Day 1

Well today was the day! I am now officially a resident of Milan, Italy.

Left Chicago Wednesday afternoon, and after a connection through Frankfurt, Germany (thanks a lot “blizzard of 2015”) arrived in Milan, Italy at about 10am. A short taxi ride later, and Nina and I were at Residenza Arcobaleno, Bocconi University’s international student dorm.

Obligatory goodbye airport pic

Residenza Arcobaleno (aka “Arco”) has an apartment style floor plan. Two people share an apartment, each getting their own bedroom and sharing a small kitchen and bathroom. The rooms are huge, have a ton of storage space (not that I really need it since I could only carry so much with me across the ocean), and overall they are way better than I expected. More good news is that I am rooming with Nirali, another girl from UIUC! Here’s a look around our apartment:

The rest of the day was all about getting acquainted with our new surroundings. The other exchange students are super friendly, and we went on quite the little adventure today, going grocery shopping (I promise I’ll write another blog post in the future about good old Esselunga), riding the tram for the first time, visiting the Bocconi University campus, and finding a place to eat in the canal district.

I miss everyone back home, but I can already tell that this is going to be an amazing semester!