Barcelona is starting to feel like home now. I understand how to use the metro and I can get around quite easily! Points for me. This week, I am actually starting classes, real business classes. On Monday I had Global Environmental Challenges and the Business Response, which is a very interesting topic concerning sustainability and what businesses must do when faced with issues of scarce resources, increasing demands, growing population and the environmental impact of every decision. If businesses wants to stay competitive in the long run, they must be ready with solutions to these problems, or it can affect their bottom line. But unfortunately, the prof gave a very dry lecture on the first day, so my opinions of this class might change.

Another course that started this week was The Emergence of China in 21st Century and it couldn’t be at the worst possible time (5pm – 8pm). I literally died. The class introduction took almost 2 hrs and with only 1 hr of actual learning. Late classes are not my thing, but thank god, I only have this once a week and I only have this class on Wednesday…

In other news, Sophia’s sister Kyna came to visit for two weeks! We actually planned Milan together and from what Sophia tells me, she’s quite the shopaholic, just like me. But before I talk about Milan, we took Kyna to see the Arc de Triomf and Parc Güell (designed by Gaudi and he also lived there for a bit). Although it was a battle just trying to walk up to the park, in the end it was worth it. Definitely a must see in Barcelona like Sagrada Familia. I really like the mosaic art all along the park and you can tell just how much effort and work was put into it. And the view (looking down at the city) from the top of the park is not too shabby either. Extremely popular site to visit (but far from the city) and although we went on a weekday, it was still packed! There was people left, right, and centre.

…So kicking off our first weekend of actual classes with a trip to Milan, our flight was at 8am on thursday (sept 19), which meant that I had to get up at 5am to get ready, finish packing, and eat breakfast. I had a piece steak for breakfast because it would’ve gone bad by the time I came back on sunday. Good thing we lived pretty close to a train station and the train goes directly to the airport. The ride was approx. 30-40mins. Something that people should know when they come to Barcelona is that the airport here don’t offer free wifi (ok, you get like 15 mins for free) and they tend to charge hourly rates. Very different from YVR. Flying to Milan, we took Easyjet and their baggage/carry on limit and sizing was not as strict as Ryanair.

In less than 2 hrs, we were in Milan! Go Italia!!—Just in time for fashion week (hoping to see some celebs and famous models). We were super eager to explore the city and make the most of our weekend, so we quickly dropped off our stuff and took the metro to Duomo. This was pretty much the city centre of Milan and words cannot describe how grand, how incredible it was just being there. It was unreal. I took some panoramas to show all the beautiful architecture. The cathedral was unbelievably grand and crafted with such detailed that I had to take a some time to process what was in front of me. It makes me wonder what it must be like for people of Milan to see this surroundings when they are out and about. It probably feels normal to them to have colossal monuments like this where ever they go and it might just be another church or building to them (no big deal right?). We have nothing like this in Vancouver and I took in every moment of this beauty.

There was so much going on, especially with fashion week happening everywhere around the city. We walked into Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which was home of the Italian luxury shop, Prada, there was also restaurants, Louis Vuitton, Mercedes Benz, Fendi, Gucci and even a Gucci cafe (no joke, the Italians sure love their luxury goods). Apparently this building was one of the world’s oldest shopping malls, how cool is that? I also want to highlight that the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II houses the first ever Prada store (the mother lord) and there’s even a Prada museum next to the store. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any pictures, so you’ll just have to see it for yourself! We also completed one of the strangest traditions in Milan which is spin on the bull’s balls. It is suppose to ward off bad spirits and bring good luck as one puts their heel on the bull’s testicles and spin backwards three times! Somehow we managed to find some familiar faces and met up with a couple of my classmates.

The food was everything, I really enjoy the bread, pasta, and pizza (sounds ridiculously stereotypical, but its true), but unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures since I was starving and the food smelled so good (I’m actually salivating right now as I am writing this). OH MY GOD, i had so much gelato while I was there. On the first day, I had it twice in one day!!

Let me tell you, sightseeing and just travelling in general is a lot of walking. I swear, my feet is still sore from all the stairs in the metro and walking around town. We saw so many high end brand names and everyone we saw was extremely fashionable (what do you expect, it is one of the fashion capitals of the world) and wealthy looking. Not to mention all the fashion events that was going on, like the opening of Stuart Weitzman, which attracted many big name bloggers, buyers, fashionistas and celebrities. It was cool seeing this in person and I hope one day, I am invited to one. Along the way, we saw tons of people and photographers outside Fendi and immediately we knew something big was gonna happen. However, since we were on a mission of exploration, we didn’t stay to see, but apparently Karl Lagerfeld (creative director) made an appearance and I am sad we didn’t stay longer—Oh well. I also couldn’t believe that there was an Armani hotel, cafe, bookstore and a mall dedicated to the brand (I couldn’t take pictures of the interior of the building). Too much luxury in just one city and I swear even their hobos (there weren’t many) have better clothes and bags than ones back home (Main and Hastings y’all).

However, although europe is very beautiful and built on so much culture and history, there was one thing I don’t like and is the lack of street signs. This made it very difficult to read the maps and look for street names. So most of the time, we just wandered and lost ourselves in the streets of Milan. Especially since I didn’t have internet and no access to Google Maps. But with some miraculous luck, we managed to hit all the stops we wanted to go on the first day (success!).

The next day, we took a morning bus to the Serravalle Designer Outlet centre which has some of the world’s big name brands with discounts of 30%-70%. I didn’t want to have too high of an expectation since I rather be surprised then disappointed, but they had some very good sale on Versace, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Moschino, Armani, Missoni and my favourite Prada. Not surprising at all, but these European brands were relatively cheaper than American brands like Michael Kors and Calvin Klein. Let’s just say, everyone came home with a little Prada.

The next day, we had to get up extremely early for a morning train to Venice. On the way, we discovered a local bakery (Pizza Mundial) which had one of the best pizza bread I’ve ever tasted. Tots recommend it! It was super cheap too! Only 2.20€! I personally loved it so much that I brought one back to Barcelona for my housemate Florian. It was soft and super tasty to eat, I wish I had more right now… Anywho we waited over 50 minutes at the train station because our train was somehow delayed and we didn’t get to Venice until 12pm. But there was more than enough time to explore, chill and eat. A lot of souvenir shops and tourist everywhere (us included). There was plenty of opportunity for pictures with the infamous canals and gondolas. However, to my surprise, nobody sang while rowing the gondolas (it costed extra), which was a little disappointing from what I’ve always imagined Venice to be. Nonetheless, the architecture was remarkable and breathtaking, so I swear that we must have taken 400-500 pictures during this trip. The restaurants were very expensive, but I recommend finding a restaurant that had a tourist menu, because it was relatively cheaper (12-13€) and we got to try a number of dishes.

Like everywhere we went, we got lost and we didn’t want to pay for a map (no way am I paying 3€ for a map). We just ended up following the crowd and we ended up finding Piazza San Marco and the Doge’s Palace. Venice is a small island, so it wasn’t hard to find these famous landmarks as long as you have the energy and endurance for it. Besides the architecture, Venice is also famous for its art and appreciation of music and opera. I’ll let the pictures explain for itself, but definitely crazy looking back on how much travelling and exploring I’ve done in just one weekend (and many more to come!).

After so much walking and sightseeing, we were pooped and I couldn’t wait to get back to my hostel to rest, especially because I had a 8am flight to catch. I was flying Ryanair back to barcelona, we I had to pack extremely well. They are super strict on the size of the bag you bring on the plane. They will charge you if your bag cannot fit into their ‘standard’ size. I was carrying a backpack, so I passed, but believe me when I say my bag was stuffed.

I got back on sunday morning and just in time for the Merce fesitival! This event happens on 20th-24th of September and it’s basically a huge celebration and its a party every night!—human towers, fire dancing, parades, street parties, fireworks and laser shows, live concerts and more! I also had some Sauder friends flying in just for the occasion and on sunday night, we met up and from there it was another adventure that deserves it’s own post. I loved every minute of this weekend and I can’t wait to see what is next!

Ciao! Adios!

Kevin