Today was a great day. It started off with croissants and kiwi for breakfast, and then we headed to the bus to drive to Mantero. This silk company specializes in making silk to sell to consumers and also to sell to big named companies like Gucci and Chanel. This company gets the tread shipped in and then does the rest of the parts of the process of making the fabric in house like weaving, washing, and printing. I really enjoyed this company visit. We were able to see how the company designed the products including the archive of old patterns that they still use in some of their designs. We were taught about two different ways the company is able to print the color onto the fabric and how the dye is produced. While we were walking through the factory, we could see them making fabric with Chanel and Louis Vuitton. The factory was very large with modern machines and some safety precautions in place, but we noticed that there were some things that were done differently than in the united states. For example, we did not have to sign any forms to go back to where the machines were, no one wore earplugs in the loudest parts, and we didn’t see any steel toed shoes. It’s interesting the differences you see when you go out of the United States in regard to these kinds of regulations. After the Mantero tour, we went to Como. The city was located right on the lake and the old houses were beautiful. We went to a nice pizza lunch, and it started to rain outside. We then did a walking tour in the rain and saw the Duomo and houses that date back to around the 1,500s. Then we got on a boat (thank goodness it was a covered boat) and headed out onto the lake. The views from here were amazing even with the rain and clouds, and we saw very fancy villas on the sides of the mountains. We even saw George Clooney’s house! We headed back on the bus and made it back to our hotel. After a short nap, I am ready to go get some more pasta for dinner!