The Fashion Capital

Everyone tends to make the claim that italian women, and italians in general, are extremely attractive. I've come to find that this is true, but for one simple reason; they really forth-put the effort to look good. Now, I've never had a problem with wearing mesh shorts, a t shirt with a hole in the arm pit, smelly sandals, and a wrist band I got in a Burger King kids meal when I walk around Champaign - but apparently things are different here. (Not for me of course, I still wear my BK wrist band almost everywhere I go). 

I'll give you a quick update of what's been going on since I last blogged and how I've come to this conclusion. 

1. The day I woke up at 4:00 PM, we went out for the first time as international students to a bar called Old Fashion. It was an outside bar and everyone had a really good time thanks to the respectively stellar deals. For Bocconi internationals, it was 10 Euro entrance with 2 drinks included, and one 5 Euro drink coupon. Basically, $20 for 3 drinks, but still not terrible for this city (after that it was 10 euro a drink... ouch). They played a mix of American "hits" (Rihanna, other stuff I don't know the name of, but recognize) and Eurotrance - but it was a solid atmosphere and everyone had fun.

2. Thursday was simply a miserable day for everyone who had gone out. We had class at 9:30 AM and most kids didn't come home until around 4. I actually turned in early, but due to my funky time adjustment, got little to no sleep. After 6 hours in class (though tired, still quite attentive to the beautiful Barbara), I had to head to a permit of stay meeting. A permit of stay is essentially a way of the Italian government to steal another 100 Euro from the pockets of its temporary inhabitants - if you are staying more that 8 days you have to declare this, by filling out numerous forms and paying various government taxes with destinations unbeknownst to me. This meeting was miserable and lasted until 6 PM. I returned to my dorm and passed out hard for 2 hours.

3. I'd made plans to meet with Nathan's (my older brother, 30) friend Dino Diviachi (31) who lives in Milan and is a grad student here. I'd been in touch with him this summer prior to my trip, and he said he'd show me around. I ventured into the city on my own at around 9 PM and quite fantastically made it to his apartment without any trouble. From there we headed out with his friends, all international grad students ages 25 - 35. I'm pretty socially adept, so despite the age and cultural differences, I think I did all right. 

4. Today I had class again, then ventured into the heart of Milan for the first time. This is where I saw two incredible things 1) The Duomo and 2) The Heart of the Fashion World - Montenapoleone. 

Duomo - I needed to get a monthly tram pass so I had to head to the metro station at the very center of Milan, which is where the mighty Duomo is located. I'd never seen the Duomo, but had heard good things about it. When I got there it blew me away. The Duomo is this enormous ancient church that I believe is the 3rd largest in the world. Every piece of the building has been carefully sculpted, and there are these incredible angels, crosses, gargoyles, etc. carved into it. It's absolutely amazing. Here is a link to it on wikipedia. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan

It's really interesting to me because this awe-inspiring Gothic church is located in the city center, where all around it modern advertising and commercialism has seeped its way in. Just a hundred or so feet from the Duomo door is this enormous mall with Gucci, Prada and a Mercedes Benz clothing store. There is a huge digital LCD screen streaming advertisements across the way. It's just kind of fascinating. 

Anyway, while we (me, Emre [Turkey], Bergi [Turkey] and Maja [Serbia]) were looking at the church, we came across a tour group, so kind of just jumped in. We continued with them to La Scala, or the great theater in the city, and heard the tour guide talking about Montenapoleone, the fashion street. Naturally the girls wanted to go (can't say I wasn't interested, honestly), so Emre and I accompanied the two to fashion central. 

In a few words, it was ridiculous, fascinating, ludicrously expensive, and admittedly attractive. The street is kind of thin, and the old buildings are only 3 stories tall or so, but on the first floor of every building for around a half mile there are nothing but designer stores. If I knew more name brands, I'd state them, but all I can remember are the ones that are popular in the states (Prada, Gucci, H&M, Dolce and Gabana, etc.). Every window had a manikin, dressed to impress, with the price tags in the corner. To put the pricing in perspective, I could sell my car and not have enough money to buy 75% of the featured items. I'm being serious. It's kind of disheartening to realize your '96 Maxima is valued less than an oversized Prada bag. It was kind of unreal, but pretty fun walking down that street and half-mocking, half-appreciating the atmosphere. I saw one sweater that looked like a grandmother could have sewn it that was selling for 600 Euro. Crazy.

This has gotten kind of long, and I gotta get going, but to wrap things up, people here care about their clothes and their appearance. They also care about their food and their manners, but it is obvious to notice how seemingly attractive everyone is. My conclusion is that their matching outfits, haircuts, designer jeans / shoes / dog leashes, and tans make them look good - be they 15 for 50. It's a fun town to be in, and (sorry I forgot my camera today) when I get some good pictures I'll be sure to post them. Anyway, I'll talk to you all soon.

Arrivaderci.