Another Week in Florence

Nothing too exciting to report about my week. Classes...I'm starting to really dislike my film class. First, I can't handle feminism--I know it did wonderful things for women, but it's not very fun to learn about; terminology and such gets tedious. Second, I can't handle analyzing things (books, art, FILMS...) to death. It drives me nuts. This class is all this and more; it's taught in italian. Takes an incredible amount of energy to pay attention to when the class is 3 hours long. This week we started painting in my art class, which got me excited. We got to pick a van gogh painting from a stack. I picked his last one, which hangs in my room at stanford (it's my favorite of his!). I am remembering how much crappy (ok, different) acrylics are compared to oils. Ah well, it's still fun to fool around with paint and draw all the time. For credit. Yessss. My econ class is also interesting (I forgot that I actually like econ) but our professor talks about 2 miles per hour. It's difficult to pay attention when he averages about 1 sentence per minute--note this is not too much of an exagerration. Anywho. That was my academic week.

This thursday I put together a get-together with some students from the program to celebrate Mal's 21st--I got the most overpriced torta ever. It was delicious, and tiny for how much i paid for it, but everyone chipped in and got a piece. It was fun times! Then we went to karaoke and listened to some screechy american girls sing for about 10 minutes and then we left. Blah. On Friday (our first Friday off from school!) 7 other kids and I took a trip to Siena, which was nice. We went to a torture museum, and I left enlightened. Oh, and the duomo was ok too, I guess. We almost went wine tasting!!! But it was closed. It was some state-run wine tasting restaurant that is supposed to be amazing. Stupid construction. That night I went with some of the guys to these tunnels that were COVERED in the most amazing graffiti art I've ever seen. Apparently artists come down and paint over the walls every so often. It was SO cool. I'm going to go back to take pictures sometime soon, I hope. Oh, side note--I'm learning how to use my dSLR with so much more skill now. I want to get a lomography camera. How amazing would color Holga pictures of Firenze be? Really really. That's what I thought!
On Saturday Harriet and I took a lazy day. We attempted to go find the pool (at the stadium) and swim in it (she swims too!) but it was closed, frowny face :( !! Then we went to Badiani's, the best gelateria in all of Florence. Delightful. Then we found Stefania's, the best pasticceria in all of Florence (according to Sandra) but it was closed. Later we went into a really cool vintage clothes store and bought nothing, it was way expensive--like everything else in florence, what a surprise! I headed to Boboli to get some reading done (read: have a nap). I lost track of time--that tends to happen when one is unconscious, you see--and was late for dinner reservations that I had made myself for a bunch of people (Il Latini) as a continuation of Mal's birthday fun-ness. I showered and dressed in all of seven minutes and met the rest of the party at the restaurant, which was delicious. Service not so good. I guess ristorante staff isn't usually too pleased when 15 american students take up half the restaurant and talk loudly in english. Ah well. Debauchery, per usual, followed, and it was a fun night to be had by all.
Today, Sunday, was also something of a lazy day--with a few bumps in the road. Harriet and I went for a run and to do some errands on the way; we wanted to get a cake at Stefania's for our host mom's birthday tonight. We got the most beautiful cake! We were so excited! Then when we got back we found that Jacopo had deadbolted the door. "Eff!" I exclaimed. I ran downstairs to find Giuliano (our 90 year old amico) working diligently on a model of the duomo. After listening to him blather about this for a good 10 minutes, I informed him that we were locked out. He took me into his apartment, and after showing me several wooden boats and Mexican gangster figurines he fetched his lovely, slightly more "with it" wife. Who proceeded to call the fire department. After having the awkward (goffo) glass of wine with Giuliano, the viligi del fuoco finally showed up, our cake meanwhile melting by the minute. For about 15 minutes they jiggled the door handle and such, very professional. They were shaking the door violently when Jacopo comes up the stairs in board shorts and sandals like, "What the hell is going on". He lets us in. Inside, Cippo is doing backflips. I LOVE IT when cats freak out. Hilarious. The fire department left eventually, and so did Giuliano. Very funny morning. Then I went back to boboli with a few girls and read/slept the afternoon away. Delightful, you might say, after a stressful morning. Tonight at dinner we surprised sandra with cake and muscato, and it was the most delicious cake I've ever had. I know I am prone to exaggeration but that shit was delicious. Ok. Basta. I'm going to go tend to my punte delle zanzare (mosquitos love me) now. Pace.