Oh man, these Italians know how to go out. Since Sunday is the day of rest, these people GO OUT on Saturday night, and they go out classy. Everything seems so high end and elegant. The only crazy bingers are all the American students trying to break the records of how many nights that they can go out in a row -- way to suit the stereotype people.
Italians have this thing called "Apertivo" that is raved about by all of the people who aren't from Italy. It's from about 6-10 p.m. and basically all of the resturants do it. You pick which "Apertivo" that you want to go to that night (there are almost too many choices) and then you go into the bar to buy a drink. Once you buy which ever drink you are feeling that night, you are then free to eat whatever is out on display. It's usually a combination of salads, cheeses, meats, breads, you know -- Italian stuff. We hit up our first Apertivo randomly while searching for this place called Kitch. I'm still not even sure now where it is but it's been my favorite place in Florence so far. The bartenders were fun, the drinks were good, and the food was even better, and whoever did the interior decorating of this place needs to visit me.
After we left Rex, we went down to Santa Croce to where one of the girls lives that Catherine knows from South Carolina. Reid lives directly across the street from ALL of the bars. We went upstairs to check out her place after climbing stairs that felt like would never end. She lives with six other girls! Since there is only the four of us, their place seemed huge! I really liked their set up and her roommates were shifting in and out of the apartment. We had some more wine and then left our coats upstairs to run acorss the street in 35 degree weather. The streets were packed and it was hard to keep up with all of the people around me. The first place we went to was called Kikuya on Via de' Benci. The bartenders are all Brazilian, we became friends. The guys next to us bought is all Russian Roulettes (which is my new thing now) and we ended up not even talking to them. Kikuya was very small, dark bar but I really liked the vibe.
We then ran next door to the Red Garter (note to self -- all bars with English named are tailormade to American students a.k.a. all of the local men know that!). There was a series of rooms, each one with a different music theme. We stayed in the middle, packed in with people. Catherine had it in with the DJ (who was incredible) and we got to go behind the scenes and mix music for a while. He must have really had a thing for her because the next morning he somehow founded her on facebook. He sent her an inbox (with very poor English) asking her out to Aperitivo one night. His facebook name is "DJ JetFlorence TheBest" -- we're still laughing about it. We had more episodes throughout the night that made every moment a little more fun (Cecily, please get here NOW!). On the walk home we stopped by the Duomo (since we basically live right next door to it) and laid down on the steps and took pictures from below. I would post the ones I have but my camera is acting up for some reason. I'm not used to such cold weather so the walks home after a night like that seem harder and longer.
Like I said before, I thought that Sunday was the day of rest but apparently not. Maybe it was because it was the last day of the month for the "saldi" but the streets seemed pretty crowded. We went back to this bar called "Finnegan's" that we had come across right before we found Rex the night before to watch the Arsenal v. Manchester United game over beers with the boys. Since it was an Irish place, they had cider and I about died of happiness. It reminded me of London and I began to miss how much fun I had there last weekend. I became besties with the ginger, English speaking bartender Toby and he made us promise that we'd come back. Having cider in a pub while watching a soccer game made me feel comfortable. I could have done that all day. Going out so much tends to be rather expensive so I stayed in and made some of the pasta that I had bought downstairs.
Monday is when we all start school. IT'S ABOUT TIME. I haven't been in school since the beginning of December and it just feels weird. My roommates all had class but I don't start until Wednesday. So yesterday was just full of errands and becoming more acquianted with the city. The other day I went for a run and I finally crossed over to the other side of the river. I didn't go into the neighborhoods too far but I found my new favorite park overlooking the damn of the Arno. I went over the Ponte Vecchio for the first time as well, I just keep finding all of this cool stuff! The girls and I made our first trip to H&M and I went crazy because I just wanted to buy everythingggg in there.
We met up with some people around 7:30 to indulge in another Aperitivo at this place called Moyo. The bar itself had perfect lighting and the furniture was beautiful. The backs of the wooden chairs were all in an "M" shape. Once again, the girls from Via Faenza 18 became friends with the bartender Gonzale who later started to give us free drinks. The Apertivo there was much different than what we had earlier found at Rex. Moyo's apertivo was all about carbs and it filled you up quickly. Partially Americanized style since they were serving hot dogs at one point but they were disguised well. The candles and the edgy lighting was definitely what drew me in but I still liked Rex better.
After Apertivo we got lost by the river trying to find this place that Carlos raves about (since he apparently goes there every night) called Joshua's Tree. Once we found it, we lit up the place when we all walked in. We met more bartenders and two regulars who later told me that they studied abroad in Florence about two years ago and just never went home! These girls Shannon and Mara were a riot and told us some local secrets about Florence. We also met Carlos' friend Joel who I talked to most of the night. He's only 19 and this is his FIFTH time in Europe! Lucky guy. He was telling me about the house stay set up he landed. He lives with 3 other guys and 1 girl with an old woman who doesn't speak English and makes them dinner every night AND does their laundry for them. Sounds like a sweet deal to me!
Ugh, I just can't wait for school to start. I'm soooo interested in what it will be like! I'm excited to meet more people and to actually be in a classroom again (I know it sounds weird but not being in school when your so used to it starts to mess with your head). I can't believe it's February already, January was an out of control month for me. I started in L.A. then went back to Florida for a couple weeks (living wherever I could) then to New York, then to London, and now I'm here. Ahhh, best month ever! Barcelona is next (still need to work out more details) and then hopefully Paris soon as well. I can't wait, this is sooo cool. The euro is killing everyone's wallet because it's usually just chillin' at 1.5 but it could be worse at 1.7 for the pound (sorry Alex and Morgan).
Tomorrow should be fun and Thursday will be superrrr busy. I have an internship btws. It's at Ganzo (it's like the culinary kitchen where all of our incredible food is served). I have an in with our student liason Eddie and I start tonight actually. I have no idea what I'll be doing but whatever it is it'll be new and fun. The people who work this place are just like us except they never left Florence (it's weird how many of those stories I'm hearing). We're gonna go to the other side of the river on Friday I think to see the real David and explore more what the other side has to offer. The only thing that we ever listen to in this apartment is Kid Cudi's new album "Man on the Moon: End of the Day" and it's starting to get repetitive. I need to be pinched or something because all of this just seems too good to be true. I am loving living in another culture without television, a dryer, or franchises. Change is good. I want to go everywhere, I think Europe is a good start.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
European Adjustments
So it's Saturday afternoon and we all just got up. It's probably going to be a slow day. I haven't been able to sleep in since we got here so this was definitely good for my recovering body. We finally got the heat to start working so we don't freeze throughout the night. The first night of sleep was unbearably cold so I'm very happy to have a good night's rest. The weather is much colder than I am used to but it's nice to have a change of everything. The people, the climate, the language, the atmosphere. Learning about this culture gets more and more interesting everyday.
I keep hearing, "Florence is so small, you can walk across it in about half an hour" but the first couple of days I found myself getting frustrated because I couldn't seem to figure this city out. Unlike many American cities, Florecen is not on a grid system at all and the streets are never numbered. There is never a 5th Ave or a 17th Street so if you get lost you can almost immediately figure out where you are and get where you need to be and since it's all in another language, it just adds a little more stress. For the past few days I have been determined to become more acquianted with my surroundings and not stick out like a sore thumb as a typical American. I was feeling rather hopeless until yesterday when everything clicked.
After I did my business at Ganzo, we discovered a HUGE market around the corner. We were outside of the touristy area that we live in near the Duomo so we went to check it out. This was a pretty cool scene. It was centralized by an indoor market reeking of raw meat and seafood surrounded by an outdoor fruit and vegetable market. We also found very cheap clothes, books, and vintage articles. As we walked around I realized that I could not sense a single word of English. I'm not exactly sure where we were but it seemed very residential, hard core Italian people. We managed to communicate enough to get some fresh oranges, bananas, spinach, and olives for a good deal since it seemed like everything had just been picked that morning. As we started to walk towards Apicius to pay our lab fees we stopped by one of the cafes that we had tried the day before because we liked old man running it.
-- SIDE NOTE -- I have two new Italian boyfriends. They are both the cutest men that I've
ever seen in my entire life. They are both between like 5'5" and 5'7" I'd say and are probably around 75 years old. Oh yea, and neither one of them speak a word of English. The first little old man is my landlord and he'll randomly break out into song and start dancing. Oh my god, he's hilarious. His wife is really cute too. She'll take our faces in her little, cold hands and say "BELLA! BELLA!" The other man is the espresso guy. I loveeeee his lattes! I also love that he doesn't close during siesta because his place is bordering the Duomo. I still need to try one of his pastries. He made me laugh so hard because he's so friendly and nice and he's ALWAYS smiling but when he took a picture with Brooke and I he didn't smile. He looks mean and angry but he's not at all. When he saw the picture he said "Yes! I look like THE BOSS!" (In Italian of course). Ahhhh! I'm in love with him. He's the best.
I keep hearing, "Florence is so small, you can walk across it in about half an hour" but the first couple of days I found myself getting frustrated because I couldn't seem to figure this city out. Unlike many American cities, Florecen is not on a grid system at all and the streets are never numbered. There is never a 5th Ave or a 17th Street so if you get lost you can almost immediately figure out where you are and get where you need to be and since it's all in another language, it just adds a little more stress. For the past few days I have been determined to become more acquianted with my surroundings and not stick out like a sore thumb as a typical American. I was feeling rather hopeless until yesterday when everything clicked.
We had an appointment with the Italian police to sign some residency papers and then Brooke and I decided to do some exploring. Wednesday and Thursday was full of random exploration, curiousity, and aimless walking. I somehow figured out how to get to Ganzo from the river on Via de Macci without getting lost. The way that the streets and addresses work here are completely different from the U.S. There are two sets of numbers, red and black. The red numbers are business addresses and black numbers are residential addresses but neither one of the correlate to the other. The only similarity that I found was that the odd numbers are on one side and the even on the other but that doesn't mean that they match up with each other. It could be black 35 on one side with a red 88 directly across the street. I'm sure it makes sense somehow but it feels as though there is no solid, continual system of how these addressses work.
After I did my business at Ganzo, we discovered a HUGE market around the corner. We were outside of the touristy area that we live in near the Duomo so we went to check it out. This was a pretty cool scene. It was centralized by an indoor market reeking of raw meat and seafood surrounded by an outdoor fruit and vegetable market. We also found very cheap clothes, books, and vintage articles. As we walked around I realized that I could not sense a single word of English. I'm not exactly sure where we were but it seemed very residential, hard core Italian people. We managed to communicate enough to get some fresh oranges, bananas, spinach, and olives for a good deal since it seemed like everything had just been picked that morning. As we started to walk towards Apicius to pay our lab fees we stopped by one of the cafes that we had tried the day before because we liked old man running it. -- SIDE NOTE -- I have two new Italian boyfriends. They are both the cutest men that I've
ever seen in my entire life. They are both between like 5'5" and 5'7" I'd say and are probably around 75 years old. Oh yea, and neither one of them speak a word of English. The first little old man is my landlord and he'll randomly break out into song and start dancing. Oh my god, he's hilarious. His wife is really cute too. She'll take our faces in her little, cold hands and say "BELLA! BELLA!" The other man is the espresso guy. I loveeeee his lattes! I also love that he doesn't close during siesta because his place is bordering the Duomo. I still need to try one of his pastries. He made me laugh so hard because he's so friendly and nice and he's ALWAYS smiling but when he took a picture with Brooke and I he didn't smile. He looks mean and angry but he's not at all. When he saw the picture he said "Yes! I look like THE BOSS!" (In Italian of course). Ahhhh! I'm in love with him. He's the best.Anyways, later on in the day I was out with my friend Carlos (who I later found out knows a lot of the same people that I know from back home) as we went searching for a computer charger. I had no idea how I was supposed to communicate that someone who doesn't speak English but fortunately Carlos can speak English, Spanish, and French so picking up a new language hasn't been hard for him (or so it appears). I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. We had lunch at a cafe and then walked home before getting read for our night out at SPACE.
Last night we had this like school mixer thing at a club. I know it seems kind of lame for school 
functions to try forcing us all to be friends but it turned out to be a great time. Apparently SPACE is a pretty famous club here and we had free admission and two free drinks. Everyone was a little awkward at first (of course) but once we had some wine and incredible food, everyone got a little more friendly. I was surprised by how much fun I had. My roommate Brooke and I got to bond and get to know each other a little better which was good for us. We had several options on what to do after SPACE so we sporadically ventured throughout the city for the rest of the night meeting up with new people. Catherine, Brooke, and I wore heels out for the first time and the three of us towered over everyone. It seemed weird at first but then we worked it hard. It seemed like we made our mark every place we went. Go big or go home.
functions to try forcing us all to be friends but it turned out to be a great time. Apparently SPACE is a pretty famous club here and we had free admission and two free drinks. Everyone was a little awkward at first (of course) but once we had some wine and incredible food, everyone got a little more friendly. I was surprised by how much fun I had. My roommate Brooke and I got to bond and get to know each other a little better which was good for us. We had several options on what to do after SPACE so we sporadically ventured throughout the city for the rest of the night meeting up with new people. Catherine, Brooke, and I wore heels out for the first time and the three of us towered over everyone. It seemed weird at first but then we worked it hard. It seemed like we made our mark every place we went. Go big or go home. Monday, January 25, 2010
Invincibility
Dear Readers,
I am so very sorry that it has taken me sooo long to update you on my life in the past week in Europe. I have had very little time and internet/phone connection to the outside world since I left the states. This blog is ridiculously long but it is full of adventure and fun. If you are going to read this, make sure that you have time because it is ALOT to absorb and piece together if you read it in all at once. I had fun writing it so I hope you have just as much fun following my story :) ENJOY!
The adventures have begun! I haven't had even a second to slow down and think about it until now. I wanted to be able to make a post at least every other day but since I left Tampa at 8 a.m. on Thursday the 21st, I haven't been able to keep up with myself.
I am so very sorry that it has taken me sooo long to update you on my life in the past week in Europe. I have had very little time and internet/phone connection to the outside world since I left the states. This blog is ridiculously long but it is full of adventure and fun. If you are going to read this, make sure that you have time because it is ALOT to absorb and piece together if you read it in all at once. I had fun writing it so I hope you have just as much fun following my story :) ENJOY!
The adventures have begun! I haven't had even a second to slow down and think about it until now. I wanted to be able to make a post at least every other day but since I left Tampa at 8 a.m. on Thursday the 21st, I haven't been able to keep up with myself.
Leaving felt easier than it should until I saw the look in my brother's eyes as I was about to get on my first plane. He couldn't even look me in the eye and honestly I didn't want to either because I knew it would just make everything harder. I've noticed that my life recently has been full of hellos and quick goodbyes, I almost feel like a professional at pushing it aside. I have to.
Getting on a plane to New York now seems just like anything else so it hadn't fully hit me yet that I was leaving the country. My layover in Charlotte seemed to fly by and before I knew it I was in Penn Station looking for Matt. Unfortunately I couldn't check my bags into my airline for my later flight to London at 9:25 p.m. in Newark so I had to lug everything I had with me into the city. Matt and I met up with some friends at 12th and University for a quick lunch to catch up and exchange a good laugh. Although it was a very brief visit, I throughly enjoyed it. As we started to walk through the streets of New York it felt like I had never left. Everything felt so familiar and natural to navigate. As people started to filter in and out of the afternoon I began to forget how short of a time that I was actually there for. I went to Union Square to see The Metronome and visit B&N (just because it's one of my favorite places in the city) and unfortuately missed out on seeing Vamprie Weekend upstairs because I had head back to Newark for my flight to LONDON.
Let me just say one thing about this flight -- IT WAS THE SHIT. The people were so nice, the food was great, entertainment was perfect, and I slept pretty well as far as travel sleep goes. I sat next to a beautiful, blonde British guy probably like late 20's who eventually asked me if I needed a place to stay. I declined the stranger. Since I left Newark at 9:45 p.m. and arrived in London at 9 a.m., my body had no idea what time it actually was. As we were decending I looked out the window and couldn't help but feel that the world was upside down. Their roads and cars are the complete opposite of ours and it really threw me off. Heathrow airport is probably about the size of my hometown, if not bigger. I swear that I walked about a mile from my plane to the terminal exit. I was questioned hard at customs to what my purpose was in London, fortuantely I don't seem to come across as the terrorist type so the guy let me through.
Through the hustle and bustle of the people, I saw Jamie through the crowd. He looked different than I remembered and his accent seemed stronger than ever. American English and British English are much different than we actually expect, I noticed myself having to pay closer attention in London to the accents, words, and phrases to be able to fully translate what was going on. I think that going to London before Florence was a good move because I felt the culture shock without the immediate language barrier. Getting from the airport to Jamie's "flat" took about an hour and 15 minutes on "the tube".
I've heard that the London metro system is extremely hard to navigate and the first time you see that map, it is rather overwhelming. Unlike New York, the metro darts every different direction of the city depending on the ZONE number that it is in. It's an interesting system actually. It increasingly spreads out from the center of the city starting at one and ending at nine I think? The different lines aren't sepearted out by numbers or letters like they are in New York either. British words are so fun, my favorite line was "Piccadilly". It rolls of the tongue nicely and it never ceases to make me laugh. The cards that you used to swipe into "the tube" are called "Oyster Cards" which I got a kick out of as well. Jamie claimed that he had no idea why it was called "Oyster" but I'm sure that there has to be something behind that. The underground railways and "tube" slots are extremely clean and crowded. It's like an entirely different city down there, sometimes it feels like forever that you're walking underground. Ever inch of it is covered with white and blue tiles and the seats inside of the metro are cushion and not ruined People in London seemed to respect their city so it makes sense that their public transportation would be sanitary.
Jamie and Stacey's place was the ultimate couple apartment. It seemed a little small to an American eye but everything that they have is like ours but on steriods. Us Americans are spoiled you know, Europeans don't have our type of space. This flat was so cute -- one bedroom, the smallest bathroom you've ever seen, a kitchen, and a living room area -- it was perfect. Since I wasn't there for a terribly long time I'm not sure what the area was like but it never seemed too hard to access anything. Once I actually sat down it was hard for me not to fall asleep. I showered, we caught up on each other's lives that we've missed out on for the past year and a half, then we headed out to what is apparently Jamie's favorite place to eat.
Stacey didn't seem too keen about since Jamie makes her go more frequently than she'd like but I enjoyed it. This place called "Nando's" would kind of parallel a Chili's maybe from the states ? Nando's is all about chicken and how you like it cooked and whether you want a whole, half, or quarter or if you want a pita, burger, or salad. You then have to choose if you want it marinated in extra hot, hot, or medium saucy stuff. I had to keep remembering that french fries over there are referred to as "chips" and the chips that we know of are called "crisps". We had to rush a little bit since we were meeting up with Alex and Morgan to greet Taylor at King's Cross as he came in from Paris.
King's Cross is like Penn Station on crack. When you look up at the ceiling you feel like an ant inside its' hill fighting for survival. Alex and Morgan beat us there but Tay seemed to spot us in the crowd pretty easily. We had to make an adventure to Platform 9 3/4 from HARRY POTTER of course (Sorry Brandi) and we took pictures as if we were headed to Hogwarts (post them please Tay!)
That night we went out to a pub called Montagu Pyke's. It was cheap, fun, and felt a little American until you started to talk to people. We met a group of Stacey's friends from school at the pub and had the opportunity to meet one of the coolest girls ever. Her name is Dot and she's Stacey's old roommate from school. We were all convinced that she is Michael George's soulmate because she's 4'11'' and a photographer. She told us that she spent the past year in South Africa training to work on a cruise ship! Pictures below will show you how adorable (and tiny!) this girl is. I also discovered my favorite drink in the entire world! LISTEN UP GIRLS -- this drink will change your alcoholic careers. I would make a trip back to England just so I could drink this stuff. I'm sure you've heard of it before and honestly I don't know why it hasn't made over to our side of the ocean but it's called Cider. It's lighter than beer but strong enough for you to have a good night and it tastes INCREDIBLE! Throughout the weekend I tried several different flavors, that night was apple and pear.
I have this new awareness of myself that I haven't noticed that much until I got to Europe. At the age of 20 (or just being young in general) you really do feel as though you are invincible to anything. At least I do. I'm not sure that having that mentality is necessarily healthy, but it sure is fun. Subconsciously I really do believe that I can do anything. I was in 4 states, 6 cities, had 3 flights, through 2 countries in 1 day. SERIOUSLY ? That sounds impossible and still feels like it a little when I think about it. In the past week (more than ever) I have felt like like I can get by without eating, sleeping, adjustments, accidents, etc., etc., because for some reason I think like I'm the exception to the rule (when I am so clearly not). But I guess that's the fun part of being so young, you take risks because you aren't afraid that something bad is going to happen to you for whatever justification you can supply. I don't think it makes me irresponsible, it makes me spontaneous and more importantly ADVENTUROUS. My preconceived notions about my invincibility will reoccur throughout this adventure, I am sure of it.
The next day began with a rather slow start and a bowl of "frosties". We decided to fully dedicate Saturday to explore London and hit all of the big spots and that's exactly what we did.We had plans to meet up with people from the night before so we took a bus from Archway to King's Cross. Taylor's reaction to the red double decker buses (yea, the kind you always see in the movies) made me so excited. He didn't realize that they were actual transportation vehicles instead of those double decker tour buses that you see in New York, I can't say I blame him. It did feel rather touristy for us though once we ran upstairs like we were children to sit in the front row of the second floor to pretend like we were driving. It is a whole nother experience, I promise.
Once we found everyone at the McDonald's on the corner we grabbed a quick bite what seemed then to only be for convience but since the current exchange on the pound compared to the dollar is 1.7 ish we felt almost obligated the cheap, greasy food route. To my surprise, the McDonald's food in England seemed almost nothing like our Americanized version of it. There seemed to be less salt, less fat, and a little more satisfaction. Everything somehow settled in you a little nicer than what we experience after the drive thru.
From King's Cross we hopped on "the tube" (geez, saying that never gets old!) to London Bridge which was a HUGE disappointment. Alex, Morgan, and Kelly all warned us before hand that the only cool thing about the London Bridge was that you could see all of the cool stuff in London by standing on it and looking out. That's about it, sorry to ruin it for you if you've never seen it. On the contrary, the rest of the day was not disappointing at the slightest.
As we walked towards the Tower Bridge we passed City Hall which Alex described to look like a sliced onion which turned out to be an amazing display of architecture. I learned much about the Tower Bridge once we went upstairs to the museum. The staircase in that thing seemed like it would go on forever but it was totally worth the hassle. I learned that they recently repainted parts of it blue for the 2012 Olympics that will be hosted in London (obviously). Reading and learning about the construction of the bridge, how long it took to decided what type of bridge would be made, how many people have flown through it, how much time, energy, planning, and money that goes into it made me appreciate such beautiful structurs so much more than I ever have before. On the last part of the museum in the air was a display of other fascinating bridges around the world and nearly all of them seem appealing to visit.
We decided to wander around the other side of the river and cross over at the Millienium Bridge (another noted Harry Potter referrence). I was waiting for the bridge to start falling apart and snap as the sky got darker and dementors started to whirl around me but unfortuantely my Harry Potter fantasy did not come true. As we crossed the river we walked almost directly into the entrance of the Tate Museum which I vauched to return to even though the outside of it looked like a big, brick prison without windows. We stopped into a souvenir shop to look around after we hopped on some bikes to help generate a band's electricity performing on the streets. Apparently the London Eye was put up for the start of the new millennium and was supposed to only be temporary. Since it's still up in 2010, I'm assuming that it attracts more tourists.
That night we had some more friends from Lokanda traveling into the city to visit for a mini reunion. We adventured to Camden Town which could quite possibly fit into my Top 10 favorite places on the entire planet. This is where all of the hipsters, weirdos, and drunks all are and it is more interesting than you could ever imagine. It could also be where the gothic culture started flourishing as well, it's so hard to explain Camden, you really just have to go see it for yourself. Our "pub crawl" (which is sort of equivalent to an American "bar hoping" night, with the exception of the British version being much more intense) started at this place called "The World's End". After I witness a soon to be fight in the tiny corners of the bathroom, I knew that Camden was the place to be. You wouldn't believe the types of people you saw in there!
Don't get creeped out though, I never felt in danger or like I didn't belong, it was just a great place to see insanely different people. There was a girl in the crew next to us with fake, hot pink eye lashes on that nearly curled over her eyebrows and she rocked them like she wore them every second of every day. The music was great as we stood together talking about old times, having a "good laugh" and mocking each other's nationalities and accents. Although I do not recall the name of the next bar, I do know that is where we decided that Dot was the coolest girl ever and more of our friends started filtering into the night. Number 3 as a place called "Made in Brasil". It was packed so we managed our way downstairs and our crew started dominating the floor. While my English friend Mike was rather sloppy and belligerent and wanting to discuss Obama's healthcare plans with us Americans, we happily declined as we decided it would be a good idea to chase shots of tequila with raspberries. That one escaped me too, terrible idea -- never try it.
While some people stayed out later, some of us ventured home so that we weren't totally useless the next day. I woke up to six of us crammed together in Jamie's tiny living room flat as Stacey made breakfast. Taylor and I were introduced to turns out to be a typical English breakfast choice called a "bacon sandwhich". Our friends were blown away by the fact that we had never had one and I was blown away by the fact that we are still the fattest country in the world. This sandwhich consists of two pieces of buttered bread, ketchup, and a ton of bacon. Sounds pretty gross huh? It honestly wasn't that bad, I kind of liked it.
We then went to check out what Camden was like during the day. I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT EVEN MORE. I'm telling you, this place is where it's at my friends! Come to find out that section of pubs from the night before was only merely the beginning. If you kept walking down the street, you would run into the potentially the biggest flea market in the world. I couldn't get enough of it. The food, the people, the culture, the STUFF, the sounds and smells of every corner you turned. You just kept getting deeper and deeper into this world of things that you never wanted to be pulled out of. There literally aren't words to describe how incredible this place really is. I could have stayed there for days and never have gotten bored, we stayed for hours and I didn't feel satisfied. Our friends from out of town had to head back to their burrows of the U.K. but Tay and I stayed to enjoy some flavored hot chocolate and a chocolate and caramel filled churro (both made right in front of us). We came across some vintage luggage that we were both SO tempted to buy. Some of it was hundreds of years old with warn off stickers and leather that looked like it had survived a hurricane. We decided that if we were to ever see anyone who actually had one of those pieces and used it, they would be a total bad ass.
Since Alex and Morgan didn't make it to the market with us we were having withdrawls from one another so I invited all the boys to try Nando's. We discussed our days and future plans for the semester and they all seemed to enjoy the meal and experience as much as I did. Taylor had to head back to Paris for school (oh yea, that's what we actually came here for isn't it?) super early the next morning so he stayed at Alex's because it was only walking distance to the train station from there. We stopped by his apartment for a bit and then went to watch some American football at a pub called "The Rocket" which seemed to be super Americanized although I did enjoy some of my beloved cider. I liked the scene. The lamps hanging from the ceiling where made out of glass beer mugs and it seemed to be some sort of game night where you can win prizes and what not. Some guy from the bar was running it and provided us with a selection of unheard music with an in and out audio update of the Jets/Colts game. The only unfortuante part about this experience was that Alex couldn't blare his heterosexually through the juke box speakers (Justin B, Ke$ha, Miley, and Britney were highly disappointed). I found something cool on the girl's bathroom door..
Taylor walked me to the bus back to Archway as our night came to an end. Once I got on the bus and sat down I realized that that was the first minute I had caught myself alone in the past few days. As I watched London pass me by through the window (at the front seat on the second floor) I took a deep breath and thought about everything that had just happened. Not one minute had I slowed down to recognize or appreciate what I was actually doing with some of my best friends in the world. I put in my ipod headphones in my ears and just let my mind relax and wander (because who knew when I would be able to do that again). London was dark, rainy, and cold that night but I felt warm and happy.
As it was on shuffle, The Kook's "One Last Time" came on. Now I have and listen to a lot of music, if you saw how big my itunes library was you might be a little disgusted, but for some reason this song touched me. This song captured every single emotion I was feeling to the exact extent as I was instantaneously absorbing and resisting it. I started to think about I was in L.A. a few weeks ago listening to as much Jack's Mannequin as time allowed to see if I could understand where Andrew McMahon's brillance derived from. As I went through L.A. thinking about the single "Holiday from Real" from one of his best albums "Everything in Transit" I could totally see how his lyrics were strung together.
The Kooks are from England, I was in England, maybe that's why I made that immediate association between the two. I was feeling and beginning to understand their locational inspiration. These bands form parts of me that I wouldn't have found without their unique sound and timing in my life. It's weird how your ipod knows you sometimes, like it knows exactly what you need to hear when you need to hear it. This could have been totally coincidental or I could be totally insane or maybe sometimes humanity understands one another more than we think..
The next morning I slept in for the first time in what felt like forever and met up wtih Alex for lunch then we went back to the Tate museum since I knew I needed to go before I left. We stopped for coffee on our cold walk there from the London Bridge stop and saw a Pirate ship (Eddie would have loved it!) and we passed Shakespeare's remodeled theatre. That would be an interesting visit as well I'm sure. This museum was like no other that I've ever seen before. So many different types of art from different slections from different time periods from different countries. I could write about it forever but I think I'm already supplying enough detail in this blog as it is. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures (like most museums) but I would HIGHLY recommend visitng the Tate Museum some point in your life. Oh yea, and admission was free, that could have made it a little sweeter too.
We seperated on "the tube" because he had class and I had to get back to Archway. I hung out with Stacey and Jamie that night as I got ready to leave for Italy the next day. I knew I wasn't going to get a good night's sleep because that night was full of a headache, sore throat, and extremely stuffy nose (Thanks Tay). Law and Order SVU was on and I couldn't help but think of late nights with alfredo and popcorn at Mike Hutchinson's place. I could almost smell the DX house as the opening song came on, my first sign of remote homesickness.
The next day seemed like the LONGEST day of my life. I took a bus to the train that would take me to the airport which took about 2 hours. Navigating Heathrow airport alone with everything I basically own on me was pure hell. I got lost at least a dozen times but finally made it to where I needed to be. As I boarded my first plane to Rome I couldn't help but realize that everyone around me was only speaking Italian. Oh shit, I thought. You would have thought that the color green had vomitted all over this plane, these people have true pride for their country. Maybe I should have looked in the mirror a little harder that morning to rub off the stamp that said AMERICAN across my forehead since people automatically knew that I would only speak English. Although we never think about it too much, being American does hold several disadvantages, especially in international travel. I know what the stereotypes are like but I couldn't help but wonder if I was only seen that way and every other quality that I may posses would be completely disregarded because of my nationality. It felt weird on the other side of the spectrum for once.
The inefficiency that I witnessed in European airports throughout the day made me want to scream. Now don't get me wrong, there are many things that the Europeans do well and better than Americans do but THAT is NOT one of them. By the time I got to Florence I would have voluntarily jumped out of the window of that plane and the night only got better. Once I did find my school that was picking me up, I had to wait another hour for a flight to come in from Amsterdam that had the last two girls of the day to pick up. I held it together, read my book, and waited as patiently as I could. We were individually driven to our apartments dispersed throughout the city. When I heard that I was going to be the first one dropped off, I was relieved. I thought that my progressively worsening cold might kill me if I didnt't go to sleep soon. BEDTIME -- finally!
Well little did I know how much longer my night would actually be. Once my things were taken off the bus, the woman who drove me directed to big, wooden door that read Via Faenza 18 and then she disappeared. Well, I hope this works, I thought. I was given three keys. Three? That's an odd number -- I wonder what the third one is for? Key #1 didn't work, ok whatever. Try Key #2, huh, that's weird. I guess it's Key #3, just kidding. Hmm, maybe it's me, I'll try again. Oh shit, it's NOT working. OH MY GOD! Ok wait, deep breath, these are European locks maybe I just need some help. I ask at least five people on the street to help me, but of course, why would anyone speak English? That's just great. Seriously what am I supposed to do now?! I am in a foreign country where no one speaks my language and I don't know a soul. That's fan-fucking-tastic. I stood there and thought about it for a second and remembered that I had written Taylor's number down. I needed a familiar voice. I turned on my extremely ghetto European phone and called him. Thank God he answered. I completely broke down. Somehow he knows how to calm me down when I'm truly freaking out. Once I pulled myself together he instructed me on how to dial an American number on an European phone so my initial reaction of course was to call my parents but then I thought well geez what the hell are they going to do? They're at work and they're in Florida. That's pointeless, it will only worry them... JIM! My advisor from USF saved the day. He had to make about 2934293874 phone calls to get to someone who could help me. Whoever that person was then contacted my roommates who were apparently at dinner to come home to let me in.
Waiting on that street was really kind of scary. It was well lit and all but there must have been a festival or something earlier that day because there were about 50 Italian men moving these big trailer things and then there was me. My roommates showed up about 10 minutes later worried that I wasn't ok. I was frustrated, sick, cold, sore, tired, and miserable but other than that I was fine. I was then informed that where we has a closed gate that looked alot like a garage door closed infront of where live that gets closed at night. Now how the hell was I supposed to know that? I had been standing right next to it the whole time. It looked like a storage space. Whatever, moving on. We opened the gate and walked a long, wide hallway with about 6 different international flags, 3 on each side. A painting of David and a painted, elevated map of the city of Florence.
As we were walking, they told me that we live on top of a hostel that is owned by the cutest little, old Italian couple. We make our way up the stairs to our floor and I am in love with it already. It's not too much but I'M LIVING IN ITALY. We have a living room (which I guess isn't normal here?) a kitchen, two bedrooms, and the second smallest bathroom that you've ever seen in your life. It's old and freezing in here with much to adjust too but that's part of the adventure. My roommates are great and we've been having a wonderful time together getting to know each other and the city.
Chandelier in my room!
Nat! Do you see the frame you made me?!
I put down everything that I had been lugging around all day and the girls told me that we were going out. I should have been totally opposed but the circumstances seemed right and I thought what the hell, why not? Since we live on top of a hostel, we have full access to it as well and apparently before I arrived Brooke, Catherine, and Alissa had met three hot Australian guys who were traveling throughout Europe who happened to be staying in our hostel. I didn't need much convincing from there. I changed quickly and we were out the door. We only had to walk a couple of blocks before we stumbled aross "The Fish Pub" (why it's called that, I have no idea). Right before we walked in the door, some random guy handed Brooke a single red rose and said "Ciao Bella!" she gladly accepted it as we made our way through. We ironically ran into the Australians and they convinced us that January 26th was "Australia Day" (kind of like our 4th of July?) I didn't really buy it but whatever, they had hats.
Now we all know how girls are about men with foreign accents and we'd all like to believe that it's not charming but it totally is. One of the boys took the rose from Brooke and it was a battle of the sexes all night to see who had it once we got home. Irish car bombs, sex on the beach, and some random tastings later I found myself in a conversation with a guy named Ben who was telling me that him and his two buddies (Mitch and Toby) quit every job he had in Tazmania to travel in Europe for 6 months to "discover himself" and figure out what he wanted out of life. I thought it was pretty ballsy move on their part. Who does that anyway?! We seemed to be engaged in a fairly good conversation when I was telling him that he should go skydiving since he said that he was one of those adrenaline types of people, I thought it might be something he'd want to do. He was a pretty interesting guy to talk to until well, he started being a guy and I honestly started to hate him. I would critique every move he made and all the things he said started to target to that cliche conversation with a girl in a bar. Now don't get me wrong, this kid had swagger but he broke way too many rules.
Just a few tips for guys when trying to get with a girl (especially at a bar)...
#1 DON'T BE AN IDIOT -- we're not retarded and most of us can see right through you.
#2 You really need to stop trying so hard, it's extremely unattractive.
#3 Please don't ask me a question and then not listen to my response, we know when you're not listening so don't waste my time if you don't actually care about what I'm saying.
#4 Don't pop our collar, you look like a complete tool.
#5 Don't ask if you can buy me a drink and then expect me to bow down to you and kiss the ground you walk on, it just doesn't work that way. Sorry buddy.
#6 I lied, of course I have a phone number, I just don't want YOU to ever call me.
#7 Yes, you are attractive. Yes, you do have accent. No, I will not sleep with you.
The list could keep going but I don't have the time for that but you get my drift. I eventually decided that I was done and that I seriously needed to get some sleep. I couldn't believe that I had just been in London that morning. As the seven of us walked out I realized that they had the same walk home as we did, great. I figured that there was no reason for me to be mean to Ben so I talked to him on the walk home. I think I might have killed his major ego with some pretty assertive rejections and cold shoulders but I didn't need to be unfriendly. I completely lost interest in our dull conversation when I saw Mitch with the rose, (GOOD! I found an out of that awkwardness). I grabbed the rose and started running with it. Via Faenza was to the right so I was about to turn the corner as I was running. Note to self -- Italian roads are uneven cobbel stones, please do not run. Oh shit, there goes my invincibility mentality catching up with me again -- I completely ate it. It would have been a lot worse if I hadn't have grabbed onto the light pole attached to the building next to the corner. I only cut up my knee when it probably should have been my whole right side. I caught myself well, I guess playing soccer for so long finally paid off, I fall smoothly.
Then as you suspected, the Australians wanted to come upstairs to "help me" or whatever and there was no way for talking them out of it so we said sure whatever. They came upstairs, OK -- look, I'm fine. You can go home now! I was sitting on the couch next to Ben mending my bleeding knee when he turned to me and said quietly "Why are you being weird?" I couldn't help but laugh. Why am I being weird? What kind of question is that? YOU MEET ME TWO HOURS AGO. This could be me being normal, you would have no idea. Don't talk to me like we've been friends for some extensive amount of time. Once he fully realized that there was no way in hell that I was going to even touch him, he went home. After the boys left, the roommates and I had to have our first sleepover discussions about whatever girls talk about at sleepovers.
Wednesday was full of excitement. It was the first time that I saw the city in the light. Every inch of this place is absolutely gorgeous. It is leaking with things to do, resturants to eat at, museums to visit, people to talk to, wine to drink. We had an orientation seminar down by the river and the view was surreal. There aren't even words. I haven't taken too many pictures yet but I will get them to you all soon, I promise. After our class thing, we explored the city and just walked and found shops, stores, cafes, resturants, which we eventually want to try them all! We've already sampled several different expressos and had the most phenominal pizza yesterday for lunch. I had to go to the doctor for this cold and my knee so now I'm on a bunch of medication to get them both to heal faster. I'm just falling apart at the best of times. I really need to learn the ins and outs of this city. It's such a cool place and I can't wait to spend 4 months here. We have tons of things to do for school already and I feel extremely overwhelmend but I think that we all feel like that. Much has happened even just today but it's late and my eyes are going to give up on me soon. My memory is having a hard time keeping up with everything that is going on as well. I hope you had fun reading about my adventures :) I sure am having fun living them. I will write again soon. Ciao!
Let me just say one thing about this flight -- IT WAS THE SHIT. The people were so nice, the food was great, entertainment was perfect, and I slept pretty well as far as travel sleep goes. I sat next to a beautiful, blonde British guy probably like late 20's who eventually asked me if I needed a place to stay. I declined the stranger. Since I left Newark at 9:45 p.m. and arrived in London at 9 a.m., my body had no idea what time it actually was. As we were decending I looked out the window and couldn't help but feel that the world was upside down. Their roads and cars are the complete opposite of ours and it really threw me off. Heathrow airport is probably about the size of my hometown, if not bigger. I swear that I walked about a mile from my plane to the terminal exit. I was questioned hard at customs to what my purpose was in London, fortuantely I don't seem to come across as the terrorist type so the guy let me through.
Through the hustle and bustle of the people, I saw Jamie through the crowd. He looked different than I remembered and his accent seemed stronger than ever. American English and British English
I've heard that the London metro system is extremely hard to navigate and the first time you see that map, it is rather overwhelming. Unlike New York, the metro darts every different direction of the city depending on the ZONE number that it is in. It's an interesting system actually. It increasingly spreads out from the center of the city starting at one and ending at nine I think? The different lines aren't sepearted out by numbers or letters like they are in New York either. British words are so fun, my favorite line was "Piccadilly". It rolls of the tongue nicely and it never ceases to make me laugh. The cards that you used to swipe into "the tube" are called "Oyster Cards" which I got a kick out of as well. Jamie claimed that he had no idea why it was called "Oyster" but I'm sure that there has to be something behind that. The underground railways and "tube" slots are extremely clean and crowded. It's like an entirely different city down there, sometimes it feels like forever that you're walking underground. Ever inch of it is covered with white and blue tiles and the seats inside of the metro are cushion and not ruined People in London seemed to respect their city so it makes sense that their public transportation would be sanitary.
Jamie and Stacey's place was the ultimate couple apartment. It seemed a little small to an American eye but everything that they have is like ours but on steriods. Us Americans are spoiled you know, Europeans don't have our type of space. This flat was so cute -- one bedroom, the smallest bathroom you've ever seen, a kitchen, and a living room area -- it was perfect. Since I wasn't there for a terribly long time I'm not sure what the area was like but it never seemed too hard to access anything. Once I actually sat down it was hard for me not to fall asleep. I showered, we caught up on each other's lives that we've missed out on for the past year and a half, then we headed out to what is apparently Jamie's favorite place to eat.
Stacey didn't seem too keen about since Jamie makes her go more frequently than she'd like but I enjoyed it. This place called "Nando's" would kind of parallel a Chili's maybe from the states ? Nando's is all about chicken and how you like it cooked and whether you want a whole, half, or quarter or if you want a pita, burger, or salad. You then have to choose if you want it marinated in extra hot, hot, or medium saucy stuff. I had to keep remembering that french fries over there are referred to as "chips" and the chips that we know of are called "crisps". We had to rush a little bit since we were meeting up with Alex and Morgan to greet Taylor at King's Cross as he came in from Paris.
King's Cross is like Penn Station on crack. When you look up at the ceiling you feel like an ant inside its' hill fighting for survival. Alex and Morgan beat us there but Tay seemed to spot us in the crowd pretty easily. We had to make an adventure to Platform 9 3/4 from HARRY POTTER of course (Sorry Brandi) and we took pictures as if we were headed to Hogwarts (post them please Tay!)
That night we went out to a pub called Montagu Pyke's. It was cheap, fun, and felt a little American until you started to talk to people. We met a group of Stacey's friends from school at the pub and had the opportunity to meet one of the coolest girls ever. Her name is Dot and she's Stacey's old roommate from school. We were all convinced that she is Michael George's soulmate because she's 4'11'' and a photographer. She told us that she spent the past year in South Africa training to work on a cruise ship! Pictures below will show you how adorable (and tiny!) this girl is. I also discovered my favorite drink in the entire world! LISTEN UP GIRLS -- this drink will change your alcoholic careers. I would make a trip back to England just so I could drink this stuff. I'm sure you've heard of it before and honestly I don't know why it hasn't made over to our side of the ocean but it's called Cider. It's lighter than beer but strong enough for you to have a good night and it tastes INCREDIBLE! Throughout the weekend I tried several different flavors, that night was apple and pear.
The next day began with a rather slow start and a bowl of "frosties". We decided to fully dedicate Saturday to explore London and hit all of the big spots and that's exactly what we did.We had plans to meet up with people from the night before so we took a bus from Archway to King's Cross. Taylor's reaction to the red double decker buses (yea, the kind you always see in the movies) made me so excited. He didn't realize that they were actual transportation vehicles instead of those double decker tour buses that you see in New York, I can't say I blame him. It did feel rather touristy for us though once we ran upstairs like we were children to sit in the front row of the second floor to pretend like we were driving. It is a whole nother experience, I promise.
Once we found everyone at the McDonald's on the corner we grabbed a quick bite what seemed then to only be for convience but since the current exchange on the pound compared to the dollar is 1.7 ish we felt almost obligated the cheap, greasy food route. To my surprise, the McDonald's food in England seemed almost nothing like our Americanized version of it. There seemed to be less salt, less fat, and a little more satisfaction. Everything somehow settled in you a little nicer than what we experience after the drive thru.
From King's Cross we hopped on "the tube" (geez, saying that never gets old!) to London Bridge which was a HUGE disappointment. Alex, Morgan, and Kelly all warned us before hand that the only cool thing about the London Bridge was that you could see all of the cool stuff in London by standing on it and looking out. That's about it, sorry to ruin it for you if you've never seen it. On the contrary, the rest of the day was not disappointing at the slightest.
As we walked towards the Tower Bridge we passed City Hall which Alex described to look like a sliced onion which turned out to be an amazing display of architecture. I learned much about the Tower Bridge once we went upstairs to the museum. The staircase in that thing seemed like it would go on forever but it was totally worth the hassle. I learned that they recently repainted parts of it blue for the 2012 Olympics that will be hosted in London (obviously). Reading and learning about the construction of the bridge, how long it took to decided what type of bridge would be made, how many people have flown through it, how much time, energy, planning, and money that goes into it made me appreciate such beautiful structurs so much more than I ever have before. On the last part of the museum in the air was a display of other fascinating bridges around the world and nearly all of them seem appealing to visit.
That night we had some more friends from Lokanda traveling into the city to visit for a mini reunion. We adventured to Camden Town which could quite possibly fit into my Top 10 favorite places on the entire planet. This is where all of the hipsters, weirdos, and drunks all are and it is more interesting than you could ever imagine. It could also be where the gothic culture started flourishing as well, it's so hard to explain Camden, you really just have to go see it for yourself. Our "pub crawl" (which is sort of equivalent to an American "bar hoping" night, with the exception of the British version being much more intense) started at this place called "The World's End". After I witness a soon to be fight in the tiny corners of the bathroom, I knew that Camden was the place to be. You wouldn't believe the types of people you saw in there!Don't get creeped out though, I never felt in danger or like I didn't belong, it was just a great place to see insanely different people. There was a girl in the crew next to us with fake, hot pink eye lashes on that nearly curled over her eyebrows and she rocked them like she wore them every second of every day. The music was great as we stood together talking about old times, having a "good laugh" and mocking each other's nationalities and accents. Although I do not recall the name of the next bar, I do know that is where we decided that Dot was the coolest girl ever and more of our friends started filtering into the night. Number 3 as a place called "Made in Brasil". It was packed so we managed our way downstairs and our crew started dominating the floor. While my English friend Mike was rather sloppy and belligerent and wanting to discuss Obama's healthcare plans with us Americans, we happily declined as we decided it would be a good idea to chase shots of tequila with raspberries. That one escaped me too, terrible idea -- never try it.
While some people stayed out later, some of us ventured home so that we weren't totally useless the next day. I woke up to six of us crammed together in Jamie's tiny living room flat as Stacey made breakfast. Taylor and I were introduced to turns out to be a typical English breakfast choice called a "bacon sandwhich". Our friends were blown away by the fact that we had never had one and I was blown away by the fact that we are still the fattest country in the world. This sandwhich consists of two pieces of buttered bread, ketchup, and a ton of bacon. Sounds pretty gross huh? It honestly wasn't that bad, I kind of liked it.We then went to check out what Camden was like during the day. I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT EVEN MORE. I'm telling you, this place is where it's at my friends! Come to find out that section of pubs from the night before was only merely the beginning. If you kept walking down the street, you would run into the potentially the biggest flea market in the world. I couldn't get enough of it. The food, the people, the culture, the STUFF, the sounds and smells of every corner you turned. You just kept getting deeper and deeper into this world of things that you never wanted to be pulled out of. There literally aren't words to describe how incredible this place really is. I could have stayed there for days and never have gotten bored, we stayed for hours and I didn't feel satisfied. Our friends from out of town had to head back to their burrows of the U.K. but Tay and I stayed to enjoy some flavored hot chocolate and a chocolate and caramel filled churro (both made right in front of us). We came across some vintage luggage that we were both SO tempted to buy. Some of it was hundreds of years old with warn off stickers and leather that looked like it had survived a hurricane. We decided that if we were to ever see anyone who actually had one of those pieces and used it, they would be a total bad ass.
Since Alex and Morgan didn't make it to the market with us we were having withdrawls from one another so I invited all the boys to try Nando's. We discussed our days and future plans for the semester and they all seemed to enjoy the meal and experience as much as I did. Taylor had to head back to Paris for school (oh yea, that's what we actually came here for isn't it?) super early the next morning so he stayed at Alex's because it was only walking distance to the train station from there. We stopped by his apartment for a bit and then went to watch some American football at a pub called "The Rocket" which seemed to be super Americanized although I did enjoy some of my beloved cider. I liked the scene. The lamps hanging from the ceiling where made out of glass beer mugs and it seemed to be some sort of game night where you can win prizes and what not. Some guy from the bar was running it and provided us with a selection of unheard music with an in and out audio update of the Jets/Colts game. The only unfortuante part about this experience was that Alex couldn't blare his heterosexually through the juke box speakers (Justin B, Ke$ha, Miley, and Britney were highly disappointed). I found something cool on the girl's bathroom door..
Taylor walked me to the bus back to Archway as our night came to an end. Once I got on the bus and sat down I realized that that was the first minute I had caught myself alone in the past few days. As I watched London pass me by through the window (at the front seat on the second floor) I took a deep breath and thought about everything that had just happened. Not one minute had I slowed down to recognize or appreciate what I was actually doing with some of my best friends in the world. I put in my ipod headphones in my ears and just let my mind relax and wander (because who knew when I would be able to do that again). London was dark, rainy, and cold that night but I felt warm and happy.As it was on shuffle, The Kook's "One Last Time" came on. Now I have and listen to a lot of music, if you saw how big my itunes library was you might be a little disgusted, but for some reason this song touched me. This song captured every single emotion I was feeling to the exact extent as I was instantaneously absorbing and resisting it. I started to think about I was in L.A. a few weeks ago listening to as much Jack's Mannequin as time allowed to see if I could understand where Andrew McMahon's brillance derived from. As I went through L.A. thinking about the single "Holiday from Real" from one of his best albums "Everything in Transit" I could totally see how his lyrics were strung together.
The Kooks are from England, I was in England, maybe that's why I made that immediate association between the two. I was feeling and beginning to understand their locational inspiration. These bands form parts of me that I wouldn't have found without their unique sound and timing in my life. It's weird how your ipod knows you sometimes, like it knows exactly what you need to hear when you need to hear it. This could have been totally coincidental or I could be totally insane or maybe sometimes humanity understands one another more than we think..
The next morning I slept in for the first time in what felt like forever and met up wtih Alex for lunch then we went back to the Tate museum since I knew I needed to go before I left. We stopped for coffee on our cold walk there from the London Bridge stop and saw a Pirate ship (Eddie would have loved it!) and we passed Shakespeare's remodeled theatre. That would be an interesting visit as well I'm sure. This museum was like no other that I've ever seen before. So many different types of art from different slections from different time periods from different countries. I could write about it forever but I think I'm already supplying enough detail in this blog as it is. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures (like most museums) but I would HIGHLY recommend visitng the Tate Museum some point in your life. Oh yea, and admission was free, that could have made it a little sweeter too.
We seperated on "the tube" because he had class and I had to get back to Archway. I hung out with Stacey and Jamie that night as I got ready to leave for Italy the next day. I knew I wasn't going to get a good night's sleep because that night was full of a headache, sore throat, and extremely stuffy nose (Thanks Tay). Law and Order SVU was on and I couldn't help but think of late nights with alfredo and popcorn at Mike Hutchinson's place. I could almost smell the DX house as the opening song came on, my first sign of remote homesickness.The next day seemed like the LONGEST day of my life. I took a bus to the train that would take me to the airport which took about 2 hours. Navigating Heathrow airport alone with everything I basically own on me was pure hell. I got lost at least a dozen times but finally made it to where I needed to be. As I boarded my first plane to Rome I couldn't help but realize that everyone around me was only speaking Italian. Oh shit, I thought. You would have thought that the color green had vomitted all over this plane, these people have true pride for their country. Maybe I should have looked in the mirror a little harder that morning to rub off the stamp that said AMERICAN across my forehead since people automatically knew that I would only speak English. Although we never think about it too much, being American does hold several disadvantages, especially in international travel. I know what the stereotypes are like but I couldn't help but wonder if I was only seen that way and every other quality that I may posses would be completely disregarded because of my nationality. It felt weird on the other side of the spectrum for once.
The inefficiency that I witnessed in European airports throughout the day made me want to scream. Now don't get me wrong, there are many things that the Europeans do well and better than Americans do but THAT is NOT one of them. By the time I got to Florence I would have voluntarily jumped out of the window of that plane and the night only got better. Once I did find my school that was picking me up, I had to wait another hour for a flight to come in from Amsterdam that had the last two girls of the day to pick up. I held it together, read my book, and waited as patiently as I could. We were individually driven to our apartments dispersed throughout the city. When I heard that I was going to be the first one dropped off, I was relieved. I thought that my progressively worsening cold might kill me if I didnt't go to sleep soon. BEDTIME -- finally!
Well little did I know how much longer my night would actually be. Once my things were taken off the bus, the woman who drove me directed to big, wooden door that read Via Faenza 18 and then she disappeared. Well, I hope this works, I thought. I was given three keys. Three? That's an odd number -- I wonder what the third one is for? Key #1 didn't work, ok whatever. Try Key #2, huh, that's weird. I guess it's Key #3, just kidding. Hmm, maybe it's me, I'll try again. Oh shit, it's NOT working. OH MY GOD! Ok wait, deep breath, these are European locks maybe I just need some help. I ask at least five people on the street to help me, but of course, why would anyone speak English? That's just great. Seriously what am I supposed to do now?! I am in a foreign country where no one speaks my language and I don't know a soul. That's fan-fucking-tastic. I stood there and thought about it for a second and remembered that I had written Taylor's number down. I needed a familiar voice. I turned on my extremely ghetto European phone and called him. Thank God he answered. I completely broke down. Somehow he knows how to calm me down when I'm truly freaking out. Once I pulled myself together he instructed me on how to dial an American number on an European phone so my initial reaction of course was to call my parents but then I thought well geez what the hell are they going to do? They're at work and they're in Florida. That's pointeless, it will only worry them... JIM! My advisor from USF saved the day. He had to make about 2934293874 phone calls to get to someone who could help me. Whoever that person was then contacted my roommates who were apparently at dinner to come home to let me in.
Waiting on that street was really kind of scary. It was well lit and all but there must have been a festival or something earlier that day because there were about 50 Italian men moving these big trailer things and then there was me. My roommates showed up about 10 minutes later worried that I wasn't ok. I was frustrated, sick, cold, sore, tired, and miserable but other than that I was fine. I was then informed that where we has a closed gate that looked alot like a garage door closed infront of where live that gets closed at night. Now how the hell was I supposed to know that? I had been standing right next to it the whole time. It looked like a storage space. Whatever, moving on. We opened the gate and walked a long, wide hallway with about 6 different international flags, 3 on each side. A painting of David and a painted, elevated map of the city of Florence.
As we were walking, they told me that we live on top of a hostel that is owned by the cutest little, old Italian couple. We make our way up the stairs to our floor and I am in love with it already. It's not too much but I'M LIVING IN ITALY. We have a living room (which I guess isn't normal here?) a kitchen, two bedrooms, and the second smallest bathroom that you've ever seen in your life. It's old and freezing in here with much to adjust too but that's part of the adventure. My roommates are great and we've been having a wonderful time together getting to know each other and the city.
Chandelier in my room!
Nat! Do you see the frame you made me?! And there is evidence of the black and jeans party
on the bottom left of the mirror! :)
I put down everything that I had been lugging around all day and the girls told me that we were going out. I should have been totally opposed but the circumstances seemed right and I thought what the hell, why not? Since we live on top of a hostel, we have full access to it as well and apparently before I arrived Brooke, Catherine, and Alissa had met three hot Australian guys who were traveling throughout Europe who happened to be staying in our hostel. I didn't need much convincing from there. I changed quickly and we were out the door. We only had to walk a couple of blocks before we stumbled aross "The Fish Pub" (why it's called that, I have no idea). Right before we walked in the door, some random guy handed Brooke a single red rose and said "Ciao Bella!" she gladly accepted it as we made our way through. We ironically ran into the Australians and they convinced us that January 26th was "Australia Day" (kind of like our 4th of July?) I didn't really buy it but whatever, they had hats.
Now we all know how girls are about men with foreign accents and we'd all like to believe that it's not charming but it totally is. One of the boys took the rose from Brooke and it was a battle of the sexes all night to see who had it once we got home. Irish car bombs, sex on the beach, and some random tastings later I found myself in a conversation with a guy named Ben who was telling me that him and his two buddies (Mitch and Toby) quit every job he had in Tazmania to travel in Europe for 6 months to "discover himself" and figure out what he wanted out of life. I thought it was pretty ballsy move on their part. Who does that anyway?! We seemed to be engaged in a fairly good conversation when I was telling him that he should go skydiving since he said that he was one of those adrenaline types of people, I thought it might be something he'd want to do. He was a pretty interesting guy to talk to until well, he started being a guy and I honestly started to hate him. I would critique every move he made and all the things he said started to target to that cliche conversation with a girl in a bar. Now don't get me wrong, this kid had swagger but he broke way too many rules.
Just a few tips for guys when trying to get with a girl (especially at a bar)...
#1 DON'T BE AN IDIOT -- we're not retarded and most of us can see right through you.
#2 You really need to stop trying so hard, it's extremely unattractive.
#3 Please don't ask me a question and then not listen to my response, we know when you're not listening so don't waste my time if you don't actually care about what I'm saying.
#4 Don't pop our collar, you look like a complete tool.
#5 Don't ask if you can buy me a drink and then expect me to bow down to you and kiss the ground you walk on, it just doesn't work that way. Sorry buddy.
#6 I lied, of course I have a phone number, I just don't want YOU to ever call me.
#7 Yes, you are attractive. Yes, you do have accent. No, I will not sleep with you.
The list could keep going but I don't have the time for that but you get my drift. I eventually decided that I was done and that I seriously needed to get some sleep. I couldn't believe that I had just been in London that morning. As the seven of us walked out I realized that they had the same walk home as we did, great. I figured that there was no reason for me to be mean to Ben so I talked to him on the walk home. I think I might have killed his major ego with some pretty assertive rejections and cold shoulders but I didn't need to be unfriendly. I completely lost interest in our dull conversation when I saw Mitch with the rose, (GOOD! I found an out of that awkwardness). I grabbed the rose and started running with it. Via Faenza was to the right so I was about to turn the corner as I was running. Note to self -- Italian roads are uneven cobbel stones, please do not run. Oh shit, there goes my invincibility mentality catching up with me again -- I completely ate it. It would have been a lot worse if I hadn't have grabbed onto the light pole attached to the building next to the corner. I only cut up my knee when it probably should have been my whole right side. I caught myself well, I guess playing soccer for so long finally paid off, I fall smoothly.
Then as you suspected, the Australians wanted to come upstairs to "help me" or whatever and there was no way for talking them out of it so we said sure whatever. They came upstairs, OK -- look, I'm fine. You can go home now! I was sitting on the couch next to Ben mending my bleeding knee when he turned to me and said quietly "Why are you being weird?" I couldn't help but laugh. Why am I being weird? What kind of question is that? YOU MEET ME TWO HOURS AGO. This could be me being normal, you would have no idea. Don't talk to me like we've been friends for some extensive amount of time. Once he fully realized that there was no way in hell that I was going to even touch him, he went home. After the boys left, the roommates and I had to have our first sleepover discussions about whatever girls talk about at sleepovers.
Wednesday was full of excitement. It was the first time that I saw the city in the light. Every inch of this place is absolutely gorgeous. It is leaking with things to do, resturants to eat at, museums to visit, people to talk to, wine to drink. We had an orientation seminar down by the river and the view was surreal. There aren't even words. I haven't taken too many pictures yet but I will get them to you all soon, I promise. After our class thing, we explored the city and just walked and found shops, stores, cafes, resturants, which we eventually want to try them all! We've already sampled several different expressos and had the most phenominal pizza yesterday for lunch. I had to go to the doctor for this cold and my knee so now I'm on a bunch of medication to get them both to heal faster. I'm just falling apart at the best of times. I really need to learn the ins and outs of this city. It's such a cool place and I can't wait to spend 4 months here. We have tons of things to do for school already and I feel extremely overwhelmend but I think that we all feel like that. Much has happened even just today but it's late and my eyes are going to give up on me soon. My memory is having a hard time keeping up with everything that is going on as well. I hope you had fun reading about my adventures :) I sure am having fun living them. I will write again soon. Ciao!Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Mangiare e bere, per domani muore.
Dare il benvenuto ai viaggi di una donna curiosa! For the next few months I plan to digitally document my travels, adventures, and lessons learned while in Europe. I hope for this to be one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life so I don't want to miss a beat. Being an International Studies major, I find it imperative for to fully appreciate more than just our cliche American lifestyle. The world is too beautiful to live inside such an ignorant bubble. Aside from random excursions throughout North America, this is my first time being away from home for such a long period of time. I hope that these entries will help strengthen my memories later on. I promise to do my very best to be as detailed and consistent as possible.
I depart for London in about a week and it can't seem to come fast enough. I feel as though I may burst with excitement at any given second. I have been preparing for this for what seems like forever now and I can't wait to be in a new environment. The biggest goal I want to accomplish while abroad is to live every minute to its' fullest potential and to absorb every experience with new and old friends. For the past couple of years I have felt warped in a world that I cannot escape with people that can't seem to understand why. I want to get to know myself better and explore my passion and confusion for living in the moment.
"Carpe Diem" seems to be the omnipresent phrase of our flourishing generation that I want to learn how to fully embrace. I will not allow myself to dwell or regret anything from the past or future but rather to LiVE and LOVE as though tomorrow the world will end. A good friend once told me that I cannot allow myself to be so rooted while also still being so young.
He's right.
My life is not a game, it is a chance to be all that I can and to love, learn, and aspire to whatever or wherever my heart takes me. Europe is my new best friend and I haven't even met her yet.
I depart for London in about a week and it can't seem to come fast enough. I feel as though I may burst with excitement at any given second. I have been preparing for this for what seems like forever now and I can't wait to be in a new environment. The biggest goal I want to accomplish while abroad is to live every minute to its' fullest potential and to absorb every experience with new and old friends. For the past couple of years I have felt warped in a world that I cannot escape with people that can't seem to understand why. I want to get to know myself better and explore my passion and confusion for living in the moment.
"Carpe Diem" seems to be the omnipresent phrase of our flourishing generation that I want to learn how to fully embrace. I will not allow myself to dwell or regret anything from the past or future but rather to LiVE and LOVE as though tomorrow the world will end. A good friend once told me that I cannot allow myself to be so rooted while also still being so young.
He's right.
My life is not a game, it is a chance to be all that I can and to love, learn, and aspire to whatever or wherever my heart takes me. Europe is my new best friend and I haven't even met her yet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
