8AM.......up and ready for class! LOL
We're so tired, but it was fun last night. Everyone is home and accounted for :)
ciao
Tuesday, June 10
3AM
So I am back from going out, it is 3AM. It was our last night to really go out with the girls as tomorrow night is the night before a final and the same thing for Thursday night for all the girls....and they leave Friday!
Natalie went home early to work on her paper...so it was Jen, Lindsey, me and Pat! BJ stayed home.
We had a great time out. It was so fun to walk through Piazza Del Signoria after midnight, so peaceful...walking by the 100 year old fake David sculpture with the whole place empty. Pretty awesome, Jen Lindsey Pat and I danced it up and some Florence clubs tonight! We always have a great time out, I will post pictures tomorrow....
I am off to bed, not much school wise tomorrow...just the normal two classes, but I have a Final test on Thursday and the Final Paper due Friday!
I got home...at 3AM, Pat and Jen went off to the midnight bakery (don't ask, I'll explain later) and Lindsey pealed off at her Apt to go to sleepy time! I came home and was surprised to Not find BJ here. Recently he has been chilling with other GU Law students on the trip that have a much later schedule than I am accustomed to. 3AM is the latest I have been up this whole trip, BJ and Pat have had multiple 5-6AM nights. I wish I could roll like that, but I guess I am a wuss :(
I just hope Pat wakes me up when he gets back with midnight bakery.
Pat has got a presentation tomorrow!! good luck to him... I just have to listen to it....good luck to me :)
Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Natalie went home early to work on her paper...so it was Jen, Lindsey, me and Pat! BJ stayed home.
We had a great time out. It was so fun to walk through Piazza Del Signoria after midnight, so peaceful...walking by the 100 year old fake David sculpture with the whole place empty. Pretty awesome, Jen Lindsey Pat and I danced it up and some Florence clubs tonight! We always have a great time out, I will post pictures tomorrow....
I am off to bed, not much school wise tomorrow...just the normal two classes, but I have a Final test on Thursday and the Final Paper due Friday!
I got home...at 3AM, Pat and Jen went off to the midnight bakery (don't ask, I'll explain later) and Lindsey pealed off at her Apt to go to sleepy time! I came home and was surprised to Not find BJ here. Recently he has been chilling with other GU Law students on the trip that have a much later schedule than I am accustomed to. 3AM is the latest I have been up this whole trip, BJ and Pat have had multiple 5-6AM nights. I wish I could roll like that, but I guess I am a wuss :(
I just hope Pat wakes me up when he gets back with midnight bakery.
Pat has got a presentation tomorrow!! good luck to him... I just have to listen to it....good luck to me :)
Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nadine....
You know how a lot of people (including yourself) have that pose or that smile that you feel is flattering that you try and throw out there when someone is taking a picture of you? Well, Professor Nadine Farid has a little pose that we noticed....I have not taken a ton of pictures of her, so I don't have perfect shot of it. But this is a picture we took in our first week in Florence, that is me on the left, Nadine in the middle and on the right is the director of the program Professor Mary Pat Treuthart....notice Farid's cross legged -- stepping forward pose. She loves that pose, so when we went to Siena last week us boys took a picture as an 'homage' to Professor Farid :) See the resemblance?
Gulliver
Well, I have a new nickname apparently. When we were in Cinque Terre, I was given my new Spokane roommates and travel friends, Jen and Natalie, shit for being so short...we're talking shorter than 5'5''.....and they reminded me that in italy everyone is short and I am the odd one out, and they said that all the short people were going to tie me up like in Gulliver's Travels...so the name stuck....so now I am referred to as Gulliver or Jenn calls me Gully.
...so..Gully has to go work on his paper some more..just sharing that
...so..Gully has to go work on his paper some more..just sharing that
Comparisons.....
Here are some more comparisons from US to Italy for those who have not been .... (AKA, I am avoiding working on my paper that is due Friday).
SUPER MARKET.
So they have no huge Safeway style grocery stores here. There is a new growing trend for these smaller grocery stores that are randomly found on a city block. They are like a maze when you get in them, they are very cramped, no variety in the sense that if you want cheese flavored chips...you got one choice! LOL
You can find a lot of things there, they have meat and veggies too. When you check out they charge you for plastic bags, so most put their groceries in there purse/murse/backpack. etc. And you have to bag yourself, they like throw the bag at you... it is very different.
BOOZE.
Everywhere! Almost every single store you go into has a shelf above the cashier with hard alcohol. Even like Tabbacherias, which is where you go and get stamps, cigarettes, things like that...they have open booze bottles, in case you need a midday shot of whiskey! LOL
Not so much in the touristy city center, but if you get out a little bit they are really into letting you sample booze.
Pat and I have started liking this Italian Liquor called Montenegro. I'm sure they sell it in the states, but it is very common here. BJ jumped on the montenegro wagon here recently too! There was another Italian liquor we were told we should try but we forgot what it was called, so we were at this little 'snack bar' thing in Sorrento, and when we were paying we were staring at the bottles of booze behind the counter trying to remember what the dude from Rome told us to try...and the guy behind the counter got little plastic cups and let us sample a bunch of things. lol It was really cool.
Same thing happened in a liquor store in Rome. They gave us samples of Grappa and wine. Not even a hard sell, just the friendly drinky Italian culture!
Not really something that happens in the states too often.
SMOKING.
Surprisingly to me, there is a smoking ban in all of Italy...similar to WA state smoking ban. And I found out there is one in London and Ireland too! And, as of July 1st, there will be one in Amsterdam. Wow....
It seems like every Italian does smoke, I mean...when that train stops those Italians are running to the exits with the ciggie already in their mouth just waiting to light it.
They have outdoor seating at restaurants that you can smoke at....
LANGUAGE.
Obviously they speak Italian. I would say in Florence about 90 percent also speak some form of English, the further away from the city you go the less people speak the language. In Capri it was about 50/50. But if they know a few words in English and you know a few words in Italian, you can figure most things out.
One of the most Disgusting and Annoying thing that I see far too often are these F**king Americans that walk into these food shops or markets and stuff and are like "umm, okay, I want 2 chicken paninis, 1 slice of pesto pizza, umm and a coke" ... so boisterous so annoying, with NO attempt what so ever to speak the language of the culture they are visiting. Or even speaking slower and pointing and trying to use some BASIC italian like 'Ciao' and 'Grazie'.
I just think it gives Americans a bad name. Granted, there are foreign tourists who come to the U.S. who dont speak English, but I have never seen ... lets say ... a Chinese man walk into an American store and just start speaking Mandarin to the worker there with this expectation that of course we should know Mandarin.
annoying...be courteous.
Before you come here you should learn...Hi, Bye, Thank You, Your Welcome, numbers 1-10, "Check Please", "How do you say", "How much does that cost" at the VERY basic!
You sometimes forget, being in Florence, that English is not the main language, and you go out to a club or something and you have a couple drinks and are talking to some native and you realize .. crap, I don't speak Italian. lol
Pat knows a good amount of Italian, so he has helped us out. We are a little worried about Germany because we have no clue about anything there. But from what we have heard most speak enough English for us to get by. phew...
:)
okay, back to my paper...CIAO
SUPER MARKET.
So they have no huge Safeway style grocery stores here. There is a new growing trend for these smaller grocery stores that are randomly found on a city block. They are like a maze when you get in them, they are very cramped, no variety in the sense that if you want cheese flavored chips...you got one choice! LOL
You can find a lot of things there, they have meat and veggies too. When you check out they charge you for plastic bags, so most put their groceries in there purse/murse/backpack. etc. And you have to bag yourself, they like throw the bag at you... it is very different.
BOOZE.
Everywhere! Almost every single store you go into has a shelf above the cashier with hard alcohol. Even like Tabbacherias, which is where you go and get stamps, cigarettes, things like that...they have open booze bottles, in case you need a midday shot of whiskey! LOL
Not so much in the touristy city center, but if you get out a little bit they are really into letting you sample booze.
Pat and I have started liking this Italian Liquor called Montenegro. I'm sure they sell it in the states, but it is very common here. BJ jumped on the montenegro wagon here recently too! There was another Italian liquor we were told we should try but we forgot what it was called, so we were at this little 'snack bar' thing in Sorrento, and when we were paying we were staring at the bottles of booze behind the counter trying to remember what the dude from Rome told us to try...and the guy behind the counter got little plastic cups and let us sample a bunch of things. lol It was really cool.
Same thing happened in a liquor store in Rome. They gave us samples of Grappa and wine. Not even a hard sell, just the friendly drinky Italian culture!
Not really something that happens in the states too often.
SMOKING.
Surprisingly to me, there is a smoking ban in all of Italy...similar to WA state smoking ban. And I found out there is one in London and Ireland too! And, as of July 1st, there will be one in Amsterdam. Wow....
It seems like every Italian does smoke, I mean...when that train stops those Italians are running to the exits with the ciggie already in their mouth just waiting to light it.
They have outdoor seating at restaurants that you can smoke at....
LANGUAGE.
Obviously they speak Italian. I would say in Florence about 90 percent also speak some form of English, the further away from the city you go the less people speak the language. In Capri it was about 50/50. But if they know a few words in English and you know a few words in Italian, you can figure most things out.
One of the most Disgusting and Annoying thing that I see far too often are these F**king Americans that walk into these food shops or markets and stuff and are like "umm, okay, I want 2 chicken paninis, 1 slice of pesto pizza, umm and a coke" ... so boisterous so annoying, with NO attempt what so ever to speak the language of the culture they are visiting. Or even speaking slower and pointing and trying to use some BASIC italian like 'Ciao' and 'Grazie'.
I just think it gives Americans a bad name. Granted, there are foreign tourists who come to the U.S. who dont speak English, but I have never seen ... lets say ... a Chinese man walk into an American store and just start speaking Mandarin to the worker there with this expectation that of course we should know Mandarin.
annoying...be courteous.
Before you come here you should learn...Hi, Bye, Thank You, Your Welcome, numbers 1-10, "Check Please", "How do you say", "How much does that cost" at the VERY basic!
You sometimes forget, being in Florence, that English is not the main language, and you go out to a club or something and you have a couple drinks and are talking to some native and you realize .. crap, I don't speak Italian. lol
Pat knows a good amount of Italian, so he has helped us out. We are a little worried about Germany because we have no clue about anything there. But from what we have heard most speak enough English for us to get by. phew...
:)
okay, back to my paper...CIAO
Hannibal
So we just put together that the movie Hannibal (silence of the lambs sequel) takes place and was filmed here in Florence. I downloaded some clips, fun to see places used in the movie, that we walk daily,,,like when he hangs the detective out the window and his bowels fall to the ground, that was out the window of the Pallazo Vecchio, which is in the Piazza della Signoria, my favorite piazza that we walk through every day. That is fun. lol
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