Category: Pamela, El Hayek

In my head, Venice is a magical city that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, so visiting it was a dream come true. At first we arrived to Treviso and it was such a cute little town. Everyone in this town was so nice! We went for drinks, met some locals, watched soccer games and cheered all night. They also had the best gelato store, it was so fresh. When I first arrived to Venice, I went outside of the train station and looked around for a few seconds… it was exactly what I expected and more. The buildings were right at the shore, people were commuting in boats, and the metro system was based on taxi buses.

As a class, we went to a museum with many floors and multiple attracting pieces. Then, we headed to lunch and we got to explore the city. We walked between some fancy shops, and we walked between the market where everyone was trying to sell Murano glass. I got all my friend’s souvenirs from Venice and that gave me a piece of mind. After walking through its tiniest pathways and taking the boat to get from a destination to another, we met with the class to visit a store where they made the glass. That store was on a different island so we had to take the boat bus!

On the boat, I was splashed with sea water and my hair changed completely, it loves sea water. It looked a lot better so I wasn’t too upset about it.

At the store, we weren’t able to see them make the glass, but the ladies were very sweet and gave us a souvenir at the end. However, my favorite part of this weekend was at the Tipoteca Italian Fondazione; we got to assemble our names and make posters. I really enjoyed the work especially since it was like a puzzle and the men that were helping us were the sweetest people on earth.

I wish we spent more time there but other than that, this weekend is to forever be remembered.

On Wednesday we had a trip to Armani/Silos to look at their clothes. At first, the museum had a series of paintings that told a story about a Jewish guy in Venice with his puppet. After reading the story, there was many mini stories, represented by pictures. They were kind of silly and I didn’t understand many of some of them; still they were nice to look at. On the first floor, there were many accessories laid down. Some of them were nice, but very few would I actually wear. I went quickly through them and headed to the other side where they had the outfits. At first, many of the outfits were suits for men and women, but not many of them were attractive. Some of the items were nice but most of them didn’t even go together. I moved to the second floor and Claire joined me while we went through the last two floors together. We went through every single piece of clothes and judged it: we either buy it, remodel it or don’t buy it at all. Many of the items wouldn’t have been purchased by us, many others were modified and redesigned and very few would have been purchased. For example, we’d either decide to change the material, the patters or the colors as if we were actual designers (we would make nicer clothes if we were.) After that, I watched some of the commercials that they were playing and left. After the museum, I went home, then to Éclair de Genie to have the best éclairs I ever tried. They were colorful and very tasteful. Finally, I got together with my group and we worked on the project together!

After a long fun week, I took the bus to Bellinzona to meet my Swiss friend that I haven’t seen in more than 4 years. I was late to the bus and almost missed it, but I got there when the driver was planning to leave. On the way, the view was amazing; the mountains arched down to meet the water, reflecting their image. The green trees covered the side of the road, the sun was just peeking… It was magical. When I almost made it to Lugano, the first stop, the driver had to take the town road instead of the highway to avoid the police (questionable but worth it). Lugano was breathtaking! Going through the town streets, the lake reached so far and so long it was hard to miss. The sun was a bit higher and I could start seeing the light hit the water and make it look like diamonds are floating on the surface.

About 45 minutes later, the driver announced that we got to Bellinzona and I left the bus, however I was actually 30 minutes far from the city, by foot. I asked around and took a bus to get to the city where I met my friend. Since we were both strangers, we first started by walking around the city. It was very busy, and many locals had food stands on the streets as if it was Saturday food market. Also, it was the Italian canton, so most locals spoke more Italian than Swiss-German. We walked through the stands and sat at park for a little, then we decided to eat. She really wanted me to try Swiss beer, so we kept looking till we found a restaurant that served good beer and we ate there.

After, we decided to visit the Castle of Bellinzona, it was huge! We walked all around it, and we went underground. After the long walk, we had a glass of Coca-Cola in the castle’s courtyard like true princesses, only we weren’t! After the castle, my friend took me to buy Swiss chocolate and then I took the train back to my bus station. The day was very fun and I wish I stayed longer, but the best part was seeing my friend again :)

 

After a long flight and a furious arrival, my first week was actually pretty good. Even though I am not a design major, professor Catterall made It very easy for non-design students to understand the art and the design and appreciate it as well. My favorite visit of that first week was the Rossana Orlandi museum; it was very interesting. I liked most the art that was present, and even though they did not make sense when put together in the same space, the guide was still able to give us a unique story and enlighten us about most pieces. Also, what I love about Italy is how close it is to my home country Lebanon. The driving, the people, the buildings, the restaurants… Even the flowers! It almost feels like I have known Milan forever.

Before I left, a family friend that has been to Italy told me “Pizza and gelato every day” and let me tell you something, he is so right! The Italian cuisine is delicious and if I don’t have a gelato daily, my day doesn’t go well.

My best friend from France visited me this weekend as well after not seeing her for months… It was great. We were counting the days and it felt unreal to see her again, but I am glad I did, even for a short time. We visited the Duomo together, watched a heated soccer match in a bar, ate lots of gelato and went happy hour together. This weekend was definitely a success!

 

I cannot wait to experience Milan and the rest of Italy over the time left and learn as much as I can about design, an elective that I’m starting to love and appreciate!