Saying Goodbye to Milano

My time here is running short... I have had a fantastic semester! The last couple of weeks I have been trying to enjoy the beauty of Milan as much as possible. Milan has a lot to offer, but it's definitely no Florence or Rome as far as tourist attractions. I have loved my morning runs in the park near my apartment, and even have come to enjoy my walks to and from the grocery store (even if it leaves my arms sore for a few days). 

Here are a few things that I have compiled that I will miss. 

-The Italian language. although there isn't much use for it anywhere else in the world besides Italy it's so fun to hear the tones and rhythm with how they speak

-Accessibility to travel & the amount of things to do/see. I don't think I could have picked a better city to be able to travel with such ease from. 

-Spring. there is nothing like spring in Italy especially after such a long winter. 

And most of all.... 

-The laid back lifestyle. although it drives me nuts sometimes. Italians take life at their own pace. The old men walk with their hands clasped behind their backs and just meander through the streets solely, because they can. They aren't in a hurry to do anything. 

Here are a few things that I won't miss. 

-Africans in the park. This is not meant to be racist, they are just outright annoying. They are constantly harassing me and trying to sell me crap when all I want to do is sit peacefully in the park! 

-Standing in lines with Italians. This is just simply something that Italians cannot do. They will cut you off no matter how much time you have already waited in line. 

-Life without ranch dressing. It's the small things in life that make me happy, and ranch dressing is one of them. 

So the time has come... Dun, dun, dunnn.. now I have to try and fit all of the crap into my suitcases that I have accumulated. School is finally finished and its starting to hit me that I'm coming home soon! I have a few more trips before my final goodbye, but after a trip to London and the rest of the time in southern Italy I will have roughly a day left in Milan which I can guarantee I spend finishing up the packing process. I know leaving Milan will be a very bittersweet goodbye. Now here comes the sap... 

I have been dreaming of studying abroad since junior high age. I feel so grateful and incredibly blessed for this opportunity! I couldn't have done it without my parents, they truly have given the world to me. I am also grateful for the example of my grandparents, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Boo, years of looking through their scrapbooks of travels all around the world has inspired me to see the world for myself. 

The greatest thing that living in Italy has given me, is perspective. I appreciate my life in America, and especially Utah so much more. I have been given so many opportunities and truly live la dolce vita. Thanks to all of my family and friends for making my life what it is!

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks of Milan, including the end of the semester party that was put on by the school, complete with champagne.

GIANT middle finger in the middle of a random plaza

These are both new installments for the world fair in 2014, representing vino and pasta.

I will miss walking home at all hours on this street

The lovely Ciamano ward which I visited this last sunday

Turtles sunbathing in the park

Castello Sforzesco

Beautiful main campus

Mama Burger!

lovely strip club located directly across the street from school

View from a window at school

The drivers are insane, i'm surprised more people don't get hit

Certificates of completion from Cattolica

 Cheerio! Off to London in the morning! 

Getaway to Lake Como

So if you haven't noticed I've been a bit back-blogged. School kind of took over, as well as the last book in the series of the Game of Thrones. Oops. Sorry, not sorry. I decided that that I better give myself the weekend off of traveling and stay in Milan to study for finals. Although my classes are easy-peasy I still needed to put forth a bit of effort, but after giving a full day to studying last Friday, I made plans to visit the Eilders family who I first stayed with when I arrived in Italy. 

Unfortunately my time in Como was cut short upon arrival to Italy because of so many delayed flights, and I really wanted to see Como in the spring. And lets be real... I wanted one more chance of seeing George Clooney, who owns a Villa somewhere along the lake. If Como is a good enough vacation spot for George, it's good enough for me.  

It's a short train trip and I chose an earlier morning train so I could have some me time in the morning to sit by the lake before meeting up with them. After meeting at the apartment Amanda and I went out to the markets, I bought a fantastic pair of flats and a couple of souvenirs. The real prize from the market was a beautiful copper pot (retailed at 75 euros) that Amanda got for only 10 euros from an adorable old Italian man who kept saying regalo (gift in Italian). We think he probably just wanted to get rid of it.

Just a random statue of a hand that I thought was cool

Peaceful morning to sit for a bit with my duck friend

The white building straight back does not actually have
a balcony or windows they are all painted on, pretty cool!

I had to take a picture of this manikin head for
my sister, my mom does similar do's for her.

After great shopping we met up with her husband, Cole, and adorable daughter, Eva, for lunch and then headed up on the funicular to the tiny town of Brunati where we took a hike/uphill walk to a lighthouse with some great views over Como. It threatened to rain but after a few sprinkles it blew over and we grabbed gelato at a nearby cafe before heading back down. 

Well trained pup waiting for his owner to finish shopping

riding the funicular down

We spent the rest of the evening walking by the lake. It was the perfect break from my apartment, roommates, and studying. It was so fun to watch Eva, who is only a year old. Now that i'm in college and my family is older I haven't been around babies hardly at all, which honestly is probably a good thing as they kind of aren't my thing. But I love Eva, she is so darling and I love watching her be so independent at such a young age. 

I can't thank the Eilders enough for not only being my family away from home once, but twice. They are such an adorable little family!  

Budapest

So because I need a study break.... here it goes, the second part of my adventure to Budapest! 

As mentioned previously we took a bus to Budapest from Prague. It was a lengthy bus ride, about 7 hours, but like the train ride it was nearly as long as I thought it would be. It gave me a good break to recoop, while still seeing some of the Czech and Hungarian countryside as well as jot a few things down in my journal. 

It was on this trip that I realized how near the time is coming for me to go home. I am a little bit torn about this subject but the more time passes the more I realize that i'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to see my family and friends! I will be sad to leave Europe and this lifestyle of traveling to new places every weekend, but it will also be nice to be stationed in one place for awhile. Traveling is exhausting. 

We arrived in Budapest and hopped on the metro to find our hostel as usual. We were really pretty fortunate both in Prague and Budapest that we stayed in pretty nice hostels for really cheap. Again we had to exchange our money this time to Forints. Same process as before. Been there, done that. After we grabbed some lunch where we got some advice from some people sitting at our table of what was worth seeing. 

We headed up to the castle hill, which had some really great views of the city and also a really laid back feel. I spent some time wandering around and enjoying the warm weather. 

St. Stephen's Basilica

Budapest Chia Pet!

From the top of Castle Hill

National Archives building for Hungary

Buda side of Budapest

Hungarian Jewish WWII memorial

That evening we got ready to go out to see some of the ruin bars that Budapest is famous for. Basically the ruin bars were old buildings that were destroyed from WWII no one had the money to buy them or fix them up so artists bought them and without changing to much of the appearance turned them into bars. They are decorated with random things... it just depends on which ones that you go to. We went to the one that claimed to be the original and it was decorated with tables inside of old cars as well as all sorts of cool stuff along the walls. It was a very fun atmosphere and we got to meet a lot of interesting people. I met a Russian who immediately after finding out that I was from Utah, asked if I knew Andre Kirilenko. It is amazing how many people follow the NBA teams around the world. 

Famous Chain Bridge, that was destroyed during WWII

Out at the ruin bar!

The next day we did a walking tour of the city which covered most of the places we had been before with a few fun facts thrown in. After we went to the House of Terror Museum which was the secret headquarters of the Nazi's in Hungary during WWII. VERY interesting and took most of the day. By the end of the museum visit we needed a little bit of break both physically and mentally so we went to take a quick rest back at the hostel and then head to the Turkish baths. 

Matthias Church, atop castle hill

Terror Haza (House of Terror)

 For all of the hype about the baths they were fun, but not as grand as I was expecting. Fun atmosphere and I met some Spanish guys who kind of helped me with my terrible Spanish. We watched the sun set from the pools and then made our way back to pick up our things and head to the airport. We had an early flight... and consequently were spending the night in the airport. Luckily they had benches to lay down on and when I woke up it was time to get on the plane. 

After an exhausting weekend I still had a project due on Monday, so I finished up my things at school and crashed for the next 2-3 days. Hungary was a beautiful exotic city with so much history, once again i'm glad for the opportunity to see such a cool place! 

Sunrise from the airport

Returning to a rainy Monday morning