Daily Lifestyle

From the moment I stepped foot out of that airplane in Malpensa Airport I knew I was no longer in familiar territory. Everything looked different. The people looked different, the language was definitely different, the process was different, and even the airport itself was different.

Getting from the airport to the hotel was a bit of a struggle at first but thankfully I have a good pair of eyes that saw a chart of all of the types of transportation to Milan and by asking a woman which way was the most affordable and easy way, is how we decided to take a bus to the central station and then the metro closest to our hotel. It was a little scary at first because we had no GPS or actual map of the city. I just had to trust my gut and trust others around me as well. I did, however, have one good idea before we left the airport which was to screenshot the path we had to walk to get to our hotel. However, even then we were a bit lost so I decided to ask someone in a cafe about hotel Zumbini 6 and she pointed me in the right direction. Once we got to the hotel we dropped off our bags, rested for about 20 to 30 minutes and then walked to our first class. Then after class we walked back. That was when I realized the long walks were just getting started… Luckily I am a smart girl and I bought a SIM card which allows my phone to access the internet. So I made a few Italian friends and one of them told me to download a really helpful app to find my way back home. This helps me find my ways back to the hotel the easiest and shortest way or by least walking and so on. So you can say that after living here for a week I have become very familiar with what metro and what buses to ride. I even had some tourists ask me how to get to a certain metro station, and that was when I realized I was really living that Italian lifestyle.

A few other difference I have noticed is, the way things are in buildings. Like for example, the restrooms have bidets. Another strange difference is how they have coffee vending machines everywhere. The way their education system and teacher-student rules are so much different than what we are used to. The food is also different from what I'm used to. At this point, I'm pretty happy I get to eat her food in like 2 weeks. But overall I am enjoying it and enjoying the fact that Milan has a lot of cool things like art and culture.