Ciao for the last time! This week was our final full week here in Milan, during which we did a lot of showroom and museum visits to end off our explorations in Italian design here, and ended off the week with our farewell dinner on Friday evening in which we said our final goodbyes to our lovely professor Kate and our wonderful chaperones and staff at IES – Emma, Rami and Alessia, who we will all miss very dearly! It’s been very bittersweet knowing that our time here in Milano is coming to a close, but I’m so incredibly grateful to have this experience, especially ahead of my capstone year, I feel far better prepared for it now and a lot less scared to face it and am so excited to apply the lessons and knowledge I’ve gained here in Milan to my capstone project!
Despite how scared I was coming into the program to be away from home for so long, I didn’t think I’d be sad to leave and I’d actually be looking forward to it, but now as I write this about 2 full days away from my return back home, I obviously am, but I feel like that’s a testament to my growth while here as well, both as an individual and as a designer. I was very nervous the first few days here and worried I’d never get acquainted with my surroundings and to being in a new country, but obviously I was very wrong; it made me realize how strong I am and that if I can successfully make it through this, then surely I can do so much more~
Onto this week’s visits! This week we visited the Triennale, which had some incredible and eye-opening exhibits focusing on art and design, including some data visualizations that I know my design friend back home and a professor of mine would approve of~ I even found an exhibit on traditional Peruvian street art and lettering, it made my Latina heart happy to find the same type of colorful, vibrant work I’d see back home on display in Milan and to read the artist’s synopsis and process in Spanish in a book attached to the display!
Next highlight of this week was our visit to Museo Alessi, which we traveled to the town of Omegna for. Not only is Omegna a beautiful town, but our visit to Alessi was just as wonderful as well, where we got to see their entire archive and collection of product prototypes, sketches, etc. for items they currently have available for purchase but also for items that are no longer sold by them and or even ones that were ready for production but never made it there in the end. We got a very informative presentation from Francesca, their curator, and the opportunity to look through the shelves of their collection to pick out an item we’d redesign for our Alessi (Reconsidered) assignment. It was really fun getting to sketch out the item my partner and I had chosen in real time and to study the different elements of it, as well getting to go through their collection and seeing the variety of materials, colors, textures, and styles of all the products they’d ever produced. It really stuck with me how playful yet functional their designs were, and just how much thought and attention was put into everything they produce as well. After our visit, I had to hold myself back from spending so much at their shop, and we had a lovely lunch followed by a walk alongside the lake with the most beautiful view~
And now for a bit of a sentimental part: As my new friends and I were aboard a bus to Switzerland this Saturday and I looked at our view of the Alps out the window, it hit me that I’d be returning home soon and made me realize how grateful and lucky I was to have had this experience to begin with. As I started college, I never would have thought that I’d ever have the opportunity to study abroad, much less in a program specific to the Design department given our size. Even a few months ago, I worried that I was no longer going to be able to participate in the program, and I never would’ve guessed that in just a few months time I’d not only overcome the challenges I was facing at the time but also be experiencing Europe for the very first time, get to see such beautiful and inspirational works of design and art, all while making new friends for all sorts of fields of study (and enjoying some really amazing food too :) I will be forever grateful for this experience and hold the memories I’ve made here in Milano and these past few weeks very closely to my heart, but also know that this experience wouldn’t have been made possible without so many other people: my roommate and design bestie Grace who pushed me to apply knowing more than I did at the time how good of an experience this would be, our wonderful professor Kate, who trusted and believed in me enough to accept me to participate in this program and who has been incredible source of support and guidance in every class I’ve taken with her during my time here in the design program at UT, as well as my former design professors who have believed in me more than I have in myself at times and made me realize how capable I am, especially in particular Cat, who wrote my recommendation letter for me to participate in this program, I would not be here if it weren’t for you and I will forever be grateful to have had you as a professor! (and also a very special shoutout to the scholarship I received, I cried when I got the email that I had received one :’)
I know this isn’t a total goodbye and that one day I will come back to Milan, I’m so happy to have been able to call it home this past month and been able to explore and get to know such a beautiful city and know it will also always hold a special place in my heart too!
Arrivederci for now Milano, and a presto! Hasta la próxima~
