What a LIFE

Written by Taylor February 7, 2019

A little taste of home

The architecture in Milan is a lot more modern than the rest of Europe.

I don't think this morning view will ever get old!

Many students traveled to Bassano, a nearby town, during the first weekend.

I don't think this morning view will ever get old!

I don't think this morning view will ever get old!

The first two weeks here at CIMBA have flown by! Between planning trips, getting to know Paderno, starting classes, and making new friends, I have definitely stayed busy. In addition, everyone at CIMBA completed LIFE during the past two weekends – Leadership Initiative for Excellence. We all walked out of the three day training one big, happy, TIRED family.

While I came into this experience with quite a few unknowns, there have been a few things about Italy (and Europe in general) that have caught me off guard.

Dogs I don’t really know why, but for some reason I assumed there wouldn’t be many dogs in Italy. That’s definitely not the case – everywhere I turn, there’s another furry friend. Not only in neighborhoods, but on crowded streets in Milan. And in restaurants and train stations. You can’t venture far without finding someone out with their dog.

Doors I’ve stopped counting the number of times I have gone to pull open a door and assumed the place was closed, only to find out you have to push. Besides that, locking and unlocking are also the opposite direction of what we have in the States. My friends and I stayed at an Airbnb in Milan this past weekend and stood outside of our apartment for 10 minutes because we couldn’t figure out how to unlock/open the door. Don’t worry, we eventually got in with the help of a neighbor!

Streets While some of the bigger cities have good sidewalks, Paderno and many of the smaller towns don’t really have anywhere along the road to walk. On top of that, there aren’t street signs! Street names are found on the sides of buildings.

I can’t wait to learn more about this culture, my classmates, and myself during the rest of this semester!