Ciao Italia!

Well, Tomorrow I fly back to the United States and my time in Italy is coming to a close. It’s been a wonderful journey unlike any other four month period in my life. I’ve gotten to experience places that I never imagined I would, and I enjoyed it every bit as much as I had hoped when I arrived. I really want to thank my parents the most for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. I can thank my sister for telling me to push out of my comfort zone and ultimately inspiring me to come. And I’m thankful for my friends I met here, who made my stay so much more enjoyable, and my friends back home who didn’t abandon me despite being an ocean away. Thank you all so much! I’ll never forget Milan and its wacky, laid-back, friendly culture. Who knows, maybe I will be back one day. But for now, ciao Italia!

Roma - Rome (Part II: Everything Else)

The Vatican was the only museum I went to, so that divided nicely into its own post. Now here are my pictures from Friday evening, Saturday minus a few hours, and Sunday morning. We got around a lot and there was much more to see. All I can stress is that if you come to visit Italy, give yourself time that isn't booked up to just wander. The Italians give themselves time; they don't rush for anybody. Maybe you should try the same if you come here. Maybe like, if you are in Rome, you should try to do as the Romans do. When in Rome. I honestly didn't have that phrase in mind when I started that line of thought... but it really fits.

See my Rome album here.

Roma - Rome (Part I: Citta del Vaticano - Vatican City)

Last weekend I took my final excursion out of Milan to Rome. I went Friday to Sunday and I even had some company from Ale, a Mexican friend I met here. Starting with a simple evening of eating and walking around, we soon hit all the 'must-see' spots of Rome. That was the goal for this trip, and I'm sure the city would be very beautiful if I had time to stop and look around. Still, it was great to see Vatican City (it's own state outside of Italy, and I thought I was done visiting places outside Italy), the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, the Pantheon, and even some Catacombs. For this post I'll talk about Vatican City, which was actually at 3:30pm on Saturday right between everything else. Sorry, didn't get to see the Pope. I was told I had to come back on Wednesday for that.

See the album here.

Cimetro Monumentale - Monumental Cemetery

On Wednesday I went to the Cimetro Monumentale, Monumental Cemetary. It is probably the most important place in Milan I had not gone yet. It's a gigantic cemetary to the Northern edge of Milan. It's not thought of as a tourist attraction, so there are no people trying to sell you things out front (though there are a few flower carts) and the place isn't busy at all. Because I mentioned to Massimo that I had not yet gone, he took us during Italian Design History. I'm glad he did because his inclusion brought it a step above simply viewing statues and mausoleums. But even without his help, this place is gorgeous. I didn't expect it to be so... monumental. I can't remember seeing any headstones, they were all either statues, mausoleums, or both. It was amazing really, and I'd recommend it right after the Duomo on a list of must-see things in Milan.

Check out the album of monuments here.

Inghilterra - England (Part II: Liverpool)

Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real. Nothing felt real when I got to Liverpool and began exploring the hometown of The Beatles. I'll admit it might be a little ridiculous to plan a trip to a different country around a band... but it's The Beatles! C'mon! I went to Liverpool to enjoy myself and learn more about one of my favorite bands, and I did just that. I also learned a thing or two about the city itself. A bartender I saw scolded me for not knowing who Robert Morris is; a founding father of the United States that hailed from Liverpool. Liverpool has a closer connection with America than any other place in England according to this bartender. Maybe that partly explains why The Beatles spent so much time there?

I went to The Beatles Story exhibit on Albert Dock and the Fab Four Taxi Tour during my one day in Liverpool. The Story had plenty to read and took me through the decade or so The Beatles were together. The Taxi Tour took me virtually everywhere that concerned the band: all four of their homes, Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, places of birth, marriage, and death. My tour guide talked a mile a minute and his entire life centered around knowing about Liverpool. It was an experience I won't forget.

Check out my pictures from Liverpool here.

Inghilterra - England (Part I: Londra - London)

Last weekend I got to do my most desired trip, London and Liverpool! It was more beautiful than I expected. Honestly I wanted to visit mainly to see Beatles history, but I also wanted to see another area of Europe unique to all the others I've seen (and one that spoke my language primarily!). The trip, while fairly short, was a ton of fun and I would quickly go back to England if given the chance. This first part shows my first day, which was spent in London. Given only a day to explore, I had to stick to the tourists points. One of the main sections not pictured is the crown jewels in the Tower of London, where I was not allowed to take pictures. This is a shame because there were many exquisite gold pieces (the best of which strangely enough being the Grand Punch Bowl) and crowns of previous monarchs. But everywhere else I was able to take pictures, and you'll be able to see the beauty well enough. Check it out!

See my London album here.
Down below is the Grand Punch Bowl. Talk about over-the-top.

Firenze - Florence

To cap off my spring break, I made a two day trip to Florence. When studying art in Italy for four months just a few hours away from the place, it's ludicrous not to visit. I was excited to see their Duomo and compare it to our Milanese Duomo, and I was excited to see how the beauty of the city compared to others. Turns out it is a fabulous city to visit for a mix of traditional Italian atmosphere and modernity. It was like a mix of Venice and Milan, taking good parts of each. Florence is located in the Tuscany region of Italy, a region famous for its beautiful scenery. It really shows even in the city, with the buildings located by a river in a sort of valley, rolling hills above on either side. Seeing the surroundings made me want to get on a bike and ride far out into the suburbs.
While there, I hit the main tourist points and structures, but also went to two museums. The first was the obligatory museum where the David by Michelangelo is located (pictured). The other was chosen by a friend and turned out to hold more famous works than I knew were in Florence. Most notably is The Birth of Venus by Botticelli. You'll see that, along with some of the natural beauty of Florence, in the attached album.

See the album here.

Pompei - Pompeii (Part II: Scavi Pompei - Pompeii Ruins)

On the next two days after Vesuvius and Herculaneum, Wednesday and Thursday, I took trips to the ruins of ancient Pompeii. What an experience. This trip reminded me of how much I've learned about Europe and never even considered I would see. When I heard about the Mona Lisa, or Michelangelo's David, or the ruined city of Pompeii, I never dreamed I would see those places. They were like some faraway story that people who write textbooks have seen. But now I have experienced some of those things I was told about growing up. It's just so amazing because I did not see it as a possibility. Yet, there I stand in the ruins of Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius behind me.
Walking through a whole city made of ruins is, in one word, unique. It's like a museum where everything you touch, walk on, and look at is history (well, besides the metal gates and groups of school kids). The city was set up with grids of buildings and simple North-to-South, East-to-West streets. The buildings were like cubicles, each about the same size with one opening and a destroyed, open-air roof. The points of interest were all the places that defer from this pattern; the arena, the odeon, the forum, the large wealthy homes, bathhouses, etc. To see everything in Pompeii with each point of interest explained would probably take 2.5 days. With my two days I saw everything available, because some areas were closed and I had only a booklet as a guide. Still, I feel like I learned more information of historical significance than any other trip. I've narrowed down my images to a manageable number so you aren't looking at every wall of Pompeii.

See the album of Pompeii Ruins here.

Pompei - Pompeii (Part I: Mount Vesuvius and Herculaneum)

For my spring break I headed off for the mid-south of Italy to the city of Pompeii. Exploring an entire city of archaeological findings has always sounded awesome to me, and seeing the ruins of Pompeii and the surrounding areas gave me a greater understanding of what happened there 2000 years ago. I even made it to the summit of the active volcano Vesuvius and to a neighboring ancient ruined city, Herculaneum.
This was my first trip alone, which meant many firsts for me. The first time flying alone, the first time navigating a foreign city and staying at a hotel alone. With my solitude I felt I gained more patience to see the area, as I was on my own time. A couple things went wrong as expected, but this was an excellent learning experience for me in more ways than one.
I took a flight to Naples and worked my way down the coast to my hotel in Pompeii. For about 3.5 days I made it to the three locations I mentioned above. Needless to say I took a ton of pictures in that 3.5 day span, but I will try to cut them down into manageable chunks. So firstly, here is the album for what I did on Tuesday: Mount Vesuvius (Monte Vesuvio) and Herculaneum (Ercolano).

See my album here.

Return to Sforza Castle Museums

You may or may not remember the Museum of Ancient Art I visited months ago at the Sforza Castle - the one with the sculpture by Michelangelo. Well, there are many more museums in the Castle alone to be seen, so I returned for another round. The museums are all connected to each other, and without clear signage as to where I am. That said, I'm positive I saw the Egyptian Museum, Museum of Prehistory and Proto-history, the Furniture Museum, and a special exhibition of the work of Georges Rouault. There is more to be seen, but here is a selection of the works I saw today from those museums.
This post comes right before things get very busy. I won't go into much detail, but my next trip (and consequently next blog post) will be Pompeii. That's Pompei if you're Italian. I'll be going alone for 4 days to the city of Pompeii, and hopefully its surrounding areas. That's a spring break I can't wait for. Wish me luck!

See the album of museum works here.

Barcelona

Ah yes, Barcelona. My latest trip, which turned out to be the most vacation-esque. Barcelona is a beautiful place and a great vacation spot for people that just want to go walk around outside and lounge around. On my trip I hit many tourist points, but did not actually go into any of them. This was either because the entry fee was outrageous, or the place was closed. Still, the weather was beautiful (around 60 on Saturday), the beach was clean, and the food was its own attraction! Yes, I tried a fair amount of things in Barcelona, and you can see most of them in the album.

Check out the album here.

The Canals are Filled!

It finally warmed up enough to justify filling the canal on my street. The green, semi-opaque liquid looks a lot like Venetian water. Along with the green grass and high tides (of the canal) came a horde of flies. This won't be fun. I left the windows open for 5 minutes and 10 flies were visibly flying around the room. We might have to keep the windows closed. But at least I can wear shorts!

We got back this morning from Barcelona and the albums should be coming sometime tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Parigi - Paris (Part III: The Orsay Museum and the Pompidou Modern Art Museum)

Alright, now for the other two museums I went to! I liked these museums because they were both unique to each other and to the Louvre. The Louvre had ancient works up to the Baroque period (with some later works). In the Orsay Museum, you will see a lot of Impressionism and the like, with some Baroque art. The Pompidou was strictly Modern art, and I saw nothing earlier than about 1970.

See the album here.

Parigi - Paris (Part II: The Louvre)

On Friday, my second day in Paris, I got to the Louvre. The Louvre is the biggest, most famous art museum in the world. It houses countless masterpieces and artwork ranging from Mesopotamian art up to the 1900s. If you are an artist reading this or a museum lover, you probably already knew that. The place is massive; several blocks long, five floors high, with two long wings and a large center wing. To see every artwork at a reasonable pace would probably take 3-4 days from opening to closing, and with actually absorbing the art and/ or listening to an audio guide/ tour it would take much longer. And so, I got to only a portion of the exhibits.
After going for about 7 hours on Friday, and without any concrete plans on Saturday, I decided to visit the Louvre a second time to see some of the important/ interesting items I missed. I was there perhaps 3 hours or a little more the second day. Using my 3DS as a tour guide, I was able to quickly get to the spots I needed to that day. I'm very glad I went back and I feel blessed to have been able to visit such a place for so long.
If you love art and you visit Europe, do yourself a favor and visit the Louvre. There is something for everyone there. Bring a map and a snack. Anyways, here are the pictures I took with some commentary on the pieces I remember best. Let it be known that I took a lot of pictures because they were funny... that's a part of the experience I feel. For a chunk of the first day I went through the art looking for humor, and the second day I went through fully to learn and see things I'll never get another chance to see. What's a learning experience without a little fun?

Find my album here.

Parigi - Paris (Part I: Around the City)

Well, I just got back from Paris a matter of hours ago. I've come back with way more pictures than my other trips (over 300), so I'll need to divide my trip up into multiple posts. This first post will be about the sights of the city, foods, and generally everything BUT museums. The second and third parts will be about the three very different museums I visited; the Orsay Museum, the Louvre, and the Museum of National Modern Art.
What a big city. We needed to metro practically everywhere, it was certainly bigger than Milan with a much more complex metro system. The general atmosphere of the city (while I was there) was not in itself charming. In contrast, Amsterdam was a beautiful city in itself and certain Italian cities like Genoa and Venice have their own charm. Paris is modernized (read: gray) like Milan or New York. The charm the city comes not from walking down a random street, but from seeing the scattered old architecture and finding decorated government buildings by turning a street corner. No, I did not fall in love with the city as some people seem to. Perhaps that is because of the cold temperatures, or cloudy, smoggy days occurring when I visited. That actually brings me to this article I discovered when I got home:
City of Lights dimmed
Paris has a temporary ban starting tomorrow on half the city's vehicles. Additionally, the metro is free. This was a funny coincidence finding this article, as we rode the metro free all Saturday and Sunday (after paying Thursday and Friday) and we had no clue why. I'm glad they are taking such measures. It's a temporary solution, but perhaps it will lead to bigger legal solutions.
But anyway, the city was certainly not ugly and I have no doubt that a summer tourist would find it beautiful. And the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Arch, and other individual structures were all really impressive! Without further ado, here's my commentary on the whole of my trip ignoring the large amount of time spent in museums:

See my album here.

New McDonald's 'Great Tastes of America' Edition Sandwiches

These were kinda funny. The McDonald's in Milan started running some limited edition sandwiches with the tastes of the biggest American cities! Which one looks the best to you? They didn't have every sandwich, so I ended up getting the Louisiana Smoky Bacon. Also I just learned Smoky is spelled without an 'E'. Anyways, I fittingly got a chicken patty since, you know, Louisiana.

The box it came in. Not the most beautiful thing ever, but they got the red, white, and blue there. I guess there's a highway sign shape like you're on a road trip to the different cities. Note the baseball equipment and football. So American.

And how it looked out of the box. You know, with pretty good cheese on it, bacon, lettuce, and a unique sauce, it didn't taste unlike a Chik Fil A sandwich. That was a pleasant surprise. And don't worry, I'm still having Italian cuisine here. It's just that sometimes, you gotta have something from home.

Amsterdam Weekend Trip

This weekend, Friday to Sunday, Matt and I went to Amsterdam. Woo! My first trip outside the country. This was Matt's most-wanted city, as we all picked one we must visit. Originally unsure what attractions were there, we managed to fill up the hours we had there well, hitting places like the Van Gogh Museum, Rembrandt House,  and Public Library. Of course we hit some not-so-educational places, like the Heineken Experience and the Amsterdam Dungeon. Even still, the Heineken Experience had some detailed design history of the brand, and the Amsterdam Dungeon included a small amount of history. Any attraction in a foreign country is sure to teach you something.
Overall the experience was fun and I'm glad I got to visit the Netherlands. For a more detailed commentary and photo album, see my album at this link.

p.s. I switched my past and present tense a lot as I couldn't decide whether to talk about the trip in the past or the city as it presently is. Bear with that.

Giò Ponti Mini Trip

For our Italian Design History trip today, we went around looking at the architecture of Gio Ponti, one of the most famous Italian architects. I, of course, knew nothing about him previously as I'm not much into architecture at all. He was also a designer and artist, like many great architects. He worked from the 20s all the way up to the 60s. He also worked mostly in Milan, lucky for us. We went to his grandson's design studio that was filled with Ponti's art, then to check out a very unique church he designed.
Check out the album here to see the pictures I took.

Pisa

Yesterday I went to Pisa! The train ride was long, 4 hours both ways. We stayed in the city for just 5 hours. However the city has one main attraction, which is the plaza that houses the duomo and the leaning tower. I feel we saw what we needed to see in that time frame. Check out the album with commentary, this time with a map of our route,
AT THIS LINK.

Umbrellas in Trash Cans?

This is a common sight here in Milan. Any time we get any amount of rain, umbrellas begin to appear in every trash can you pass. Why? Well, either the wind here is stronger than back home, the umbrellas are flimsier, or Americans go through umbrellas quickly and I just never noticed. But just about every person's umbrella you pass is visibly broken in some way. Even the 4 umbrellas that came in the umbrella holder of our room are broken. I see people putting up with the collapsed side of the umbrella as they soldier on through the rain. It has only rained heavily like once here, and the wind does not seem especially stronger. I guess it's a mystery. But when people decide their umbrellas have expired, they don't wait until they get home. They shove them in a street trash can and carry on. Very common. I see why there are so many street merchants selling umbrellas when it starts to drizzle.

A Bit of Homework

We really haven't been getting a lot of schoolwork, which is bittersweet. I would definitely prefer to have at least A BIT more to do. This weekend I had two main things to work on: A series of book covers for editorial design and a presentation for Packaging.
The books were chosen by me and the preferred style of cover was also left to personal choice. The assignment is very, very open ended. All he said was to make sure they look like they belong in a series. Well, okay. While working, he showed us a few Photoshop/ InDesign tricks, so rather than do my normal illustrative route (I don't know where to find a scanner anyway...) I used those tricks to make the covers. He told us that a cover could be just an abstract shape from distorted normal image. While mine aren't abstract, I took images and distorted them with posterization. I made them grayscale, then took them over to InDesign and messed around with the compositions while adding color. The slab type that bleeds off the edges and touches together is the recurring theme that makes the books a series, along with the images all being posterized. I think I got better at the process as I went, and the last two I am most proud of. They incorporate the text a bit more into the composition than the others.
I don't even want to talk about the Packaging presentation. It is so boring. We need to create a presentation of the brand San Pellegrino. The goal of the presentation is to present two types of new packaging we design for a new brand of flavored water, San Pellegrino Smart. We haven't gotten to anything that could be considered creative. For some reason, the presentation must include coverage of the company's background, marketing tactic, etc. I find it strange that we would have to present these facts to a company while pitching them new packaging. Wouldn't they already know their background? Some things, like moodboards for the new products, make sense to show as preliminary work. But the example presentation is 106 slides. It seems excessive to me. It is also very tedious to find information on competitors, images from the internet of products, etc. And this professor barely speaks English, so I cannot really get feedback from him. I'm sure he's a great Italian professor with a lot of credentials, but to us Englishmen he's a guy reading the whole lesson slowly off a piece of paper. Torturous.
Drawing class continues to be fun, as we need to compose an interesting scene of a funeral for homework. I believe we have an Italian test on Wednesday too. For Italian Design History we will soon need to give a presentation on design icons from our home countries, but I have yet to consider that. Branding has us doing something very similar to the Packaging project, but in groups.
That's all the schoolwork we have right now. I hope we get something more to do, but more importantly, get something more INTERESTING to do. I'd like to have a few things for my portfolio when I get back. The program certainly doesn't feel like a waste of time as I get to experience Italy, but I do feel I am falling behind what my classmates back home are doing.

Triennale Design Museum

Yesterday, for my Italian Design History Class, we had a field trip to Triennale Design Museum. The Museum was built in 1933 as a 'sanctuary' for design trends. It's meant to showcase the ever-changing world of design. The name 'Triennale' in Italian means 'every three years'. This is appropriate because exhibits in the museum stay for around 3 years and then are replaced by others. This keeps the museum always new and interesting to artists and designers looking for new pieces. Apparently it is a popular meeting place for artists; Massimo said meeting at the Triennale as a designer is like meeting at a coffee shop.
While there, I learned that the designs of a decade can best be showcased by looking at a chair from that time. There were many, many chairs to be seen, and Massimo often shows us chairs in class. By looking at whether the chair is geometric, four-legged, abstractly-shaped, plastic, etc., you can tell the values of the designers in that decade.
The trip was short - we only went through one exhibit - so there are just a dozen or so pictures. You can see some of the pieces exhibited in my album found here.

Museo d'Arte Antica - Museum of Ancient Art in the Sforza Castle

Today I went to one of the many museums of the Castello Sforzesco. They have so many different ticketed exhibitions that it was confusing which one I had seen. According to their pamphlet, there's the Museum of Ancient Art, Picture Gallery, Egyptian Museum, Museum of Prehistory and Proto-history, Museum of Decorative Arts, Museum of Musical Instruments, Furniture Museum, "Achille Bertarelli" Prints Collection, Photographic Archive, Archaeological and Numismatic Library, Trivulziana Library and City Historical Archive, Art Library, Vinciana Collection, and CASVA all located inside the castle walls. phew. I believe all of those museums operate under one ticket, though if you want to give everything the time it deserves, there's no way you can make it to more than 3 before closing.
This specific museum had a lot of literature to read, and so I only got around to one. Additionally, there was a no cell phones and no camera sign, so I only got a handful of pictures. Apparently the sign was lying because at the end everyone was taking pictures of the crown jewel right in front of a guard. He told someone to turn flash off, but that was it.
This museum was almost entirely sculptural. I would say 90% of the piece were sculptures or relief sculpture (that is, sculptures on a flat surface that "pop out" of the 2-D plain a bit. The stem of relief in Latin means 'to raise'). The rest were stained glass, tapestries, a single painting, and, bizarrely, armor and weapons in the last room. I suppose the weapons and armor were artfully crafted, I think I might've wandered into another museum. Though it was only one room.
The first four images I took simply because I thought they were interesting. I don't have much to say about them, as they mostly weren't discussed in the English handouts I got and the placards next to them were Italian. It's obvious the first one is the three kings in a relief sculpture. The second one I have no idea. The third was called a dragon, and it looked more like a Dragon Tales dragon than any dragon I've seen depicted from the medieval ages. That caught my eye. The last was a very humorous stained glass of a battle with a man shooting another man with a sword while two men prod each other with gigantic pole spears.

The crown jewel of the museum was the Riondanini Pieta (pictured above), an unfinished sculpture by Michelangelo, apparently the last piece he worked on. It remained unfinished because he lost control of his body and could no longer use his hands to sculpt. Well, the paper about it gave that as a reason to debunk that he worked on it right up until death. Wikipedia asserts that it is unfinished because he carved away at it until there was insufficient stone. I could believe either one. The stone was originally carved to be of the Deposition of Jesus; the moment he is taken down from the cross. However, he changed the whole layout into Mary holding a limp Jesus in a woeful pose. He continued to make changes, such as lowering the pedestal at the bottom to elongate the figures. The piece is interesting to me because of the clear juxtaposition of finished and unfinished area. Pretty much the only finished area is Jesus' legs, which are completely smooth and chiseled perfectly. If you look at his chest you see the lines that show how Michelangelo chipped away at the statue. The back, which I did not picture, was even more unfinished; it was just a mass of chisel marks that vaguely resemble two backs. Apparently the statue is liked for its abstract nature. The undefined faces, floating, misplaced right arm of Jesus, and of course the raw chiseling. I can respect that, but I also like it for showcasing the process by which a statue is sculpted. I suppose that point is a little muddled considering the statue is actually one statue carved into another. Even so, it's interesting to try to sort out.
Not pictured, unfortunately, are the 10 or so gigantic tapestries. Those never cease to amaze me. The fact that someone sewed together something so enormous is amazing to think about. I also recognized some of the stories depicted. One was of Elijah and false god worshipers having a competition to see who had a true god. They would both make altars and pray for fire, and whichever altar caught fire was proof of a true deity. In the foreground the worshipers danced around an unlit altar, and someone looked like they were pulling at their beard in anger. In the background Elijah's altar is being struck by lightning in a huge burst of fire. Pretty cool. Noah was also depicted elsewhere.
I also found out a bit about Milan's saint, Saint Ambrosio. Apparently at some point in the 12th century, Milan was sacked and all its people were banished. About a decade later, the Milanese came to return and rebuild the city. I believe another group had begun living in the city in the meantime, and Saint Ambrosio legendarily chased the people out of the city with a whip. If you see someone with a halo and a whip depicted in Milan, it is no doubt Saint Ambrosio. That is his distinguishing item, I guess because of that story. I'll have to go around to other museums to find out more. Recall that on my walking tour of Milan, we went to the church where Saint Ambrosio is kept and saw his bones (and I have a picture in that album).
I also went back (yesterday) to the illuminated manuscript room and took more pictures of the books for reference. I like the designs and I'll be sketching them in my sketchbook. But yeah, there are many more museums to see (in the castle alone!) and I'll have to keep exploring to get to them all. Thanks for reading guys!

Italian Gelato

I had my first gelato in Italy a few days ago! Honestly, it wasn't anything significantly better than ice cream at home. But ice cream IS ice cream, so it was still delicious. The standard cone comes with two scoops, and I got fragola e cocco - strawberry and coconut.
I plan on going to a museum tomorrow or Sunday, so stay tuned!

Venezia - Venice

Yesterday we took a day trip to Venice for our day off. It was right after our ski trip, so we were all a little hesitant about walking all day. Luckily, Venice is a much different city than Genoa. Genoa was a port city spread all across the coast, and the sights we wanted to see were all very spread apart. For Venice, what is there to see? People go for the natural beauty of the city as a whole, so really we did not need to walk extensive distances. My pedometer told me we walked about 16,000 steps as compared to the 27,000 or so in Genoa. We all had a great day again, but it was more relaxed. Our goals were simply to make it to the Piazza San Marco (The city "center", though it is far from the center. This is the main hub of the carnivale) and to ride a gondola. We got both done, so it was a successful day.
Venice was almost labyrinthine. Small canals all around tend to cause dead ends of smaller roads. You could not always wander in a direction and get where you need to; a road may turn the wrong way and end abruptly. The buildings were especially fascinating either. They weren't unlike Verona or certain parts of Milan and Genoa. No, the appeal of Venice truly is the canals. Standing on a tiny bridge and watching a boat make it through a two meter wide canal with 4-5 story buildings on either side is a unique view. The city had Italian charm, but also a unique feel from these canals. Because the city is mostly alleyways and canals, you can get the feel after a few blocks. There was no need to explore the whole city. Additionally (I just realized this as I typed), there were no cars. It felt like such a new and unique place that I didn't even realize that important detail. All the roads were too small, and often had stairs. The biggest wheeled vehicle I remember seeing was a big trash cart/ wheelbarrow pushed around by employees. Very cool, the roads were mildly crowded so I didn't really notice.
During carnivale (if not all the time), there are two main merchandises being sold in nearly every shop: masks and glass. They were very fond of their glass figures, rings, bracelets, etc. I found them kinda dumb and didn't really have a desire to get any, but nonetheless they must be popular (I took some pictures in my album). The masks were everywhere. cheap ones, expensive ones, fancy ones, paper ones. We went into a professional hand crafted mask shop and it was one of the coolest shops I've ever been in. I snuck two pictures of that as well. Venice is a shopping city for sure. 90% of places passed were like souvenir, mask, or clothes shops. There were also many stands. There were not many places to eat, and there were not as many churches as there are in other cities.
Anyway, enough about the general details of the city, let's look at the album. My phone died just halfway through the day, so unfortunately I did not get many pictures. Still, I feel I captured the city (as I said, after a few blocks you have seen the place). Any pictures after the Piazza San Marco were taken from either Matt or Allie.
You can find the album here.

Also, a short video of our gondola ride:

Trento - Trent Ski Trip

I just got back from a weekend ski trip, and I am tired. But! I must get my photos uploaded. I went to Trento, about 2.5 hours north and east of Milano. Trento is, to my knowledge, most famous for playing an important role during the reformation. At one church we passed, meetings to discuss a new branch of Christianity were held in the famous Council of Trent. I believe Martin Luther held meetings there with others. Very cool.
 In Trento I stayed at a hostel Friday to Sunday, skiing on Saturday and Sunday. To ski, we drove 30 minutes up Monte Bondone to a ski resort. A beautiful one at that. My first day was spent mainly learning to ski, but by today I was good enough to spend they day going down normal hills. Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of pictures here. Skiing takes two hands, after all. But it was a ton of fun, and my peers got a few great photos. The mountains reminded me of Alaska, but there were definitely fewer. You don't see peaceful grassy villages from the mountains of Alaska either. There first day was cloudy... but we were ABOVE the clouds. We couldn't see the valleys, but it was very pretty nonetheless. Today was clear and we could see everything. I think I got sunburn, or maybe windburn. Anyway, as I did before, here is a link to the photo album with commentary.

And here's a bonus video of Massimo warming us up on the second day. The three of us here (Isabella, Allie, me, front to back) were the star students, who did the first slope on our first day. The others weren't confident enough and trained a bit longer. By the end of the trip everyone went down that slope at least. Massimo kept calling us his champions.

Recent Classes and Travel Plans

A normal week has gone by since Genoa without many interesting things happening. My most useful class is Layout and Visualization Design, where we are learning to take a scenario and draw it from angles to make interesting composition. It seems most useful since I am an illustrator and he is essentially teaching us to step away from how my brain WANTS to draw a situation and instead draw it how it will look most interesting. I will post some of these compositions on a slow day. Italian  101 proves to be easy enough, as we go over telling time and food items. In Italian Design History we were promised that we will go on a field trip every class for the second half. We went out to a designer store and looked at various interior decorations. This is my favorite teacher, as he seems the friendliest. He is the professor in my Verona video, if you want to see him. He also has the best accent out of my professors.
Packaging still continues to be hopelessly boring, with our teacher reading off a paper in monotone. He clearly doesn't want to teach an English class at all, and it's unfortunate for us. Oh, if I haven't posted my schedule before, here it is. Remember that I am 6 hours ahead of the east coast.

Monday:
Editorial Design: 9am-12pm
Packaging: 2pm-5pm
Italian 101: 6pm-8pm

Tuesday:
NONE

Wednesday:
Visualization and Layout Design: 9am-12pm
Italian Design History: 2pm-5pm
Italian 101: 6pm-8pm

Thursday:
Branding: 2pm-5pm

Friday:
NONE

That will come in handy when I talk about my travel plans. This weekend, Friday to Sunday, I will be going to Trento in the Italian Alps to ski! This is a college-organized trip, so luckily I didn't have to do planning. I just need some heavier clothes and I'll be good. Then, soon after on Tuesday, I will be going to Venice for the day! We chose a time so close to another trip because there is currently the carnivale in Venice, a popular event in which I assume there will be much more to do. I imagine everyone in masquerade masks walking around eating cotton candy. We'll see. I think that the carnivale will either be a really good experience, or a really bad one; a sentiment that was reaffirmed by my Italian Design professor. Keep your fingers crossed that I will be having a good time.
So, expect an update about the alps on Monday and hopefully another update on Wednesday. It's a busy week coming up! Next weekend will be nice and relaxing.
Thanks for reading!

Genova - Genoa

Find my album of pictures on Imgur by clicking here.
Note that the commentary for each image is right below the image. Click each image at the top to navigate. Hopefully this is easier for you as well, as it is way easier to make an external link than to embed images with commentary here.

Cenacolo Vinciano - The Last Supper

This was actually from yesterday, but the video took REALLY long to upload. Also to add, Allie's rule-breaking Last Supper picture:

Italian Pacing vs. American Pacing

I mentioned in earlier posts about how the process for getting things done in Italy is sometimes painfully slow. As an American it is annoying to wait for my student card for almost 3 weeks, as I need it for discounts and eating at the cafeteria. Various other things have taken a long time to process due to Italians being slow. However, the words of my branding teacher should really be taken seriously. The Italian way is slower than the American way, and speed is actually being forced on Italy, eroding their past way of life. As someone who has grown up in America, of course the initial reaction is, "So? They're slow and you need to speed up to get things done. The more you get done the more accomplished you are at the end of your life." I think that is a good point against the classic Italian way of life; if you move slowly your whole life you will end up getting a lot less done.
However, living in Italy for months shouldn't simply mean occupying my apartment for that amount of time. It should give me ample time to live how Italians really live. The point I am trying to make: Who is to say that the American pace is the correct pace? My professor brought up how there is added stress and less free time in this lifestyle. Well, what is more important? Is it important to have many accolades at the end of your life, or to have relaxed and maximized your free time in balance with your work? I think that's a question we all ask ourselves, consciously or not. People that know me might know what my answer to that question might be. Perhaps if you seek free time and a more relaxed lifestyle, your best option is to move to a country like Italy.
Personally, I have been bugging everyone at NABA for my card nearly every day. I have been doing my part in putting the pressure on people I don't think are working quickly enough. But what if, instead, I were to slow down with them? I am trying to adopt the Italian lifestyle for these months, and this seems to be a primary aspect of life here. Of course there are times to be quick: Homework, catching the train, etc. But if I slow down and accept things as they come, perhaps I can try the relaxed life people here seem to have. It is something to work towards, I think. I'll start by letting my student card come to me.
Those are some of thoughts I've been having pertaining to Italian and American differences. I see it as my job to give the Italian way a chance, and I'll be observing others to see how else they differ. I know they also wear puffy jackets and generally have short hair. I'll keep working on that.
I also had my first cooking class today. It wasn't as hands-on as you would hope. We made tomato sauce, but there were only about 8 preparation areas and about 25 people, so we did not get to cook. No one did, really. They showed everyone how to cut up the tomatoes, collected them, and made a big pot without student help. We did not make the noodles or meat that came along with the meal when it was ready. At least it tasted good, and we received a cookbook that I can hopefully use to recite the recipe at home.

Milano Continued!

Today we told ourselves we would walk to the next museum, but we ended up wandering around the city and running out of time. I don't regret any of it because we have a lot of city to see. My goal here is to become acquainted with the city of Milan like a resident of the city would, beyond other goals of seeing Italy. Anybody that goes on vacation can stop by Milan, see the Duomo, then stop by Rome, check out the Colosseum, go to Venice and check out the carnival, and be back home in a week. I have the fortune of spending 4 months with my home in a single Italian city, and I think seeing as much of my own city is something that will offer me more in the long run. Of course I will be going to other places in Europe during my stay, but I don't want to neglect Milan. I want to cherish an aspect of my trip that separates it from an average vacation: the length of stay. So, here is some more of Milan!

The first 4 pictures are of a small church we found down our canal, far from the center of the city. It's interesting to see how a church practicing the same religion from about the same time period looks when it has less financial backing. The art can still be found on the walls, but they cannot afford as much for restoration. The art is sparse and faded away at many places. The bricks are the same, with just a smaller floor space. There is no gold paint to be found. Very interesting to me, the juxtaposition of the rich chapels to the more modest chapels.

The next picture is from the Italian version of Best Buy, Media World! Virtually the same as a Best Buy inside, but more condensed and with lower ceilings.

The next 3 are of probably the nicest McDonald's I've ever been in. I got a milkshake and it tasted different, as everything here does. It tastes a bit more like chocolate pudding, but still not like pudding. Difficult to explain. Check out their mats-- that is the McDonald's ad campaign in this city. These minimalist posters of McD products can be found EVERYWHERE, on buses, billboards, bus stops, etc. I took my placemat, I think it is an interesting difference between Italy and America. You would never see that sort of campaign here, it doesn't appeal to Americans well. The next two are just of a piazza, to show off how your average square looks outside the city center. For a long while we were walking down Via Giorgio Washington! I don't think it is pictured here, but that's where we got McDonald's. A street in Milan is named after Washington, pretty funny. Then next picture is of a sign telling us the rules of driving down that road. Try to figure it out! Seems just as confusing as in New York. And the last is of a gas station. Gas is even cheaper here!! ...oh wait, that's euros.

Wandering Around Milan Today

Today we didn't have much to do, so we rode to the Duomo at the center of the city and wandered around.

A couple blocks from the Duomo we found an antique looking church with its doors open. This was the San Babila, in the Piazza della Babila. Most churches are named after a specific saint, and most squares that include churches are named after the churches. Pictured is what appear to be relics, though I honestly couldn't tell what each one was. The appearance (old, strange looking items presented in luxurious gold frames) is what gives me the impression. A pamphlet at the entrance tells me that Saint Babila was the 13th Bishop of Antioch from around 238 AD, who was executed trying to stop a murderous emperor from entering a sacred church.

One of the nicer roads we came upon. Note the 'no parking 0 - 24' sign, a bit different than we see in America. Down this road were a few fashion shops and apparently residence.

We also came across a dog park.

For dinner I had half a pizza frutti di mare: a seafood pizza. According to Matt, it had crab, shrimp, and salmon on it. It was DELICIOUS. If you like seafood and visit Italy, this is something to try.

I also got something important today, my Metro pass! NABA helped me fill out the application, but I was nonetheless nervous to turn it in. I had to bring it to the ATM (Azienda Transporti Milanesi) Office in the Duomo station with money to receive the pass. I was afraid they wouldn't speak English (always a big worry over here), but there was someone on staff who spoke it. The card is good for riding the Metro anywhere around the city as much as you want for a month at a time. The month starts Feb. 1st, so I cannot use it until then. I guess you pay full price per each calendar month, not just once a month. So I have a few days until it kicks in. I also got an official Milano city case for my phone, which has been bare. Out of the possible cases here, I thought this was the best idea. Oh and I got a Milano shirt, its rather stylish and I'm sure a picture will end up on here eventually. I'm feeling more at home in the city by the day!
Tomorrow we will likely go to the Saturday morning outside market thing again, and perhaps a museum. We're going down a list of museums in a 'Milano Museo' pamphlet we picked up, and number 3 is back in the Castello Sforzesco. Thanks for reading!