Wander-Land

July 26
Thursday, July 23rd After an exciting lecture on religion today… The class visited inside IL DUOMO.  This is the landmark we had all been referring to since being here in Milan.  The place is immaculate: stained-glass windows, sculptures, paintings, carvings, and the size alone is incredible.  Nevertheless, I was running on merely 1.5 hours of sleep (refer to previous blog) and I was in dire need of a rest to make-up for my sleep debt.  After sleeping for a few hours, Zelo came up with the idea to go to a hookah-lounge.  Weary of a late night aka Wednesday Night Part II, I reluctantly agreed to come so long as we came home at a decent hour.  The ladies who joined me and Zelo were Jamie and Pakiza.  After trekking out to southern Milan (we took the yellow line for the first time!) we ended up in a somewhat sketch looking place but eventually found the lounge: El Jadida.  I’m so happy we came after that! The atmosphere was quite trendy and had wonderful ethnic, Arabian-esque decor.  We said on satin-covered ottomans and was surrounded by dim lighting and airy colorful curtains.  This place was definitely pricey: one hookah was 20 euro (which we split among the four of us), and the appetizer sampler Jamie and I shared was 15 euro.  The appetizer consisted of a bunch of different “dipping things” accompanied with a basket of pita bread: hummas, tabbouleh, vegatables, meatballs, etc. The main entrees ranged from 18-35 euro…they all looked very good though, I definitely would have splurged if I was in the mood.  There was also a professional belly dancer! She was so cute - and her outfit was beautiful.  We all wanted to stay longer but due to the public transportation around here, a curfew time had us going home just as the party started =/ Now, I don’t know why, but the hookah here in Italy is POTENT.  I left that evening feeling extremely buzzed without having a lick of alcohol - the girls and I tried to make smoke tricks, took lots of silly pictures, and ate fabulous food.  I don’t recall at all the hookah in the U.S. having any effect on me - it was very weird, but as we were leaving the place, we all agreed that it was a well-worth trek out to El Jadida.  It was also nice to have an outing with a smaller number of girls, and a different one at that.  It’s great to know that Zelo and I find ways to have fun with everybody in the group, staying in neutral waters we both say =) The night ended at around 1am.  Not too bad, it was a nice evening of our little secret spot of hookah-ing and having a delightful time with just the girls again.

Thursday, July 23rd

After an exciting lecture on religion today…

The class visited inside IL DUOMO.  This is the landmark we had all been referring to since being here in Milan.  The place is immaculate: stained-glass windows, sculptures, paintings, carvings, and the size alone is incredible.  Nevertheless, I was running on merely 1.5 hours of sleep (refer to previous blog) and I was in dire need of a rest to make-up for my sleep debt. 

After sleeping for a few hours, Zelo came up with the idea to go to a hookah-lounge.  Weary of a late night aka Wednesday Night Part II, I reluctantly agreed to come so long as we came home at a decent hour.  The ladies who joined me and Zelo were Jamie and Pakiza.  After trekking out to southern Milan (we took the yellow line for the first time!) we ended up in a somewhat sketch looking place but eventually found the lounge: El Jadida.  I’m so happy we came after that! The atmosphere was quite trendy and had wonderful ethnic, Arabian-esque decor.  We said on satin-covered ottomans and was surrounded by dim lighting and airy colorful curtains.  This place was definitely pricey: one hookah was 20 euro (which we split among the four of us), and the appetizer sampler Jamie and I shared was 15 euro.  The appetizer consisted of a bunch of different “dipping things” accompanied with a basket of pita bread: hummas, tabbouleh, vegatables, meatballs, etc. The main entrees ranged from 18-35 euro…they all looked very good though, I definitely would have splurged if I was in the mood.  There was also a professional belly dancer! She was so cute - and her outfit was beautiful.  We all wanted to stay longer but due to the public transportation around here, a curfew time had us going home just as the party started =/

Now, I don’t know why, but the hookah here in Italy is POTENT.  I left that evening feeling extremely buzzed without having a lick of alcohol - the girls and I tried to make smoke tricks, took lots of silly pictures, and ate fabulous food.  I don’t recall at all the hookah in the U.S. having any effect on me - it was very weird, but as we were leaving the place, we all agreed that it was a well-worth trek out to El Jadida.  It was also nice to have an outing with a smaller number of girls, and a different one at that.  It’s great to know that Zelo and I find ways to have fun with everybody in the group, staying in neutral waters we both say =)

The night ended at around 1am.  Not too bad, it was a nice evening of our little secret spot of hookah-ing and having a delightful time with just the girls again.