chianti classico

I had to walk down the street a ways to buy a poster-size paper for my LAC presentation tomorrow. I got to Florence Copy right as they were shutting up for siesta. I was like, Posso comprare una... grande pagina? I totally blanked on the word for poster board. They all just stared at me, and then they all started talking, asking eachother (I'm sure) what the heck I wanted. And then the younger guy goes "You want a big paper?" And I'm like, Si!! Mi dispiace! Grazie mille! I think I said that about 8 million times as they went back in and got a fatty paper thing for me. They thought I was crazy, I think. Do Italians not make posters here? What is the deal with that? On my way back, an Italian guy saluted me with his wine glass, which I thought was humorous. The streets here are so cool, they have much more character than the streets at home. With their huge doorknobs planted right in the middle of the door, and the green, shuttered windows, I always walk down the streets expecting Roberto Begnini to pop out and say "Buongiorno, Principessa!" Ah, I can dream.
I got my second midterm back today. Definately got an A on my 20th Century Europe test. No need to congratulate, don't worry. I am just happy I passed, that was when I was just starting to come down with the cold... It was the massive nose-blowing stage, I believe, and I went through about 347 kleenex during that midterm. Still, I'm awesome... :) ha ha just kidding.
We watched the most ridonculous movie today in Italian (as Ashley would say). It was called "My Name is Tino," and it was so weird. It had the girl from The Notebook in it! Craaaazy. It was in Italian, and we watched it with Italian subtitles. Kind of tough to understand at times, but it was just weird weird weird anyway, so it didn't really matter. I do not recommend it.
Anyway, that's about it for now... I don't want to write anymore. Oh wait, one more thing. I got my registration time and it is for 4:40 pm on the 9th of November... SCU time. Florence time, that is 1:40 am. Lame, huh? So I have to make someone register for me. Not cool. They definately do not make registering easy for abroad students.

young'un

I had a bunch of stuff I was going to post, but I am just so forgetful that now I have no recollection of what I was going to say... I hate it when that happens.
I got my Creative Writing midterm back, and I got 100%. That's the highest grade anyone got (she put the scores on the board, and I was the only one with a solid A), in case you were wondering. I'm awesome, I know. That was before the black plague came, though, so we'll see how I did on the other ones...probably not so hot.
I can't wait for break. It is really tough having midterms, and then a week of classes. What a teaser. It will be nice to have a week off, though. And good to get back to England. I think I'm going to miss Thanksgiving this year. Mashed potatoes, time with the fam, cranberry sauce... Did I mention mashed potatoes? I could really go for some pumpkin pie right now... Italian food is great, but there is no beating a good, old-fashioned Thanksgiving meal.

photographer

I attempted to add pictures to my last entry, and it didn't work... I'm kind of upset... let's try again..i know everyone wants to see my amazing photographic skills

Italians, complete with mullets

Us searching for the zoo, in the middle of nowhere... that is the parking lot

I'm scared of the giraffe

Aww, isn't he cuuute?!

Me, feeding the elephant...do you see how secure and far away we were?

Of course I found the children's play area...

Ashley and I with our scarves at the soccer game... we're excited

llamas

Midterms week is somewhat of a feverish haze for me... Don't really remember half of what was on the tests... Oh well, I'm sure I did okay. Hopefully. Getting better now, although I think my brain was melted by the fever. I ran out of Tylenol too.
This weekend was kind of busy. Went to Pistoia on Friday to go to the zoo. I knew it was going to be some good times when the bus let us out in the middle of no where, and then we realized the vast expanse of empty concrete in front of us was the parking lot. There were 5 cars there. We went in, and it was actually really fun. It was so so so sad though. The cages were TINY. The elephants were in an enclosure as big as our apartment (not that big). I guess I'm used to the Woodland Park Zoo, where they have really good, realistic habitats for the animals. The elephants and giraffes were just in mudpits. And the water was all really dirty. It was still cool though, and since the Italians definately do not have the safety/health/anything standards that the US has, the animals were literally 4 feet away. In some cases, less. So I definately touched a giraffe and an elephant. Good times. And saw a baby hippo that was born in July!!! It was Adorable, I wanted to steal it and take it home. I probably could have too, the security wasn't that tight. All I would have had to do was climb over two little fences and I'm good. If only I could lift it... Another example of how ghetto that zoo was: we were walking by the farm animals exibit and saw a ton of baby pigs in the middle of the road. They were Really cute and little, and we were like, hm, wonder why they're out of the cage? Maybe the zoo keepers let them out. Nope. We were watching them, and they sneak out from a hole in the cage. Great. We felt safe after that. I kept expecting to run into a tiger at some point, but luckily didn't. The monkeys were really fun too, there was this one baby who was SO CUTE. I wanted to take that one home too, and Amanda actally touched it as it reached its little hand through a fence. She probably will get some weird disease now, but it was a good picture. It was funny, I was noticing how similar their faces and hands are to ours. Their fingers are webbed though. We also saw to llamas having sex. That was... cool... I guess... Right.
Saturday I attempted to recover. Went and got a duffle bag and some Pumas (I'm in Italy, geez, cut me some slack), and I actually talked to the shoe guy in Italian for at least 15 minutes. I was quite pleased with myself. At Massimo Dutti, I tried some boy short things on, and they were really cute, but I couldn't bring myself to buy them for 80 euro. As I was walking home from the Center, it was hot and sweaty and gross, but suddenly I heard thunder Crack right above me. I literally watched the storm pass over me, and I thought I was going to get struck my lightning at any point (I didn't). At 7, we met up and walked to the Fiorentina/Parma soccer game. I got a lovely scarf which I am excited about. It was really fun, I miss going to soccer games. Firenze is pretty good too. It was funny, the Parma fans (or whoever the away team is) have to sit in this barbed-wire section that is on the other side of bullet-proof glass, so there aren't riots or something. Crazy. Oh, and as I was walking in, I had my waterbottle, because my throat was dying. The man points at it, and makes a motion like taking the cap off. I'm like, oh he wants to make sure it's not alcohol, so I take the cap off and he reaches for it. Then he throws it away. I was like, wtf, you stole my cap? So I had to drink all the water quickly, and didn't have any for later when I needed it. I guess they don't want you throwing it at the players or something. Lame.
Afterwards, we went to Ali's diner, which was great because I haven't had a milkshake in SO LONG. Loved it. Today, I went to the store to get some cookies, water, and kleenex, only to find it closed. I hate how even grocery stores close on Sundays. Blegh. Okay, this is long enough. I get to Oxford oh so soon, though, and I'm psyched. Now, if I can only make it through this week of school...

cigs

As I was walking to school today in the gloom and grey, I saw a woman smoking on the steps to her apartment. She then proceeded to flick the cigarette away and then walk into the apartment. I hate how Europeans do that. They flick away the butt, and leave it burning on the sidewalk. See? That is why there is so much darn pollution. They even have "Smoking kills" signs on the cigarette pack, but do they listen? Nope. They don't even have the decency to stomp out the cigarette butt after they finish. They just let it burn, giving us all cancer. Gross.
Speaking of gross, I am now hacking up all the crud that has been clogging my lungs the past few days. Not that hot, I know, but my lungs are starting to feel better. Yay. And I got to sleep in this morning too, because my first class was cancelled. So just one midterm today and it's the weekend. Wooohooo. Made it through hell week. I really pick the worst times to be sick. Oh well, I'm getting better... Slowly. I will survive though :)

i am dying

I went to bed at 9:30 last night. 9:30!!! Guess how much sleep I got? Oh, approximately 4 hours. I was fine until around 12:30 when I got a text message. I'm an idiot and didn't turn my phone off, so I got woken up. So I didn't get back to sleep. At all. Lame. And I have two midterms today. Great. I am definately not excited. This morning when I was awake at 4, I was so hungry for some reason, but when I actually woke up, I couldn't eat. I'm not hungry at all. I had a few bites of a fete biscottina, or whatever they're called (the Italian version of toast. Read: small airdried bread. Weird) I just ate an apple. But that's about it. This is definately not fun. And now I have to go call Ryanair to ask them why they did not refund me for my changed flight. Darn them.
Last night, I was 'squeaking,' as doctor Helms calls it, when I breathed. My darn lungs, they need to function properly. They're still doing it too. Blah

black lung

I feel like death. I am so congested and my head hurts and I've sneezed at least 80 times since I've been in the computer lab. In class I sneezed at least 35 times. It is not good. And right in time for midterms, great. I can't concentrate, my eyes hurt and are watery, I have to blow my nose every 8 seconds... This is all incredibly hot, I know. I am so attractive right now, it's ridiculous. And I have no drugs. No Nyquil, no Dayquil, no Tylenol cold and sinus, no nothing. So I get to fight this thing off with will power. And I will do it, too.
Today I had my 20th Century Europe midterm. It was okay, but the essay questions were so broad... Here is an example like one we had on the test (not word for word): "Describe the changes in European policy regarding international diplomacy during the period from before the first World War to 1945. What philosophies were present?" And we had to write only 250 words, which is bad enough because I hate taking the time to count out the words. But this is about a page, a page and a half. Definately not enough space to write about everything that should be mentioned. That is how all the questions were. Oh well, I think I did all right. I got my Italian quiz back that I thought I had failed and I got a 94 on it. Cool. So now I have to go study for the History of Witchcraft, and I'm not ready for it and I can't focus on anything, and I have my Italian Oral midterm tomorrow, as well. Great. Just great.
Ciao

cioccolato

When I got back from the Perugia chocolate festival yesterday, my hands were sticky and I had a slightly nauseuous feeling in the pit of my stomach. On the bus ride there, there was a couple sitting in front of me that kept making out. A little weird, but whatever. Until the guy put his seat back. We didn't have much leg room anyway, I had about a centimeter. And then he put the seat back. So I had literally no room. At all. Diana whispered to me "that was kind of a jackass thing to do" and I think he heard her, because he put it back up. I was like, Thank God. But then... 10 minutes later, he puts it back one notch. 1 minute later, another notch. And so on. Like I wouldn't notice! Come on buddy, really.
Going to the festival, I had some high expectations. I believe I was envisioning something from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, chocolate rivers and waterfalls, oompa loompas dancing around, you know. Normal chocolate imaginings. When we got there, it was more like Disneyland. And not because of the rides. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. It was absolutely packed. We could not even move, it took us literally 20 minutes to get out of a mob at one point. There were rows and rows of people selling chocolate. It was Insanity. Note the capital I. The mobs were especially brutal around the chocolate sculptures (and yes, they were making sculptures out of chocolate. It was Amazing.) I was literally smushed between children and adults in various stages of dirtiness, with chocolate facepaint on their cheeks and gooey chocolate messes on their hands. It was all I could do to keep my clothes clean. They were giving away the chocolate shavings, and Craig pushed his way to the front. With much elbow throwing and swearing in Italian (just kidding :), he finally got a bag of the stuff. It was pretty darn good, I must say. So we definately ate lots of chocolate, but I did not eat as much as I had been expecting to eat. With is great, because I would be an obese woman right now if I had.
The bus ride home was fun. Nick and I switched iPods and had some fun with that. And then I found the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack on his iPod and it was all over. We promptly launched into a massive discussion on our obsession with the musical, and the movie, and how the movie almost did justice to the musical. Almost. It was great. So we sang some duets, the usual, you know. And I had Phantom of the Opera stuck in my head the rest of the night.
Saturday night was really fun too. After a day of studying, a bunch of us went out to dinner. Let me describe just how awkward it was. We met up with some of my friends, and this guy James, who had brought some of HIS friends. From West Africa. None of us knew them, and he didn't sit by them, so wasn't talking to them, and we were all just like, uhh, why aren't you sitting next to your friends, because none of us know them? It was so weird. But they were really chill guys, very nice and friendly. I had an A-mazing pear, honey, and cheese salad. It was great. And the waiter knew one of the guys from W. Africa (Samba was his name), so he brought us a round of limoncellos afterwards, on the house. That was my first experience with limoncello...Kind of gross, I'm not gonna lie. But okay, overall.
After that, we all went to Space Electronica, a discoteca by the arno. It was pretty fun, and it was funny, because when I walked in, I saw the massive face from Becka's pictures. I guess she frequents that place too. I had some fun watching the Italian dancers. The dancefloor was Packed, and it was all Italian or American guys. There were approximately 13 girls there. Ha ha. But it was still really fun. Mary and Gabs would have been proud of me dancing. We even danced up on some wierd block thing. And don't worry mom and dad, no drugs or ruffies were involved. And no racy dancing either, all ball-room style, with "space for the holy spirit," as Ms. Mendez liked to say. Besides, I had some boy friends with me, so I was safe from the Italians. (And Jeff, don't worry, there's a space up there) So I had lots of fun. And Diana and I had a nice chat walking home. All in all, a very good weekend.
So nowwww, to the midterms. I have Creative Writing today, which I don't think should be too bad. After midterms this week, I'm going to Pompei! Hopefully. Which will be awesome, as I've wanted to go there ever since we learned about it in Latin class in 6th grade. Okay, I really have to study, and this is probably boring by now.
Ciao!

birthrate

Today walking to school I saw about 12 children, including three of the cutest Italian babies ever. So what? you may ask. Well, I think I have seen more children today than I have seen in the past two months. No one in Florence has kids. It is ridiculous, I never see kids here! Strange strange strange. I also saw the cutest little beagle puppy. That made a good start to my day.
Got to the computer lab and the computers were down, unfortunately. So I went into the library and studied. Midterms are gross, I hate studying for them. Lame lame lame. And now I'm just procrastinating. Ha ha. But every single person in the library with me had their little laptops with them, typing away while they studied. While my poor dead laptop sits forlornly at home. Sad times. Okay, now it's really time to go study. I swear, I had something else I wanted to write about... oh well.
Ciao

b12

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little unhappy with Orsejda right now. She went out last night, and got in this morning at 4:12. Now, I don't really care if she goes out, I was going to go out too but just ended up staying home, but she got in SO late/early and wasn't even TRYING to be quiet. Banging the closet open, throwing her stuff around, leaving the door open so all the hallway light came in. I was not happy. And then, this morning at like, 9, her phone rings. Her ringer is really loud, and although I was planning on getting up at 10 anyway, I was having a really good rem cycle, and, since I hadn't gotten to sleep right away after she woke me up when she came in, I was hoping to sleep in. So she starts talking on the phone, LOUDLY, in the room, in Albanian. Finally, after about 3 minutes, she went outside to the kitchen. Needless to say, I couldn't get back to sleep. Darn it.
On the way to school this morning, I was horrified when I thought I saw a golden retriever munching on a pile of dog poop on the sidewalk. Upon closer inspection, however, I was relieved to find that it was only a pinecone. Thank God.
Now, I must get cracking on my studying for 20th Century Europe and the History of Witchcraft. I know everyone is jealous.
Ciao

circulation

Ashley says I don't write enough about her in my blog. I guess I don't... We both love Kevin Spacey, and saw in the American newspaper at the school yesterday that he's in Richard II in London. So, over fall break, we're going to try to see him in it! Yay! She also doesn't understand Amanda when she talks. I guess Amanda talks kind of fast. Oh well. Amanda didn't know what Reynods is (spelling?). She's like, why your hands cold? (Except it sounded like whyareyourhandscold?) I'm like, I have Reynods. What? Reynods. My circulation sucks. Oh. That's how the conversation went. Interesting huh? I know you wanted to know.

DANG it, I'm so stupid. I paid my credit card bill TWICE, thus overdrawing from my checking account. So now I'm going to be charged for overdrawing. GEEZ. So dumb dumb dumb. So long, FBI and law school.

a me mi fai impazzire

- my poem i submitted for creative writing today is awful
- i sneezed 5 times today in class, and thus am probably getting sick, since orsejda is sick and hacks and sneezes all night long, breathing my air
- i have a weird $3.75 charge on my credit card from carphone warehouse, the place I got my cell phone... In LONDON
- ryanair hasn't refunded my money from the flight they cancelled, and i have a sneaking suspicion they aren't going to
- the park centrals people are unorganized and say they will get back to me in "early january" regarding our apartment. i had to email them back saying we needed to MOVE IN "early january," as that is when classes recommence
- my witchcraft teacher gave me a B+ on a paper, with no explanation other than "a few inconsistencies," failing to point out where said inconsistencies were
- i'm starting to freak out about midterms
- i'm starting to freak out about what i'm going to do after college
- i haven't talked to Jeff today
- i need a job
+ i get to go to a chocolate festival this weekend in Perugia
+ we got to sing a cool song in LAC today (hence the title)

covert ops

me: so, I was checking out FBI internships, and-
friend 1: FBI? my MOM works for the FBI!
me: no way! that's really cool! maybe she could put in a good word for me
friend 1: yeah, maybe. this one time, she got in a car accident, and-
me: so she says
friend 1: what?
me: no, go on, her "car accident"...
friend 1: what are you talking about?
me: she was really doing a cover op, friend 1. she got wounded protecting her country...
friend 1: riiiight...
me: are we under surveillance right now?

internship

I checked out the FBI Internships for next summer, but it starts the first day of June, so I wouldn't be able to make it, even if I got accepted (which is unlikely, given how competitive the positions are) Ah, that would be a life dream fulfilled, though. Criminology is my weird interest... I bought textbooks about it in highschool... Texbooks. What highschoolers reads textbooks for fun? I'm such a nerd. But it would be so awesome. I'm checking out the CIA internships, but they don't have dates. I wonder if I should just apply?

creative writing

Regarding: my traumatic creative writing experience yesterday...

I was supposed to workshop my piece, and had to read the sestina out loud. So I did that, and everyone just sat there. And she was like, okay, maybe you can explain a little about how the structure of the sestina works. So I tried to explain that the end words all repeat in differing patterns. And everyone just sat there. Blank stares. You know. So she tries to spark discussion, and no one really bites, so we're all just sitting there. It was awful. And then, FINALLY, Sil comes to my rescue and is like, "well, I think it's about this love from the past and she was hurt but realizes that she can move on, blah blah," and went on forever and did this great reading of it. I was even impressed. Thank you Sil. And THEN (this is the worst part ever!), my prof leans over and says, in this emotional, don't-worry-if-you-start-to-cry, you-can-tell-me-anything-voice, "was there a suicide attempt?" ?!?!?! What?! Ha ha, I was like, Ummm, no! So great, everyone thinks I tried to commit suicide now. I hadn't looked at my poem that way at ALL! It's funny, it makes me think of all the analysis we do in poetry class, and if maybe we're just totally misinterpreting a ton of old classics that we thought we knew so well. Ha ha. So that was awkward. After, my professor was like, "I do that sometimes, last year, a guy wrote a poem about Caffeine, and I said 'there are tons of homoerotic rape symbols in here!' and he was like, 'that's cool!'" I was like, oh man, at least my poem doesn't have homoerotic rape messages in it.

I guess the moral of the story is: never share your poems, because you never know how someone might interpret them.. ha ha just kidding. But it was kind of sad... I'm not suicidal and morbid, I promise!

Also, last night we had a cooking class that was Amazing! It was so fun, we made GNOCCHI, with two sauces, and chicken, and a chocolate cake! Way fun. Craig got flour on me though... not cool
Ciao!

busy as a bumblebee

I am stressed. I have something in each of my classes today: I'm workshopping my (not good) poem in Creative Writing, I have a quiz in Italian, and I have a presentation in Witchcraft. Pooh.
On the plus side, I have my cooking class tonight, where I will show off my culinary abilities and wow everyone with my amazing Italian creations... right... :)
Ciao!

anyone lived in a pretty how town

(anyone lived in a pretty how town)

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

ee cummings

my right arm

So, I was at a pub a few nights ago with some friends, and I saw Cute Bartender from Edi House there. And... he was wearing a purple UW sweatshirt! So I thought, okay, maybe he's just an American who somehow got a job at Edi House. But I heard him talking to someone and he had an Italian accent. I am very perplexed. I was going to ask him about it, but didn't get a chance because we left. Next time I'm at the restaurant, I'll ask. Speaking of the Pacific Northwest, the weather here this weekend was all cloudy and rainy. I actually really liked it, because it made me think of winters at home, where I'd just stay at home and curl up and read in front of a fire. Awesome.
I was reading ee cummings yesterday, and was thinking about what a genius he is. I loved reading his poems in Mr. Eckelburg's class. I finally finished Great Expectations yesterday, too. I haven't had much time lately. I must say, I was disappointed with the ending, both of them. The original and the revised endings were both pretty lame. Which was weird, because I loved the rest of the novel. Oh well.
I thought with the bad weather, the mosquitos would have died out. But no. They're back with a vengeance. The other day, I got viciously attacked, and now my right arm and face are covered. Not cool. Persistant little buggers, they are.
Ciao

tweed

Sooo, basically my dad is awesome:

NWMSDoc: I can really see you as a college professor of english -- small college. Tweed jacket, that kind of thing.

The best part is, I just bought a tweed jacket... I even learned how to play chess this weekend. I must say, all signs point to me becoming Professor Galen

flood

So, buying my Eddie Bauer umbrella and bringing it abroad was probably the smartest thing I've ever done in my life. Maybe not The smartest, but it's pretty high up there. It has been pouring all morning, I practically had to swim to school. And yet there was still a mosquito buzzing around in my ear last night, waking me up. I swear. Those things are the Devil.
Ciao!