First Few Days- Riva, Lugano, Milano

I don't even know where to begin, the past few days since we've arrived have been a blur. The trip here went smoothly over all, although I learned never to try and bring 4 bags onto a train, I wouldn't have been able to manage if it hadn't been for the friendly locals helping me on and off. Once we got to the Villa we got unpacked and I went for a run around the town, it was breathtaking, probably the clearest sky I've ever seen. The villa itself is incredible. Later that night, a bunch of us went to check out the bars. We made friends with the bartender at Mini Bar and got free drinks, then later a few of us went to check out a hockey game and some outdoor bars down the street. The next morning I woke up and went for a run again, I saw a hot air balloon and para gliders above the mountains. Class started on Wednesday, it's not bad so far, just hard to pay attention for so long. A bunch of us bought passes to go to the lake, it's only a 5 minute walk from the villa. It's really pretty but a bit cold, I also almost got attacked by a swan swimming right at me haha. The next couple of nights we just stayed in Riva and went to the mini bar and another hockey game, I practiced my Italian with a couple of the locals. One word I've learned so far is super alcoholico- a shot, haha.

 The Lido, only a 5 minute walk from the Villa

 Villa Maderni- my home :)

On Friday night we didn't have class in the afternoon so we went into Lugano to check it out. It's so much busier than Riva, a lot of shopping which I was happy to see. After checking out H&M and eating dinner, we sat by the water and listened to a band and got a few drinks. We went to a bar called Peter Pan later in the night, it was fun except we were hoping to find a club, apparently they don't open until 1.

 A little blurry, but Lugano at night where we sat and listened to live music

Tons of stores in Lugano

Today we took our first trip outside of Switzerland into Milan. The train ride there was awful because it had no air conditioning. The buildings in Milan were amazing, the city was really dirty though, it kind of reminded me of Manila. We walked around for a while and passed a bunch of stores I could never afford to buy anything in. Also, almost all the stores were closed because it was lunch time, and all stores in Europe close from around 12-3 PM for lunch. After we stopped and got gelato to take a short break. I bought some AC Milan gear that I'll wear when we hopefully get to go to a game. We climbed to the top of the Duomo and it was unbelievable, I can't even imagine how long it took to build. We got some great pictures of the city from the top of the Duomo. The Duomo occupies the most central site in the city, dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente (Saint Mary Nascent), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan. The cathedral took five centuries to complete and it is the fourth largest church in the world. There were hundreds of pigeons in the center outside the Duomo, some people were getting seeds to feed the pigeons and letting the pigeons land on them for pictures. There was no way in hell I was going to do that, I'm trying to avoid diseases while I'm here. Overall Milan was fun to visit for the day but it's never somewhere I'd want to live.

 Climbed to the top of the Duomo, absolutely incredible

View of Milano from the top of the Duomo

Tonight we have a review session for our midterm. Tomorrow we're hiking up Monte San Giorgio, we leave at 10 AM and won't get back till 4-5 PM, then we have to take the midterm. It'll be an exhausting day. This coming Friday six of us are heading to Nice and Genova. We're going to day trip to Monaco and Cannes from Nice, I'm pretty excited. Alright, I think that's about all for now.

Ciao!