Best Italian Pick Up Line

Walking through San Lorenzo market the other day, I heard a man say to me in broken English, "Excuse me miss, I believe you dropped something."  So, I turned around and asked him what I dropped, because I saw nothing of mine on the ground, and he replied, "My heart."  

True story...  Italian men are getting craftier.   

Karaoke Strip Tease

Last night was possibly one of the most entertaining nights that I have had since I arrived in Florence. We found out about this club called the Jazz Club that’s right downtown a few blocks from the Duomo. We thought it would be a very chill, relaxing atmosphere where we could go have some drinks and listen to jazz. And we probably would have been right if we had gone on any night other than Thursday. Thursdays at the Jazz Club, it turns out, are karaoke nights. Yes, I kid you not; I ended up in an Italian karaoke bar last night. It really wasn’t that crowded…imagine that…and there was one couple that we met there that happened to be studying abroad through Syracuse, so they spoke English too. It was weird because listening to the music in the karaoke bar has been the largest concentration of Italian music that I have heard since I got here. There’s an Italian joke here that the Italian people chose to focus on the arts and therefore they cannot sing or play music. MTV is one of the biggest things here right now…Italians love their MTV. In fact, our host family has three MTV channels. However, on MTV, they mostly play songs in English. The street vendors all have English music playing in their booths, and even my Italian teacher plays American oldies in the background of his class. Italian music just isn’t that big of a thing here. So it was quite strange to hear only Italian music in the bar last night. The only people that were singing songs when we got there were the bar tenders, the owner, the DJ, and two people, a man and a woman who were obviously regulars considering the DJ would call them up by name. So, when we walked in the door, we were a bit of fresh air, so to speak. We didn’t even have our drinks before they tried calling us up on stage. We successfully got them to stop taunting for a while by telling them that we don’t speak Italian. However, Kellen, one of our friends does speak decent Italian, so he told the DJ that if he found a song in English, Christy would sing it, because she sings incredibly. Well, Christy and I had already made an “I’ll go if you go” deal before getting there, which was mistake number one. So, the DJ puts on one of the only English songs he has, Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On and Christy gets pulled up on stage to do a duet with the woman who is a ‘regular’ on karaoke night. It was entertaining, and we have a ton of pictures of Christy’s duet. (Except, then Christy’s camera died, right when the night was getting started) So, Christy gets an encore and the DJ plays Summer Lovin’ and I am pulled up on stage to join, along with Julie, and our friend Chris, because we had to have a male counterpart… And when that song finishes, we still aren’t done because we just haven’t sucked enough. So, the DJ plays MORE Celine Dion, this time he plays I’m Your Lady, possibly one of the hardest songs to sing in the world, and Christy, the woman, and I do an awful rendition and finally get booed off the stage!! So, then more people sing, the night goes on, there’s a bad rendition of New York New York, and our friends from Syracuse get to sing some Beatles (why WE got stuck with Celine Dion, I will never know…) but then, the most amazing moment of the entire night happens. The short, chubby, bald, flamboyantly gay, Italian man who is obviously a regular there, gets up to do three songs in a row, each one getting more raunchy than the last, until finally he is doing a strip tease to the point of having his pants unzipped and his skin tight shirt somewhere in the audience, with his hairy chest exposed. I really thought I was going to pee in my pants I was laughing so hard. However, he was taking it so seriously, and he had every move obviously choreographed perfectly, even down to the point of sitting on top of the piano with his legs crossed… Hands down, best thing I have ever seen in Italy thus far!!!!

Photojournalism

My photojournalism teacher is trying to get me killed. Well, not really. But he is challenging me to death…I love a good challenge; however, this class is stretching me in ways I never knew possible. I am thankful for Simone (my teacher) because without him, I would never do the things I am taking part in…
On Monday, we had an assignment where we had to hike to the train station and then we had one hour to get as many portraits of people as we could. We had to go up and ask random people, in Italian, if we could take their photograph. I am too chicken to do this in America, where I speak the language! I walked around for probably fifteen minutes before I actually got the courage up to ask anyone. I started off asking people in English, because I was just positive my Italian was horrible. However, people weren’t as responsive when I asked in English and a surprising amount of people didn’t speak any English. That shouldn’t be surprising…that makes me sound ignorant. However, it was surprising to me because everyone that I have run into here speaks English, or atleast understands it well enough. Once I started attempting to ask in Italian, people were much more receptive. It was funny to see people’s reactions. Some were flattered, others said no, lots of people asked why, and one woman even said yes, as long as it doesn’t get turned into porn! It was a very interesting experience, and I was very surprised by myself and the confidence that this assignment built.
However, I still only got about 20 portraits done in an hour. Some people in my class took over 150, so you can see the comparison. I like to think I went for quality over quantity, however, I know it was just because I was too chicken to ask for any more.
My next assignment for this week is to find a small business, go inside, talk with the owner, and photograph like mad. I am excited and also nervous about this assignment because me Italian is so awful and most of these artisans around town don’t speak English. So, it will be interesting, to say the least.
The rest of my week has gone good. Classes are keeping me entertained, for the most part. And my Italian is coming along quite well, considering where I started…
On Tuesday, I had lunch with a friend whom I like to call Romulus. He goes to AC with me and is studying abroad in Rome; however his three week orientation is taking place in Firenze. It was so nice to be able to talk to someone about things back home. It was a familiar friend in an unfamiliar setting, which I loved.
So, that’s the midweek update. (It’s really Wednesday when I am writing this, but who knows when I will actually get internet again to post it…) Hope everything is well in the US! Ciao!!

Viareggio, 'The pot', and Nutella

My beach trip and this entire weekend have been perfect! Early on Friday morning, (since we have no classes on Friday) Christy, Kellen, Julia, Chris, and I headed to Pisa. This is only about an hour train ride, (with stops) and the trains for it leave every half hour. The day actually started out pretty crummy because Christy and I got to the train station three minutes too late and missed the 8:27 train. The rest of the group had already gotten on this train, however, and left us. So, that left Christy and me, the two most directionally challenged people in the world, to try and navigate ourselves through the train station in our broken Italian and somehow onto a train to Pisa. Luckily we ran into a group of English speaking guys, who turned out to be in a study abroad group from A&M and UT, who were also going to Pisa. So, we sat with them on the train, which took away most of our stress, thankfully. Pisa is a cute, small, quaint little town. There isn’t really much to see there. Once you see the leaning tower and take the tacky tourist-y picture of you holding the tower up, (or kicking it over, if you are Chris) then you’ve pretty much seen Pisa. It was very amazing to see the leaning tower in person, I’m not saying that wasn’t an incredible experience, but when Mauro told us there wasn’t much to see in Pisa, he was right. We looked into climbing into to tower (yeah…they let you do that…) but it was going to cost more to climb the tower than the entire day’s trip would have cost. So, we nixed that idea and headed back to the train station to go to Viareggio.

Viareggio is the perfect little beach town. The ocean was pretty easy to find. You just get off the train and head straight for ten minutes. We had lunch at a small little beach front café, which was surprisingly reasonably priced, considering the location. We also bought granitas from them later in the day. Granitas are so much more incredible here than in the states. They are basically fresh fruit slushies, but the flavors are indescribable. Because they are a ‘summer time’ treat, they are going to stop selling them after next week, so we have to stock up now!!

They beach was perfect! The water wasn’t as blue as I expected from the Mediterranean, but it was a beautiful sand beach, and the water was so clear, you could see the bottom even when you couldn’t touch. There was nothing in the water either, not like the Texas coast where there’s seaweed, shells, and small ocean animals everywhere. We had to really search for shells on that beach. We did all the typical tourist beach things…sunbathed, read, relaxed, buried our friends in sand, swam, gawked at all the old topless Italian women. Oh yeah…so, it’s not really a nude beach, or even a topless beach for that matter, but all the old women like to sunbathe without their tops. (Everyone here is so tan…and they apparently don’t like tan lines…) And they all seem to have a different view of modesty here as well. These old, big women don’t seem to have ever heard of a one piece or tankini swimsuit. That’s a fashion statement that hasn’t reached Italy yet. These women all liked to wear string bikinis. Or thongs. And all the men wear speedos. And the little girls don’t wear tops either. It was really the most strange seeing that. I felt too covered up wearing my sports bra. Considering I didn’t bring a swimsuit…

Anyways, that was my beach trip. It was the most relaxing day. And we chose the best day to go, considering it hailed in Florence, but was sunny and ninety in Viareggio. It has been raining all weekend here. We have been staying inside mostly, going to museums and trying to work on our homework. It’s hard to be studying in Florence because there’s so much I want to see and do and homework is not one of these things.

Last night we had our first creepy Italian guy experience. We were standing in the middle of the Palazzo Republicca, trying to talk to our friends on the phone and give them directions of how to get there by looking at the map. This guy walks up and asks us if he can help and takes Christy’s phone to try to tell Chris where to go. We finally figure out where they are and decide to meet them there, so this guy offers to walk us over there. We thought that was kind of him, at first. I have learned my lesson with these Italian men. First he tells us he’s 29, but then later takes it back and says he’s only 26. Then he starts asking creepy questions like ‘are you single?’ I, for once, decide to be straight with him and say yes. Christy lies and says no. From then on, he would only talk to me. Although he had to first ask me three times if I was a lesbian. Looking back the answer to that question should have most definitely been yes. He told me at one point that he was in love with me because I made his heart go boom. You have to love the boom boom… So, he takes us half way to the location of the place before he starts asking me ‘if I smoke the pot?’ When I said no he started asking me why not, because according to him, “everyone in the US does drugs…you know, like the cocaine pills?” Then he just starts laughing uncontrollably. So, Christy gets mad and asks, “Are you high?” And he just said, “Well, yes.” Almost like, duh, why would you ask such a question? So, we managed to shake him off finally and decided we would never ask for help from another friendly Italian man because he will probably be high.

So, that was my weekend, in a nutshell, the highlights and lowlights. Oh, and I have found a new love…nutella. Mom, why have you never told me about the wonders of nutella?!

I'm Amazed...

I have enjoyed my first week of classes very much. Tomorrow I will go to my last class of the week and then being to enjoy the weekend. Although I do have lots of assignments to work on. My professors are all amazing and speak pretty good English, which is good for me. And, although the hours are long, I really don't mind it, because I can look out a window and see that I am in Italy!

Last Sunday, we had a great day spending it with Loriana and Mauro. I attended catholic mass with Loriana. Every catholic family in Italy has a church they attend based on where they live, and even though Mauro calls himself 'agnostic,' it is easy to see he still takes pride in 'his' church, considering it was one of the first places he showed Christy and I on our tour. The Biliotti's church, Santa Trinita was a beautiful old church with frescos, statues, and altarpieces dating back to the Renaissance and before. It was very surreal to be sitting in a church only to look over and see a fresco I had been studying all of last semester! Later on that evening, Christy and I went and visited our friends who live in an apartment building next to a different church, San Lorenzo. The view from up there at night was perfect. The church was lit up, and the piazza below was full of bustling restaurants.

On Monday night, Christy and I decided to have an 'Italian experience,' so we bought gelato and ate it on the Ponte Vecchio while watching the most beautiful sunset. Followed by a great rainstorm. While huddling for warmth and trying to stay out of the rain, we met a couple from California who was studying in Rome. It’s funny how easily you strike up conversations here when in the states, I wouldn’t talk to stranger if I didn’t have to. It’s almost like all the American’s are reaching out just to find someone else who speaks English…

I’m amazed at how quickly I can get into a routine here. I get up, go to class, come home, eat tripe, all as though it is what I have been doing my whole life. I am finally comfortable enough to venture out in the city alone, since I now know my way around, and I am comfortable enough to leave my map at home. (Some days.) Today, after classes, I went and sat in Cascine Park and read a book while people watching. It’s such a beautiful park and a great way to get away from all the noise. In the mornings, I like to go running there, but it was most fun just to sit and be still for a while. And, it was fantastic to get away from the traffic noise and hear birds again. Hmmm…I kind of feel a song coming on (“When the hustle and bustle of Houston, starts getting to me, I put myself in my pick-up truck and head out to Wimberley…”) Sorry, bad song…if you have seen the Star of the Hills (A fabulous play about my hometown) now this song will be stuck with you all day. Anyways, I may be in Firenze, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten my roots. Although since I am so in love with this city, I am about ready to become an ex-pat. Hmmm, hope the government doesn’t read this…

Anyways, this blog is getting a bit long, and I am bitter because I have had to type it up twice since I stupidly lost it the first time. I think it may have been better the first time actually. This one’s a little more random. As is my mind. CIAO!

Tripe: Italian for projectile vomiting.

Note to self: If the Biliotti's give you something that looks unfamiliar, always ask what it is BEFORE eating...

So, the other night Christy was late for dinner because of classes, so there I am, just hanging with the Biliotti fam, and Mauro dishes up something that looks like noodles in red sauce onto my plate. He has discovered that I will try anything he gives me, so he occasionally tries out Florentine 'delicacies' on me before feeding them to Christy. This was one such occasion. I load up my fork and take an enormous bite without further questioning. I instantly realize this is not noodles. The texture is spongy, almost like calamari, but they left an after taste as though they went bad. Yesterday. I finally get enough of it down to ask Mauro what I am eating to which he replies: "It is a Florentine delicacy. You like?" And I have to say yes. So he says "Good! It is cow stomach." At that point I should have projectile vomited. But, I managed to swallow enough wine to dissolve the taste. But not the visual. So, then, I email my mom to tell her of the tragedy and she tells me tripe is actually cow intestine. Apparently, Mauro got his body parts mixed up. Either way, don't eat the tripe. It may be a delicacy, but I can't do it!!

Firenze and I have a love/hate relationship...

There is so much that I LOVE about Firenze. (the Italian word for Florence...don't get me started) But there are a few things I could do without.

I love that the Italians are so concerned about their consumerism. (Except when it comes to Gucci...) It is obvious that they have to be because water and electricity is so expensive. But, they only use the minimal amount of water, and the couple that we live with doesn't usually use much electricty...except for the TV, Loriana can't live without her soaps!!

I love that the city streets are bustling everyday with tourists from all over the world. I love listening to the different dialects when I walk down the streets. I love to walk past the bakeries and smell the fresh meats, cheeses, and breads.

I LOVE GELATO!! They are going to have to roll me out of this country because I am going to try every flavor. So far my favorites have been caramel, raspberry and lemon together, and cheesecake. But I have tried a ton already...

I hate it when you walk past someone and they blow smoke in your face. This actually happens alot. Everyone here smokes, but it is a national law that they cannot smoke inside, so they all walk around the streets with cigarettes...everyone.

I hate it when you walk past someone and they smell rank. This also actually happens alot. Mom, you were right, the Europeans (mostly the older ones) don't believe in deoderant.

I hated the heat until today. It had been so hot here, and they do not use air conditioning, so I would lay in bed at night losing weight while I slept from all the sweating. However, today, a breath of fresh air landed over the city and it has felt amazing! I can only hope that this cooler weather is here to stay!

I love my host family! The Biliottis are a crazy old couple that are possibly they nicest people on Earth! Loriana is really trying to learn more English. We (Me and Christy, the roommate) taught her how to say 'oh my gosh' and now she says it all the time. Everytime she says it she looks over at us to see if we caught it.

I really REALLY hate the noise. The vespas make such a racket, and because the city streets are so tall and narrow, the sound just bounces off the walls and reverberates into the room. All. Night. Long. Not ok. The older generation here rides bikes everywhere or walks, which I love. But the younger people are all into the vespas, which I hate. And they use their horns WAY too liberally. (Go ahead, Aunt Colleen, insert a joke about them being 'horny'...)

I both love and hate that we walk everywhere. I don't mind allowing extra time to get everywhere and walking along the city streets. But, I have the worst blisters on my feet, sometimes it's almost impossible to put shoes on in the morning. I hate that I only packed shoes that are fashionable, and no hiking boots. I have been living out of my Chacos, which looks really tacky, especially with my really cute dresses and slacks, but my feet are refusing to go into any other shoes.

I love Italian game shows. Every night before dinner Mauro and Loriana watch this game show that's some kind of word puzzle. I don't really understand the point of the game, but I sit there with my dictionare and learn new vocabulary. And they yell at the people in the TV.

I hate tourists. But I am still technically one. Mauro says there is no longer a 'tourist' season, it is just year round craziness. I have to walk past the Ponte Vecchio and Uffizzi Gallery on my way to school, which is a beautiful walk, but once you get to those two points (which are basically at the same spot) it bottlenecks and is almost impossible to miss the tourists and avoid being missed by the vespas. (They drive FAST...TOO FAST!!)

I love the food here! I am in heaven with the mozzerella, fresh vegetables, olive oil, and PASTA! But, the bread here is bad. They say American's have horrible bread, but I am a fan of the soft breads, and here it is all hard breads. But, if you put enough fresh cheese on anything, it's fantastic!

I hate the fact that l'Arno (the river) is filled with river rats. Ok, they are actually Nutria, which being the daughter of a marine biologist actually paid off on this one, because I am in the only one who knows what this is. Mauro spent forever trying to convence me that these GIANT animals are not rats, but really nutria. But I don't believe him. They look like rats.

I love my classes. My professors are hilarious! Most of them live in the area, either Pisa, Rome, or smaller outlying cities and ride the train into work. My Italian language teacher is crazy!! He's a 40 year old man who plays American 60's music while teaching Italian. Gotta love that... And my photojournalism teacher is a 28 year old freelance photographer who's work is published by some magazines around the area. He's really talented but he says he is too artistic to make money.

Oh, and I love my roommate!! She is too much fun!!

Well, we discovered the free internet (and by free, I do mean stolen) doesn't work on the weekends, so unfortunatly I could not write. I have so much to tell everyone and so many pictures to show already! I will write again soon. This weekend we are hoping a train to Pisa, which is only 1 hour away, and we can jump on for 5 Euros. So, amazing! Then we are spending the day at the beach and coming home. I really wish I hadn't taken my swimsuit out of my bag...

Arrival...

I have arrived in Italy safe and sound! I love it here! There's so much to do and so much I want/HAVE to see before I leave. I finally have a computer that I can use, which is my roommates, but we are stealing wireless from somewhere in the area. Maybe from the Dolce and Gabbana store downstairs! The street we live on with the Biliotti family is super nice. It's all designer stores. But, the traffic outside is SO loud! It's impossible to sleep, so I think once I get tired enough or used to the time change, I will probably crash. I have already walked all over the area, but just staying inside the city center (which is the main tourist-y part of the city with all the old ruins and new museums.) It is toursit time in the city, which I wish I could consider myself not part of, but considering Christy (the roommate) and I have to stop on every street corner to pull out the map, I would say we definitely count as tourists. The family we are staying with is so amazing! We live with Mauro and Loriana Biliotti. They are an elderly couple who live in a large apartment in the city center with their cat Berillo. Mauro is an incredible artist who lived in San Diego for many years, so he speaks very good English. Loriana is a retired seamstress who speaks very little English. She knows small phrases like 'no problem' and 'is good.' They have given me one month to learn Italian, then they are not going to speak anymore English to me. I guess this is good because I need to learn, but it might get confusing at first!! I am surprised that I understand so much just from the Spanish skills I have learned. There are many similar words, which is really good. The Biliotti's cook amazing food for us for dinner. The first night we were here they cooked a 'light' dinner because we were tired. So we only had salad, cantelope wrapped in proschuto (a WEIRD combo, but a delacacy here...), salame, cheese, and penne pasta with meat sauce. Yeah, I KNOW!! I felt like I was going to pop from this light dinner!! The next night they cooked us the best lasagna I have ever had, with homemade noodles.

The flight in was uneventful. I flew all night and made a lay over in Germany. Luckily there were many other SAI (Study Abroad Italy) students on the plane with me so it was very easy to find where I needed to go.

The first few days we have been having orientation. Christy and I have been finding our way to our classes, which is only a 20 minute walk down along the Arno River past the Uffizzi Gallery and over Ponte Vecchio. Not going to lie though, I thought this was going to be an amazing walk, but all the tourists get in the way!! It is so hard to weave through the masses of people and avoid being run over by the vespas, who we learned very quickly DON'T STOP for pedestrians!! But everything is beautiful here and every church or ancient building that I pass I make a mental note to go inside soon because I think of all the incrdible architecture and paintings that I have studied in Jeff's classes that await inside. I have to wait to get my international student discount card so I can get in free!! We have been to the Duomo (many times already) and to all the main churches, but have yet to go inside.

I had my first gelato experience!! I cannot get enough!! Christy and I have decided to make a goal to try every flavor available. I had stracciatella (I think is how it s spelled...) it's like chocolate chip, but really calling it that does it NO justice! Gelato and espresso are possibly the best inventions in the world. Oh, and their wine's not so bad here either...

Anyways, it is lunch time, so we are going to find a 'bar'. (Which is really a cafe here...what American's call bars are 'pubs'. The Italians might be disappionted when they come to America looking for food and only find sleezy bars...)