"You like some Pork?"

...my new landlady, asked as I came in last night at 10:00 pm. She had a delicious meal of rice, cabbage, bread, and pork waiting for me at the kitchen table.

First day in California, my birthday, big pork dinner... no complaints.

Italy Italy I am no longer in you

Around the World For Easter

Last weekend was a long weekend so I decided to fill it up with random travels. First on saturday I went to Genova by myself to see the sea. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and of course I enjoyed wandering around with no real specific goal or direction. Probably the highlights of the trip were eating some oranges I bought at a fruit store, and walking out on a dock and watching the ripples in the water.

Sunday, I spent in Milan, went to church and ate lunch with some friends. Then I hopped on a train and went to Florence. I also very last minutely brought along my friend/co-intern Changduk. We stayed in Florence Sunday night and early in the morning woke up and caught a bus to Sienna. I have been wanting to see Sienna ever since the pre-existence and so I was really happy to finally go. We ran into some mucky weather, and we also ended up having to stay an extra day in Florence because all the trains back to Milan were full, but overall it was another grand adventure. Some of the highlights were:

1. We stayed in nicest hostel in Florence (I found it on www.hostelbookers.com). It was like 50 yards from the Duomo, and brand new. Well, it was newly opened, but obviously the building it was in was probably a few hundred years old. Check out the immensely tall ceilings in our room!




2. The bus to Sienna was really crowded. Somehow me and Changduk managed to get on board even though there were no available seats. We were lucky to find a relatively comfortable staircase, to share with some nice gypsy ladies. The bus ride was about 1.5 hours long, through the hilly tuscan countryside. Even though it was mostly gray and brown outside, it was a bus ride I've been waiting to go on for a long time.


3. We got to Sienna, and as we looked at it with squinty eyes (because it pouring crazy rain in our faces), we were totally stunned. Sienna is a beautiful and extremely old city almost completely covering a hill side.

4. Changduk's green poncho. We had both imagined that going 4 hours south of Milan would mean going to warmer weather. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and to make up for it Changduk purchased this classic green poncho to keep warm and dry. I had luckily brought a jacket so I didn't get in on any of the poncho fun.



5. We spent a lot of time taking cheesy pictures. If you look closely at this one you will notice that our umbrellas are spinning.


6. And of course we made sure to enjoy the INCREDIBLE architecture of Sienna.

Ci Sono Ancora

Sometimes a break from blogging means laziness. Other times it means craziness... which has definitely been the case for me in these last few weeks. I have done a little bit of everything from travelling (Como, Parma, Venice) to Design Events (Bill Moggridge, Castiglioni studio, Bruno Munari Museum) to work (Continuum of course) to hosting some friends (from the US and England) and craziest of all, planning my next internship adventure (in and out of contracts with companies, lots of portfolio submission, millions of emails, and quite a few interviews...).

So yes, I've been through some craziness, but it has been excellent and I'm ready for more!

Never Enough Time

Paris Preview:

La Mia Giornata

My Average Day.

First I wake up and make my bed (immediately)



Then I open my "tapparelli" (really good blinds) and I look out at the beautiful grey milano sky.



Then I go in the bathroom and take a shower. Our shower is probably about the size of an american pizza box.



Then I get dressed, and say goodbye to my little apartment. (Which is basically a really big hallway, a tiny kitchen, two bedrooms and a tiny bathroom.)



I walk out onto my long and straight italian street. Its kind of in a very typical residential area of milan, consisting of large tall block buildings that house hundreds of people.



And I walk about 50 steps to the west to the Panetteria (bread store) for breakfast! This is definitely where my day begins to get exciting.



My two italian bakers cook me delicious pastries and breads everyday. I usually get a cream filled brioche (i'm on vacation so I can eat these everyday...) and a big piece of focaccia. This is probably a very strange breakfast for italians... but I can't help eating it because its dirt cheap, super convenient, and delicious.



I continue walking down the street to the bus stop.



Sometimes I see Milan wildlife.



And then I get to the bus stop. I wait here for anywhere from 1 minute to 30 minutes... depending on how regular the buses are feeling like being on this particular day.



Then I get on the crowded bus and ride it for 5 stops. (some days I just walk to work)



The bus lets me off right by Via Coletta, where Continuum is located.



The Continuum Entrance



The parking lot... Continuum is at the very back, you can see it if you look for the big U with a circle around it.



What a surpise! Changduk, the other intern, (from Korea) is waiting to greet me as he drinks his morning coffee.



We walk into to Continuum



Down the hall...



And these are some of the great folks that work at Continuum.



And this is my desk. I spend most of my time here, although a lot of my day is also spent in our group project rooms in the back of the studio. I usually work from about 9:30 am until 8:00 pm.



This is my lunch, which to save money I buy from the supermarket. Its not the best italian lasagne (microwaveable in a box)... but it fills me up.



Sometimes I get lucky and get to make things in the shop. Today Changduk and I had to make some quick sketch models of a product we are working on. These are my safety glasses. Not only do they look amazing, but they protect my eyes from any harm.



This is our protective owl.



and this is me and Changduk, a few minutes before he went on a photo rampage in the studio... taking lots of pictures of everyone who was still left there working this late. I think the clicking noise that my camera makes is addicting.



This is me leaving continuum after a full day of work.



On the bus again



Past the old scary black and white building...



and the glowing red building...



And then I'm home. I usually eat pasta, write emails, and then fall asleep.

The end.

At it again

So, even though I've done it now about 7 times, I'm in the middle of redoing my design portfolio again. It may be because soon I will be sending it out around the country (USA) in hopes of landing another internship offer for this summer. Or, it may because I feel like I've learned a lot since the last time I threw one together. Most likely though, the reason for making this new portfolio, is that I am crazy and I get too much of a kick out of reorganizing and refacing my same old projects with sleek new layouts. We'll never know...

Carnivale

This weekend I took another trip.. This time it was to Venice! I went with a friend of mine, and his aunt (her first time) and we had a grand time. It was raining the whole day (which made for difficult picture taking), but it actually created a really cool atmosphere that I had never experienced before in Venice. Also it was "Carnivale" weekend, and despite the rain, there were still quite a few people dressed up in the traditional venetian costumes.