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Day 48 | What an incredible 48 days it has been. I will be eternally grateful to @lehighu & Lee Iacocca for giving me the opportunity to work, travel and learn in Italy, and for helping to pave the way toward my goal of becoming an international journalist. I will always treasure all of the people, places and experiences that made this trip so unbelievably remarkable. Grazie mille! #globallehigh (at Aeroporto di Milano Malpensa)

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Arrivederci, LUXOS!

After six weeks of interning full time for LUXOS magazine, it was time for Nadine and me to bid farewell to our lovely coworkers.

Though we worked really hard uploading all of the print content to the web, we also had the opportunity to form strong bonds with our supervisors, Ashleigh and Christina. Both women are really intelligent, kind and interesting, so we learned a lot from them about both work and life in our weeks at LUXOS.

In the last few days of my internship, I also had the opportunity to pitch, write, format and publish one of my own articles for the website. After all these weeks of uploading content, it was so exciting to see my own work on luxos.com!

The LUXOS team was also kind enough to throw a farewell party for us and several other people who were leaving the office. It was a bittersweet moment, as it was nice to feel like part of the family, but also sad to be leaving!

I’m so very grateful for all of the opportunities that I’ve had throughout my time in Italy. I have had the chance to work for an international magazine, travel to many different cities, learn a new language, explore a different culture, eat great food and make many friends along the way. These past seven weeks seen been some of the best experiences of my entire life so far, and I will treasure these memories for the rest of my life! Endless thanks to Lehigh University, Lee Iacocca and everyone who helped make this possible.

Arrivederci, Italia! I hope we will meet again someday!

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During our final weekend in Italy, we took a day trip to Venice. Though the sites were gorgeous, being in a city surrounded by water (and no cars in sight!) made me remember how much I appreciate Milan’s efficient public transportation network.

While getting from place to place in Venice involves getting lost among the unmarked streets and bridgeless canals, traveling in Milan is so much more organized. There are so many transportation options at your disposal – buses, trains, trams and the metro (as well as bike rentals).

In general, even traveling from city to city in Italy is great. In our time here, we’ve taken all kinds of trains and buses to get around the country. We even took a 2.5-hour high-speed train to Rome, which would’ve taken us more than 6 hours to get to by car.

As a big proponent of public transportation, I love that I have so many options to choose from here. So while Venice was great, I don’t ever see myself living in a city that is so difficult to get around!

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This weekend, one of my closest friends from Poland came to visit me in Italy! I was really excited to give her a tour of my host city and show off a bit of the Italian that I’ve learned so far.

On Friday, I took Joanna around to some of my favorite sites in Milan, and she also got a chance to sample some Italian cuisine, including lasagna and gelato. We had a fun time exploring the city, despite the heat.

The low point of the day was when I got robbed as I was going down the stairs to the metro. Luckily, I felt as my wallet was being removed from my purse, so I was able to confront the thief. Because I didn’t know enough Italian to accuse the woman of stealing my wallet, I had to use very frustrated hand motions and facial expressions to motion to her to give it back. I was ultimately able to retrieve it, but it was still a very unpleasant experience.

However, things turned around that evening when Joanna and I met with some of my friends to get pizza at a restaurant that had been recommended to me by past Iacocca interns. The food was great – arguably the best pizza I’ve ever had – and so was the company!

The next day, Joanna and I took the train to Verona, the city made famous by William Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’. I absolutely loved Verona, as it was beautiful, peaceful and felt very quintessentially Italian. We spent the day roaming the streets and seeing the sites, including Juliet’s balcony and the Giardino Guisti. (We also saw plenty of couples get married and engaged along the way!)

Sunday was Joanna’s last day in Italy, but we made the most of it by visiting the city of Bergamo for a few hours. We explored the Citta Alta, which is a hilltop medieval town. It was a beautiful day and the views from the top were absolutely incredible!

I really hope Joanna enjoyed her trip to Italy! It was great to be able to show her around and tell her all about what I’ve learned about the country’s language, history and culture.

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Can you believe these views from Cinque Terre?

We got the chance to take a break from the full-time internship grind by travelling to this string of centuries-old villages on the Italian Riviera coastline. For three days we hiked, swam, ate seafood and explored the five beautiful seaside towns. 

It was definitely an unforgettable experience!

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What a day!

After days of running into male models on the metro, my fellow LUXOS intern Nadine and I had the opportunity to actually attend two Men’s Fashion Week events for work - the Etro fashion show and the Calvin Klein presentation. For someone like me who is not well versed in high fashion, this was a very new experience.

I had so many questions: What do I wear? How do I act? How does this all even work? (Scenes from ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ replayed in my head.)

Luckily, living in Milan and people-watching on the metro have taught me a few things about fashion. (People here dress really well ALL THE TIME!)

As far as I can tell, though, Fashion Week events are essentially occasions for well-dressed people to mingle and look at nice clothes while nibbling on fancy-looking snacks and sipping champagne. Although I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb, I don’t think anyone really noticed.  Or if they did, they were good about hiding their criticism.

Nadine and I watched the Etro show and took pictures and videos, which were later posted to our magazine’s Instagram. The show was quite visually interesting, but I was surprised that the entire thing only lasted a few minutes!

After that, we used our press credentials to get into the Calvin Klein presentation. It was cool to get a sneak peak at the new collection, but we were sort of disappointed that there weren’t any models around.

That evening, it was time for another incredible experience. We met the rest of the interns, as well as our professor, Jack Lule, at Teatro alla Scala (one of the leading opera houses in the world!). We were there to attend a performance by one of Italy’s most famous pianists, Marizio Pollini.

Pollini played multiple pieces by one of my favorite composers, Fryderyk Chopin, and his performance was absolutely breathtaking. At the end, he received many standing ovations and performed multiple encores!

Not bad for a Monday.

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Our group posing with a Lehigh flag in various locations in Rome!

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I am still at a loss for words after visiting Roma. It was by far the most beautiful city I have ever visited in my life. It had been my dream to go there, and reality truly surpassed every single expectation. 

In three days, we: 

Befriended a middle-aged pizzeria owner named Luca. He didn’t speak much English and we didn’t speak much Italian, but we still managed to have a great conversation using hand gestures, facial expressions and broken bits of both languages. We learned that Luca is a big fan of American sports, and told him about our jobs in Milan. Attempting to interact with the locals here has been highly amusing (and sometimes embarrassing), but thankfully most Italians are patient and understanding. We’ve befriended many taxi drivers and waiters who are always happy to share their language and culture with us.

Visited the Vatican. Although I didn’t get to meet Pope Francis, I was floored by the beauty of the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica. We spent hours marveling at the incredible amounts of talent and effort that must have gone into the creation of such magnificent art and architecture.

Ate lots of excellent food (mostly pasta). Because ‘When in Rome’...

Roamed the streets. Just by wandering around, we came across plenty of beautiful sights and treasures throughout the city, from fountains and landmarks to a variety of street artists and musicians.

Explored ancient Roman history. One of the students in our group who is a history major took it upon himself to plan a whole itinerary surrounding the ruins of ancient Rome. Among other things, we explored the Roman Forum and the gaped in awe at the enormity of the Colosseum. 

Didn’t get robbed! We’d heard so many stories about petty theft in Rome so we were hyper-vigilant about our bags the entire time we were there. Luckily, our attentiveness paid off as none of us fell prey to any clever thieves!

Overall, I am immensely grateful that I had the opportunity to travel to Rome. However, three days was definitely not enough! I hope to travel back there again some day.

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Over the weekend, some of the other students and I took a two-day trip to the wonderful city of Florence (or Firenze, as the Italians call it). We visited the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, where Michelangelo’s ‘David’ is located along with many other beautiful pieces of Italian art. Most of our time was spent exploring the city on foot. The views certainly did not disappoint!

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Despite the heavy rains, Lago Maggiore was absolutely beautiful! We explored three different islands, including Isola Bella, which included a massive palace (Palazzo Borromeo) with a gorgeous garden.

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Interning at Luxos

It’s been an incredible first few weeks here in Italy! After a week of orientation in Milan and some traveling - we visited Florence and the islands of Lago Maggiore - I started my internship at Luxos last Monday. 

Luxos is a luxury lifestyle magazine that is distributed in 5-star hotels throughout the world. As a web content intern, my responsibilities include researching, writing and editing articles and photos for the magazine’s website. In addition to uploading content from the print publication onto the site, the other interns and I have been helping to do research for new pages about four German cities.

So far, the atmosphere at Luxos has been quite lovely. The staff consists of approximately 10 or 15 people, most of whom are either British or Italian. Everyone at work speaks English, which is very helpful. My coworkers are very nice and we spend a lot of time talking about our different cultures during lunch breaks.

I’m looking forward to continuing to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of working for an international magazine!

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Ciao da Milano!

Greetings from the majestic city of Milan, Italy!

I traveled here yesterday, along with fellow Lehigh students and Professor Jack Lule, to work in the city as part of the Iacocca Internship Program.

I am still quite jet-lagged, but also very eager to absorb every aspect of Italian life! My flatmates and I are living with an Italian student who is very lovely and helpful in answering all of our questions about the city, language and culture. She is also teaching us how to navigate the city’s impressive public transportation system.

Yesterday, after we arrived yesterday and unpacked our luggage, we met up with the rest of the American students and study abroad coordinators at Piazza del Duomo, the main square of Milan. Its main feature is Il Duomo - the largest cathedral in Italy, which took nearly six centuries to complete.

As a group, we walked to Bar Piccolo Teatro, where we partook in a northern Italian specialty - aperitivo. It was delicious.

Today, we had orientation at Università Cattolica and walked back to our apartment through Parco Sempione - Milan’s equivalent of New York’s Central Park. There, we saw Castello Sforzesco (a 15th-century castle) and Arena Civile (a multi-purpose stadium).

Milan is so beautiful and multifaceted! I can’t wait to continue exploring!