It’s always a culture shock when you first arrive in a new country or city. The clothes are different, you can’t understand a thing anyone says, and the cars don’t seem to obey the same rules.

In Milan, everyone dresses well. Black turtlenecks, black jeans, low heeled boots, and those fancy coats that seem to just be heavier trench coats. On top of that, it’s fashion week. The streets are more crowded even than what I’ve seen in Manhattan and are crawling with models, photographers, and other fashionable people. It all made me want to replace my entire travel wardrobe with some more stylish pieces from one of the many stores lining the streets. Don’t worry, I haven’t (yet).

Just walking along the street you can tell you’ve entered a different world. Despite the familiar designer brands that line the main streets, they are set in the sort of beautiful, old buildings that don’t seem to exist in the US. Red and white signs read “saldi” in large letters and the people walking next to you chatter easily to each other while you understand only the occasional word. Everyone walks surprisingly slowly here. Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I both love to walk and am a fairly fast walker (as long as my dog decides to walk normally), often urging my friends to speed up their pace to keep up. Usually, I love the walking pace in big cities. But here, the narrow streets force me to meander behind the locals until we reach intersections wide enough for me to pass them. The Google maps walking times are not quite as accurate here.

Even familiar things are suddenly unfamiliar. One thing I’ve learned from living without refined sugar in my diet is that if you’re tired and hungry while travelling, Starbucks always has pure fruit juice that can serve as a good snack. But not in Milan; the only juice at the city center Starbucks had added sugar. Coming from Greece, where there is fresh squeezed juice everywhere you turn, it was quite a shock.

• 

While it took more effort to find a snack free of refined sugars, I had no problem finding something gluten-free. You’d think that Italy, thought of in the US as the land of pizza and pasta, would be one of the most difficult countries for gluten-free people. But it’s one of the best. Everyone here seems to know what gluten is and whether or not menu items are gluten free. The Italian government even offers Italian citizens with celiac disease up to 140 euros per month to buy gluten-free food. And the gluten free traditional Italian food here is so much better than in the US. For my first experience eating-gluten free in Italy, my friend and I went to a dedicated gluten-free bakery where I enjoyed a delicious mini gluten-free pizza. I then proceeded to order and immediately eat two more. Both the crust of the pizza and the two loaves of their bread that I brought home were worlds better than the gluten-free bread available in the US.

Some aspects of Milan will take some adjustment. Others, I’ll miss once I get back home. Still, I love the uniqueness of it all and I am so excited to see what else I can learn from this city.