Milano

Waking up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning is only acceptable if your plan for the day is going to be incredible... and I had no idea what to expect when I climbed aboard the Eurostar to go to Milan with three friends.

We were traveling with my friend, Yumna, as she was going to the airport in Milan to fly back to the states and have her citizenship interview. She has possessed a greencard for 14 years and has lived in the U.S. full time for 4 years... of course 4 weeks after she leaves for Italy she gets an appointment for her interview :)

We arrived with just enough time for her to see the main Piazza and the Duomo- Europe's fourth largest cathedral.

Unfortunately, pictures are unable to capture it fully. The pink marble stones are each boast a different hue and give the massive building a color unlike anything I have ever seen. Outside, figures representing church elders, biblical figures, and martyrs are on just about every wall. Spires reach to the heavens and one can actually climb up to the top of the Duomo and see the spires up close and get a good look at the city.

We found a self service place that overlooked the city in the galleria (the same meal on the ground floor of this building would have cost enough to take the train to and for the first time since getting here, I got to make my own salad! No olives!

After refuelling, we decided to take a chance at getting into the last supper, which is painted in a simple but lovely church northwest of city center. When the tickets were sold out, we tried every tactic available but were unable to see the painting which Dan Brown has turned into an object of controversy. However, the church itself is lovely and a marked contrast from the extravagance of the duomo!

Being that I am usually the planner of such excursions, I get to slip in things of interest to yours truly, even if they are a bit odd. Enter the memorial cemetery. This place, north of the city center, is a walled in menagerie of crypts, mausoleums and extravagant grave coverings. The graves often had figures depicting women tearing at themselves with grief, or young man decked out for battle.

We also discovered that the cemetery has a keeper who was busily patrolling the area

After much all of this running around and acclimating ourselves to the cities very user-friendly public transportation, we traversed the streets dedicated to high end fashion stores, and even this girl who never pays more than she can count on her fingers for clothing found herself drooling a bit. Everything in Milan is expensive, yet somehow I found a cafe that was perfect for people watching in which my travel buddy and I were able to enjoy cappuccinos and then wine for a total of 5 euro. It made us feel rather smart, something we needed after we had managed to get lost coming back from the cemetery...

Sunday marked the first day I took it easy since arriving. It also marked one month since my arrival. Tomorrow, I will complete my Italian final and next Monday, my real classes start. It is a shame that the carefree weekends will come to a halt and trips away will once again be luxuries carefully plotted around studying. Oh, it's so rough to be a graduate student