Milan

Well, It sure is nice to feel like were back in a modern city. It has been a while, actually the entire trip, since I have seen anything like this metropolitan gem of high fashion, status and culture. A trendy mix of old and new style architecture outlined the city that holds multiple Prada, Gucci, Burberry, Ferrari, Ducati stores in which you can easily blow your entire bank account in less than 5 minutes. I must add that it was fun to go window shopping through a mall that was 11 stories tall and filled with Designer stores! They even had a floor of designer kitchen items and cookwear, ahhh loved it! I am definitely coming back to here and Murano when I need to design a kitchen. This city is dressed to the 9’s, and multiple hot cars and bikes can be spotted on any given evening Wednesday thru Sunday as the city loves its young night life. This was awesome, as we lived right outside one of the greatest clubbing strips in the entire city, although Patrick and I opted out of the Saturday night scene due to the incredibly expensive cover charge of 20 euros or $26. Sorry, but I wasn’t about to pay that when we could have an equally fun night by picking up a drink and walking the strip gazing at women and cars.

And then there was the Opera. Housed at Teatro Alla Scalla, the most prestigious opera house in the entire world. The Westminster students had the pleasure of witnessing the fourth and final act of the Ring Cycle, Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), opera which is the life masterpiece of Wagner. It was a 6 hour long show, with two intermissions and three very long acts. I had trouble following the story line, and thus is the reason I am not including it here, but I can appreciate the masterpiece that was performed in front of me. The orchestra was grand and the singers had powerful ways of wooing the audience. It was a great show! It was a wonderful way to conclude this life changing experience. I am so happy that I was able to spend it with this group of people! I am sad to leave Italy but am happy to be on the way home. I could not have asked for much more on this experience, it was all grand. I wish I knew the language a little better, and had understood some of the background behind the art and operas I had seen, but other than that this trip was wonderful. Plus, it just gives me more reasons to go back!