To the North!

a six day field trip to northern italy:

milan was ok as a city. basically a lot of upscale shopping but you can get that in any major city. the duomo (big central church) was gorgeous. it was right next to the galleria which was the first shopping mall ever. the first night we were there we got to go to the opera and see Carmen! we sat/stood in the top row so i felt like the riffraff in the nosebleed section but it was an awesome show/experience nonetheless. we walked all around the town and saw a shit ton of showrooms. my feet hated me. the coolest part was going to castiglioni's studio that he used for around 40 years. his daughter gives tours there and it's like a museum kinda. it was just amazing to see how and where such a successful designer worked everyday. (fyi he designed a bunch of lights for flos, the italian lighting company, among other things)

venice was beautiful. all the colors of the buildings were phenomenal, affected by the salty air, creating run effects of paint below windows. cars and taxis were boats and buses were ferries. we took a ferry to murano island (famous for murano glass) and went to a glassblowing school there for a demonstration. so sweet. we watched him make a vase for about 40 minutes, and then he did some tricks. made a horse in like less than a minute, blew glass so thin that it popped and scattered thinner than paper glass bits everywhere. it was so cool. we went to the biennale which is an arch exhibit that happens annually, changing each time. it was pretty neat. we also went to a museum that housed very modern works of art - super provocative stuff. it was interesting to see the reactions of classmates. my roommates and i took a gondola ride too. class supper one evening was an authentic venetian seafood cuisine. i was eatin stuff with eyes and bodies and brains and it was an experience for the tongue that's for sure.

in florence we went to markets, shopped around, saw david =] i bought a sweet leather bag: it can be a purse, briefcase, laptop case, and backpack. so cool.

i tried to do a video blog for this entry buuuut it wouldn't upload (it was 12 minutes) so instead i'll share a video of the italian countryside, taken on the train ride to milan.

watching this again i realize it looks like iowa....i swear it's much cooler...i just missed the mountains.