The United States has done something clever for once, and Barack Obama will be out 44th president. I am so excited. I stayed up until 4 am watching the coverage, leaving after he won Ohio. I woke up to a beautiful crisp autumn day. I managed to look clever more than 0 times in my Medici class and I snuck a touch of a Michelangelo sculpture of Victory. It was GREAT.

I checked my mail at Linguaviva to find a letter form Jon with a DVD in it, which turned out to be Wedding Crashers. He is officially the best boyfriend ever. I've watched it three times.

More things I like about Italy
Old people
People riding bikes with an umbrella in one hand

Things we talked about at dinner
Common names in Italy- guy/girl names are pretty similar. And people are named after saints, so there isn’t as much freedom with names as there is in the US
Eating in secret- Andrea says he doesn't eat much at dinner because he has many midnight snacks, but Gaby and I don't believe him.
I explained the concept of a baker’s dozen


OH today I saw Lilli Sherman- yes, that’s right, the girl from Aurora. I actually haven’t seen her for a decade, since the 5th grade! And I recognized her in two seconds. It was insane. It was also weird that she’s studying art history with Sarah Lawrence.

This morning riding into town, I was surprised to see Jake rolling his duffel bag towards the station. I took it as a sign that I was supposed to say good bye to him again, so I jumped off the bus and saw him off. It could have missed the bus at 8:21 am, or he could have left his hotel twenty seconds earlier or later, and we would have missed each other. I love good timing and the poetry of finding someone unexpected at just the right moment.

It was painful to wake up today.
Teatro del Sale was nice in a way, but seemed pretty hypocritical. Fabio Picchi, the head chef, gave us our “cooking lesson” which turned out to be an hour and a half long lecture about what you need to do to taste things the right way, putting good things in our bodies, not drinking coke and getting fat like the greeks, having smaller fridges, and the economy. I didn’t like being antagonized, I didn’t like how he thought he knew everything, and I didn’t like how loopy and indirectly he articulated himself.

Also, I forgot-when Jake and I went around the city on Friday and went into San Lorenzo, I totally tripped over a column and FLOORED it. Jake didn’t laugh too hard, which was nice. I should tell Sandy. She loves it when people fall.

Jake and I met in a running hug outside of the McDonalds at approximately 10:45 am on Tuesday. His hair is so long! We chit chatted and headed over to the Bargello, which was kind of a let down for class because Gail was focusing on the building as opposed to the amazing sculpture collection within it. But, Jake did get to see the competition reliefs of Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, and the Bacchus by Michelangelo and a fair deal of other famous pieces.

The Uffizi is ridiculously humid, hot, and full of people and big tour groups. It’s a curator’s nightmare. That said, it also houses some of the most famous paintings in the western world. So ain’t that a kick in the pants? Unfortunately, over the most valuable paintings they have placed this really thick green tinged glass…so they are all a wee bit disappointing.

But I did see the freakin’ Birth of Venus.

Jake and I met up again for dinner and went to this amazing hole-in-the-wall Pizzeria called café italiano near the bargello. You can only order three types of pizza- margherita, marinara, and neopolitan. Seriously, best pizza of my life.

We then got waffles with nutella and sat in Piazza della Reppublica.

The next morning, we had class in Casa Buonarroti for Medici, where I saw the only low relief marble piece by Michelangelo, which was executed when he was 15 or 16 years old. It was amazing! I mean, it’s not perfect, but it’s pretty darn close. He was FIFTEEN.

For Italian, we went to the university and my fabulous teacher Umberto ushered us around and helped us ask college students about their lives. They were lot more accommodating than I thought they would be, At the minute, they were doing an occupation, which I think means a sit in. Berlusconi’s “education Reforms” are actually blatantly firing teachers and raising tuition prices as they make the transition from public institutions to private ones. I asked if the protests would do anything, and one literature student said in English “it is as William Shakespeare said “much ado about nothing””.

This morning on the bus I offered a seat to an elderly man, who graciously thanked me for my efforts, but said he was getting off at the next stop. He did, however, take an immediate liking to me and gave me a piece of candy, and then showed me one he was going to eat before returning it to his trench coat pocket. He “brava”ed my Italian and was really cute, and I feel very good about myself when such things happen.

We’re deciding which Charlie brown characters we are. We’ve decided that I am Charlie Brown. Gaby is the little redheaded girl, because she’s an enigma!!!! (she hates it when I say that)

Today we took a field trip to Prato and Poggio a Caiano to the Medici Villa, which would have been fine, except it wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world and everyone was completely exhausted form the night before at the opera, which got out at 11:50, and then most people went out to party until the wee hours of the morn. However, as I have a bus to catch, and it only runs until about 1, I happily went home. Gaby left during the first intermission, so I came home and went to bed at about 12:30. The opera was great. I nearly cried at the end of the tenor’s first song because it was beautiful and I realized how much I’ve missed classical music.

But, TODAY- 15 people (okay, maybe 8) commented on my purse buttons.

Anyway, I have a killer headache and fatigue today, so I came home and slept, and talked to my dad.

I have too much homework, but at least I am not sick anymore. We’re going to the opera tomorrow night- Tosca, by Puccini. It should be good! People gave a couple of power points on the Medici today. I am no longer worried about my presentation. Jake is coming next week! It’ll be nice to see a familiar face!

Back In Florence

I'll update about the rest of my break later. For now, I have a sore throat, which I avoided for about three weeks. Drat.


That's about it. I skipped Italian today to take a nap, and it was totally worth it.

Lists

I can’t believe break is already over. It really hasn’t lasted that long at all! I think my Cortona stint has been calmer, so there aren’t as many funny stories as the Sandy part, but I've enjoyed it just the same if not more, because 1. I got to relax and 2. I barely had to spend anything at all.

Emogene’s roommate, Heather, chopped off all my hair last night. I really like the potential.

Things I love about Italy
Cappuccino
The weather
Friendly people
Things to buy
Salutare (Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, hi, bye)
Words
Food
Trains
The #4 (/hate)
Benches
Picnic lunches from markets
Views
Walking
Air
Architecture
Art collections
Rounding-down shop keepers