Day 2: Orientation with NABA, First time seeing Duomo

             Today started off with a tour of NABA as well as meeting Evelina and Modita.  They welcomed us and gave us an excellent tour of the campus and surrounding area, of stores, pharmacies (which are green crosses), transportation, top ten places to visit, post office groceries etc.  Evelina and Modita also showed us a funny youtube clip that was about Europe vs Italy which after being in Italy for a day and a half I can understand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWNGLv8w74

              After our time inside the building (room nr 37), we experienced the metro of Milan which is called the ATM (ATM in Milano does not mean Bank it is for the metro).  One thing that was a cultural difference is that  Italy is very energy conservative, as I first found out at the hotel, with the room key as light idea, but also that air condition is NOT in most places.
After our ATM experience, we finally arrived to Duomo, which was inexplainable.  The pictures are wowing in itself, so in person is absolutely amazing.  The shopping is very fashion forward.  First entering Duomo, the outside area has stores such as Zara, American Apparel, H&M, they also have boutique which I was supprised to see that many of them had reason prices, and of course they had gelatto!   I also went to the  Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which is an inside shopping area that has the high end designers such as Prada, Louie Vuitton, and Gucci.   They also have boutiques inside as well, but are more expensive than the boutiques on the street.   There is a bull in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II., which is beautiful tiled and has a cement hole in the middle which is for putting your heel in and spinning around 3 times to bring good wealth.

              Walking down the streets, it was hard not to be nosey and look in the atrium/ courtyards of peoples apartments and homes.  They were so peaceful and beautiful.  It is allowed to walk in these courtyards, as long as the gate is open.  It is definitely worth walking inside because it is beautiful.    After my experience at Duomo, the group and I took the tram back to the hotel, and had a excellent dinner or APERITIVO, where we ate delicious food, and were treated very nicely.  The waiter spoke English very well and told us what was good to order and took pictures with us.  It is definitely a place I will go to again or a few nights during this month.  After that we got coffee down the street from the hotel and enjoyed espresso and cappuccino outside since the weather, that began as overcast, turned out to be such a beautiful night, or a "bella notte"

            I have only been here for 2 days and I have learned much about the culture  (such as;  Graffiti is encouraged in Italy it is seen all over the city as well as the school NABA,  some bathrooms such as the one today which had no toilet seats and are unisex they have full door stalls but they are all in one room (not all bathrooms are like this), there is no equal or splenda only pure sugar, although I am in the process of figuring out if what I put in my coffee today was a substitute, the friendly  Italian man in the cafe' did not speak English,  The times are not 4:00 it is 13:00, In some places you typically have to pay for a shopping bag, because again, Italians like to conserve.  I also learned which I am not sure of the correct spelling, but "chamaling", and "an de amo"  means lets go, and "latte magro" means skim milk.  I asked the barista for skim milk and with the accent he said " ehhh ah skim milk? what is a that a", so I looked it up in the guide and it is called " latter magro" which most coffee places do not have anyway.  I learned so much today just with my eyes.  I remember learning about the Duomo in Art History last year before I even knew about the Milan trip and that last thing on my mind was that I would actually have the chance to see it in real life.  The sites are amazing and it is just starting.