Milan, Boots, and the One Month Mark!

Thought I should post a blog before leaving for Rome tomorrow evening! Just to give a recap of the weekend. So this past Saturday I went to Milan for the day. I went with my rommie Nancy. We got up early and were at the train station by 8am. Once we got there, we saw a few other girls from our GIF program that were signed up for the day trip, too. The trip was organized by a travel program for students who study abroad in Florence for the semester/year, its called Florence for Fun. They did a pretty good job! They take care of everything so it makes it really convenient. All we had to do was pay the cash and show up!

We took a bus to and from Milan, it was about a 3 hour drive. So we got there at about 11:30ish. The first stop upon arrival in Milan was looking at the beautiful duomo! It was soo massive, and so beautiful! We walked around the outside, and went inside as well! Then after that we walked through the Galleria. It’s their giant mall with nice stores to shop in. However, these weren’t ALL of the real nice stores (those came later on in the afternoon). When we walked through the Galleria, we did this thing where we put our foot on a worn out spot in the tile floor and spun around once…apparently its good luck?! Fine by me, I can use some of that any time! Then we had free time for lunch. We got food at a near by restaurant. I had Risotto alla Milanese. It was risotto with saffron, they’re like known for it. Anyways, it was really good, no complaints there…..but the service at the restaurant was SO AWFUL! Second worst service experience I have had abroad (the first place winner of worst service experience goes to Hard Rock in Florence…..had it BOTH times I’ve eaten there!) So since our lunch took like two hours (which it totally should not have) we didn’t have time to shop. BOO!

After lunch we went to a famous theater across the street. Spent sometime looking at both the outside and inside of it. Then after that, we walked up the street(s) with all the high-end fashion stores. Very cool! It was name brand, after name brad, after name brand…..you can see for yourself from my FB pics. Then we got back on the bus and drove to an area that is called “Milan’s little Venice”. It was pretty cute….however calling it Venice seems like quite a stretch….aka its just only one dirty ass canal. Not a whole city on water! Once there, we stopped for crepes. They were yum! After that we got back on the bus again, and headed a little bit outside of the main city center and saw a very old castle. We were back in Florence by 10pm. I really enjoyed the quick day trip and was glad I saw Milan. It is more of a city than Florence and I also enjoyed that we were guided by a walking tour the whole time.

Sunday I got up and met Ali for breakfast at the American Diner (in Florence)! It’s pretty good there, they have a wide variety of American food….and at this point in time, that’s all I really want to eat. I had chocolate chip pancakes. Delicious! After that we both set out on a mission to find us some boots! We stopped in three stores before finding THE store. We went to a store by the train station and that was where we both ended up getting our boots! It’s funny because I wanted dark brown and Ali wanted black. We both narrowed down the options to two different pairs. Then, we both couldn’t decide which pair to choose! We both liked the same two pairs, just in different colors. We spent I kid you not….45 mins trying to decide (this was a big purchase, so we had to be really sure!) We asked the opinion of the lady helping us, and a lady shopping there and we were still torn. At one point Ali wanted to call her mom, for some advice! I talked her out of that idea seeing that it would have been about 4am back at home and picking out which boots does not qualify as an “emergency”……but oh wait…..it’s a fashion emergency! Hahahah anyways, we actually both decided on the same pair, just that mine are dark brown and Ali’s are black! They are tall (all the way to the knee), straight, zip up on the inside of the calf, and have a silver clasp on the top outside of the calf. I am very pleased with my decision! We bought them together because we got like 20% off and apparently we can get some tax money back once we head home? I didn’t fully understand that process. After boot shopping we met up with Robert and went to the best pizza place in Florence called, Gusta Pizza. It was amazing as always. Then Robert came back to Gallo and we hung out for a bit and skyped Mary Kate. Overall, I had a good weekend in Florence!

Well you know what tomorrow is?….besides leaving for Rome…..tomorrow is the ONE month mark! UNREAL. So many mixed feelings about this one! I am now closer to the end than the beginning, so the idea of being home and wanting to be home is more realistic. I can’t wait. This is the longest I have ever been away from home…not gonna lie…didn’t think I’d be able to do it! I miss home so much and everything that comes with it. Since going to college I have really gained a bigger appreciateion for home, but after being here I do so even more. I am looking forward to my family, my own room, my bed, Napa food, Napa in general, Napa, Napa, oh and Napa. Hahah but seriously I can’t wait. There is so much I will miss here and what not, but I think I am for sure ready. I don’t think I would be able to be abroad for a year. Not only am I looking forward to going home, but I’m ready to get back to LA and LMU. Which is weird, because I alwayyysss prefer to be home and have a hard time going to school. I think this semester abroad is exactly what I needed. I love LMU, but at times I felt it was just so much school and stress. Having this break from it has made me miss it SO much more than I ever imagined! I miss my friends, campus, the house, DG, all of it! I really am so so so beyond excited to get back there. Well, now that the countdown is running out, I’ve gotta make the most out of this last month! I will enjoy everything here in Florence, as well as Rome, and my Thanksgiving trip to Ireland! I am truly blessed! 30 more days!

Al