March

In the last month my laptop broke leaving me in a technologically disastrous state. the good news luckily I do have insurance, the bad news I dropped it so hard it was the hard drive that gave in and I have lost all my data. I may have had a glass of wine or two at the time that I can blame my clumsiness on but my initial thoughts we're kill me now as everything I've worked on for the past three years at university as well as my CV was all on that laptop. After my mum came to visit at the start of March I gave it to her to take back to the UK and have it fixed as otherwise it would have to have been sent of in the Italian postage system and I really do not trust that. It is however now fixed and home waiting for me to return to it in just under a week and I'm so looking forward to it but I still have the challenge of recovering my data. A small blessing is that a lot of the work from my studies abroad I have also copied to the Macs in University so that's safe, anything before then is going to have to picked and plucked from various online saved versions e.g. my portfolio on here and my Facebook page along with any emails I can track down. The morel of the story, become a careful computer geek and ALWAYS have a second copy of anything important. ALWAYS.

Moving on from the laptop disaster I had a lovely March in Italy. My mother and step dad came out to visit for the second weekend of March and I had the opportunity to play the generic tour guide and show them around! Being a bit of a 'planner' if you had to label it I did plot a route for the weekend and got to myself again relive the wonder of going onto the roof of the Duomo, around La Castello and eating the famous Panzerottis from Luinis etc. etc. to summarise the weekend we ate and drank far too much, typical Brits. I realise now after doing all the first things that tourists do in Milan I never did put up any photos of the Cathedral so here are some for you to feast your eyes on. In order to climb the stairs to the top and walk along you do have to pay I think it was €7 but don't quote me on that but to get in the cathedral is completely free provided your dressed appropriately. By appropriately you have to have to be covered, showing skin is not acceptable and although this is discretionary by the guards on the door my friend was turned away because of the cut out shoulders in her dress so more is more.

The strange thing with Milan that the experience of showing others around made me realise is that the city is; 1) Incredibly compact, 2) Lacking an awful lot to do after a couple of days of site seeing and 3) Isn't what you expect.

When we first arrived the most impactful thing about the city was the graffiti. After having a few other visitors before my parents and after speaking to them we can all conclusively agree on how it completely ruins the city. 

When my parents came to visit was actually just after a two week post exam period break so on their departure I was starting a new term with completely different classes. Unlike the first term this time we have been given a broader spectrum of possible classes we can take as I mentioned in my previous post and have been able to tailor them to our needs. The start of term is a two week trial period to attend the different classes and decide if they are suited to you or not. Frankly I have to admit it's a fantastic way of working the system and gives you a chance to understand the subject before fully committing. 

The trial period ended on 16th of March and by this time I'd tried the following classes; industrial fashion accessories, craft fashion accessories, history of contemporary art, CAD, semiotics, illustration and pattern making.

Apart from semiotics and craft fashion accessories the rest of the modules I've chosen to keep for the second semester and am currently working on at the moment. Like with last term each module has a different specialised tutor.

The most exciting class for the new semester for myself is the pattern making. After doing the design work for fashion design last semester we are now producing a pre-collection of one of the capsules making between 3 and 6 pieces. At the start of the term each student individually presented their design book of work to our pattern cutting teacher Miao Ran and he selected what he would like you to do and gave instructions of design changes and material choices.

For myself I've got a pretty hefty task of creating a dress, trousers, top and two coats. When I get a chance and start making some progress on the project I'll upload some photos of the design and how the pattern cutting is going. Mostly the designs are textile based though and require laser cutting and appliqué, eeek! Sounds great and exciting but our time with Miao is now cut to 4 hours a week and after Easter (LIKE NOW) I only have 5 weeks to make it all, I think I'm going to need a healthy amount of pro plus... As the Italian would say 'Baaawh'.

Other than that the only other practical subject is industrial fashion accessories where dare I say my worst nightmare of forced group work is happening. Working in groups of 3/4 where no one in the same group is able to originate from the same country we have been given a designer and an artist to research and eventually we will have to design a range of 15 shoes sympathetic to their style. I know when you put it like that it doesn't sound that bad, it shouldn't really be that bad, but it is! 

In our group we have been given one of my favourite designers British born Stella McCartney which is awesome as I'm already a huge fan and familiar with her work. 

The artist is half Swiss half Tunisian Sonia Kacem who works with installations and is mainly based in Geneva in Switzerland however is currently branching out all over Europe and exhibiting a lot in Rome and Berlin. Personally although I can appreciate her art I can say it's not really my taste. 

Both artists follow the theme of an eco-friendly aesthetic and are great believers in recycling and sustainability and generally produce a modern simplistic result. To date is this project we have had the tasks to create an in depth presentation on both the designer and artist and also create lifestyle and mood boards. I've done both presentations and also the lifestyle board which is why I'm so far not a big fan of working together but I'm hopeful things are going to get better. Over Easter I have to start a sketchbook to mark make on the imagery and begin designing shoes and for the first class back we as a group have to present 30 shoe design collectively for criticism. It's going to be a busy.

A week before leaving for home, the end of March, we did finally make the decision to visit Lago di Como, Lake Como, for the day. Previously we'd been put off by trying to book train tickets online on trentialia.com which is the most ridiculous and overly complicated website ever! The cheapest fare we could find online was around 57 euros and meant taking a 8 hour over night train so understandably we'd decided to leave it. After speaking to a friend who's currently studying in Madrid who had noticed the same issue she advised us that there is no discount fee for booking online for most places in Europe and that the best way to travel is by purchasing tickets at the station on the day, so we did. For €9 each we got a return to Como S. Giovanni departing from Centrale FS.

Como S. Giovanni is about a slow 15 minute walk to the centre of the lake itself, I say slow as the route takes you through the centre of town so understandably there's a lot of dawdling whilst gawking at beautiful landmarks. On the day of our visit the weather was beautiful and the town was also holding a couple of small local merchant markets selling locally produced things like wine, cheese and chocolate. Yes there was tasters. Yes it was awesome. We did however get caught out by a salami stall that offered us a strange sort of meat then after we'd eaten it made donkey noises at us to let us know what we'd eaten, two stalls down there was a donkey sanctuary stall and I can't help but feel the two were related! Surprisingly the cost of the products on the stalls was actually quite competitive compared to Milan and the restaurants and wine bars all seemed to also be similar and not more expensive as we'd feared. Mostly we milled around for the day but did sneak in a 30 minute pedal boat trip on the lake in a boat that regardless of steering seemed to drift in any direction it pleased. 

Culturally I can also now rave that I have been to the ballet!! Oh lah dee da da!! Being lucky myself and Emily found last minute tickets to the famous Ballet Jewels on a Tuesday night and attented the next day at Teatro alla Scala thats just behind the famous shopping mall of Vittorio Emanuele. Although we we're as high as high got in the stands and I felt like if I jumped I would get altitude sickness the seats were faultless and we could see all the stage. The performance was split into three section for each different jewel Emerald, Ruby and Crystal and each jewels performance reflected the stones personality. My favourite act was Ruby which was faster paced and mischievous. Each act lasted about 25 minutes with a interval in between for the consumption of wine and some free tasty nibbles! For the first time I've ever experienced anything like it, I can say I hopelessly adored it. The next thing to tick on the bucket list is the opera.. Oh and we may have climbed the giant lion statue in the Piazza Duomo after, y'know how it is.

Along with never uploading pictures of the cathedral it is at this point I'm realising I also never uploaded pictures of the designer shopping mall next to the cathedral 
Vittorio Emanuele. The shopping mall is an undercover cross road of high class shops and restaurants and marvellously beautiful. The shops I can recall being in there are Louis Vuitton and Prada but other than that I can't remember. One of the cool things about this place is a point in the floor that is perceived to bring you good lucky. Just off the centre in one of the wings, this can be easily spotted because there is always a crowd of people around, there is a point on the floor where you much place your left heel and spin around clockwise three times. I try to do this every time I pass through as a superstitious weirdo. Action shots below.

The only other thing new things I have to rave about is what I can dub our favourite place to eat in Milan, Burger Wave and an unforgettable St. Patrick's day at an Irish bar called Murphy's Law. 

Let's start with Paddy's day. I'll be completely honest, given the usual Italian way of being much more relaxed, sophisticated and generally better behaved than us hooligan British I really didn't expect anything from St. Patrick's day in Milan and in fact was sceptical that they would even celebrate it. It was only when an Austrian friend suggested we go out for it a quick Google search tracked down an Irish bar not too far away on Via Montevideo with a colourful Facebook gallery of photos and shepherds pie on the menu, Murphy's Law. If you want to know the law of Murphy's Law it is that there is no law. Excellent. On the night the bar was absolutely packed with an eclectic mix of Irish, Italian, British and American and by about 9:30pm everyone inside was dancing on the table and on the bar.. Including us! It is to date the most fun I have had in Milan on a night out and the most amazing atmosphere I've experienced in a while. Although I haven't had a chance to go back and sample the shepherds pie yet I'll definitely be returning and so will report back.. Educational purposes for all you readers of course.

As I mentioned above the other place that I really have to 'big up' is a small Australian themed burger bar located on Via Cardinale Ascanio Sforza or as we like to call the street 'the other small canal'. The place is called Burger Wave and serves THE most amazing burgers I have ever tasted in my life, like ever. We have now been far too many times to be called healthy and have decided that the most superior of burgers is one called the spunk chick. It's chicken breast topped with bacon and parmesan cheese with home made Caesar sauce and salad and can only be described as molto bellissimo! Open for a few hours in the afternoon for lunch and also for dinner service and take away if your in the area it's and unquestionable must. I can imagine when I do finally move away from Milan back home this is going to be one of the most painful places to say goodbye too.