Roma ro ma ma

So hi I’m Christina and im a gigantic FAIL at blogging. I know ive been noticeably absent but that’s only because I am just so busy and important. No, but really. Ive been going nonstop for the past week(ish) and the whole “no internet” thing is really cramping my style. I try to go to the internet point for LDM but frankly I don’t like walking 10 minutes and sweating half my body weight to go sit in a computer lab where obnoxious jersey shore people are yelling “oh my GAAAHD” with their blinding orange tans. (I actually had a strange encounter with one of said jersey shore freaks last night. I guess ill cover that later.) SBI. (Sorry bout it.) Speaking of that, half the people on this trip talk like me now. I’m in heaven. Sorry bout it, Shiz, and numerous abreevs are part of everyones vocab. Phenomenal. I don’t know where I left off on my last blog because im writing this on Microsoft word in my apartment so I can just copy/paste later, so I guess I’ll just start with the Rome weekend because it was perfect. Slash I just opened my pictures so I can remember everything we did and I remember that the day before we left for Rome a bunch of us went up to Michaelangelo point at night….to do some necking in the car. That’s a lie. But anything with a “point” at the end seems like a place where teenagers would go to make out. There was hundreds of stairs we had to climb…and they weren’t even normal human stairs. They were made for giants so like 1 stair would equal like 2 ½ human steps. WTF. So we got to the top and im sweating (that’s a surprise) but the view was FANTASTIC. We’re actually going there tonight to watch the sunset and drink wine. Ive heard it’s the Florence equivalent to the Sacre Coeur if that helps anyone (Jessica). Then we went to a bar named Easy Living which was on the river and, if im not mistaken, was made out of plywood and green tissue paper. Were going there tonight too so ill take a pic. It’s a pretty bumpin place with the locals so obviously I fit right in…hahaha. Carly was being really funny (as usual) and pretending this mansion we saw was hers…I guess it doesn’t sound funny but I was laughing awkwardly hard at it. Also we went to a fun Indian Restaurant and I had Chicken Tikki Masala. Our waiter didn’t really speak English or Italian. But he did know how to say Chicken Tikki Masala. He sounded reminiscent of Leslie’s Slumdog Millionaire impression. I don’t know where that fits in…I think it was before Michaelangelo point. Oh well. I fail at temporal order too. K ROMAAAA. We met at about 9 at the McDs in the train station and I got a McMuff. That was a necessary fact to include. God. We took a train there and I got to sit by Miss Gwendolina and Jonny (who was technically a zombie at this time, not quite a morning person). The train ride included Gwen and I laughing the entire time and listening to Lil Mama’s smash hit “Lip Gloss” and mouthing all the words. Our seat neighb was a Nun who didn’t appreciate our antics. Oh and Jonny woke up to tell us he drooled, which we wouldn’t have known otherwise but I guess its cool to share that kind of thing. We got to Rome and it was excruciatingly hot but less humid so I guess that was the silver lining. Our hotel was adorbs and near the train/subway station. I was rooming with Gwen but then shiz happened with bug spray and allergies so I ended up rooming with Sara. Nicole and Rach were in a dungeon-esque room with a special little place for someone to be put on time out. Fun Fact. We went for lunch at a cute little bar off the main street where I had an ICED CAFFE LATTE which I jimped for because no one has iced coffee. Gelato is the equiv of our Starbucks which is a cause of mild panic for me so this was a treat. Everyone else got cocktails so we could get nice and loosey goosey for our tour of the Vatican hahahahah. Chiara spilled her drink so we had to cut her off. We got to the Vatican museum and Abs and Gwen were noticeably absent but they ran up all sweaty right as we were walking in. Apparently we all left without them. Oops. Also, the Vatican doesn’t appreciate shoulders or thighs so we were all wearing conservative pilgrim dresses with shawls and other gross things. Except Anthony who was looking sharp in his slacks and dress shirt. I don’t know why we all liked his outfit so much but we kept talking about it hahaha. The Vatican museums were awesome. I know that’s an understatement but theres art that dates back to the 1400s that I could just like…touch. America wasn’t even a twinkle in Britain’s eye at this point. I don’t know if that’s even an accurate thing to say but I do what I want. Id like to think im a ceiling kind of girl. I like ceilings that are pretty. So I really liked the museums. That was an all around stupid group of sentences I just produced. We went to ….you know…that church that michaelangelo painted…I really can’t remember the name. Im an idiot. You know, the one representing the creation, where God is like playing fingersies (opposite of footsies) with Jesus. I just know that we weren’t allowed to speak and it was dark in there to preserve all of the frescos. And I saw this girl crying hysterically and I remember staring awkwardly at her until she saw me. Relevant. We went into St. Peters and THAT was for sure my jam. I could have stayed there all day. The light was like pouring in and it was perfect. And then I got lost from my group which was nice. I had a foreign person take my picture in the front of the church and it sucked but she didn’t really know what was going on so I didn’t make her take another one. So I strolled along and looked at everything and even said a few prayers (Mama would be proud). Then I remembered I was lost. So I mosy on outside and look for my friends who are used to this by this point. I see Nicole and then we take pictures in the square and in the middle of the street. She said theres a point that you can stand on and all of the columns align and you can only see one row of them instead of all 3. This intrigued me until I spotted a gift shop so I went there instead. I bought a charm for my “Places of the World” charm bracelet my grandparents make for me and I bought some giftys. Then noticed how nasty I was so we headed home to shower before dinner. Dinner was at a cute little restaurant and it was also Brettas birthday so that was good times. We had white wine, antipasto, wine, fresh tomato pasta, wine, alfredo pasta, wine, some meat shiz, wine, and tiramisu. And more wine. Basically we were suuuuuuper drunk. I was sitting with Nicole and Rach and we kept toasting to numerous things. HAHA im loling just thinking about it. So then we went out to an ice bar! A BAR MADE OF ICE. You go in and they give you a poncho thing so you don’t die of hypothermia and then you go into like an ice cave and they give you your drinks in cups made of ice. I ate my cup. It was the sickest. Then we went to this super fun club in a castle or something I don’t quite remember. That was creep central. Like I cant fathom how Italian men think its cool to just grope. There was a lot of “No Grazie”s and “Vie”s thrown around. So we danced with randos to all of our fave songs like Waka Waka, No Speak Americano, and I love Donce. Nicola made a playlist so we can jam out in our house to these too hahaha. The next day I didn’t wake up in time for breakfast (shocker) so we went straight to the coliseum which was BAD ASS. We had a tour through it and she showed us all the ancient skirts the gladiators wore. And She showed us where they used to torture lions and shiz to get them all riled up and hungry so they could nom on warriors that tried to fight them. That was kind of sad actually. It was pretty amazing. You can look at pictures and stuff but you just have to go there to experience it. Fun times. Oh, also. In more pictures than not, theres someone creeping in the background. That’s not because were creepy, its just because it never gets old to us. FYI. Gwen bought a fan and called herself the fan fairy which was…normal. Then we went to the Roman Forum which might have well been the sahara desert. I wanted to die. SO HOT. So that was more ruins I guess. Fun to look at. Its def cool to see how people lived back in the day. Then we went to the Pantheon and I guess Barron Davis from the Clippers was there. I didn’t know who he was. I walked right past him and then Jonny went into cardiac arrest at the sight of him. They were also doing construction on the front of the building which was BS. I think this was earlier in the day but we witnessed a Gypsy fight. Homeboy straight up YANKED gypsy off the subway. We were all like……um….did anyone see that gypsy get owned. Quite frightening. Oh and my pen exploded in my purse. Good times. K Back to the Pantheon. After that we went to the Trevi Fountain. That was one Baller fountain. HUGE! Like you don’t realize how big it is. I threw a couple coins in so I can for sure come back one day. Then everyone was like “OMG WE HAVE TO GO TO THE SPANISH STEPS!” so obvi we all walk ALL THE WAY ACROSS ROME to get to these amazing steps and we get there and its straight up just…stairs. Stairs? So after that colossal disappointment, we played in the fountain a little bit and then caught the train early to go back to watch the World Cup Finals. When we got home we played Kings cup in our apartment with Strawberry and Apple vodka which was a GLD. Not. Then we bought more beer (PS I have a favorite Italian Beer and its Birra Moretti. Fun Fact.) and went to Jonnys apartment to watch it where we played more Kings Cup. I got Eric (E$) out on “Never have I ever been a ginger.”HAHAH. Alex got locked in the bathroom and didn’t know how to get out which was hilarious. I think Gwen got it on video. All of us were trying to open the door and poor Alex was like “I REGRET HAVING TO PEE” and when we finally got the door open, he was like on his knees with his hands in the air. Yep, that’s reality. It was a perfect weekend and theres so much more I could write. Oh Well. When in Rome. PS Enjoy the ice bar pic where were waiting to be flash frozen...(copyright carly 2010). and also stay tuned for Capri because it ranks in the top of favorite weekends ive ever had.

OH HEY

So by special request (Jessica Alderman), ive been asked to elaborate on what one of my "dank sangwiches" include. HAHAHAHAH. Well first, the meat here is so much better. And by meat i mean sandwich meat obviously. So we bought proscuitto which is my new fave, salami, and turkey. Also, we can also add "balsamic vinegar" to the list of things that are better in italy than at home. You may not be aware (as i was not until recently) that in comparison, Balsamic at home tastes like liquified...Miley Cyrus tongue. NOT GOOD. That was really foul actually. Anyway here it tastes like little cherubs created it themselves for their heaven salads. HAHAHHA KELS you know who im talking about. Olive oil is better here too but i mean, i feel like thats not surprising anyone. So my sangs include Oil/Balsamic, Three kinds of meat, ricotta cheese (which i dont think is a normal thing to do but i was like...go big or go home), salt and pepper, and those FABULOUS tomatoes. They are perfection. Espesh in our little kitchen overlooking our stray cat army which Rachel and I have taken a strange interest in. HAHA. AND Holler Espana. That goal was sick, but also, you could have easily had 2 more. just sayin. We watched the game at a bar called "Amadeus" (Of 'Rock me' Fame) which consequently turned out to be a drunken sauna of actual Germans and Spaniards. does that title even exist still for Spanish people? haha whatev. The poor gentleman behind me must have been terrified at the waterfall cascading down my neck/back region. Sorry bout it Spaniard. OMG i have something culturally irrelevant to this blog and just for your personal "she would." amusement. So Abs and I have been having these little coffee dates on our school breaks during which we get iced coffee at the cafe downstairs and talk about how Italian we are. Sadly our teachers havent been fully taking this into consideration and sometimes give us our breaks at different times. Yesterday was one of these days so i was chilling in the break room at school and i think to myself...Methinks i want a Coke Zero out of the vending machine. So i go do my thing and get my coke like...alright lets do this...no calories style. So im walking and opening the soda at the same time (I should never multitask) and BAM it explodes and sprays all over my face. Since im mortified that coke zero is currently all over my face i quickly run to the bathroom and start laughing. This shit was funny. So i wipe it off and then go back to class. We break into groups ad have a discussion about all the cultural differences between USA and Italy ( and the rest of the EU). When i stand up to report our findings the girl in front of me..knocks my coke zero onto my shirt and shorts and my entire body. Since theres only 8 people in my class, you can imagine the commotion this caused. the teacher stopped talking to run and get me paper towels and a girl gave me tissues and...yeah it was a mess. I was laughing and mumbling how this just happened to me..."...already...have...soda..on me.." HAHAHA. Fantastic. Then class ended and i went home and made myself a dank-sang (obvi) and some bomb pasta. I know im going out of order but after Amadeus we went to Central Park which is an outdoor club here in Florence. It was SO GOOD. It was gorgeous and there was actually some pretty decent and not creepy men there. One of whom i had an entire eye-conversation with. Nom. So pretty standard, but i got a vodka redbull and a long island, annnnnd of course we danced on this stage above the dance floor. I love to dance, and this is probs the only reason i will miss frats. Nicole goes "look at you Christina, feeling all at home dancing on a stage." this could either be a good thing or a very bad thing. Good thing i still have a month to decide which. I had so much fun with everyone and they got to witness my ghetto fab trait of knowing complete lyrics to rap songs first hand. I surprised some people. But um if youre going to play anything Young Money, BELIEVE i'm goin in. (Miss you YM Fam). We got home around 4AM and then i woke up today at around noon. oops. I met my group project partnet Raquel at the internet point to start our marketing proposal and thats where we are now. I dont know whats on the agenda but were thinking a spontaneous to Venice before we have to jet off to Rome on Saturday. CIAO miss you lots. Sorry im a FAIL at pictures. Soon i will upload them all and your minds will be blown.

For now, heres Rachel and i not helping with dinner, and watching our cat friends instead.

upppppdate!

so lets chat. I saw Eclipse here and loved it. LOVED it. So funny because Gwen and Nicole havent read/watched any of the books or movies ( I KNOW RIGHT) so before we went, hilarious roommates Carly, Anne, and I went through the first 2 movies with general synopsis as well as direct quotes and impressions from the movies. (quotes/impressions were all me naturally) and by the end of the second movie reinactment Carly goes "..and then he says 'marry me bella.'" (Gwen and Nicole are on the edge of their seats...) "AND?!?!" Then i proceed to do the little gasp thing she does at the end and then say "and then the credits come on." HAHAHAHAH they were PISSED and then completely stoked to go see Eclipse. Gwen and I had two Bellinis each(i love that you can just have cocktails at the movies. Thanks Samuelle) and let me tell you. I love Edward. But i WANT Taylor Lautner. Shiz. After the movie we went to a club called YAB which we didnt end up going into and then a Italian man told me i looked like Jennifer Lopez. He also said "compliments to your mother and to your father" to Abbie. oh italian people. so then yesterday we woke up super late and i had a solo dance party in the kitchen and painted my nails. Nicole got home and heard music and i was chilling in there in my towel like "....mani/pedi?" she like shook her head and walked out. hahaha. ive been making some dank sangwiches PS. I really enjoy my class so far! My teachers so adorable. I feel bad that i fall asleep in the beginning. like everytime. i dont get it. We talked about globalization and how to define foreign markets for specific products. I already have a paper due tomorrow and a 15 minute oral presentaion on Monday. UGHHHH. All my friends are in "pairing food with wine" instead of an actual class. Their homework is...drink wine. Oh well. Last night after class we all met with the University of Florence kids and went to an adorable restaurant on the other side of the river called "Dante." I had bomb lasagna and bruschetta and they give you unlimited wine with dinner. UNLIMITED. then they gave us lemoncello shots which were nast. After that Nicole, Bretta, Sarah and I went to a restaurant on the piazza to watch the Netherlands/Uraguay game (Fail.) and we ordered some beer. Delish. Thennnn we went home and i literally PASSED OUT. i dont get how im always so tired! I take that back, i had time to drunk FB chat Ben Schwartzman for a hot minute. HAHAHA that was funny. Sorry bout it Ben. Literally it was so hot in our room last night! i woke up at least 6 times because i was sweating profusely. Its either be really smoldering hot, or leave the windows open and get eaten to death by insects. No real compromise there. Hey italy, invest in screens? Today i woke up we came to the internet point for Lorenzo de Medici students which is where i am now. I'm slacking on posting pics but i promise i will soon. Im excited for class! PS we get to go to the Salvatore Ferragamo museum for a field trip. Yeah NBD. After class were going to make dinner at the apartment and then go to a bar to watch the game, which should be interesting. My judgement has failed in the past and i know Germany is good and all but i want Spain to take it. After that were going to an outdoor club called "Central Park" which could possibly be located in a park. Thats my educated guess there. I'm super excited for that. Oh also i curled my hair today with a curling iron and i think i lost 2 pounds in my face just from all the sweat lost from having a heat styling tool in my vicinity. Double Also, i saw the pics that Ashley posted of all my friends at home having a fun ass summer in the 'Dido and it made me miss them! Except some of you need to step away from the tanning beds. Christ. I miss everyone at home but i truly do love it here. hmmm. k class time. :)

im getting bad at blogging on the reg

Lets see lets see. So we went out for the first time 2 nights ago(debatable) and it was SO MUCH FUN. Im trying hard to remember details but i know that we drank tequila (because thats fun in EVERY country), had a round of drinks called "orgasmos," danced on stages (which is also fun in every country), and had a few minor mishaps on the way home because someone (R-Titz) got a little too drunky. it was really hilarious. i wish i could write all the embarassing details but since i have a soul i will pass. Long story short, it took us 4 hours to move her 2 blocks. i was literally laughing so hard. The sun was up when we got back to santa reparata. We also tried to sing kareoke and got denied which was rude. We keep running into the boys from the Palio which is awkward. There were a few BLDs but all in all i think we all kept it together pretty well considering the creep-level of the italian man/american girl combination, and the amount of alcohol involved. The next day we slept until 2PM then relaxed all day. Nicole wanted to host a dinner party in our sauna of an apartment so everyone from all 3 apartments came over and we made Pesto Pasta, potatos, risotto, salad, pizza, and WINE obviously. It was really fun to hang out with everyone because the whole living sitch divides us so much. OMG I FORGOT ABOUT TUSCANY. We went to tuscany and it was gorge. We went to a darling little vineyard in Chianti and literally got CRUNK. they fed us a delicious antipasto salad and lasagna with truffle olive oil. Carlo was our presenter man and he was just fabulous and italian and the whole bit. I think Gwen was quite smitten. One of the waiter men took a liking to Abbie and made a point to kiss her on the cheek repeatedly throughout the day. The white wine was PERFECT. nom. Anyway then we went to San Gimignano which is a gorgeous little midival town with AMAZING views of the Ialian countryside. We took lots of pictures i just havent uploaded them yet. You all are going to die. My robot eyes were on system overload (L-reed) and Ive never seen anything so beautiful! We also went to a torture museum which was a little much. I learned about the medival artform of the "rectal pear." i'll let your minds wander with that one. I'm obsessed with our little 5-some of Rachel, Nicole, Abbie Gwen and I. I will probably have intense abs with the amount of laughing im doing on this trip. Great, so they can match my expanding oxen calves from walking up 4 flights of stairs multiple times a day. This morning we had an impromptu orientation for school because we may or may not have missed it to go to the Palio (sorry bout it)and we got our schedules and books and stuff. Im taking International Marketing from 4-6:30 M-Th. I like having it at this time because Gwen Abbie and Rachel have classes at the same time and we can do fun day trips before our classes! and we also get into every museum in Florence for free with our VIP cards, NBD. Stoked. After orientation Gwen Rachel and I walked around the Leather market and they both bought some baller ass leather jackets. I opted out because A) i dont ride motorcycles, and B) i didnt want to drop bills my first week here. If my budget allows i might splurge at the end but i dont know if thats likely. Then we had a delicious lunch because we were "hangry" which is getting angry because you are hungry. copyright Gwen 2010. I had a bomb pannini with proscuitto and cheese and tomatoes. PS Tomatoes taste so much better here. Now were at the internet cafe across from our apt and were getting ready to head to class. After Class everyones meeting up to go see Eclipse at the American Theater!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH. I thought i was going to have to wait to see this glory until i was back in the states. NOPE. We ride tonight. K I miss you all! And heres your shoutout Silver Fox, i miss you mucho. :)

PS: Argentina disappointed me bigtime. WTMF

Day 3

I lied. Today was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. I’ll probs write another novel. Click the X if your bored. I can’t fathom how youd be bored though. Maybe Amy, I know you can’t read long things in one sitting. Do it in two parts sweetheart. K so Today was the Palio in Siena. Nicole (who is so badass, shes a dual citizen in the USA and ITALY, she grew up in Manhattan, and had fam all over Italy and a house in Lake Cuomo. NBD She invited me to stay after the program with her family. I might have to say yes. I want to see George Clooney and say whats up. ) Where was i? Oh yeah Nicole was telling us how the Palio is like the equivalent of the US’s superbowl. So of course we went. I can already tell that Rachel Gwen Nicole and I are going to be butt buddies the whole trip. Gwen is HILARIOUS. From the bay so she says hella…I overlook it. She goes to UCLA and is pursuing a music career. Fun Fact: She sang with Bone Thugs ‘N’ Harmony in LA. I LOVE this about her. I laugh constantly. And you already know how I adore Rachel. We were sharing our deep deep passionate love for abreevs today. Gigz. And she loves volcanoes. Standard. So we take a bus to Siena which was the equivalent to driving through the movie “Letters to Juliet.” Gorge. We get there and all buy scarves with our respective horses mascots on them. So dorky but people go CRAZY for this horse race and everyone wears them. Christina, who knows nothing, picks a horse with a mascot of a Goose. Not any Goose; this goose had a blinged out chain on and a crown which earned me the nickname “Gangster Goose.” The fact that I wore it bandana style a la Tupac (RIP) may or may not have helped the creation of this. Also, I never saw another Goose fan…out of the thousands of other attendees. Odd. Nicole’s cousin that lives in Siena picked us up after the scarf purchases and accompanying photo shoot, and we took a bus to his apartment which had an adorable little balcony that we all sat on. He and his friends were the BEST hosts despite the fact that they didn’t speak English and only Gwen and Nicole spoke Italian. They were hilarious. We basically finished 10 bottles of wine which could have contributed to that. But Still. BEST MEAL EVER ALERT. They made us homemade pasta (iuhfiuhdsiugdf) with red sauce and Italian sausage. Pork Cutlets with a Lemon Cream Sauce. Tomato Salad with the best tomatoes ive ever put in my mouth. And for dessert they brought out 2 baskets of fresh peaches which we cut up to put in our wine. I was literally dying of happiness. They sang Italian songs and we talked about the World Cup (Argentina’s taking it fo shoooo) and had the best day ever. So we drunkenly took the bus back to town and Rachel and I took a series of “Walking Pictures” which are nothing more than pictures of Rachel and I walking. Thrilling looking back through those, let me tell you. So then we got into the stadium which is where the latest James Bond movie was filmed. It also looks extremely like Volterra for all my people out there that know what that is. We kept assuming Edward was chilling in the towers. I think Abbie said “didn’t you see that group of tourists go in there? Sad.” OMG forgot about Abbie. I love her too. She’s from Pennsylvania and is the cutest thing ever. PS: Theres a real Volterra in Italy where Rachel and I plan to go to reinact the scene where bella runs through the fountain into his arms. Rachel said she’d be Edward and we’d make her look like a junkie. We’re dorky obvi. We met some guys from South Carolina who were going out with tomorrow night. Then I had what had to be a heat stroke. Like I kept having to sit down and I was dizzy and it was horrible. I must have looked like a freak. Then everyone came out in all their authentic garb and OMG it was amazing. Thousands of people waving these scarves in this old school stadium! It was perfect. Then flag wavers and the horseys came out and the entire thing lasted all of like… 3 minutes at most. Abbie thought she won so she was jumping up and down but then we had to break the bad news that she, in fact, did not win…and to stop jumping. We took the bus back and I was exhausted so I slept the entire way back. We got home and went to Club McD’s for dinner. Let me tell you about this McDonalds. First of all…It has a bouncer. Like WTMF (That’s for you Jessica). Also some neon lighting and bar seating. Hilarious. Rachel got a sandwich called the “Chicken Legend.” I can’t count all the jokes we made about this. Oh and some B made fun of Rachel for using a credit card at Club McD. Like really? Then we watched the end of the Ghana/Uruguay game in a bar and then outside of a restaurant. That was exciting. We had no idea that multi platinum recording artist, Seal, played for Ghana. Fascinating. Then me, Rach, Nicole, Gwen, and Sarah walked around the city and got gelato. I was laughing so hard. All in all it was a near-perfect day and I can’t believe I get to be here for like…5 more weeks. Ish. Bindi’s here so im stoked to meet up with her btw. Tomorrow we go to Chianti/Umbria/Tuscany for wine tasting then out with those fools from the palio. I miss everyone at home and wish you could be experiencing this with me. CIAO CIAO CIAO. <3

Day 2ish a little late

Day 2

OMG. Okay so I need to fill you all in my past two days in Italia because at this rate I’m headed for a Lizzie McGuire Movie type situation. We woke up at our hotel and went down for the adorable continental breakfast of like…lunch meat and shiz. That sounded so ignorant…sorry bout it. Then Chiara, our adorable on site GSE advisor, gave us our envelopes ‘o’fun which included out apartment keys, Museum Pass (OMG HIGHLIGHT OF MY LIFE, I’ll reference this later.), Internet Card, and paperwork. We got to move into our adorable apartment on Santa Reparata which is so Italian I can hardly stand it. I’m going to show you pictures of the straight up fresco on our bedroom ceiling. I’m rooming with Sarah who’s a junior at UCLA and just so funny. Our room is HUGE! And it overlooks the duomo which is pretty VIP.Oh a big PS: NO AIR CONDITIONING. Which works out terrifically for my overactive sweat glands and naturally frizzy hair. Looks like I’m not going to be impressing anyone. Super. We have 6 girls in our apartment, and Sarahs and my room is adjoining with Gwen and Nicole (2 of my faves, I’ll explain later). BTW our washing machine is in the kitchen, and our dryer is a clothesline overlooking a courtyard that seems to be the local hangout for stray skinny ass cats. I scoped them in my free time. Can’t wait to FAIL at a clothesline and add it to the things I can’t comprehend. Right under “Shower knobs in places that aren’t my home.” We went out to lunch on one of the piazzas and I had a delish salad with salmon, apples, brie cheese, walnuts and balsamic vinegar. I also tried “prosciutto + melone” roughly translated by myself to “ham on top of cantelope.” Nom. After lunchy we had out Florence City Tour during which we walked around wearing orange-ass lanyards and blue ear pieces. I think we fit in quite nicely. I’m obsessed with this city. We learned all about the Medicis who were like the boss family in Florence for centuries. Future career path possibly. Owning cities, that is. This place is beautiful. I can’t even explain. It’s the whole Florentine atmosphere, I can’t get enough. Not to be dorky but I’m reading Eat, Play, Love, and I tend to mark passages that I find significant or interesting (don’t judge me) and Elizabeth Gilbert is far better at explaining it than me. “Generally speaking, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure seeking one. Italians are the masters of “il bel far niente.” This is a sweet expression. “Il bel far niente” means “the beauty of doing nothing.” So literally its like, I can walk around and do nothing and go home and feel like I was completely productive. I don’t do that at home. I do nothing…and then feel like a waste of a human. So this entire lifestyle works well with my summer agenda of doing nothing. Perf. After our city tour we went to grab a pizza at this restaurant on the piazza because earlier in the day the hosts were all about a group of 12 girls walking around and one of them had a romantic moment with me. NBD. If you think I’m a sucker for flattery in America, don’t even get me started on Italian stallions calling me “Bella.”Shiz so we go back and this fool thinks I came back because I missed him, when in actuality I just wanted to stuff my face with pizza. Our waiters and hovering hosts were so funny and took pictures with us after. Alex (Italian Stallion) came up after and introduced himself and wanted a picture of us. Possibly for our Destination Wedding Scrapbook. He wants to take me out and show me Florence…ba ha ha ha we’ll see how this progresses. Interesting. After dinner we came back to the apt and went to bed. Oh actually I tried to shower which was a joke because I thought itd be funny to experiment with the b’day (not to be confused with International superstar, Beyonce’s , sophomore album) . Long story short, I’m a dumbass and ended up using all of the hot water in my experiments and had to take a cold shower that had the water pressure of drops falling off a stalagmite in a cave. Refreshing. Then I sweat my face off during the night and also got eaten by Italian misquitos so im absolutely LOVING that. Also, Gwen rolled off her bed and I laughed. I’m writing a novel here so I’ll try to keep this next one on the short side.

July 29-30!

Ok, so i'm extremely excited to be writing this blog but i'm running on negative sleep so i'll be brief. I promise that in future posts ill be fun and witty with italy jokes but I may or may not be unconscious at the present. So it seems as though people like talking to me on planes. This may be due to my smiley nature and general friendly disposition. So I met Jim from Maine on my way to Philly. Thankfully I wasn't whitening my teeth this time so I didnt drool. Great progress on my part. We were keeping up quite well conversationally until i made a joke about a fanny pack and Jim decided he was over my antics. At this point he literally turned his back to me to talk to his other seatmate. Whatever Jim, i was tired anyway and i'm not entirely sure how i feel about the shorts with loafers look. So we'll see ya. Met up with Rachel in Philly (she missed her plane) and managed to get on the same flight to Frankfurt and we actually hustled her neighbs so we could sit together. If you don't know who Rachel is, she is a Gamma Phi from Fullerton who is on my same program. She's obviously a baller if shes a G-phi but i've determined that her and I both share a deep love for sarcasm, jokes that could be misconstrued as bitchy but are actually all in good fun, and alcohol. Fantastic. T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Anyway we discussed our lives and caught each other up on the current boy situations back on the mainland so we're prepared to regulate each others BLDs while abroad. Ok this was the highlight of my day so i have to include it. If you know anything about me you know that i have a makeup train case thats kind of obnoxious, which i usually take as a carry on while traveling. its been confused with a tacklebox on ocassion....ok whatever. So German Security homeboy stops me in Frankfurt because this box is obviously suspicious. But before getting down to the reason he called me over, he decides to try out his "American" and greet me with a traditional American Greeting. "WAZZZZUPPP" he says. when you read this, read it like Arnold would. i know hes Austrian but you get the idea. I obviously laugh because...this is reality, and then he gets all offcial and has me open the case just so he can tell me that my amount of makeup is "unbelievable" and "unnecessary." ok. K. so then Rachel and i make it to our hotel (http://www.hoteladlercavalieri.com/) and straight up get our nap on. Thennnn we get ready for dinner and SURPRISE we're 15 minutes late for our Welcome Dinner. NBD, we take our time and walk downstairs because our group would never leave with out us....WRONG. They for surebounced out. Now it's me, Rachel, and our touristy MAP blues clues style. So we head out for the restaurant to find them only to find that we've been walking the wrong way for 15 minutes. GREAT. Then we proceed to walk around like were not obnoxious tourists who are lost, as i stealthly take pictures of the gorgeous sunset on the river and other fun buildings. We arrive about an hour late HAHAHAHA which is completely standard for me and, as ive learned, normal on Rachel's end too. We ate at an adorable restaurant called "Golden View" overlooking the river and had Bruschetta, Penne with red sauce and zucchinni, Spinich Ravioli with cheese sauce, and tiramisu. NOM. Also like 3 glasses of wine. DOUBLE NOM. I met everyone on the program including future roomz, Sarah, who is also super cool. We all went to a rando Bar afterwards and took flaming lemon-vodka shots. Rachel said she would do "anything" for them to put a G-phi shirt on the ceiling. This gave me the giggles. There is gelato on every corner, and everyone in my group is fun. I can already tell that this trip is going to be amazing and absolutely life-changing. Now i'm going to fall asleep watching the Italian equivalent to PBS. Baller.

CIAO :)

oh ps heres my fave pic i took while trying not to be a tourist on our way to dinner.