“To travel is to live” -Hans Christian Andersen

Day ten started out like the previous day…except without the cuddling prior to breakfast. I went downstairs, had breakfast with Lauren and then we met up with Dr. Morris to arrange our first business appointment of the day: the US Consulate. Since our group had split between the consulate and the Milan stock exchange, we didn’t have a dedicated bus to take us across town to where we needed to be. The solution? Public transportation of course!

Dr. Morris had bought us all day passes that could be used on any type and time public transportation primarily to get to and from the consulate. Once we figured out what line to be on thanks to the help of a very kind Italian woman, we all got aboard the trolley and it took us right to the front door of the consulate.

We all know how inefficient and confusing our federal government is and I’m proud to let you know that our offices abroad are exactly the same way. Upon arrival, we had to spend about half an hour climbing the wrong set of stairs, going through three different entrances and passing through a TSAesque style security checkpoint, all of this was conducted by a federal employee. Granted, our government may be inefficient and confusing but they are nothing if not consistent…suppose that makes me feel slightly better.

The briefing at the consulate was extraordinarily interesting as our presenter talked about the role expats play in the country, the state of the Italian economy as a whole, how the US is being affected and how we’re helping their economy and ours in the same process. This presentation was so great that I’ve already applied for an expat job and will be conducting my research paper on the economic factors plaguing Italy and what we’re doing to help.

Once the briefing concluded, Lauren and I stayed behind and got a bite to eat at a panini place across the street. Once finished, we took the trolly back to the hotel and prepared for our next appointment.

Our next appointment was an eagerly anticipated one by many of the sports fans on the trip. This afternoon appointment was a tour of San Siro stadium, a futbol stadium home to Inter and AC Milan (Posh Spice’s husband’s old club, Beckham I think is his name).

The stadium was absolutely massive as it was able to seat about 80,000 futbol fans. The seats of the stadium were painted different colors to color coordinate the fans of each teams playing. Our tour, while short, started with a lower level tour and a brief history of the stadium (actually home to a World Cup a few years ago) followed by a tour of the locker rooms.

The tour concluded around five and by then we were heading back to the hotel via bus. Upon arrival there we changed and Lauren and I were off to do some light shopping. We headed down Buenos Aires street which was situated near our hotel and is home to one the longest shopping stretches in the entire world. After the shopping, we visited the Milan duomo and grabbed a bite to eat before heading back to the room and planning our last full day in Italy.