city shopping with Jesye - Milan

I remember when I first moved to Denver, Colorado from Rochester, New York... it was a weird realization to think that I had no friends. At least no friends in the city I had just moved to! I wanted to wear a sign on the front of my shirt that said something like: "Just moved here... need friends." ...and on the back of my shirt: "Don't worry, I'm normal (kind of)." HA!

With time and with getting involved in things (like an ultimate frisbee league and weekly Bingo at the local dive bar), I met some great people and friendships grew. (It also helped that I moved in with Lenny, my oldest brother, and met all of his friends - who are awesome people).

There are a lot of really nice people at the school I'm working at here in Italy. That's really good. Still though, it takes time for friendships to grow...

Jesye is this great girl who's 23-years old and is awesome enough (and brave enough!) to move her life abroad for her first year of teaching. ...She's also from the Rochester, NY area! YEAH!

Having both chosen to stay in Milan for our first 3-day weekend when many people took the advantage of the holiday and traveled... Jesye and I spent time together and got into the city. We both love to shop... we both love bagels and coffee... and we both can laugh at pretty stupid things.    : )  That all makes me really happy.

...Having both chosen to stay in Milan for our second 3-day weekend holiday (last weekend)... we spent time together again... with bagels, coffee, and shopping! Perrrrrfect.

It always feels awesome to find people whom you can laugh with and enjoy spending time with.

New friendships in my new city! ...and hopefully more to come   : )

Can't go wrong with starting a day in the city with bagels and coffees-to-go!

A 5th-grader asked Jesye if her and I are sisters.... Ha!... I can see it!

Coming to the plaza with the Duomo, that's where we catch the 24 tram back towards Opera...

We ran into Heath! - a science teacher in the Upper School who has just started at ASM too.

(Ali - another new teacher - was with Heath... she was the photographer for the photo below.)

Then Jesye and I attempted a self-taken photo of us with the Duomo in the background...
But we could not get the Duomo to fit with our heads on her iPhone... and hilariously this is what we ended up with (unplanned):

Cute.

Mmmm 3-day weekend!

We have Columbus Day off from school - YEAH!

I am loving this 3-day weekend!

Many teachers are traveling this weekend... very cool... but I'm soaking up the extra time to rest and enjoy the city. I haven't actually gotten into Milan to explore much yet, so it's nice to have the extra day to do so AND be able to relax and enjoy the weekend.

Yesterday, Jesye (another new teacher - from Webster, NY!) and I went into the city... we started at the Bagel Factory... Mmmmm... fresh orange juice and breakfast bagels!

Aaaand then we got cappuccinos for the road! ...So cute...

BAGELS!

This past Sunday morning I went into the city on public transportation and met up with a returning teacher, Grace. This is Grace's 2nd year at ASM and like many teachers, after her first year here, she's moved into the city.

We went by a cafe to grab coffees to-go... and the lady at the counter already knows Grace's name! We then walked to another area in the city... to go to The Bagel Factory (in Piazza Maggio). YES!

We each had a breakfast sandwich on a bagel (fried egg, cheddar cheese, and bacon). ...They even have fresh orange juice!

Amazing. ...I feel that any city with a good bagel at hand... is a city that I can live in.   :D

BAGELS!

Lexey and Lenny gave me a bag of bagels to bring back to Italy... YESSSSS!

Love love love a freezer filled with bagels  :D

They safely made it back in my carry-on...

Lenny even brought me a dozen bagels to Vietnam last March when he came to visit. ...The bag of poppy seed bagels ended up opening and there were poppy seeds all over his clothing and luggage  :P  haha.

...Thank you Lenny and Lexey!!

A returning teacher did point out a bagel shop in the city one day. I'm definitely going to try making my way there some weekend. So far, I know that I take the 222 bus from Opera, to the 24 tram, and transfer to the 9 tram.

She even said you can get cheddar cheese at the shop   : )  The CoOp supermarket in Opera has a bunch of mozzarella and provolone cheeses but I would love some cheddar. I also plan on looking for more cheeses at the local Opera market tomorrow morning.