Week 4: Milan Fashion Week

9/16/19 – Monday I basically went to class, and that was about it. Nothing really exciting.

9/17/19 – On Tuesday, I went to the Ferragamo museum for my “history of Italian fashion” class. The museum was pretty cool. Currently, it is focused on sustainability efforts in the fashion industry. Everything in the museum was completely sustainable. Ferragamo used to make sustainable shoes in the 1940s, but for effects of the war, not like current sustainability efforts. He was the first designer to use a cork heel. We also got to see and touch fabrics that were completely sustainable, like one was a leather alternative made of pineapple leaves. After that, I headed to a café with a girl from my class to plan our project for class. It was the first café that had a mocha on the menu, so naturally I had to try it, since that’s what I get in the state normally. It was different than American mochas for sure. The chocolate was like a chocolate drizzle around the inside of the glass that you mix in. Surprisingly, I think I prefer Cappuccinos in Italy. The classmate, Megan, told me about a panini place she goes to a lot across the street. They have a student discount menu where you get a glass or water or wine and a panini for 4 euro. It was actually a super good panini with really great bread. For dinner, Hannah and I met up with the girls we roomed with on the Capri trip. Their names our Alexis, Lauren, and Kendall. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but I got the lasagna. It was amazing! It was the first time I have gotten lasagna in Italy, and it is slightly different than American lasagna. It is made with more of a Bolognese meat sauce, thinner noodles, and less cheese. Actually, I think I like it better because it’s not as heavy as lasagna in America. I also ordered a drink called Aperol Spritz, which is really popular around here. It was sweet, and kind of citrus-y.

9/18/19 – Wednesday was spent at class and shopping, or at least browsing. Hannah and I were looking for some unique clothes to wear on our trip to Milan fashion week this weekend. After we were hungry, so I suggested we go to a pasta place my classmate, Megan, told me about, Simbiosi’s. It’s owned by the same owners of the coffee shop we were at. They also have a pizza place, and everything they use is organic. I got the wild boar ragu and Hannah got garlic pasta. It was actually really good, I was kind of jealous though, because Hannah’s was really, really good.

9/19/19 – I did some more shopping and browsing on Thursday. For dinner, I finally cooked something other than pasta! I bought a truffle set from the grocery store with various sauces and spreads. I made a truffle chicken dinner with a side of pasta (so I guess I did kind of cook pasta for dinner, oops).

9/20/19 – On Friday, my roommates and I went to get unlimited sushi and Japanese food for 12 euro. It was fun because I got to try lots of different things on the menu I would be nervous to order otherwise. When we finished lunch, we went to the leather market to look for a cute, fashion purse. I fell in love with two and ended up getting both. One is round and beige in color, and the other is purple and boxy. The prices are so good for handmade leather goods, I couldn’t resist. In reality, I wanted to buy like 20 different purses because they were all so unique and cute.

9/21/19 – We woke up at 6am to catch our train to Milan. We were running super late, and ended up having to run to our train, in my heels (ugh). Luckily, we made it on with only a minute to spare. Once we got to Milan, we took a cab to the center of town, where the Duomo, or cathedral, is located. It was one of the most intricate and amazing church I’ve ever seen. We didn’t end up getting inside of it, since the lines were so long, but I’m sure it was beautiful. We checked out the famous covered shopping space just next to the duomo called Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. I had always seen it in pictures, and it was even more stunning in person. It was filled with super expensive stores, too. To say I was in heaven is an understatement. Next we stopped at the Italian department store called La Rinascente. There is one in Florence, but I have to admit, this one was 10 times cooler. It was fun browsing all the things we can’t afford (haha). One day, hopefully I’ll be able to, because I added a lot of things to my wish list. For lunch, we met up with some girls Hannah met the first day she got here. Their names were Bri and Maddie. It’s funny, because Maddie knows a boy that goes to Iowa State that I know, and she was actually at the same FIJI formal I was at last year. Anyway, we got seated for lunch (which took a long time to do) and I got Spaghetti with tomato sauce and basil. I got another Aperol Spritz, but I didn’t like this one as much, it was more bitter than the first. So now I’m not sure if I like them or not. I’ll probably try another sometime to be the deciding factor. We headed over to the first Starbucks that ever opened in Italy. Starbucks was hesitant to enter the Italian market, because Italians are so particular about their coffee, so the store was very different than American Starbucks. It was a Starbucks Reserve and was so fancy it had a queue line. I tried a vanilla latte, and it tasted like it does in the states, but Maddie tried something with coffee, blood orange, and orange juice. It was pretty weird, but actually pretty good. They also sold things like sunglasses and scarves in the store, which was weird. A gold statue of the Starbucks mermaid symbol was for sale for $4,500 (wow). After we window shopped a little more. When they left, Hannah and I went into the pop-up museum for Louis Vuitton with vintage products created by LV. After, we stumbled upon the end of the Stella Jean show, just outside. We got to see the attendees leaving, which was pretty cool, since we couldn’t actually get in a show. Sadly, I didn’t see Bella Hadid, Gigi Hadid, or Kendall Jenner at all during the day. We did see someone famous in Italy from a balcony, however. So I guess I saw one famous person. It was funny, because people were coming up to Hannah and I, and asking to take pictures of our looks throughout the day to document fashion week streetstyle. Hopefully I will end up in Vogue or something! (a girl can dream). We got dinner quick, and I got lasagna again (once again very good). After dinner is when things started to go downhill. We went to the taxi line about an hour before we needed to catch our train home, but when we got there, the line was incredibly long with no taxis in sight. I started to panic because I knew we weren’t going to make our train, and Italy doesn’t have uber and you can’t hail cabs off the street (annoying). The other issue was that it was the last train of the night, and we couldn’t afford to stay in Milan overnight because prices were high for fashion week. Hannah ended up finding a bike with a cart attached that claimed he could get us there in time. Never did I picture myself taking a bike to the train station, but we were desperate. I knew we still wouldn’t make it there on time, but we were gonna try. As soon as the train station was in sight, we hopped out and started running. (mind you at this point my feet were like stumps from wearing heels all day, so I could barely walk to begin with). We reached the train, but the doors were already shut, we banged on the door, but of course they couldn’t open it, so we missed the train. We didn’t know what to do because both of our phones were dead and there weren’t any trains. We decided to try to get to Bologna because hotels might be cheaper there. We took a junky train there, and it was like out of a horror story. A group of semi-creepy teens got on and were super loud. Then right before we got off, two guys started puking and it was all over (lovely). We finally got to Bologna, and somehow survived. From there we decided to ask how much it was to take a taxi to Florence. Weighing our options, taking a cab seemed like the best deal because at this point we just wanted to get home. The issue was that cabs can’t go downtown in Florence without a license, so we had to be dropped off at the airport. Unfortunately, the airport was closed, which we didn’t see coming. On my 1% battery I tried to call a cab, but it was difficult for me to understand the accent of the man on the phone. We waited for a while, but no cab. Finally the airport security guard was very nice and called a cab off of his phone for us. We finally got back to our apartment at 3am, and I have never been so happy to be home. All I can say is yikes. Clearly, I’m still working on figuring out the trains here.

9/22/19 – Sunday was spent sleeping in after my late night, and blogging. I literally can barely walk today because my feet still hurt so bad. A much needed day of relaxation.