Tiffany - Italy: AC Milan!

Tonight was bittersweet. For so long, soccer (or calcio in italiano) was a such a major part of my life but I haven't played since my injuries in 2010 (ruptured ACL followed by a ruptured 2nd Achilles tendon; 2 tough surgeries and a long recovery).  It may sound foolish but since then, it has been pretty difficult for me to even watch a game....I guess keeping my distance has been sort of my defense mechanism because I miss playing. Needless to say, I was hesitant to buy a ticket for tonight's game.  I wondered how I would feel being so close to the action again. All feelings and hesitations immediately disappeared when I walked into San Siro Stadium.

It was such an amazing feeling to be surrounded by fans who share such a passion for the sport that I have loved for so long. This was my first AC Milan game but it won’t be my last. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to go. J

Tiffany - Italy - Cinque Terre

On Friday morning, morning we left Milan and after a 3 hour train ride ended up on the Italian Rivera. We visited 5 absolutely beautiful small fishing villages also known as Cinque Terre (translation The Five Lands).  You can travel to all five villages in one day via train (5-7 minutes between each) or by hiking (anywhere from 1-2 hours between each). We were totally prepared for a day of rigorous hiking from village to village but found out that most of the trails were closed because of a thunderstorm a few days earlier. We did end up taking a 1 hour hike between villages 3 and 4 but took the train to the others. In each village, we ate, shopped, drank and took in amazing views of the ocean. I would highly recommend going to Cinque Terre if you come to visit Italy at some point.

I was surprised by the number of Americans we met in Cinque Terre. I wore my Carolina shirt and at first found it a tad weird that people kept smiling at me. I didn’t realize why until two couples asked if I attended Carolina. A third woman asked where I was from (completely out of the blue) and most  people immediately greeted me with Hello instead of Ciao. I guess my shirt was a dead giveaway??

  

Athena - Argentina - Heavy Hearts, the Tough Stuff

    My ever-cool and steady roommate Juliana is walking around on the phone with a harried voice and teary eyes. This is not the Friday afternoon that either one of us expected. I was bummed because I had to miss out on a trip to Igauzu Falls because I have class this weekend. Juliana had planned to work on a big art exhibit that was starting tomorrow, but now she is sad and red-eyed because her dear grandmother is now near death.

    Juliana’s grandmother (I forget her name & feel bad for doing so. We’ll call her Abuela) had a very difficult childhood- things were rough for her family. Juliana didn’t go into details but I know Abuela’s childhood molded her, in ways that those who have been through tragedies move on, but still keep a piece of the tragedy in her heart. Time passed and Abuela married, had kids and continued living life. She was the kind of person who was very supportive and who had a way of knowing exactly what a person needed. And this especially applied to Juliana. Abuela is one of the most important people in her life, Juliana once told me while we were talking one afternoon. Abuela always encouraged and supported Juliana in her break from family tradition to an uncommon and unsteady career in the art world. I get the feeling that Abuela was the Juliana’s rock, her safe place to land, the person who gave her hope and inspiration while others advised a change in plans.

    I can’t describe the sadness I felt watching her call the airline to book a flight, hurriedly back a bag, and make arrangements for her dog Cairo. Even when your world is falling apart there are still very mundane things that need to be done, which serve as both distractions from the pain and things that make it hurt even worse.

    “Me espera. Me espara (wait for me)”, Juliana said to Cairo, as she always did when leaving. And then with a hug to me and a quick grab of her bag she walked out of the apartment, knowing full well that she would not return as the same person.

Athena - Argentina - Running to catch the bus

This afternoon I was walking to the bus stop, when I saw my bus, or what I thought could be my bus, approaching down the street. Since there is no set bus schedules here - they really just show up randomly- I didn't want to miss this one. So I started running to "beat" my bus to the bus stop. It was a funny sight, I'm sure, because I haven't seen too many other people running on the sidewalks here. And while I was running Kris Kross' "I missed the bus" song started playing in my head. Thankfully I  made it to the bus stop before my bus (thank you traffic light & traffic).  But the real funny part of this is my running could've been running for nothing. The are multiple buses that use the same number but go to different places (example, I was catching the #29 bus, that goes to Olivos). Each bus has a small sign in the front window that clarifies it's route.  So while I could see the large #29 on the top of the bus I couldn't yet see the smaller sign that told where the bus exactly goes. What's the moral of the story- sometimes it's ok not to know what your running towards, or for. You just gotta have faith that you're headed in the right direction.

Other random thoughts... My trip here is truly turning out to be random. I have classes on the weekend so I haven't yet been able to take trips to other parts of Argentina or other neighboring countries. So stay tuned for more of my adventures around Buenos Aires.

I had my first session with my Spanish tutor. It went really well and I'm looking forward to learning a lot more from my teacher. I can already tell that she has a lot of experience and some creative teaching methods. For example she had me watch two short animated videos and describe what happened in them to her - one verbally and one in writing. Needless to say I have lots of work to do in both areas. In case you're curious, here is the link to one of the videos I watched, think James Bond vs. a pigeon. http://boingboing.net/2009/11/09/pigeon-impossible.html

That's all for now. Class starts soon.

Tiffany - Paris and Jay Z

My Italian is getting better so I decided to reward myself with an opportunity to practice my French. :-) Getting from Milan to Paris was pretty easy. I flew EasyJet ($112 roundtrip) and after about an hour long flight I was at Charles de Gaulle. I  am  definitely going to enjoy traveling in Europe. On the upside, it's super cheap.  The roundtrip tickets I have purchased have all been under $120 (some one-way at $35). On the downside, you are allowed to carry 1 super small bag (purse counts as a bag) so my high maintenance travel days are over. For this trip, I will be here for 3 nights and was surprisingly able to get everything into my book bag. 

Our first night in Paris felt sort of like a night at home in the US. We went to a Jay Z concert which was GREAT. We met some guys at the concert who spoke a little bit of English but knew every lyric to Jay Z's songs. Needless to say, he is huge here!  

Another highlight of my trip was meeting up with a friend from law school, Cherine. When I decided to travel to Paris, I let her know I'd be in town. Cherine left the US shortly after we graduated from law school so I haven't seen her since. We had an amazing lunch at a very cute cafe in Opera and she told me about her experience living in and teaching law in Paris. In short, the pros are the amazing shopping, diversity of things to do and the great food.  The cons are the extremely difficult and discriminatory real estate market and the super old apartments.

Overall this was an amazing weekend trip. Paris is still the beautiful, vibrant city that I remember when I visited in '98 on my family vacation. I feel blessed to have traveled here twice. I'd definitely like to come back again for a longer time with a larger bank account. #mbastudentbudget

Athena - Argentina - First Day of Class

First day of class… 3 things I learned

1.  Um yeah, about this class in Spanish thing. It’s doable, but I’ll have to concentrate. It’s not like classes in English where my mind can wonder off and when I come back I catch right up. Here if my mind wanders, then I’m just lost for a good while.

     

           2.0 The rest of the world is kicking our butt in education. Several of our cases are about U.S. companies. All the students in my class speak English (some may speak a 3^rd language too). The European exchange students pretty much speak 3 languages (their native language, Spanish & English). How many languages does the average American speak- 1. How much do we know in general about major companies in other countries? How often do we study them in detail? Not much. This is why the rest of the world is catching up and in some cases passing us.

2    2.5   We have snacks at school. This is the best thing ever. We left the classroom for a break (it’s a 3 hour class) and what do we find—tea sandwiches, cereal w/ yogurt (kinda weird but whatevs), coffee & tea…and a dessert tray. So much for my new philosophy of 1 pastry/sweet thing per day. Yup, that just went out the window.

      3.0 The goodness of people. I was saved from going to a subway that would’ve been closed when I got there. Thank the Lord. That would’ve have not been a good thing. Instead I walked to the bus with 3 other exchange students, who I became friends with tonight. It was great to make some friends and talk about things we want to do around town together.

Athena - Argentina - Museum Day!

Today was another museum day (and I spent some time studying Spanish of course). This post is mostly pics so enjoy...

Malba Museum

Malba Art Museum

Today I went to the famed Malba Museum in downtown Buenos Aires. It's mostly a museum of modern art which means there's lots of cool stuff and lots of weird stuff too.

Diego Rivera's Retrato de Ramon Gomez de la Serna

Tiffany- Milan - Scuola is in Session!

If you are as polished in your italiano as I am (after only 5 days ...#not!) you may have guessed it from the subject of this post. Scuola or school has begun. I am taking classes at SDA Bocconi School of Management. According to Forbes, Bocconi ranks world's 3rd best program excluding those from the US and is the only Italian School present in international rankings.

My classes are focused around Customer Marketing and Social Media and are all pretty interesting. So far, we have already had presentations from executives from Coca Cola and J&J. Another aspect about my classes that I really appreciate is the diversity. I looked around class today and read the nametags of 5 classmates sitting in a row and they read Venezuela, Italy, India, United Kingdom
and USA. Classes are completely in English with the exception of
my Italian class. Everyone is also super friendly.

The commute to school isn't bad at all and I have been forced to learn the city very well. It takes about 30 minutes to get to school which includes a ride on the metro and then the tram. I'm also happy to announce that I successfully asked someone for directions to the bus stop in Italian tonight on the way to salsa with classmates. All was well with our conversation until he assumed I spoke fluently. At that point, I had to break out what has become my favorite phrase Il mio italiano e elementare (my Italian is elementary!)

Athena - Argentina - Columbus Day Parade

This past weekend on Saturday I went to the Casa Rosada- the pink house, the Argentinian version of the White house. When I got off of the subway I found a parade going on. I could see the Casa Rosada at my right and the parade at my left. What should I do? I looked back and forth- the Casa Rosada did look kinda cool and there was a nice Plaza (Plaza Mayor) in front of it. But the music and the noise of the parade was calling me. I could come back to the Casa Rosada any time; the parade would only be here once.

  



(a band performs in the plaza in front of the Casa Rosada)







The first thing I noticed about the parade was that there was a lot of brown people there- both in the parade and watching it. My experience in Buenos Aires so far has been very whitewashed. The people here don’t look like what we would in general (heavy emphasize on in general) expect Latinos to look like. (And yes, I know there’s a whole different conversation about race & ethnicity to be had here, I’m just keeping it uber simple). So after a week of almost only seeing white people- and being able to count the number of brownish people I’ve seen on two hands- I was amazed to suddenly be surrounded by lots and lots of brown people. In this parade it was the ‘white’ people who stood out by leaps and bounds. 

Athena - Argentina- Sunday in Palermo

My roommate and I just got back from watching a movie (in Spanish of course) and it was quite the experience. We saw a comedy called La Corazon de Leon (The Heart of Leon). Evidently Sunday evenings are the most popular day of the week to go to the movies so the place was packed! We had to get there 2 hours early to buy our tickets…and when you buy the tickets here you get assigned seats. The ushers actually walk you to your seat in the theater.  At any rate, the movie was very good, thought it was hard for me to follow sometimes. The rest of the audience seemed to enjoy it very much.

I’m (mostly) loving how every experience is something different here, even something as simple as going to the movies. It seems like everything I do, or try to do, is some mini-adventure. Guess I’ll have to get used to a lot of things not going as planned. This morning I tried to find a park that is good for running and I got lost on the way there. Then I got lost on the way back. I still got a good workout in though, especially considering all of the extra walking I did. I think I’ll try and find the park again tomorrow.

This was my first Sunday without football. Yes, I’m very much going through withdrawal. It’s weird to not spend most of the day watching football. Congrats to the Lions for winning! I’m still sad about Michigan’s loss yesterday.  I did catch some tennis & rugby on TV while I was at a coffee shop so I guess that will have to do.  And I've never been so happy to watch highlights online!

That’s all for now. Classes start next week.

Tiffany - Milan - Benvenuti a Milano!

Saturday, Oct. 12th - I woke up on my flight about 40 minutes before landing in Milan and got an amazing view of the Swiss Alps. Reality has it...I'm here! After a 90 minute venture to our new apartment, we set out in search of food and let me just say...my first Italian meal did not disappoint. I ordered spaghetti con pollo which came out looking sort of like chicken lo mein but was SO good. Definitely going to have to run daily so I don't blow up.

Sunday, Oct. 13th - Today my roommate Erica and I decided to venture out. We took the metro 3 stops away to the Duomo di Milano. The Duomo is an amazing Cathedral which has been around since the 1300s. The area around the Duomo is full of shops and restaurants which we definitely took full advantage of. My favorite aspect of the day was walking around and people watching. Milan is such a trendy, eclectic and diverse city. I feel like I should have made a more concerted effort to finish my Rosetta Stone before leaving home as I struggle to understand basic communication. Going to try to work on that while here. With that said...lo vado a letto. La mia prima classe e domani. Buonanotte!



Athena - Argentina - Recoleta: The Rich & the Dead

Recoleta

Today I embraced my inner tourist and visited the well-known area of Recoleta. This area is the wealthiest part of Buenos Aires and is known for its famous cemetery, museums and shopping. I took the subway (see my post about cultural misunderstandings for a funny story about my first subway trip) and then had to walk about 15ish blocks to get to the Recoleta Cemetery.

 (Main entrance to the cemetary. The engraving reads: Rest in Peace)

Athena - Argentina - Oopsies! Language & Cultural Misunderstandings

This is my third day in Argentina so I’ve been here long enough to make several mistakes and get strange looks from the locals. Yeah, it’s been fun. Thought you might get a good laugh over some of my experiences here so far:

·         I go to a café and start to order at the counter. The lady looks at me weird and I’m thinking “Ok, this is simple Spanish, I’m sure I didn’t screw it up”. That’s when she tells me that here you don’t order your food & then grab a table, first you sit down at a table and a waiter comes to you and takes your order.  Oops. They definitely have better service in coffee shops here in Argentina.  Who knew?

Tiffany - USA...for now

Soooo how does one even begin to pack to visit 10 countries across 2 continents over a period of 5 months? I've asked myself that question since I confirmed my attendance for my MBA exchanges but never quite reached an answer. Now here I am....3 days until take off...with 10 items in my suitcase.

Just a short intro before I get too consumed with preparing for my flight to Milan. I'm Tiffany, Jersey girl, daughter, sister, new blogger,

Christian, Attorney turned MBA turned Management Consultant (post-graduation). Over the next 5 months, I will participate in 2 exchanges - at SDA Bocconi in Milan, Italy and at Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Santiago, Chile. I hope to keep you updated as often as possible as I move along and meet up in random countries with some of my other favorite MBA Tar Heels. Please feel free to share your comments, stories and advice. And oh, care packages are also welcome and I would be glad to provide my current address at any time. :)

Reality hasn't hit yet but I'm sure it will soon. T-3 days....*reopens suitcase and sighs*

Athena - USA - Goodbye Party

So I almost forgot to write about my incredible last week in Chapel Hill. Guess you could say that I was distracted by the beauty of Buenos AiresJ. Anyway, my last week in Chapel Hill was way too busy and too much fun as well.

Since I’m leaving UNC a week early I had to cram in all of my assignments that were due the last week into this week, and let’s just say that wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time. Plus packing and figuring out the last minute details of my trip. But the best part of this week was hanging out with my friends. It felt like there was something to do every day and I got a chance to say goodbye in person to most people

Athena - Argentina- Hanging with the housewives y las abuelas

   Today, after a slow start, I walked around the neighborhood and had tea at a café- Café Martinez. Sitting outside was nice, almost like something out of a movie. There was a lot of hustle & bustle around me—people walking their dogs, others walking to work, delivery guys dropping off food, old couples walking hand in hand, a random guy on a jog. I loved sitting outside and just taking it all in. As I looked around me I noticed most of the other people at the café were housewives, usually with a small kid in tow or older ladies- abuelas (grandmothers) I presume. It was very funny that this was the crowd I was hanging out with because I’m neither a housewife nor an abuela, but for now these are my new friends.

Athena - Argentina - Day 1 in Argentina

   I sit on my twin sized bed, in my bedroom for the next 2 ½ months, writing this. My 1^st day in Argentina was an amazing combination of things- excitement, fear, wonder, hunger, curiosity & more. My roommate here, Juliana, and her dog Cairo are very nice. We just got back from walking around the neighborhood, grabbing some ice cream (my personal fav) and stopping by a park so Cairo could play with his friends (yes, her dog has a play group). It was the perfect way to end my first day here.

     I am tired from the overnight flight (didn’t sleep much) and, I think, from the work of finishing my classes in the US early and packing everything. Getting here was a challenge- my flight from Raleigh, NC to Atlanta almost got diverted to Augusta, which would’ve meant missing my connecting flight to Buenos Aires. After some prayer and the weather finally calming down, we were allowed to land in Atlanta. And before that, at the Raleigh airport, I found out that I forgot to bring a copy of my receipt for Argentina’s reciprocity (entry) fee, which I needed to board my flight. Major oops. It’s at home on the end table next to the couch. I didn’t have it with me but could visualize exactly where it was. Thankfully, the airline guy at the front desk was having a good day and decided to take me back to their office to see if I could look it up on the government’s website and reprint it, which thankfully I could. Otherwise I would've had to push my flight back nby a day. My first travel drama was averted! I learned (remembered) that God is watching over me this trip and giving me grace for all my adventures.

Athena - USA - Weekend Retreat

When one of my closest friends, Kumari, texted me with a last minute offer to spend the weekend in the mountains I couldn’t resist. Never mind my super long to do list for my last full weekend in Chapel Hill. Hanging out in the mountains? Of course I’ll go. So a quick packing job and a five hour drive later, I found myself in Skyfall, GA to said hello & goodbye to a friend I won’t see for another six months. Like me, Kumari is in a place of trying to figure out her next step professionally. An amazingly talented surgeon, Kumari is evaluating what to do after finishing her fellowship next year. So when she invited me for a quiet weekend in the mountains, filled with hiking, eating, and some quiet time to pray for guidance I said sure. I’d missed out on several opportunities to go to the mountains earlier this year, so I was excited to finally get there.