This one time, in Milan...

Ciao! I have just returned from a week in Milan, Italy! I had a really wonderful time.  I was there from October 3^rd- October 8^th. Warning: the post you are about the read is going to be long. You can skim through to the more interesting parts if you would like, I will not be offended. Not that I will be able to know which parts you do not read haha

Everyone in DIS got a week off to travel with their core class to various places in Europe. My core class is Positive Psychology and we went to Milan. There are other sections of Psych and they went to either Madrid or Scotland.  Other programs, such as Sustainability in Europe, went to Germany and I know another program went to Kosovo! Crazy!

So my journey started on October 3^rd at 4:30AM. My class was to meet at the Copenhagen Airport at 6:30AM. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get to the airport so I took the 5:30AM from Bernstorffvej to Hellerup station. Hellerup is more of a major station and has regional trains that go to the airport. I needed to buy a train ticket to get to the airport as my transportation pass only has zones 1,2, and 30 and you need zones 3 and 4 to get to the airport. This is where my problems began. I went to the ticket machine and attempted to buy a ticket. Card denied. I tried 3 or 4 other times, still denied. I then tried my credit card and then that would not work, either. A man was waiting behind me so I attempted to then move my heavy luggage to another track and buy a ticket there. I tried several other times and neither my debit card nor my credit card would work at any machine.

I began to panic. I did not have any kroner (Danish currency) on me because I was going to Italy where they use the Euro and I didn’t want to mix up my money. A man who worked for DSB, the company who runs the trains, attempted to help me.  He just thought I was some dumb American who didn’t know how to use the machine so he showed me which buttons to press and then walked away. I then attempted to explain that yes, I know how to use the machine, but my credit and debit card were both being declined. “You don’t have any kroner on you?” he asked. “Nope”, I said. He told me the ticket office would open at 6AM and I could buy a ticket from them, and by ticket office he meant 7-11. Yes, in addition to pastries, beer, and “baby bites”, which are like pigs in a blanket, 7-11 also can sell train tickets. Who would have thought? Anyway, I was supposed to take a regional train from Hellerup to Kastrup, the airport at 6AM, but I guess that wasn’t going to happen.

I then attempted to buy a ticket at 7-11, but neither of my cards would work. I began to freak out. I had kroner in my host families’ house so I called them begging them to please bring over my money. “How would we get it to you?” my host dad asked. Do you not have a car? I thought. “Um… if you’re not using the car right now could someone please bring it over?” Thankfully Hellerup station isn’t too far from where my host family lives so my host mom, Anne Marie, was able to bring the money over to me. Thank God! Lesson learned: always bring money from the country you are leaving. I then called my dad to see if he could figure out what wrong with both my cards. It was 12:30AM their time so there wasn’t much he could do to help at the moment.

I arrived to the airport just 30 minutes late, which was good. My flight to Milan was very relaxing. Soon, we arrived and got to our hotel. It was beautiful! We stayed at the Hotel Michelangelo. It was definitely the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in. The bath had jets so we could take bubble baths. Awesome! The weather our whole trip was amazing. It was in the 80s and felt like August in Philly. Unfortunately, the weather in Copenhagen has gotten way colder since I was last here and it is now only a high of 55.

Thinking that perhaps my cards not working in Denmark was just a fluke, I attempted to take out money from an ATM in Italy. The machine then ate my card so I had to go into the bank and ask the teller to give me my card back. The bank teller didn’t speak English that well, but eventually I got the card back.. I sound very calm in this blog about the situation, but trust me, I was very upset about my card. Soon, I spoke to my mother and she talked to my bank. They decided to freeze my account for “suspicious behavior” b/c I had used my card in a 7-11 a few days before in Denmark. I had told my bank that I was going to be in Europe until December, but I guess they didn’t bother to check or care that I was in Italy with no money. What would I have done if I was all alone? Thanks Freedom Credit Union… I will not be dealing with them in the future.  Luckily, it all was figured out, and my professor Gitte was kind enough to loan me money. My card now works, and everything is fine, just so everyone knows.

If I could, I would write every detail about the trip, but I think it will bore everyone to death so I am just going to go over the major, fun stuff we did. Just know that every meal I had was amazing! Here are a few pictures of the many wonderful pizzas and pastas I ate.

Being in Italy reminded me so much of Philly. I never really thought about it, but where I grew up, I had many classmates/teachers of Italian heritage and sometimes I would pass by people in Milan who reminded me of them. So weird! Also the food we ate and the gelato shops were so similar to places I went to growing up. I do not have any Italian heritage, but for those of you who do, you are lucky to be from such a wonderful, beautiful country!

Tuesday morning we had an academic visit with Andrea Crocetti and he spoke to us about well-being and the 14 Fundamentals to happiness. He was kind of interesting, but rather long. Also, it was hard to understand him at some points.

Later that day we got to see the Last Supper painting! It was so beautiful. Apparently, in order to see the painting you have to book tickets way ahead of time. DIS definitely gets major props in my book for doing this. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures of the painting. They were very protective of the painting and took many measures to make sure no one took any pictures. It was so awesome to be able to see the painting up close. It took Leonardo da Vinci 3 years to complete the painting. Crazy! Here is a Google image of the Last Supper painting. Not as good as seeing it in real life, but I guess it will have to do.

After the Last Supper, we had a wine tasting at “That’s Wine”. We tasted Italian champagne, Pinot Grigio, and a red wine called Col di Sasso. So good! My class had not eaten for at least six hours so let me just say that we were just a tad bit tipsy. A group of us found a pizza place and had to most wonderful pizza. So big! Then we were near the Duomo and we found a gelato place. Such a good night!

Wednesday October 5^th: We had an academic visit with Paolo Ingilleri at the University of Milan. We learned about optimal experience (when you are doing a challenging, yet satisfying experience such as rock climbing or surfing) and also about good, professional methods for psychotherapy.

Later that day, we went to the Duomo! It was this gorgeous cathedral. We even got access to the roof. Here are some pictures. The views were phenomenal! If you ever go to Milan, you must go to the Duomo!

On Thursday, we went to Polo University and our speaker was Antonella della Fave. She spoke about cultural well-being. She apparently had been at a Positive Psychology conference this past summer in Philadelphia. It’s a shame I didn’t know about it because I would have loved to go! We also talked about optimal experience and altruism.

Later that night, I met up with my old Camp Sankanac friend Noemi. Noemi came to work at Sankanac in the summer of 2007 and lives in Milan. I knew I had to meet up with her when I could. Contacting each other was very complicated as whenever  I tried to call her it did not work and whenever she tried to call me it would not work. We both were randomly on facebook that night and decided to meet up! We went to the Porto Genova district with my friends Caitlin, Ansley, Allie, and Lauren and had a wonderful dinner outside. It was so much fun! I was so glad to be able to see her.

Friday, we had one last academic visit also at Polo University. There we learned about how psychology and health are important. Such as how disability and disease can affect a patient. We also learned about rehabilitation path and its importance to a patient’s recovery.

It was a Liia, a girl in my class’ birthday, so as a class, we went to get gelato. It was so yummy!! Then, we finally had some free time so my friends Caitlin, Shuyao, and I went to a park where we found this monument. So cool! We also went to Pinoteca di Brera museum. Some very interesting paitings in there. We were not allowed to take pictures, so I don’t have any to show, sorry. It was a nice, relaxing day.

That night we went to a Jazz Show at a club called the Blue Note Milano. A guy named Luca Jorman played. He was very good and played mostly American music, which was really great. We had been told a few times by our tour leaders before we went that we were to be quiet the whole show. I guess the last DIS group to have gone to Italy was really loud when they went to the Jazz Show.  I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I know I did.

Saturday was the last day.  We were to go to Lake Como. About 15 minutes into the bus ride to the lake, my roommate, Briana, and I realized that we had forgotten our passports in the safe in our room! Let’s just add this to the list of stupid stuff Jenna Watkins has done in her life.  Our tour leaders dropped us off at a metro so that we could return to the hotel. Of course, it couldn’t just be a direct line to get to our hotel, but I guess that’s the way life works. We got our stuff, in addition to a girl in my class’s shoes. We then had to take a train to Lake Como. Thankfully, the ticket to get there was only 5 euro. Briana and I were kind of upset that we were going to be missing out on some of the action at Lake Como, but it ended up being ok. We only got there 45 minutes after the rest of our class got there. Briana and I eventually met up with some of our other friends and we just walked around having a relaxing day. I bought a pair of pearl earrings and a cool necklace at a market. You can check out my Lake Como photos on my facebook. Just look for the photo album called "Viva Italia".

Soon, we left for the airport and before I knew it I was back in Copenhagen. The S-trains, which I normally take to get back to my house were all messed up because of construction this weekend. A really nice conductor on the regional train from the Airport to Copenhagen Central Station was able to help me out and figure out what I needed to do to get home. He was so helpful. Thanks nice conductor guy!

Yesterday, I went to church. It was nice to be back to a regular schedule and to see some of the friends I have made at church, especially Erika from the UK! I fell down the stairs today. Trille, the dog, was going to pee on the rug  upstairs because she was excited to see me. My host family was gone at a birthday party. I wanted to take her outside before she peed anymore. The door was locked so I quickly ran down stairs to my room to get my keys. As I ran down the steps, I slipped and fell on my back. I am fine, my butt just hurts lol. When I finally came to take Trille out, she had hidden under the couch. I guess my fall must have scared her. Poor dog…

Next weekend, I will be visiting my cousin Phil, who is working at Black Forest Academy, a Christian boarding school where missionaries from around the world can send their children to school. I will also be visiting my friend Meaghan. Phil is staying in Kandern, Germany and Meaghan in Delemont, Switzerland. Both are pretty close to the city of Basel, Switzerland. I am really looking forward to it! I worked with Meaghan at Panera Bread this past year and haven’t seen her since maybe April. Much of the reason I am here studying abroad is because of  the many hours I spent working at Panera. I had a very stressful junior year trying to balance going to school and working at Panera, but it was worth it. Definitely.

Shout out to anyone from Panera Wayne reading this! I could totally go for broccoli cheddar soup right now. A totally upset a vegetarian girl from my class when I informed her that Broccoli Cheddar is not vegetarian. Oops...

Hopefully, this trip to Basel goes off without any hitches, unlike my trip to Milan, though know despite my setbacks I still had a wonderful time! Sorry this was so long! I tried to only write the important fun stuff we did on the trip. Just imagine if I wrote about everything we did! Thanks for all your support!

<3, Jenna