When in Milan

It's safe to say that so far my favorite place I have visited in Italy is Milan. The minute I got off the metro and walked up the steps that exposed me to the main square, I fell in love. The way I felt when I was in Milan is one of those feelings that you know can't last forever but you are just so happy it doesn't even matter that it'll be over soon.

I went into the trip not really expecting much. I knew nothing about Milan except for their reputation of high-end fashion which I wouldn't consider myself a follower of. So this trip already started differently than my trip to Venice. Also there were six less people on this trip. We didn't really have a schedule of when we wanted to do things or what we wanted to do. It was a very go-with-the-flow experience and, for those of you who know me, you know I am a planner. So this was very different for me but I ended up loving it!

We had three days all to ourselves to do whatever we wanted and there was no pressure behind any of it. The group of us all stuck together until the last day when we did split up boys and girls so we could get to our shopping. This day was probably the most stressful but also the most fun. Being six feet tall with size 10 feet is not very common here in Italy so when it came to shoe shopping I was not having much success. I wanted to get something semi-fashionable that I could wear on days when I'm not in my volleyball clothes at SVC. I was at the point where I was going to give up and just grab a cute scarf or T-shirt from one of those vendors; you know, the shirts that say “I love Milan” on them, but that's when I saw it, the shining light over this one store on the streets of Milan. It was just calling my name.

So, my friend Brooke and I headed in and it was perfect. Everything I tried on fit (which is rare as I usually have to order things in long sizes). We must have spent an hour in that store and I had to make some tough calls but I am so happy with what I ended up with. Oh! And everything was on SALE (probably my favorite word of all time).

Yes, we did more than shop! We actually did a lot of sightseeing, going to museums and even just walking through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II with all the expensive stores. The food was also amazing. We had a risotto lunch and we just had to grab a Milanese McFlurry while we were at it; when in Milan, right?!

Reflecting back on this trip I honestly would not change a thing. I felt so at home there even with being so far away from Rome, let alone America! I will definitely be Milan again some time in my life and I highly recommend people to visit; it was truly beautiful and just a city with so much character.