As my departure date drew closer, I was starting to become an anxiety stricken wreck, just ask my mother.  It was deciding what to pack, and thinking about staying under the fifty pound weight limit were most difficult to me. I also am the biggest procrastinator, so when did I finally decide to pack, Sunday night, aka the night before my flight. Finally Monday June 3rd had arrived, and that night I would be taking an Alitalia flight out of JFK International Airport in New York at 7:15pm with Alyssa Haray. As my mother and father dropped me off at the airport I started to tear up. I get to the check-in line and what do you know, my suitcase weighs exactly 50.0 lbs. I could not have planned that if I tried, and I guess I will not be bringing home any heavy souvenirs. Finally on the plane, the excitement kicked into full gear because I did not get one wink of sleep on my seven and a half hour flight. Arriving in Italy at 9:30am, which is 3:30am EST, it was a bit of a shock. Some of the girls were there to meet Alyssa and I as we got into arrivals, and I felt completely at ease. At 10:30 Professor St. Jean, and Professor McCrohan arrived with the bus hat would take us to the airport, and our new paparazzi for the month Fulvio. He will be with us as close to 24/7 as possible, video taping our every moves, since we will be new web reality stars here in Milan. As all 20 of us arrive at the hotel, we have time to unpack and unwind for a little bit, before all the fashion madness begins.

View from Hotel Mennini

We start out the gate running, first with a small walking tour of the area around our hotel, such as a supermarket, pharmacy, shopping, and of course the gelato shop. After that it was time for our welcome dinner. At this point we were all running on over 24 hours of no sleep, but we kept on going, just like the energizer bunny. Then we went over the itinerary of the entire month, and I could tell even though we were all miserably tired, excitement still filled the room. But I think we all may have been a little but more excited when the professors finally said,”Okay girls, we are done for the night, you can go to bed.” 

Joking around at the Public Garden

Waking up the next morning was a little but harder than expected, but knowing we had a lot planned for the day ahead, it made it easier. Today was the first day we used our metro cards, which give us access to all trains in Milan for the month, and surprisingly no one got lost or left behind. Our first appointment was with Maria Chiara, and Elenora Monti, the wonderful women of Pink and Chic, a fashion PR agency, bright and early at 10am. We arrived early and were able to walk around the Milan Public Gardens, and it immediately reminded me of being home in New York, at Central Park. As our appointment time came near we went to Pink and Chic and Maria, and Elenora gave us such insightful information. Before arriving in Italy, I was not 100% sure what a PR agency exactly did, but they were able to clear that up right away.  They work with designers, to work on brand image, and event organization, also with journalists who are able to help with that process, and stylists, who are able to come in and choose products to shoot for magazines. Two main ways they are able to get these designers out there are with press releases, which are meant to be fun, and eye catching to the reader to get them interested, and look books, which show the collection with multiple pictures of the designers pieces. While at Pink and Chic we were able to meet Bimbi DiStefano of DotGirl. She is a fashion designer turned blogger here in Italy. She explained to use that fashion is not just in clothing shoes and accessories, but in everything around you such as art, and emotions, but not in pasta. Fashion is you, add your style and your personality to it, and make it fun. She was able to give us all some great insight into our blogs, and my favorite line she said was, “Always be different, and experiment.”

Group with Maria, Elenora, and Bimbi

After we left Maria’s office, Professor St.Jean told the group that two girls who be chosen to attend a press release party tonight for an up and coming sunglass company with Fulvio. Drum roll please.......I was chosen! Along with Kim Wehterbee! Finally picked first where it counts, and not in high school gym class for dodgeball where I was no where near first to being picked. I’ll tell you more about that later. First we were al thrown our first curve ball, to find our way back to the hotel on the metro without our professors, and then a few ours later find our way to the Duomo to meet back up with them. Challenge accepted! Let’s just say the metro here is a lot more easy to take than any subway in New York City. All of us, 20 girls, were able to find our way back without any trouble. 

We now had time to break into our groups, and work on our project by our sponsor here in Milan, Veneto Banca, an Italian based market firm that wants to invest in a new company that will be a strong competitor in the retail industry, and wether or not that new company should be luxury, or independent. 

Next was the challenge to take the metro and meet our professors at the Duomo. We were all able to get there without getting lost, and early. Walking out of the metro station all of our jaws dropped. The Duomo is such a beautiful piece of architecture that it took a while for us to soak it all in. Afterwards Professor St. Jean and Professor McCrohan showed us around all of the shops in this area. They went from H&M, Zara, and Mango, to Louis Vuitton, Prada, Celine, and any other luxury store you could think of. As the rest of our friends were able to explore, Kim and I had to go back to the Hotel to get ready for the night ahead of us.

Beautiful architecture at the Duomo

Fulvio met us in the lobby at 6pm to take us to our first party. It did not hit us until we got there that we would be rubbing elbows with anyone who is anyone, but it also did not click that everyone we would want to talk to most likely spoke very little English. The displays of sunglasses were a sight to be seen. Fulvio then said we were off to yet another party. This one was for a spanish espadrille company that was just starting up, where we met Andrea Tisci, who was coming to talk to our group the next morning at the hotel. This night was fun and exciting because we saw exactly what Maria and Elenora spoke to us about earlier. 

Press Release part time with Kim Wetherbee!

The next morning we woke up and Andrea Tisci, another famous fashion blogger here in Italy, from Fashion Ancien, came to speak to us about the art of blogging. He told us that every blog has a mission, and that comes from the heart. Also every blog has a target audience and a theme. To be a great blogger you must be yourself, and have followers, but it is better to have the quality of your blog be up to your standards, rather than the quantity of your followers. The easiest way to gain followers is with a hashtag, it will get more people to notice your blog if you highlight the keywords of your posts with hashtags. The photos on your blog should have meaning behind them, and look professional. Andrea also said to always find new things, do your research, and find something exclusive. My favorite quote he said to us was, “Just living is an art, you can be the art.” I took that as living your life to the fullest and capturing every moment because not only is art in a museum, but it is in everything you do.

Andrea Tisci, Fashion Ancien

Later that day, we had to ourselves. This was a time to really explore. A few girls and I went shopping by the Duomo. It was fun just to have time to relax and do what fashion majors do best, shop. We all came back to the hotel later that night with at least one bag in tow. On our way back to the metro we saw multiple street performers that were particularly eye catching. First was a man who seemed to defy gravity and work in slow motion with rings, and a glass orb. Next were three very good looking men that were doing all types of acrobatics and crazy break dancing moves, who came a little to close at some moments during their performance, but it was funny to watch. 

Friday was a day full of walking. Many girls already had blisters that were now getting worse, and the girls without blisters came home that day with new ones. Professor St. Jean was not joking when she said to bring your most comfortable shoes.

We started the day at Fashion Camp, which was a place for the italian fashion community to come and meet. A lot of bloggers, journalists, stylists, and others in the community can share tips and tricks of the trade.  There were many sponsors there such as Yves Saint Laurent, Samsung, and many more, along with a pop-up boutique of many independent retailers in Italy. It was a great experience to see the community come together and display their hard work. 

Our next visit was to the Branca Museum, and Fernet Branca Distilleries. We were able to take a tour of the museum with our two tour guides Marco, and Michaele. They showed us how after six generations the distillery is still being run by the same family. Not only was it to show us the past, with historical manufacturing system, advertisements, and their experimental liquors, along with their ones that have stayed in the collection, but also into present day. We then put on our oh, so trendy white coats and hats to take a tour of where the alcohol is fermented in large oak barrels for many of years at a time. I was most surprised to hear that the building held 800 of the huge barrels. On our way back to the room where we kept our belongings, what else is a fashion major to do but design a wedding dress out of the white coats my friends and I were wearing, and it took no more than 5 minutes. We then thanked our tour guides and went on to our next appointment. 

During our tour.

Last of the day we went to the Leghila store, where we picked up our bags that are ours to use for the remainder of our trip. At the end of our 30 days one winner will get to keep this bag, but the contest is to take great pictures with this bag and post them on instagram with the hashtag #Leghila. These bags are so fashion forward, lightweight, and even machine washable. This was the last stop of the day. 

Not even a full week has gone by and I feel as if many great opportunities have been put in front of me. As for the rest of my days here, I want to gain more knowledge, and soak in as much culture and fashion as possible. This is an experience that will stay with me forever. Therefore I am taking as many pictures as I can, and have vowed to myself never to eat at the same restaurant twice.