Legs of Steel!

School's out for the summer now! Can I get a woohoo?!??!?!

I typically waste no time in heading out for the summer from Milan and this year was no different.

I planned a trip to Croatia, where I have wanted to go since way back in 2005 when Matt Lauer showed up in the Dubrovnik harbor proclaiming it the new 'Riviera'. I thought it was so spectacular on the small screen and real life was just that much better.

View from my terrace the first morning in Dubrovnik

I rented an apartment high above the city walls. It had the most amazing views. There was a cost to get those views, which had nothing to do with money.

Stairs. 356 of them. Or something close.

Climbing all of them makes you relatively delirious.

View on the way down. This was not even a third of it.

But, the views. They were SOOOOOOOO worth it.

The people of Dubrovnik, and all of Croatia for that matter, must have the most amazing legs. EVER.

The first full day in Dubrovnik I checked out the city walls (amazing- just go early, before the cruise ships) and shopped around the town. I found a Croatian woman doing some hand needlework and proceeded to drop a pile of cash on her wares. I had a beer overlooking the sea at Buza II. I had a sandwich with the most amazing bread at Skola and some pretty terrific ice cream at Dolce Vita.

from the highest point of the city walls

my sandwich from Skola

strawberry and lemon ice cream from Dolce Vita

I spent the afternoon at the beach. Croatia has the most amazing water. Crystal clear and crisp turquoise, blue and green waters. The beaches are more often pebbly than sandy and the water was still a bit cool, but overall the whole setting was pretty much breathtaking.

the beach next to the East West Beach Club

In the evening I ventured into a little vine bar, D'Vino that I had read about. I was interested in trying some Croatian wine and using my favorite wine app!

I had samples of 3 white and 3 reds, all produced in Croatia.

The second day I took a kayaking tour with Adriatic Kayak Tours. Now, Becky and Samantha will think this is hysterical because they are well versed in my mad kayak skills. Or my total lack thereof. (Thankfully, I'm still alive to write this post...barely.)

However, the guide, Kruno, was totally patient with me and tried to help me learn to improve my technique so that I would actually move forward. I'm clearly missing the gene that just makes the skill of paddling happen. Everyone else looks like they're just breezing along and I'm working my a*^ off.

We took a ferry to Lopud from Dubrovnik. There we geared up and took off in our kayaks...mind you...took off would clearly indicate I went somewhere rapidly, which is definitely not the case. We headed toward Sipan to a little cove where we could swim into a cave and jump off some cliffs.

Photo from http://www.find-croatia.com/islands-croatia/elafiti.html 

Do you know my family? These are things we just. don't. do.

So, it was a day of firsts. We had to dive down underwater through the cave entrance because it was high tide. Once through, you were in a totally open cavern with a surprising amount of light. Swimming in was fairly terrifying, but I just did it without thinking because I knew I would talk myself out of it. Swimming out I kicked our guide in the head. He was probably so glad to see me go at the end of the day. : )

After swimming into the cave, Kruno showed us several options for jumping from the cliffs into the sea. I was less afraid of jumping and more afraid of climbing to the point from which to jump. But, I just decided to find my way to the lowest point and jumped from there. (Hey, you gotta start somewhere!) I've got the scratches to prove it from the rock climbing on the way up.

After the caves, we kayaked over to a small village where we could leave our kayaks and be taken to another part of the island for lunch. The appetizer included anchovies that were actually good. Then we dined on local grilled fish and it was really delicious.

A small harbor on Sipan island

Our kayaks- could only get a couple of pics when we had our dry bags out!

We kayaked back to Lopud, where I've never been happier to return to solid ground.

But, it was truly a great day.

Lopud, as the sun was starting to descend.

But, the next time I mention that I want to go kayaking...will someone please STOP me!?!??!?!

And then I climbed 356 stairs back to my apartment.

Dying.

Dubrovnik harbor

All of my pictures, as always now, are available on Flickr. I've stopped uploading them to Facebook, so if you want to see them, you'll have to check out the link!

Some travel tips and points for others traveling to Dubrovnik, which I highly recommend. It has been one of my favorite places!

--Great article that helped me organize some of what I did from The Telegraph
--I rented this apartment. The woman who rents it out and manages it was really fabulous. Cheaper to rent off the site I've linked than Airbnb, where it is also listed.
--From the Dubrovnik airport, there is a bus company that runs shuttle service to the Pile Gate. It's only about 5 euro. From there, I took a taxi to the apartment so I wouldn't have to find it in the dark. Much cheaper than a taxi the whole way.
--The embroidery and needlecraft pieces I bought were from this shop.

The Jared Leto Show

Until about six months or so ago, I'm not sure I knew Jared Leto for anything other than being Jordan Catalano in My So Called Life and popping up from time to time in various movies. MSCL was one of my favorite shows back in the day. Wasn't it everyone's?

But, a few months back I happened upon a little documentary that featured Jared Leto and his band.

To learn that he was a musician that had put out several albums with a group; well, honestly, I really had no idea. But, I watched the documentary, Artifact, and then bought their latest album. Quite quickly, I became addicted and Jared and I started walking to school together every day.

Their tour schedule included two dates in Italy right before school let out and Caitlin decided to be a little crazy with me and we bought tickets for the show in Turin. It was the night before the last day of school. We hopped a train as soon as we could on Thursday and made our way to the show.

There was a DJ before the 30 Seconds to Mars show.

The entire show was all about Jared. We were off to one side, so had no real view of the left side of the stage. The two other musicians on the stage played no central role in the performance at all. We learned after the show that Shannon Leto, Jared's brother and band drummer, had been arrested for DUI and was still in jail in California. Bummer. But, me, the average fan...didn't really notice the difference.

If only that darn cameraman hadn't been in the way!

I was there to see that HAIR! And, I thought Jared put on a decent show given the circumstances.

They sent dozens of huge balloons into the audience near the beginning of the show. 

Here's a bit of the footage that I recorded during the show---

In the morning, we caught the first train back to Milan for the LAST day of school! : )

The Sidewalks of Milan

Living in Milan this year has been great. There are so many more things to do and less hassle to get to do them compared to living outside of the city. Public transportation makes almost every part of the city easily accessible and this year's great weather makes walking a feasible option too.

I walk a lot around Milan. One of my greatest annoyances of walking in Milan is the constant necessity of paying attention to all the things one encounters on the sidewalks. Whether it's the dog s*&#, Italians who refuse to share the space, people on bikes, or even cars (!!!!) you must always keep your eyes on what's in front of you.

Don't worry, I'm just gonna turn right here and find a spot!

The idea of driving on the sidewalk is so foreign to me. But, with the big city lacking the amount of parking needed for everyone who has a car, people make a parking spot out of any space available. And Italians do have some pretty amazing skills when it comes to parking, but I'm not always a fan of the places they choose to park.

The smart car- just a hair wider than the sidewalk.
Guess I'll walk in the street to get home.

Fellow Milan blogger Nerys has documented the crazy and ridiculous parking jobs she has witnessed too. Glad I'm not the only one who finds some of this totally insane!

I thought the idea of a sidewalk was to allow people to walk safely away from the cars in the road. 

A Peek Inside

There's only a few days left in our school year. Many of my friends in the US have finished, but here we are, trudging along, counting the days until June 20th.

This is the end of my third year in Milan and I've agreed to return again next year. After that, who knows what my path will be...stay in Milan? try out another international location? move back to the States? I haven't decided what's right for me. And the beauty of that? I don't have to just yet.

Several months back my sister asked for a post about the school where I work, ASM, and now feels like a good time to share a little about this place where I spend so much of my time.

the entrance to our school

A post about my job must start with the commute required to arrive at school. Since I don't own a car, public transportation is required to get to and from school every day.

Now that I live in the city of Milan, it takes about 45-50 minutes to get to school every day. (The previous two years, I lived in a small suburb called Opera, much closer to school.) I walk about 8 minutes from my apartment to the 24 tram, which I ride to the end of the line to a place called Vigentino. When the weather is nice, I skip the tram altogether and walk to the bus. It's a good way to burn off some of the pasta I eat around here. Then I switch from the tram to the 222 bus and ride until we reach Noverasco. Once in Noverasco, there's a footbridge to cross over the busy highway and another 10 minute walk the rest of the way to school. Despite it's length, I don't really mind the commute. Since I don't drive I have time to read, practice my Italian on Duolingo, or chat with some of my co-workers who are headed to work at the same time. We need to be at work by 8:30, so I usually leave by 7:15 to get there a few minutes early.

the inside of a tram

making the switch from the tram to the bus

School for elementary students starts at 8:50. Some of them ride buses contracted by a private company and many are picked up by parents or drivers. (There are no yellow school buses, or school provided transportation, for the Italian public schools. Everyone must find their own way to school via walking, public transportation, or by car.)

the back of the school gym

Our elementary school has three classes of each grade from Early Childhood (ages 3-4) up to grade 5. As the tech specialist, I help the teachers find ways to bring technology into their classrooms. Often this includes blogging, interacting with other classes via Skype or Google Hangouts, or recording student videos. Every day is different and unique. We have special area classes, just like schools in the US for art, music, PE, and science. We also have Italian language classes that all students from Kindergarten and up have daily. For Italian, the students are grouped by their language skills. Native Italian speakers are placed together and then students who are beginner and intermediate IAL (Italian as an Additional Language) students have groups as well. The variety and number of languages our students are able to speak is really quite amazing and mind blowing, quite honestly, given the lack of languages fluently spoken by most Americans. When a student stands before me and can speak at least three languages fluently and they are working on another, I'm embarrassed to admit my lack of language knowledge.

our school library

We have a middle and high school on our campus as well, since our school, and most international schools are designed to accommodate students K-12. Almost all the students and teachers purchase lunch in the school cafeteria. Every day there are primi (pastas or risotto) and secondi (meat with vegetable) options. A full lunch consists of both the primi, secondi, fruit and water.

my desk and office space

Our elementary school day ends at 3:35 and then the next day we get up and do it all over again. Despite the amazing travel opportunities I have living here, I still get up and go to work each day just like everyone else!

a 1st grade classroom

La Dolce Vita

Life in Milan is pretty sweet, and I mean that both literally and figuratively.

Thanks to my regular readers I'm so close to reaching 10,000 views and I'm nearing 100 published posts. Considering that half those views have happened in the last year, I know my readers have expanded beyond those that I know personally and to other expats around the world. So, thank you. And I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

The amazing weather has continued here and living in a big, metropolitan city means that there are lots of things happening every weekend.

This past Saturday, there was a Festa del Gelato in Piazza Castello. Of course, this was an event that needed my attention. For 12 euro you purchased a card that gave you four gelato samples of your choice, a sample of Nutella's gelato and a gelato cocktail.

Milan is a buzz with EXPO fever...beginning next May running through October.
This building is one of two EXPO 'gates', with the castle in the background.

I sampled some unique flavors with ingredients that aren't commonly used in more typical gelato flavors such as wine, poppy seeds, cannoli, and saffron.

Choose the flavor you're interested in off the tv screens and get in line!

our 'tastes'- which you might notice are quite a bit bigger than just a taste

Odaliz with the gelato cocktail- we both thought it was delish!

There were different flavors on each side of the truck.

Nutella had a truck there...and I must admit...it was one of my favorites.

Found this little gem in the bathroom at the nearby metro/train station
during a necessary bathroom break. Cracked me up!

While Saturday was all about gelato, Sunday was all about wine. A colleague had sent out an email about an event called "Cantine Aperte" happening at the vineyards in the region. I was lucky enough to be offered a spot in my co-worker's car and was able to check out several local wineries that were open for the day for wine tasting.

Roughly translated..."you see what you drink"...
since you're able to see where the grapes are grown and the wine is produced.

Leaving from nearby Pavia, we headed out to the first of four wineries of the day.

La Piotta had some beautiful views. We paid 10 euro for a wine glass, wine bag necklace, wine tasting card for the day and a free bottle of wine. Not a bad deal, right? While there, we had a little lunch and tasted several of their wines before leaving to head out to the next stop.

view from La Piotta

Next up was Finigeto. This winery was having quite the party, with tables full of locals and live music. We didn't stay here too long, and within a short time headed out to Travaglino. This vineyard had an established tasting procedure that included a plate of meat and cheeses and samples of four wines. We asked to taste one of their more expensive sparkling wines and they obliged. And then I bought two bottles of the most expensive wine I've paid for in Italy.

This picture felt so quintessentially Italian. 

Travaglino's wine description and food plate

Last up was La Marzuola. This was a bit of a non-descript place, that I would have certainly walked away from had I not been with friends who had been there before. They had great views of the rolling hills below them and we sampled and bought several more bottles of wine.

The proprietors of La Marzuola, with their wines available for tasting.

the view from La Marzuola

I left with seven bottles of wine that day. Holy cow. Holy cow!!