Week 5 in Italy has been by far one of my favorites because it was Fashion Week in Milan! If you know me at all you know that I am obsessed with all things fashion, and I have pretty much been looking forward to Fashion Week since I was accepted into this program back in March. Side-note: I am fully aware that Fashion Week shouldn't technically be capitalized, but in my eyes it is a holiday and I am going to show it the respect it deserves and by using proper nouns.
Anyway, you pretty much have to be important to be invited to fashion shows (spoiler alert: I am not important), but nonetheless it was so much fun just to be able to soak in the atmosphere. About a week ago it became apparent that Fashion Week was coming up, as people everywhere were dressing to the nines. I'm talking girls in my classes wearing Louboutin's to class. I made the mistake of heading to the Duomo (basically Milan's city center that is surrounded by the most insane shopping of life) in my Birkenstocks and will forever be scarred for life. Really though, I have never been so inspired by fashion in my life. While most people don't consider shopping to be a creative outlet, I absolutely do. It's not easy to take a designer outfit you see on the streets and recreate it using affordable pieces, which is what I have been doing all week. Regardless, this has made for the most fun shopping of my life! And I promise that I haven't spent that much, mom.
While fashion shows were strictly off limits to us common folk, a lot of clubs in Milan hosted Fashion Week events that we were able to attend. This was so much fun because we were able to dress up a bit more than usual, and we were even "lucky" enough to get to party with models! I tell ya, nothing makes you feel more like Frodo Baggins than standing next to a bunch of 6 foot tall size zeros. It did make it really easy to sneak to the front of the drink line, though. I kid (kind of); it really was a blast. Fashion Week is definitely at the top of my list of greatest life experiences. And who knows, maybe I'll be back someday wearing a pair of Valentino heels of my own.
On Friday I took a break from Fashion Week and opted to go on an overnight trip to Venice (finally) with my friend Courtney, another girl from Purdue. Now, when I told my mom this story she acted like I was the weirdest person in the world, but I feel like I should fill you all in on why I've always wanted to go to Venice.
When I was nine I received a Barbie for some unknown holiday, and the Barbie came with a book. Being the nerdy nine year old that I was, I read it. In the story Barbie goes to Venice and in some way she ends up wearing sapphires on her dress. If you recall, my birthday is in September, and September's birthstone happens to be the sapphire. Nine-year-old Hayli made this connection, and her third-grade logic decided that since Barbie went to Venice and got to wear sapphires and Hayli was born in September and September's birthstone is the sapphire, Hayli was destined to go to Venice. And here I am, thirteen years later, living my childhood dream.
Anyway, we arrived in Venice around lunch time on Friday, and immediately set out for food (duh). Courtney had done some research ahead of time, and led us to a tiny little pizza place where we had the actual best pizza of our lives. I'm not joking, it was amazing, and Courtney is from Chicago and she agreed, so you have to believe me.
When we were finished eating we decided to head to our hostel to drop off our bags, but of course we did some shopping along the way. Venice is the first city that I've been to in Italy that actually sold souvenirs that weren't super touristy, so I took advantage and made quite a few purchases. Of course I'm sure we still payed super inflated prices for what we bought, but I was satisfied that everything looked authentic.
After checking into our hostel and getting some directions from the very nice manager, we set off for St. Mark's Square (but only after stopping for gelato). I should add that in all of my research of Venice, everything I read recommended going without a plan and just letting yourself get lost in the city, and we definitely got lost. And got lost again. And got lost again. And then got lost some more. But it was so much fun.
We ended up wandering around the city, hitting numerous dead ends, doing even more street shopping, and stopping for cannoli's, but eventually we made it to St. Mark's Square (which we didn't actually realize at the time). At this point, however, we had an appointment for a gondola ride, so we had to head there instead. Also in my research on Venice I read that you should skip the gondola rides, as they're just a tourist trap and cost a ridiculous amount of money, but c'mon. You can't just go to Venice and not ride in a gondola. And Barbie rode in a gondola in the book so obviously I had to.
When our gondola ride ended we headed back to St. Mark's square, where we took a quick tour of St. Mark's Basilica. Unfortunately no photos are allowed inside of the church, but it was gorgeous to say the least. I've now toured several churches in Italy, and it never ceases to amaze me how much effort went into the architecture and artwork of the churches when they were built. It definitely shows how dedicated the people were to the church and to God, and kind of puts the modern churches at home into perspective.
Located right next to St. Mark's Basilica is Doge's palace, and we took a tour of that next. True to Italian form, the architecture was amazing, and the artwork inside was downright breathtaking. The most chilling part, however, was touring the jails inside of the palace, before walking through the Bridge of Sighs. According to Google, the Bridge of Sighs is named because it was supposed to be the last place that prisoners saw the outside world before beginning their life sentences. This may or may not be true, but I choose to believe that it is because it makes the experience so much cooler. I also particularly enjoyed the Palace's courtyard. It was so fresh and white, and the statues located inside had really nice butts, which we took lots of pictures with.
That night we stopped stumbled upon a little restaurant and decided to eat dinner there, and it ended up being one of the best meals that I've had all semester. We split a pasta dish made with carbonara sauce and a pizza with spicy salami, as well as a liter of wine. I had heard that the food in Venice is awful, but I disagree. This was one of a few circumstances here in Italy where I actually cleared my plate.
The next morning Courtney and I packed up and set out to get some breakfast. I got a cappuccino with a chocolate croissant, which I now may or may not be addicted to, and it was delicious. We then bought passes for the water bus and headed to Murano, and island known for making glass. We were able to go to the glass factory on the island and got to witness a guy make a vase looking thing and a little glass horse. Other than the factory and shopping for glass, there really wasn't much to do in Murano, so we decided to head to our next destination, Burano. Burano is known for lace as well as its brightly colored buildings. It is actually kind of crazy, but the only reason that Burano is a tourist attraction at all is because someone at some point decided to paint the buildings a bunch of different colors. Nonetheless, it made for some really great pictures, an enjoyable lunch, and perfect souvenir shopping.
We actually ended up shopping a little too much in Burano, and cut it pretty close getting back to the train station to catch our train home. As in, after practically running through the streets of Venice, made it with about ten minutes to spare. (Luckily, we didn't get lost that time).
That pretty much wraps up this week's events. I hope that you're enjoying keeping up with me while I'm in Italy!
Hayli
Anyway, you pretty much have to be important to be invited to fashion shows (spoiler alert: I am not important), but nonetheless it was so much fun just to be able to soak in the atmosphere. About a week ago it became apparent that Fashion Week was coming up, as people everywhere were dressing to the nines. I'm talking girls in my classes wearing Louboutin's to class. I made the mistake of heading to the Duomo (basically Milan's city center that is surrounded by the most insane shopping of life) in my Birkenstocks and will forever be scarred for life. Really though, I have never been so inspired by fashion in my life. While most people don't consider shopping to be a creative outlet, I absolutely do. It's not easy to take a designer outfit you see on the streets and recreate it using affordable pieces, which is what I have been doing all week. Regardless, this has made for the most fun shopping of my life! And I promise that I haven't spent that much, mom.
While fashion shows were strictly off limits to us common folk, a lot of clubs in Milan hosted Fashion Week events that we were able to attend. This was so much fun because we were able to dress up a bit more than usual, and we were even "lucky" enough to get to party with models! I tell ya, nothing makes you feel more like Frodo Baggins than standing next to a bunch of 6 foot tall size zeros. It did make it really easy to sneak to the front of the drink line, though. I kid (kind of); it really was a blast. Fashion Week is definitely at the top of my list of greatest life experiences. And who knows, maybe I'll be back someday wearing a pair of Valentino heels of my own.
On Friday I took a break from Fashion Week and opted to go on an overnight trip to Venice (finally) with my friend Courtney, another girl from Purdue. Now, when I told my mom this story she acted like I was the weirdest person in the world, but I feel like I should fill you all in on why I've always wanted to go to Venice.
When I was nine I received a Barbie for some unknown holiday, and the Barbie came with a book. Being the nerdy nine year old that I was, I read it. In the story Barbie goes to Venice and in some way she ends up wearing sapphires on her dress. If you recall, my birthday is in September, and September's birthstone happens to be the sapphire. Nine-year-old Hayli made this connection, and her third-grade logic decided that since Barbie went to Venice and got to wear sapphires and Hayli was born in September and September's birthstone is the sapphire, Hayli was destined to go to Venice. And here I am, thirteen years later, living my childhood dream.
Anyway, we arrived in Venice around lunch time on Friday, and immediately set out for food (duh). Courtney had done some research ahead of time, and led us to a tiny little pizza place where we had the actual best pizza of our lives. I'm not joking, it was amazing, and Courtney is from Chicago and she agreed, so you have to believe me.
When we were finished eating we decided to head to our hostel to drop off our bags, but of course we did some shopping along the way. Venice is the first city that I've been to in Italy that actually sold souvenirs that weren't super touristy, so I took advantage and made quite a few purchases. Of course I'm sure we still payed super inflated prices for what we bought, but I was satisfied that everything looked authentic.
After checking into our hostel and getting some directions from the very nice manager, we set off for St. Mark's Square (but only after stopping for gelato). I should add that in all of my research of Venice, everything I read recommended going without a plan and just letting yourself get lost in the city, and we definitely got lost. And got lost again. And got lost again. And then got lost some more. But it was so much fun.
We ended up wandering around the city, hitting numerous dead ends, doing even more street shopping, and stopping for cannoli's, but eventually we made it to St. Mark's Square (which we didn't actually realize at the time). At this point, however, we had an appointment for a gondola ride, so we had to head there instead. Also in my research on Venice I read that you should skip the gondola rides, as they're just a tourist trap and cost a ridiculous amount of money, but c'mon. You can't just go to Venice and not ride in a gondola. And Barbie rode in a gondola in the book so obviously I had to.
When our gondola ride ended we headed back to St. Mark's square, where we took a quick tour of St. Mark's Basilica. Unfortunately no photos are allowed inside of the church, but it was gorgeous to say the least. I've now toured several churches in Italy, and it never ceases to amaze me how much effort went into the architecture and artwork of the churches when they were built. It definitely shows how dedicated the people were to the church and to God, and kind of puts the modern churches at home into perspective.
Located right next to St. Mark's Basilica is Doge's palace, and we took a tour of that next. True to Italian form, the architecture was amazing, and the artwork inside was downright breathtaking. The most chilling part, however, was touring the jails inside of the palace, before walking through the Bridge of Sighs. According to Google, the Bridge of Sighs is named because it was supposed to be the last place that prisoners saw the outside world before beginning their life sentences. This may or may not be true, but I choose to believe that it is because it makes the experience so much cooler. I also particularly enjoyed the Palace's courtyard. It was so fresh and white, and the statues located inside had really nice butts, which we took lots of pictures with.
That night we stopped stumbled upon a little restaurant and decided to eat dinner there, and it ended up being one of the best meals that I've had all semester. We split a pasta dish made with carbonara sauce and a pizza with spicy salami, as well as a liter of wine. I had heard that the food in Venice is awful, but I disagree. This was one of a few circumstances here in Italy where I actually cleared my plate.
The next morning Courtney and I packed up and set out to get some breakfast. I got a cappuccino with a chocolate croissant, which I now may or may not be addicted to, and it was delicious. We then bought passes for the water bus and headed to Murano, and island known for making glass. We were able to go to the glass factory on the island and got to witness a guy make a vase looking thing and a little glass horse. Other than the factory and shopping for glass, there really wasn't much to do in Murano, so we decided to head to our next destination, Burano. Burano is known for lace as well as its brightly colored buildings. It is actually kind of crazy, but the only reason that Burano is a tourist attraction at all is because someone at some point decided to paint the buildings a bunch of different colors. Nonetheless, it made for some really great pictures, an enjoyable lunch, and perfect souvenir shopping.
We actually ended up shopping a little too much in Burano, and cut it pretty close getting back to the train station to catch our train home. As in, after practically running through the streets of Venice, made it with about ten minutes to spare. (Luckily, we didn't get lost that time).
That pretty much wraps up this week's events. I hope that you're enjoying keeping up with me while I'm in Italy!
Hayli