Milano bano rano ch-chano, fe fi fifano, Milano!

I have decided to do a quick update on being back in Milan because my NEXT post will be about ROME and will be very long and involved and filled with historical facts I learned and SO MANY PICTURES. So I wanted to do this separately because I still wanted to share this but not dilute my amazing next post coming haha.

So I got back to Milano from Amsterdam on Sunday night the 20th. I think I was back in my apartment around 10pm or so and getting to bed at a reasonable time. That week was filled with activities to get myself back in the groove of being at my Italian homebase.

• Groceries (which I am SO MUCH better at now. I even walked in and they had rearranged the WHOLE store, and I didn’t even panic ::brushed shoulders off::).

• Laundry (they ALSO had some new changes.. New dryers! Steppin up in the world).

• Actually doing WORK at work (they pulled me onto a project that is being built in Israel, but I’m really just acting as an assistant to the Project Engineer right now so she has just been giving me… menial tasks. But that’s fine for the moment because I do still have some documents to finish up for Sweden.). Etc.

That next weekend I was invited by a small group of people at work to go SAILING on Saturday at Lake Como. I was super excited about it, but then the forecast in that area for the whole weekend was rain, rain, thunder, rain, and zero wind. So we decided that we wouldn’t go. Sad.

Instead, I stayed in Friday night and watched bad Netflix movies. It was excellent. Then Saturday I slept in a bit and got a few more things done around the apartment- writing, reading, vacation planning, wedding gift purchases, etc. Did not even step outside until later, and I was completely alright with that.

One of my coworkers that was going to be sailing with me did invite me and one of the other Americans out Saturday night! Conshy Matt and I (as my mom and I call him because there is my Matt plus 2 Matt’s out here that we talk about) met up at 9pm I think and then headed to meet our coworker (who goes by Toto :-) ) and his friends. The bar where we were to meet them is in a huge park near the castle in Milano.

Said castle.

We get there annnddd he’s running late. So we stood and talked for about half an hour, he finally arrives and we meet his friends. I forget why, but we decided not to stay at that bar and headed off elsewhere.

Saw this view on the way to bar #2.

We finally sit down somewhere and honestly had a lovely few hours. His friends were VERY nice and actually willing to speak English without making me feel guilty. Unfortunately I do not remember any of their names, but we had some great conversations about different accents in different languages and different places to visit in both the US and Italy. When the one girl was asking how I liked Milan, I told her that I was struggling to find the… spirit of it. And she immediately made a reference to Eat, Pray, Love and said, “Yea, the ‘word’ of Milan, right? Well the word for Milan is ‘Work’” And she was not being sarcastic at all ha.

Anyway. So that was amazing. Then Sunday I decided to finally go back to the Duomo and go to the roof as I had never done on my first try (see post like.. 2). I went and got my ticket, and realized I also had access to the museum! So I walked though there first and saw a few neat statues, paintings, artifacts, etc.

I then headed over to the line that almost took my soul the first time around.The weather was GORGEOUS and yet the line was about half as long as it was when it was pouring rain and cold in March. Made no sense.

So I waited about 45 minutes maybe? Get inside, and yep, still an immense, slap you in the face beauty. I’m actually excited to go back for a 3rd and maybe 4th time with Kathleen/Matt when they visit. Anyway, I start looking for signs to get to the roof. I finally had to ask someone and he told me I actually had to leave the Duomo and there was a totally separate access and line for the roof. Seriously. Luckily, I had only waited 45 minutes and it had been in sunshine instead of pouring rain, AND I had wanted to see the “Archaeological” area too which IS accessed from inside, so I wasn’t that mad.

So I first went downstairs to see the Archaeological area. From what I read it was essentially some walls and things they found when they started digging near the Duomo at some point. It was OK. For some reason I wasn’t very impressed and walked through pretty quickly. I then walked outside, found the line for the roof, and climbed the...I don’t know.. Maybe 100-150 steps?...to the top. It really was neat, but as I told my mom, there are so many spires on top of the roof, that you actually don’t have this expansive view of the city or anything. It’s beautiful and absolutely worth it, but not as a viewpoint of the city.

After that I actually spent my afternoon shopping. I was in need of a few more summer items and.. It’s Milan… so there are a ton of shops everywhere downtown. It was tiring but honestly pretty fun. I had worn this long flowy skirt and was feeling very Italian.

That Monday the 28th was Memorial Day back home, as you all know, and it left me feeling a little lonely. I was seeing pictures and getting texts from folks at home that were off doing fun things together and I was…. 1,000 miles away. It was fine, and it ended pretty quickly, but I was definitely in a funk for the day.

BUT. Something that actually helped was that I got to leave work early on Monday and finally go pick up my Residence Permit! So it was another solid 2-3 hours in the Immigration building, which was fun, but it is done. This was the last piece of the puzzle that is required for me to be over here legally. No more paperwork, no more appointments. Good weight to have off my shoulders.

The next week was pretty low key, although I had a series of events where now the guy who works downstairs knows me by name haha. I locked myself out of my apartment at one point, I had to pick up a couple of packages. Oh! My packages! Matt sent me a few “comforts of home”... a Grateful Dead tshirt and a new robe. I LOVE them and put them on immediately and did a photo shoot hahaha.

I think I look like a baller.

Oh and they FINALLY turned on my air. I don’t know what they had to do, but I wasn’t able to hit the “On” button to turn it on myself. They did so just in time, too, because I was about 24 hours away from asking them to do something. I would get it if they didn’t have air, or if they just had window units or fans or something… that would be a cool quirk of living in Italy. But they full well have air conditioning and I was not going to suffer through the summer, no siree.

Lastly, work is Ok, but I’m struggling to get excited about it. I know sometimes boring things need to get done, but right now everything in my life is like at a 10, and work is at a 3, and I’m gonna need it to raise its standards a bit, you know? Also, I’m struggling with lunch a bit. Not that many people bring their lunch because as a benefit in the office they get a certain number of tickets to eat lunch for free in the cafeteria downstairs. Super great for them, but it costs me ~7 euros every time I eat there, and it’s more difficult to eat the foods and the portions that I want to be eating when I do. So I cook and pack my lunch. But, the breakroom in our office here is suuuppeerrr small and only has one table in it. So when I eat my lunch in there (because I don’t know where else to eat) I am forced to sit with the 3-4 other women that also bring their lunch. I don’t think I need to tell you that they are of course a bit older than I am and...yep… don’t talk to me. Sometimes I try to sit and listen and see if I can absorb some Italian, but mostly I have just been trying to eat as fast as I can and go back to my desk. They also make it awkward when I’m warming up my food and others are waiting on me to finish so they can use the microwave. I feel like my lunch is in their way. I literally took my food out a minute before the timer went off the other day just to avoid an extra minute of anxiety. It’s really sad and frustrating.I need to find another option, just not sure what it is. Options I can think of now that I don't really want to pursue:

1. Just try to talk to them. Jump in. Ask questions. Ask them to speak English.

2. Eat my premade lunch in the cafeteria with people that bought their lunch. Awkwardly wait around for people I know to show up or ask people if I can sit with them ahead of time then go down and wait while they order.

3. Eat lunch from the cafeteria once or twice a week

4. Walk to the park nearby. Eat my food cold (there are no microwaves in nature) and sit on a bench so I can eat alone and not feel awkward.

5. Eat at my desk and get evil eyes from management because no Italian is ALLOWED to eat at their desk. I was told the other day that a woman was surprised to find out she was allowed to eat lunch 1230 to 130 if she needed to because she thought lunch was 1-2pm. Period. So that should give you an idea of the mindset around lunchtime.

Anyway. Another problem to solve.

Overall, though. The week went well. Friday was a different story, but it fits in better when told with my whole Friday which will start off my Rome story. So. You’ll have to wait :-)

See you soon!