I fear for the length of this blog when I think about all the things I've seen in the past two days. I hope you'll forgive me if I tend to ramble....but there ARE a ton of pictures. (As well as a bunch more on my camera) So I'm hoping that will make up for the amount of blah-blah-blah-ing that may take place here. :)
I got up early on Friday morning to grab my backpack and head down to the train station. I'd like to think that I'm in training to become a master in the art of packing lightly. I'm getting pretty good at it with all these weekend trips. Minimalist living is really growing on me. There is something really special about recognizing how little it takes to make your way through an adventure. The material aspect of being an explorer becomes a smaller and smaller percentage in the big picture. I like it.
(Me and Laura. She mah fraaan.)
We took a Eurostar train for about an hour and forty five minutes before arriving in Milan. I love trains. Not only are they peaceful and comfortable, but there are huge windows with long stretches of Italian countryside or cityscapes outside them. I almost love it as much as I love being on boats. I'd rather take a train than a plane any day. From the train we took a few subway rides to the center of Milan.
Inside the center is where some of the main day time events took place. The stores surrounding the show platform are places like Prada and Louis Vuitton. Important I guess? Ugly handbags if I do say so myself....but what do I know.
(Hahaha....I can hear some of my fashionista friends gasping "blasphemy!" now. Sorry guys.)
This bull is kind of a funny story. All around the center, there are mosaic crests of different Italian cities in the floor. The bull represent Torino, Milan's industrial rival. It's considered good luck to stomp on the balls of the Torino bull. As you can see....the Milanese went to town on this poor bull's goods.
That's us standing in front of Milan's duomo. Take a look at this baby... Mariae Nascenti.
Out of the whole weekend, going inside Mariae Nascenti was one of the greatest highlights. The group had some down time and the group of us broke up to explore on our own. Sam and I chose to go inside the church before hitting the shops. (Both of us were super intimidated by just window shopping. Yikes. You don't shop in Milan. You go bankrupt there.)
The lighting didn't allow for the best pictures, and even if you could see clearly, it still would not do this place justice. It was magnificent. It was enormous. It was....moving. It was strange for me, but I felt very emotional in this place. Cathedrals and giant, ornate churches have always impressed me, but never moved me. In my mind, spaces like that feel cluttered and tied to the ground. I used to feel as if the space for God had become a glorified box to visit when we felt obligated to pray. Instead, places like the Adirondack mountains, or the ocean, or the countryside in Casentino....those places moved me. Natural, beautiful, vast spaces that allowed even just the enormity of the idea of God.
But this church was different. I can't even tell you why or how. I don't know. It just felt deeper. It brought me to a place I didn't know I needed to go. I had spent the whole week worrying about what I might wear, or how I would fit in. I wrecked my self esteem with worry about how someone like me would be seen in the fashion capital of the world. As I sat, sobbing, in this enormous church, I realized that my vision had not been beyond myself. I was shocked and surprised at how emotional I suddenly was - I hate crying in public. But this place just realigned me. It put my mind back into a place of gratitude instead of place of painful self awareness. I felt loved when I was completely alone.
And that, is why no one can convince me that God does not exist. I'm not a bible hugger, I've never claimed a religion, and I don't go to church as often as I probably should. But I feel God. I LOVE God.
And there's nothing anyone can do about that. So there.
We stopped in the center to see a quick spring line fashion show. It was a fun little preview of the night ahead of us.
Um....ciaooooooo.
Speaking of good looking men...look! It's the italian James Bond!
After the show, we took the subway back to our hotel, where we took some time to get ready for a night out. :)
I think, for a dirty hippy art student....I cleaned up okay. We all grabbed our umbrellas and headed to apertivo at Cafe Victoria. Apertivo is a great way to grab a bite here in Italy. A lot of places offer it. For the price of a drink, you can hit up a buffet of sorts. Plenty of great dishes to try. I had Brusecco, which is a sort of sparkling white wine, with a plate of some awesome food I can't remember the name of.
the gang :)
After dinner was the big show!!! The had dancers perform first to some roaring classical music - which perfectly matched the weather. It rained on us the entire night. The clothes were gorgeous, the models were spectacular looking bean poles, and there was even a classic slip of the boob. Poor girl's clothes did not agree with the wind. The cat calls that followed were hilarious. Props to her for not batting an eye lash and working it down the run way anyway.
Look how close we were!
The show went by much quicker than we expected, so we spent the night wandering and checking out a few cool places. Which of course included gelato.
We checked out some live jazz/weird american pop cover music at a club afterwards, but we didn't end up being to impressed with the scene. We went back to the hotel and crashed - hard. It was a long day. The next morning we were up and at it again. We spent the day checking out some stores and exhibits. The stores were ridiculous. The outlets we visited didn't have much under a grand. I touched a lot of insanely expensive things though, and that was more than enough for me. And hell yes I sprayed expensive perfume samples all over myself before leaving the stores. It felt so foreign to me to even window shop in such expensive places. So we baby shopped and then went to see Jack Jaselli and the Good Vibes Foundation play some good music at the center. Muchhhh better than the pop culture disaster the night before. I was happy :)
(Inside Io Corso Como - AMAZING shop. Art books, clothes, shoes, perfumes, a beautiful photo gallery inside...this place awesome. They didn't really allow photos in the store, so here is the link if you want to check it out!)
There was also a beautiful photo exhibit by Loretta Lux. Here's her site:
It was a jam packed two days. It was like the New York City of Italy. I've never been a big city kind of girl, but I most certainly appreciated every minute of this trip. Milan was magic. The train home was a beautiful ride, and lucky for me I remembered my ipod. It was an Iron &Wine/Sigur Ros/Dinah Washington kind of ride.
I'm glad to be back at our apartment with one more day to rest up before another big week of school. The school days and studio times are long, so its nice to have the weekends to pioneer through the country. Also! Exciting news! Fall break is fast approaching in the end of October. I do believe it's time to say hello to the UK. Ireland, Scotland and London...prepare yourselves for a an empty pocketed chick with a camera :)
Hello, world. My name is Hayden. I will rock you.
Sending Love to you....remember to pass it on. Hug yourself and pretend its me.
Love, Hayd
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