my life is a joke

dancing irish jigs

2009-10-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

so after completing all my midterms and packing i stayed up all nightto geton my three am bus to the airport. and after several hours of traveling i finally began my descent into dublin. it was an absolutely breathtaking flight in. it was sunrise and the sun'rays reflected onto the clouds inrainbow light. not mention ireland is as green as you would think.it was just gorgeous. so after i disembarked i waited ina rediculously long line for passport control and got like my second stamp of the trip. i wish they stamped my passport more here.i feel like i cant prove how much i traveled without more stamps. anyway then i had to find my parents. we barely had time to say hellp because we had to get into the car to start our drive. we had a failed attempt to see the newgrange tomb since even though we were able to drive there you have to drive to a tourist booth 4 miles away and then have them bs you back. bullshit. so we had breakfast instead. cutelittle irish placewith traditional brown bread. we then began our drive to belfast. along the way we drove through battle of the boin. it has a lot to do with the protestant and catholic problems that happenin northern ireland. when we got to belfast we checked into our hotel and i was so happy to find id besleeping in a cot. such joy. bleh. at least its not thefloor. we had lunch at a cafe and caught up onour lives. its one of thefirst times ive freely ordered wine infront of my parents. we then took what is called a black taxi tour. where a chatty irish protestant who lives in belfastgave us a history lesson about belfast. it was scary. there is a giant 42 foot wall that runs from city center to the mountains dividing the catholic and protestant sides of town. the protestants call themselves brits and the catholics call themselves irish. both sides have crazy murals painted depicting things against the other. i really liked that the catholic side had theguernica by picasso painted. there is also a painting on the protestant side called the mona lisa of belfast. becuase as her eyes follow you around the room. a man's aimed gun follows you around the park. well then we went back into city center and had a beer at a 200 year old pub i finally got a hold of clover and made plans for the night. we had dinner above the pub and i was pleased to down a giant plate of mussels. after we got back to the hotl i had about 20 minutes before clover came and picked me up with his brother. we went to a traditional irish pub first. it was a much older crowd and there was also a bachelorette party going on. i was having trouble listening to clover and his bro becuaseof the noise and their thick accents. huh? was my most used word last night. any way we had a cocktail, a cider, a stella and they made me drink a guiness at this place. guiness is gross not gonna lie i am nota fan. but i think its ok becuase today i figured out that since my family were protestants from the north of ireland we are technically british and i dont have to like guiness. so then a traditional irish band began to play. i announced i was from los angeles and they decided to make me come up and dance an irish jig. so in front of a crowded bar i danced the best icould to irish music and while laughing histerically clover filmed the entire thing. then the creepers came in. some guy bought me a fake rose and then proceeded to follow me around all night. and another kept elbowing me in the side. so i told clover to chug his drinks and we need to leave before i went into bitch mode. when we gotoutside it was drizzling. great i forgot my umbrella. well we got to one club and it was completely empty so we went to another. looked ok from the outside. and got to the third which had a decent amount of people in it. we took shots and then nursed corona while standing in the corner for awhile. then a cute boy asked me to dance so i decided to get amoungst it. i loved the music in that club. mostly upbeat rock. when the strobe lights flashed i noticed that he had the most impossible blue eyes. we went outsidefor a smoke and i foundout he was a professional motorcross racer. in belfast whoknew. well then clover decided to leave and i asked the boy if hed be willing to get me home. he said yes. so we danced a while longer got another drink and then stumbled home to my hotel. i told him my parents were upstairs and he had to leave he was good about it. well i have to write about today later becuase i need to go to dinner withthe parents now.
so ciao

the five lands

2009-10-21T04:29:00.000-07:00

i can easily say cinque terre is one of the most beautiful places on earth. before i left i was told that the weather would be gross and i should only pack warm things but never believe everything you here. im glad i still packed my bathing suit and a couple tank tops becuase i needed them. upon arriving we discovered it was sunny and warm if you stood still in the sunny areas. e managed to drop our stuff off int he hotel and get on our way by ten thirty. although i wanted to immediately go out and layout in the sun i agreed to go exploring with tracy and lauren first. i couldn't believe how clear and tourquoise the water was. placed against the towering green cliffs and the brightly painted buildings in the villages it really is quite a breathtaking sight. refer to my facebook album. we spent a couple hours exploring monterosso. taking pictures of benches becuase we are sure that jacob slept on one of them. and then found some yummy food and cocktails at a restaurant on the water. afterwards we donned our bathing suits and layed on the beach. i decided to brave the cold and go swimming in what i later learned is the ligurian sea not the medditerenean. the water wasn't bad actually. once we dove in it was great. we were only out there about 2 hours when the clouds came in. so lauren decided to go back and study and tracy and i went to go explore some more. we decided to see the little back roads of the town. we discovered a church full of skulls and cross bones, a church with a randomn floating pirate ship, a tree with angels trumpets and a lot of little cute places. after a while we decided to go back and change for dinner.

dinner was at a place under the train tracks so it felt like an earthquake happened every 5 to ten minutes but it was still packed. we had a wonderful seafood dinner and the best part is we unlimited free wine. so of course we drank our fill and then our entire program went to a bar in the town. we all ordered a drink and marveled at how the entire place was covered in american one dollar bills with every american university sorority and sports team written on it. i found some USC ones so i felt like i didnt need to put a dollar up but i did manage to carve USC ADPI into the table with a sharp object. i tried to be the voice of reason and get tracy and lauren home becuase we had to get up at 730 the next day and managed to get them out the door. there we shared cigarettes with these guys from washington who are living in switzerland and want to tag along on our amsterdam trip. we started walking back to the hotel when the alcohol caught up with all of us. i tore a large leaf off a tree and tied it to tracy's head with her scarf and claled it her initiation. then she started stalking to 2 locals who started following us around. we somehow got sidetracked from the mission at hand (go home) and managed to be on the docks where we found several 17 year olds smoking hash and i liked how the wind played with my scarf and decided to go around calling it my magic carpet. lauren and tracy and i really wanted to go skinny dipping but the italian guys following us around made it difficult. we decided to go climb some of the big ocean rocks in the dark instead. while the rest of the group took the safe way down to the beahc i decided that hopping the fence and shimying down a pole was a better plan. i beat them there so i think it was. i ran up to the top of a very large rock and we all sat there until the rest of our group walked past and yelled hey is that you guys? and we drunkenly yelled back. we decided it was probably time to get back and the locals offered us a ride. instead of bringing a car around the corner they brought a small three wheeled pickup. it fits 1 1/2 people in the front and as much as you can pile onto the back. so the three of us hopped in the back and the guys sped off tossing up over every bump and pothole. we somehow managed to ditch them and make it back in our hotel before 1 and we all passed out.

the next day was the day of the infamous 9 mile hike from riomaggio back to monterosso. i was stoked despite the freezing temperature that morning. we bundeled up and got ready to board the train. lauren then realized she didn't have her ticket and had to go back to the hotel to get it. she asked tracy and i to wait for her so we left the rest of the group and waited for the next train. we unboarded in riomaggio and set out for the trail. the first part of the trail is called lover's path or something. and so we ran until the cool bit happened. once we were inside the giant brick stucture we discovered years of cool graffiti and a statue bench of two lovers kissing over the water. there were also hundreds if not thousands of locks attacks to symbolize their everlasting love. cough cough bleh. we continued on the trail running where we could and jsut took in the magnificent beauty of it. it was soo amazing to be back in nature again after months of cities. i was having a blast. somewhere around the third city eleonora called us and told us to meet her at the train station. apparantly there was a fire between the third and fourth cities corniglia and vernazza and we had to take the train for that portion so that cut about 2 miles off our hike. but once we got to vernazza it was absolutely gorgeous. i think it was once of the prettiest towns with its coves and how brightly painted the buildings were. unfortunately i had to use the bathroom and instead of finding a toilet i discovered i would have to pee in a hole in the ground. not fun not fun at all. we finally made it back to monterosso and i discovered that my feet were bleeding so i took off my shoes and walked in the ocean for a bit and the lot of us sat in the sand collecting sea glass for a while. we finally made it back to the hotel changed and went out for lunch. we decided to go back to the restaurant of last night and we all ordered platters of mussels. mine came with black and white pasta died with squid ink. it was delicious. we walked back slowly and sat and got some gelato and coffee before we finally got back on the train and headed home.

very good weekend

since then i have taken 3 midterms and i have one more to go before i can finally head off to ireland! yay

ciao

when did it get so cold, get some hot chocolate

2009-10-16T12:15:00.001-07:00

upon coming home from germany i realized italy had become freezing in my absence. so all week i would head to class and forget that you need to take a jacket when it is cold outside and i would freeze the entire time. i spent almost all of tuesday and half of wednesday working on a stupid research paper. it was about international art fairs and i felt like banging my head against a wall the entire time i was writing it so of course when i was done i went out to play bocce ball and start drinking at 6 pm.

apparently bocce ball isnt as much fun when its 50 something out so we tried drinking more to stay warm. tracy and i dressed up before hand so we could go dirwctly out afterwards. so when we decided it was a bit too cold we got a kebab and headed to lions fountain a local pub. there we did shooters and ate popcorn and watched ski videos. we had another drink and then decided it was time to head to santa croce to finish off the wine we didnt finish at bocce ball. tracy and i stopped by red garter to say hi to gina and there i ran into one of my old tourguides and although id never actually spoken to him on the tour i acted like we were old high school friends it was great. then we went to santa croce. there we drank more wine and met some polish people. a girl named martine said she was going to yab, which i recall just opened up and was supposed to be the best club in florence so after finishing the wine we headed overe there.

sometimes i dont know how my magic works. this is one of those times. there was a huge line in front of yab and somehow i sweet talked the bouncer into waving in the entourage i had aquired. i think im only able to do this when drunk. we then checked our coats and began dancing. i quickly realized this was another club that was 90% men who dont speak english. awesome. so i danced for a while then realized both tracy and i have class tommorow and i need to get us home. so there was a little drama getting tracy out becuase she didnt have money and i had already exited but it all worked out.

today i went to the chocolate festival. for class. amazing i know. we took a bus and a mini metro to get to the top of this hill where a medieval city named perugia is jam packed full of standing selling and sampling chocolate. over the course of the ay i sample chocolate liquors, chocolate covered oranges, lemonsorbet with chocolate, pasta with chocolate, chocolate shots and other various forms of chocolate. i bought chocalate porn which is a white chocoalte molding of a karma sutra scene on milk chocolate background for vale. i bough a chocolate horse shoe for my mom and palying cards for my dad. i say people drinking chocolate beer and other people doing rediculous things for free chocolate. at some point i think i was a little over the chocolateness of this festivle since i brought alot of the free stuff back with me because i could not eat it. ok well cinqueterre tommorow yay!!!

becoming european

2009-10-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

this post is titled so because in the last 2 weeks ive been increasingly mistaken for european. ive passed for spanish, english, german, swiss, swedish and even occasionally some moron thinks im italian. i know this because they come up to me and speak to me in whatever language, usually german or swedish, assuming that 1. i speak that language 2. im from that country and 3. i know the directions to whatever out of the way place they happen to be going. when im in italy, especially florence, i can usually ablidge them. but when i am in germany by myself for the weekend i barely know where i am let alone where they are going. I also often pretend i am spanish because the creepy men who live here rarely speak spanish and so i use it as an excuse not to speak to them.

so its been a bit longer than usual since ive written bc life got a little hectic on me. i spent most of the week before last discovering new clubs and then i left for germany on friday morning. this was my first trip alone so i will attempt to recount it.

I was really nervous starting out on this trip since had to take 2 trains to a plane to a 2 hour bus to a train to a metro to get to where i needed to be. so i packed up, left my apartment, grabbed some lunch and headed to the train station. there while waiting for them to announce the binario my train would leave from i met an older american couple and spoke to them for a bit about the wonders of italy. they seemed nice but i had to edit my stories down a bit because i think they were mormon. finally got on my train and had to run to my connection to make it to the pisa airport. made it through check-in without them weighing my carryon which i was worried about since ive been warned ryanair can be a bitch about it. well got through and met some american students from my university and sat by them on the plane. i offered them m&ms and then they were my best friends. well we parted ways after boarding the bus in frankfurt -hahn to frankfurt main. i made my way inside the train station and used my super traveller skills to figure out how to purchase tickets in german from a small machine. i then bought a beer and got on my hour and a half long train ride to stuttgart. finally got to stuttgart and my friend asked me if i could figure out the metro system so i could meet them at the bar they were at. finally figured it out and joined them there. had a beer and a shot and then went back to where we would be sleeping that night

i did not know what to expect when kliensman said we would be sleeping in a gymnasium. i just said ok and booked the tickets thinking maybe it was a translation error. nope no translation error we were sleeping in a school gymnasium complete with gymnastics equipment, hula hoops and locker rooms. so when we got there we immediately began playing with stuff and messing around until we finally set up enough gym mats to pose as beds. we all passed out and then awoke the next morning to kliensmann bringing us hot pretzles for breakfast. we all got ready and then found the subway to make our way to the festival.

Now it is important to note that it was raining. so when we got to the festival it looked almost deserted. lots of rides had attendants but no riders and even the beer halls looked almost empty when we first got there at 11am. this was a stark contrast to oktoberfest in munich which was packed by 9 am on saturday. well the reason it looks deserted is becuase all the germans reserve there tables so they dont feel they need to come till a reasonable drinking hour. say noon. we went into the first tent since they had some tables that werent reserved yet and ordered our first beer. it was decenet enough and there was some german band playing traditional drinking music but kliensmann insisted that the other tent was the party tent so we needed to find a place in there. we managed to get one of the waitresses to let us sit on one of the tables till the people who were going to reserve them got there. so we ordered more beers and started standing on the tables anytime one of the drinking songs came on. They are very catchy songs and even though i dont speak german i pretend to sing along and throw my glass against the other glasses and spill beer everywhere which is customary at these kinds of events. after i ate like a bite of bread and chicken and drank 2 more steins i figured its time to wander away from the people i know and make new international friends. the best way to do this is with a camera

if you wander around taking pictures of randomn things around masses of intoxicated people they tend to want to pose for your pictures even though they have no idea who you are. this is when you introduce yourself and join their table. so i found a table of very good looking german boys who first tried to speak to me in german but when i gave them a very puzzled expression they asked where i was from. i told them los angeles and they thought that was the coolest thing since sliced bread so they bought me a beer and told me to sit. we didn't do a lot of sitting at this point becuase everytime a new cool song comes on (like the YMCA) you must stand on the seats and slam your beers together. luckily no stiens were broken on me this time. well after a while of sitting with these guys we see someone face plant really badly. unfortunately it was my friend butch and he was bleeding profusely from the face. my friends decided he needed to go to the hospital to get himself stitched up and decided to leave me with the germans. i ended up meeting germans at a number of different tables. all males becuase i dont think european women are really permitted to leave the house since i never see them outside. and after becoming thouroughly intoxicated and unable to find my phone or my umbrella i decide its time for me to find my way back to the gymnasium.

one of the german boys decided he would help me but i refused becuase i didnt know what i would say to him when he saw i was sleeping in a school gym. so i got on the subway. i immediately figured out it was going the wrong way and got off on the next stop. luckily there was a kebab shop there and i realized i hadn't eaten really anything all day. and luckily i was drunk enough not to notice the strange looks i was probably getting in my state and that i couldnt figure out how to order a kebab in german. after aquiring my deliciousness wrapped in tortilla i got back on the train going the other way and some how stumbled up the steps back to the gym. unfortunately my friends were not back yet and i didnt have a key or a phone (so i thought). so i fell asleep in the doorframe of the gymnasium. my friends woke me up a bit later and let me in where i almost immediately passed out. in the middle of the night i decided i should change into my pjs and get some water. while changing my phone fell out of my bra and i was reuinted with it oncemore yay.

the next day we woke up and kliensmans godfather treated us to a traditional bavarian breakfast of white sausages, pretzles, bread, mustard and meatloaf. apparantly the gym we were staying at used to be run by the nazis and there is all sorts of secret chambers below it. well anyway they took me to the trian station and i got on my train back to frankfurt.

in frankfurt i checked into my first european hostel. reception was very nice and i found out that one of my roomates was an old tunisian women who wanted me to come stay with her in tunisia. i decided to go wander around frankfurt by myself. i decided that my hostel was located in the red light district since it seemed like every shop i walked past at first was either a sex shop or a kebap shop. strange. i finally founf the first thai place i saw in all of europe and ate pad thai for the first time in months. then i decided to wander some more. apparently all the shops in frankfurt are closed on sundays bc i couldnt find a single retail place other than souvenir shops open. i found a seven story mall that you take an elevator to the top and wind yourself down. i found a motorcycle show. i found a man playing alien looking instruments. i found a lot of statues and movie theaters. i found dozen of swans in the rhien. i found old cathedrals. i found museums. and i saw a lot of hot men wandering around. it started to get alot colder and rain harder and the wind and my umbrella were not getting along so i went back to the hostel and began reading in the common room. soon this french guy was trying to chat me up and then when i continued to read he would play his guitar to get my attention. he was a little to old for me to put effort into at this point. well all of a sudden i was sitting at a table with 7 other guys beers and playing cards. there were 2 canadians, 2 swiss guys, one guy from tunisia and two other guys who were just wierd. we played asshole and blackjack and i could never get 3/4 through any of my beers before another fresh one was put in front of me. all of a sudden it was past midnight and i thrawted all advances from foriegn men and put myself to bed.

the journey home was pretty average. finished my second book of the weekend and met some aussies and got home made some ddinenr and crashed

ok ill make a new post now

a week of becoming cultured

2009-10-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

this week consisted of italian culture. l'opera, bocce ball, tours of venice, shopping, cooking, art shows, fireworkd and of course the occasional drink or 2.

so a couple of weeks ago i signed up to attend an opera. la boheme. ive heard of it before of course but kind of forgot what it was about and since it was going to be in italian i figured i should research the plot so i kind of knew what was going on. i also imagined the opera to be in this grandiose theater with tons of people. well i get to this this "theater" and its actually a church with a couple dozen chairs set up in a theater in the round type place. and i thought to myself "cool at least i dont have nose bleed seats even though i am behind a column." then the host started speaking in english and gave us a summary of each act before it happened so we would know what was going on. then i felt stupid for wikipediaing?? it. so the opera singers came on and there voices boomed throughout the entire church. it was rediculous how amazing there voices were for such a small production. i didn't feel so stupid about researching it anymore because i realized they had cut out a couple characters and shortened many of the scenes. well at intermission about 90% of my group left and i was very confused as to why only 3 of us were left sitting there but i enjoyed the experience and got some gelato afterwards. i arrived home to find that my feet were severly destroyed by the shoes a wore out. not to self never wear high heels again.

well after spending about 15 minutes in the pitti palace and making delicious pasta and rice balls in class i had to go to my permit of stay apointment. which was basically two very long lines to get an envelope stamped. well anyway while i was waiting in line i ran into tyler who invited me to bocce ball. so i agreed to come. we met at some piazza near the train station and cleared off a small area for ourselves. a few other girls came along with tyler nico and their friend peter. three huge bottles of wine were pulled out and the games were started. i rediscovered how terrible i am at bocce ball and that i only get worse as i drink more. so i opted to take pictures. we were interrupted several times by small children and gypsies who like to move the balls around but we mostly just laughed at everything that came along. more people stopped by and we all sat in a circle and swapped stories. i met someones mom who rides randomnly and talked horse with her for a while. then i got a kebap(best thing ever btw) and headed home and decided not to go out that night.

thursday's art business class was very out of the ordinary. instead of holding lecture we walked over to one of the biggest international art fairs in europe that happens once every 2 years. every major art stand puts up a very intricate ornate booth in this private palace that is still owned by the original family. this palace is absolutely enourmous and even with hundreds of art dealers putting up shop in there they have another wing to live in. i would get lost in a heart beat if i lived there. anyway it was amazing seeing all of the art by the old masters up for sale in this venue. they had everything from paintings to sculptures to tapestrys to furniture. it was an amazing oppurtunity to go. i guess dogs are allowed inside major art shows here which i found interesting. i also found it funny that every dealer watched us like hawk to make sure we didnt steal anything. well we found out at the show that there would be fireworks that night to celebrate it at 10. i forgot whaat 10 italian time means so we show up to a nice comfy spot on the bridge at 950. all of my roomates (including my new roomate tracy whose super fun) and vali and his roommates sat and waited for the fireworks. it was probably about 11 when they started but it was really nice to see something that reminds me of home over a gorgeous river next to a palace. then of course we went to an english pub and had some ciders wnad listened to drunk americanas sing kareoke.

my knowledge of art history and mythology is actually alot better than i thought it was going to be. on friday jacob, tracy and i wandered over to the pitti palace and biboli gardens and somehow all got in for free. as we were going through all the magnificent rooms i explained all the symbolisms i could remember to both of them and was able to draw connections and pull our references i had forgotten id had. i felt like i was actually studying for class or something. it was kind of amazing. then we wandered through the gardens and found a hilarious statue that remembled two skinny legas and an overly large penis. well afterwards we got some gelato and dropped tracy off to meet our guide. jacob and i made our way back to the apartment and wandered into some churches that didnt have any entrance fees. pretty cool. well we bought some food on the way back and made a feast for ourselves. then i was feeling pretty sleepy until i booked my to and from flights to amsterdam for 22 euro and booked a room in the #2 party hostel in the world. sooooooooooo excited for the weekend before thanksgiving.

saturday morning at the asscrack of dawn we got on a train for venezia. ive somehow become some rediculous reader and read an entire book on the train ride. it was the alchemist and its a nice fast read. venice was gorgeous. sunny and full of life. as soon as we got off the train there was the grand canal. we got to our hotel and i was very pleased to find out i would be staying with lauren, tracy and brittany and we went out and got some lunch before our tour. we had to find the hostel we booked for jacob and after searching and asking every other gondola driver in the city we found a note written on graph paper posted on a random door off some tiny little bridge that read " welcome to the fish, ill be back in 20 if its an emergency call me" wow. italians are awesome. the tour was pretty fabulous mostly becuase of our guide. hes kind of an off the beaten path kind of guy. and instead of taking us to the main points we saw all the other sites. the narrowest street in venice, an old scuola that was turned into a basketball court and now has some crazy instalations in it, the only bridge with no guard rails, where they filmed cassanova and the italian job, he explained why there were wells in every square and he made jokes about almost everything. after the tour we went and got a sunset gondola ride with some wine. our gondola drivers name was carlo and he was very handsome i must say and the whole ride was very relaxing. probably because of the wine. then we ran to dinner and expecting some nice italian place we got some american looking pizzeria but the food wasnt bad. it just wasnt great either. after dinner all my friends wanted to go out which they did but i felt exhausted and opted to go back watch some italian law and order and pass out. venice doesnt have much of a nightlife and i didnt want to put effort into finding one.

woke up on sunday to tour the other islands in the area. ive been to murano before but decided to actually buy something from a murano glass factory and bout some cute blue earings. the highlight of the trip was probably going to burano. this is a small remote fisherman city but everysingle house is painted in a bright vibrant different color. bright yellows, blues, reds, picks, greens everything. its like disneyland but far less touristy. there was barely anyone there it was amazing. they also had tons of little shops and i ran around making sure lauren didn't get lost when she stopped at each and every one. they also have there own leaning clock tower and its all just magnificent. we also stopped and got some delicious little pastries with mini dogs in them. kind of like a classy italian version of a mini corn dog. and then we headed back to venice. i found a small shop and bought soo many souvenirs which wil turn into christmas presents at some point for soo little. then we bought some train beers and headed back to florence. once we got out in florence lauren and tracy and i immediately got some sushi (fpr the frst time since ive been here mind you) and chowed down. soo good but kind of expensive.

anyway today was chill and consisted mostly of grocery shopping and now im going out to dinner with vali.

ciao ciao

beer, boys, bratwurst, blackout and then some more beer

2009-09-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

how do i go about describing this weekend. i will premise my story by saying that i wore a wedding ring the entire time and there are some hours i have no or slight recollection of. I will also leave out some of the details of things that occured with boys.

it starts at midnight on friday morning where we caught the bus from the train station. everyone is having a couple drinks but i opt out just because i have been drinking for two days straight at this point. we take off and the movie the longest yard is played and im happily munching on mnms and chips and then the movie duks of hazard plays and i pass out until we stop at a truck stop at 4 in the morning. i wasn't sure what country we were in or why this placed was packed with traveler at 4am. well anyway i got a couple more hours sleep until we entered the munich area. then everyone else was asleep and i was wide awake listening to music and watching the street signs pass by. did you know in german ausfaghrt means exit. i dunno in my language it means assfart. well we finally pulled into the campsite around 845 and i found out i would have a tent to myself. mixed feelings at this point. and then i proceeded to start drinking. i had a couple shots of vodka and 3 beers before getting on the bus around 1030. upon arriving i met up with my friends from camp. butch and kliensman and found them at their first beer hall lounbraur. i think it means lions beer. well i told the boys to chug whatever was left of their stiens and come with me to meet my other girlfriends in the other tents. we finally found hoffenbraur tent and went inside. now these tents are massive. there are probably a few thousand people inside who are mostly dressed in traditional german attire and every couple minutes the whole place erupts with cheers in several different languages. we sat down across from my friends and made friends with the americans and germans sitting next to us. then the beermaids brought the beers. now these beers are massive. about 1 liter (bigger than a bottle of wine) and they are much more alcoholic than american beers but very tasty. i dont like beer really and i was loving these. so we started doing cheers and meeting people and trading life stories. i met some army guy named phil and he was wearing a cowboy hat and he called me so many times this weekend. there were also some guys above us who kept trying to pour beer down to us from the second story and threw us there german looking hats. now it might only be my opinion but i think when these people dress in their leaderhosen and tall grey hats then look kind of like escaped garden nomes or something. ok at this point things start to get fuzzy but good thing i take pictures when im blackout so i put the pieces back together. i made some large austrailian man escort me to the bathroom and then i met our tourguides and i think i proceeded to make out with one of them. then we left the beerhall and i took some pictures outside that i have no idea about. next thing i remember i woke up in my tent because there was a raging party going on right outside. i was very confused but later found out that the tourguides were also drunk and wanted to go home and we took a train and a bus to get there. well when i got up i proceeded to drink more. i also found some sausages they put out for us. i think this was the only thing i ate on friday. well then i started to dance and get crazy and then some aussie named kirk was following me around and we were dancing and making out. then i found vodka and made friends with more aussies and brit and americans. then i told kirk he was sleeping in my tent but for the sole purpose of body warmth becuase it was freezing.

day2

at 5 am. i have been asleep for maybe 3 hours proabably 2. they turn on the music and start banging pans and tell us to start drinking immediately. im like fuck this. they wanted us to go to the aussie football game that would begin at 6 am. lets clarify not rugby noone cares. well kirk was super excited and he got up and screamed at me to "get amoungst it" no i will not i will sleep for a couple mroe hours so i can do oktoberfest properly at my own leisure. i woke up and discovered i could not find my purse. and imust of lost it the day before. the pwople who took me hom said they put it in my tent but it was no where to be found so i had to borrow money the rest of the time. at like 9 my friends and i got up and took the train and the bus to the event. we also adopted a guy named brian becuase he lost his friends and he had popcorn. on the train i met a couple brits who i thought were absolutely hilarious. there names were matt and drew. to my dismay we separated after the train there we promptly got some more bratwurst so it could soak up some of the alcohol. im pretty sure i brought beer and vodka on the train and downed it before i went inside. well on saturday at 11 you cant get into any beerhalls becuase they are all packed by like 9 so we found an outdoor beer garden and found a table full of roudy italians that had a couple open seats. this is when i discovered my italian skills. apparently while drunk i can speak any language i want. we got more beers and learned italian drinking songs as well as one where you go "oooooooooo i wanna knooooowwwww........ will you be my girl" our table was responsible for starting all the cheering and drinking songs in the entire beergarten. it was fantastic. i met soo many people. i also met some army guys at the table next to us who were cool. i went over there to talk to them for a second and then someone's stien broke and spilled beer all over my eyes and hair and dress. but after regaining my vision i shrugged it off. then one of the army guys and i hit it off and i told him i wanted to go on the carnival rides and he said he would take me. my roomates agreed he was sweet enough and made him promise to get me homw. we went on a large topsy turvy spinny thing, one of those fun houses, a roller coaster and these swings that went really high in the air. looking back im really not sure how i didn't vomit. well then it was after 6 and i needed to be getting home. he agreed to take me. we somehow found a train and then we found a bus but took it in the wrong direction and it took way long to get home. then i got home and i told derek that he needed to be getting back to his friends becuase they kick people out of our campsite who arent registered. which was true. so then i found some more food and some more beer and the aussie who i had seen the night before. he proceeded to try and grab me and make out with me every 15 minutes or so i think becuase he was close to blackout and he thought it was funny. well then i found some aussies to talk to and one named andrea was a tall blonde guy with dreads was my favorite. the dj was on acid and was hilarious. i found some spaniards to talk to and after speaking italian all day they asked if i was italian becuase i was speaking spanish with an italian accent. i was also speaking to the aussies in astralian accents. then to my surprise the brits from the train showed up. so i began to talk to them. i still found them hilarious and we proceeded to go to the onsite bar and play pinball and eat peanuts. im pretty sure i was a mess at this point which is why when the brits suggested we put my vodka in the beers we had i thought it was a fabulous idea. so then i told the brits they would be sleeping in my tent for bodywarmth purposes too. it was almost 3 or 4 when i got to sleep cuddled in between two brits.

day 3

7am. the brits tell me there ride is leaving and they have to go and they had a blast partying with me. i grunt yeh yeh bye bye and dont even get out from under my sleeping bag. it was probably around 9 when i finally got up and showered. i was feeling the vodka from 3 am still and when they tried to feed me porridge for breakfast i tried but could not get that stuff down. my friends and i decided to forgo the festivle that day and do a sightseeing tour of munich. we saw a bunch of things that looked cool and climbed up this beel tower with 5 million stairs. i was convinced i would die at that point and then we decided to get back to camp to catch our bus. i had a kebap at the train station and got to camp in time to pack. when i got back to my tent i magincally found my purse just sitting there like some one found it politely. i was soo relieved to find that i had all my money and credit cards still in it. well then it was time to get on the bus. and as i am the odd man out in my group i sat next to brian (the guy we adopted before) and he was wasted and proceeded to keep me entertained for 4 hours recounting his life story. then i passed out woke up and had dinner at a truckstop and passed out again till we got home. made it back to my apartment and passed out. this weekend was epic there is no arguing

the end

ciao

Ho ventiuno anni

2009-09-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

so my birthday festivities started on tuesday. two of my roomates came home with a cake and champagne and they all sang. it was adorable and delicious all at the same time. then 2 of my roommates and 2 friends decided to get our drink on and go out. so i had 1/2 a bottle of wine with dinner, a glass of champage, 3 1/2 shots of vodka and then i went out. we went to red garter first since i can usually get a spot of free alcohol there. sure enough some american guys found out it was my birthday and bought a round of jager shots. gross but hey its my birthday. i proceeded to the dance floor and busted a move and then my friends and i decided it was time to go to the next club. one of them handed me a drink to take a sip. but i went into frat party mode and chugged it so we could leave and go to the dance club twice. drunk at this point we go inside and the place is packed. and i went into my own little dancing mode. this guy ive been seeing is there but im too drunkenly in my own world to really care. i was dancing up a storm and then the creepers came. this one creepy guy was all up on me and i told him i had to go to the bathroom and he follows me in. i had to explain in italian english bits that boys were not allowed in the girls bathroom and he had to leave. when i got out he was waiting for me and i think this is when i decided i had to leave at this moment. it might have also been becuase i had class at 9 am. well i grab lauren and tell ehr its time to go and the guy ive been seeing (vali) follows us outside. i get mad at him for ignoring me even though he was going to walk us home and literally run away. lauren caught up to me eventually. while walking past the duomo we run into some cute guys who while makingout with other girls are proceeding to try and get our numbers. you had to be there to believe this seen. then we managed to get lost then right ourselves again. then i ran into a dog that looked like mine and tried to take it home. nogo. we finally made it home sometime after 3 and made a feast which i really regretted the next day.

my birthday

woke up at 730 am. 3 hours of sleep. needed a shower badly. somehow manage to shower make breakfast and wake myself up in order to make it to class ontime at 9. the teacher was assigning us topics for our reports and she forgot about me so i went up and asked. shes like oo um ancient egypt ok? um theres a lot to know about ancient egypt whatever. we proceed to have the remainder of our lecture in the san lorenzo church. my hair always stands up on end for the first 10 minutes in these churches. maybe its their sheer grandiosity, maybe its becuase i know they are full of tombs or maybe its becuase i was never baptised. i dunno. its wierd being still drunk in a church on your birthday. way to start of my 21st year. went to my second cooking class. ate yummy breads and meats and cheeses and cooked pappa con pomodoro, sausages with tomato sauce and biscotti. all acompanied with wine. all deicious but i had to waddle home i was so full. spent the afternoon wandering the market and then began getting ready. curled my hair put on my skankilicious dress and my mask took several shots filled up a water bottle of vodka and then tried to get everyone out the door. my dinner party consisted of lauren, ben. jacob, shirine and tiffany. lauren is the only one i really know. none of my other roomates made it out. our reservation was for 845 we got to the restaurant at 935. walking around florence ina mask is quite hilarious since everyone thinks your crazy especially when you hop on randomn motorbikes to take pictures. dinner was delicious and more wine was consued and a cake with a candle was brought out. afterward we wandered over to red garter where i had a free birthday tequila shot and got up on stage to karoke blink 182 all the small things with jacob. i made the crowd rock out to it. then we took a cab to central park. somehow my waterbottle of vodka is done at this point. got to central park and saw noone on the dance floor. so of course i started the party and all the poeple with me and i got everyone out on there. in an hour the place was packed. i fell down a few times and now am very bruised. at some point i had a little crying fit but you have to cry on your birthday. then i told vali to take me home and away we went on his motorbike while i clutched on for deer life becuase of the cold. all in all a pretty good birthday.

today was a little excruciating becuase i had a quiz in italian and then a 2/12 hour lecture on the history of the art market. but after class i ran into some friends and we all hung out in the park for a bit. had chinese food for the first time since ive been here. delicious and in a couple short hours i will be on my way to munich for OCTOBERFEST!!!!!

let the annihilation of my liver continue.

ciao

thunderstorms and reading frenzys

2009-09-21T15:10:00.001-07:00

so in the last 5 years in LA i think ive seen maybe 3 thunderstorms. in the 2 weeks ive been here ive seen 5. i like them though. at home im not a particular fan of rain. its usually cold when it rains and no1 in LA seems to be able to drive in the rain. here it is not cold. its warm rain and the city seems able to handle the rain. all of the street vendors come out and yell " brello brello 5 euro" and try to sell over priced umbrellas to unsuspecting american tourists. i bought my knock off burbury looking one for like 2 or 3 euro. it is novel to sit in my apartment and listen to the thunder rattle my apartment. today was nice though cloudy and breezy but definately not cold. perfect running weather and i actually did go for a run. and for the first time in my life i finished an entire omlette. i dont eat eggs but the ones my friends were cooking this morning looked delicious so i decided to try. it was delicious.

in other news. i have been on a reading kick since ive been here. not only have i done all my readings for school. but ive read "mr darcy, vampyre" "the prophet" "my horizontal life" aprt of "naked lunch" and parts of verious other travel books. i have also discovered a movie website and now will sit and endlessly watch movies. this needs to stop.

i was grotesquely appaled in the market today. while looking for fresh bread i found baby food. and next ot the baby food made out of carrots, pig, chicken and fish was one with a picture of a hrose on it. i knew they ate horse meat in europe but i didnt think they served it to unsuspecting children. could you imagine if you found out your mom was feeding you ponies. id probably refuse to eat for a week.

well anyways my birthday is less than 24 hours away here. lots of drinking is planned for the next 2 days and then i take a bus to munich for octoberfest. crazinessssss

ciao

temples to culture

2009-09-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

I just returned from my impromptu trip to the Uffizi. We have an unlimited pass and can go whenever we want without waiting in line. I decided to go by myself this morning without an audio tour just to take it all in. it was nice putting my ipod on and just centering on my own thoughts of the paintings. Walking through Uffizi I realized what my art business teacher meant by temples to culture. The people come to worship without really understanding the purpose and intention of its detail. I had never seen to many depictions of Madonna and child. There was an entire room filled with gold, byzantine looking 2 dimensional pictures of the Madonna holding jesus in her arms and 6 angels on either side. Each one had slight variations but the number of paintings with this theme was overwhelming. The Christian influence on art is obvious but the interesting part I found is that each artist would give his commentary on the times and the people throught religious symbols. Even though it had been so long since ive been to a museum of this magnitude I was surprised at how many of the images I recognized or didn’t but could still decribe what was going on. My knowledge of roman mythology is a great benefit here. Ok well enough of the temple of culture

In other news. I had my first bought of homesickness the other day. I was out with a boy and he was walking me to see my friends and it started to rain and I started to cry and I realized how much I missed everyone at home.

So I just have to describe my day of class on Wednesday. I went to a church at the south end of the city by bus with my entire art history class. We lectured on the symbolisms in the church. We got back on a bus and went back to the city and I had 3 minutes to get to my next class in which we ate locally produced meats and cheeses that were the original way they were supposed to be made. And we cooked risotto and then I went back to nap. I know my life is a joke.

Wine tasting in sienna was awesome and so was the cathedral there.

I just bought my mask for my birthday. its blue on one side and tan on the other. with a gold trim. the eyebrows are mad of sheet music. dont worry there will be pictures

Last night I smoked hash out of a reverse gravity bong with these guys who know someone we know who are somehow staying at my apartment. Got me pretty messed up.

Computer is about to run out of battery

ciao

dinnertime

2009-09-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

I'm currently sitting in an apartment where english is a third language to albanian and italian listening to a soccer game between milan and barcelona in italian. we are waiting for dinner and this italian keyboard is very strange and i continualy have to ask about how to type the at sign. i wont do it again because im tired of asking. today has been the epitome of why my life is a joke. my first class was held entirely in achurch at the north end of the city. as a class we took a bus to get there and lectures about the four evangelists and their impact on the romanesque period of architecture. we then caught the laste bus back and i had 3 minutes to run from the bus stop to my next class. keep in mind its also pouring down rain. my second class consisted entirely of eating. eating random meats and cheeses of the highest quality from the north of italy and then helping to cook and eating risotto and drinking lambrusco and prosecco during class. AMAZING, well anyway im being called to dinner i will update later
ciao

a tale of two sunsets

2009-09-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

its been an exciting week so this post may be long.

monday- nothing too exciting during the day. we wandered, got our cell phones registered cooked, nothing big. i was supposed to go out with antonio that night but he didnt call until later so i decided to go with my roommates and the albanians/kosovians (im not sure how you say someone from kosovo) to watch the sunset at the piazza de michealangelo. it was absolutely gorgeous. we walked up a hill that seemed excruciating at the moment but it was probably just because we were all tired. and this terrace overlooked almost the entire city from the southside. we got there around 7 and spent about an hour just talking and watching the sun slowly fall behind the horizon. well then something sort of unexpected happened. one of the boys and i began talking and then flirting. and his roommate was flirting with my roommate. so after drinking a little champagne and seeing the last rays of sunlight vanish the four of us decided to go to dinner together. we went to the same restaurant we had the night before since berat one of the guys worked there. it was kind of like a cute impromtu double date. its weird how these things keep happening. afterwards we continued to walk around the city and then vali and i went to the fish pub for a night cap. afterward i went home head spinning from the randomness of life.. and maybe the wine.

tuesday- i really tried to sleep in today but fate was against it. i was woken up to get my roomates bags and then the program director called me and told me i need to go pay for our apartment's internet. soi got up cooked lunch. a wonderful pesto and pepporcini pasta. and went to the internet office to pay before my first italian class at 12:45. these i was informed that this class would be in italian. this doesnt sound too shocking except that none of us actually speak italian so we will actually have to learn. our teacher is quirky though. ita an all girl class with a gay male teacher. sounds fun no? afterwards i had to figure out my permit of stay stuff and ran into tyler and nico and chatted for a bit about traveling. its nice to know someone from home here. i do miss my friends. anyway i tried to go home and sleep some more after but vali kept calling to try and meet me. i finally agreed and we had a cute afternoon at the duomo and south side of the city. i had to make it back for LdM dinner so i left early. the "dinner" or bruschetta and free wine was at one of the cutest points in the city. it was right on the arno (river/ fiume) and was a little grassy place with white tables and chairs and overhanging grape vines. well we decided to go out afterwards but after i saw that everyone was in it to get wasted i found someone to walk home with early. im a party pooper i know but i had a 9am class the next day.

wednesday- woke up about 20 minutes before class with a 12 minutes walk to school. i threw on a dress brushed my teeth and booked it. this class is called "lost symbolism and secret codes in art" and its actually pretty cool. we have lectures and then go to museums and churches around the area and talked about what we learned in class in front of the works themselves. our final is actually giving our own lecture in front of a painting. well by the end of this class im starving and still a little hungover. im not sure why. but i decided to wait to eat until i found out if we were cooking in my cooking class. we weren't. but its going to be a really cool class. we take field trips to the eurochocolate festival and local winerys and we cook different foods every class. we ended the class touring the giant fresh market in the city center. by this point im ready to eat the food off the stands. but luckily he let us out and i ran to eat kebab. yum. afterwards i wandered through the markets again and went back home to try and take another nap. we had plans to go to vali and berats apartment where they would cook dinner for us. dinner was cute and delicous and it was nice to see their apartment and figure out we can actually trust these guys. they wanted us to go out with them afterwards but we politely declined and spent the evening gossiping about our respective guys.

thursday- i woke up after 11 cooked lunch and ran to class. we worked on pronounciation today and im really glad ive taken other languages before becuase these people were just retarded at trying to say these words. its really not that difficult say as the teacher says it. maybe im just biased. i went shopping for a bit in my break between classes. i really dont like hour long breaks. its just an awkward time. i made it to my art business class 15 minutes early. this class seems like it might actualy require effort on my part but we get to actually go to southebys and other auction houses and get hands on experience at the art business world. i was tired after that but vali wanted to pick me up on his scooter (vespa) and take me out after class. so of course i agreed. who can resist a ride on a scooter right? i felt very cute in my white dress and leather biker jacket. we went up to another beautiful part of florence. piazza de fiasole (probably speled wrong) its in the hills on the north side of florence and over looks the entire valley. it was exciting riding up there on the back of his vespa and the sunset was absolutely gorgeous and he was pretty cute. we had dinner up there and i learned how to say anchovie in italian the hard way. gross. but everything else was cute. i accidently ripped the strap of my dress and he sowed it back on for me. after that i went out with my friends and some of their friends from home. unfortunately i missed the wasted train and tried to play catchup but it didnt work as well as i had hoped. but i ended up spending my first night out of the apartment...oo well.

today- made it back around 11 and managed to get my self to the grocery store becuase i was out of food. we spent an hour cooking a giant family breakfast and then 20 minutes eating it. we also found out that our washer takes 130 minutes. lol well lazy day but much needed. i need to book some flights for trips and rest up for wine tasting in sienna tomorrow

so ciao ciao

fake italians and the city of penis

2009-09-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

so its just past midnight and i just got in. i was driven here on the back of a vespa by a part-owner of the restaurant we were eating at. apparently my fate in life is put in the outcome of a vote by my roommates. i was too tired to go out with them afterwards so the owner who had been trying to flirt with me all night graciously offered to get me home fast and safe. after the guys we were there with (albanians we met up with at a nightclub last night) vouched for him my roommates voted to let me go with Fabio on his vespa. it was a pretty exciting ride as he was trying to go fast to make me squeal and its getting cold out and im in shorts but im home safe and sound just as promised. maybe i should be less trusting but who knows?

well its been quite a day but i will spill a little more before i passssss out. yesterday we had a walking tour of florence. our tour guide was pretty awesome. of course she showed us many of the major points of interest but she also took us to the alleyways and bridges that aren't on the cruise ship tours. this city is still gorgeous and i took soo many photos of buildings which are on my facebook album. well then we went to lunch and again met the owner of the shop and he fell in love with lauren and gave us free stuff. we have a tendency to make friends with the owners which i guess is a good thing since we end up getting stuff for cheap. after that we spent most the afternoon napping and got up and cooked dinner. my roomates cooked penis pasta which can be bought at any local super market. and actually penis is seen allll over the place here. on the bozers of davids penis on the statues everywhere. they really love there penis here.

so then we got ready and went out. we stopped by an american bar which was actually full of italians and germans and danish people and took shots. which was difficult becuase no1 working there spoke english. then we went to a nightclub called central park. its an open air disco and last night is was full of guys. fake italians i call them. they pretend to be from italy and when you ask them where they are from they say the live in florence but they are actually immigrant from albania, kosovo, romania and so on. these guys tend to be the pushy guys. i couldnt even turn around last night without another guy trying to hump my leg. it was rediculous. i ended up kissing some random dude before i met antonio who was very nice and did not try to take advantage of my inebriation. i some how made it home and passed out

at 12:45 this morning antonio called me and i was very confused as to why someone would call me so early as i thought it was like 830 in the morning. he was confused as to why i was still asleep. he asked me to coffee later and i agreed. i spent another hour in bed then got up and cooked lunch.

the coffee thing was cute and then i came home to go out to dinner with my roomates and the other guys we met last night. and now im home and they all start school tommorow

omg my life is a joke.

ciao

the honeymoon period

2009-09-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

i really can't believe my life right now. i moved in to this amazing apartment and it is unbelievable. this place is probably bigger than my house. its six bedroom 3 bathroom full kitchen full living room internet cable. the only drawback is there is no air-conditioning but it is breezy here and we open the windows. my roommates are amazing and a couple are graduates like me and im one of the younger ones.

ok when i left off last we had just met simone, maritsio, vincenzo and michella. well the next day we explored the city again and got kicked out of a shoe store for bargaining. it was weird. we ate at one of the touristy cafes in the piazza republica and found where are apartments were. we were shocked at our apartment. its in a building where every other place is the practice of a doctor or lawyer and we actually have an elevator. which we were definately not expecting since the other apartments dont have one. then we went out with simone and michella that night and had a blast. i spent nearly the entire time talking to michella about whatever even tho she speaks little english and i can say 5 words in italian. it worked though and we were able to talk about culture and food and boys. somehow i ended up tipsy by the end of it. wine is cheaper than water here and we drink alot of it. when i woke up this morning there were 6 empty bottles on the table.

we get our cell phones. my number is country code 39, number 335 714 6724 and incoming calls are free. so if anybody feels like catching up ill answer. and then we moved in. when i first got here i was soooo excited to see this place and explore and take pictures that i completely forgot i had bags downstairs. luckily noone would take them in this building. we unpacked and went to school orientation yesterday. and the only thing i remember is the stages of culture shock. first there is the honeymoon period where you are completely in love with everything about the culture. then there is the crisis period. where the little differences dtart to get on your nerves and upset you. then there is the recovery period where you begin to get over your anxiety. then there is the adjustment period where you begin to love the culture again. well i definately am in the honeymoon period because i am head over heals for this place.

i stayed up till 2 drinking with my roomates and tyler and nico and now its 915 and i have to leave in 20 minutes to have a walking tour so. ciao for now

the last couple days have been a complete blur but im alive!!

2009-09-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Its like 3:46 am I just got in. its my second night in Florence. Where do I begin? Im in love. With this city. With my new friends. With the people here.

So the flight over here was kind of intense. I don’t really recommend pot brownies for flying. My first flight I was sat between a physician and a psychologist and I was sure they knew I was high because I was keeping a diary of my momentary thoughts. There were entries of just song titles and how to solve the worlds psychological problems. If anyone cares to read them I will send the too you. Its ten pages of rediculousness lol. On the second flight from Chicago to munich I was sat next to some german kid who I never talked to except when I had to get up to go to the bathroom. And I watched star trek again and I love you man. And I didn’t really sleep again. And then in munich everyone tried to speak german to me because they thought I was german. I gave them a confused look and walked away. I finally sobered up from munich to Florence. And took a cab to my hotel.

At the hotel I met my roommates in like 5 minutes and I changed and we went exploring. We found a restaurant and ordered lambrusco and drank and ate pasta and talked and had a blast. I was with angela my roommate, Lauren my hotel roommate and Bianca a coo girl from ucsb. When we finally got home we were too jetlagged to go out so we all passed out.

Today or yesterday or whatever was my first real day in Florence. It was wonderful. I slept till almost 11 and then finally got up to pack and check out and met a lot of other people from the program. Finally a group of six of us went to go out to seek amusement and food. So biance, angela, amy, marco, Lauren and I ventured out into the city. It was hot and humid but wonderful like a warm blanket. And we found new piazzas and tried to find our way with some rudimentary map the hotel gave us. We finally made our way to one of the squares which resembles 5^th avenue new york. We dined on pizza and wine and continued to wander. We finally stumbles across our apartments which we will move into in a few hours. Both were surprisingly easy to break into the buildings. Im soooo excited to move in tomorrow and finally we went back to the hotel.

We got ready to go out and went to dinner with the entire group. At this point I stopped paying attention and just followed the leader to the restaurant. The restaurant was delizioso with a three course meal of magical delights and free wine. We found out that one of our mutual members of the tour works at the American bar in the city center. So we followed here there and got more cheap drinks and danced and kareoked to spice girls. We went to another club called twice and there I ballroom danced with some Italian man and some creepy guy in a hat kept hitting on Lauren and i. CREEEPPPERR. There are a lot of them here. Its ok though since on the walk home we decided to stop in some random bar and made friends with the bartenders and owner. They are all from Florence and we stayed for a couple hours drinking free drinks and smoking cigareets. We are having dinner with them tomorrow night and I am super excited. Lauren is making me go to bed now. Maybe a good idea.

pre-departure survey

2009-08-31T06:46:00.000-07:00

im leaving the house in 3 hours for the airport. eeeekksss. i couldn't sleep last night because of the anticipation and i haven't had a full nights sleep since approximately tuesday night. However right now i am not tired. my mind is full of excitement for months to come and the adventures i will have. right now im sitting in my living room watching an old Bond film with very pungent hairdye in my hair. Don't worry its blonde, my parents just insisted my roots were showing way too much and i should retouch it. most of my stuff is packed but i want to wait till im fully dressed and showered to finish the job since im less likely to forget something that way. im taking nearly my limit of 118 pounds of baggage. I told myself i wouldn't but id rather not leave some things at home. included in my baggage is a small library which my mom and i put together. she handed my several books written in the 1960's by psychologists, who she told me had been taking lsd and had never fully returned from their trips. hahh. one of these books is the account of a guy who put a dolphin in his swimming pool to figure out wether or not it liked captivity. while flipping through the pages i discovered that he attempted to write the conversations he had with the dolphin. if you are curious the dolphin's responses look like this: xxxxxxxxxa oxxxxxx aaaaa.

yeh im pretty sure my mom thinks i need to learn about the way people think on lsd because im a psychology major. also included in this list of books is " Journey to the East"- Hesse, "The Prophet"- Kalil Gibron and a version of pride and prejudice that includes vampires as well as several others. im curious to see how reading these books will be affected by the brownies i will be eating on the plane. lol. i will update about this later.

yesterday was a strange final day of sorts. i began with my last ride on my mom's horse. spent most the day packing and giving my self a pedicure. then my mom brought me eclairs with a birthday candle and sang me happy birthday since its in 23 days and she may not get to sing it to me then. then i went to campus to say goodbye to all my friends and see the incoming ADPi class of '09. It was pretty emotional but im so happy for them. then i watched True Blood with anna only to discover the finale is not for 2 weeks. ugh i hate it when they do that. it is definately not fair. all in all a pretty amazing day. im going to miss my friends but i know they will be here when i get back :).

ok time to wash the hairdye out

wish me luck on the flight!!!!!

adventures in packing

2009-08-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

so i take off in approximately 40 hours. i have packed approximately 2 space bags and have several piles of things i recently bought at target and cvs (i raided the as seen on tv section apparently) lying around my room. my suitcases are still filled with things i didn't unpack from camp. im not sure why im procrastinating packing so much since i am super excited and all thats been on tv today are movies about giant attacking sharks. i guess its just the sheer overwhelming task of packing for 4 months with temperatures varying from 100 to 35. maybe i will motivate myself by thinking of how exciting it will be to vacuum out all the air from those nifty space bags. hopefully everything will be packed by bid night tomorrow. At least i have all the documents i need in order. right?

well anyway this will be my travel blog. hopefully i will document all my ridiculousness and debauchery and so maybe one day i will look back and laugh at myself and maybe any of my friends who read this will laugh at me too. so to those of you who might stumble upon this. enjoy.

i currently am watching a giant octopus try to eat a submarine while fending off a megladon. pure syfy genius.