Midterms

Ah, the smell of midterms is in the air...young souls sitting in corners glued to books, panicking on the inside...I hate midterms- don't get me wrong. But I do find it interesting how everyone reacts to them differently. You can tell a lot about a person by how they react to midterms (or finals). Some people don't do anything- they're the same people that barely came to class, never picked up a pen, and didn't buy the book. They will probably do just well enough to pass, because that works for them. Then there are the last minute crammers. That's me. I won't be able to focus on the information until the last minute, so I wait for it....now, probably would be wise for me to study at least the night before, but life always wins out for me. For instance, last night The Departed was playing at the Odeon. Now, I could have stayed home and stared at my notes, pretending to study, or I could go to a movie, eat some gummy bears, and keep my fingers crossed. Somehow, it seems to work out all right for me. Then you have the last catagory. The cry-ers (cryer is not a word, but I like it). I am sitting in the lounge as we speak across from a girl who is weeping over her laptop. She just did poorly on her first midterm and has a few hours until her next, so she is internally flogging herself over her failure and weeping. I can't understand this tactic. It does no good. Weeping never helps anything, but especially studying. Weeping does nothing for studying. I figure, even if I fail my midterms, in ten years all I will remember about this experience is wonderful Florence. I'm not going to remember what grades I got. It does suck though because our teachers aren't really teaching our classes like normal college classes- they're much easier, which is great, but the tests are like Italian University tests. Really difficult and in depth. It isn't a recipe for success. Anyway, I have no idea how i'm going to make out here, but i'll tell you one thing....i'm not gonna weep. As Gary said in Noises Off, "Don't panic!Don't panic!"

Bingo...Italian Style...

Every Tuesday I have Italian Language Lab where we study more applicable parts of the Italian language for about an hour. We can ask my teacher questions about things we run into everyday here and don't understand. Sometimes they teach us how to order something or ask for something and then actually take us to a store or a cafe to practice.
Today, my teacher pulled out a game that Italians play on the holidays, like after Christmas dinner. It's a lot like Bingo. You have cards and someone pulls numbers out of a bag and reads them outloud (it helps us practice our numbers in Italian). If you have that number written on your card, you cover it with a little piece of paper. The first person to get four in a line wins a prize. You keep playing and getting prizes until someone wins the prize for having every number covered (a "black out" - shout out to the Grand Lake Rotary Club, Wah hoo!)
Anyway,
My classmate starts reading the numbers (can't get ONE single number right for crying out loud they're written on the fricken' chalk board in front of your face...sorry...outburst) and I don't get a single number. We go for about fifteen minutes and everyone is putting little pieces of paper over their numbers and my three cards are still blank. Sarah, my sweet Italian teacher, looks at me and keeps going, "oh, Kate. None? Still?" Like i'm a poor lost puppy. I kept cracking up to myself and trying not to laugh outloud because all I could think of was Grand Lake bingo and the "Most Rotten Card" games that I used to give people a run for their money in. I kept feeling the urge to stand up....I guess it doesn't matter how far you go- you can cross an ocean- and your bingo luck will follow you.
Remember that.

What can I say?

I've been having trouble posting for the last few days because nothing is going on. But then when I really thought about it, that in itself is an interesting thing. I've been aware for the past couple of weeks that when I wake up in the morning the days just feel like regular days. I could be waking up in Denver or Florence, it doesn't feel any different. The language barrier has faded away- not because I can speak Italian (although I can understand enough to get by very easily now) but because I don't really notice it anymore. I used to hear the people talking around me because it was such an alien language to me, but now, it just fades into the background. I wake up in the morning, eat my cereal, sometimes go for a run, and head off for school. Just like any other day.
It is very interesting to be someplace that should be temperary and just never leave. I find it even more interesting how we all scramble to return to normalcy when we arrive here. The first few weeks are an adjustment period where you have to find your niche and routine, and then you just sink into it. I was talking to my roommate the other day about how the shock is going to be so much harder going home than coming here, because I have adjusted to this and suddenly it will be gone in a flash, like it never happened...
The time has flown by so fast- I'm saying that now and i'm only half way through. I'm so glad that I have more time here. I have midterms this week though and that is going to suck. But after midterms...Spring break baby! Spring break in Europe.

Bologna

Most of our roommates are in Viareggio for carnivale this weekend (yes, more perpetual carnivale...you know the saying, "just in case you need an excuse to party")...but Michelle and I didn't feel like going. So, yesterday we went to Bologna. First of all, I love the way the trains work here because you can go to the train station, look at the departures sign, and just arbitrarily pick a destination. It's great. We had planned on going to Bologna though. Bologna is the location of the first university in the world, as well as the birthplace of bologna (mortadella here in Italia), and bolognese sauce...so it had a lot going for it.
It was a cool city. Even though it was only an hour from Florence, it had a very different feel. In fact, the people were a lot more friendly and the men were a lot less harassing... which was refreshing. The streets are a lot longer- in Florence, you can look down a street and it either curves or ends in a block. In Bologna they have a few main streets that are much bigger than in Florence and you can look down them a mile or so. That was new also.
Since Michelle and I are obsessed with food (and it's showing in our waistlines...) we really went with the #1 intention of getting authentic Bolognese sauce. We found a cute ristorante and I have to say, it was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. I don't even like ground beef- but the ground beef here is soooo different. It's top quality and they soak it in creme to tenderize it... and it just melts in your mouth. So good. We also managed to go into a couple churches and museums before we left. All of the museums in Bologna are really nice, and free, which is nice also.
We were supposed to go to Siena today which was on the top of my list, but it's raining everywhere today and we're afraid it would be a waste. Kind of disappointing. But, after i'm done here in the internet place, we're going home to drink wine and bake banana bread. It's no Siena, but it'll have to do.

An Especially Pleasant Day

We started out our day by taking a jog along the Arno river...Florence mornings these days are perfect. They're just crisp enough to keep you cool, but not too cold that you're uncomfortable. We started out at the Ponte Vecchio and rain a few bridges down, crossed the river, and ran back up- our last stretch being over the Ponte Vecchio. It was so surreal to be out there jogging today. The shop keepers were all opening up and receiving their deliveries. It's really interesting because it's like tourist season started over night. When I first got here in January, I didn't see a lot of Americans on the streets. Now, the Piazzas are packed and it seems like everyone you pass it speaking English. It's funny because on one hand it's really annoying- the lines are long, the streets are crowded, there are more drunken minors giving us a bad rep....on the other hand when I hear someone speaking English it's a little comforting...like i'm not alone...plus, at this point I have been here for six weeks and they're just off the boat- therefore, I am not the dumbest American in Italy. There are new Americans to make the stupid mistakes that we used to make. I've been promoted by default. It is also really interesting to see what the Italians do this time of year. They are scrambling to ready everything for the crowds so there is a lot of construction going on. Shop keepers on the Ponte Vecchio are repairing their store facades, stores are remodeling, streets are being repaired- it's the final push it seems to be ready for those tourists.
Oh, and about the picture...it is still Carnivale...I thought that it was over on Tuesday but there are still huge celebrations going on in different Italian cities. However, Tuesday was a big day. I didn't realize what day it was until I was woken up by what sounded like a parade going down my street. I still don't know what it was- but I know there were marakas. The next morning the city was even more covered in confetti than before (I didn't think it was possible) and the phones looked like this...It's like...liquid confetti.

This and That

So first of all, I miss my dog terribly. Now, I don't want everyone who reads this to be insulted- obviously, I miss you all too. But my dog, she's my buddy. She's always home when I get there. And yeah, she tortures me and I am perpetually picking up some form of Isabelle droppings, but there is nothing more settling than waking up in the morning and having her warm little body curled up next to my stomach and snuggling with her before I get out of bed. I woke up missing her this morning and i'm so worried that she won't remember me when I get home.
On a lighter note, a couple really funny things happened today. The first was another "Danielle incident" that happened this afternoon. So, we were walking to school and playing the word game, where we try to say things that we see- in Italian (example: L'autobus [bus], la macchina [car])...you get it. She was having trouble thinking of anything because we had exhausted our vocabulary in about two blocks. Then, as we were crossing the street, we were walking towards a clothing store that had a female manikin in the front window. Danielle got very excited and pointed her finger with her arm as straight as it would go and practically yelled, "BELLA!! MOLTA BELLA!!" ... thing is...she was pretty much pointing at this poor Italian girl walking down the street and the girl looked at Danielle, made a face of terror/disgust, and proceeded to walk/run away from us. I grabbed Danielle and was like, "You are embarassing me......" and she was like, "I don't think we should play this game anymore...." We laughed so hard we could hardly climb the 400 steps to our school on the 3rd floor.
Then, when I was in my Roman History class my hot Italian teacher was reading our lesson and suddenly he looked up and said, "Ok guys." In his thick Italian accent, "I'm going to go get an espresso now. I'll be back in five minutes." I was like, seriously? The man really cracks me up.

Grey's Anatomy

Ok, so today I am going to talk about Grey's Anatomy. For all of you readers out there who don't watch the show, i'm sorry, but I'm doing it. I realize that i'm in Italy, and I know there are those of you out there who are like, "You're in Italy, why do you even care about Grey's Anatomy?". I'll tell you why: Dedication, for one, and love. Pure love. I am in love with that show. And I'm not the only one, which brings me to what I am going to talk about.
This school is made up of a majority of girls. Every week we all scramble to download the latest episode of Grey's before the next one airs. This would seem like a simple task, but it's not. Sometimes I sit down and buy it from itunes and my computer says it will take 23 HOURS to download the episode. This is a problem. I may be dedicated, but i'm not going to sit in the computer lab for 23 hours. It's actually pretty funny because girls will come into my classes and be like, "Have you watched it yet?" and we'll be like, "No! don't say what happens" and we do this every week. Everyday, my roommates say, "have you gotten Grey's yet?" and when I finally do we all get excited and get good desserts and sit on our couch that smells like urine and we watch it together. What brings me to this blog today is that something very dramatic is happening on Grey's right now. We've seen the first two episodes of a three episode series and long story short, the main character, Meredith, is dead right now. Now, we know she will get a heartbeat again because the entire show is named after her, but that's not the point. Meredith as we speak is laying in the hospital with a flat line, and everyone is crying. These writers are killing me. Do they have any idea how difficult it is for me to get my Grey's? I can't even start dowloading it until Friday afternoon, and that means that I won't get it until Monday or Tuesday because i'm going to be gone all weekend. So I have to wait a week and a half to see what happens. They did this to us last week too, when Meredith fell off the pier into the water and we didn't know what was going to happen. And right now she's dead. She has to live....
Funny side note, I'm sitting in the computer lab writing this and as we speak two girls are sitting here, painfully trying to download Grey's, and asking me not to say what happens....

Pienza

Here are some pictures of Pienza...couldn't leave 'em out...

Milan

We had a whirlwind weekend full of buses and trains, monasteries, opera houses, and about 4 cities. We went to Pienza on Saturday, which was a really cute small town known for making cheeses and wild boar sausages....needless to say it was a really cute small town that smelled....interesting...
It was beautiful though. We went to a monastery and looked at some frescos, and we also went to a thermal spa (which also smelled...interesting...). But it was fun. We got home Saturday night, ate and passed out.
Then we left at 6:30 AM on Sunday for Milan. Milan is a huge city, biggest I've been to on this trip, and it is of course the fashion mecca of the world. It's interesting because Milan is very fast paced in comparison to other Italian cities, especially the further south you go in Italy. Milan holds the "time is money" ethic, where as everywhere south of Milan holds the, "you'll get it when you get it" ethic. I much prefer Milan's way of thinking...
The duomo in Milan was AMAZING! it had these crazy spires all over the top of it and it was really gothic and creepy. I loved it. We climbed the four thousand stairs to the top and I took some cool pictures (while frozen with fear).
It has also been Carnivale here, perpetually. I always thought it was just one weekend, but apparently the Italians really like to stretch it out, because it's been going since mid January. There is this paper confetti everywhere you go, and when we were in Milan there was this big festival going on in the main Piazza (in front of their duomo). It was kind of crazy because there was a big beautiful statue of Neopoleon and next to it there were these modern art performers. They were suspended at different levels along a giant canvas and they were all busily painting while there was really loud techno like music pumping throughout the whole piazza. It was really cool to watch, and so juxtaposed against the gothic background. Little kids were all running around in their costumes throwing confetti and silly string on strangers (the little kids dress up every weekend until carnivale is over, so you see little Italian children running around in costumes all the time, getting gelato all over their faces...brings back memories...)
Anyway, it was very fun. We did a little shopping but I kept myself away from Gucci and Versace...best not to know what you're missing when it comes to Gucci and Versace, that's my rule of thumb....

Italian School

So, going to school at a university in Italy has already been a very interesting experience. Even though our school is very different from actual Italian universities, the professors seem to be very similar. I had a test in our Roman History class on Wednesday. The man who teaches this class, although very attractive, doesn't seem to speak English incredibly well. So, he sits a reads off of a typed sheet of paper that he makes the night before. So being in this class is a lot like having a history text book read to you, in a strong Italian accent. It's really hilarious because the only time he stops reading is to tell you about how some word in the Enlish language originates from Roman and then Latin. He's like the father in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", it always cracks me up. I don't really have a problem with this except it doesn't give you a lot of opportunity to retain a lot of information. Also, because the professor is Italian, he does things the Italian way. This means that we still haven't gotten a syllabus yet (scratch that, a few people have a syllabus because when the professor made copies one day he just gave them to a few people he happened to bump into on the way from the copy machine...very organized distribution...) and we still haven't gotten a text book because he was late in ordering it, and the Italian book store is not urging the ordering along. So you can imagine when he announced we were having our first test, I felt a little apprehensive.
However, he handed out the essay test that just said to write on a certain period of time, and then he was like, "But, you know guys, (that's his favorite saying), just write about whatever you want." So, being the extremely talented bull shitter that I am, I wrote part of the essay summarizing the time period (of course void of names and dates, because who can remember those), and then spent the rest of the essay discussing my opinion of the way civilizations evolve, making sure to use really big words that I knew he wouldn't understand. I'm hoping that it works out for me. I'll let you know.

Valentine's Day, Part II

So, a couple of weeks ago, my roommates and I decided to be each other's Valentines. We decided a couple days ago that it would be nice if Michelle (our roommate who cooks delicious food) would cook instead of going out to eat. Michelle actually suggested it. She decided to do like a five course meal. So she looked up what she wanted to cook and she and I set out to get the ingredients while the other roommates printed out the recipe, got dessert, and bought champagne. Michelle had wanted to cook veal osso bucco so we went on a mission to find a butcher. Constantino, the cafe owner next to our apartment gave us directions to one near our house. Constantino is really funny because when he says things in English he doesn't have much of an accent so it fools you into thinking his English is really good. When in fact, I think he has maybe just conquered three or four conversations....his wife is the same way. So you ask them a question, they say something in English that makes you think they knew what you were saying, and then they launch into a whole schpeal (sp.?) in Italian involving hand gestures and dramatic expressions, and then they finish and my roommates and I look at each other and are just like, "O.K. thank you. Grazie, ciao." We've done this many times. So this time Michelle and I were able to pick out the word of a street and that we had to turn left....so we found the butcher. Now this guy was a hard core butcher. The store is so full of red meat that there is a red glow that emits from the store into the street. He has a big boar's head hanging on the doorway and a table on the ground set with stuffed pigs sitting around eating together. Now usually when we go into a store and say,"parle inglese?" (do you speak English?) the store clerk says, " a little". This time I said, "Parle inglese?" and the butcher (wearing a white apron spackled in blood and bone fragments) says with a very apethetic expression on his face, "No." Ok then. Fortunately, he knew osso bucco and we could understand how much it costs. He went into the back room and you hear him sawing away and he comes back even more covered in grossness with the meat. He splats it in some paper, wraps it up, puts it in the bag, and hands it over the counter. And then we left, abruptly.
The dinner however turned out to be unbelievably delicious and after eating five courses, drinking wine and champagne and finishing off dessert, we were like 6 beached whales (our friend Kat came over too). We watched some grey's anatomy and went to bed, all sleeping like the dead. Over all, it was a very delicious Valentine's day.

Valentine's Day

Yeah, I'm in Italy. On Valentine's Day. Like the most romantic day of the year in the most romantic country in the world. But it's ok. I went and saw my boyfriend today. I haven't told you guys about him yet. His name is David. He's great- you know, the strong, silent type. I went and hung out with him for a little bit this morning. My art history class was there too, but I feel like we got some really good alone time anyway. He's much taller than me, so I just stood there, gazing up at him.....The only thing is that he's 479 years older than me. It bothers him a little, but I told him age doesn't matter when you're in love....

Italian Class

I got an A on my Italian quiz today! Granted, the teacher took pity on me a little. One of the questions had the verb Essere in it, or "to be" and I had to conjugate it. I wrote down "Sete" but it is actually "Siete". Doesn't seem like too big of a deal but it's the difference between saying, "You all are American" and "Seven American". So, I guess it matters....
Anyway, Italian class is kind of fun. It's funny to see how people react to it though. I enjoy feeling like i'm in kindergarten again....maybe it's because i'm a slacker and I know the expectations are extremely low...but I like it. You know, the teacher points to a chair, and I say "La Sedia", and that's it. That's all she expects from me. Makes me want to go back to kindergarten actually...It helps that I have a very enthusiastic teacher whom is the mother of a toddler, because when I say, "la sedia", she gets really excited and actually talks to me like i'm in kindergarten, which really helps me sink into my role. She says, "Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! Kate" and I get all excited that I knew the word, and we do this for about an hour or so.
However, some people are really uptight about being wrong or knowing things right away, and they get all agitated and frustrated. Then you have a few people that don't retain any information, so the teacher says to say any word in Italian and they start reading the label off of their bottle of water...guess everybody has to do it their own way....My favorite is when the teacher puts in a CD and makes us repeat sentences after someone speaking on the stereo. The pronunciations are actually kind of hard sometimes and so all of us sound like total idiots all repeating the sentences at the same time and butchering the language. The best part is that the teacher sits and actually laughs at us while we do this. It's like she only makes us do it because she gets such a kick out of it. But I don't mind being a circus monkey, as long as I can pretend like i'm in kindergarten.

Lake Como

We went to Bellagio this weekend, which is a little town on Lake Como. It is a beautiful town that has small stairways going up from the docks to the houses- instead of streets. I would say that Bellagio is a little like Aspen- It is the most glamorous of the small Lake Como towns. I was really just excited to have now stayed in the only two Bellagios in the world, (the only two that I know of...if you know of another one, do me a favor, keep it to yourself), the one on Lake Como, and Las Vegas baby! We had a great time, but it was quite an adventure getting there. I wasn't positive we would make it, but I figured if we didn't we'd just be somewhere in Italy, so you can't really go wrong. We had to take a train from Florence to Milan, and then Milan to Varenna. Once we got to Varenna (another small town on the lake) we had to wander down to the boat docks and catch a ferry to Bellagio. I LOVE the ferry rides. So beautiful, and the air was cool and crisp. As you can see in the pictures, it was misty and very mythical. It felt like something out of Lord of The Rings...you really thought a dragon might come flying over the mountains at any moment.
Once we got to Bellagio we called this number in one of the guide books for an apartment and this little man came down to the docks and got us. He was the sweetest little man and everyone in the town knew him. He walked us up to the apartment and it was amazing. It was very modern and clean with lots of room, and the best part was it was cheap, because it's the off season. It even had a dishwasher, which made us very sad that we didn't have any food to dirty the dishes with so we could wash them again. None of us could remember this man's name so we just kept referring to him as "Geppetto" because he was totally like that (of course not to his face, to his face we just smiled and nodded because you could hardly understand anything he was saying). Anyway, it was an amazing place that taught me that things can be more beautiful than you can imagine- sometimes so beautiful that you can't even begin to wrap your brain around it...

The Last 30 Days

First of all, thank you to everyone for your wonderful support and suggestions in my germy time of need. I especially liked the mask idea.... I ended up finding a bottle of something that looked like bleach and it was. I sterilized everything and then went a drank a lot of wine (which for me was about 3/4 of a glass...go me...didn't even get drunk...) and now I feel a lot better about the whole thing. Still feel contaminated, but hey, she's a gross girl. At least I don't have to live with her when I go home. Everything has it's positive side. She's gross, but temporary.
I can't believe I've been here for a month. I was thinking about it this morning and i've done a lot in a month. I've been to Chianti, Pisa, and Venice. I've travelled by bus, train, and boat. I've only ridden in a car ONCE in the last month. I've walked up a thousand flights of stairs, and my favorite, I haven't had to clean up one pile of dog poop (sorry Mom), although I have almost stepped in it many times (these Italians are as bad at picking up shit as Americans). I haven't used a map in at least two weeks, and I haven't gotten lost (or taken the long way) since then either. In fact, I ventured out yesterday on a long walk and tested my knowlege of the city. It was actually a really dumb idea because I could have gotten very lost and contrary to popular belief you can only catch a cab at the major piazze (the plural for piazza, hurray for Italian class). But, my mapless self found my way home, directly. Go me. Maybe I won't need that tattoo of a map of Florence on my forearm after all.... : )

I Need My Anti-Bacterial Wipes

So, everyone everywhere is sick with colds and crud. I was sick all of last weekend and it sucked. I finally start to feel better this week and my roommate comes down with an upper respiratory infection. My entire apartment feels contaminated. Not just because she is sick, but because she is the kind of person who sneezes without covering her mouth. I don't know how to deal with this. Anyone that knows me knows that I am weird about germs anyway, and I feel like a sitting duck. Can't find one fricken anti-bacterial wipe in this entire damn country and I need some bleach! pronto! The problem is compounded by the damn language barrier because I can stand in front of the cleaning solution shelves for four years and I'm still not going to have an inkling of a clue as to what they say. I can't find bleach.
Now, the reason I am freaking out about this is that I woke up with a scratchy throat and a headache this morning. I'm at the internet cafe because I am afraid that if I go home and I see my roommate sneeze on the clean dishes again I am going to unleash my Lindenbaum rage on her, and I fear she would never recover.
What is wrong with people? didn't her mother teach her about germs? or at least about covering her mouth?
Oh, the rage. I need my anti-bacterial wipes.

Everyone's Fricken Pavarotti

I swear these Italians...they sing...CONSTANTLY. Everywhere. At first it was a charming perk to this beautiful city. Now however, it's just getting annoying. Every night around 2 AM someone walks down our street, singing. These streets are narrow with tall buildings. Sound travels.
The funny thing is that it isn't the same person every time. People leave the bars to go home, and they sing the whole way. Sometimes it's one person, hell, sometimes it's an entire choir of Italian folks singing some crappy American song from the 80's. Although the 80's thing is funny the first time, by the third or fourth time you are woken up to the sounds of Italian accents singing Billy Idol, you are compelled to throw something off your Tuscan balcony...
But the singing isn't limited to young people, or talented people for that matter. Just this morning I was walking down my street and an old man on bicycle (who was as you guessed it, singing) actually slowed down and inappropriately stared at me while he was singing (at this point, singing to me...) I almost said, "seriously? you're like 80. And don't you hear yourself?" But I didn't. Mainly because he would have had no idea what I was saying.

Michelangelo

So...today we studied Michelangelo. Really a three part lecture because we had to start with the paintings and move through architecture and finally to sculpture. So today we studied Michelangelo, the painter. The painter who was taken in by Lorenzo "The Magnificent" Medici and who studied under Ghirlandaio. There were a lot of things that I learned about him that I did not know. For instance, I didn't know that Michelangelo was allowed by the St. Augustine monks to preform autopsies on the people that died in their care. At the time it was considered a great sin by the Dominicans to preform autopsies because bodies were viewed as works made by God, and they weren't to be explored. But the Augustinians disagreed and allowed painters and sculptors to study anatomy of the dead bodies. Now, because these bodies were those of the poor laborers of the time, (rich people died in their estates, not in churches with monks), they had much bolder muscle structure from those people who didn't preform manual labor for a living. This explains why so many of Michelangelo's figures are so buff and muscular- even the women and babies. He was very interested in muscle structure and movement.
Apparently, he was also a pain in the ass about people seeing his work before he was finished. So when he was painting the Sistine Chapel, he had to invent scaffolding that covered up all of his finished work so that the people walking underneath couldn't see anything (since the chapel was in use the whole time he was painting).
Anyway, just pretty crazy to study Michelangelo in his home town, near the places he grew up and hung out.

Adventures All Around

Yesterday was definately the day of new discoveries. First, we found the real "market". We've been doing all of our grocery shopping in the grocery stores, but had heard about this big food market that was really close to our house- we just never seemed to be able to find it. Yesterday, we realized that it is housed in this giant warehouse that is in fact just a few blocks from our apartment. Danielle and I went in there and our eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger. The first floor is for the butchers and wine shops. There are some of the funkiest looking meats I have ever seen (many of which had heads, and some still had fur...like a leg of wild boar just hangin' from the ceiling...). Of course you also have the typical weird meats like brains and tripe, tongues, etc. Then you go upstairs and there is all of the magnificent produce. Fresh fruits and vegetables everywhere. The whole place is bustling and everyone is just standing around, waiting to help you. Quite the experience. We also found a fresh pasta place where we bought some fresh ravioli (which turned out to be the best ravioli I have ever eaten). After that, we went to the Boboli Gardens in the Pitti Palace. This palace is unbelievably huge. We didn't even go in, we really just went this time for the gardens. The weather has been unbelievable here, not a cloud in the sky. The gardens go on and on for what seems like forever. There are little paths everywhere and you just keep randomly choosing which direction you want to go. I have to say that it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I definately plan on going back, and the picture doesn't come close to doing it justice. Everything was perfectly trimmed and green, the birds were chirping, the air was fresh and crisp, and sometimes you found yourself in a little wooded area where the afternoon light was just peeking through on the ground in little spots. I'm telling you, utopia.

Hangin' Out

Danielle and I were very excited this morning because we found clothes lines outside of our kitchen window that face the center of our building. I couldn't really call it a courtyard because people can't really go out there. It's just a bunch of sky lights and utility things. We were so excited to hang my sheets and some towels on our laundry line! just like the Italians! I guess in Italy it is illegal to hang clothes and things on laundry lines that face the street. You can only hang them on inward facing lines...just a fun little Italian fact for you all...

Venice, Part II

When we were in Venice last weekend, we were all milling around outside of a church we had just been in and a man and his son walked by with an adorable puppy on a leash. It was very picturesque because we were standing in the sun in a beautiful city, outside an incredible church, and there was a man playing guitar and singing on the other side of the square that we were standing in. When the man and his puppy walked past the man who was singing, the puppy very oddly pulled the man closer. The puppy stood in front of the singer and stared at him, occasionally cocking his head from side to side. Then, the puppy just sat down. His owner pulled at him a little to get him to move, but he wouldn't. The puppy was fixed on the singer. So, the man and his son just stood there with the puppy and listened to the singer. All of us students were just staring at this amazing and adorable scene, and I managed to get my camera out to snap a picture. It was so bizarre how that puppy and the singer had such a moment together.

The Sniffles

I have a bug and it sucks. Everyone at school, including the teachers, seems to be sick right now. I tried to take preventative measures, but obviously failed and now I don't feel good. It's bad enough not feeling well, but today is a gorgeous day in Florence. There isn't a cloud in the sky and it is bright and warm. I find it almost impossible to sit in our big, empty apartment alone. A few of my roommates left for Amsterdam today (although they missed their flight so I may see them sooner than I thought...) and so it's just Danielle and I at the house. I usually have no problem talking myself into staying in bed, but I feel guilty doing it here. On top of that, I am having a bizarre craving for the Cosby Show (weird I know, but I like the Cosbys, O.K.?). When you don't feel well all you want is the usual daytime t.v. to vegetate to, and all I have here is MTV in Italian. I did bring some DVD's with me so I think i'll get by...
To change the subject, the price of the food here is very funny. Yesterday we found Post Raisin Bran in an asian market, and it was 9 Euros for a small box. Peanut butter is like a delicacy here. A tiny jar of it is about 6 Euros. Cheeze Whiz is about 10 Euros... it's really funny that the crappy American food is like a rare commodity here. Needless to say I don't eat Cheeze Whiz in America so i'm not going to start in Italy, that's for sure.
Anyway, taking Vitamin C, drinking my tea, and hoping to feel better so I can go somewhere this weekend. We shall see I guess.