Ciao from Milan! Today was a very exciting day because we were able to view the beautiful city of Milan with the sunshine and warm weather instead of the rain. We started with a lovely Italian breakfast of pastries and coffee (or caffé in Italian) and subsequently attended a crash course in Italian Culture. I learned many very useful skills on how to get by in Milan, including how to order a coffee, how to introduce myself to any Italian friends I might make, and the proper things to do in restaurants to not upset the owners. Hopefully by the end of this trip I will be able to order completely in Italian!
One thing that I observed at lunch was that Italians are very excited to hear Americans or other people try to speak Italian. Before this lunch, I had the complete opposite idea because I thought that native Italians would think that my poor pronunciation of their language would be insulting to the Italian culture. During lunch, I greeted the servers and said that I wanted a table for two in Italian only to find that the waiters were thrilled and impressed that I was an American trying to speak their language despite the poor pronunciation. This was a great experience because it boosted my confidence and encouraged me to start trying Italian in other restaurants.
My favorite part of the day was when we went on a walking tour of Milan, where we got to walk through a very advanced, modern residential center and many of the main sites of Milan. The center was a very architecturally diverse area because each building near the center was designed by a different architect. I was very amazed by all of the trees and plants in the areas and how they valued sustainability and the environment throughout the entire area. Each of the different buildings have solar panels that power some of their operations. Additionally, there is a fountain at the center that is powered by solar panels that are on a sculpture in the center. I was very impressed how this modern city was able to incorporate sustainable energy into the art in the park as they seamlessly integrated nature with infrastructure. My inner environmental engineer was jumping with excitement because this relatively new city center, which is an assembly place for many social gatherings such as dance groups, is the type of project I hope to be able to work on in my career! Speaking of projects in which I would love to participate, this center offered a very lovely view of the Bosco Verticale, a two-building residential complex covered in trees and vegetation from bottom to top that I learned much more about today. I now know that it had an incredibly positive impact on the community because it it as a great aesthetic and effective way to clean the air.
The second part of our guided tour was very delicious as we looked at a street full of many restaurants and, my personal favorite, gelato! I had extremely high expectations for this traditional Italian treat, and it very much exceeded them when I finally tasted it at Eataly. Tip for future travellers to Italy that I learned today: go to gelato shops that have the gelato stored in closed metal freezers instead of the large tubs that have gelato displayed on the top because it is stored much better when closed. After the gelato, we saw several historical buildings and structures on the last leg of the tour. It was very interesting that all these modern buildings that were designed to look like older buildings mixed in with several historically older buildings, which I learned was mainly due to reconstruction from bombing in World War II. This is very different from large cities in the states because they are mostly very modern and are filled with skyscrapers, of which Milan has a different amount. We had a very strong finish to the tour when we finally visited the Milano Cathedral, or the Duomo Cathedral which was absolutely magnificent with all of its intricate detail and sheer magnitude. With all of the excitement today, I cannot wait to see what Milan Day #3 will bring!