This Shit is Bananas

Time for a more interesting post. Finally.

So while being here we've noticed some very funny things that Italians have said in English. Here are just a few. Note that we aren't making fun of them or being malicious. We just think it's funny and thought you would too.

"For what concern the things you are going to leave in the apt C, try to leave them in the area where the Kristen's bed is." - Alessia

"Watch out for the hole. Last time someone entered it... with the foot." - tour guide at San Gimingano

The first of these is particularly funny because Kristen is very very tall. 6'1" to be exact. In fact today at our cooking class one of the chefs looked up at Kristen with wide eyes and said "La Montagna!" which means mountain in Italian. Kristen said she had actually never gotten that one before. Very original, Mr Italian man. Very good.

So remember when I said "She should probably tell me what her favourite flavour of cake is the next time she sees me so that I can make it for her some time!"? Well that was just a test to see if she reads this thing. She's probably forgotten all about it but in the beginning of our trip she looked over my shoulder and saw the title of my blog and then proceeded to announce it for everyone to hear and talk about how "adorable" that was. She uses that word quite a lot. A lot of times to describe people, myself included. This was kind of cool at first because I usually want to (for some reason that I can't quite explain) be perceived as cute so it's kind of nice when someone says it. I think it's because I've always been the baby of my family and I used to look up to my older sisters a lot and also because I used to have this friend named Michaella when I was in first grade and one time she was on vacation with us I overheard my sisters talking about how cute she was and I thought they liked her more than they liked me. Not really sure if that has anything to do with it but that's the only event I can place such weird behaviour with. If I asked my sisters they definitely wouldn't remember this at all but it's quite clear to me. It's weird how stuff sticks with you. Even stupid things like that. Or maybe it's just me and I need to learn to get over it. Probably.

So anyway, Katie says that everyone is cute. Even when they're doing really normal things like cutting vegetables or eating cereal. I'm starting to get a cold so if I sleep on my back then I'll snore because I can't breath right. She told me this while we were making fajitas, "You were snoring in your sleep last night. It was adorable". At this point I dropped the chicken I was marinating and looked at her. Snoring is not something I would ever call cute. No matter who was doing it. Ever. She just compliments a lot and I usually don't really know how to deal with compliments. I guess I don't really like them for some reason. I think maybe because I don't do enough to deserve them or something. Like I could do better so why are you complimenting me? Maybe that's it. I've gotten a bit better about taking compliments from people even if I don't take them to heart. Usually I just smile and reply, "Thanks, dude" so that they won't harp on making me accept it. I'm sounding ungrateful. I'm not ungrateful. I would just like to earn the compliment and feel like I did something to deserve it. Like when Danielle or Bailey compliments me. I have to work for it so it feels really good when it happens. Katie on the other hand projectile vomits compliments on everything she sees so it just gets annoying after a while. And not a long while. We have a cooking class together so you can imagine what it's like in there. Or maybe you can't. I'll just tell you. The other day we were making Lemon Shortbread cookies in class and we were cooking together and she said to me and out loud, "She's like the head chef and we're all her little sous chefs." She said that twice and each time I didn't really know how to respond so I just said "not really" or something stupid like that. Then I was squeezing dough out of a pastry bag to make fun designs for the cookies and I made a little flower and she just stood there and watched me with a big, gross smile on her face (I say gross because it was motherly and no one should ever smile at anyone like that unless they have that relationship. You would have thought I had just tied my shoes by myself for the first time or something) and said to the other girl, "She's so good at this, it's ridiculous." I was squeezing dough out of a BAG!! How can someone be gifted at that? They can't. Anyone can do it. Just like anyone can cook. It's easy. Follow some freaking directions. I'm doing this because I like it. Not because I'm better at it than anyone else. I may know a few things that some people don't but that's ONLY because I learned it. I told her to stop right when she said that, but I think she thought I was joking because she said no with that gooey smile still on her face. I'm going to talk to her about it soon though. Only she tends to throw away anything you confront her about. She just replies with a "yeah, that's OK" really quick like it would be her answer no matter what you said. She did that to both Anna Lee and Kim whenever they confronted her about something. Hopefully I'll have balls enough to say that no, it isn't fine and it has to stop.

Anyway, another annoying thing she does is repeat herself a lot. Not on mistake like she doesn't realise she's already told you, but on purpose like she wants to remind you so that it will be the most exciting and important thing going on in your life at the moment. Anna Lee, Kristen, Alex, Michelle, and I have all taken to betting how many times she is going to repeat herself. I won €4 the other day! Yaayuuhh!! She also likes to burst into song all the time and she does it in a way where there are a lot of dips to the song even though that's not how the song goes and it's all head voice and annoying. It's like she's trying to make the song sexy and I'm like, "You're freaking singing Octopus's Garden, what the hell are you doing?" So anyway, the people involved in the betting game mentioned above have started playing a game called Knutes (it was the first word that popped into my head. It's a very wrong pronunciation of the bronze coin in wizarding currency, Knuts. Shut up) where we will drop a lyric into regular conversation with Katie and see if she bursts into song and we get points if she does. There's no prize really. Just a fun game. I came up with it when I overheard Anna Lee and Katie talking about Anna Lee's new boots (which Katie later copied and bought the exact same pair, only in black) and Anna Lee said, "Well, these boots were made for walkin". Then Katie started walk-dancing out of the room while singing that song. At first I was like, "Dammit, Anna Lee!" but then that gave me the idea for the game. It should be fun. I bet we'll all be really good at incorporating song lyrics into regular conversation soon.

In interest of keeping up with this pattern of posting things we keep secret from my roommate I am now going to reveal to you... Nannertots. They are an invention of Michelle's and they are amazing. First, you take a banana, slice it, and roll it in some sugar. While doing that some vegetable oil should be heating in a saucepan (not a lot. Gotta conserve, you know!). Crush up some corn flakes and heat some Nutella and a little bit of milk in another saucepan and stir so that it turns into a sauce. Put the bananas in the saucepan with the oil and let them fry. Take them out, roll them in the corn flakes and set them on a plate. At this point they look like tater tots which is where the name Nannertots came from. Then you drizzle the Nutella sauce on and VOILA! Nannertots.

Alex, Michelle, and I have been developing and perfecting this recipe in secret. The reason we can't tell Katie is because she really likes to steal things and take them for her own. The boots were just one example. Another example is the word "sorostitute". Now, I'm not sure how many of you know what this word means but it's basically a name for the sorority plastic. You know the type. The fashion may have changed since I've been out of the country, but while I was on campus at uni the general sorostitute fashion was Nike running shorts, a Northface jacket, and Ugg boots. This was in the winter with temperatures as low as 25. Occasionally they would put tights on under their shorts but they always had to have the shorts on. I understand that the fashions probably change every year, and maybe even every semester but even with that vague description you will always be able to pinpoint a sorostitute. And they are everywhere. Even on this trip with me. You may be asking yourself why a sorostitute wants to be in another country and your guess would be as good as mine. I really have no idea. Anyway, I dropped this phrase once in Rome and she's used it ever since. She used it 6 or 7 times yesterday. All when I was within earshot. No joke. Repeats herself A LOT. So hopefully you now understand what we're dealing with here and why we can't tell her about Nannertots just yet (or you know, ever). It's because every day (you think I'm exaggerating, but it would be at least twice a day) we would hear, "Dude, I made bomb Nannertots yesterday." Of course you made bomb Nannertots! Nannertots in and of themselves are "bomb". She uses that phrase a lot too. It's always "that's bomb" or "I made bomb___". I just don't want her to take that away like she takes everything else away. And I think the fact that she doesn't know about them makes them better. If she knew about them and was in on it they just wouldn't taste the same.

We came up with a secret phrase for when we want to retreat to Alex and Michelle's apartment to make Nannertots. We're going to say, "this shit is bananas". You may think that is really weird and not sneaky of us at all but you haven't been around our apartment. There are a lot of very weird things said on a daily basis. I could just be sitting at the table, doing my Italian homework and say, "dude, this shit is bananas!". It will work. And it may even get me a point in Knutes!

Anna Lee and I are going to try and come up with some pranks to pull on her and Kim. She came up with a really good one. There is a 99 euro cent store down the street from us and she saw those things that kids play with where you put this little dinosaur thing in a cup of water and watch it grow. Only she saw a penis shaped one. Kind of gross but it could be fun to slip that into her water bottle one of these days. We're going to have to think of some more. Leave suggestions if you have any!!

Shout out time! Elisabeth, that's awesome about the Terry's chocolate orange! They're so good and they last for quite a long time too! : ) The classes are for everyone but there aren't actually a lot of Italians that go to my school. It's an international school so people come from all over the world but I have yet to meet an Italian from there. Weird.

Anyway, I'm going to end it there. I could go on all day about how she annoys me but I really shouldn't. We'll save some for later. You may think that I am a mean person for this entry. I really hope not. Think about it. I have to live with this person for 3 more months. It's going to be really hard. I might as well have some fun while I'm at it. Also, I'm going to start putting random quotes by Anna Lee at the end of these things. She is funny and the things she says should be shared with the world. Heres the first:

Anna Lee Quote of the Day: In reference to this dress. "That looks like something colloquial women die in."

Gelato count: 9

Nannertot Escapades: 3

Song currently stuck in my head: What else?

A Month Late Update

Went to Mama's Cafe today and got a bagel! What do I rate it? ... about a 8 1/2 to 9. It was quite good. Still not up to Kim's standards because it wasn't New York style (if you are from the South like me or perslaps live in another country where they might have it then a good freezer section bagel would be Sarah Lee). Chewey on the inside and fairly doughy on the outside. I forget if Kim said New York style had a crispy shell or not. Whatevs. Mama's bagel was pretty good and kind of reminded me of bagels from home. And it was a hell of a quest to try and find it too! It's very out of the way for me unfortunately. It's over the Arno via the Ponte alla Carraia which is 2 bridges down from the Ponte Vecchio and quite a few streets down from that. Luckily it's a pretty straight shot from where I live so I don't really need a map. When I started that way I was at the Duomo though and trying to find this one really good panini place. It's quite literally a hole in the wall but the paninos are amazing! I gave up because I couldn't find it and decided to venture over the river for the bagels that I've heard so much about. On my way back home I saw this awesome grocery store that sold a bunch of imported stuff. I found Duncan Hines cake mix and bought the Butter Recipe Fudge because it was on sale for € 3.10 (still a lot of money but it was usually € 5.50! My roommates were pretty excited. At least Anna Lee and Kim were when I showed them. Katie isn't back yet but she is probably going to flip out when she sees. She should probably tell me what her favourite flavour of cake is the next time she sees me so that I can make it for her some time!

So, we last left off after having met Brittany and leaving the horrible experience that was the "cocktail party". I don't really remember day to day after that so we're just going to talk about classes now. My schedule is as follows:

Monday: Intro to Professional Cooking and Italian Language: Beginning

Tuesday: Florence Food and Culture Experience

Wednesday: Contemporary Italian Cooking (dropped) and Italian Language again

Thursday: Wines of the World (added) and Italian Vegetarian Cooking

Intro to Professional Cooking

Got to the school about 20 minutes early and was very glad I did. I was kind of intimidated and there were a lot of other students around. There was a long line at the front desk so I figured I should stand in it like everyone else. The receptionist was pretty but also kind of severe. She spoke fluent Italian to her co-workers and did it beautifully with an enviable accent. She looked bored and a bit annoyed that we weren't just taking care of our own problems and at the fact that we couldn't pay our fees without her. I kind of think she hates me because I had a bit of a problem. I was supposed to be an Apicius student because I'm taking all cooking classes but it said on her information that I was an FUA (Florence University of the Arts. Sister school to Apicius) student. I was a bit confused, asked if I could pay my fees later because I was stupid and didn't bring my credit card and all I had was €90 on me. She said yes and I went over to my class. I saw that everyone was wearing chefs coats so I asked the professor and he told me to just get an apron for today. I went back to the grumpy receptionist and told her what he told me and she said, "The school doesn't loan out aprons- you know what... here" and she handed me two aprons. I guess she didn't want to deal with me anymore. So I was the only dork with an apron on in class. Everyone else looked amazing and professional with their white chef's coats and hats and knife sets. John was in the class and I talked to him in the beginning and told him that I was worried that I was going to get my but kicked but he assured me that I would be fine because it was an intro course. So I stood there in my green sweater and apron with my arms crossed because it was freezing in the classroom. There was a sliding door open or something.

Anyhow, we went around the room and introduced ourselves. In front of me was John from my school in Texas and it turns out he used to be a line cook! I never knew that! He's a big guy, about 6'2" or 3". John is quite nice and I'm glad we have a class together. Next to John was Sam. Sam is about my height with dark hair and square black glasses and he's from Belgium. Next to me is Kate who looked like she was about 24. She has a very soft, kind voice. Originally from the East coast I believe, but has been living in San Fransisco. Is a gardener and kind of reminds me of a hippy. Want to be her friend. Behind me was James from London who I was super excited about for obvious reasons and also a boy from Israel who's name escapes me. The guy from Israel is easily 6'5" and is kind of scary. He has kind of a pointed face and he was observing his knives at the beginning of class. When he introduced himself he said he worked in a restaurant as a cook but decided to get his culinary degree. I guessed that he was going to be really good.

In the middle of class Sam turned around, smiled and said he liked something and pointed to the neck area. I have no idea what he was referring to. Was he making fun of me for not looking like the rest of them and wearing an apron instead of a chefs coat? Was he making fun of the fact that I had a necklace on? I don't really know. He may not have even been making fun of me at all. I have no idea what he said. Whatever. I really started to wish that I had a chefs coat though. They seemed warmer than what I was wearing. And more secure. All buttoned up and such right up to the neck. So anyway, the professor told us to open the cupboard below us and take out everything we saw in there. At this point I started freaking out. "Eff! Are we going to Iron Chef this thing and have to make 16 amazing gourmet courses out of something crazy and weird like pork rinds??" It wasn't though. He was basically just having us see what was down there and where it was supposed to go. We put it all back and he showed us our ingredients and told us what we would be cooking that day. We talked about mussels and the correct way to clean them and then we cooked 3 different recipes with them. One was Impepata di cozze (mussels in a spicey broth. dry white wine, garlic cloves, parsley, and E-V-O-O! There's some pepper and salt to taste but that's pretty much it). It was pretty good. Then there was one that was stuffed with bread crumbs and then baked (Eh. Kind of dry like chewing carpet). Then there was my favourite with a saffron cream sauce. I love saffron (or zafferano). I think it might be my favourite spice. Hard to say though. I grouped with John and Sam and when I joined them at their table Sam said, "you better be good". I kind of smiled but I was like "Crap!" I kind of had a minisode during class because they all looked so much better than I did so I basically started the whole doubting whether I made the right choice and whether or not I'd be able to make it thing again. That isn't fun. Anyway, I did fine and the recipes all turned out quite good.

Next was Italian. Not too much happened except that I walked the wrong way around the Duomo which made me about 10 minutes late. I'm excited to learn Italian though.

Tuesday was Florence Food and Culture Experience which I had with Katie and we had a tasting of Pecorino cheeses (so good!) with pears, bread, and honey. I went home and had that for dinner that night. There was one girl in my class who wasn't there through a programme and had just taken a year off to take cooking classes. She's in Chocolate Artistry. I'm so jealous of her. I started wondering whether I should have done that because it seems like I'm wasting my time in classes that aren't for culinary arts majors. I guess I should explain that. Basically the only professional class I'm taking is my Intro to Professional Cooking. That was the only one I was allowed. I was very limited on my class choices because I'm not a culinary arts major because they don't have culinary arts as a major at my school. My plan is to get my degree in Restaurant Hotel and Institution Management and then go on to get my culinary arts degree but when I see people my age already in culinary school it makes me wonder if I'm just wasting my time. Why not just cut two years off my schooling and go to culinary school now. I don't want to own my own restaurant. I just want to cook. So I should be going to school for that, right? Unfortunately, it's all a bit more complicated than that.

Wednesday was Contemporary Italian Cooking and Italian again. Contemporary Italian cooking was a bust. The class was 2.5 hours and she had some people read the chapter aloud for the first 2. Then we made ground up chickpeas with shrimp, which is, rather lamely, exactly what it sounds like. We ground up chickpeas which took a ridiculous amount of time and then put some olive oil and a shrimp on top. I left without trying it as I think I had a pretty good guess as to what it tasted like. I dropped this class. Thank god.

Thursday was Wines of the World which was intimidating and everyone seems to know a lot about wine. I learned a lot though so hopefully I'll know a lot by the end of it. Italian Vegetarian Cooking was pretty cool. I like my classmates and I have the same teacher for this one as I do for Florence Food and Culture Experience.

Sorry if this was kind of boring again. I will leave a more entertaining post soon. I promise. I've actually typed it all out but am witholding posting it until this one has been up for about a day.

Gelato count: 9

Bagel Face

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I suppose I don't have much of an excuse other than the usual business or whatever. So I last blogged about Heathrow airport and the craziness and stress that ensued there. This time I am going to talk about my trip thus far. First things first: character introductions...

Kim: Age 21. New Jersey. (roommate)

Really nice! First person I met and hung out with. We both like to cook so that's fun. She knows a lot about a lot of things so it's good if you need some quick info on something. Kind of like Wikipedia.

Anna Lee: Age 21. California. (roommate)

How to describe Anna Lee... I don't think there are words other than awesome. She's super nice and easy to talk to. She has very good taste in music. Surfs, plays guitar, marches flute at her college. She's also hilarious. I've listened to more Beatles during this trip than I have my entire life. I like it.

At our first ISA (International Studies Abroad for those of you wondering) meeting we were all very tired because of the jet lag and it was still about 2-5 in the morning according to us and we had just spent the last 13+ hours traveling. Apparently Anna Lee is a very funny tired person because when we were writing down our email adresses she meant to end hers with yahoo.com but instead put hood.com.

Katie: Age 22. California (roommate)

Mama Duck. Very nice and caring. Compliments a lot. Currently being considered for Berkley for law school. Hufflepuff. Epitome of a Hufflepuff actually.

Alex: Age 19. Arkansas (neighbor)

We both have similar backgrounds and family. She's quite funny and I like talking and hanging out with her a lot.

Michelle: Age 21. Pennsylvania (neighbor)

Seemed shy and quiet at first. Not shy or quiet. Awesome and hilarious. She likes to say things like "yeeeaahh, giirrll as a joke. I'm so glad she's living right next door.

Lauren: Age 21. Wisconsin (neighbor)

Very easy to get a long with and nice. Also very pretty so she looks good in everything (damn her). Good for me to hang out with because I can be a bit quiet and if the conversation were left up to me... well... there wouldn't be any. She keeps the conversation going and brings up things to talk about which is good for me because I like to listen. She seems kind of intimidating at first because she is so pretty so you think she might not like you but she really is very nice. She also laughs at my jokes which makes me feel not so much like a dork all the time. She was actually the first ISA person I met (mentioned briefly in the last post).

Kristen: Age 21. Indiana (friend)

She kind of just happened. I think she started talking to Anna Lee and Katie in Rome and we were all about to go explore after the Vatican and she said she wanted to go with us. So glad she did. She turned out to be really awesome. She's nice and pretty and tall and likes to talk about cars with me. Definitely on the approval list.

That's pretty much the main character list. More will be added later (maybe within this post. It really depends on how much I feel like writing). So now it is Monday and it has been 3 weeks since the Great Heathrow Adventure. I am laying on my bed after having the bagel that I purchased on my way home. We will call this place the Snack Bar Anna Di Lomartire Anna Maria (Snack Bar for short) since that is what it is called. Logical, no? That's what I thought... Anyway, I've been craving bagels pretty much since I've been in Florence. What can I say? I freaking love bagels. I should re-title this blog to Wanderings of a Bagel Fiend. It's pretty serious. And none of those crazy bagels either. Plain bagel with plain cream cheese. On a scale of one to 10 I give this particular bagel from the Snack Bar a 5. It was nothing special. I should explain this rating system. 1 is the lowest and is the sweet bagel. Who the hell makes sugary bagels? It's not a doughnut. It's a bagel. Bagels should not be sweet (unless they are under the sweet bagel variety, i.e. cinnamon crunch). But if you are going to have a plain or onion or sesame seed bagel with cream cheese it should not be sweet. It should be crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside with a slight saltiness that you can't really notice unless you really think about it slash look for it. I realise I'm no pro on bagels and that people from New York slash New Jersey would probably call me a stupid Texan and think that I have no idea what I'm talking about (that's more or less what Kim said to me). But hey, I have an opinion just like anyone else. If you like your plain bagels to be sweet (then you're a FREAK!) more power to you. Just know that I take your bagel boutique recommendations with a grain of salt (no pun intended. OK, maybe it was intended). So anyway, this particular bagel wasn't that impressive. The bread was too light. It wasn't chewy enough. Not the right consistency slash texture at all. And not much flavour. 5 may be too generous of a rating. After that bagel experience I looked at my map for the other marked bagel shops. Kim and I are going to Mama's Bakery across the Arno tomorrow morning in search of a proper bagel. I also looked at bagel recipes online. I figure if I can't find one that is suitable I will just have to make my own! I wish I was Jewish. I would be a bagel making pro! I wonder if my Jewish relatives in the Netherlands make bagels. Is it rude to ask them? Perslaps if I phrase it differently...

Time for a new subject...

At the beginning of our programme and while we were still getting to know each other there were several planned events for us mostly by the programme but some by the school FUA (Florence University of the Arts). The first of these planned events was a "cocktail party". I put quotes around "cocktail party" because it sounds like a classy sort of thing, no? It was something I was looking forward to. I thought of cute but classy little cocktail dresses and white wine and aperitivo. This was a gross misunderstanding of what it actually was. It was at a club called Space Club which I thought was very odd and should have been the first clue that my expectations were not to be met. Still, there was free food so we were all excited about that and decided to not have dinner when we usually would have so that we could enjoy the free meal. The Space Club ended up being in a dodgy part of town so that was kind of uncomfortable. We went in, checked our coats, went upstairs and found a place to sit. It was kind of crazy how many people showed up. There were tons of people and it was packed. They made some announcements that we didn't really pay attention to and told us that there would be 2 free drinks and that was what the ticket that we were handed at the beginning was for. I didn't really care because I don't drink. I've had a couple sips of my mum or dad's wine on occasion but I'm still learning to like it (I think I'm OK though. Kelsey said she didn't start liking wine until she went to Paris). I started looking around at the people to try and find John (I don't know if I've mentioned before, but John is a boy that goes to my school and decided to study abroad at FUA under a different programme) but I couldn't because there were just so many people. I did keep seeing a tall, very muscular guy though. It wasn't a pretty muscular either. It was the kind where it is very apparent that they spend an absurd amount of time at the gym and care way too much what they look like. And he was wearing a very tight shirt. Like I don't even know how he got his massive arms through it. Maybe very stretchy? I don't know. Anyhow, I was sitting by Anna Lee and I looked at her and said, "I spy a frat douche." "Really? Where? Wait, I love this game. Um... *looks around* That guy." Correct on the first try. He definitely stood out. So then we played with other people and they all got it right too. Fun game. Finally the food was served on a long table which was pushed up against a wall at the back so naturally everyone hoarded that part of the room. I decided to get food with Alex and we went up there and stood behind some people for about 20 minutes before getting really pissed that we weren't moving at all. I inched my way closer to the table only to see that people were just standing and eating off the buffet instead of getting a plate and moving back to there seats. Intelligent. Then I saw frat douch head into the insanity and emerge with a plate loaded with food and heard someone say, "dude, that's like your third plate" to which he replied by smiling like a buffoon and nodding stupidly. Third time? Third time and we are still standing there not getting any food? What the hell? Stupid frat douche! I was hungry and wanted to punch him in the face. Alex and I thought maybe the throng of people would be weak at its side so we decided to battle to the corner of the table. No dice. There was still a thick crowd of people trying the same thing we were. We did manage to find Katie, Anna Lee, and Kristen though. They said the wine was gross. We started talking about how disorganised the whole event was to some people from another group and talked about leaving. One girl was totally down for leaving. When I mentioned that I thought we might peace out soon she looked at me with huge eyes and said she wanted to come. I was kind of taken aback by her forwardness but I definitely understood. We were all hungry and were being denied food by our own kind. Kristen managed to get a plate of food with her long arms and offered us some of the food. I snatched a piece of bread and gave half to Anna Lee. We were both very excited and took a bite. Then we slowed our chewing and looked at each other. The bread had no flavour. Actually it was like a flavour destroyer. All previous flavour you may have had in your mouth was obliterated with one bite of the bread. I looked around and saw similar expressions to my own. The food was horrible. "Alright, I'm done. Who wants to leave?" I asked. Everyone raised their hands. We decided we would rather leave and pay to eat rather than maybe get to eat the gross food. So we got our coats and I gave some guy my free drink card and he was happy and then we peaced out.

The girl who was so adamant to go with us turned out to be called Brittany from New Jersey. She seemed friendly enough and led us on a 40 minute quest to find a very elusive restaurant of hers. I'm easily distracted from hunger if I'm doing something interesting so this didn't bother me too much but everyone else was getting really annoyed. She kept saying, "Oh it's just over there" but we just kept walking. Over the Arno, down some streets, made random turns. It was like a walking tour of the city. Except more brisk and it lacked history and information. Finally Anna Lee, Kristen, Michelle, and Alex all stopped at a restaurant with a decently priced menu and said point blank that we were eating there. I had a very good pasta dish and talked to Brittany a little more and it turns out that we are both into Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and Torchwood. Needless to say I was excited that I had found another nerd to relate to. We went home at around 11 and Katie and I were both excited that we had made a new friend.

That's all for now, I'm afraid. I'm tired and have to be well rested for the bagel hunt tomorrow morning. Also, this post is long enough. Sorry for being so detailed. I jotted down so much every day and planned to have a kind of B.E.D.W.I.I. (Blog Every Day While In Italy) but that hasn't happened. It doesn't really matter. Mainly it was just pointless detail that you didn't need and would probably find boring. Let me know if you do. Or I suppose if you don't read/ comment at all that will just be a hint that I did bore you. I'll try and make it more interesting and if you have any tips on how to do so then they would be appreciated. : )

Gelato count: 8

Favourite Beatles song: Please Please Me