22 August 2015 - A little trip that I will remember forever, for the wrong reasons

I just got back onto campus about 2 hours ago from my little escapade to Milan, Italy and I just cannot wait till the next day to blog about this little disaster that made me wish that I kept my £251 (that's the price of my air ticket, accommodation was another whooping £181) and spent all the time just playing Dragon's Prophet. 

I try to keep this blog negative feel but hey, let's face it, a girl needs to rant when things goes wrong and a little ranting is healthy. 

But of course, before we go to the ugly, let's talk about the lovelies. (Pictures to come, I'm too lazy to port it over to my laptop from my phone.)

1) The Expo was pretty good.

The main reason why I went to Milan on such a short notice besides meeting my friend, is to visit the Expo. This year's expo is all about "Feeding the planet, Energy for life" which is something that I've been studying for the last 10 months on my course. 

Mainly, many of the exhibitions were talking about how to solve problems regarding food security, nutrition, sustainability for generations to come with regards to food, energy, water and air. I love the theme because it is something that is relatable to what I am doing right now. 

My friend, Catherine and I truly enjoyed USA's exhibition, Germany and Belgium were really good too. I was blown away by Germany and Belgium. They had really good ideas. Italy had pretty good ideas too, but there were too many people in there and it made it difficult for us to stand around to read through all the ideas. But for all the ones that we read, they were pretty interesting, though some were a bit unrealistic to do on a large scale as for now. 

We were kind of underwhelmed by Japan's. It was good and interesting, and of course, the technology part of it all was really cool but the exhibition was really difficult to read up on the solutions part because they kept stopping the interaction panel etc. It was a pity that we couldn't read through it all. 

But all in all, I did take away some bits of information that were really cool and useful. It was really good. 

2) It's finally Summer.

The sun was out, we had fantastic weather, it was 26 - 28 degrees celsius, I was finally not shivering in my room. England's Summer is something I need to get used to. And .... I got tan, just as I was getting fair (T_T).

3) The sights were lovely.

I had to admit that I was blown away by the beauty of the Italian architecture and the castle + the cathedral. We didn't go to many sights but it was enough. (Mostly because no number of beautiful sights could save our doomed experience and by the fourth day, we were sick of Milan) The view from the top of the Duomo was truly lovely. 

4) The food, finger-licking good.

We talked about eating budget, to eat food fit for student life. But obviously ... that didn't happen. The gelato was amazing. Every gelato we had (which was plenty), it was all incredible. The Milk Gelato at the Expo was simply too amazing. I truly enjoyed that. 

I had good pizza, lovely pasta and last night's dinner of Borage filled Ravioli with Tomatoes as main and Panna Cotta with fresh berries sauce for dessert was truly yumz (though it was heart achingly expensive). You really can't go wrong with Italian food. 

5) The wine. 

So my friend and I bought a bottle of Dolce Sparkling Wine which was produced in Assisi, Italy. It was really good and it didn't smell too alcoholic. And it was only 3.59 Euros. It was really good. Far better than the bottle of red wine I bought for £5. 

Truly a great experience even from a plastic cup. 

I am trying to think of more good things that I enjoyed on this trip but alas, I could only think of these. Now that I am done with the lovely things, I am afraid that we have to talk about the immense disappointment that I face. 

This might not be true for those who have visited Milan before. Afterall, every traveller's story differs from each other. I just happen to have incredibly bad luck this time round which is more than enough to put me off. 

1) Incredible rudeness

Now, here in the UK and also back home in Singapore, we are very used to one thing: queuing. You queue for food, you queue for rides, you queue to get onto the train, you queue for everything. YOU QUEUE. If you don't, you get the passive-aggressive eyes or the passive-aggressive request for you to get to the back of the line where you belong. 

The four days that I was in Italy, especially in the Expo ..... I had my queue cut by all nationalities, including the Italians many many times.. I had my queue cut so many times that I stopped being angry, I started being resigned. 

"Why don't you just ask them to go to the back of the line then?"

Because there's such things called ......... language barrier. Of course, maybe some Italians can speak English, maybe a lot could. But obviously, if you talk to someone Italian in English, they could jolly well pretend to not understand you. 

But of course, not all are like these. We met really pretty awesome ones that accidentally cut our queue and upon realisation, retreated to behind us. Which is exactly how things should have been in the first place since it's just basic courtesy. 

That's not the end of it. 

My friend and I were walking to the next exhibition when there's these two Italian couples who are in their teens. They were on this little bikes that could sit up to two people. Now, anyone who has been to the expo or know what an expo is like, would know just how incredibly packed with people it is. 

They were just incredibly inconsiderate in the sense that they went about in circles on the bike, right in the middle of the crowd. Like, there is so many people around and you chose to be a right dick by playing in such a crowded area. They were pretty much just going around in circles and giggling. People were annoyed of course, they kept looking at those two with that displeased face but walked on anyway. 

But of course, I chose to respond rather quietly by asking "seriously?" 

Now, it was a hot day, the Sun was blaring and I just wanted to get indoors and suck up information but of course, these two completely inconsiderate little brats were there giggling merrily, going around in circles on their little bikes while I was there trudging through the crowd, eager for some rest and air conditioning. I was obviously, more than a little snappy than usual. 

I was probably in the wrong as well as I said, that was incredibly stupid to do. 

They obviously heard and understood because right then after, they purposely encircled us. How do I know it's not just a coincidence? Because I realised what was happening and immediately changed course and moved somewhere else, they were about to complete their circle when they realised and followed us. I was incredibly annoyed so I chose to walk into the crowd where they could not do that without bumping into other people or anything. 

And not just that, when I turned to look at them, they had that gleeful, arrogant look on their face and that annoying laughter as they mocked us in Italian. Rude, inconsiderate and disgraceful. 

After that, we had some rest and when we sat down, this dude next to us just lit up a cigarette and smoked without a care in the world. 

I have poor lungs and don't do well with smoke around me. Obviously, that wasn't the best. 

This is something I realised. In the UK, you can't just smoke like that, you have to go and find somewhere where it is okay to smoke and even then, people are considerate enough to smoke away from others. This dude just smoked in a resting zone where there are lots of people and children, which is what I really dislike.

 My lungs are half dead anyway, a little more smoke probably won't kill it but to smoke next to children is just more than inconsiderate. Second hand smoke is so so so much worse than first hand smoke, especially for children ! 

2) Being ignored

I don't know if it's just me and my friend, but we were pretty much ignored everywhere we go. Looking for a table for a meal ? Ignored beyond ignored. It took us a while to get the service staff to notice us or serve us. Sometimes they see us and even though we indicated that we would like to get a meal, they ignored us. 

And when we were queuing up to go into the expo, we didn't know that you have to take your water bottle out of your bag when going through security check. Obviously someone came to explain but as usual, they only spoke Italian, took a look at us and then just completely ignored us. 

Now, even if you can't speak English, I thought you should at least try to get the message across or have someone else on hand to explain to non-Italian speakers. This is afterall, an international event that attracts visitors from all over the world. 

Why, is it because I'm Asian and wouldn't understand anyway? _l_ I'm sure you could understand all my displeasure in this. 

It didn't only happen once but many times when we were at the expo. Being completely ignored without understanding what's going on is incredibly annoying. And some exhibitions only have information in Italian. 

Thank you very much. It was very informative because I do not understand a single word of it.  What a way to share ideas with the world when your staff don't bother and your exhibition don't care about the international public anyway because Italian is such a widely used language. (Now, I understand that sometimes it's the exhibitor's fault for not having an explanation in English, but the staff who are supposed to be ushering people etc ... shouldn't they at least know a bit of English to help visitors?)

3) Where are your manners? 

I'm sure it's still under incredible rudeness but that is going to be really long so I'll just write it here. Everywhere I went with my friend, the two of us get bumped into by people left, right, center, without a single apologies. Of course, many were by Italians who bumped into us as they rush to cut our queues. My friend was bumped into at an exhibition as the guy was eager to get to the next panel and he was obviously not remorseful about the fact that he knocked into somebody. 

And oh, she nearly fell as he did that. 

For me, I have been bumped into many times as well and it seems like they don't seem to look at where they are going because people should notice them and move out of their way. On the second day of the expo visit, we were going back and the metro was very packed. 

Our metro came and as I was moving into the metro to create more space behind, this Italian lady just rudely shove me forward as she tried to make a last ditch effort to get on the train with her child. Well, I nearly toppled over because she was double my size and she really just shoved me. 

No sorry, no whatever. 

Made me really angry because I had been walking for 12 hours, my feet were aching, my blisters burst, my bad knee was acting up. I was tired, in pain and the last thing I need is a buffalo ramming into me and causing a third injury. 

The metro runs very frequently, would it kill you to wait for the next metro? Would it ? Maybe you would and that's why you would rudely ram into someone just to get onto the metro. -sigh- 

I understand the rush, I truly do. But not even a word of apology. If she had apologised, I would have forgiven it, for I understand the eagerness to get home and have a good rest. But of course, I expect too much from the Italians. (They spoke Italian.)

Or maybe because I am Asian I deserved to be shoved aside like I am dirt. Well, what more can I say ?

4) The horrible end to my trip

Never in my life had I been more glad to go home. Never in my life had I been so eager to leave without seeing all the sights. By the end of yesterday, it wasn't just tiredness and anger. My friend and I were really sick of Milan. Both of us agreed on so many things. 

Of course, it seems like Milan really hated us as well. Or in particular, me. 

And this trip tops the chart on unpleasantness. I had never felt such immense disappointment and anger. It totally drained me of my energy and love for a country. Never had I thought I would think that there would be a place in the world where I would never visit again. 

Even my slightly unpleasant and underwhelming experience in Czech republic and Paris didn't make me think, oh, this is so unpleasant that I'm never visiting here again. It was more of like, I would come again but probably not so soon. 

Milan is the first place that earned itself a spot on my blacklist. 

Oh, the horrible end to my trip. 

I was initially still having not too bad feelings about Milan despite all the unhappiness because there were some good service staff and people that we talked to and loved. The sights were really lovely too. But as we were going from our station to the Centrale station, I take it all back because an incident happened that made me think "you know what, screw it. This is an incredibly unpleasant place and I would never want to come back here again even if you pay me to."

This is the first time I truly thought that I had spent an incredible amount of money to buy unhappiness. I think I easily spent at least 600 euros on this trip and I truly see not a single cent of worth in it. 

My friend and I were on the metro, as it pull into one of the stations, I noticed that the door was opening on our side so I signalled to my friend to move in so as to create space for others. These two Italian women boarded. 

And my friend was a little squeezed into the corner so she walked over to me and we walked into the next cabin. Now, the original spot was just next to the door. And now we walked a distance away. When it pulled in into the next station where we were supposed to alight, those two women flanked me on both sides. Something that I thought was strange because why would you walk so much further to exit when you have a door right infront of you ? 

I didn't think much of it. Until we alighted and my friend told me to clean my bag because one of the Italian ladies purposefully spat on my bag. Well, what else can I say ? 

I have never been so incensed in my entire life. Now I know how it is like to have anger boil under your skin. Because it was just so unpleasant, disgusting and I really wished that I could confront her. 

How can someone be so barbaic? I tell you, I have never been so glad to be sitting in an airport. I was just relating this incident to my friend when I felt tears of happiness and frustration well up in my eyes. 

Never had I been so incredible relieved to be back in the UK. 

I wish I never left at all.