Born in the USA

So I'm back home I haven't posted about it yet. Maybe people aren't expecting me too. But basically I haven't done this because I'm crashing at my dad's, who doesn't have internet. I have an iphone now, but posting a blog by iphone... ugh, that sounds awful.

Last Saturday I said goodbye to my friends who I had to wake up, and left my apartment, 25 Via Fra'Angelico, for the very last time. The bus wasn't too full, which was nice because I had a lot of stuff taking up space, and a nice Italian man helped me take my bag off the bus. BUT I couldn't have my last Italian bus experience go smoothly! That would be too weird! As my bus, the ever late 14, pulled up to la stazione di Santa Maria Novella, the blu Sita navetta por il aeroporto pulled out... 15 minutes early! All my careful planning was for taught! So I sat around waiting for the next one, listening to two non native Italian speakers talking in Italian to each other and translating everything they said, just like a creeper. Is that even the favored phrase these days? "Creeper"?

I almost didn't make it out of Italy. That ash cloud that had been constricting my airways (not the continents, but my personal airways, which I keep inside of my throat,) which had reached Florence but wasn't supposed to be a problem that day, was, in fact, a problem. The pilot says, "Unfortunately, there will be a no-fly ban put in place in 20 minutes. So we're taking off in 10." Thank goodness! I made it out!

It was really surreal to fly into Paris CDG. I saw the Eifel Tower, the Arc d'Triomphe, the Sacre Coeur, all the biggies, all the things I'd seen 6 years ago, but I saw them from above. It was really very cool.

My flight home was awesome. I had 1st class luxury. The guy sitting next to me, and about 10 of his buddies, were all from a Coca Cola bottling company and the company sent them to ATL in the prima classe to attend a Coca Cola conference. Talk about a sweet job. I watched The Young Victoria and Precious and I cried during both of them. Unashamedly. Who cares if people see me crying over touching things? Also, the man next to me was asleep lol.

I had a bit of a freak out when I got in the U.S. It was super weird to be there. The man at Customs didn't think I was me. He looked at my passport for a long time, had me take off my glasses, had me turn over another ID, and still had me look at him glassesless for a while. I was wondering if I wouldn't be allowed back in just because I change my hair all the time. Finally he let me pass and I waited for my bag. I looked at the time on my watch (military), the time on my phone (Italian), and the time on my boarding pass and thought I only have 30 minutes! By the time I acquired my bag, I thought there were only ten minutes. I called family and said I doubted I would make it and got in line at Delta. Meanwhile, a baggage man walks up and says, "Is anyone here Jessica?" It was me, and I had dropped my passport! I have it in this little owl cover, but the Customs officer took it out of the cover to look at it. I just shoved it back in, but didn't tuck it back in, and it dropped out in my haste. Then the Delta woman told me I had like 40 minutes. I just felt flustered and dumb.

Now imagine this: You're riding up an escalator and this smell hits you. It's grease and nausea. It just smells like being sick. That's what America smells like. That's what my very first reminder of America was. I was disgusted. I wondered what all the visitors think. We're so used to it, we don't realize. I tell you, it's horrifyingly awful. Then I was shoved into a giant mass of people speaking English and eating fast food. There wasn't Italian anywhere. I'm walking through all these masses and I feel so stressed and bewildered. What is this place? I thought to myself, "I want to go find a bed of Italians and jump in it." I started thinking in Italian. I wouldn't look at anyone, and I pushed through everyone. I went into automatic Italian defense mode. It was five in the morning where I was from and I was tired and surrounded by all these stranieri. It was stressful and awful and I hated it.

We landed 45 minutes late, but I'd been asleep the whole time. I tried to think what it would be like to see my mom but I couldn't. It was now 6AM my time, 12 AM their time, and life was still pretty weird. I was too tired to be happy really. I see Mom... and then I saw Ivan... and then I saw my sisters and their mariti and mia amice. It could have been more joyous if I hadn't been so bewildered and tired. And Delta broke the zipper on my front pocket of my suitcase.

There is so much space here in America. There is so much space between buildings. Holy crap, yards are huge! Buildings are big, and I went to get a toothbrush at like 1 AM! When is the last time I was able to acquire anything useful that late at night? It seems like, never.

That night seems like years ago now. It's something I barely remember.

Marissa, Tom, and I went to Lake Ella the next day and met up with Mom. We decided to get lunch, but everything sounded heavy to me. We ended up getting, dun dun dun, pizza. I wasn't ready to leave Italy yet. But Chinese for dinner! I mostly ate the rice, though the lo mein wasn't as greasy as I thought it would be.

Since then I've just been getting used to being here again. I can watch TV in English. Wow! I've been driving around. I got an iPhone. I still haven't finished that dumb book I've been reading. I've been trying to catch up on sleep, but I'm still jet lagged. I used a dryer for the first time last night! How exciting! How soft clothes are when they haven't been dried outside! And then rained on and then dried again!

I'm in Gainesville helping Stace and Kim move. We went to Moe's for dinner, but I slipped back into my Italian mindset. I told Kim I didn't have any cash, meaning, I don't have any cash, can I borrow some from you so I can buy dinner? But she said, I don't have any cash either! Don't you have a card?

...

Right. In America, I can use cards to buy dinner. Righttttt.

I'm exhausted. I miss my friends back in Italy. I still think of Italy as home, even though I'm not going to be just hopping on a plane and going back. I'm not going back, not for a long time. I'm not okay with that.

Italian is slipping out of my grasp since I'm not using it all the time. Fortunately, Italian and Spanish are pretty close. I texted Kim entirely in Italian the other day, and she knew what I said and replied in English. Tonight I asked Stace something in Italian, and he replied in Spanish. I'll be taking Italian again soon, and talking with friends in Italian. It won't be so bad. Only yesterday I forget the word for rabbit when I saw two on the side of the road. I don't like that it's slipping away. I don't like that at all.

"Girl's not dumb."

So my flight is still a go-go. I feel a little sick and a little sad to be leaving. It just blows my mind. Gina and I have become such good friends, and the same with Renee and Pati. Alex and I were just getting to be friends. Kevin and I often stay up til 3 AM just talking and laughing! It's over and sono molto triste.

I made a 10/10 on my oral Italian exam btw. I was really happy about it. And I feel pretty sure that I did well on my written exam. I also feel like I did well on all my other exams.

Last night was our farewell dinner. It was delicious. There was the typical Toscana apettizer, which is meat, cheese, bruschetta, and a pate. Plus the brought out fried pizza dough, which was AMAZING. Dinner was a gnocchi (a little too salty, I thought, which is saying something) a lasagna, and a papa al pomodoro. Dessert was a tiramisu and biscotti, which you dip in a sweet wine. Some CAPA kids, including myself, did a little skit mocking our teachers and the staff. The prize was a 50€ cook book, which I didn't want because it would have added like 10 lbs. to my suitcase. It's alright, cause I didn't win. I mocked Jeremy and his Mannerist jean metaphor and how much he hates Mannerism. He actually got mocked the most. Jordan's mockery of Guido was fantastic, I can't believe he didn't win. It was so Guido. And Kevin mocked Lorenzo with the typical, "Ciao Ragazzi... we are closing!" It was hilarious. Lorenzo should be doing that right now, in fact, because CAPA closed technically 12 minutes ago. Hmmmm...

Yesterday I was making a list of things I will and won't miss about Italy. What I won't miss?

A certain someone, unforutanetly, made it to the top of the list
Not having a washer
Skeazy guys
No fountain soda
The expense of the euro

What I will miss
Everything else
My friends
My home
the GARLIC
the language
The experience of getting to use that language every day and getting better and better at it
the store Promod
The art
Anto (my Italian teacher)
the stress free life
my kitchen
taco night
all the fun things there are to do
on and on and on and on and on...

Home is in Your Head

I don't want to leave, not really. I've made a home for myself here. And even though I am excited about things to come this summer, I keep viewing them as something distant, something I will eventually get around to. But there's only two days left now, and I have to acknowledge that the end is LOOMING. My suitcase has been packed. My carry on has been packed and repacked. I finally finished buying gifts. I'm started to get annoyed by nagging things like my thighs because it's so warm at home and where are my summer clothes? I'm not going to be able to cook all the time. My produce won't be as fresh. My food won't be as delicious. This is apparently just a fact. Everyone says the food won't be as delicious. My garlic won't fill the entire kitchen with the smell of deliciousness. Life will be hard again. School will be boring and overloaded again. I'm so not looking forward to returning.
Sorry if that hurts or offends you, but that is how I feel.

volcanic disruptions

I should be able to make it home. I should be able to make it home. I should be able to make it home?

When Dad was booking my tickets, I went out on a limb and asked for first class. And to my surprise... the answer was yes. Maybe this was just my being a genius, because since I have premium tickets, I am less likely to get bumped from my flight.

Now there's all kinds of articles about confusion in the airports and warships picking up British citizens and limited airspace.... I really want to make it home. I really want my bag to not get lost. I really want to have smooth sailing. My flight is at 1, so I need to get there at 11. Dad told me to get there early in case of problems. How early is early? Florence airport is smaller than Tallahassee's, and it's boring when you get there early. I got there early for Amsterdam, and what did I do? Read and be bored for hours. I hope I can get on my flight okay. If I take a cab (if I have the money to take a cab) I'll get there with time to spare But I'll probably just take a shuttle, which is 15€ cheaper.

Today I finished buying gifts. I was looking for cute, fashionable sandals. I tried on so many pairs, but I didn't find any I like

I have 2 exams tomorrow, and I haven't started studying yet. I can't inspire myself to care.

ima fight til we see the sunlight

That song always makes me want to dance.

Tonight is the very last Taco night for Kevin and I! :( Sad! We're switching roles. I always make the queso and he always makes the spicy, but tonight we're switching so that when we get home we'll both know how to do both. Everybody in gli Stati Uniti, prepare yourselves! We're making tacos when I get home!

My oral went well. Only, I said it really really fast, so it was shorter than it was supposed to be. I was a tiny bit nervous. Oh well. She saw it written out, and she knows how long it would have been if I had been slower. I ended it with, "Insegno lei. La prima cena è italiana! è possibile risotto con salsicci." Which, if you had heard all of it, you would know that "lei" is Kim, as in, I'm going to teach Kim how to make Italian food since I'll be living with her, and the first dinner might be risotto with a spicy sausage." Risotto is delicious, I ate it last night. I hope Stace and Tom are okay with not eating meat whenever I cook something, because there just won't always be meat. A cheese risotto = molto buono!

I enter into the Pioneer Woman's website competitions to try and win the fabulous cooking utensils she gives away (thepioneerwoman.com) and today she is giving away an apple green mixer. I'm bound to win someday! I really wanted to win last week's competition - it was a crock pot and a cookbook! The cookbook I'll buy anyway. The food inside sounds delicious.

So, Nemo came last week, which is why my updates were few and far between. As in, I think I only posted one. So our cooking class was not in Italian! How disappointing! I learned all these kitchen terms just for it. It was really hard to remember kitchen terms... I was like, okay, I mash things with a glas... what would the actual utensil be called? What are measurements? I do it all by hand here... hmmm... and I couldn't remember a lot of cooking verbs, but Nemo and Kevin helped me out. BUT there were two other students who didn't speak Italian, so the teacher taught in English. I did get a sweet cookbook entirely in Italian. I can read it too! And Anto gave us a recipe that day in class for popo al pomodori in Italian. Look out world, all I want to do with my life is make ya'll fat. The food was good. We made a pannacotta, which was really easy, and rich and delicate, but not really my kind of dessert. After the class, a bunch of CAPA kids went out, and Nemo obviously came too. I assume he enjoyed it? We taught another kid to play convergence, and he taught Kevin some weird math game. We got home around 3.

We made our very last day trip to Volterra. Honestly, I didn't really enjoy it. The countryside around, however, was beautiful! And I really enjoyed the view. But other than that, it was nothing spectacular. I wish we'd gone somewhere else.

Kevin, Nemo, and I watched The Exorcist and The Village that night. When I returned Catch me if you Can and Night at the Museum and check those out instead the woman at the desk laughed at me, and said, "Molto pensato, eh?" (heavier?) I enjoyed that she was so friendly, because typically, they're not. It's just all business.

Well, Nemo left Sunday. The city is covered in little white parachute seeds. Pati and I went down to the Cascine and the seeds looked like summer snow. That's what we called it. We're so poetic.
The Italian guys here are getting worse. One rode past us twice and then stopped and got off his bike. He tried talking to us, but we both just ignored him and read. In response to this, he pulled out a camera and took a picture of us! UGH! And he was the same guy that bothered Pati in the park by her house. Plus, the other night at Bigallo, there were these guys who tried to stop me from leaving the room by stretching out their legs and then they asked, "do you like sex?" UGHHHHHH THEY'RE SO SKEAZY. Maybe the really bad ones come out in the summer.

We've all been so concerned here because of the volcanic ash. Some programs have already ended, and no one can go anywhere. Some people were planning on traveling by train, but all the trains are pretty much full. It's been really worrisome. Yesterday I resolved myself to staying here because I found out I don't have to register for summer classes til the 10th. And then housing came by and said we could stay until Monday. But Dad sent me an email that said flights from Atlanta to Paris are operating tomorrow, so I think I will get home. The only concern would be if my flight from Florence to Paris were canceled, but today NYTimes said all the Italian airspace was opened. I wasn't sure about that, because they also updated a map that said most of the airports in Italy are closed. But I'll find out.

Well, I have an art history exam tomorrow. Not too concerned. Did the reading, now I just have to memorize some dates. I think Kevin and I are going to watch the final episode of Dexter, Season 2 with our tacos tonight instead of watching a movie, because of the exam tomorrow.

Il martedi

Ahh, I want to update, but I'm thinking in Italian because I have to give an oral exam soon. I'm going to be talking about cooking here. "è una spatola. Ho portrato esso perche cucio spesso in la apartamenta mia. ....." and on.

A brief update, then??
Il venerdi scorso, il mio amico Nemo e io, abbiamo preso una clase de cucina. Ho pensato la classe è stata in italiano. è stato aventuroso! Ma, sono state due studentesse non hanno parlato in italiano, cosi il capocuoco Ricardo ho insegnato in inglese."

Lol, I really don't have time for this update, I'm sorry. That says, Last Friday my friend Nemo and I took a cooking class. I thought it was in Italian. It was very exciting! But, there were two other (female) students who don't speak Italian, so the chef, Ricardo,taught in English.
So sad, my class was in English! I'll update later. Lots has happened.

Ciao ragazzi!

La fine settimana fina

That probably doesn't make sense. It literally translates as, The last of the week last." But it means, to me, the last weekend. Cause the word for weekend is "fine settimana." See?

So Nemo arrived here on Wednesday. I was so excited! I haven't seen Nemo since senior year! He's studying in France, and so now here he is on his break. We went and signed up for our cooking class with Altrevento. It's a really good menu. Gnocchi in a sage and butter sauce, bruschetta, and some kind of chocolate cream thing. Florence for Fun was just offering pasta al arancia and carmelized apples, bleghhhh. Now, here's the rub - I corresponded with them entirely in Italian, I paid in Italian, and then at the very last minute I thought to ask, "è la classe in italiano o inglese?" O, Italiano! Haha, so... what an experience to anticipate! It's in a couple hours. But my teacher thinks that I have a good enough grasp on Italian that I can do it, and help him out too. In fact, she made me feel really good about my Italian. I think I'm rather good at it too, and I love it.
There was a cross cultural reversal shock meeting that day. It made me even more nervous to go home than I already am! My taste buds have changed apparently. I'm going to eat and all the food will be sweet for like a week and I'll have a very upset stomach. And lines! I've forgotten how to queue up! In Italy, you fight to get to the front, and if you don't, the little old lady certainly will! I'm going to get into so much trouble with customs and just everywhere. And I'm going to get hit by a car, because I'm so used to jaywalking everywhere and with less than a foot between me and that car but Americans will hit meeeeee oh noooooooooooo I'm really nervous to come home!
Gina and I made chicken marsala burgers that night, and of course Nemo got one too. But it was a lazy night. I just walked him around the city and showed him the sites at night.
Yesterday was my busy day, so he spent most of it alone. I went back to the Palatine Galleries with Ren Art and I think I want to go back one last time before I leave. Then psych we reviewed for our exam next week, because EXAMS ARE NEXT WEEK! OH NOOOOO
We took Nemo to the leather market, and I have almost finished buying gifts now. I also got a sweet white leather wristband that makes me look cool. Molto forte, yo.
Kevin and I made tacos again, only they were out of our sheep cheese at Coop! So we replaced it with provolone piccante. Spicy provolone?? Is this in the states? Somebody find out for me and tell me right away! It is so delicious! It's not super spicy, it just has a little bit of a kick and mmmmmm. We watched Catch me if you Can while eating and had just a really great time. Nemo and I taught Kevin how to play Convergence and it was really successful. I knew they would be besties lol!
If you can't tell, today I am joyous!
In Italian today, we played a funny game where we all pretended we'd been crashed on a dessert island. We all made a speech to try and see who could be the leader and who would be elected. My speech went, "Farò fare Will construcione tutti case. Farò uno fuoco e Kyle vedrà il fuoco. Sarò la cucina e sarete cogliere il cibo. Sopravvirremo!"
Or, I will make Will build all the houses. I'll build a fire and Kyle will watch it.I will be the chef and ya'll will gather the food. We will survive!"
But Will got elected, because he's going to make everyone cook for him and if we have to, we'll eat each other. Lol, what a terrible captain, I don't know why we elected him. I voted for Patrick, personally, because he had us build a boat.
I joined a group on the internet today. Back in Atlanta, it's a group of people who get together to speak in Italian. When I get there, I'm going to hang out with them. I'm going to look for one in Gainesville too, but I can probably find one on UF's campus. I'm going to miss speaking in Italian so much! I wish OU offered it!
I'M SO EXCITED FOR MY COOKING CLASS TODAY, YAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

Partire è un po' morire. Mi dispiacerà lasciare l'Italia, che amo molto.

I've done something really dumb

And that is... going to be prefaced. Every M,T, and F I have Italian. These classes are at different hours every day. Last night Gina and I were making plans and we agreed to go to the Ciompi Market, because I didn't have class until 11 30 on Mondays. I get to school around 11 20 and I'm not concerned. 11 30, I walk down the hallway, but the door is still closed. So then I check the schedule... and today is when I have class at 10 30, Friday is when I have class at 11 30. Ugh! My second to last week and I've forgotten my schedule?? That's so frustrating. Fortunately, there's another Italian I class at 12 30, and I'm going to go to that one, and feel like an idiot.

So Italy has got these monstrously big misquitos. A couple weeks ago Renee and Gina kept getting bit on their faces while they slept. They get inside because we have to open the windows if we want to avoid mold in our apartment. I was feeling pretty glad that they weren't biting me, and I figured that it was because I close my door all day. Then a week ago one bites me in my sleep and leaves a gigantic red spot bigger than anything the other girls have gotten. Since then I've slept with the covers over my face. Last night I'm about to turn off my light when I look up at the ceiling above my pillow. There's a misquito there, just... waiting. Waiting for me to go to sleep. I thrawted him and slept covered all night til this morning. Ha! I hate misquitos. One bit my hand the other day and it itches really bad.

Other than that, I've had such a cultural weekend! Friday we went to the Boboli gardens and sat around and tried to get some sun. I did the first cartwheel that I've done since my ankle injury because I was feeling so good and I'm pretty sure I sprained my wrist. It made a big "crack" sound and hurt really bad and I saw spots for a while. I wore a tank top though, which was fantastic! That was the night of our best tacos yet, we finally got the sheep cheese to mozzarella cheese to parmesean cheese right and we mixed in three different kinds of meats. It was super good. We had a lazy night in because the next day, Gina and I went... horseback riding through the Chianti region!

They drove us out to this farm house and it was really nice and strange to be in a car. My horse's name was Rien (Rienne) and we fought a little bit. She was a trekking trained horse, and I was a Western trained rider. Trekking horses get more slack in the rein than Western trained horses. We argued right up until I hissed at her in Italian, and then we cooperated more. "Facciamo una coda!" Which means, We make a line, because she kept trying to walk on her own side. The path through the woods was a little bit precarious - the horses' hooves kept slipping. It was a little nervewracking sometimes, but it was a lot of fun. Then we had a wine tasting. The white wine was really good but the red was really dry. Really really dry. The day ended with a Tuscan meal that was super delicious. I played with dogs and wore a tank top and it was so sunny and wonderful. The ride home was down this little winding road through all these villages and it was super fantastic. He drove really fast and it was just a lot of fun, and we all sang songs. Bushes kept coming in my window haha.
It was so sunny and wonderful that Gina and I didn't want to go home. We sat in the grassy area outside of the train station and just basked. What a wonderful day!
When we did go home, I fell asleep. I probably would have stayed asleep until the next day if a misquito hadn't bit me on the face. Arg misquitos! So I woke up and make lasagna soup, which was really good. Only it was really spicy, because I forgot my pepperocini garlic mix doesn't have a little filter and I poured in like 1/5 of the bottle. I watched Breakfast on Pluto and then Kevin and I watched V for Vendetta. Good lazy night to pair with my good active day!

We were sort of lazy yesterday. I cleaned and excercised. But I needed to go listen to the Gregorian chanting, which I thought was at 4 30. It was at the church of San Miniato al Monte, which is on the oltroano and up some really steep hills. So I booked it and was there by 4 36, only to discover that at this time of year it isn't until 5 30. Once it started, it was really interesting for about 15 minutes and I was making a lot of observations to myself and enjoying it. Then I started getting sleepy. Then maybe 10 minutes later it turned into a Catholic mass. I was in the middle of the bench and couldn't get up so... I stayed for mass. Until the sacrament was dispensed, when I got to get up and leave while everyone else got up to partake of the host. It was a little awkward for me to be sitting there as a tourist while there were other people there for Church. I was literally pained when some woman started taking pictures. It hurt. I don't know if she was American or not, which would make me feel a little better if she wasn't. But it was an active religious ceremony, not Disney world!
So leftover lasagna soup on a quesadilla is really delicious.

And now we get to the most exciting part of my weekend! Alex calls and asks us if we want to go to some hotsprings in the middle of nowhere with this Italian guy she knows. I can predict reactions. Some of my friends are cheering this idea on, and some of my friends and most of my family is thinking, Oh good, Jessica would never do something like that. Actually, everyone is probably thinking I would never do something like that. Because I wouldn't. Go out into the middle of the woods, into the middle of nowhere, over an hour outside of Florence with people I don't know? When I have no way of leaving if it goes bad? Who wants to get raped? I don't.
Only... I did! Gina, Kevin, Alex, this guy Massimo, and I all went to these hotsprings in the middle of nowhere over an hour outside of Florence and it was fantastic. We were back in a car (and here I thought I was going to die - I was in the middle seat, which has no seatbelt, and he drove at the average speed of 120 km per hour.) The music was good. The baths were fantastic! Someone went and carved actual tubs into the stone and there were little thermal waterfalls. It was a really Italian experience, because only Italians go there (unless you're not Italian and you know someone that is.) It was so relaxing and so much fun. My skin feels really good now too, because they're healing waters. We were there for a couple hours and then we went home, where I had one of the best sleeps since I've been here. I'm so glad I ditched my old prudish self and went.

una bella fine settimana!

It's a beautiful weekend!

Yesterday I ate McDonalds (we all get there eventually.) I just wanted a soda, and then I realized I was hungry because I hadn't eaten all day. Then I got lost for the first time in a long time. I was tired and a little malcontent.

I went to bed yesterday before 7 30 and I woke up today at 10 30. Whoops! That's 14 hours!

I'm going to go to the Boboli gardens soon, because it's a beautiful day and we're all going to go get some sun.

Ciao ragazzi!
Jessica

the worst part about having a blog is trying to think up clever titles for each post

Yesterday Pati and I met up around 6 40 and decided to go to the leather market. We ran into Alex on the way there. We just wandered around. I'll need to go back eventually, but I don't want to lol. It's awful right now, with all the tourists.
Alex and I decided to to to dinner. I haven't been to a sit down dinner since spring break (well, that I paid for. Cheri and Kathy took me to two.) It was really good - fountain soda (a coveted and longed for object,) gnocchi with smoked salmon and little shrimp, and we both got an appetizer. So, when you go to Italy and the English menu says, soup of mussles, it's not a soup FYI. It's a giant bowl of mussles that you eat out of the shell and it's almost too much for two people. But dinner was good and I was glad to go out. I don't know why I didn't just read the Italian menu.
Afterwards we went to the bar J.Joyce and played foosball with some Italian guys. We asked them and they just wanted to play. When we were done, they didn't try adn skeaze on us. I appreciated that.

Today I went to see.... the David, again. After yesterday! The really frustrating thing about taking the art history courses here is that you always go to the same place. But, interesting fact you don't learn about the David usually. So, when you look at it, it's obvious that his hands are too big, and everyone says so and how could Michelangelo mess up his proportions? Well, the David was made to be viewed from the top of our cathedral. So the proportions had to be tweaked so you could see him from up there. All the sculptors do that here. They don't teach you that in your basic art history course, and they should. We also went to the New Sacristy today, which is just a big Michelangelo room... slash tomb for the Medicis, but Michelangelo himself pretty much said, no one will care about these people in 1000 years.

Oh. I just had a weird moment. I've been thinking it's 2 30, but it's only 12 53. Weird. That just messed up everything I was thinking about not doing. Now I have time to do it.

I'm really frustrated. Today, I had the brilliant thought that maybe I could pay for my summer UF classes with my bright futures, because you have until like the end of your sophmore semester to activate it. I go to open my bright futures email... and then I remember that LESS THAN A WEEK AGO I was trying to send myself this really big document that I needed for class and my mailbox was full and it wouldn't take it and I kept deleting everything trying to get it. I deleted the bright futures email and then I deleted my deleted folder just to try and get this one stupid document. A week ago. Not even!
I emailed bright futures and told them the gist and asked if there was a way to get my pin number back. They have to have students who've had emails crash or something. Most people probably wrote theirs down. I never did, because I go to school in ATL and I knew I was going to stay there. The UF summer classes thing was unexpected. Well crap. Also, trying to enter the public system is confusing me. I can't figure UF's website out at all. The registrars website gives you someone to email with questions. But it's not the registrars office your email goes to, it goes to the admissions office, where someone says, sorry, we can't help you out, go to the registrars website to get their email. ... really? really.

Oh hey, it's homemade taco thursday.

high waisted sailor skirt

That's what I'm wearing today, along with a shirt with... funny sleeves! If it hasn't hit the states yet, this trend is big ya'll.

So my paper is done! It was done on Monday I think. But I turned it in late because the when I put the flash drive in, the paper opened up a big page of symbols. So I had to entirely retype the assignment. My teacher was really nice though so he said it was okay. Also, I had my first draft to show him, but I'd written all over it.

I didn't leave my apartment for two days. That's what I do everytime I have a big assignment. I made Italian meatball soup on Monday and it was really good. I wanted to make Lasagna soup tonight, but I still have some of the meatball soup left. I should probably finish that off. Tacos again tomorrow, so I guess I'll make the Lasagna soup on Friday.

Sorry I'm so constantly talking about food lol.

Pati came home yesterday! It was really exciting to see her and just hang out. she's supposed to call soon and we're going to go get gelato and eat it by the river.

I'm registered for classes! Modern Art, Modern and Contemp Lit, 18th and 19th Century Lit, and Core.

I almost didn't get my classes. But I am no longer angry. Today everything is zen. We went and saw the David again, and went to Palazzo Vecchio in class and it was a really good class. Last night Kevin and I sat in the kitchen and listened to Paramore until 3 in the morning. I've been doing my quad and core excercises. I fixed my iPod shuffle to have really good songs on it. It's been a good day, despite the poor start.

You've got it, you've got it, some kind of magic

I should be working on a paper. Actually, I am, in fact, working on a paper. I've been reading articles on rood screens and what the Uffizi's real function is supposed to be for hours. I've been reading about the life of Vasari. I've been taking notes and writing sentences and paragraphs, so I guess I'm doing good. I've also worked out, lifted my water bottle weight, and taken a shower, plus I read a little bit from Norman Mailer's The Castle in the Forest. So I guess today has been pretty productive. I'm really tired and I want to go to bed, but I want to try and have my paper done before all my roommates get home tomorrow night. Or at least, almost entirely done with just a little bit left to finish on Tuesday. This paper is due on Wednesday, so I think I'm in really good shape. I just need to not sleep until 1 tomorrow.

This is the first real work I've done since I've been here, and it's like... refreshing. I haven't had a hard time convincing myself to do research or to read these long historical documents. It's normally such a struggle at school, because I have so many other boring things to do and I get so stressed that I don't want to do any of it. But this time I'm okay with it. It's not like I've done anything but read and work on Italian and go out and have fun since I've been here. Why can't school always be like this?

Yesterday I made meatballs and they're really good. They were meant to be a snack for the next few days, but for some reason today I haven't eaten an actual meal, so every now and then I munch on them. I think I will go munch on them some more.

They might make it til tomorrow, but I'm not making any bets.

Buona Pasqua

So, today is Easter. That's a really big deal here in this predominantly Catholic country. So... how do they celebrate it?

Well, I'm not living with Italians, so I can't exactly say. But this is what I do know. In the morning, they go to Easter mass. Then around 11 there is a big explosion of the cart, which I don't know what exactly it symbolizes, but that's what they do.

They give their children these big chocolate hollow eggs with surprises inside. I asked my Italian teacher why, and she told me it's because early Christian depictions of the Virgin have her with an egg on her head. These eggs can range from really really simple 5 euro eggs (that are still bigger than my hand) to really elaborate and ginormous and fancy. I saw one that had a castle built into it, and it was somewhere between 30-40 euro.

After that, I don't know what they do. Today and tomorrow everything is closed, except for restaurants and some places in the center. What is the significance of tomorrow?

So I would love to tell you about the explosion of the cart, but... I can't. Why? Because I dreamt I was there so I missed the real thing. I really really dreamed I was there, like I was at the Duomo but there weren't a lot of people around so I started asking people in Italian if this was the right spot for the explosion, but since I didn't know the word for explosion I kept saying "boom!" The explosion I dreamt of was nice though. Big fancy cart, lots of nice fireworks. Whoops.

Because I have nothing better to do??

I'm sure I mentioned that my dad gave me permission to go shopping. Well, first off, I got lots of nice new clothing and that was really exciting. But second, there is something about Italians and shopping that I want to let you in on.

Living in Italy is expensive. It's really expensive. Minus buying food at the grocery store (at least in my opinion - I just bought tons of groceries for 16 euro, but maybe the Italians think it's expensive.) They used to go out to the pizzeria once a week. Now, maybe only once a month. The children don't leave home until about 30-40 years of age, because otherwise they'd have to pay for a place to live, and that's just too much. That's typically when they get married. They might move out to a different city for college and share an apartment, but they usually return home afterwards. (Interesting fact - it is pretty much illegal to have a job if you're a teenager, and most people don't get they're first job until somewhere between 24-26.) The birth rate here, if I remember correctly, is less than one child per couple. You can have half a child. The reason you don't have more than one is because having a child is expensive, and living is expensive, and your first child is typically born when the woman is around 35. After that, we all know about the ticking clock. So if you were thinking that the Italians have big, happy, loud, lovable families - you were wrong, change that idea.

Now if you're thinking to yourself, what the heck is Jessica going on about, none of this has anything to do with shopping... well, that's what I was going for! Because the thing is, that with it being so expensive to live and so expensive to have babies, you would think that they would not want to spend a lot of money on clothes. That is SO not the case. Would you like a new pair of sandals? I would, and they're really cute over here. Would you like to spend 135.oo euro on them? I wouldn't either, but they won't have a problem with it. Apparently, the one thing they aren't economical about it shopping. Bags, 40 euro. Shirt, 40 euro Shoes, 100+. Pants, bam, you're out of cash.

It's expensive to shop here. But the month of sales are fantastic. 70 euro boots? Now they're 19. So you feel so justified, spending half the money you were going to because it's the month of sales. But the reason it's sale time is because of the new collections coming in. And then you just spend so much.

I saw the cutest pair of sandals. They go in between your big toe and the toe that is next to it and they have a little strap that goes up to the ankle strap. The strap was decorated with beautiful cute blue bows and I wanted them. Almost 200 euro, were they? Yes they were.

this day should not be lazy

but at this moment... it is. I will soon finish my laundry, go grocery shopping, go to the science museum, and then go to the library. I will study. I will do research. These are my goals for today.

I will also update my blog about the happenings of the last few days, starting with Thursday, because Thursday was a Good Day.

For some completely unknown reason, Ren Art wasn't a pain. This was probably just a fluke. Also, we were talking about Leonardo. Also, I think Paola seemed a little sad.

I didn't buy a bag for my laptop. The bag I was going to by doesn't zip across the top, and while I've never been pickpocketed at an airport before, or know anyone that has, why risk it? I decided to shop around. There is a really beautiful bag at Accessorize that zips across, has the inner pocket for the passport, and is covered in birds and flowers. However, it is also sort of huge... but maybe not as huge as it is when it's full of paper. It's almost 50 euro though, so I decided I would take some time to think about that, before I bought a 50 euro bag. It will probably be gone before I'm done thinking about it... there were only two in the store yesterday.

Psych was pretty interesting. We played a game where we were divided into two groups. One of a us was a culture and the other group were anthropologists. It was all about the difficulty of getting to know one another from a cross cultural stand point. Apparently, it's really common in business classes, so maybe you've played it before. After we were done playing, we talked about mental health in Italy. We didn't talk about it near enough. I would like to talk about it more.

She did give us a sheet of paper with mental problems that seem to be purely cultural. One of them was called "blacking out" and is limited to the Southern United States and the Caribbean. It is when you just randomly pass out or go through "fuzzy" periods and forget how to function for a few seconds. I was like, wait a minute! I've heard of this! I know people this has happened to! This has happened to me! Amy thinks it's just because it's so hot haha. Honestly, before I went to college I don't think I knew the term "black out" drunk. I knew it as a term for passing out. We used the term "bat shit" drunk in high school, or just drunk.

After class, Gina, Kevin, and I went to Santa Maria Novella Stazione to buy train tickets to Naples for the weekend. We went to the window and I said, "Vogliamo andare a Napoli a domani. Il treno e a quaranta e venti." (There should be an accent mark on that first "e".) The ticket seller and I successfully managed to talk about what we wanted and how much it cost and we were just about to pay when he told me it was sold out. Bummer! We'd already booked the hostel and everything! But as much as I really wanted to see the South of Italy and Herculaneum and Pompeii, I also really wanted to see the Explosion of the Cart here in Piazza Duomo. And I really had to work on this paper.... so I was willing to just accept it and do whatever here for the weekend. We went to the library and canceled our hostel but Gina and Kevin and Bryce still wanted to go, so they got tickets and rebooked the hostel.

Since I have been here, I have been craving a crepe. We were going to a movie that night and didn't have time to go home and get dinner. So I got a crepe at this place that I had seen, Gina got a burrito at the place across from it, and Kevin got a kebab (gyro) at the place right next to it. It was all really convenient and really good! The crepe man and I talked all in Italian and it was exactly what I wanted.

We had some time before the movie so we went to the market of the boar. There are two things you're supposed to do with the big boar statue at the market. First, you rub it's nose. Second, you put a coin in its mouth. If it drops out of the mouth and into a drainage hole, you get good luck. All three of us won! Haha, we'd never done it before and our luck was assured.

Except, of course, when it came to the movie. Our luck was not assured in that aspect. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief was terrible. Bad acting, bad direction, too much in one movie - it was just bad. Don't waste your money on it.

Yesterday was Friday and Friday was Alright. I went to school and was informed that Housing would be coming after six because one of our heaters is leaking and is causing wood rot. Seriously, our apartment has been falling apart, so this new event was just like, oh, we're still falling apart. Our balcony door doesn't close, our water keeps going below 0, our washer went crazy... etc. etc. But remember my experiment where I wasn't going to clean? Well, this is what I learned. Most of the dishes get done. If there are some leftover in the sink, no one will own up to them, each of us insisting "I always do my dishes." But after we'd put them on the drying rack, that was it. It took days and days for the dishes to get put away. It only happened when there were so many dishes on the drying rack that we just couldn't wash any more of them. No one swept, wiped off the stove, the wall above the stove, etc. The drain cloggers were rarely emptied. So yesterday, I had quite a mess to deal with. I went home after class and I cleaned. I wiped down the table, the counters, the disgusting stove tops. I didn't have to clean out the drain clogger because Gina did it yesterday - our other roommates had done a lot of cooking and they hadn't cleaned it out. I swept and swept. I made the couch that Emily had promised to make, since she's the one who messed it up. I cleaned so much that I was in a little bit of a rage about the condition of the apartment and how everyone insists they clean, but no one really does.

Here's the tricky thing about Florentine floors. They look clean. E.M. Forster wrote about it in A Room of One's Own. He said something along the lines, on the very first page of the book, "The floors that always look clean but never truly are." You're not supposed to walk around barefoot in your home here. A Florentine would tell you it's because sickness comes from cold feet. I will tell you it's because they don't want you to know how dirty the floors are. They don't want to know themselves. I can walk around barefoot for less than thirty minutes and come away with black feet. My roommates have noticed and told me they were disgusted. I told them, it's from our floors. They were then even more disgusted... but not enough to sweep.

Also, our apartment came with about 5 brooms. But there is not a mop. I am going to clean them though. Everything is going to be closed, Sunday and Monday, because of Easter. So I might as well clean the floors.

Back to yesterday... Gina and I met in front of the Duomo and went shopping. We ended up in a Murano glass store. She bought her mom's present and I bought a big hunkin ring that is half Murano glass and half Dijon glass and entirely fabulous.

Kevin and I made fish tacos last night with a goat cheese parmesan cheese queso topping. They were pretty good, but they needed more spicy and more fish. We watched 28 Days Later which I've been wanting to watch since I first realized our library had it. It was checked out for weeks! Thursday was also good because I finally got it.

I'm not going to have time to go to the Science museum. Who am I kidding? It probably closes at 5. I stayed up until almost four reading Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. I don't really like it, I don't think, but I'm not sure, so I kept reading it. I did something I haven't done... maybe ever though. I was really bored, so I skipped ahead looking for an interesting part. That makes me feel like a bad person... but I was really bored. But because I was up til 4, I woke up around 1. A day wasted? Probably not. There's still stuff I can do. Mainly homework and grocery shopping.

paramore paramore paramore

I don't think I'll really have time for two blog updates today. But! A funny fact. You know how in America we have those "Baby on Board" signs? Well, they have them here too. They say, "Bimbo a bordo." I laughed when I first saw it. I hope you laugh too.

There will possibly be more than one post today

But I'm not yet sure.

First let me say, I AM SUPER TIRED. I had a vision of me sitting down in the Bargello today and just passing out.

Why am I so tired, you might ask?

Well first off, I have been unnaturally tired lately anyway. But today is my 8:30 morning class and we had an assignment due. My writing portion was done yesterday, but I had to add on some footnotes. I tried doing it last night on Emily's computer and then send it to myself by stolen internet, but Emily has a Mac and I got to the place about inserting footnotes but couldn't figure out how to actually put them on there. So I had to wake up this morning and get to school early to edit the document here. Guido was late to open the doors by about 6 minutes and then the internet didn't work.
But because I haven't been able to turn in a serious assignment late since like, the 5th GRADE I rewrote the entire thing! I took the printed version in front of me, and typed it up all over again with footnotes included this time. That seems like slightly too much work even now that it's done.

I've been meaning to mention my ankle for a long time now, but I keep forgetting. So. How awesome is it that I have managed to go this long without any serious debilitations! I hurt really bad for a week or two at one point, and I've used my muscle binding tape a couple times, but it's been good! It's been really really good. I have taken a lot of Motrin lol. And during spring break they were swollen to an incredible degree. But still amazing! Now I'm just pudgy with low endurance lol. The worst thing about losing weight is when your skin gets all nasty and here the worst thing about losing weight is that I'm also losing muscle. I'm not even losing a lot of weight, but I am losing a LOT of muscle. All summer to work out in the UF gym?? Yes please.

I want to go to bed so bad. But I can't. I have more class. I have more assignments. I have to go to Promod and buy a carrier bag for my laptop for when I come home. I've accumulated enough stuff that I am going to have to carry my laptop home. I didn't want to bring it home at all, not really, but what if there is something I forgot to back up on my hard drive? So I will be doing that. Today. Now. Soon.

Ren Art wasn't so bad today. This was the first day I realized the professor isn't Italian. She's apparently from somewhere in South America, but her name is Paola and she speaks Italian, so I didn't figure it out. I don't know why it wasn't so boring today. Then I went and finished the Bargello. It's got some nice Donatello's, which you can't take pictures of, and some nice bronze birds, which I did.

I really like birds.

I guess I should go. It's almost one. I need to buy that bag and get lunch and go home and then come back. Grossssss.