The First 48 Hours

The last 48 hours have been pretty crazy, and by 48 hours, I mean 2 days. You have to love time zones... Yesterday morning I did a whirlwind run of last minute packing and other errands to run. Around 12:30 or so, my family dropped me off at the airport. They came with me to check baggage, we said goodbyes and took selfies, and then I began my trip to Milan. Amazingly, Dulles had very few lines for anything, so I got to the terminal about an hour early. In that time, I had my first SmashBurger for lunch, and I must admit it was pretty good.

My flight to Milan was split into two separate flights with a layover in Moscow, since I went on Aeroflot, which is a Russian airline. The first leg of the journey took 9hr 35min, in which time I was served a lunch and a breakfast (surprisingly good for airline food) and I made use of the entertainment system. I rewatched Kingsmen: The Secret Service and X-Men: Days of Futures Past and I watched American Sniper for the first time. That was one amazing movie and an amazing man. Anyways, as you can probably guess, I didn’t get any sleep on the flight. When the flight landed in Moscow, I had to go through Passport Control and a Security Check. Both of these were slow and inefficient, though I did appreciate a sign that lost (or gained) something in translation. The first order listed in the rules of the security check said “Please remove all clothing, jackets and shoes”. I’m not sure what it meant to say, but that did amuse the couple of Americans in line. That was the one amusing part, because the check was so mob-like, and look so long, that I was late for my connecting flight. I only had a 45min layover and the check took that long. I had to go to information, use English and gestures and my ticket to get the idea across, and then get a new flight. 

Also, turns out that when you change a flight, they leave your checked luggage there till you claim it at your final destination. For everyone who doubts the usefulness of keeping changes of clothes, toiletries, etc. in your carry-on, I proved its use today. I won’t have my checked luggage for another few days, but I packed a few outfits and other goodies, so it’ll be fine.

My first view of Milan, leaving the Metro

Me on the Milan Express, the train from the airport

On to a new topic: Milan! So, getting from the airport to my hotel involved the train and the metro. This was actually a great experience because everything was in Italian and English, and they had some extra signage up because of the Expo Milano. Leaving the Metro, I only had to walk a block and I had arrived at my hotel. It’s a beautiful bed and breakfast with narrow hallways, a medieval looking set of keys, and painted ceilings.  They have wi-fi that kind of works on my phone, and doesn’t work on my laptop, so I’m typing this on word then I’ll post it when I can. Anyways, here’s a picture of the room:

My Room

The evening was a little rougher, but still great. I took a nap for a while and then I went out to eat. I followed a general path to ‘downtown’ from the concierge and ended up picking a Pizzeria and Trattoria. I ate alone and, because of the absolute lack of sleep and large gap in time since I studied Italian, ordering was frustrating. Needless to say, it did not start was the best meal of my life. However, my waiter was amazing. He is probably the stereotypical Italian that people hear about. He looks the part, cheered vehemently for the soccer game playing on the TV on the wall, was charming, and a bit of a flirt. He poured my water for me (you have to order a bottle), smiled at my attempts at Italian then spoke some English, and then told me I was “super very beautiful”. It was a great intro to Italy =D

This morning I had a continental breakfast and a cappuccino before checking out. Then I walked to my apartment, and I arrived after making a few wrong turns. My apartment is nice and large, and all of my roommates are very nice. Later today I'll get more info about the neighboorhood, my schedule, and my metro pass. Until then!