Madeline In Italy!: Week 7; Snow in March? Non ci credo!

Would you believe it, this week began with snow.

Yes, you read right; snow. On March 18th. In Milan.

Off to school!

School was a fairly ordinary day so naturally, after school, we lightened up the atmosphere with a Gelato, before going swimming with Francesca. And as you can imagine it was a strange feeling walking out of the snow, changing into toggs and swimming in a pool from which I could see the snow outside!

By Tuesday the snow was already melting, but it was beautiful to see outside with the sunrise before we left for school.

As my class was spending the last two hours of the day doing an exam I left after lunchtime. I was walking through Duomo when a huge crowd of people caught my attention standing outside of the Rinascente and I went to check it out. The Rinascente is probably the number one place to shop in Milan, if you have a lot of money to spend. It has seven floors decked out with the very "top" and most expensive designers and brands; the first floor is all makeup and perfume and the top floor is a restaurant with a store where you can buy the most sought-after sweets, and the floors in between are everything else; a floor of handbags, a floor of shoes, a floor of men's wear, a floor of children's wear and, last but not least, a floor of women's wear.

Standing outside on this day I found a camera crew shooting some man speaking (or rather, reading off the prompts in front of him). I had no idea who this man was, but it seemed everyone around me did and they were huge fans. From when I arrived they shot for about 10 minutes and then the second they called cut someone put a jacket on the man and an entourage surrounded him, followed quickly by the crowd who all tried to get close to him to tell him that they loved him. Later on that day I showed Chiara the photos and asked who he was and she was overjoyed that I had seen him, telling me his name was " " and he is a very famous and well-loved news presenter.

After _____ left I decided I might as well take a look inside the Rinascente, not only because when walking through the ground floor someone always sprays some kind of Chanel perfume on me, but also because I had never been up to see the other floors before. And it was so, so beautiful. Not only were the clothes and accessories I saw on my way to the top stunning, but I found that the top floor has a glass wall on one side and looks directly across at the Duomo.

The view of the ground floor taken from the second floor

Rinascente sweets - fresh macaroons in any and every flavour you like!

Rinascente sweets - chocolate chocolate chocolate

I then returned to Chiara's office where Francesca asked me if I wanted to come with her to look in a cute vintage store that is close to Chiara's office, before we had to go home, because that night Chiara's cousin's daughter, Francesca (yet another Francesca, just to confuse things), was coming over for dinner.

A gorgeous dress we found, but couldn't afford, from the vintage store

A bit of vintage Chanel

Having Francesca over for dinner was lovely and really interesting as she spends much of her time travelling. Her mum is Italian and her Dad is from the Czech Republic, yet she grew up mostly in America and just completed her university degree in London while her brother lives in China. AND she was having dinner with us because she was staying in Italy for a couple over months to catch up with family before she goes to Sierra Leone to do charity work with her Portugese boyfriend as a "gap year" after university, before beginning full time work. Now that's Europe for you! In good news, she brought gelati from one of the very best gelaterias in Milan for us.

Being super helpful in the dinner preparation by assuming the prestigious role of "the bread watcher".
Yep, you guessed it, that's the person who watches the bread while it's in the oven to make sure it doesn't burn.
Sometimes I work myself too hard.

Okay, I'm aware that the mixture of colours on this plate doesn't look so scrumptious
But believe you me, the word "scrumptious" doesn't even begin to describe how great gelato from "Gelati Famosi" is

Wednesday at school was exciting as the annual Easter Mass was celebrated. I was before unaware, but it turns out that there is a church inside the school, so the mass was held there. This was in fact my first time attending a church service in Italy and I thoroughly enjoyed trying to understand and follow the responses in Italian and comparing it to a mass in Australia. And the hymns were so beautiful sung in Italian!

After the mass there is a morning tea in the cafeteria were everyone is served a hot chocolate and a bird-shaped cake that is traditional here during Easter, called "Colomba". And even better, the lunch ladies continue to come around for about 45 minutes with refills and more cakes for anyone who wants it!

The "Columbina", meaning it is a "little Columba"

Some of the girls from my class, from left to right; Catherine, Maria Giovanna, Benedetta, Giulia, myself and Alessandra

And to finish off the day, that afternoon I had my lesson with Eugenio.

Thursday then began with yet another stunning sunrise at the Massetti house.

After school I went to the Italian consulate in Milan to ask them if I am able to extend my Visa, as the Massettis have invited me to stay with them for Christmas this year. Looking up where the office in Milan was I was amused to find it is in a building I walk past everyday, one street from my school. It was even funnier then that I walked up the the building and found an Australia flag flying out the window - how had I not noticed that before!

As it was a sunny afternoon, I decided to take a photo of this gorgeous house that I am in love with, which I see every day as it is opposite my school

A sunny afternoon in Milan

On Friday in Milan there was a strike of all of the workers, including those of public transport so we had no way of getting to work. While Chiara and Massimo still went to work because they both own their own businesses and Alice, Filippo and Francesca stayed in their rooms studying, I decided to go for a bike ride with Lydia around Noviglio and the nearby comunes Binasco and Tinate.

Waiting outside Lydia's house I saw for the first time ever that the post in Italy is delivered not by motorbike, but by car!

Lydia - a beautiful sunny day!

Spending the day with Lydia was lovely and I've found that she is a wonderful teacher; although her English is poor she manages to use a mixture of Italian and English to explain Italian words and grammar to me. For lunch we had a wonderful pasta with Lydia after which she baked her famous apple strudel for us to enjoy after dinner that night - buonissimo!

Friday nights have become one of my favourite nights of the week as almost the whole country tunes in to the one man show "Crozza nel Paese delle Meraviglie" which translates to "Crozza in Wonderland". Maurizio Crozza is an infamous Italian comedian who shoots a live stand-up comedy show from Milan every Friday. Unfortunately the tickets for all of his shows sold out many many months ago so we'll have to stick to watching it on TV, but the show lasts an hour and a half and consists mostly of Crozza making fun of Italy's politicians. There are a number of different segments in the show, some stories continuing every week (like the one in the picture below where Crozza impersonates the President of Italy, Napolitano), others more spontaneous, but they always refer to events that took place very recently. For this reason at first I found it hard to understand anything, not only because of the language, but because I had next-to-no knowledge of Italy's politics and current events ("intertextual" knowledge, shout out to Mrs. Beagan). The longer I've been here though I understand more and more and, just like the rest of the Italians, have fallen in love with Crozza!

Saturday morning began with my traditional video call home before I went into Milan to meet up with a friend.

I went to Milan to meet up with a friend of mine named Carolina who is Italian and in fact came to my school in Australia for her exchange from 2011 - 2012. She lives in another part of Italy but was in Milan for one day to look at universities as she will be finishing school this year. It was so lovely to spend some time with her and I am hoping to go and visit her in her town before I go back to Australia!

Carolina and I

When I got home I was excited to find that Mago had framed the photo of all of us on my birthday in Viareggio and hung it on the wall in my room!

On Saturday night we were invited to a party by Alice's friend Gaia who is involved in the local Rotary club. The party was held to raise money, I think for some children in Africa, but mostly just consisted of dancing with a little bit of eating.

Fra and Gaia

Alice and I

A whole lot of people who got in the photo together for Rotary
From left to right; Margherita, me, Francesca, Gaia, a boy I don't know, Alice, Lara, Bianca and two girls I don't know