The entire week - monday to friday - we had our so-called Blocked Seminar. It’s a one week seminar with eight hours of classes which ended by a two hour written exam on friday. The subject was Public Management, or in other terms, how can the public institutions attract investments and help the national companies compete without distorting competition.

Every day we had lunch in the Bocconi Restaurant. It is actually quite similar to a restaurant, and is usually only used by teachers, professors and the like. Basically it’s far too expensive for students. In any case, as you can see in the pictures the lunch consisted of a nice buffet, wine and coffee if you so desired.

We had social events every day of the week (pictures from the tourism in the post below) and we of course had to finish in a grande finale after the friday’s exam. We first went for aperitivo at a place called g-lounge, following which we had pizza (at 11pm). After dinner we went to a place in Milan with tons of bars, and where people stand all over the street and have fun. Finally, we walked down to Naviglio which is the only water in Milan also covered by bars and a few clubs where we ended the evening.

Last time I said welcome to Milan, but this post would in fact have been more worthy of that title. How can you truly have been to Milan without having purchased some of the local fashion? And therefore I have now settled for this new pair of shoes; made of kangaroo skin - no less. The salesman, who spoke English surprisingly well, was just that: A salesman; I therefore got shown several pairs and got told that I wouldn’t find anything of remotely similar quality at that price anywhere in Milan. I was satisfied with getting out alive with only one pair of shoes.

On Sunday I had dinner with one of my buddy’s friends, Andrea, who happens to be living in the building next door. While I may be able to purchase better groceries here, my cooking skills really don’t compare to the local experience: we had a really nice three course dinner supplied by some ice cream. By the way, Danish shops such as Paradis are certainly nice, but they simply aren’t Italian.
That also means that you can probably figure when a Paradis is open; a feature that seems to escape many of the Italian restaurants, boutiques, or small supermarkets. I guess it makes it easier to close down for the afternoon/evening whenever you feel like if you don’t advertise with opening hours. It won’t matter much in the long run, but you need to get used to the majority of the smaller shops and restaurants being closed in early afternoon, while, the large supermarket, in turn, is open till 21 (I was told so anyway, they don’t display it either).

I finally got my student id at Bocconi, which means I can use the school’s computers. Unfortunately you’re not allowed to chat on those computers, so browsing and updating website only. And although I don’t have a need for it at the moment, I’m still not allowed to print because they haven’t made the passwords for the very same student ids yet… We should get them “soon”.
It doesn’t mean that I can use my laptop though, because that needs to be set up by some technicians. These technicians are 1) located in the “new building”, which is a very helpful piece of information when you don’t know which buildings are the old ones, 2) definitely not available until next week (or maybe the week after?), and 3) only available about 6 hours during the week. Fortunately, the latter seems to be in the afternoon, so I don’t have to get up early.

On the more positive side, getting my student id also meant that I can apply for my monthly card for public transportation. In other words, when I manage to complete this Italian form, I’ll have unlimited use of public transportation for €17 a month.

Overall I’m having a great time; it’s just a lot of fun complaining about the Italian bureaucracy.