Gina and I made brownies from scratch, and it was a success! Vanilla extract over here is in the shape of powder, not in liquid, and we had to make really rough estimations of what everything was in measurements. They were really good though. My sentences are all funny, but I don't want to change them.

I went to the Uffizi today and got through another hour and a half. I'm not all the way there though. Tomorrow I'll be going to the rest of it, and the Pitti Palace. I think Monday I will go to Assisi.

I FORGOT PUMPKIN IS IN SEASON HERE, I'M MAKING PUMPKIN DELICACIES ALL WEEKEND!

also, pomegranates in season, my favorite grapes in season, the best asparagus, in season.

Bacio e abbraccio

MIDTERMS ARE OVER!!!! I'm super excited, spring break has begun!
When Gina gets out of her exam, we're going to go rent a movie from the library and make brownies, then cover them in nutella!
I think tomorrow I'll visit the Uffizi and the Pitti and then go to Vinci on Sunday. I'm not sure what I'll do Monday or Tuesday afternoon. Explore more Florence? Go and see whatever I missed at the major museums? Possibly volunteer and run around? I'm leaving on Tuesday evening for Amsterdam and staying until Friday. Friday evening Renee and I are going to Munich. We were going to go with the guys, who have been telling us all week that they're going to Munich, and then after we'd bought our train tickets they tell us that they aren't. But we're excited anyway. There's lots to do there and we're going to go to Dachau. I have to buy locks before I go to the hostels.

I'm actually pretty excited for some down time alone.

But I'm way more excited for my travels!

I'm applying to work in the OU admissions office. I'd really like the job. As I was filling out my application and saying that I'd like to be more involved in the OU community, I realized it was true. I think that the reason I'm so miserable there is possibly because I just study all the time. I should study less and spend more time getting to know the people there.

I'm so happy here. I don't have any major responsibilities and school is so easy. In comparison to Oglethorpe, I don't do anything. I love it. I don't know if I want to go home. My psych teacher came here to study in college and never went back. Maybe I'll pull an Amy Klein.

So since CAPA won't be in session for the next week, I might not blog at all. I might possibly go to an internet cafe, but if not, Ciao ya'll!

P.S. My computer is so about to die forever. Desktop computer... here I come! Anyone have any recommendations?

Numbers

Well I'm done with the first of my midterms. I wrote my paper that's due tomorrow, and then I have two more. I know that I forgot at least three dates from my midterm today, but other than that I am pretty sure I aced it.

Number of Jeans I Brought With Me: 2
Number of Jeans That Have Holes in Unacceptable Places: 1
Number of Jeans Bought: 0

Number of Shoes I Brought With Me:4
Number of Shoes That Now Have Holes in the Bottoms: 2
Number of Shoes I Have Bought To Replace Them: 2

Number of Leggings Brought:1
Number of Leggings With Holes in Unacceptable Places:1
Number of Leggings Bought: 1

All my stuff is falling apart. I bought some quality boots the other day, so that should hopefully last. I hope my other pair of jeans doesn't get holes in them. I hate buying jeans.

we have everything

So I'm feeling much better today.

Last weekend we ran into... those guys from Mexico! The ones from the 3 AM train station in Venice. We ran into them EVERYWHERE! First we ran into them outside the duomo. We parted and Pati, Emily, and I went to the leather market. We had said we would meet up with them that night, but it didn't happen. We ended up going to 21 and every guy who tried to come up behind me and start grinding... I elbowed in the stomach. I was not having it that night.
Then Pati, Gina, Kevin and I went to Pisa on Satruday and... we ran into the Mexicans on the train. We got into Pisa and we ran into them again. We left Pisa and we ran into them AGAIN. This area is too small. We run into people we know/recognize everywhere.

I have a midterm tomorrow. Who knows. I think it will go okay. It's more architecture than I'm used to, so I think the terms will be the hardest part.

I wanted to mention something I find particularly impressive. My ankle did really well the first month. After Rome it started doing not as well. Now it doesn't hurt quite so much, but it is super swollen. Maybe more swollen than it's been in a long time.

Tomorrow is going to be awful. I have a midterm at 12:15-3: about 30, then at 3:40 I'm doing a My Education event (something dumb we have to do for CAPA) and then at like 5:30 I have to go a makeup Italian class (the Ursinus kids have a class trip to Rome so ALL Friday classes have been rescheduled.) Then I have to go home and study for my Ren art midterm, which will be Easy Peasy yo.

Spring Break starts soooooooon.

Mal Sento

Which means, I feel sick. I had no indication of it... I slept well last night, but when I woke up this morning I felt awful. I was actually on the walk to class when the effort of it just made it turn around and go home. I spent the rest of the morning in bed and thought I felt better, so I ate lunch. I was wrong. I thought I was going to throw up. When trying to figure out possible reasons, I came up with the idea that perhaps eating more nutella in one day than I had in a month and a half was the cause.

The weekend was fun, but I don't really want to write about it today. I have to go to the library and study for my midterms and I don't feel good right now at all.

Super Rain

Tuesday night was the night of our dinner for our boys. We made the best dinner EVER. Well... maybe not ever, but it was REALLY good. Renee and I were going to make traditional stuffed tomatoes and tomatoes stuffed with goat cheese as an appetizer, but we made too much traditional stuffing first. So we made our tomatoes (a little heavy on the spinach, but good) and Pati and Gina made meatballs (so delicious!) and then Gina made a vodka penne with a rose' sauce. It was really delicious. Emily provided us with tiramisu for dessert. It was the first time I'd ever had it, and it wasn't too bad.
Renee and Emily had it out after the guys left though. I mostly ignored it and they went out with Alex afterwards.

Thursdays are awful. At least Thursday mornings are. I hate the first portion of my Ren Art class. She just talks at us and then sort of condescends on the ones who don't know what's going on. I think only myself and a girl named Sarah are art history majors and everyone else is just taking it. And she knows that. I didn't finsih the reading for this week, since she provided us with about 60 pages, and so when only two girls knew the answers she made some kind of snotty comment about how she now knows who does the readings. Whatever. This is the only week I've fallen behind, and the rest of us are in Italy. We've got shit to do.
So I was last by 15 minutes yesterday, because that's how much I hate that class. On my way to class, I just wondered if I should skip it. But I made it.
I like Ren Art when we go out to see the things. Yesterday we went to the Basilica de San Marco. I half listened to her and I half just talked with Jordan, who is really cool. The Basilica de San Marco was designed by Brunelleschi and it was the first church in Florence to be paid for entirely by one family. (Guess who - the Medici.) Yesterday was Brunelleschi's birthday, or something, so we got in for freesies.
Class was over and she wanted to take us to Orsanmichele. Since I've already gone there with my other art professor, Jordan had to get ready for his intership, and a couple other girls just didn't want to go, we left. We got lunch at Il Centro (3, 24€ for big sandwich and soda?? Sold!) and it was really good.
Thursdays would be a waste of life if I didn't have Cross Cultural Psych later. I always go to CAPA a couple hours early and do my journal assignment for our professor. Her name is Amy. She came over here 15 years ago to study abroad and she never left. I like her a lot. Yesterday I bought the new Builders and the Butchers CD off iTunes for 5 dollars! Not Euro, which was exciting.

We watched a movie in there called Stealing Beauty with Liv Tyler. It's a film by an Italian director, filmed in the hills of Tuscany, starring an Italian, American, British, and French cast. It was really artsy. I forgot how much I hate Liv Tyler. Especially young Liv Tyler. Ugh.

I made a cream sauce last night! Dinner was good. But afterwards Emily decided to have a serious conversation with Gina and I about all the tension. I didn't really want to, but I guess it was for the best. Afterwards we went out and walked around Florence. It was a nice evening.

Today in Italian it didn't matter that I hadn't done my homework because we went to the bar for lunch. It was good too. I got ribollita, which actually isn't that good. It's a Tuscan dish that means "twice boiled." You make a soup one day, with either acqua or vino rosso, and then you boil it agian the next day. You drain out the liquid and serve it like that. But I also got insalate de polpi, which was octopus and potato mixed. The octopus wasn't fried and the meal was full of flavor. Yum.
I also had my first coffee here today. I got a mocaccino and it wasn't too bad. I still probably won't start buying coffee though.

Pati, Emily, Gina, and I are going out shopping today. I don't care if I'm trying to save money, I am buying some new freaking shoes. My feet are always wet, my blue boots fell apart, my sperry topsiders are starting to hurt, and my boots with heels and my orthotics are only acceptable on certain days. I am buying new shoes.

It's raining really hard in Florence today.

I'm having trouble here. It's not working. I'll send a link to Chris and anyone else who wants to see.


Today I got a sandwich with trippa (lamb stomach.) It tasted like pure fat. It had a weird texture. I got it because it's such a Toscana meal. I had three bites and then I threw it out. It was also supposed to be spicy. It wasn't spicy, just red.

Yesterday my boots fell apart as I was walking around. My feet got really wet.

That didn't work. I don't know why I couldn't upload more than one.
I'll try again.

Oh, this time it isn't working at all.
Weird.

pictures

Pictures for those of ya'll who don't see my fb.

Unicoop Firenze

A couple weeks ago I went to the grocery store to buy groceries (obviously.) The machine was giving me trouble. It wouldn't accept my credit card, which I tried several times. Then I tried my debit card, but that was also refused. It finally accepted my credit card. So I just found out that they charged me on both cards. I need to go to Coop and try and explain to them that they need to reverse one of the charges. How fun will that be? Little Italian combined with Little English = for the win. Er... not really. This is going to be awful. I might just go in with a statement already written and hand it over.

I have terrible shoes

This morning I woke up at 10:10 to go to the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte with Renee for a looking assignment. I put on my nasty broken blue boots because I didn't want to wear flats or heels.
We took the long way there and then we booked it up this freaking mountain of a hill because Renee had class. The church was dark as all anything inside and I had to find something to sketch for the assignment. I went upstairs and there was a Byzantine mosaic of Jesus as Prankrator (or something like that.) It was really dark, so I was having a hard time drawing it. Then the light turned on! It was awesome! I was getting such a clear view. After 10 minutes, the light turned back off. I went to see why, and it was because it costs ONE FREAKING EURO to turn the light on! WHO CHARGES FOR LIGHT?! So I paid it, didn't manage to draw anything, got frustrated, and went downstairs to draw a figure of Abel, which was in natural light, which is free.

On my way back, the sole of my boot fell off. Now there are rocks and water inside the boot and it sucks.
I also realized I'd forgotten my keys, so I couldn't go home to get my laptop, my homework, my lunch, and new shoes. Since I don't have my laptop, I can't start writing my looking assignment, which is due tomorrow.
The bus had 10,000 freaking 15 year old Italians. It BLEW.

Today could have been better.
I have class soon, but none of my homework, which BLOWS.
Tomorrow will be better. We're making dinner for the boys and Pati.

Okey Dokey Artichokey

Okay, I am ridiculous. I never realized people were commenting on my blog! It never told me so. I probably never would have found out if Chris hadn't sent me an e-mail that said he had and then I went looking for it. Instead of finding just Chris' comment, I found lots! With questions too. Sorry about that. I'll try and be better.

So Kim - yes, I am registered in the country. That girl who missed it just went the day I registered. I'm not registered with the U.S. consulate, which I know I need to jump on, but I keep forgetting. Being registered means I have a special thing I have to keep with my passport and that I have a slip of paper to take to the immigration people in case I decide to move here. I didn't need any of those papers I took to the consulate in Miami and they told me to bring here.
That's the only question I remember from the comments I just read.

On the quick issue of artichokes... Americans need to be more inventive! Why should it be limited to pizza and dip? The other day I chopped up a fresh artichoke and garlic and I put them and mozzarella on top of fococcia bread. I then proceeded to toast them in the oven til the cheese had melted. This is super delicious. and I recommend everyone try it.
The fridge made my beef go bad the other day. I pulled it out to make a burger and asparagus (sometimes you just can't eat pasta) and it was spoiled. It had only been in the fridge for two days. I don't understand how my meat spoiled but my milk freezes. Also, I've bought meat before while here, and it didn't do that then. I'm disappointed, because I don't want to have to go grocery shopping. I went grocery shopping for the future last week, and I want it to last. I made asparagus here the other day, and it's big and delicious and I may end up turning green from all the asparagus I plan on eating. It ain't puny.

But what am I going on about?! I have to tell ya'll about Carnivale!
Friday was a bad start. I went home to clean before we left and the trash bag was so heavy that it broke and the food spilled all over the floor and I had to clean it with my hands. We almost ran late to the station. Alex missed her train entirely. But after I was in Venice I was like, "What am I holding on to this bad mood for? I'm in Venice!" and it became much better. We didn't do a lot that night. We met up with E's Italian friend and she took us to some outdoor parties. It was nuts! Firenze would never be so casual, even during Carnivale. We ended up not getting back until 3 30 in the morning, but I don't even feel like we were out that long. We did stop at places for food on the way back. E was drunk and she bought some kind of spicy shrimp wrap to eat. She tried to make me eat it. It was gross.

Saturday was amazing! First we got lunch at a little stand outside. They had culturally food that wasn't pasta! They were weird. They were from Sicily. The outside was like fried bread, followed by a layer of gooey rice, and then with a middle of, in my case, ham and cheese, and in other cases, ragu sauce and peas. I didn't really like it, but Emily did. We went to Piazza del San Marco (I'm guessing on the "del" part, but it sounds accurate.) There were so many cool costumes! I'm going to come with my laptop either later today or tomorrow to update my photos so that everyone can see, and I'll put more on my blog b/c Chris asked me too. There were a lot of people dressed up in Renaissance and Medieval outfits, but there were also people dressed up like the Sun, the Moon, Nature and Technology, the Garden, a Bat, a Spray Can, etc. etc. When they would look at you with their masks on, it was sort of freaky. A lot of people in costume weren't even Italian. I heard German, Renee heard English, and Nena heard all other kinds of languages.
We paid 8€ to go to the top of the bell tower and see the view. I don't feel like it was quite so worth it as it was for Il Duomo. You have to climb up Il Duomo, almost 500 steps, so you feel like you work for your money, but this one had an elevator. The view was alright. Then I went into the Cathedral while the other girls went elsewhere. It was giant and very Byzantine. I wasn't super impressed though because I don't really like Byzantine art. It took me a little time to get through. I looked at the ceiling mosaics carefully. I'm beginning to be better at recognizing these Christian saints.
The girls had wandered off and it took them about half an hour to get back to me. I wandered around the square and saw the costumes. There was a skit going on. You know those old German clocks where the figures come out of doors and dance? The skits were like that. There were men dressed up like 14th century Italian jesters and they did funny things. One skit was where they kept trying to hit each other with bigger and bigger hammers, but they just kept hitting themselves and that's what made the bell noises. Another was where a man and a woman were kissing and then the man accidentally kissed another man. It doens't sound funny when I write it at all, lol, but it was.
Dad told me to buy some Murano glass, and I was really worried I wouldn't find something I wanted. But I did! It's a beautiful pink glass bird. I love it a lot. I also bought something for Dad, and I hope he really likes it.
We were in the area of the square for a really long time. When we left, it took us FOREVER to get back. The streets were wall to wall crowded. We went to a dollar store and bought things to try and make little Carnivale outfits for the night. Gina's was coolest I think. She bought a tiny Carnivale mask, put it through a headband, and wore it like that. I put butterflies in my hair, Renee put in silver wheat, and Nalina, Emily, and Alex all put in flowers. Nena and her friends were dressing up as desperate housewives, so she had a shower cap, a feather duster, and... something else.
We went out to one of the piazzas we'd been in the night before. There managed to be a lot of drama, but everything worked out really well. We danced in the middle of the crowd, and there were almost NO skeazers at all, except for the girls who wanted them. It's so different than going out in Florence. I expected it to be worse because it's a holiday, but the men didn't really bother you unless you acted like you wanted them too. I ended up talking to this really emo Italian guy for like 20 minutes and it was AWFUL. He was just going on and on about why he hates Italy and how he lives in London and it's awesome. The first chance I had, I booked it out of there. I understood his reasons, some of them, but I didn't want such a downer.
Gina, Nena, and I sat on a stone bridge and talked to some Italian guys. Emily went off with someone to get beer, Nalina and Renee went to a cafe, and Alex was occupied with some guy from the army. We sat there for like two hours. It was great, but I was so cold by the end that my teeth were chattering. I was so glad to go to bed.

Yesterday was an adventure. We walked along the canal for a while. I was the only one who had a place to specifically go to, so we went to Santa Maria Gloriosa de Frari, which is the church where Titian's Assumption of the Virgin is. Little known to me, it also had the Canova tribute! I was so excited! The parts of Florence we walked around that day were not quite so touristy, so it wasn't so cramped. We tasted these pastries that are only made during Carnivale. They are sort of like Chinese doughnuts and funnel cake combined on the outside, with various things inside. I got a chocolate cream, but there was also just cream, and then the Viennese, which has raisins.
Nena took us to her friend's mom's shop. She doesn't trade with China, which is sweet. I bought some presents, which I'm excited to give. They had all kinds of beautiful glass beads and jewelry.
I bought some Carnivale masks for the nieces, which will be too big for them, but I hope they'll like to play with them anyway. Mine matches theirs', except it has feathers. I wore it around the city after this. Some of you may be suprised it took me a day and a half to put a mask on and wear it everywhere when it's totally acceptable. I am too, frankly, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a mask so I waited til I found something for cheapsies. Nena took us to get these traditional sandwiches that were invented in Venice. I don't know exactly how they differ from sandwiches in general, but they were DELICIOUS! They're just white bread triangles with no crust and something inside. Mine was spicy shrimp with little bits of veggies, all held together by mayo (the mayo is in every sandwich) but it was really good. I wish I'd gotten a second one. I wish I had one right now. I haven't eaten lunch. Or breakfast.

We made it to the train station in good time to get on, IF we had been boarding the trian during a normal day. Unfortunately, it was the last day of Carnivale and everyone needed to leave. We couldn't get on at all. There were so many people on the train that they were standing in the aisles. The police were there to make sure people didn't jump out the windows in order to get off at their stop. We changed our train to make us arrive at VE Mestre later on, but the girls were pretty panicked for a while, and I was pretty annoyed.
In VE Mestre, we had hours to kill. Seriously, hours. Our newest train didn't leave until 3 in the morning. We had tickets to leave at 8 and get home at 12, and this was our new sad lot. So we uh... squatted in the Best Western. I bought a drink and three of the girls bought sandwiches so we had a right to be there. We weren't squatting for free. But eventually we got kicked out because the bar was closed. By this time, everything was hilarious. We all had the early morning delirium giggles (minus Emily, who was asleep mostly.) We went to the station and thought we had to hang out in the underground area, but then we saw a sign! The sign had a woman sitting over her suitcase with a clock above her! There was a waiting room! "Scusi, dove la donna qui? How can I get to be like that woman?" We took pictures and laughed for like 20 minutes. The waiting room was gross. The instant we walked in a German man with hands black from dirt came and tried to talk to us. We were too giggly to be any use. He asked if Nalina's pillow was her friend in broken English, and we responded that it was in Italian. It didn't make ANY sense. I think we caused a ruckus, but we were having a good time. Plus, eventually someone turned on Indian stereo music, so we weren't the only ones making noise. The weird German man tried to take Nalina's pillow for sleeping. She almost gave it to him because he touched it. She is seriously contemplating throwing it out. That might sound extreme, but you should have seen his hands, and you should see the size of our washing machines. We don't have room to wash a pillow. One pair of jeans and my towel would fill the whole thing. Anyway, so this weird German man sits next to us and starts drawing something. And eventually, we realize... that he was drawing ME! That was too much for us. We cracked up so hard a different German man told us to shut up. Renee sneaky sneaky took a picture. Then we realized that there was a similar drawing on the wall. After finishing my drawing, proudly displaying it to his friend, and propping it up for my eyes, he then drew another girl, possibly me again, then he drew a man with chest hair, and then he drew Gina! It was too much. How could a ruckus have been resisted? I should have a six pack with all the laughing we did last night/this morning.

We thought our train was there, so we went out to the platform. We were wrong and it was cold! Some really nice Mexicans, who were on the same train, thought the same thing because of us. Whoops. But the train came soon after. We talked with those guys for a while. One of them carried my bag for me all up and down the trian until a compartment was found for us girls. We said Buona notte and passed out.
20 minutes before we needed to wake up this JERK of a conducter(or?) slams our door open and turns on the lights. It startled Nalina into waking with a cry, which startled me into waking with a cry, and I think we all just generally made a lot of distressed sleep sounds. I also think that sadist jerk enjoyed it. He had a smug, no good attitude about him. All of us but Alex were on the same ticket, so we gave him just the one and I couldn't figure out what he was still doing there until I remembered that Alex had to give him her Eurail pass. She hadn't filled in the date because the other train men always did it for her. This is against the rules and leads to a fine of 50€. While I understand that she should have read the rules, because if you don't fill in the date you can travel for longer than you're supposed to, I don't think that gave him the right to be such a giant jerk about it. He was pretty much shouting at her, and she was just asking him questions to understand what was going on. She wasn't being defensive or jerky back, just trying to understand (I think I would have been a giant jerk back, so go Alex.) Every time she'd say, "I have a question" he'd just repeat, "Cinquanta euro." She finally had to revert to Italian to get him to even listen to her. He kept calling her "Lady" in the most derogatory way. When she gave him her credit card to pay, he didn't just charge her and go, instead he stood in our doorway, with the lights on, talking in Italian to some other person. The instant he gave her the card and left I slammed the door and we all just kind of exploded about his jerkiness. I couldn't fall back asleep, even though I was so tired tears were involuntarily falling from my eyes.
We got home alright and we instantly caught the bus to take us close to our street. I passed out and woke up 10 minutes before class, was 10 minutes late, found out I made an A on my last Italian quiz, and proceeded to be tired and miserable until about an hour ago.

I need to go home and shower and eat and take out my contacts, which have been in since Saturday morning. I didn't expect to not get home til this morning, so I was okay with sleeping in them Saturday night. I will try and come back today and post pictures of Carnivale.

I'm not sure I can write everything I have to say in 20 minutes

I have class in 20 minutes, but I'll try to relate as much as I can!

So Tuesday night we were busy in the kitchen. Before Pati and Jordan arrived, we were chopping up all kinds of things to make our appetizer. It's toasted bread with sauteed veggies on top, and it's yum. When they arrived, the industry continued. Pati began to boil the potatoes while the rest of us did odd jobs, ate the veggie bread, and drank wine. Then we ALL began to make the gnocchi. It was like a 6 person job! It was really hard to wash off, but so delicious. Go us!
We have a bit of a problem with the sauce though. Pati made homemade sauce, but then E wanted to put in peppercorns. G didn't want her to, and I advocated on her side. Instead of listening to us, she dumped in the whole jar into the sauce. That was the beginning of the bad night.

After Pati and Jordan left, we started talking about travleing to Venice this weekend for Carnivale. There's one other girl who wanted to come with us, but we weren't sure if she could. We're all five of us (my roomies, plus a girl named Nalena) staying with this girl that E knew like 4 years ago in high school. She wouldn't listen to anything we were saying and we almost had a serious altercation. Renee and I ran to the boys' apartment for fresh air.

Yesterday was a busy day. We went to the Baptistery for my Antiquities to Baroque Art History. It was unexpectedly beautiful inside. I guess I should just expect everything to be beautiful in Italy, but I failed at that yesterday. It had a giant gold mosaic on the ceiling.
Then Renee, Nalena, and I went to the train station to buy the tickets for this weekend. After this, Renee and I went to the Uffizi.

For anyone who doesn't know, the Uffizi is Florence's main, GINORMOUS, art museum. It was once a palace of the Medici. It was awe inspiring. It was too much. I saw Giotto and Cimabue. I saw Da Vinci. I saw works I've studied for the last three years. Botticelli's Primavera and the Birth of Venus! I'm glad we were only there for an hour and a half. I don't think I could have handled much more. Seeing art that I know and love creates this sensation inside of me. First it starts with a pit in my stomach. Then I get warm in that pit, and it fills my entire body. It's like being sick and being in love and wanting to faint. It's too much emotion.

I made gnocchi with sage and butter sauce yesterday for dinner. It was pretty good.

My hair has been gross for the whole time I've been here. I haven't known what to do about it. I thought perhaps it was because of my hair brush, which was new. Or the air, which was also new. It turns out it's because of the shampoo I've been using (also new) so I changed it, and now my hair is gloriously clean for the first time that I've been here.

Thursday is Ren Art. It's half good and half awful. It's at 8 30 in the morning. I tried to sleep early last night, but there were too many thoughts keeping me awake, so I feel asleep around 2 or 3. So I got up and went to art and almost fell asleep in the lecture portion. Then we went to the Opera dell'Duomo, which is the museum where they keep all the original art from the Duomo and then make replications to put back outside. It was alright, not awesome. But then... Then I saw the Mary Magdalene statue by Donatello.
I sat and stared at it for a really long time, and then I left in a daze. Too much.

Pati from the gnocchi night says "Hi."

The Battle for the Kitchen

Every night my roommates and I get home at relatively the same time. We have three pasta pots, two sauce pans, one cutting board, and four stove tops. What typically happens is that we have to battle it out for who gets to cook first. 'Battling it out' means that even if I have set out my pot and my pan and am chopping up my things for cooking, they're going to be taken, typically by one inconsiderate person. This person will then feel the extreme indignity of my using the cutting board when she is the one cooking. She will then try and guilt trip me into giving up the cutting board, but since I am pissed that she stole my cooking utensils, I'll ignore her. Some nights I don't get to cook early because I am doing the dishes that no one else has done. Then other nights I will willingly not cook, to wait until everyone is done. What often happens on this night is that one particular girl often eats two dinners a night, and she sometimes cooks her second dinner before I even make my first. Her voice intonation often suggests that I am making her feel like she is doing something wrong to eat two dinners simply because I haven't eaten at all.
But the kitchen battle takes place in two areas. One is to cook. The second is to clean. Last week I did everyone's dishes several times, swept the floor, cleaned the stove, wall, and countertop. Our floor is designed so that you have no idea what is on it - it is such a multitude of neutral colors that anything dropped on it is automatically lost. When I swept last week, I found a piece of gnocchi. People kept taking the drain cloggers out of the drains and allowing food to slow them. They've stopt, but only after numerous scoldings (from myself) and finally a note (from myself) posted on the wall above the sink.
Now yesterday I got home before everyone else. I made a delicious dinner of pepper chicken and cheesy garlic artichoke bread. I did my dishes so that other people would be able to use them. I took the dirty dishes from the drying rack that someone thought they had cleaned but really failed to do. I took my dinner into my room, watched one episode of Criminal Minds on my computer, and ate a Snickers when I was done. I did my homework. I did the rest of my dishes. I refused to do anyone else's dishes so that they might learn how dirty the apartment really is.
When I woke up today, those same dishes were still in the sink. Clearly no one was going to own up to them. Tonight our friend Pati is coming over to make homemade gnocchi for us (she lives in a host family and she misses cooking) and our friend Jordan is coming to enjoy this dinner. So not only did I have to do everyone's dishes, wipe the sauce from the counters that wasn't mine, sweep the kitchen floor again, but I also felt the need to clean EVERY public space in our apartment, down to wiping down the kitchen sink. I am clearly becoming old.
Or responsible, if you want to look at it that way.

The Battle of the Kitchen will be temporarily suspended tonight, as only Pati and Renee are making dinner for all of us. But Part Two of Who Will Clean will most definitely resume in a few hours.

I guess it's been a while

Friday... After class I went to H&M to buy a shirt for sleeping in, since I am an idiot and I didn't bring one. While there, I ran into... Claire Demos! The girl that I was in Cambridge with like 3 years ago! I had just found out she was in Florence the day before and we ran into each other coincidentally. This is probably because Florence is tiny and you see people you recognize everywhere. But that was exciting, and we chatted. I went and got the most delicious pesto shell lunch afterwards at this place near school. Pesto and Coke for 4, 80? I'll take it. It was also my dinner. I was almost late to meet Pati. We went to the Chocolate Festival with Jordan. It was awesome! There was so much chocolate, and it was in so many strange shapes! A whole chicken, a saw, a motorcyle. My rum truffle wasn't quite what I wanted, but my chocolate spoons were. I have the biggest sweet tooth here. I guess it's because I'm always walking miles every day.
Florentines are not a very cheerful bunch of people. There was one chocolate making woman who was having a GREAT day. She sang "Rain, Rain, Go away" in Italian to us, and then she made Jordan do a rain dance with her to try and make the sun come out. She was hilarious. The festival was delicious. I wish it was still going on, I want more chocolate.

I had a funny moment the other day concerning chocolate. Renee and Emily are very particular about eating fatty foods. I was eating chocolate after lunch and just reading at the kitchen table. Then I hear them in the hallway walking upstairs. My instinct is to instantly shove the chocolate into my mouth so that they don't know I'm eating it, and hide the rest. Immediately after I did that, I was like, "What am I doing?"
But then I was really glad because they had just been running.
Which is kind of gross to me here. I originally wanted to go running when I got here, but then I realized that this city is so dirty you can taste it. I don't believe I've ever had that experience, but it's foul. It's so dirty there have been smog protests within the last week.

I just stayed in last Friday. I finished rereading Pride and Prejudice and went to sleep.

Saturday we woke up early and went to the train station to get on a bus. CAPA hosted a trip to Siena and San Gimigagno... I forgot how to spell it. It wasn't too exciting. It wasn't awesome. I bought some masks for the wall which in Florence would have cost me so much, but there they were pretty cheap. We just wandered around S.G. and then Gina and I got lost in a giant kitchen store. We were like 5 minutes late to the meeting place, and as we walked up the bus was driving away. Then Bryce walked up with sodas because he'd been told he could go to Coop and buy them. They had to come back for us. I thought they were going to just go and we'd have to find our own way home. I read Lord of the Flies on the way back and I didn't really like it.

Yesterday I just wandered around for a really long time. Starting reading Mansfield Park. Pretty heavy. I have now found three English bookstores and yesterday I got lost it in. I resisted buying a book and was proud of myself. It sounded really good. It was called The Owl Killers. Just FYI.

There is something wrong with me. I can't wake up anymore. I keep going to bed really early and then I wake up really late. The other day I slept for thirteen hours. I'm just in a constant dream state and I can't wake up. I've been almost late and late to school the last three days because I've been so tired. I was going to go to the LDS church the other day because I need to find a interviewee for my Psych class and I thought that would be a good place to go. Went to sleep at 12, tried to wake up around 7 30, and didn't wake up til 1. I slept through church. It's so far on the other side of town that it's not even on my map.

Where is my mind?

I haven't been paying a lot of attention to what I've been doing lately. Today I left my apartment and saw my bus go by. I just said, "Oh, there's my bus!" but it didn't occur to me to run for it. When I finally did, it was too late. I missed it :( Then when I got off the next bus I kept walking past my road, and I didn't realize it for a while. I am just in some different world. I need to start paying more attention.

Tuesday was Renee's internship interview and when it was over she wanted to "rage hard." We set up a beer pong table in our hallway and I thought we were going to get written up because we're so loud. Then we went out to some bar and some CAPA kids were there and then more CAPA kids came and I watched some Italians playing some kind of weird hand game. It was fun. Kyle and I decided we were going to Prom lol. I don't know why... he really decided it more than I did, and I'm still not sure where it came from.

Wednesday my Antiquity to Baroque art class went out to Fiesole to see the Etruscan and the Roman ruins. The Etruscans were a fun culture. They cremated people and then put them in incendiary urns with portraits of the person inside. Some of the urns looked like little houses. Some of them were for married couples. They put them in things called tumuli, which can house an entire family. They carved things like rope, glasses, plates, decorations, and other household items into the tuffa stone to provide all the things they would need in the next life. When people died they had parties to celebrate their deaths.
Then the Romans conquered them, and then in this part of Italy they were conquered by the Lombards.
After class Gina, Emily, and I went shopping. I bought really pretty earrings with birds and black flowers. I'm wearing them with my new tan and black gingham dress and my new black boots. Did I mention that my new blue boots broke in Rome? Sad story.

Last night was a quiet night. My flatmates and I talked about how we really need to be better about lights. I came home today and there was no one there and the lights were on in the bathroom and in the kitchen. We're going to get pegged with such a huge bill.
I saw the works of Masacchio and Masolino today, inlcuding The Expulsion from the Garden. I love art history in Florence.



Notes About Florence:
If you're female, dye your hair a dark color. You don't want to be blonde here.

Look UP! You never know what is on the ceiling above you. There's a store in the city center with frescoes on the walls. My class rooms have got inlayed ceilings and frescoes. There is art everywhere, if you look for it. That's not a cheesy saying here - that's the truth.

Listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Student Lounge

Yesterday I had a good day.

I went to Italian, where we've started learning foods and descriptions and store names, plus simple sentences for asking for a panino and stuff. We went to the market, but the instant we got there it was time for me to go back and meet Lorenzo. As I was walking, a harmless 50 year old man said, "Buongiorno" to me. I looked and gave him a slight smile. He then proceeded to follow me and whisper at me in Italian. He followed me for about 4 blocks. He followed me all the way to school! I had to lock the gate behind me to keep him from following me in.

We met with Lorenzo and we agreed to go the police at a certain time to fill out the police report. Renee and I went to a little alimentari and got a lasagna lunch. We went to H&M, but then had to run back to the police station. There wasn't any reason for it... you can't file a police report after 12!
Emily and I went home together and we started planning the dinner we're throwing for the guy's this week... Wednesday or Thursday. Will and I want it on Thursday because we have an 8 45 that morning together, but Emily and Gina want it on Wednesday because G had an 8 30 on Friday and E has a 9 45 on Friday. The 9 45 one has less weight, but Gina's class has to be taken into consideration. When we went out last week after Kevin made us dinner some of us didn't get home til 4 (I got home at 1 30.) So these morning classes are a serious consideration.
We're excited to throw the dinner though. We talked about doing it familiglia style, which is basically like giant dishes that everyone shares. Or one of us makes a side, one makes a pasta, one makes an entre... we're not sure yet.

I went out to H&M on my own, and to Accessorize later. I didn't know how to get to Accessorize, but a friend told me how. She gave me the wrong name of the street though... so I followed this one road from Il Duomo... and I ended up at Santa Croce! That is on the other side of town! It doesn't even make SENSE! I have no idea how I did that.
We had an early night. I ate chicken fingers and coke and it was the most American meal I've had since America. I'm reading Pride and Prejudice again, because I finished Sense and Sensibility over the weekend.

A man tried to touch me on the bus today. I gave him a look that would have peeled his skin off.

My Italian teacher gave me a recipe today. It requires a blender, which I don't have, but I'm going to try it anyway. You take artichokes, oil, salt, and garlic, and mash them up together. Then you put them in a pan with milk and butter. It makes a sort of sauce for pasta. I have a tortellini with ham inside, and they're awful, so I'm trying anything to make dinner something worth looking forward to.

Roma

Last Friday Renee, Gina, Kevin, Emily, Pati, and I all got on a train to Rome. We felt like we were in Harry Potter... we had our own compartment! The train ride was pretty. We realized that we'd missed calls from Lorenzo, the program director, but we thought it was maybe them just calling to make sure we'd made it to Rome or something.
We were wrong lol.
We left our apartment at 2:45... our landlady came at 4 PM because we told her we thought the oven was broken. She arrived to find that our apartment had been broken into! No electronics had been stolen (but I would have laughed if they stole my laptop... have fun with a dying computer.) All four laptops, three ipods, two TVs, a DVD player... they didn't take any of it. This told the police that we had been robbed by GYPSIES! GYPSIES! The girls were pretty freaked out, and Kevin and I just made a big joke out of it. Pati was really helpful, because she speaks Italian and so she could figure out where we were supposed to go while the other girls tried to get Lorenzo to go back to the apartment and see what exactly was stolen. It turned out that only Gina had been stolen from... she had nice jewelry that Kevin gave her last year for Christmas. They were bummed, but they both hid it pretty well.
Our first night out we just went and got dinner and settled into our "bungalow." Our hostel was a campground with RVs and little duplexes. We could talk to each other through the walls. It was nice though, and not super expensive.

The next day we woke up early and went to the Colosseum! It was really cool! We listened in on some tours and I read some of the boards, so I learned some stuff about it. One year, a whale washed up on a beach nearby. To celebrate, they built a giant wooden whale and then somewhere between 50-500 bears came out of its mouth. Lol, Romans were weird.

After that we walked around the Roman ruins. Our 12 Euro included this giant complex too. It was pretty great... it sprinkled for a lot of it though. We took a metro to the city center and saw these things called the Spanish Steps. They're famous for some reason. Then we walked to the Trevi Fountain, which I was super excited for! It was really fantastic.
We wandered around and we found this little piazza. My friends were like, Look at that beautiful building! It was just a police station. But right across from it was a church. Gina peeked in but didn't want to go in because a service was going on. I peeked in and I was a goner. It was seriously the most beautiful church EVER. It was the Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola, or something close to that, and the Vatican is not at pretty. Nothing is as pretty. Gina almost cried. We all just sat in there for like an hour looking at how beautiful it was. There was marble everywhere, and magnificent paintings, and all kinds of things. I don't even know how to describe it. I didn't want to take pictures... it was too beautiful.

We had dinner at a little place. We paid in coins because we are poor students.

We walked along the river and took pictures and had a good time in general. We spent some time with some other CAPA girls in their hostel, and then we went home to the bungalow.

Sunday we went to the Vatican. I didn't really want to go that bad... I've never been particularly interested in the Sistene Chapel. I ended up being my groups tour guide in there though. I got to tell them about the different panels, and who the different characters were.
We missed St. Peter's Basilica, which I was super bummed about because I wanted to see the Pieta. Apparently we also missed getting blessed by the Pope, which I am less bummed about. Not bummed at all, in fact.

We caught a trian home and then we cleaned up our aparment. Gypsies threw our clothes everywhere. GYPSIES! Ugh. Gina said she'd kick them if they ever came on our street again, and I believe her.

I have to go to Italian, but I'll finish afterwards.