yay! milan is amazing! the people are incredibly stylish- they are all about their designer names. and gorgeous. they are collectively the most beautiful people in the world.
so. we left for Milan lest tuesday at 4 am. once we arrived, we immeadiately went to the city center and saw the DUOMO! while exploring, marie, emily and i saw the opera house and signed up for extra tickets! it turned out to be quite a process. but we got them! for only 12,50 euro! we even went dress shopping and had a balcony photoshoot! we saw cyrano de bergiac. it was BEAUTIFUL. my first opera in the most amaxing opera house, granted our seats left much to be desired but it was the best experience. 
during the course of our trip, we also went to an art museum, explored milan, went to the st. ambrogio church with ancient remains, an extravegant italian graveyard where we took an hour to wander the huge sculptures and paths on the most beautiful day.
thursday, we went to the Milan fashion fair- our professors got us hte hookup, students werent tecnically allowed until friday. we learned all about the trends, colors, innovations, etc for the spring/summer '09 season. they also had vintage clothing vendors where we went shopping! we got to meet the main trend designer/decider. he is a BIG deal- he and 5 or so other people basically decide the colors and trends for future seasons for textile industries to make fabric. he gave us the scoop on his favorite cities and designers to observe!
this was valentines day, so ofcourse, we all went out to dinner at a cute little italian restaurant on the canal. we had happy hour(a favorite of the italians), red and white wine, and lasagna. later, we finished the night at a psychadelic bar around the corner.
another highlight was walking down Via Del Spiga. the 5th avenue of milan. every big designer you can imagine all in one place. the windows were amazing and so were the clothes. i probably got a picture infront of every store. haha versace, balenciaga, prada, d & g, armani, burberry, loui vuitton, roberto cavalli, valentino just to name a few.
on friday, we traveled to Bergamo, a small town outside of Milan. there is a modern part and an old town section on te top of a hill, making for beautiful scenery on the outside and a tight maze of shops and paths.
i am officially addicted to pastries. we found a couple of shops that made pizza, sanwiches, and flaky pastries bought by the kilogram. thank goodness prague does not have a shop on every corner.
we spent most of saturday in bergamo's old town. our flight was at night so we got back late but i, for one was extremely happy to be back.
since we got back, we had a fieldtrip in our beekeeping class to the bee... farm? we took a train, a path and a boat to get to the middle of nowhere. we hung out with about 7 hives, saw the queens, extracted some honey, ate ALOT of honey. duh.
we got back just in time to make opera night at the institute. everyone in the program got dressed up to go see a czech opera resembling the little mermaid. this one was completely different from the italian one, but still beautiful. i feel like an opera expert now.
thats about it for now. that is a really long post so you are a true friend if you read it all
peace.
xoxo, lauren
