Blogs from Milan, Lombardy, Italy, Europe - page 42

Ciao... Today I watched surgery on a pt with Arnold-Chiari I malformation (the posterior cranial fossa is too small to accomodate the cerebellum so it begins to herniate out of the foramen magnum) and associated severe syringomyelia. We may think it's rare, but at the institute, they see it quite frequently and perform a few of these surgeries per week. Also watching the surgery with me were an italian second year resident (he barely ever scrubs and never operates) and a Chinese Neurosurgeon who is at the institute getting his masters in Neurophysiology (EEG, etc... except he thinks this is really boring so he always coming into the OR to watch instead... how does that work out??!). Here are some interesting things I learned from my OR experience today: * In addition to performing an occipital ... read more

A wonderful week end in Varese with my cute friend Myriam. We had a nice walk in the woods on the mountain and had the opportunity to see from far away Laggo Maggiore. We had the joy to sit on a nice coffee terrace on the mountain and watch the sun set sitting in the sun. Just great!... read more

back in time to when I first arrived... Dave and I *did* have a little scare that I'd miss my plane, but thankfully I didn't and the trip went smoothly. No one HUGE or smelly or hairy or annoying sitting next to me... no wailing babies... I actually had two seats to myself and curled up in a ball and slept the whole time. After plane, train, and cab I arrived at my current address, Viale Piave 11 where I thought I was subletting an apt. Turns out this 60-some year old was just renting a room/bathroom. Here's the kicker, though... he's a LIFE COACH! Apparently he used to be this big time business man when became interested in meditation and quit his job all together. Anyway, his english is impeccable and he's friendly and helpful. ... read more

This week I was able to walk around town more and learn my way around the streets better. I have been able to search around the Duomo area in more depth as well as being able to get around the area called Romolo (which is where Mark lives and where a lot of students live) and Brerra, which is a strange area inhabited by gypsies (they come out at night and tell fortunes on the streets, along with people who gamble at tables that get set up on the streets). Brerra was also the place we went to watch the super bowl. To see the super bowl, we went to a club named fiori oscuri, which is a posh nightclub frequented by models most nights, and is owned by a guy from New Mexico. It was ... read more

Milan.. Why Milan you ask? Well.... It’s all about Fashion..Lots of wine and pizza.. Italians....should be a great place to visit... hmm... high expectations set for Milan... We managed to get fairly inexpensive train tickets from Zurich and off we were on a 7am train ride The ride from Zurich to Milan was arguably the most beautiful train ride..The Swiss Alps were breathtaking and the small villages covered with Snow were postcard worthy. Talar and I did take turns dosing off for about an hour or so but David was a diligent photographer through the entire 6 hours. We got to Milan around 1p and were pretty impressed with the Milan train station.. It reminded me of a grander Grand Central. After trying to get some info on the location of our hotel with no avail, ... read more