To shop or not to shop, that is the question – J-term Abroad: Roman Structures, Engineering & Society
Field Trips!

To shop or not to shop, that is the question

 

What’s up people, this is Josh Panek. I’m currently a Junior at the University of St. Thomas, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. So I guess it’s my turn to take the blog for the day. If you take a look below this paragraph you’ll see a picture of me cheesin.

Cool so now that you got a visual of the guy writing this thing we can get to the meat of what we did today. We checked out Milan, the Fashion Capital of the World, also known as the Drinkable City (don’t quote me on that second nickname I found it on the internet). It was the last city on our long bucket list of Italian fun/learning and boy what a trip it has been to get here. Morale still seemed to be at a high, despite the fact some of my classmates had fallen a bit ill or have temporarily lost part of their hearing. We also still had our awesome Italian guide, Claudio even if it was only for one last day.

So Milan was super interesting in that it’s really the Italian city to blend a lot of modernism with the traditional aspects we had seen in previous cities. This was most visible within the architecture. At the beginning of our tour we saw a lot of modernly designed buildings in the Porta Garibaldi. The most daunting of them all was most definitely the UniCredit building.
The rest of the modern architecture proved to be just as impressive, and I often found myself to be a bit overwhelmed at not only the shear size of the buildings but their aesthetics as well. They were exotic, and a true testament to Italian engineering.
As we moved toward the city center however, I could could start to see that more traditional sense of Italian architecture return that I had grown accustomed to. Buildings once more grew closely compact and we began to see more and more plazas.

That doesn’t mean any of the traditional buildings we saw were in anyway dull or boring, because the Duomo di Milano and the Sforzesco Castle blew my mind. The Duomo di Milano in particular left me with my jaw dropping to the ground because it was truly unlike any cathedral we had seen thus far. The sheer scale of it rivaled the Florence cathedral and it owned a rich, gothic-like fashion that distinguished it from the majority. It was said to have 3,400 statues, 135 gargoyles, and 700 figures that decorated just the exterior. Both the sites were visually breathtaking and a pleasure to view.

So I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fashion that occurred within the city because there was plenty of it. Milan earned its nickname as the Fashion Capital. I saw more shops for clothing, make-up, and accessories than I did for food for crying out loud! It was insane and far from cheap. I stopped by a glasses store just to speculate if I even had a chance at buying anything. Nope. To make matters worse, there was this kind Italian lady, who clearly worked there, eying me down the entire time time expecting me to freakin buy something! Never bolted out of a store so fast.

Anyway, the amount of shopping one can do in Milan was quite impressive. The Quadrilateral della moda was the upscale shopping district within the center of the city. Along the main drag, Via Monte Napoleone, were multiple designer fashion boutiques, antiques, shops, and posh cafes in neoclassical mansions. In fact our entire class got the best damn cappuccinos we’ve had all trip intuit area, largely thanks to our man Claudio.

Finally, we got to check out the Last Supper painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. Overall, it got mixed reception from the class. I supposed we always pictured it as this larger-than-life thing, only to be a bit underwhelmed. The painting had definitely seen better days, but it was still visually immense. It covered a vast wall and was still surprisingly detailed, despite its age. I can say I did appreciate how Da Vinci was able to convey the story of the Last Supper within a single image. Opposite of the Last Supper was a depiction of the Crucifixion. It too spanned an entire wall, and told a single-framed story. Both were impressively done in my opinion.

Overall, Milan was an aesthetically pleasing city. It was a beautiful blend of modern and traditional, a picture of immense and outstanding structures, and a paradise for shopaholics.

Previous Post Next Post

You Might Also Like

No Comments

Leave a Reply