Category: Lombardy

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Heading home from Milan

I got to visit Milan one last time. It worked out really well because my friend Dan who lives here is moving back to Brazil next week and I got to see him and go to his going away party.

Now I’m heading back to the US. It’s a long flight with a layover in Stockholm (not on the way). I leave at 6:30 AM Italy time and arrive in Newark at 3:15 PM EST.

This trip has been wonderful! I’ve seen so many places, met so many people, done so many things. Here are a few of the things I’ve learned these past three months.

How to carry my suitcase up and down the train station underpass to my platform.

How to schedule my train itinerary so I don’t have to carry my suitcase up and down the underpass.

How to take a shower in a tub with no curtain and leave the bathroom cleaner than when I started.

That toilet seats are not that important at home if it’s just girls.

All laundry should be turned inside out to be washed.

I do not do my laundry as well as I should. According to Filippa.

If I don’t get married soon, I won’t be able to. According to Filippa.

You can get canned pumpkin in Rome, but not pie crust.

Bananas make you fat. And I eat too many of them. According to Filippa.

To turn the water heater on an hour before I want to shower.

Washing my face with warm water in the morning is a luxury.

To light the stove with a lighter. With one hand. While I fill the pasta pot with the other.

Everything is cheaper in the US. Especially clothes. Especially US labels. Except espresso and pizza.

Vodafone is an evil company.

Heat in October is a luxury.

Fresh ricotta is nothing like what we buy back home in 12oz containers. The mozzarella is pretty amazing, too.

How to avoid eye contact with cruising Italians.

No matter how hot it is in the Metro you keep your coat on, hussy. Or be prepared for the stares.

The best place to buy cloths is from the street vendors. Actually that’s the best place to buy anything.

How to pee while squatting like a pro. (Thank you two years of bicycling in San Francisco.)

To recycle almost everything. My q-tips where the only thing I had to put in unsorted.

Where to find the three best gelaterias in Rome.

How much I love (and sometimes hate) Italians.

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Milano

I’m just leaving Milano now for Rome. I had a wonderful time. It makes me so happy to go back there and find the city more or less how I left it. When I lived there four years ago, the saddest thing about leaving is I felt I would never be able to come back. I felt that what I loved about Milano was all the international friends I had made there and that those people would have moved on before I could ever return. Many of those people are gone now, but many are still there. In fact the ones that are still seem to be closer with each other than ever.

I stayed with Dan and his boyfriend, Eduardo (or Dado). Not only did they take me in but they made all the plans for my birthday. I got in late the 22nd, but we met some of Dan’s friends for a drink. The 23rd Dan had to work, but Dado and I had a lovely day in Milan. He made me breakfast then we met one of the girls from the night before and Nick, Dan’s old roommate who I met two years ago, for a delicious lunch. And had coffee after where Luc works. I knew Luc 4 years ago, though not well then since we did not have a solid language in common. In the evening Dado, Dan, and I helped a coworker of his with his new apartment and got pizza. Then we went to a club opening, Tropicana. No dieing my hair. A wonderful birthday!

I spent two more full days in Milan. It really is a wonderful city and so different from the little Tuscan towns I had visited before then. Those tiny centers live only on tourism and are surrounded by farms and vineyards. Milan is a self sufficient city where the tourists stay near the touristy parts (like a US city). I also got to eat very well being shown around by my local friends.

[Edit] Photos from Milano Visit:
https://picasaweb.google.com/kaitlyn.hanrahan/20100923Milano#