I am very excited to write this post because I feel like I have been anticipating this trip for months now. Where to begin? So, my mom came to Poznan for 1.5 days to see what my room looks like and secretly I think she wanted to make me some real food after I told her that soup and crackers was a common meal. Let’s just say that my fridge was packed with groceries and my freezer was filled with containers of frozen dishes. The whole time she was here, we literally shopped, walked and ate which was exactly what the two of us needed. Then, on Thursday night we packed for our weekend trip in Milan. Here’s where we went wrong- so we checked the weather in Milan and it said that it was 80/85 degrees during the day and dropped all the way down to 72 degrees at night. Unfortunately, we did not believe good old weatherchannel.com because it was so cold in Poland, so we packed light jackets and long pants. Needless to say, weatherchannel.com was right and we ended up rolling our pants.
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| Poznan in front of the castle |
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| At the Old Brewery...ready for Easter! |
On Friday morning my mom, Ania (friend from physiotherapy) and I flew out to Milan at 5:45am. We arrived in Milan at 10am so after dropping off our bags in the hotel and delayering like it was our job, we grabbed a map of the city and literally went EVERYWHERE from the famous Duomo to the Asian markets to the Castello to the Canals to the “cheap” shopping strip and even the marathon village. The day was packed with us taking everything in. Beautiful does not describe this city. I absolutely LOVED the city of Milan and the people of Milan and I would LOVE to go back there sometime in the future- maybe not to run a marathon (but how great of an excuse is that?!) but to take in the city even more. That night we went to a local Italian restaurant that we named “Pinky” because everything in there was pink and I mean- EVERYTHINGGGGGG. It wasn’t even a subtle pink- it was literally bright and obnoxious and nobody spoke English, but it was literally some of the best Italian food we had ever had.
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| In front of the Castello |
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| The Fountain |
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| Mama and I take over Milan |
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| At the Marathon Village...what I probably looked like at the finish line. |
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| The Duomo |
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| Attempting a handstand in front of the Duomo |
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| Hanna relaxing at the park |
The following day we grabbed breakfast at our hotel and then headed to the canals of Milan where we sat outside and drank some beer and ate some bread. Then we decided to migrate over to the park by the Castello and where we took naps in the sun. I have never seen such a crowded park by the way. Literally every part of this park was packed with people, but the funny part was that everyone was either taking a nap or eating a picnic. Later that night we got dolled up and went on an adventure to find the starting line of the marathon. We asked people in the street and people in our hotel and everyone told us something different. After over an hour and a half of walking, we realized that there was no way that we were going to find this place because it was actually right outside Milan- oops. That night we also went to a very local Italian restaurant where nobody spoke English, but it didn’t matter because as long as you were able to pronounce vino, pizza and pasta, you were set to go. We basically rolled out of there because we ate more than was humanly possible. We got to bed a bit earlier than the night before because the following day was the big race.
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| At the Canals |
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| Cracking jokes I'm sure |
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| Passed out in the Park |
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| Dinner time! |
The day of the marathon, we woke up early and got ready for the race. Surprisingly, my mom and Ania had more to prepare than I did and I was the one running the darn thing! After breakfast, we hopped in a cab to get to the starting line which was a whole 25 euro away (glad we didn’t walk there that’s for sure)! When we arrived at the starting line, we noticed that I was literally one of a handful of female runners. Among one of these female runners, I met this woman who was a physical therapist from Pennsylvania who travels with her college girlfriends all over the world to participate in different races (hint hint my college friends). I also met this woman from Finland who had a baby 8 months ago who I could barely keep up with. It was very interesting to participate in this race because I realized that I had no clue what the announcers were saying nor did I understand the runners trying to talk to me before the race. Once I showed them the American flag on my bib number, they nodded and did a quick thumbs up which I apparently caught on to since I couldn’t stop running with two thumbs up the whole race. The race in general was amazing and I couldn’t have been happier with my time of 4:14:08hr compared to the Chicago marathon where I finished 4:45hr. There were no really big problems during the race except maybe right at the beginning at kilometer 4. I was running behind this little older Italian lady and I was trying to go around her (thank goodness I didn’t), but this man cut in front of me and her and before we knew it, he was on the side of the route peeing. Now to make things better (or worse should I say) the wind picked up significantly right when this man started peeing…yes…that’s right…the brisk and fierce wind created a boomerang effect to this man’s pee which sprayed this little Italian woman and myself. Kilometer 4 and I had random sweaty man’s pee on my carefully planned out running outfit. I must say, I was SO glad I didn’t go in front of this woman earlier because I would have gotten “peed on” a lot more than I actually did. Other than that, there were no real problems except for a cramp or two and a slight knee pain towards the end. I must say, however, that I have never been so mentally challenged. If it wasn’t for my mom and Ania, there is no way I would have been able to finish that race. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to meet me at 4 different stops along the course waving their signs and blowing their trumpets. Huge thanks to them! Although I was very worried about the weather on the day of the marathon, it wasn’t all that bad, but I did drink more water than was humanly possible. Every 5km I downed a whole bottle of water and couldn’t wait for the next fifth kilometer so I could quench my thirst. After the race, I drank four bottle of water, a diet coke, ate two oranges, two bananas and chowed down on some cheeseburgers and super size French fries from Mickey D’s. After a shower and two hour nap, we were ready to enjoy our last night in Milan. We found this adorable outdoor restaurant that had vines and flowers imitating walls where we drank vino and ate pizza and lots and lots of bread. We finished the night at a gelato place right by the Duomo. Perfect does not describe that city. I would love to go back one day- it’s exactly what you think Italy should be like. The following morning we made our way back to Poznan via plane and train making it to our afternoon anatomy class. The following day, my mom left in the afternoon while I was in class. I was very surprised when I got back to my room because there waiting for me on the table was a pot of her homemade tomato soup! What could be better than that?! Needless to say, I rationed my portions.
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| Some more dinner :) |
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| Race Day! |
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| Kilometer 14! Yay! |
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| Finally done! There's the medal! |
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| Gelato to celebrate? Don't mind if I do! |
Good news is that I get to savor my mom’s tomato soup when I go home this week. I can’t believe I’m going to be home in 4 days! It blows my mind how fast the time has been going. I’ve almost been here one school year which means I’m 1/3 of the way done. It’s very exciting and very scary all the same time. But before I start going into a huge philosophical thought process about time and the future, first thing’s first- Easter break in 4 days! Whooooo!
Hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Have a great Easter and can’t wait to write some more- this time from the wonderful US of A!
