As I finish up my second week in Italy I am amazed by all of the beautiful things I have seen. I took some time this week to finally get adjusted to living in a big city and seeing what Milan has to offer.

I did venture to the Duomo in Milan which is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. I did manage to take the metro there alone which was definitely a fear of mine before I got here. The duomo has beautiful different statues all along the outside and I have heard there are many more inside. There is a statue of Vittorio Emanuele the second who was the king at one point and was the first king to unite Italy (or at least that’s what a sign outside the duomo said) I was not able to go inside just because there were many tourists visiting that day. 

This week I also took a short trip to Lake Como with some of my friends. Which was beautiful. The houses built into the side of the mountains overlooking the lake simply looked like a dream home. The clouds fit into the sky perfectly as if they were a cartoon and everything was fitting in the proper place. There were many small shops, restaurants, gelato shops and many more little things to see. We did not take a boat tour just because of a lack of planning ahead of time. In the future I do hope to go back and take a boat to bellagio or one of the other parts of lake como. The lake seemed so big it felt like I was looking out to the beach. 

I completed my first week of an Italian language course which is a lot harder than I expected. The class is very helpful. I do find I have been able to get around slightly better because I can understand important words here and there. I can now order a restaurant or say excuse me on the metro which are just a few basics I did not know when arriving. However, by no means would I say yes I know the language or I can understand it. My vocabulary consists of the phrases “Hello” “Goodbye” “How are you” “May I please have” “Thank you” and the word “snail” (I have no idea why thats the one other word I was able to retain lol). The teaching style in Italy is very different than at schools in the United States. In Europe it is necessary to ask permission before leaving the classroom, it is also extremely uncommon to see a student on their phone in class. It is possible that I am just surrounded by highly motivated people but it is very different from a classroom in the United States. 

Here are some pictures of other things I have been up to this past week!

Ciao!

Gianna