A great day to be alive

I woke up this morning, and the sun was shining, for once. So I went for a long run in an area I'd never been before. I was wearing just a t-shirt on my upper body, and I was sweating because it was so nice outside! Once I got back I did some homework and had cappucino with Bob and Simone (one of the front desk workers at the hotel). In the afternoon Ashley and I walked in Florence so she could go to mass. But I did not want to go to the English mass because I'd rather go to the Franciscan mass tomorrow. So instead I went to this bookstore/coffee shop place that I saw walking the other day. It was pretty much the perfect place for me: combine books, coffee, and cute decorations, and I'm sold. They also have live entertainment each night, so I'm planning on going. After my nice little me time at the coffee shot, I met up with Ashley, Ania, and Allyson for dinner, which was delicious yet again. There were so many people just walking all over the streets in Florence, it was like a fair or something. Everyone was just so happy that the rain finally stopped, and they had to get outside. On our way back to the bus stop after dinner I saw two dresses that I really, really liked, and they were on sale. So I bought both of them, for an amazing price of just 20 euros for the two of them! Right now I am getting ready to go out to the bar with the rest of the group, and I wearing my new red dress: the color of passion!

Siena in the rain

Today we toured Siena, and it rained most of the day, but what's new? The churches we toured were San Dominico and the Duomo of Siena. St. Catherine's head and finger are preserved in San Dominico, which is a little bit morbid if you ask me, especially the finger, the right hand thumb, to be specific. It is displayed in a monstrance, but it just seems weird to be staring a thumb that is several hundred years old. The Duomo has lots of inlaid marble on the floor, which is really intricate. My favorite part of the whole day was looking at the library in the Duomo, which housed illuminated manuscripts. Last semester I made an illuminated manuscript for my honors class, but seeing these ones put the one I made to shame. I thought mine took a long time, but these were just so intricately done that it must have taken hours just to complete one tiny section. The end product is absolutely gorgeous though, something that you just can't get with modern printing machines. So I lingered in there for a while until Eldon came back and told Lorenzo and I that the rest of the group wanted to move on and that we had to come out. I seriously could have spend hours in there just looking at all those beautiful pages.



Another interesting feature of Siena is horse racing. In their main piazza they hold horse races each summer, with 10 different sections of the city competing against one another for the top place. For those of you who have seen Quantun of Solace, this is where the races in the movie take place. It is extremely competitive and deeply linked with family ties and religion. The races are done in honor of the Virgin Mary, and before the races the horses are brought into chapels into their section of town for prayer. Our guide said if the horse "leaves something behind" in the chapel, it is good luck. The piazza is oval shaped, and the middle is sunken down. About 30,000 people stand in the middle of the piazza and watch the horses race three times around the outer edge. The race is usually done in just a couple minutes, but the results determine which section of the city has the most honor for an entire year. Our guide married a man from a different section of the city than her family, so their horses race against one another. One year his horse lost, and hers won, so he did not speak to her for a few weeks. She said that their marriage is very tense each year around the time of the races. In the Duomo there was a corner devoted to praying for the racers. Prayers of thanksgiving are offered here, and people can hang something on the wall. Along with many dented scooter helmets from people who survived accidents, there are medals from the races and horse shoes and harnesses. The winner of the race gets to design a huge candle that is burnt in thanksgiving to St. Mary for a half hour each day for a year. They sure do take competition to a whole new level here in Italy.

A couple new Italian pick up lines

Today was art Thursday, once again, but I don't really feel like blogging about that. It's interesting and all, but I don't have that much to say about it. Tomorrow we are travelling to Sienna, so I'm excited for that. I just thought I'd take this opportunity to update you all on a couple new pick up lines I've encountered this week.

I encountered the first two pick up lines on Tuesday night when Ashley, Ania, Allyson, and I were walking to the bus station after going into town for dinner. There were five or six guys just sitting on the curb in front of a store, and they were all drinking wine from the bottle. When we walked by, one of them said, "I only drink wine when I'm in love." He said it in English, so it was obviously aimed at us. Shortly after we were past them, but not out of earshot, one of the guys neighed at us. And yes, by neighed I do mean that the sound that a horse makes. It was probably the weirdest thing I've heard of a guy doing to try to get a girl's attention. He did really sound like a horse though, so I guess, you've got to use your talents.

Today when we were walking through the San Lorenzo market, one of the booth owners said to me, "Excuse me ma'am, you dropped something," and he pointed to the ground. While I was looking down to see what I had dropped, he proceeded to say, "Oh, it's just my heart." It was just so funny, I burst out laughing right in front of him. Of course, this American girl who was walking near us heard him and had to steal our thunder. She told us that he had said the exact same thing to her yesterday. I don't really care though, it's still hilarious. I should make a book when I get back of all the strange things I've witnessed men say or do for the sake of women here in Italy.

My crazy beautiful life

So everything that was wrong with yesterday was right with today. I don't know what was up yesterday, it was just not my day, hence the depressing blog post. I was really missing my friends back at SMU, and my friend Mel back home had just found out one of her high school friends died. She was having a hard time, and we were chatting over facebook, but I just really wanted to be there for her. It also rained all day yesterday, which never helps to improve my mood. I know I shouldn't let it affect me so much, but it always does.

But today started out on the right foot when I woke up to shine shining in through the window. I didn't have class until 10, so I decided to go for a run. It was a good thing too, because when we got out of class it was down-pouring. I had another class at 2, so I did some homework in between classes. At 2 I went to my language class, which always frustrates me to a certain degree because it is way too easy. I really really want to learn the language, and the class doesn't challenge me at all. I know I could just try to learn on my own, but I have a hard time disciplining myself to do that. I think I might try to start writing another blog in Italian, and see if that helps me to learn a thing or two.

During Italian class, I was sitting between two of my classmates who make me laugh the most, Ania and Joey. So I was basically trying my hardest not to crack up completely for the whole class period. Also during class, Joey informed me that the guys would be going to go get soccer tickets afterwards. He knew I wanted to come to a game, so he asked if I was coming with, and, of course, I said yes. I have had so many people tell me I have to go to a soccer game that I would probably never live it down if I didn't. Don't get me wrong though, I am super excited for the game, which is on Sunday. I was also pleasantly surprised when we went to go tickets and found out that women get a three Euro discount! I guess they want more women to come to the games or something. I am the only girl from the SMU group going with all the guys, so that should be interesting.

After getting the tickets, all of the guys went straight back to the hotel, but I stayed in town by myself and just did some browsing around stores. The sales are ending soon, so I wanted to get my fill of shopping in. I ended up finding one thing that I was actually looking for, which was a book with the responses to the Italian mass in it. That way I can actually follow along with the masses in Italian, which will be nice. I also found a very cute little cappuccino shop and sat down for some coffee and sweets. It was just a little hole-in-the-wall type place, but the old lady who owned it was very nice and had it decorated cute.

On my way back to the hotel, I walked past a very small old lady who was trying to get into her apartment building, but her key wasn't working. She started speaking to me in Italian, but I didn't understand her. I told her that I don't speak much Italian, but through her gestures I could tell that she needed help getting in. She couldn't get the key to turn, but I got it for her and helped her into the building. She seemed very feeble and was using a cane, but she also had two big shopping bags with her. It was frustrating not being able to communicate with her very well, but at least I was able to understand enough to help her out.

I know this blog entry is getting long and making random jumps, but I want to remember all of these things that happen. So, next random topic, today at dinner I could not stop laughing. And I mean really laughing, where you can't breathe and no sound comes out and your eyes start watering because you're laughing so hard. I don't know what it was. I did not have anything to drink, but everything just struck me as funny. Sometimes I just have to laugh at the situation we're in: 14 American students who didn't know each other before, all from different backgrounds, stuck together in a foreign country for three months, expected to live, eat, sleep, party, study, attend class, travel, and do everything else together. No offense to anyone, but I really think this is the closest to living in a nuthouse that I will ever come. So that's why I just crack up laughing sometimes. If I don't try to find humor in some of the situations, I'd probably drive myself crazy.

After dinner I was planning to stay in, but Ania got a facebook message from one of the bartenders at JJ Hill saying we should go down because there was going to be live music. So, heck, why not? We went down there for a while, and it was nice because the band, which consisted of an acoustic guitarist and a singer, played English songs that we knew. Oh, and I now have a favorite beer. I discovered it on Monday night, and I had it again tonight. It is called Strongbow, and it is an apple beer. I like to drink it with berry syrup, and it basically tastes like apple cider with a little kick. It's probably considered a girly beer, but I don't really care, because it's good. I don't know how good it would be with food, but when you're just at the bar to drink, it's a good drink to have. I really hope they have it in the states when I get back. Anyone know the answer to that one?

A hate love relationship

For those of you who read the title and thought I made a mistake, that it should be "love-hate relationship," you are wrong. I meant it to be a hate love relationship, because at the moment I do hate love. It's 11 days until Valentine's Day, or as some prefer to put it, Single's Awareness Day. I've heard Valentine's Day is particularly big in Italy. I mean, it is the heart of romance culture, how could it not be big? I can already tell that this is going to be true, because stores are starting to put stuff out for it. Today I saw a heart shaped red frying pan in a store window, and I know this sounds really dorky, but I thought it was really cool. That's the thing, I always see all these cute little Valentine's Day gifts, and I always look at the flowers, and smell them, and admire them. I also constantly imagine going on dates to different places that I visit. This is something I pretty much do year-round, but the instinct is particularly strong this time of year. But then the day comes, and it's a big disappointment, because nothing happens. Not that I really expect anything to happen, but somewhere in my hopelessly romantic dreams, I think it will. I can try to make it better by going out with girls or buying myself a nice little gift, but that just calls attention to the unpleasant truth: I am single on a day that is devoted to couples. Now I still have 10 days to find myself a Valentine, so I'm not giving up hope completely. I do have one rule however: said man must be closer in age to me than to my dad; so, for those of you who have been keeping up with the previous blogs, Dario is not a contestant.

When I was in Assisi last weekend our tour guide told us a story of St. Valentine. I looked it up on a Catholic website to verify it, but I didn't find anything similar. So it's probably a legend, but I really don't care because it's a cute story. The tour guide said that St. Valentine lived in a small village in Italy when the Greeks and Romans were fighting. Every young man in the village had to go fight in the war as soon as he came of age. The only exception was for married men. They did not have to fight in the war because it would anger their wives, and then their wives would demand more when they got home. The wives would say, "You spent years and years away fighting at war, now you come home, and you are going to have to fight with me." And so the wives would always get their way. St. Valentine was a peaceful man and was saddened to see all of the young men in his village sent off to war. So he decided to use the marriage exception to his advantage. This is how he began his role as village matchmaker. He would arrange for young couples to get together and get married, and then the males would not have to go off to war. This is how the tradition of Valentine's Day got started and how St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers (also a myth, according to the Catholic website). But, in the spirit of the season, I am going to choose to believe this little legend and ask for the intercession of St. Valentine to make me a match.

By the way, it is still raining, but I didn't think anyone would be interested in reading another post about that.

News Flash!

Okay....here it is, the news flash: Rainy Mondays are depressing, no matter where you are in the world. That's all there is to it. This one was made a little bit better at dinner though. We have two birthdays in our group this week. Today was Joey's 22nd birthday, and tomorrow is Jill's 21st. To celebrate Bob bought champagne for all of us, and we were surprised by it at the end of our dinner. It was a nice gesture, and it made the rainy day a little more bearable. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself, as the rain isn't supposed to stop until next Wednesday. Perhaps another trip to Abetone (the ski place) is in the stars for this weekend. I bet they're getting snow right now instead of all this rain.

Franciscan Mass

I had a fun night at the Irish pub down the street last night singing camp songs (the moose, hippopotamus, and milk songs, for those of you who are familiar with them) and dancing to live Irish music. I still managed to get up for breakfast at 9 a.m. today and make it to the Franciscan mass at the monastery up the hill at 11 a.m with Eldon. I really enjoyed the mass, and I can honestly say that it is one of the most engaging Catholic masses I have been too, even in spite of the fact that it was in Italian. It was a youth mass, so there were lots of people my age there. I'm not sure if they do youth masses every Sunday or just on certain ones. There was a big oriental rug in from of the altar, and lots of people were sitting on the floor. It was a bit hippie-ish, I suppose, but I thought it was neat...but then again I tend to be attracted to hippie things. There was a Franciscan nun who led in the singing, and someone was playing guitar and tambourine. It was very lively and modern music, and I sang along it Italian because there was a song book with all the words. I think I am going to try to get a mass book in Italian so I can say the responses during the mass too. After the mass many people were sticking around to socialize, but we didn't really know what was going on, so we left. Before we left though a Franciscan monk named Augustano who spoke a bit a bit of English talked with us. He was pretty young, probably in his 30s, and very nice. From what I have seen, I really like the Franciscan order and what they stand for.