Buongiorno! This morning started with a lovely breakfast of a chocolate croissant which was amazing. Then as a group we headed to the University Cattolica using the metro station. This was the first time I have been on the metro in Milan so it was a very interesting to be in the bowels of Italy. We successfully got all 24 of us on a metro and transferred between the yellow and green line which was a tad stressful. The metro was very similar to the ones in Washington D.C.
Once we arrived at the university we sat in a lecture about the fashion industry and sustainability. It was very interesting, I learned that Milan is much more about the ready to wear fashion opposed to the high end fashion. Also for the fashion industry 37.8% of it is textile and 62,2% of it is clothing fashion. We also talked about how important sustainability is and how cotton is not very sustainable because about 10000 liters of water is needed to make just one pair of jeans. Recycled cotton needs to be mixed with new cotton in order for it to maintain its strength. Polyester on the other hand is much more sustainable because it can be reused continuously without losing its structural integrity. It was also interesting to learn that a turning point occurred on April 24th, 2013 after the disaster in Rana Plaza in which a building collapsed due the lack of safety in the building. The fashion revolution started after this, in which many customers asked for companies to show their supply chains.
After the lecture we were taken on a tour of the university, and it was beautiful. It was cool because all of the campus buildings connected which is not common in the United States. They also had a virgin garden where only female students were allowed to go and visit which I found very interesting. At lunch there was olive oil on every table which I found very cool.
After we left the campus we toured the Leonardo Da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology which was a very cool. It was very cool to learn about Da Vinci the inventor instead of just the artist. We saw a lot of cool things in the museum some of the pictured below, and overall it was a very enjoyable time.
After we got back from the museum eleven of us went to dinner and we ended up at this beautiful bridge, it was really nice to see a different side of Italy and explore a new place with friends! I cannot wait to see what our first company visit is like tomorrow!
Ciao!
