Bocconi, 10 Corso Como, and Blockbuster

You ever have one of those days when you don't actually plan to do anything, but then you just sort of go with the flow, and end up doing some really fun stuff that you hadn't anticipated? Well today was one of those days. Since it is Tuesday, I decided to go to the market this morning. I was long out of fresh fruit since our Venice trip over the weekend caused us to miss the Saturday market. Although I rarely buy anything from the non-food market, I decided to walk through it anyway, and somehow I managed to find some good stuff. My favorite purchase is a print fashion top with a matching belt that I bought for 4 euros (well, the sign said $3.99 but hardly anyone will give you back your 1 eurocent here unless you ask for it). I saw it on a model and it was very cute so I decided to buy it. I asked the vendor to give me one in the brand new packages that was not open though, b/c I didn't want the one that had been picked over all day. I hit up the food market as well and it was much less frustrating today (maybe b/c my Italian is improving). I got bananas and watermelon (notice how my list is getting smaller and smaller each time). I walked around the food market twice looking for decent peaches, and finally just gave up. I think my standards are getting higher every week - I'm tired of my peaches going bad two days later.
I got back from the market around 12:15, and opened up the package to try on the shirt I had just bought. Now, on the mannequin it had a belt. And when I opened up my package, there was no belt. Ugh! The belt is what made it so cute. Great. So, then I had to go back out to the market to find the vendor and get my belt. I had no clue how it was going to go, since Italians are not very good about service (see my earlier post on "Da Willy"). I finally found the vendor - about three blocks down - and told him that my top didn't have a belt. He looked shocked (of course) and opened it up as if he didn't believe me. After he confirmed there was no belt, he took another unopened package, opened it up, and took that belt and put in my package. Hmmm...now, the selfish point of view would be "I got my belt, so I'm happy." But, his solution doesn't exactly solve the problem, now does it? Because the next person that comes along to buy the shirt will then have the same problem, right? Then they will have to come back and ask for their belt. And he'll just take another belt. And on, and on, we go. Y'all follow. Ok, I didn't have the time (or the vocabulary) to break this down to him, so I took my shirt and went on my merry way. I had told Sook I would meet her at 1pm at Bocconi so we could work on this project.
Now, here's the thing with the project. We never agreed on a time to meet except for Thursdays. Since Rita and I have language class on Thursday, the group decided to meet at noon, but every other day was up in the air. So, I was surprised when I got to Bocconi and four of our team members were there meeting, including Sook. I joined the group, which was reviewing an email from Stefania giving us feedback on our workplan and an outline for our presentation next week. Of course, the email seemed to change the direction of the project, yet again. One thing I am quickly learning is that communication is not a strong point here in Italy. The email included segmentation categories to cover although it was unclear whether those were suggestions or requirements. Stefania also referenced our need to address other parts of the project such as setting up the interviews and designing a survey, which we were told other parties would be responsible for. So needless to say, everyone was confused, and reacting in different ways. Then, Carmen walked in around 1:45 and looked just as shocked as I did b/c there was a group of us there. She said she thought we were meeting at 2pm (again, that communication problem). Ashley said we were supposed to meet at noon, and I quickly reminded her that we never set a time, and told her that was why Rita had not come. She opted to work from the apartment since there was no set meeting time. As a side note, I find myself very laid back when it comes to this project (maybe it's b/c its the summertime, maybe it's b/c it's my only "vacation" before working full time again, maybe it's b/c for all intents and purposes I've already graduated, or maybe it's just b/c I'm not a Bocconi student). Whatever the reason, I defer to the Bocconi students to take the lead on organizing this project (hence the lack of organization and people showing up at all different times). If left to my own devices, I would have had the team meeting everyday at 10am, with a clear agenda, responsibilities, timelines, and deliverables. But that is me. I know. Such a slave driver, lol. But, things get done! And I do it with a smile :-) Anyway, I digress. All we accomplished at our meeting today was revamping the workplan according to Stefania's feedback and sending the tutors an email requesting to meet tomorrow to clarify the tasks of the project. I spent some time doing more research as well, b/c there was a lot of talking going on, and not much work getting done.
Towards the end of the meeting, Ashley mentioned that she was meeting up with Julia (another Bocconi classmate who is not on our project) at 10 Corso Como. I told her it was on my list to visit, so she invited me to come along. She said she was going to look at a Balenciaga bag that she wanted to buy since it's on sale now. So, after the meeting, we stopped briefly in Daniela's office so she could check her grades, then we took the tram over to the Brera area. During our commute, I found out that there are only 5 "Americans" in their class of 42 students, and all of them have ties to Italy or Europe in some respect. Even Ashley. I was wondering what made her come to Bocconi (I had never heard of the school before Wharton). Apparently, she came to Milan to attend Polytechnic on a scholarship for urban renewal and furniture design (or something along those lines), and two weeks after she got here, they cancelled her program. She was going to attend a similar program in London instead, but then someone told her about Bocconi so she applied. She has a lot of frustrations with the program, which is unfortunate, but not surprising. She was upset today b/c she got her grades, and she thinks several of them reflect professors who do not understand English well enough, so they have trouble grading her writing. Wow. That's crazy, for a program that conducts all classes in English.
When we got to 10 Corso Como, Julia was sitting at a table in the outdoor cafe waiting for us. Ashley and I were both starving (I hadn't eaten anything but cereal all day) so we decided to order food. Except the kitchen was closed. Apparently, that's typical here for the kitchens to close around 3pm and not open up until dinner. So, we had to order sandwiches. What a rip off! I ordered a tuna sandwich (hey, it was better than my other option: a mozzarella sandwich) and a coke (getting juice here is practically unheard of). 15 euros (the coke itself was 6 euros)! If that's not highway robbery, I don't know what is. I just sucked it up as my first (and last) visit to the 10 Corso Como cafe, and a once in a lifetime opportunity. The 10 Corso Como complex is owned by the editor (or former editor) of Vogue Italia, and houses a boutique, a bookstore, an art gallery, and the cafe. So, after we ate, we checked out the store for Ashley's bag. The store was very well organized (literally, there was a "white" section, a "black" section", a Prada section, an Alexander McQueen section...very anal). Thank goodness a sale was going on b/c the retail prices will make you want to take a deep breath. With the sale though, there were some sweet deals to be found. I personally, had my eye on a brown Chloe bag (about 650 euros on sale), a tan Miu Miu bag (about 350 euros on sale), and a pair of tan and black Manolos (about 400 euros on sale). The most exciting find though, was a pair of limited edition (#84 of 150), brown, snakeskin, Ferragamo pumps. Pricetag? 3500 euros retail, so 1750 euros on sale. Sigh. They were a beauty to behold, but unfortunately I'm not balling like that. The interesting thing about 10 Corso Como is that all the clothing items in their store have a "10 Corso Como" tag inside the garment, along with the designer's original tag. Kinda neat. Makes it seem unique. After obsessing over the items I liked (good thing I didn't bring much cash with me today), Ashley and I said goodbye to Julia and went upstairs to the bookstore. It was nice, but I wasn't as impressed as I was with the Armani Libri. They did have the book "Christian Lacroix on Fashion", which I had started reading at Armani, so I just picked up where I left off. They had a couple of books on Chanel and Dior that I debated buying but I reasoned it's cheaper for me to buy them in the states. Plus I have no room in my suitcase for books (it's all being reserved for clothes and handbags, lol). Ashley returned to the store one last time to check on the Balenciaga bag, before finally deciding not to buy it. She said it was too heavy, and not well-balanced. Oh well.
After 10 Corso Como, Ashley and I said our goodbyes, and I took the metro back to the apartment. I still needed something to eat for dinner, and since I hadn't taken out any meat, and my pasta salad would require refrigeration, I went back out to the supermarket. But first, I decided to find the Blockbuster that Rita told me was not far from the supermarket. It was about a block away. I told y'all I gave up on the whole movie download thing (although Ashley told me about a site today - watch-movies.net - that streams movies for free, including new releases....I checked it out but haven't tried it yet). I decided to see if I could buy some movies from Blockbuster. Of course all the movies were in Italian, but lucky for me, almost all of them had English as a language option, as well as a subtitle option. Works for me. They had a 3 for the price of 2 thing going on with their DVDs for sale, so I bought a bunch of chick flicks: Pretty Woman, Erin Brokovich (which I've never seen), and The Devil Wears Prada (or Il Diavolo Veste Prada, as the cover says...I have this DVD at home, but its not doing me much good here so now I will have two - Italian and English versions). I will watch at least one of them tonight hopefully.
After Blockbuster, I hit up the supermarket and got some chicken breasts to cook. When I got home, I spent an hour in the kitchen cooking. The result: baked chicken breasts seasoned with salt, pepper, and that meat seasoning (still don't know what it is but tastes good) and topped with asiago cheese and my own "homemade" sauce (lol...I will not reveal my secret recipe!), pasta with tomato sauce, and.....corn, lol. Yeah, I know, corn doesn't actually go with the meal, but hey, I haven't seen any spinach and corn is one of my favorite vegetables, so it had to do. It turned out pretty tasty. I used the rest of the pasta I cooked to make a pasta salad, so that will be lunch tomorrow along with the remaining chicken. See, the possibilities are endless when you have an oven you know how to work.
Well, enough for today. We've had to alter our plans a bit, since it turns out we have a project meeting scheduled for Friday that we had forgotten about. So now we're planning to hit the outlets in Switzerland on Sunday, and go to the Jazz festival and Rome next weekend. Alicia Keys will be at the jazz fest, but not sure which day. We have to finish planning it out. I'm about to go watch a movie, and enjoy the cool breeze coming through my window (finally! that's only b/c it was raining not long ago). I've been asked for pictures of the items I have purchased, so I've posted some of my buys from here in Milan and from London, along with pics from the Armani mall, Ticinese, and 10 Corso Como. Enjoy! Ciao! http://picasaweb.google.com/keeshaun/July8thArmaniTicinese10CorsoComoAndMyBuys