Au Revoir Paris, Buon Giorno Italia!

So...classes continue to bore everyone, but that's the same everywhere. Thank god for the weekends, which happened to start a bit earlier this week, thanks to St. Patrick's Day falling on a Thursday. A few of us went out to celebrate our Irish heritage, but I couldn't stay out too late since I had a flight to next day to ITALY! Milan, to be exact. Jen was going to be there during her spring break with some other fashion students from Monclair, so we planned it out that I would visit her while she was there and I would be able to stay somewhere for free, even if two people would be sharing a twin bed (still a plus in the always-expensive continent of Europe). AND I would be able to get a taste of home, which I'm really missing right now. So really, everyone is a winner in this situation :)

My flight wasn't until 1:30 on Friday, so being my anal, OCD-self, I got to the airport with two hours to spare and nothing to do. Super. But I had my weekly Friday morning phone call with my parents, so that seemed to help pass the time a little more quickly. The flight itself was only an hour, and by the time I landed, figured out where to find the airport shuttle into town, and fought off someone for a spot in line for said-shuttle and another for a seat (all in Italian, which I don't speak), I finally made it into Milan around 5pm, just in time to meet up with Jen. Oh my god, have I missed her. Seriously. We talked for a while, then headed to dinner with her fellow fashion students (all from Bergen County), where I had my first pasta (gnocchi) with red sauce in over a month (that has to be a new record for me). Deliciousness. Then some nighttime xity exploration was in order:

(The Duomo at night- it's the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and absolutely beautiful.)

(We missed the celebration of Italy's 150th birthday by one day- womp womp)

(My first legit Italian gelato ever- tiramisu, of course!)



The next day, I tagged along with Jen and her group for a little bit. We visited the Saturday morning market, which every European city seems to have, where I picked up a few scarves. They had so many fresh products, though, that I wish I was there for longer and could have bought some!

Then I broke off from the group and did my own thing. I successfully navigated the tram and made my way to the art museum there (naturally), the Pinacotheca di Brera, where I saw a few works I've studied in past classes. Not my favorite type of art, since it was all Italian Renaissance paintings, but nice to see nonetheless. Although they did have a small room of modern works by Picasso, Severini, and Boccioni- very excited to see that. Then I hoofed it over to Santa Maria delle Grazie, where da Vinci's "Last Supper" is located. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it because you need to buy a freaking ticket three months in advance and only get 15 minutes in front of the damn thing, but whatever. Nbd (no big deal). They didn't even let me in the freaking church, but I did get a nice picture outside of it (thank you random tourist for offering to take the photo!).

I headed back to the Duomo after, and visited inside- it's absolutely gorgeous both inside and out. And I found Luini's! It's this little place near the Duomo that is known for their panzarottis, and with good reason- they were absolutely delicious little pillow pockets of fried dough and fresh tomatoes and mozzarella.

Later that night, me and Jen were gonna head out for a nice dinner, but instead the heavens decided to hail down upon us- literally. Rain, thunder, lightning, hail- you name it, we had it. So instead we kicked it at the hotel, just talking about anything and everything, which is something I've really missed doing. We're not allowed to have friends come over in the homestays (which is all I do at home), so if I want to hang out with someone, we have to meet up somewhere in the city. It was so nice to just relax and chill and talk with one of my best friends.  I'm so glad I went to visit Jen in Milan- I really needed a taste of home!

I LOVED Italy, and I def plan on going back before I leave Europe: Rome for sure, and I think I'm going to have to make a decision between Florence and Venice- I'm not sure which one I want to go to more!

On the agenda for next weekend: London and Oxford :)