Ciao Bella!

I just got back from my 5 day class trip to Milano, Italy! I had a really great time! It was so much fun to travel with my class! There werer 26 of us accompanied by 3 teachers. In Denmark it's a tradition to travel with your class in your second year at the gymnasium (like high school) to another country on a "study trip". The teachers plan school-related activites for each day and then you are free in the afternoon and night to do whatever you want. We traveled with our Danish, Ancient History, and Biology teachers (Hans Erik, Anja and Jeppe). With our Danish teacher we interpreted signs and watched people: how they act, what's important to them (for example you can see that fashion is important to Italians in Milano and you can see that the environment isn't as important because the city is litered and there aren't very many trash bins, etc.) With our Ancient History teacher Anja we walked all over the city and visited ruins from the Roman time and visited a really cool Museum about the Romans. And with Biology we walked around the city and relaxed in the sun (it was 21 degrees.. about 75 degrees Fahrenheit) and tested different water sources in the big Milano Park. On Thursday we also visited an old Fortress which was really cool! We just relaxed on the grass in the sun.. that's the life!We also got to see the beautiful Duomo church! It's the third biggest church in the world and it's absolutely beautiful! It's Catholic and I think it's pretty funny because they have never finished it. You see, if they finish it then they have to register it as a church with the Pope and pay a lot of money. So they are always working on it and adding to it so as not to finish.. which is just too clever! Then we payed a little to take the stairs up to the top of the church and walk around on top of it! It was such a cool view over the city! but so windy up there! Read more about Duomo at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Cathedral During our free time we shopped! Which was a great way to see more of the city! We ate yummy Italian pizza and pasta all week! and the famous Gelato Ice Cream which is just the best! One of the coolest things about Milano is that it's one of the fashion capitals of the world.. so of course it's expensive! But there's also Models being photographed in the streets! And it was just so cool to watch!! And there are all the high fashion stores like Prada, Louis Viutton, and Yves Saint Laurent... really really expensive. I used every opportunity to say "CIAO BELLA!" and "Mammmma Mia!" I loved that my friends got to see that you don't need words to express yourself. Using body language and pointing and smiling and hugging and kissing gets the point across just as well or better than using words! It was so much fun! At one point we needed to send postcards and the mail box had two slots.. one that said "blah blah blah MILANO" and the other said "blah tutti blah blah blah" haha.. this old man saw that we were confused and stopped to look at us. He was just smiling and we smiled back and said "Ciao!" and "ummmm Milano? ummmm not Milano?" and he completely understood even though he couldn't speak english. That's one of the coolest things! He just started speaking Italian and pointing! And we figured it out together!

I was feeling pretty sick on Monday and Tuesday though and again on Friday and that made it a little harder. Plus I was extremely tired when I got home at 6 pm last night. To get to and from Milano we had to take two buses,3 trains and a plane. And it took 12 hours including waiting.. so Monday and Friday were very long days! All in all I had a really great trip! You can see my Milano album on Picasa Web Albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/perkypiano/MilanoTripWithTheClass#

I hope everyone is good at home! Thanks for reading! Keep it up! Francine