Saturday
Saturday morning I awoke and decided to take advantage of a quiet day in a quiet apartment. My roommates have all abandoned Milan for the warmth and comfort of family and friends to celebrate the Easter holiday. The house quiet and clean, I settled into the couch and started on the second of C. Descry’s Triology: The Brothers Shikoku. The first book, The Daughters of Onoto, flew by and I couldn’t wait to get into the second. Descry’s got a great writing style, descriptive yet quick-witted and a corny sense of humor. I’d recommend the series. (You can find the books and more on the author at www.Cdescry.com).

As the day came to a close I showered, went for a quick walk and headed to the McDonalds in Piazza 24 di Maggio to meet up with Annamaria, Valeria and Fabrizia. After dinner we went our separate ways and I meandered home excited for Sunday and Monday. On Sunday I made my way to Monza and had Pasqua pranzo with Gabriella’s family. What a treat! We had fish inside deviled eggs, pasta with funghi (mushrooms) and peas and lamb. Excellent lunch and marvelous company. It was a real pleasure to be invited into her home and to meet her family and watch an Easter lunch Italian style.

We returned to Milan (she drove me home) and I made dinner…A mixture of breaded eggplant, steamed broccoli and cucumber, sautéed onions garlic and cucumber and finished with fresh slices of pineapple.
I gave a basic salsa lesson and then it was off to bed for me.

Monday I met up with Gabri again and we headed to Monza to meet her friends. We stopped at her house and Gabri picked up some salmon and grilled veggies. Then off we went into Monza. We arrived at the park a little after 12:50 and spent 40 minutes looking for parking. Every square inch of parkable space was taken and there was hardly any green visible in the stretch of bodies and grills choking the park. The mass of humanity was nearly unbelievable. We finally lucked out and grabbed a space ten minutes walk from Gabri’s friends. We grabbed the food and headed over. There were about 30 of Gabri’s Italian friends at the park. We enjoyed the afternoon (until 7) lazily eating in the sun. We had a mixture of steaks, pork chops, bacon, wine, beer, fresh salsa (tomatoes and basil) breads and hookah. A beautiful day with a beautiful girl. Piccola amore.

Piú Dopo!

2009 – feb 28th
Last week of February in review
Bolzano, Bozen – a long day starting at 5am and ending at 7pm as we rolled back into Centrale Station. A week of hard work with extensive reward. Visiting the Last Supper – beautiful, the unbelievable power and money of religion… always evocative, it never fails to startle. The finalization of two more trips, Galileo’s works, and a U.N. Conference. Making new friends and exploring Milano…Eating, Dancing…Speaking.

Bolzano/Bozen is a beautiful Austrian/German/Italian town with a mixed population of German, Ladin, and Italians. Cool, refreshing, bella citta sequestered in a mountain valley, surrounded on all sides by the giant alpine foothills. Gorgeous architecture a mixture of Italian paints and colors with German engineering and style. Three major cathedrals, The “Ice Man” who was found in the alps, and great food. The city itself is interesting as it is separate from the Italian central government; it has its own provincial status and is a model of Federalism. It also has governmental provisions requiring the education of the population in their native language and the bi-linguistic publication of all public documents. The bi-lingual atmosphere is represented in every aspect – menus, street names, banners, parking garages… every person I encountered for my six hours in Bolzano/Bozen spoke Italian and German and probably more. Wonderful.

A lot of hard work this week, but some great rewards – Today I was able to visit the Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterful artwork which is housed here in Milano. A quick 5 minute walk from Cadorna, the Trienneli stop of the Red metro line. Enter the humidity controlled room and turn to your right. Magnificent… covering the center band of the far wall. I was struck by the size and details included by Da Vinci. His use of light, geometric shapes and the circular positioning of the characters was staggering. Combined with the lifelike representation of each body and the chorus of movement and reaction to Jesus’s proclamation resonated from the work. It is an essential piece to visit while in Milan. The work holds you in awe, each moment you notice a new facet, a different connotation from the work. Additionally, seeing the painting in person…being able to examine it at full size…is a completely different experience than looking at a picture.

I returned to the exciting news that I will get to attend a U.N. Conference as well as an exhibition celebrating the life and works/legacy of Galileo. I couldn’t be happier.

I’m looking forward to those events but on a more personal note I am excited for having worked with my fellows interns to orchestrate a tournament against the Marine’s here at Post. We will be having our social event tonight at my apartment around 7… I can’t wait. It should be a ton of fun and I’ve invited Italian friends and colleagues to join. The house should be positively stacked this evening.

I’ve begun work on writing some scripts for educational YouTube posts about Italian culture…understanding the intricacies…as well as survival tips when you first land in Italy. These are part of an independent program I’m doing to benefit the Barrett Honor’s students from ASU who are visiting Rome in June.
350+ photo’s added to facebook – Take that slow facebook uploader!