Day 2:      Our second day began with a pretty good breakfast, and a line up of speakers that visited us in our hotel conference room.  Unfortunately it was very difficult to get comfortable since in the US we’re use to air conditioned rooms 24/7, but in Italy if you want to cool off then there is only one thing to do. Pop open a window and pray for a nice breeze. So after opening every window in the room and taking off my jacket I finally stopped sweating and was able to pay attention to our speakers, one of which was US Consulate General, Sunil Ravi. He spoke to us about his role and how he basically served as a liaison between US companies and Italy and Italian companies with the US. He talked about negotiating deals and making business in the US as attractive as possible to foreign investors.

Following our discussions at the hotel, we visited an amazing family owned company named Limonta. Limonta is a major textile and fabric producer for huge brands like Louis Vuitton, MCM, Michael Kors, and the sole producer of materials for Prada. We had a great tour through there production facilities and saw first hand how rolls of Louis Vuitton were made, packaged and prepped for shipping. It was also very exciting to see a new color way that MCM plans on releasing in the fall of ’18. Limonta offered us a sneak peek into fashion, and showed us a behind the scenes look of many world renowned brands.

After our visit to Limonta we were allowed the rest of the day to explore the city. Our hotel was very close to a huge shopping strip named Buenos Aires. The strip had hundreds of stores and shops, both big name American stores and small Italian shops lined the street, so shopping here was very cool. I actually didn’t purchase anything since shopping is not my thing, but I know that if my sister was here she would have had a blast, and I would have ended up stumbling around with both arms full of bags. Our group then sealed off the night with a great meal. I had Bistek a la Milanese, a breaded steak in a traditional style of Milan. We had a great time that can be summed up with one great picture where the facial expressions speak for themselves.