One week ago we told about how two guys from different parts of the world felt and lived their first week in Italy, after they moved to Milan for their university exchange programme. Read their story here. But what about girls?So, here we are again with the Hectic, Adventurous, Warm! first week of Denise Vollebergh, from the Netherlands.
Denise comes from Rotterdam, the place where she was born and where she goes to the Erasmus University for the degree in Communication and Media. She landed in Milan, Italy, just few days ago, the 2nd of September.
She's already been to Italy once, 4 years ago, to a little town called Senigallia, just under San Marino, but never to the big cities.
This is what she said with her own words: "My biggest issue moving to Milan was to relax. This may sound a bit weird, but in the Netherlands everything is extremely well organized. Being late is frowned upon and you know weeks in advance when there is an event. I tried looking up the metro times, which are not shown anywhere on the site, Someone told me this is because even if they showed the times, they would probably be late anyways. I think this is very typical of Milan, everything is way more laid back, 'we'll see what happens'. As an extremely organized Dutch person it took me some time to be able to go with the flow."
The day Denise arrived she was so exhausted that she did nothing. She didn't know yet what was really going to stress her.
The day after she went to the university to get some papers signed and check out the campus. Her sense of direction is non-existent so her first challenge was to find out where she had to go. The orientation meeting was very interesting and explained a lot about how things work in Milan.
But in the end she had a great time in her first week in Milan, meeting people, joining events and exploring places.
It all started on her real first night in town, when she decided she wanted to meet some new people and went to a welcome cocktail organized by an association for international students.
But in the end she had a great time in her first week in Milan, meeting people, joining events and exploring places.
It all started on her real first night in town, when she decided she wanted to meet some new people and went to a welcome cocktail organized by an association for international students.
During the following days Denise started exploring Milan. She began walking a bit around the area where she got her apartment (Porta Romana) and the next days she also participated to a campus tour and went on a guided tour through the city center. The tour-guide showed the Duomo, the museums, and the Sforzesco castle. While at night she joined a pizza & karaoke night, again organized by the same association, and went to a club called Alcatraz.
What particularly amazed her was the castle, placed in the middle of the city. She told this was her best experience she had during her first week "it's so beautiful that you're literally surrounded by so much history in the middle of the city".
What particularly amazed her was the castle, placed in the middle of the city. She told this was her best experience she had during her first week "it's so beautiful that you're literally surrounded by so much history in the middle of the city".
During the weekend she also had time for a visit to the nearby Lake Como, an amazing place which she would definitely recommend visiting to everyone who comes to north Italy, above all for the amazing view of the mountains.
A trip that was truly special for her as she joined it not knowing a single person at the beginning and eventually spending a whole day with a group of people "like you've known
each other for years..."
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| Cathedral of Como |
Thanks a lot to Denise for sharing her story with Gadders Blog!
And if you are planning a trip to Milan soon, click here to start looking for a cheap accommodation!
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