Studio 2 Trip to Milan

Fog. Rain. 0°C. One could mistake it for an ordinary day in Liverpool. But this was Milan! On the last night of January and the first night of our field trip we were filled with confidence that the knowledge of buonasera (good evening, unfortunately pronounced by some as Buenos Aires), was more than adequate to carry us through the evening in our temporary Italian homes. Thankfully, the following days were less foggy, allowing us to see and experience many beautiful places in Milan. Some made us keen to re-live moments that had not yet passed, the sight of Michelangelo's Pietà Rondanini in Castello Sforzesco being the most remarkable. Others made us question our understandings of space, time, meaning. Trompe-l'œil in one of Bramante’s Santa Maria presso San Satiro made us question our visual senses, whilst a bar in a hostel basement made us question the sense of our compatriots. The café in Fondazione Prada transformed us into actors on the set of a Wes Anderson film, whilst the Fondazione Castiglioni made us even more excited to be who we already are; designers, innovators. 

Daily pilgrimage, for some almost fatal due to impractical shoe choices, enabled us to see everything mentioned in a very long, planned to the minute, itinerary. (Though with Marco at the helm, such punctuality was only to be expected).

Everyone was prepared to be impressed by Milan's architecture. But for us, the exchange of ideas and information, typified by a morning of presentations and debates with the students of the Politecnico di Milano, came to define the city. In the evenings, as the rain intensified, we took refuge in charming restaurants, where we continued to share our views and opinions and discussed the possibility of moving to Italy. Each evening was longer and each morning harder and harder. By friday, the sentence "possiamo avere tre caffè, per favore" echoed through the streets of Milan in our wake.

Alicia, Katerina, Paulina and Shuyi
Studio 2 students