One More Visit - the AOC and 10 CC

I slept in this morning. I woke up around 9:30 to the sound of loud banging outside my window (this is pretty typical - they are doing construction nearby). It persisted for about 10 minutes. I finally dozed back off and around 10:15 I was awakened by another equally loud noise (not sure what it was). At that point, I just laid in my bed and refused to get up until 11. I had a mind to do a lot of things this morning but none of it actually happened. I was going to walk to Biffi and see what they had that was new. I was going to go to the post office and try to mail some of these Vogue Italia magazines back to the states (there's no space for them in my suitcase). I was also going to try to find a greeting card for Simone and Susanna. None of that quite happened though. I'm not sure why - I think I just got sidetracked. I sent out my updated slide for the presentation and started checking email - next thing I knew it was 1:50, and the post office closed at 2, and we had class at 2:30 so I just sorta gave up.
Today was my last class with Susanna. It was fun - we talked about where we are from. I talked about the Bronx, so I printed out a map, and talked about the things that are so great about my borough (you know, Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo, the Botanical Garden, the Boriquas and Dominicans...lol). Susanna doesn't know much about the Bronx so it was both fun and educational. We also finished up past tense and learned the exceptions. At the end of class, Susanna gave me her personal email address and we said our goodbyes. She told me to let her know if I ever return to Milan and for us to stay in touch as friends, which I thought was very nice. I am definitely planning to stay in touch. She also loaned us two books today with information about restaurants. She was supposed to give us some restaurant recommendations a while ago but she had forgotten and Rita reminded her last class. So she brought the books today except I'm on my way out so unfortunately I won't benefit much. One of the books had information on ethnic stores to shop at as well, and as I was looking through it I came across a page on African Oriental Craft - the store I had went to a few weeks ago when I went to the 10 Corso Como outlet. It was closed then and I had decided I wasn't going back after the maze of a walk it took for me to get there. Today, however, since I didn't have plans after class, I was inspired to attempt it again since the review in the book made it seem worth a visit.
So after class, I hopped on the 29/30 tram towards the Brera area. Things were going good until the tram decided to go off course (well, off course compared to the route my map said it should have been going). According to the map, I was in the general vicinity, so I ended up walking randomly in the general direction of the store. About a 20 minute walk later, I finally arrived at the store, and it was nothing like what I imagined (I'm not quite sure what I imagined but what I saw wasn't it). I think I expected a small shop, but it was an extremely big space. They had a balcony level lined with glass cases full of jewelry, and the main floor had four long rows full of merchandise - everything from jewelry, hair accessories, bags, and clothing to picture frames, posters, bedding, and pillows. It was massive. Almost immediately I saw a ring that was very "different" (translation: I liked it a lot). It was sterling silver with lots of little dangling circles hanging out the center (I'm not sure if this description is doing it any justice but that's what it looked like). They had some with single color "danglies" and one which was multicolored. I kept it in the back of my mind and kept looking. Then I saw some bracelets - very colorful with bright, glitzy designs. I liked those too. Then I saw another set of bracelets that I liked even better. This is how my visit to African Oriental Craft progressed. Just when I thought I found something that I thought was perfect, I'd see something else that I wanted even more. If you ever come to Milan, visit this place. Needless to say, after about 40 minutes browsing the store, I left with several handfuls of beautiful jewelry. I ended up getting that ring too. In purple. Lol.
Since I was in the area, I figured I'd pay one last visit to the 10 Corso Como outlet to see if they had anything new in the last two weeks. I'm glad I did that. They had way more clothes out front than they had during my last visit. More accessories too. I didn't stay very long but I did manage to rack up some insane deals on clothing. I broke my jeans diet (again) and bought a pair of John Galliano's. I also bought a pair of brown Balenciaga slacks, but there is no fitting room at 10 Corso Como (the main store or the outlet) so I took a chance (they were only 10 euros so I was willing to take the chance). Luckily, the JG's fit. The Balenciaga's however are a little tight in the thigh. So if any of you can wear a size 4 and have smaller thighs than me - they're up for grabs.
When I left the outlet, I wasn't quite sure where I could catch the 29/30 (since the routes clearly weren't following my map) so I walked to Corso Como and went to the main store just to see if there was anything new. Not really. They had a new Chloe bag - this season's version of one I saw at the outlet. The prices were actually pretty similar though since the main store is 50% off right now. I left empty-handed. I walked down Garibaldi and passed a lot of really cute shops but I was getting tired at this point. I stopped into the same gelato place that I went to during my last visit to the area. This time I got mango and lemon. Good choices - they taste good together. Then, as I was walking toward the tram stop, I passed a bakery that smelled way too good to pass by. It must have been good b/c there were a ton of people in there and there was food everywhere. Turns out they were having aperitivo (this is the first time I've seen a bakery do aperitivo, but the food looked and smelled really good). They had pasta salads, mozarella and tomato, focaccia, and some small slits of bread that looked like Papa Johns cheesesticks. I stood by the bakery part and waited to order then I noticed that everyone had slits of paper with numbers written on them and they were calling for orders by the number. I finally found the number dispenser near the entrance and grabbed one. By the time they finally called me, I was almost finished my gelato. I ordered a prosciutto "pizza" (well, technically it was focaccia with lots of cheese and prosciutto laid across the top, but, with a dab of tomato sauce, it would've been a pizza). It looked really good, and tasted even better. I couldn't find anywhere to sit and eat it (unless I was staying for aperitivo, which I wasn't - not with all my bags) so I walked down the street, looked in shop windows, and ate until it was all gone. The further I got to the tram stop, the less likely I was to find a store open. Most stores close at 7, and it was after 8 at this point. So I hopped on the tram and came home.
Tomorrow we have our presentation at 10:30 in the morning at the client's offices. I'm not looking forward to it, b/c I know its going to be a mess. Apparently, our team met today around 2pm. But me, Rita, and Sabrina (the 3 non-Bocconi students) were never informed. We just happened to run into Sabrina on the tram on our way to Italian class, and she just happened to have gone shopping with Kathleen this morning who told her about the meeting. Ale sent out an email this afternoon with my name on the list of people interviewing Illy next Tuesday. I politely responded that I will be back in the United States as of Monday. I also asked if someone could send out the final presentation along with an outline of who was presenting which slides before tomorrow's meeting (ie. by tonight at the latest) and never got a response. Not that I was expecting one. Nor am I expecting to receive the presentation, but I figured it was worth putting how I feel out there. Tomorrow after the presentation, Rita and I are meeting with Stefania to talk about how we can be involved in the future of the project. I know they are having a big event in NYC in September I believe in conjunction with Wharton's Baker Retailing Initiative, and I am certainly going to put in my bid now for an invite. I also really want to conduct interviews with folks in the states. I already gave the client my availability to interview next week in NYC but I haven't heard of any interviews set up just yet. Some of the team members interviewed Bain yesterday. I wasn't interested in that one. I'm sure they will have some really exciting ones in Italy in September. Too bad I won't be here.
Anyway, it's 11. Since I have to be ready to go early tomorrow, I think I'm going to bed soon (I may change my mind and decide to watch a movie - who knows). Until tomorrow. Pray that all goes well, and that it's not such a hot mess. Ciao!