In the collage, notice photos of me with my various lady groups of the city of Milan. I trained groups a few times per week with Nike Training Club workouts (check out NTC and download the app! It’s awesome and easy to do at home!). Such groups included hula hoop performers, models, fashion writers, photographers, and minor league soccer players. Most spoke enough English to understand my instruction, but as the weeks went by, I made an effort to learn some simple exercise terms and motivational phrases in Italian.
One photo shows me at an event with the beautiful Auora (my contact for event coordinating). We’re drinking a beer after a special event workout where I was the captain for an obstacle course at Parco Sempione. I was invited to a few special events like this in the city. Lots of fun.
My stage chef at Peck was very generous to allow me to work all the morning shifts so that I was able to instruct for Nike in the evenings. All the money I made teaching went towards shoes and beautiful Italian leather 🙂 I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to train for Nike while studying abroad in Italy. I made lots of new friends & great connections.
I got hooked up with custom made “Peanut” Sneaks! Love the mint green!
My list of phrases I wrote down for studying to instruct my NTC classes in Italiano. I tweeted this a while ago, and someone from Italy corrected my “you guys like?” (as in: are you digging’!!??). It should actually be “vi piace?” I spoke about half English and half Italian in the classes. They actually liked the English because it kept them fresh, but they helped me with my Italian.
A photo of the Nike Italia head quarters outside of Bologna. I rented a car and drove there from my school in Parma. We met to discuss the possibility of my teaching there. They told me to try to negotiate with my school for my stage placement to be in Milan or Rome. When I asked the school, they told me that the chance was very slim since cities cannot typically accommodate students because of lack of housing. I nagged them just a little. When we found out our placements a few weeks later, boom, Milan! When I realized that I was also being placed at one of the most famous gastro markets in the world, Peck, I couldn’t believe it! Blessed!
