The Blonde Abroad: Paris and Milan

After a stressful and frustrating few days at school, I was definitely ready for a mini-vacation this past weekend. During my internship at dunnhumby this summer, my manager and the HR team suggested that I visit the dunnhumbyFrance office in Paris.

I had planned to visit Celina, Margaret, Joe and Sarah in Milan, and since I had to fly out of Paris to get there, I asked Sandrine, the commercial director at dunnhumbyFrance, if I visit the Paris office before my flight to Milan, and we made plans for me to stay for a few hours.

I left Nantes at 9 a.m. on Thursday and arrived in Paris around 11:15. Got to the dunnhumby office with no problems, and Sandrine welcomed me with open arms. She gave me a quick tour of the office, and then we went across the street for lunch. I told her about the great projects I was able to be a part of this summer in Cincinnati, and she told me more about the business here in France. I also spoke with a woman named Maud who works closely with the French retailers, and learned about her role and got her perspective on the company. Just being there for a few hours reaffirmed that dunnhumby is the company I want to work for after I graduate. Now it's just a matter of waiting to see if I get an offer!

Headed to the airport after my visit to dunnhumby, and got to Milan with no problem. While I was on the flight, I had the option to buy the ticket for the bus that would take me from the airport to the central Milan train station, and I am glad I decided to do so. When I got to the bus, there was a long line of people waiting to get on, all with cash in hand. The driver told them that the bus was full, but when I showed him my ticket, he told me there was one spot left in the back of the bus. I hopped on, and we drove for about an hour into Milan.

Joe met me at the train station, and from there, we headed to a bar called Twelve for appertievo. Appertievo is a fantastic concept where you pay for a drink and get to eat all you want from a buffet. Granted, the drinks are 8 euros each, but the food more than makes up for it. I had several types of salad, as well as some bread, cheese and some other goodies. Celina, Margaret, and Sarah met us there with their friends Paige and Bart.

We stayed at appertievo until they closed the buffet, then headed to Paige's for the rest of the night.

We danced for several hours and just laughed a lot. I really like my classmates in France, but it was very comforting to be around my OSU classmates for a while too.

The next day, Celina took me to a great bakery type restaurant for brunch. I had a bagel with buffalo mozzarella, tomato and lettuce. Delicious! On our way home, I decided that a trip to Italy would not be complete without some gelato. Delicious!!

A while later, Joe had to do an interview on Skype, so the rest of us left the apartment and went to see the sights of Milan.

We saw the Duomo (really amazing architecture), and then walked around the Golden Rectangle, which is where all the fancy designer stores are. We did some window shopping, but didn't dare go into any of the stores except an outlet we found. At 600 euros for a jacket, it was the most expensive outlet I've ever visited. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.

For dinner that night, we went to an area with a lot of canals that reminded me a lot of Venice.

I ordered a pesto pizza, and ate the entire thing. It was absolutely amazing. I've determined the only pizza really worth eating is Chicago-style deep dish or pizza in Italy. Nothing else compares. I also had some tiramisu for dessert, and it was probably the best I've had (again, it's one of those Italian foods you really need to eat in Italy).

Had a very laid back night since we were all pretty tired from the night before. We went back to the apartment and watched Stardust. Not my kind of movie, but again, it was just nice to be with my friends.

The next day, we all woke up late, so we didn't have a lot of time to do much. Some of us were craving Mexican food, so we tried to find a Mexican restaurant recommended by Bart. When we got there, it was closed. We ended up going to a hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant that had the best Pad Thai I've ever eaten. Not what I would expect to find in Italy, but I'm ok with that.

We had a little bit more time before I needed to head to the airport, so we went to the big castle in Milan and walked around for a bit. Apparently Milan used to be a walled city, so it was kind of cool to see where the wall once stood (part of it is still there).