(4.1) 756. Hello, 2008!

Finally, some wi-fi access. The past two weeks the school for which I work has been closed, so I've had to check e-mail at the generic internet cafés. They don't serve coffee, only slightly outdated PCs. As far as I know, there is only one café in Brescia that offers wi-fi service and I'm here: Granaio in Piazzale Arnaldo--just a hop, skip, and a couple of jumps from my apartment. The 'connectability' is touch-and-go sometimes, and often I'd rather not bother with the hassle. Today, I'm lucky.

I prefer Milan's internet cafés. They serve coffee, and for just €1 I had my first American coffee in what feels like ages:

I spent the last day of 2007 in Milan. What a wonderful day! What made it especially nice was that I met up with my old roommate from Paris. (She is from Milan, but lives in Paris and was home for the holidays visiting family.)

Milan is just an hour away by train from Brescia. Milan is my San Francisco. Let me explain: I grew up in a small bedroom community 80 miles east of San Francisco. As soon as I and my friends could drive, we spent as much time as we could in S.F. In many ways, Brescia reminds me of my hometown and not in many good ways. Also, walking around Brescia is like walking down Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles: People judge you by your appearance. As much as I'd like silly things not to affect me, they do. I'm annoyingly sensitive like that.

As soon as I stepped out of the train station in Milan I felt a heaviness lift from my shoulders and back. My first thought was: "Wow, the oppression of Brescia has lifted!" I hadn't realized until that moment how out-of-place I feel in Brescia. Milan is much like San Francisco, it offers anonymity.

Plus, Milan has international bookshops! I finally got my hands on a magazine written in English and enjoyed many minutes browsing the book aisles. Heaven. Pure heaven. (By the way, I discovered a great little mag. Depending how you interpret the title, it either sounds a bit pompous or humorous. It's Intelligent Life and it's a new magazine from The Economist--another magazine I enjoy reading.)

Milan's center is beautiful and my first glimpse of Duomo took my breath away:

At night, it's even more amazing:



If I had one complaint about Milan, it's this: There are too many McDonald's cluttering up the place. I counted 4 on my walk from the train station to Duomo. However, I must give them kudos for not looking like a McDonalds. Check this out:

This is McDonald's--their "café".

Plus, I was able to enjoy another cup of American coffee, in a to-go cup to boot! I'm American, after all, I like my beverages to be mobile:

At the stroke of midnight, I was at home doing the dishes. I had plans with a London pal Rebecca to go out with her and her Italian friends. After the dishes, I put on a cute little number with Italian spaghetti straps and met my buddies for a couple of hours of dancing and cocktails.

Among Rebecca's group was a barman I'd met just the night before. "Small world!" I said when I saw him. The night before he offered me some passion fruit (first time I've had it, and yum!), and while I enjoyed the fruit another patron made me a napkin rose. I must say, it's nice being in Italy. The men are much less annoying than the Parisians and Irish men I've encountered. Flirtations are light and hardly ever cross the line.

Passion fruit--Yum!

So simple, and so sweet!

And talk about sweet... here's a picture of a delicious (but pricey) coffee I enjoyed last month on a short trip to Venice. Doesn't it look delicious?

Happy New Year!