I started this blog sometime in November when I was living in Milan and attending school. It was a sort of catalog of thoughts, emotions, photos, music that all related in some way to my time in Italy.

I’m not sure what to do with this thing now.  I’ve not been writing here for almost a couple months (sorry to my huge number of fans who are missing this sweet blog in their life). I also always struggled with having some sort of coherent, logical approach to this blog-my writings, the photos, even the aesthetics of the site itself never really measured up to what I was going for.

Now I’m over 6,000 miles away from Milan. I’m looking for work, spending a lot of time in the sun, running, biking, drinking and exploring Seattle.  I’m over 1,700 miles away from the woman I love, and many more miles apart emotionally.  All the friends I had at school are now scattered across the globe.  My life has changed significantly in many ways since I last wrote on here.

And so, what to do with this site? Do I want to invest the time and attention to develop it to higher standards? Can I write more openly about personal things that are significant to me, but may not be to anyone else? Is blogging even an appropriate use of my time when I’m looking for work IRL? Am I a tool for writing IRL instead of “in real life”?

I think I know the answer to that last question.

But no answers to the other questions.

Taking off for Seattle tomorrow.  This time in Italy has come to a close. A thunderstormed, travel- and drink-filled, tiring close.  It had to happen some time, and that time is now.  It’s definitely sad, exciting, unfortunate, but most of all, it’s just time to be over.  Time to become an adult again, time to find a job, earn a living, and do something else.

I was listening to some do-wop and southern blues earlier, and getting mentally prepared for being in the states again.  I’ll miss these days, the travel, the food, the language, and the people most of all.  But, it’s time to be back in the US. Time to be on the west coast.  The west is the best.  Get there and we’ll do the rest…

So, the last few days of Milan. Headed back to the west coast of the states.  It’s raining outside, I should be packing & cleaning, but thought I’d write down some mindgrapes reflections on life here.

• Milan has the ability to be deathly cold, hot as hell, and anything else awful in between (read: fist-sized hale storm right before our farewell party Friday 27-5).
• Which brings me to my next point: I don’t care, I’ve thought about it for a long, long time, but writing the date month-day-year makes far more sense than day-month-year. Sequentialism isn’t a virtue here.
• Many Italians seem to have more affinity for their region or area of the country instead of for the nation as a whole. (As Klemens von Metternich one said at the Congress of Vienna, the word Italy was nothing more than “a geographic expression.”)
• You don’t have agency as a pedestrian.
• There are indeed nice, non-nosy old neighbors in my building. Took me a long time to find them.
• Young Milanese have a remarkable ability to drink, and it seems, many of them also have a remarkable ability to grow out of it quickly.
• Italy is like kryptonite for my relationships. Depending on how the accounting is done, it’s either 2 or 3 down.
• Try as I might, and no matter the help I received from 4 separate Indian classmates (you know who you are) I’ll never understand Cricket.
• Not all food in Italy is guaranteed to be ah-maz-ing, but much of it is.
• On a related note, some Italians do make great beer, but it’s quite difficult to find, and also quite expensive.
• Italians have much love for their country, and it’s infectious.
• The left is making significant political inroads around the nation, and that will be good for the country.
• I never thought I would, but I’ll miss the aperitivo.
• Biking around Milan is epicly awesome and makes me feel like a kid.
• In aggregate, the roughly 14 or so months I’ve spent in and around Italy have been amongst the best times in my life, full stop.

And now it’s over. School is finished, and everyone is off. Around 50 us will have graduated from the MPM and MIHMEP programs at SDA Bocconi, and these fine folks are going to: Tel Aviv & Tanzania. Geneva and Zurich. Belgium and Luxembourg. The east coast of the US and the west.  London and Rome. Milan, Bonn, Paris, Berlin, and more. What a group.

New Theory by Washed out - good for a rainy Milan afternoon

I like the buses around this city.

There’s this wine shop (Vineria) a few minutes walk from my flat. We discovered it early on after we moved into the Navigli area. It’s a nice little place that makes and stores the wine in the storefront.

It was a godsend when it was cold out, as we’d cruise by on a walk to get some spiced wine to go. My sister and her boyfriend loved it when they visited too. 

Now that we’re on the downhill towards the end of school, and we’re all moving away, Milano feels good. It’s partially the knowledge that I know I’m leaving soon, so I should enjoy the city while I can.

However, it’s little things like the wine store that I know I’ll miss.  As great as some of the wine is back home, we don’t have anything like this little wine store, where you can bring bottles to fill up, or get a to go cup on a cold evening.

Fountain of the Four Rivers up against Sant’Agnese in Agone.

The Roman Forum. Best place in Rome.

St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.