i live in a cave with giant flies

oh man. italy never ceases to amaze me. so this weekend was weird.

friday night me and andrea stayed up past midnight, and we were very proud of ourselves. i've been such an old person when it comes to bed since i've been here. me and andrea both. we are rarely up past 12. however. saturday was a different story...

i got up at like 10:30 or so and me and andrea went shopping! we had a goooood time. :) REALLY good. our professor told us about this underground mall-like area by the train station. and lucky us, the train station happens to be about 2 blocks from our apartment! so we explored for a while and then found that and bought some shoes. saturdays are maaaajor sale days here. friday night stores were putting signs up that said 50% off. like almost every store. it was very exciting.so we shopped til about 2, but everything here closes are 2 until about 4 for their "afternoon siesta." pretty much, italians get breaks in the middle of the day to have lunch and take naps. its amazing. so we went back to our apartment at 2 and did nothing for a while and it was great. we met up with everyone at 7 at part of the groups apartment because it was jessica's birthday (one of the girls in our group here) and we were going to have a birthday dinner for her. so we got there at 7 and started cooking and whatnot, and jessica got there at about 8:30 and we just hung out and had a good time. jessica wanted to go dancing at a club, so we all decided to go with her, and if you got there before midnight, there was no cover charge. so we left at about 11:15 and went to a club called "Twice" that is behind the Duomo. my first italian club. let me just tell you. it was an interesting experience. we got there and NO ONE was dancing. seriously, no one. everyone was sitting and drinking. there were like 10 other girls there, maybe, and they were all just sitting between their italian stallions being judgmental and unfriendly. we were told by an italian cop that italian girls are very unfriendly and i now believe him. jessica and some of the other girls who had been drinking all night decided they were going to start dancing, just because they wanted to, and maybe other people would start if they were. and their plan didnt work at all, but they kept dancing and man.. those girls. they just looked very unpleasant. and the guys there... ew. they were just sitting there, drinking, and staring at the girls dancing. nasty guys. ew.

so pretty much, me and andrea and another girl in our group, lauren, were the lame ones who just sat around the whole time. i got asked to dance by some italian guy who was wearing a vest. and when i said no, he asked why. and when i said maybe later, he told me if i wanted to dance, he would be there. oh gee, thanks. you're just a creepy italian wearing a vest at a shady club, i would love to dance with you. just don't touch me. or look at me. or anything having to do with me at all. again, i say... ew.

so yeah, that was an experience. me and andrea left at about one.. thankfully she really is a lot more like me than i expected, and has been my close compadre during this whole trip. i am very thankful for that.

so today i got up at like 10:45 and went walking around town for a bit. i brought my sketchbook and was planning on plopping down somewhere and doing some drawings, but it was SO HOT. i have been attacked by mosquitoes all over my legs, so i have been wearing pants the past few days to avoid scratching them, and i was dying today. so i ended up just heading for school, and i found a place to buy sunglasses on the way. my search for sunglasses is never ceasing because i like the kind without the nose things, but its hard for me to wear those because they touch my eyelashes and it bothers me. but i found two pair at a stand today and bought them both and am very excited about them! so i eventually made my way to school and got online briefly and then got some work done in the studio. it is so nice to have a studio where i can work uninterrupted and not worry about being messy. and, biggest plus ever.... dun dun dunnnn... it's air conditioned!! probably one of the only places in all of florence! so i spent a few hours working today and finished some pieces, which i'm pretty excited about. then i made my way back home and made a delicious lunch of pasta with aglio, olio e peperocino spices, with some bread with olive oil and vinegar. and a cold coke from the gelateria that i live above. oh man... it was delicious. oh! and when i opened the windows in my living room, there was a big scary lizard on my shutters that was white and black and bumpy and gross. aka, windows closed at night for positive now. i cant imagine that thing in my room. plus, someone else had a scorpion in their bathroom yesterday. not at my apartment, but still. nasty.

so i took a nap this afternoon and it was glorious, except i was super hot. but then i finished my book and it was so good! it's called the singer trilogy, and it is "a mythic retelling of the story of the new testament." jonathan let me borrow it to read here and it was so good. all 488 pages! i read it in less than two weeks, it was that good! now i have to find another book to read.

but after that i took a shower, and it was the best shower i've had since i got here. we still don't have our hot water entirely fixed, but it is really hot for about a minute after you turn it on. so that was really nice to have hot water. it was the first time i actually stood entirely under the water since i've been here... haha. but then the water cooled down, but after the hot water, that felt really good. so it was a nice refreshing shower. i havent felt as clean as i do now since i left home 3 weeks ago!

me and andrea went to dinner tonight in an air conditioned restaurant (it was our only goal of the evening) and i had a big class of "coca cola" (they dont know what youre talking about if you just say coke) and it had a bunch of ice in it and man... it was delicious! so its almost 11 pm now, and i have class at 9 am and i still have some stuff to check online and the school closes soon so i must depart. however, know that i miss all of you, and that i am excited about coming home and seeing all of you! i will try to update again soon, probably in the middle of this week, once more exciting things have happened. i will talk to you soon!! ciao!