Nos Vamos

It's been awhile. I can explain.

The last time I wrote a blog post I was sitting at a table in Milan, in a bit of shock that I was finally back in the great EU. Since then a lot has happened, and I feel no need to justify why I haven't posted any updates.

I've been on the go, like you wouldn't believe.

Looks like I left off right before I saw much of Milan. I'll go back through again and post story by story of all by day trips, but for the moment here's a brief overview.

After the weekend in Aosta I spent the week in Milan, and left on the following Monday for Graz, Austria. Mario and I saw most of the touristy sights in a day or two.

The Friday before I left the Pope came to Milan, which was too cliche for my brain to handle. We went into il Duomo's piazza and upon stepping off the trolley we saw the signs promoting the Pope coming to Milan for "World Meeting of Families." There was a poster on il Duomo for atleast a week before, but we just kind of missed it somehow.

I thought that Milan was a typical place for the pope to visit- but it turns out it was the first time in 28 years that a pope had visited Milan. That came to me as a bit of a surprise, but I guess when all things are considered, it's pretty expensive with all the security and everything in between.

Here's a link to an article with more information: Pope Visits Milan

So that was really cool. Something to check off my bucket list in life. We got really close too, which required waiting on the rail for close to an hour in the dreadful heat, but it was definitely worth it.

Pope Benedetto passed us in his popemobile, surrounded what I would like to call the pope's "Secret Service."  They were everywhere, and frequently got in the way of my pictures...

Sigh. Atleast I got a few good ones.

Also, I was kind of surprised but it was really cool- there were a few babies that were passed in from the crowd and blessed by the pope.

Milan was packed with people cheering for the pope when he came around. They had a few big screens filming the pope's journey from the Linate Airport down the streets to il Duomo. I was pretty surprised how much everyone was cheering so much- Milan obviously wanted to prove they were happy for a pope to visit, which was cool to see.

Sunday I went to Lake Como, which is really close to Switzerland. Mario's brother's girlfriend Anna took me there for the day and it was really nice. Como is a beautiful city, and although it rained we still had a good time and were able to see everything we wanted to see.

Upon returning to Milan I met Sergio, who I hadn't seen since 2009. He was an exchange student in a town in our AFS Chapter in the states, so it was nice to see him again and walk around the city for a few hours. He doesn't live in Milan, so I was more or less of a tour guide haha

That evening Mario and I caught up with some of his friends for ice cream-- they had been studying for exams all day, which end on July 16th. The difference between the two different systems is unbelievable...complely different, and sometime I wonder about how our level of education compares to theirs...

So that is more or less of catch up from the first two weeks. I'll send more updates soon-- as of right now I'm back in the states in Boston visiting Caroline and I've gotta run...but there's much more to come.

Arrivederci amiciii
-mb