Marred by Milan!

“All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” – Samuel Johnson

Milan, Italy, Europe

I describe myself as a thrill-seeker. 
Although, I am not the most adventurous person, I love travelling.
I love seeing the world and not just for sunny beaches and tropical cocktails. 
My recent trip to Milan was an eye-opener for me. 
As a young woman, who has lived in two continents and travelled to several countries,
I am aware of the [racial] prejudice that exists in the world.
It is not something I ever deal with but I am not oblivious to it.
I see myself as woman first and being  recognised as a woman, [a person] is more important to me.

Stepping out of the aircraft, with my body strangled with scarves, jewellery and heavy totes, I smiled at the change of scenery. The warmth of a beautiful city welcomed us. And we were happy. 
We were unaware this warmth would soon turn into cold. 
As we made our way into the city, where our hotel was located, we noticed the eyes fixated on us but did not think much of it. Apparently people had not mastered the art of discretion. 
We were pleased to find our hotel safely, where we rested and sorted out our itinerary for the next couple of days with the help of the hotel staff.
During the course of our trip, we noticed the "attention" we were receiving by way of stares.
This was especially prevalent on the underground/metro/subway. It was almost a mixture of fascination and displeasure.
We did not care because we wanted to take in the culture of Milan. 
However, it was when we heard "negrita" uttered by a couple of men (on separate occasions) that we truly began to take in what was happening. We still did not care. We would later find out that "negrita" is supposed to be a "term of endearment" which means "sexy black woman" or "my little black lady".
We met some very friendly people and some...not-so-friendly people as you do in every city.

The next day, we took the ferry from Como to Bellagio. It was absolutely beautiful. The sun shone brightly on the blue green wavering waters. Every town we passed possessed a unique beauty.
We were excited about the shopping in Bellagio, as you can imagine any young woman would be. 
Whilst in Bellagio, shop assistants would often watch us attentively with a stern look. In one particular shop, one of the shop assistants told her co-worker "they are from Africa" without caring whether we heard it or not. Like I stated before, it seems discretion is foreign to many.
We carried on to the other shops and returned to the ferry (as we could only stay in Bellagio for 40 minutes).
We sat in the middle on the upper deck of the ferry on our way back to Como. Wrong move. I don't believe I should corner myself or hide myself because of the opinions of others but at this point, we were just over it. The stares were intense. Perhaps this was due to the fact that this group of passengers were older but it was very uncomfortable, admittedly, as was this trip.

In the beginning of this blog, I expressed that racism is not something I deal with. Well, I do not assume someone is staring at me simply because I am black but I know what hostility feels like. Generally, Milan, although warm in terms of temperature, was cold by virtue of the citizens. We still had fun and visited the various monuments and museums. I am very happy I went because I believe travelling is education.