And the snow came!

I cannot describe how overjoyed I was when I awoke on Monday morning and saw out of my window a street covered in snow.

Exiting the subway I skipped, rather than walked, to school absolutely overjoyed to see snow falling in the busy city of Milan. It fascinated me to see people everywhere using umbrellas to guard against the snow as I preferred to twirl around and try to catch, or sometimes eat, the snow flakes.

Walking to school in the snow! 

Monday was an interesting day also because it was the first day that I would begin to move classes, instead of staying with Alice's class. The english teacher and vice principal who is looking after me, Professor Dendi, drew me up a temporary timetable as this week is the week of "Carneval" so there are only 3 days of school.

My temporary timetable

The timetable had me beginning the day in the 5th class (equivalent to grade 13, the students in this class are 19 and will graduate in June). And as riveting as the lesson on English literature was, I couldn't help but be constantly distracted by the view out the window of snow falling on the church at the end of the street.

The window in the 5th classroom

The view out of the 5th class's window

 During the small 10minute break at 11am I also went to look out of a window at the courtyard in the middle of the school, where I was entertained by the sight of snow built up on top of the statue man's head.

The snow-covered courtyard the school is built around

After the small break, I moved to the fourth class (equivalent to grade 11, except that it is their 12th year of schooling and they are 18) for an English and Maths class. I again felt as nervous as I had on my first day in Alice's class, but was lucky enough to sit with two very nice girls, Maria Pia and Caterina. The girls were very welcoming and offered to show me to some parts of the school I had not yet seen, during the long lunch break. And I am still in shock at what I found.

This room is called "The Ballerina Room" as the paintings depict different ballerinas

The ceiling of the ballerina room

Some of the wall/ceiling of the ballerina room

The Ballerina Room

The Ballerina Room

A gorgeous ballroom, next door to the ballerina room, that is now used for official school functions

The chandelier in the ballroom 

Maria Pia and Caterina in the ballroom - note the grand piano behind them

Would you believe, this room is actually used as a classroom for the Classico part of the school

The ceiling of the classroom

The classico classroom

The classico classroom

 Then, they took me out onto the balcony that the classico classroom has. The balcony overlooks the park that is behind the school, where I am told students like to go and sit during lunch time when it is Spring. But, if you ask me, Spring certainly can't make the park any beautiful that it was under snow.

A panorama of the park behind the school

After school, Filippo met up with Alice and I and the two of them took me for the first time to one of the most famous Gelato stores in Milano; Cioccolati Italiani. Oh my God. You pay €3 and you get a cone with 3 flavours of your choice AND they put, inside the cone, warm melted white or dark chocolate. Oh my God.

Cioccolati Italiani

My Gelato being put together!

My first Cioccolati Italiani!

 Not wanting to miss a minute of being in the snow, I decided to enjoy my Gelato outside.

Snow-covered Gelato

The street Cioccolati Italiani is on, looking beautiful

 We then took a tram to the Duomo, to visit the Cathedral and square. I don't really have any words to describe how much of a beautiful sight it was, but I think my wonderful camera managed to capture it pretty well.

Alice and I playing in the square

Alice and I playing in the square

A shot from the square of the Galleria; the most expensive and famous shopping strip in Milan wherein you will find Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada and many more famous names that not even the Italians can afford to purchase from

Alice outside the Galleria

La Galleria

 Returning to Noviglio I found out that whilst the snow of the city had been mostly melted by cars and people, the Massetti house and surroundings had actually transformed into a Winter Wonderland.

The backyard; Louise loves to play in the snow!

The house and backyard

Louise in the backyard

Playing in the backyard

Playing in the backyard

The view of the backyard from an upstairs window 

The forecast is now saying that we should expect much more snow overnight and tomorrow, which means there is a possibility we will be unable to leave our street tomorrow. And wouldn't it be a shame to stay home from school and have nothing to do but play in the snow all day...