Milan, Italy

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Milan, Italy.

Italy was amazing. My first night there, I got into a fight in the underground metro with a bum. I had just arrived off of a train from Switzerland and was alone. My dad took a night train back to Paris from Switzerland, and I continued on.

I'm getting off the train at the main train station, and I have the hostel directions (Ostello Bello, ranked number 1 hostel in 2012) and I am trying to buy a metro ticket to use the Italy metros. I put my coins into the machine against the wall, and there are people asking for money everywhere. Not just in the train stations, on the streets too. So my train gets in about 2:00 am local time, and the underground metro is deserted. You need this little ticket to get from one entrance of the metro, on a train, and use it again to get out of the metro. This bum is very close to me- over my shoulder, asking for money, not backing away... basically making me very uncomfortable. He is not taking no for an answer, and I am stressed out already. I am carrying everything I own at the moment on my back, I am switching money yet again from Swiss Franks back to Euros, trying to get a metro ticket, I don't know where my hostel is and I have already missed check in time. So machine prints ticket and as I am grabbing my ticket, the guy reaches into the machine and grabs my change. (mind you, it was most likely a .50 euro piece not worth much) but he had pissed me off so bad by that point that I turned around and grabbed whatever was in his hand and started walking away. Turns out I had grabbed his metro ticket (which he needed to get out) and he starts chasing after me trying to "trade back". Long story short, I got my change, and ended up almost crying.

Okay, one set back. Not so bad right? Next step- find the hostel I have booked. Now in Milan, all trains and metros come from one huge train station located at Duomo. Now Duomo is this HUGE cathedral that is one of the largest churches in the world; a surprisingly elegant mass of marble boasting 135 spires and 3,400 statues. I'll most likely reference Duomo when talking about places around Milan because Duomo was in the center and the streets kind of spiraled off of Duomo. So I take off on my way with my backpack, just fought a bum, looking for my hostel. My written directions say to walk from Duomo 8 blocks to the street of Via Trivino. uh... what? At this point, it is late, I don't know where the street signs were, (in Spain they had been on the corner of buildings but the only real way to see what street you were on is to cross the street, then look back to where you had been standing to read the street name) But at this point in Italy it was dark and I honestly couldn't read the street signs so I started walking in what I thought was the right direction and asked people along the way where the Milicent street was. No one seemed to know, so I kept walking. I ended up walking 10 blocks in the wrong direction. I turned around, headed back to Duomo to try again. This time when I get back to Duomo I ask two females and they gave me their best guess as to which direction to head. I start off yet again on the search of a safe bed. When I finally find my street I am so flippin excited. It's hot. I'm sweaty. I've just been on a train for an entire day and walked a total of 20 extra (wrong way) blocks. I see the "Ostello Bello" sign and I start to walk in, but I notice that this place is PACKED. Like a club. There are people drinking at every table, lots of noise, smoking in the streets, tables packed, lots of languages. So here I am, sweaty, tired, mildly pissed off American showing up to an Italian club with a huge ass backpack attached. A nice girl around my age takes me by the arm, says "It's okay, I work here" and leads me to the back of the club and explains that it is a hostel, and the bottom floor is a club and a lot of locals hang out during the weekend nights. There is an elevator but you have to use your room key to access it, and locals are not allowed on any other floor of the hostel. She takes my passport, has me fill out some papers, bartender gives me a "welcome" beer, and they finally show me to my 12- bed dorm room. I think I literally threw my crap in the locker underneath my bunk and passed out for 10 hours.

When I woke up, I started to talk with some of my bunk mates. There was a hurricane in Oklahoma about a day before I arrived in Milan that one of the locals had told me about. The hurricane was Bad, very bad. My home city had flooded, and everyone seemed to have a genuine concern for my family. Locals would ask if I had seen any news from home or if I had talked to family. Back to the bunk mates. At this point in the trip, I am all alone, and getting a little homesick. So while I was sorting my clothes I asked if anyone cared if I played my Spotify Playlists so we could have music in the room. I played a mix and a country song came on, and these two travelers (a girl and a guy) looked at me and said they hadn't heard country music in over 4 months. Turns out most of us in the 12 door bunk were all from the states, and most of us were from the South. It was a good bonding experience and although I cannot remember their names, I am glad I met them.

Some people I would like to forget are some idiot girls who would set alarms for 6am to catch a train, and hit the "snooze" button 7 times in a row. Not proper 12 person dorm room etiquette. Some people I met that I will never forget are Stephanie, from Washington (I think) and A.K Olu, her boyfriend from Malaysia. Stephanie was on her way to live in Hong Kong for a year, and A.K. Olu was roaming around like me. We had a blast. We played cards, A.K taught me a card game and I taught him a few chords on a guitar and we drank and drank. The downstairs breakfast had nutella, which I had never had before. That stuff is like crack. But I digress. I spent two days in Italy drinking and eating and trying to wash my clothes. I met this group in the dorms next to me that shared an outside balcony and we talked for a while in Spanish (they were from South America).

Now up until this point, I had not stayed in any single country more than 3 days, and frankly I was tired of moving and trains, and metros and traveling. I had two days at Ostello Bello, and then I needed another hostel or a different country. I booked my next hostel and that is where I met Melanie. One huge backpack and metro ride later, I am yet again walking in circles around Milan trying to find my hostel, that quite frankly was very well hidden. It had a gate like an industrial center and you rang a bell and they buzzed you in. This time I had had it with multiple roommates and bit the bullet and paid for a 6 person dorm (all female). Luck turns out only me and another girl, Melanie, got placed together. Melanie is this super sweet 19 year old Canadian with the most adorable accent. Normally, Canadians and I don't get along (I'll get to Toby and MJ in the Amsterdam and Germany blog posts.), But this chick was a blast. We would buy wine by the bottle, drink while walking the streets, meet up with people, and do our grocery shopping together. One night we went out and found a playground and some extra Christmas decorations. We ended up decorating our sad looking dorm room with twinkle stars and the shiny stuff you wrap around Christmas trees. About two days into our stay, we figured out that our dorm actually had a private balcony where me and Melanie would stock up on groceries and wine and go play cards while tanning during the day.

Another amazing person I met during this trip was Edson. Edson was a cute Italian-speaking Albainian on holiday to visit his brother who was attending the University in Milan. We met outside the hostel and became quick friends. He spoke Italian but could not read a map, and I spoke no Italian, but had already wandered across most of Milan so I at least had a clue as to where the hell I was going at least part of the time. I took him to see Duomo, and showed him one of my favorite castles that I would walk to in the mornings. Sforza Castle. Normally, I would wake up in the morning, grab my phone for spotify, and take off exploring. I always ended up at this Sforza Castle. People watching at this point had become very fun, and the pan handlers had seen me enough that they mostly stopped bothering me. I could sit by this huge fountain that went off at 9:30 every morning and watch them try to swindle money out of people by tying a piece of string to their wrists and then ask them for money. ( I have one, but I actually wanted it.) So since Edson spoke Italian and English, we would go to restaurants together, and he would order for me. In turn, I would explain a lot of the directions on the map and some of the history of the castles and Duomo that I knew. We still keep in touch to this day, and I was really fortunate to meet him.

With my feet wet in the traveling alone water, I decided my next stop would be Amsterdam.

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Photos

Duomo
Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Milano; Lombard: Domm de Milan) is the cathedral church of Milan, Italy. Dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente (Saint Mary Nascent), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Cardinal Angelo Scola.
The Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the fifth largest cathedral in the world[1] and the largest in the Italian state territory.[

Sforza Castle
Sforza Castle (Italian: Castello Sforzesco) is a castle in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remains of a 14th-century fortification. Later renovated and enlarged, in the 16th and 17th centuries it was one of the largest citadels in Europe. Largely remade by Luca Beltrami in 1891-1905, it now houses several of the city's museums and art collections.

what i found when i opened my wallet
All of these are train/metro/travel tickets.