Week three in Milan was another eventful one, and once again I'll just fill you guys in on the fun stuff.
On Friday I went shopping at Navigli (I told you about this area in my last post) with a couple of friends. This is a really great place to go for smaller boutiques, but the prices definitely reflect the uniqueness of their items (read: I'm too poor to shop there).
Nonetheless, I really enjoyed window shopping and making mental notes of styles that I liked so that I could look for cheaper alternatives later. I also discovered that there is Carhartt store there, which I thought was absolutely hilarious. I love that the same brand that everyone at home wears to work in is also sold in the fashion capital of the world.
In addition to the Carhartt store, I made another discovery that was probably more disappointing than I should care to admit, and that is that Italy doesn't carry half sizes in shoes. When I came to Milan, I had actually planned on "splurging" on a pair of Italian boots, and I say "splurging" in quotations because my idea of a splurge is still fairly frugal compared to some others'. I found two pairs of boots that I liked, but my true-to-size 7.5's had no success with them. Nonetheless, I'm holding out hope that I will stumble across a pair of black leather Chelsea boots that are in my price range that also either run large or small.
On Sunday I went to Torino with a group from campus called ESN, as they've been hosting a ton of events for exchange students, They are the same group that I went to Lake Como with, and I'm enjoying using their programs to travel because they take all of the planning out of traveling, and I hate planning so this is a win-win for me.
To put it bluntly, I wasn't a very good tourist in Torino. After arrival we ate lunch immediately before starting the tour. My friends and I were a little bit slow with eating, so we were just a little bit late for the tour, and pretty much stayed like that for the duration of it. We were just having a lot more fun taking pictures than listening to the tour guide. For the most part we were always able to stay in sight of the group, but eventually we just lost them completely and left to do our own thing.
After trekking around the city for a while, multiple photo ops, and two stops for gelato, we accidentally found the ESN group again, where we learned that the tours had ended and free time had just started. At this point we decided to go for pizza and wine, but after realizing that we were in the touristy area of the city and prices were extremely outrageous, we dropped the pizza idea and just got wine. Can you tell that we're a bunch of college kids?
In addition to my wine I got a cannoli (perfect, because we were at a Sicilian style restaurant) and OH MY GOSH it was amazing. Italian desserts are definitely not disappointing. I ended up splitting it with the rest of the table, and we were all in agreement on its amazingness. It was a great way to end our not-dinner as well as our day trip to Torino.
Tuesday, usually an ordinary weekday, wasn't this week because it was my birthday! To celebrate my friends and I went to Navigli (I literally love Navigli) for dinner by the canal. We found a pizza place that was delicious as well as reasonably priced, so I was excited. Being a picky eater, I opted for a very safe cheese and basil pizza, but did try a few bites from my friends' more adventurous plates, including:
After dinner we obviously had to get gelato, and once again it was amazing. This time around I got cinnamon, coffee, and caramel, and to make it even better the workers shaped it into a flower when they put it on the cone. I didn't get a picture, but I'm sure I'll be back to the shop/operating on less wine and will remember to take one next time. To end the night we enjoyed our ice cream and Navigli's night life!
And that is all I have to share for week three. I hope you are enjoying these posts so far!
Hayli
On Friday I went shopping at Navigli (I told you about this area in my last post) with a couple of friends. This is a really great place to go for smaller boutiques, but the prices definitely reflect the uniqueness of their items (read: I'm too poor to shop there).
Nonetheless, I really enjoyed window shopping and making mental notes of styles that I liked so that I could look for cheaper alternatives later. I also discovered that there is Carhartt store there, which I thought was absolutely hilarious. I love that the same brand that everyone at home wears to work in is also sold in the fashion capital of the world.
In addition to the Carhartt store, I made another discovery that was probably more disappointing than I should care to admit, and that is that Italy doesn't carry half sizes in shoes. When I came to Milan, I had actually planned on "splurging" on a pair of Italian boots, and I say "splurging" in quotations because my idea of a splurge is still fairly frugal compared to some others'. I found two pairs of boots that I liked, but my true-to-size 7.5's had no success with them. Nonetheless, I'm holding out hope that I will stumble across a pair of black leather Chelsea boots that are in my price range that also either run large or small.
On Sunday I went to Torino with a group from campus called ESN, as they've been hosting a ton of events for exchange students, They are the same group that I went to Lake Como with, and I'm enjoying using their programs to travel because they take all of the planning out of traveling, and I hate planning so this is a win-win for me.
To put it bluntly, I wasn't a very good tourist in Torino. After arrival we ate lunch immediately before starting the tour. My friends and I were a little bit slow with eating, so we were just a little bit late for the tour, and pretty much stayed like that for the duration of it. We were just having a lot more fun taking pictures than listening to the tour guide. For the most part we were always able to stay in sight of the group, but eventually we just lost them completely and left to do our own thing.
After trekking around the city for a while, multiple photo ops, and two stops for gelato, we accidentally found the ESN group again, where we learned that the tours had ended and free time had just started. At this point we decided to go for pizza and wine, but after realizing that we were in the touristy area of the city and prices were extremely outrageous, we dropped the pizza idea and just got wine. Can you tell that we're a bunch of college kids?
In addition to my wine I got a cannoli (perfect, because we were at a Sicilian style restaurant) and OH MY GOSH it was amazing. Italian desserts are definitely not disappointing. I ended up splitting it with the rest of the table, and we were all in agreement on its amazingness. It was a great way to end our not-dinner as well as our day trip to Torino.
Tuesday, usually an ordinary weekday, wasn't this week because it was my birthday! To celebrate my friends and I went to Navigli (I literally love Navigli) for dinner by the canal. We found a pizza place that was delicious as well as reasonably priced, so I was excited. Being a picky eater, I opted for a very safe cheese and basil pizza, but did try a few bites from my friends' more adventurous plates, including:
- Swordfish - thumb's up
- Risotto with seafood (unsure what kind) - double thumb's up
- Some sort of seafood that was in a shell - still deciding
- Octopus - thumb's down/tongue out/scrunched up nose
After dinner we obviously had to get gelato, and once again it was amazing. This time around I got cinnamon, coffee, and caramel, and to make it even better the workers shaped it into a flower when they put it on the cone. I didn't get a picture, but I'm sure I'll be back to the shop/operating on less wine and will remember to take one next time. To end the night we enjoyed our ice cream and Navigli's night life!
And that is all I have to share for week three. I hope you are enjoying these posts so far!
Hayli