There were souvenir stands everywhere selling pins, flags, hoodies and other merchandise.
One of the moments everyone talked about was when Team United States won gold in figure skating. My classmates were really excited about it and spent a lot of time talking about the performance afterward. On Italian news broadcasts playing in public spaces, the result was also being highlighted. The Paralympic Games were just as meaningful in a different way. The Paralympics are for athletes with physical disabilities, and watching them made it clear how much training and determination goes into every game. Events like hockey, para alpine skiing and wheelchair curling showed athletes competing at a very high level, often under challenging conditions. It wasn’t treated as separate or lesser, but as an important part of the same overall Games.
What stayed with me the most from living in Italy during such an important time was how my day-to-day life blended with the chaos of such a big event. Public transport was always full of fans heading to different events. Most cafés were full of people talking about results, and you would constantly hear updates and commentary playing from screens in the background. Even just walking around the city felt different. You were always close to something Olympic-related, whether it was a celebration or a crowd gathering to watch a replay. By the end of the experience, Milano Cortina felt less like just a sports event and more like a shared moment between thousands of people from all over the world.
