Arriving in Milan almost right after taking my last finals, the travels were definitely overwhelming at first. However, I stepped out of the airport, which immediately reminded me of one of my many reasons that I chose to study abroad in Italy: my love for coffee. I was welcomed with so many friendly people and a shot of Nutella espresso to wake me up for the busy day ahead. Exhausted from the plane ride, I was thrilled to grab a plate of fresh pasta that our Italian student companion, Francesco, recommended to us. Continuing on, after heading to our group dinner, we were able to experience the AC Milan celebrations of their win of the European soccer league. This truly opened my eyes to Milan’s sense of unity and culture. This day was definitely a bit scary seeing so many people flooding the most popular areas of the cities, especially the Duomo; however, it quickly became an iconic moment when I was able to see the trophy and the AC Milan team itself right in front of me. 

The next couple of days we had so much planned from our welcome dinner with Professor Gupta to our first days of interning. I am placed at Circularity in which I am to work on analyzing and tracking the relationships between their new media-styled platform that mediates that sense of a sustainable, circular economy in Italy. At first, I was slightly confused by the mission of this company, but after arriving, meeting the great employees, and hearing about Circularity, the company is so new and interesting to me, making me so curious about my work every single day. While the commute is definitely rough, (traveling around 45 minutes towards the outer parts of the city). Kelly, Jason, and I commuted many times together, learning the ins and outs of Milan’s public transportation system (with some hiccups along the journey). In general, I think there is a bit of a culture shock in terms of the fact that I started out with knowing no Italian at all and a lacking fashion sense in comparison to locals. Despite this, with learning little conversational terms, shopping, purchasing impractical amounts of delicious Italian food, and getting to know my schedule and this city, I feel like I am going to experience so much in the next couple of weeks.