More Milano

The past couple of days have been fun; other than aimlessly wandering I have been able to get at least something meaningful done.
I finally got more than a welcome emails worth of information about the program here in Milan. Thursday was a hectic day that began with me first going to an interview for a kind of project marketing program here call the Alta Scuola Politecnica. After being corralled in a room and waiting a half and hour for a meeting that should've started at 2:30 I finally had my 5 minutes to shine... or not. The program itself is conducted in English, so naturally the professors chose to conduct the interviews in English as well...much to the lament of the Italian students corralled with me who were all competing in how horrible their English really is. So, after being asked where I'm from, New York, one of the professors responds... "Well of course, you do have such a New York accent when you speak, that makes perfect sense"... he had that weird backhanded compliment kind of tone but, whatever. I've already been told by a professor in Bologna who spoke to me in English and French for some bizarre reason that my French was better than my Italian. Anyway, so anyway, the interview went fine but there were three parts to the program, ethics of careers, something else and project management, and the professors all seemed to be a little miffed that Sarah Palin harped on the points the I cared to talk about. So, needless to say, I won't be too disappointed if I don't get a spot, but it of course remains an interesting opportunity.
From there I had to run across the campus to the Welcome Meeting for the international students in the Urban Planning program... safer turf by far. We seem to be a great mix of people... there's another American, a Canadian, students from Vietnam, Argentina, Iran... all with substantial amounts of work experience. I bet we all have a lot to learn from each other in any case. That being said, I do feel like the overly enthusiastic naive guy of the bunch, 21, fresh out of university, no work experience and willing to talk to just about anyone... come on you guys reading out there, you know by now how much of a dork I am and how much I groove on situations like this. Anyway, the program itself puts emphasis on policy design, social justice and urban design, which means that this is essentially like the program at NYU Wagner except free and in Milan. From what I gathered from the professors, on top of that, everyone, Italian students and international students, are well-integrated into group work... so there will be none of that staring at the awkward internationals as they move clumsily about a university and city that they really don't know or understand (we did, have one of those moments the other day when a group of us went out for cocktails and apperitivo and were the first people at the bar.... whatever we enjoyed ourselves AND got first dibs on an awesome buffet spread).
Between doing nothing and having on information session at the university (where I was reassured that I had in fact made the right decision to come here) however, I've been able to see a lot of the city. Milan is pleasant to walk around, even though the sidewalks a lot of the time tend to be crowded with cars that some how managed to break all the laws of physics and manage to squeeze into a spot. Talk about creativity, it seems that parking is for sure a fine a art here... I look forward to never driving in the city, mainly because I enjoy the thrill of being a pedestrian in real life game of Frogger. Kidding aside, the area of the city I am in, Città Studi, is very nice with many tree lined boulevard, very much in a Parisian kind of style.
Milan itself takes a trained eye to appreciate, as there are a lot of small little places, spaces and circumstances that, all together, really give you a sense of the city's character...unfortunately, almost all of those spaces beautiful courtyards and rooftop terraces, which, of course, are private. It really does make for a pleasant walk to see balconies literally overflowing with vines and plants; it seems like everyone in this city has a green thumb at one square meter. The aesthetic of many of the older buildings really speaks to Milan's elegance; these buildings tend to be very ornate with intricate designs that are, more often than not, covered in graffiti. I have to say I do like the juxtaposition of European elegance and street culture here.
I went to a bar with Paola, a friend of mine from Milan, the other night. It was called Boh! and located right by a kind of neighborhood park. The bar itself was very small but everyone, literally hundreds of people, just kind of sat out drinking in the street. It was really cool actually... maybe one day in North America we could have something like that? Please?

I leave you with some more little tidbits and random thoughts:
1) My friend noted in Paris and I have to do the same in Milan; what is the deal with Europeans and forks? For the life of me, aside from actually stealing forks from the cafeteria it is IMPOSSIBLE to find plastic forks or regular forks to buy in any store that I've been to. Only TODAY did I find them in a super market. Has there been an embargo here? Was one of the major firms that went under recently singlehandedly responsible for the stability of the fork market? Please, send me a fork.
2) Last night I played Pictionary in Italian with the Favarò's... what a, pardon my French, mind fuck and at the same time efficacious way to improve my Italian vocabulary.
3) I have since my scolding bought a pair of flip flops. Though, the only place that was open before 10 am was a small Chinese market. I bought a pair for 3 Euros.
4) How do women ride bikes in high heels?
5) I am convinced my living situation is a microcosm for the current state of affairs in the world. My roomate, Igbo, from Shanghai, is wonderful. It's so funny though to see what happens when you put China and America in the same room though. Needless to say, he has been going out to galleries, downloading information of about local architects and planning trips around Europe. I, the lazy American on the other hand, have been having trouble getting up before nine, hollering at the computer when I see more news about the elections or Project Runway, and spent most of the day today specifically sitting at a cafe reading and drinking coffee/ beer. Hmmmm. Joking aside though, we are learning a lot from eachother and having a really fun time.