Arriving in Milan

On September 4th, 2018, after saying goodbye to my family in Minnesota and 14 long hours of travel through the middle of the night with no sleep, I got off of a plane in Milan, Italy, to begin my year as an exchange student. Walking out of the first doors, I was greeted by a group of happy Italians, who would by my host family for the first 4 months, holding a large sign, welcoming me to the country. I didn’t know nay of these people, nor did I know the language, but I was beyond excited nonetheless. I went over to greet them and was instantly hit with my first case of culture shock. As I went in for the hug with each one of them, they all went in for the two kisses on the cheeks greeting. They also assumed I already knew Italian, so I had to inform them that in fact, I didn’t know any at all. It was a great first impression with my host mom, dad, sister, and two cousins. Regardless of my lack of abilities, they seemed excited to have me there and to introduce me to their lifestyle and language and country.

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During the drive home, my host cousins and sisters were eager to begin teaching me italian. The first word I learned was macchina, meaning car. When we got to their house I was shown my room and they gave me time to unpack. Once I was settled in, it was time for lunch! We ate pasta with mozzarella and tomatoes with mini pizzas as an appetizer. I felt like the meal couldn’t possibly be more italian. Although the food was amazing, for some reason I wasn’t very hungry. The apartment they lived in had a pool in the back so once we finished lunch, we decided to go swimming! We played games and relaxed and they continued to teach me more words. After awhile, my host cousins went home and we settled in for the night. Because of the time difference, I decided to go to bed pretty much right after dinner, at about 9:30. Overall, It was a great first day in Italy!

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