MAY

May 23, 2022 was the beginning of an unforgettable experience of living in Milan, Italy for the summer. We had just arrived at our new home after traveling for 13 + hours and right away were CRAVING some good Italian pizza. Shown in the picture you can see me (on the left) and my friend Millie (on the right) chowing down the BEST pizza from a pizzeria we discovered that was only five steps away from our apartment. Not only was it super close but it was the cheapest pizza I have ever had, as it was two euros a slice. At this moment I knew this was the start of a summer I would never forget.

Although every day of this experience was amazing it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Arriving at the end of May and it being the beginning of the summer, it was difficult to not think about home on the days that you cherished the most. Especially being away during the holidays like Memorial Day and Fourth of July. I have a big family and we are extremely close, so it was hard to leave them behind knowing I was going to miss out on things back home for two straight months. But once I realized that I was never going to have an experience like this in my lifetime, I immediately began to appreciate this new country and culture and life I was about to live.

After the first couple of days of preparing for our internship were behind us, we were finally free to discover Milan on our own. The day before our first day on the job, we had been given an assignment of navigating our commute to our internship by ourselves. Thankfully I was with a friend for my internship, so we had each other to lean on as it took us almost 4 hours to find our way to our internship location. That day was the first time I realized I was in for a treat when it came to transportation and figuring out how the metro and tram system works. But like anything else, after a few days of practicing our commute, it suddenly became a routine.

JUNE

The month of June was when I really found myself at home in my new surroundings. I was finally comfortable enough to find my way around Milan, talk to locals in my best attempt at Italian, and simply just appreciate the little things about this experience. Every weekday and every weekend we were in for a new thrill. Our first weekend happened to be an Italian holiday, we had a long weekend so we traveled to southern Italy, The Amalfi Coast. This was one of the most surreal trips I have ever taken. In the picture above you can see this little white table overlooking a stunning view of the coast at sunset. A group of 10 of us stayed in a town called Vico Equense at a small villa which was located at the very top of the hill. Getting there was a bit of a mess as we couldn’t find a taxi to take us up to the top because of how narrow and steep the roads were. But in the end, it was all worth it as the breathtaking view was worth the climb.

Every week there was always something exciting happening in either Milan, traveling on the weekends to different places or even just learning new things at my internship. Design week was one of them, as it was a week full of architecture, furniture and designers coming together to show off unique artwork, pieces and more. This week is when we really got to discover Milan while walking all over the city and seeing art. Although we uncovered a lot about this new culture and city, there were times when we just wanted to do a normal American thing and that was going to the movie theater. My roommate and I so badly wanted to see the new “Top Gun” movie. So, we searched for the nearest movie theater that played in English. We showed up at movie theater #1, and as we walked in the power went out. Next, we went to movie theater #2 which we were told played movies in English, but as we show up it was only Italian. We finally tried movie theater #3 and once we showed up it was sold out. This was a frustrating moment and a huge culture shock as seeing a movie in Italy is not nearly as easy as it is in America.

Once the month of June came to an end, I did and saw more things in the Italian culture than I ever dreamed of. IES provided spontaneous events every week, and one of them that I attended was a cooking class. We got to learn how to make three different traditional Italian pastas from a professional cook in Milan. The more I experienced and learned the more I fell in love with the Italian culture and the city of Milan.

JULY

Before I knew it, it was July and that’s when my emotions were flying high, and I did not want this chapter of my life to come to an end despite the rough start in July. We went to Bari for the long weekend and on the train ride back to Milan, I realized my passport was gone. This was one of the only times out of this whole trip that I panicked and had no idea what to do. I knew my passport was gone and it was only a matter of time of figuring out what my next steps were. Thankfully IES had great staff and student RAs that helped guide me as to where to go and what to do. Getting my passport stolen was unfortunate but it was only a small bump in the road of an amazing journey. From this, I learned to be aware of your surroundings and realize that not everything is going to work out perfectly while abroad. There are going to be ups and downs and times when you feel lost. But in the end, you realize that you have a great support system around you and all above it’s a journey worth traveling.

After the incident of losing my passport, the rest of July flew by as there was so much going on and things to see before this chapter of my life closed. Within my last four weeks in Milan, I savored every moment I had with the new relationships and experiences I built.

I went to see the top of the Duomo and inside the cathedral, I was able to view “The Last Supper” and got the opportunity to tour fashion factories. Towards the end of my internship, we got to do a photoshoot wearing our boss’s designs. Never would I have thought I would be in the fashion capital doing a photoshoot wearing someone’s designs. It was such a surreal moment that I will keep with me forever. On top of the photoshoot, I got to network and meet some amazing mentors and influencers in the fashion industry. If it was not for IES and this experience, I would have never met such inspirational people or made the connections I did that will stay with me into the future.

Not only did I build work relationships, but also friendships with other students on this trip that I got to share a lot of my memories with. The friendships I built for just the two months I was there, felt like friendships I built for 10 years. We experienced new cultures and countries together, we leaned on one another for the good and bad times, and we cherished every moment we had together in our time in Milan. If you are on the fence about studying abroad, think again. I know you will never experience something like this, and you will never regret your choice in it.