Week with A!

Hey Guys,

I have not been able to write in this blog because Allegra (a really really great friend form boarding school came to visit me all last week. If I repeat some things, I apologize.

What a week it has been. I arrived last Sunday around 8am to a quiet cloudy Milan in the morning. I came home and passed out until 4pm. For the rest of that day I handled some business, reloading my cell phone, getting my monthly unlimited subway pass, grocery shopping. Later in the night I went to a friend’s house, Jerry Osei Tutu. He is a very together guy from Ghana who has grown and lived in London all his life. He lived in Rome for 2 years before coming to Milan to continue his own line. Also, he founded a human rights organization. He is a very together fellow and I just live for him. He cooked me a spinach dish and chatted and finished a bottle of wine (Pinot Nero). He and I have already painted the town but you will hear about that later. Oh yeah, I actually had a threesome scheduled but I did not want to be a mess before Allegra came, and inevitably it was going to make me a mess. Anyway, Monday, I again woke up later (2pm) and got myself together and went to the school to figure out how we were doing with the internship paperwork. It turns out HR guy Zegna was dragging his feet again and there was drama about me needing an actual work permit. This was unknown to me especially given the fact we decide to go through Bocconi for the internship. Long story short, I have not received my contract yet since. I still had to register myself in Italy, by getting some paperwork, going to different post offices and paying even more money. It was not that big of a deal though. I was able to get everything done by 7pm, just before the post office closed and just in time to pick up Allegra form Central Station at 730. She ended up coming in at around 8pm. I took her to my place which is 10 minutes away by subway to my apartment at Piola Station and we immediately went to the grocery store to get all the food we needed for the week. Allegra was fascinated by all the cheeses. I think she was in that aisle for 10-15 minutes. She wanted a special kind of cheese from sheep’s milk. I couldn’t translate sheep in the moment but later found out it was (pecoro). She ended up getting the cheese she wanted (from Tuscany). She then proceeded to snack on chips, wine, and cheese for most of the night. Later on we had salad and spinach and ricotta tortellini. We chatted all night until she passed out on the sofa. Tuesday we went shopping at Loreto a shopping area about 10 minutes away from me by foot. We found some stuff at Sephora, Benetton and I found some stuff at Zara (as usual). We then went to the post office (always an ordeal in Italy) to mail something for A. After that, we went to the Dominican hair salon to get her hair straighten. We ended up running into Charnae, my SDA Bocconi MLT partner in crime. She had just returned from Turkey with Mesha (mixed black/german girl from Fashion program) & Fabio (her BF), and her whatever he is, Giovanni. She said they had an amazing time which makes me want to visit Turkey so badly. I’ve heard such amazing things about the place and I seem to get along with the Turks so well, it seems like a natural place to visit and fall in love with. Anyway, you know the Dominican hair salon was a riot. I left Allegra there with Charnae for about 15 minutes to check my email and send some emails to my luxury professor/career services director to update them on the drama of the internship, but soon returned to the hair salon a block away. The gay hairdresser was telling the T about the Italian men, the crying all the time and saying I love you within two days of knowing you. I was gagging as he was calling them out. We finally finished around 8pm and took the bus home. I told Allegra to not punch her 10-ride ticket since the popo never comes on and checks and you all know what happened. Allegra was a pro and played dumb American. I was giving new American since I had a subscription to the Milan transportation system. Anyway, they must have repeated 20-25 times that we had to swipe our card every 75 minutes to renew it. I decided to take the brunt of this reprimand since A was the newbie and it was me who told her not to stamp. I will say that by the end of the trip, Allegra was not stamping on her own accord, and nothing seemed to happen. =) They basically stayed on the bus for 3-4 stops when they usually just stay on for one stop. One of the officers was just berading me and completely in my face, to the point that I had sit back so that there was some space between us. Anyway, it was funny and we got to my place around 9 to stop by the local pizzeria, pick up some pizzas, and meet my friend Jerry who came over and shared some pizza and wine. Good times, good times. After he left, A and I stayed up until 3 in the morning to catch up on Brothers and Sisters. Good times, good times. Wednesday Allegra and I went to the Duomo, Vittoria Emanuelle Galleria, and architecture exhibit, and ran into a free Leonardo di (caprio) Vinci painting exhibit, which Allegra later found out that it was just one painting. We then walked down to my school to go to this great Indian restaurant. It didn’t open until 7pm so I went to recharge my monthly internet and then we went to a local café and had an Aperitivo. This is where you order and drink and receive the benefits of a nice little buffet. When the barista came out with our drinks, he accidently spilled everything on Allegra. I’m talking peanuts, chips, her gin and tonic, my orange fanta. Even the glasses broke. Of course we cracked up but everyone was completely silent. I took a picture of the peanuts in Allegras cooch. Hilarious! After that we went to Indian food, which was always good although Allegra was not a huge fan of the spiced chicken. We went home and passed out. Thursday I rested at home and leisurely got up while Allegra went out on the town to catch a few more sights (Egyptian Museum, Castello Sforezco, etc.). Later in the day I went to school and tried to work out my internship situation. I checked my email and I finally received a message fromt the HR guy at Zegna (after two weeks of hearing nothing from him) after calling three times a day everyday and emailing everyday. He mentioned that he was fighting for me to have this internship. Anyway, I become very calm and at peace with the entire situation as I entered the career services office. Deep down inside, I knew that I had done everything on my side, Tuesday Bocconi said that everything was ok on their side, Wednesday the CEO of the group I would be working on gave his ok through my luxury professor. Everyone was ok with the situation but there were still issues from Zegna, which at this point I found to be funny. The career services and Simone (the student relations coordinator) were pissed and embarrassed. I was surprised to know this but the Director of Career Services even sent my resume out to other places while waiting for Zegna to get their act together. It was something I was not expecting and a completely nice gesture. It is always good to know that you have people on your side. I left my school to meet up with Allegra at the Duomo. We went to this restaurant called Ciao and walked around and shopped a bit, most notably at La Rinascente. The Italian equivalent of Saks Fifth Avenue Department store. We then went to a surprise Bday party that Jerry organized for his roommate. It included some very interesting weird characters that all spoke English, so we couldn’t really talk about them. It was mostly friends of Vincenzo. All of them seemed to love black people. One woman even had a mixed son (who opened the door as we arrived). The guy that we walked in the party with (Patrick) was has a black BF and some people originally thought that he and I were together. Never that. This man was a mess, Hammer pants, not the cute trendy ones, and a weird black and white pattern shirt. His head was shaved on the back and sides and the top was long and curly! What! No shade but shade! We were actually talking about him on the train without knowing he was going to the party. Friday Allegra went out and did her own thing and I stayed home again. I had been sleeping a little too much all week. I think I was physically manifesting my frustration with my internship situation through sleep. That and the fact that I never converted my sleeping schedule to the Euro time zone. =) but seriously, Allegra was a God-send. I didn’t really mind not working last week. I had one of my best friends in town from the States (my first US visitor while abroad) so things were pretty much OK and realigned my priorities. Back to Friday. I finally got the HR guy’s cell phone number and kinda bitched him out on the whole situation and how unprofessional he was during this entire process. I asked him for two things
1. the decision since the HR dept was meeting to today to discuss my situation
2. His colleagues name since he was going on vacation next week

in email format and ended up not receiving them, what a disappointment! I ended up staying home and having to make copies of my visa and registration papers to send to Simone so that he could scan and send them to Zegna for their meeting. I hope to hear one way or another by tomorrow (Wednesday 12/9). Friday night We tried to catch up on Private Practice but my Internet had messed up because the woman did not give me the promotion like I usually have, so the credit ran out very quickly. It was ok though, because A and I just chatted it up until late talking about everything from babies, marriage, abortions, Obama’s healthcare plan, past relationships, current relationships, and future relationships. It was actually great to have a long, serious conversation with her. I love her perspective on things.



Saturday A and I went to my school to get our Venice T together, book hotels and hostels, we went to central station to get our tickets, and we also went shopping for her sisters back at Loreto. After we got home, I had to rest for like 30 minutes and then we went to Aperitivo at a local bar and watched the Inter-Juventus football (soccer) match. Then Jerry came over because I had planned for us to go out to Magazzini Generali, the best gay club in Milan hands down. It reminds me of Circus in LA or Hiro’s Ballroom in NYC. Huge location, men are delicious and down for anything, hahah. Anyway, we met up with some of my friends Daniel and Ibrahim. They are a couple; Daniel is Eastern Euro and Ibrahim is Senegalese. We had so much fun. You know I was workin it and flirtin with everyone. I ended up three way kissing my friends, kissing some random guy on the dancefloor, and a guy in the bathroom. Messy but always fun! The men were living for me and Jerry. We were definitely getting our mad flirt on, at least I was, and people could not deal, in a good way. It was really cute. The couple left around 4 and we left around 5am and got home at 6. Jerry and I came back to my apartment and chatted for a while before he made his way home. Allegra ran into the living room around 8am where I passed out and told me that she can never have children because she was worried sick. She actually texted me around 5am through her US number because she ahd a panic attack about where I was and if something had happened to me. It was hilarious but I ended up thinking that she would make a great mother. She also kept thinking that she had no keys, no phone, so she felt helpless. She knew I am a grown man though and I was doing me, like always.


More to come about Sunday night at Il Borgo and Venice with A!