Milan, Italy - July 14th

In class today, we had a lecture on "Pop Politics" in Italy. It focused mainly on the current Prime Minister, Berlusconi. He seem to disapprove of the Prime Minister's juvenile behavior as the leader of a country. A lot of the lecture was spent trying to get the computer and internet working.

After the lecture, we took an hour break in which I went with my roommate, his girlfriend, and two of the other girls on the trip to Luini's for some Pantarotti. The six of us hang out together so much that we've named our group the Formaggio Family.

Back in the classroom, a few students gave presentations.

Instead of going back to the dorm after class, I went to the Duomo to meet up with Ashlee, the girl from the train ride from Germany to Italy. We climbed the stairs to the roof of the Duomo where we had a panoramic view of the city from above. After that, I bought an AC Milan soccer ball which I had been trying to find since getting to Milan. We got some gelato then walked through the Galleria, where there is a painting of a bull missing his balls. Where the balls should be, there is a hole in the ground where it's said if you put your heel in the hole and spin around, you will have good luck. After spinning a few times, we walked from the Galleria to the Sforzando castle. We walked through and then through the park beyond. By this time it was getting time to head back to the central station for her to go back to Florence.

At the train station, all the "fast ticket" electronic machines were not working so the only way to get a ticket was to wait in an hour long line for the people at the information desk. As we neared the front of the line, it was also getting close to time for the last train to Florence to leave. Luckily we asked a station worker about boarding the train without a ticket, who told us that when the machines are down, you can buy your ticket on the train. So we hurried up to the platform and bid one another farewell.

Back at the dorm, I did some more work on my paper before going to bed.