"They're not sketchy, they're Italian!"

video tonight is us hanging out on ponte vecchio. For those who don't know what that is, it's the main bridge you see in photos of Florence with all the shops on it. It's pretty much just fake jewelry stores though.

http://www.rollinglobe.com/RGWeb/blogs/viewpost.aspx?u=lastone&post=437

[new rollinglobe blog. although it is kinda annoying having to keep up with two blogs, I think i'll be really thankful for both of them at the end of my time here. I like how this is where i ramble about anything and everything. and rollinglobe is for more composed, stories, etc. bene bene]

i don't want to write much tonight. i'm exhausted. yesterday i had a ton of hw. but today was great and i dont want to forget.

i had two quizzes today. money and banking in the morning (my first actual class of that), my european geography map quiz and an italian quiz.

money and banking was cool except i was falling asleep. that wasn't his fault, that was my fault. 9 am classes here (something i wouldn't touch at duke with a 39 and a half foot pole), mean heading to the bus stop around 8 am. i checked my watch when we got to campus; it was 8:40 am. which is enough time pretty much to inhale a coffee and get into class. It's going to be weird, but if i'm not in bed before 11, I will hate myself on tuesdays and thursdays. theyre just rough, having every academic course on those days... my man, my mondays and wednesdays are nice. :) i just have italian.

anyway, next was an hour break and catherine and i just studied in the cafe (she had an italian quiz too, like all 400 people doing the program today). I nailed my european fascism geography quiz, if you didn't see my brainwaves in the blog post about memorizing european capitals, basically i just came up with insane ways of memorizing the capitals of europe and it worked beautiful. i got all 47. locations and capitals. lovely. then class was just awesome as usual. again, i cant get enough of this guy and the way he teaches. it's bizarrely engrossing. and he's so good at teaching random things too. he's like a cross between my gateway professor (meanings of freedom b/n rev war and civil war) and my high school ap us history teacher. He's goofy, strange, and tells us random details that you can't get out of books. Like Mussolini got fired from being a junior teacher for beating his students, which was a common practice, but apparently he took it too far....far enough to get fired.... (here's your sign italy....). also Futurists, some people that were Pro-Italy-entering-WWI when it was remaining neutral the first couple of years launched their campaign out of this one hang-out place in piazza della repubblica, a piazza i walk through almost daily. it's just baller to be learning things in the place they occurred.... just makes it that much more real. other cool stuff too, etc. i love that class. i sorta thought it would be my least favorite, just goes to show how much a professor can affect a course.

italian.... we reviewed at first, and i realized i was lot more prepared than everyone else (surrrprise???), so i was kinda annoyed we did review before when i just wanted to take it. there were only a couple tricky ones, but i compared with my friend anthony once we'd both turned them in and i was right on everything i was unsure about!!! im sure i made a couple stupid mistakes though, like gender endings or something. but it wasn't bad. the only bad part was that i think the majority of beginner italian kids got the same quiz (like all sections had the same quiz) and domenico (italian teacher) doesn't teach like the quiz was set up so that was annoying. there was like stuff we hadn't really gone over on there, but i was fine with it.

then we watched more of this movie we watched last week in italian that is pretty much on acid and really bizarre. i dont know if it's actually recognized as good italian acting, but they all act really weird. anyway, it's called Caterina va in citta (Caterina [catherine] goes to the city), about this little girl who moves to rome with her family. i dont like it. other things i dont like: domenico bent over and i saw my first, and hopefully my last, italian butt. let's just say that was enough to last me a lifetime and my first thought was, "Well, guess I've seen it all. I can go home now knowing I've seen all of italy i need to see." .......that was awful.

Then catherine and I came home after a long day of school and called RailEurope to confirm our train tickets. Kinda complicated about why they needed to do this, but pretty much everything is set and for $500 we get to see Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Individual tickets were $200, and since we're taking like 80 gazillion trains, i'd say we found a bargain. madre, they said they'll around in 2-3 days, so i'm guessing monday-wednesday next week? Let's just say, i'm stoked about the entire month of November, but starting October 21st. Going to be the best month EVER.

Finally, i started researching my first history paper!!!! I'm doing my paper on how gender and honor were mutually related in Renaissance society. should be baller. that's a tomorrow project though.

Tonight we went to Golden View Open Bar, recommended to me by the girl who lives next to me, my rollinglobe internship people, and the guy who ran out cooking class two nights ago used to work there. It was across the arno, which catherine and i had never walked. Turns out it's like a fifteen min walk, max, and we got to walk across ponte vecchio which was awesome. the restaurant had huge windows and our view from our table was just incredible (see picasa pictures). It was, by far, the best meal i have had in italy.... also the most expensive haha. We got assorted crostini (four cheese, one with meat on it, tomato/mozzarella, and mushrooms). you can probably guess which was my favorite. then we got Gnocchi with gorgonzola cheese, truffle oil, and spinach which was to die for. Then we got Traditional Tuscan Soup, which is actually like a stew of bread and vegetables which tasted like Fall. It reminded my of Mashed sweet potatoes at thanksgiving, but with all sorts of vegetables, eg carrots, etc. There was no liquid, so it wasn't really soup, but i loved it. then we got chicken breast with gorgonzola cheese and avocado which i also died over and then for dessert i got coffee mouse with raspberry sauce and catherine got chocolate mousse with fruit. mine was the best, but catherine would beg to differ because she doesn't like coffee :) overall, it was heaven. and I wish my family had been there because you guys would've LOVED it. Just a perfect little Stone Family restaurant with BIIIG glass windows overlooking the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio. We watch people crewing (rowing? whatever). they had a race! and watched the sunset on one of the prettiest cities in the world. We were there three hours. I had an amazing time.

After that we were walking back across Ponte Vecchio and this guy was playing guitar and tons of italians and tourists alike were sitting on the curb or walls listening and clapping and hanging out. this crazy lady was dancing and got me to dance with her (see picasa pictures). it was such an adrenaline rush, but at the same time i felt more carefree than i have in awhile, and it made me miss so many people that i love and wish were here with me. Definitely a movie scene moment for me. Then Catherine and I just sat and listened to the music until the guy was done playing for the night and finally, and sadly headed home.

Saturday we're going to venice until sunday night.... I'm not bringing my computer, just because my life will be easier. Hopefully I'll get another calling card tomorrow though, so at least my phone will work.

love to all and to all buonanotte!

becca

p.s. HAPPY TWENTIETH BIRTHDAY, KYLE GLACKIN! you actually have six more hours in the states til your bday. but you've been twenty for forty-five minutes here! I miss you tons. have a great day. muah haha.

[edit: I got clean sheets today.!!! this is a big deal because i'm supposed to get them every week and havent thus far. anyway, i wrote a note today that said "Ho bisogno di nuove lenzuoli e un asciugamano per favore! Grazie! and they gave me them!! it was amazing!!! though im pretty sure i butchered that sentence ( I have need of new sheets and a towel please thanks!) also, i can get my hair into a low ponytail now! my hair grows ridic fast. night!]