on the "ready to wear" model, which strives off of good quality, Italian made products. Again, this company also talked about how cheaper fast fashion was becoming too competitive to keep up with. They noted how young people care more about price and older folk care more about quality and where the product was made.

After this first meeting, we went to one of the companies that is part of this consortium, the Sartoria Cavour-Tailoring Company. We got to walk through the workshop and see how each part of the tailoring process took place. Like all the other companies we've visited, their products were also way out of any one of our budgets (a jacket cost a few thousand Euros).

After this company visit, we had a group lunch at the San Marco Restaurant, outside the city. They started us off with two kinds of pasta for an appetizer, then they brought out the main course: numerous meats and veggies. However, I was only able to get halfway through my meal. The whole day my hands and feet had been hurting, and I thought I could just deal with it, but while I was eating I noticed that red dots were forming on my palms. I told my professors right away and I had to leave the group and miss the next company visit to go with Luca to a doctor. We first went to the hospital, but it was taking too long so we arranged to see another doctor. This doctor seemed to operate out of her home; her office was in what seemed like a remote, residential area. She was really nice though, and she couldn't definitely tell me what my condition was, but that it was probably an allergic reaction to something. After the doctor's visit, Luca and I went to the pharmacy to get the prescription that I was written, and then we went back to the hotel. I got back just in time to grab dinner with some friends. We went to a pizza place, where I got a margarita pizza. You would think we'd all be sick of pizza by now, but none of us are.

After dinner, a bunch of us went out to get gelato and then to explore all the parts of Verona that we hadn't yet seen. We walked to the castle/fort, which was situated over the river. I sat on the edge above the water, and it was relaxing to just listen to the running water and eat gelato. After that, we walked along the edge of the river and skipped rocks. There was also a park with a pool of water in the middle of it. At first, we all thought the water was really deep, but it turned out to only be a couple inches high. Verona is a very peaceful city at night, as we walked around town it gave off a sense of tranquility and calm.

Day 10: Verona, City of Love

Today we departed Milan again, this time for the City of Love, Verona. Again, I slept on the train ride, but I woke up just in time to see the beautiful countryside. There were fields of green as far as the eye can see, and after being in Milan and Florence for over a week, it was refreshing to see nature like that again.

When we got to Verona, we dropped our bags off at our hotel and went out to get lunch. I went to a tiny cafe near the hotel, where I got something similar to a puff pastry but with spinach inside instead of a dessert filling. After lunch, we went on a walking tour of Verona. Despite being one of the biggest tourist destinations in Italy, Verona is a very small city. It is protected by water on two sides and by a fort on the other two. I think its most impressive feature is the arena, which is like the Colosseum in Rome, but smaller and more in tact. It is a popular concert venue, which I thought was really cool. Many of the streets of the city, including the street with all the shops, had different colored marble, which our tour guide pointed out a little too many times.

It wouldn't be a trip to Verona without seeing the houses of Romeo and Juliet, so of course, we had to visit them. Romeo's home was tucked away in one of the quietest streets of the city, but Juliet's home, our last stop on the tour, was the real attraction and was packed with people. To get to Juliet's balcony, we walked through a little tunnel where the walls were covered with the names of couples that would immortalize their love by writing their name on the wall. I couldn't help but wonder if they were all still in love. Past the tunnel, we could see Juliet's balcony. On the walls were the letters to Juliet and locks with more couples' names. There was also a statue of Juliet that gives you good luck if you touch her right breast, so we obviously all jumped at the opportunity.

After the tour ended, we walked around on our own for a bit, where I got the most amazing gelato. They let me get as many flavors as I wanted, and then they shaped the gelato to look like a rose in my cone and it was so beautiful that I almost didn't want to eat it. After walking around and shopping, we found a place for dinner, where I had carbonara.

A few hours later, a few friends and I wanted to explore Verona at night, so we all met up and walked around the city some more. We ended up finding a bar to just chill at and talk. The bar had a big chalkboard so we wrote "Plus 3" on it. We also had a few encounters with the most persistent street vendors; they actually came inside the bar to try and sell us stuff. We ended up staying at the bar for only an hour or so, because the guy at the hotel front desk told us that he would be locking the doors at 1AM (he basically gave us a curfew), so we had to head back so we could get back to the hotel.

Day 9: Pizzeria 40 and Milan Textile Center

Today we had our second pre-researched company visit to the Milan Textile Center. But before that, we all had lunch together at Pizzeria 40, which was probably the most overwhelming lunch I've had yet. They gave us a whole bunch of appetizers: bread, bruschetta, and meat and cheese platters. This meal was also the only time I had pizza in the form of a slice instead of a whole pie. Also, this pizza was the thickest pizza I had ever seen in my life. My pizza was called the "Italy," and it had tomatoes and spinach on it. Like most of the food I've had on this trip, it was really good but it was just too much for me to finish.

After lunch, we headed to the Milan Textile Center, a consortium for different companies to rent or buy space and products, i.e. textiles and apparel. They don't make the products themselves, but they sell them to retailers. The company carries over 160 different brands. The company representative talked about the current challenges of the fashion industry in Italy, like how fast fashion (H&M and Zara) often trumps all other competition and that Chinese production is quickly matching the quality of Italian production. He also mentioned how Italian fashion is different from US fashion; he said that it seems like the US always either dresses really elegantly or very sporty, whereas Italy just keeps it semi formal all the time. It was really interesting to hear this and see how people from other countries viewed our fashion.

After our company visit, we had the rest of the day to ourselves. A bunch of us used this free time to walk the steps of the Milan Duomo. On the way up, we were wondering out loud if we should count how many steps we walked, when some people on their way down told us "don't even bother." They made it out to be like the walk was gonna be awful, but it actually wasn't that bad, and the view was beautiful. I gotta admit, it wasn't as nice as the view of Florence, but it was still really pretty. It was in this moment that I understood why Milan is called the New York City of Italy, the skyline looks so modern and sophisticated. Not only did we get a cool view of the city, but we got to see the architecture of the Duomo up close and personal.

After hiking the Duomo steps, we took the metro to the canals. They kinda looked like what I picture Venice to be like, but I've never been to Venice, so I can't say for sure if it really looked like Venice. On either side of the water were tons of shops and restaurants. Since it was happy hour, we did an aperitivo for dinner, and a lot of us also got gelato afterwards.

Day 8: Traveling Back to Milan

Today was a very lax day, since all we had on the schedule was to travel back to Milan. Before we left Florence, I spent some time walking around the marketplaces with a few friends. It was cool seeing all the things for sale, but it did get a little boring seeing the same things at ever single booth.

Afterwords, we all met at 11:30 to travel back to Milan. I slept on the train ride from to Milan. Then we got to our hotel in Milan, I slept some more. Basically I spent half the day sleeping. I know it isn't the best use of my time, but Italy was tiring me out and I needed to recharge. When me and my roommate finally got up, we got dinner with two other friends at a really nice restaurant a few blocks from it hotel. I was planning on getting some pasta, but once I noticed the brick oven in the corner, I knew I had to get pizza. I got a 4 cheese pizza and I think it was the best pizza I've had this entire trip. This dinner was also the most Italian meal I've had since we've been here, because we stayed at the restaurant for at least a good 3 hours, just talking and enjoying each other's company, like Italians do every meal. For dessert, we all split a tiramisu that was also really good that it was gone in 10 seconds. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and hung out with a few other friends. Overall, it was a relatively calm day.

Day 7: Gucci Museum, Uffizi Gallery, Hills on Hills on Hills

What's Gucci, everyone? Me, because we went to the Gucci Museum today! The museum had different exhibits on the many works of the Gucci brand. For many of the things in the museum, I hadn't known beforehand that Gucci bag had created them, such as a car, silverware, and golf clubs. My favorite exhibit was one room filled with beautiful gowns. These one of a kind resses were designed by Gucci specifically for certain celebrities to wear on the red carpet, then they were sent to the museum. Some of the celebrities who have worn Gucci dresses are Blake Lively and Jessica Chastain. Other exhibits were dedicated to the famous bamboo bag and the floral prints.

After the Gucci Museum, our tour guide took us to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, which was beautiful. The grass next to the water was the most vibrant shade of green I had ever seen, and there were cute little pink and white flowers growing by the water as well. There were even some people on boats in the river.

For lunch, some of the girls and I went in search of a specific sandwich place, All'Antico Vinaio, which had been suggested by at least 3 people. When we finally found it, the line was out the door and down the street. There were actually 2 different venues on the same street, which we figured was because it was so good and so popular. I got a sandwich called The Summer, which had bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese and it was one of the greatest things I’ve ever eaten. The sandwich was HUGE, it was the size of my head. And the bread was good and crusty too, which I really liked.

After lunch, we met up with our whole group again to go to the Uffizi Gallery, which holds the largest collection of Italian Renaissance Art. We got to see the paintings of the Madonna and child, the birth of Venus, and the Immaculate Conception, the childhood masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci. We also saw a few sculptures by and inspired by Michaelangelo. I think this is one of my favorite musuems we’ve been to, because it was really cool to see all the Renaissance art in the city where it all began.

After finishing up in the Uffizi Gallery, we had the rest of the day free. A bunch of us decided to walk up to a former fort that protected the city. It was a long walk uphill, but we eventually made it. The view was breathtaking; you could see almost the entire city. The only problem was that the trees in front had grown too tall so they blocked off a portion of the view. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful sight. Then, because we just love to walk up hills, we walked along uphill roads and sidewalks to get to am even higher point, which had a big statue of David. This view was so much better than the first, because the trees were cut so you could see everything: the Arno River, the Duomo, the Medici Palace, the mountains in the distance, each little building in the city. It was a truly spectacular view and I couldn't help but just stare. No picture I took could fully capture the beauty of it. It was definitely worth the walk up and down.