Celebrate We Will, Because Life is Short, But Sweet For Certain...

I feel like I’ve definitely settled into Florence. Two weeks ago I was still thinking..”Wow, it’s crazy I’m here.” Now I think, “I can’t imagine going home or having it be any different.” I feel like I’m definitely going to experience some reverse culture shock. I actually feel kind of used to being around people who speak a different language then me and live differently. I mean honestly I think I’ve realized how much I fit in from the beginning: Talking fast, savoring food, really loud, high temper, really crazy at sporting events….yeah, I’d say I belong here. Speaking of being crazy at sporting events…
Sunday I attended the Florentine futbol (soccer) game here in Florence at their big stadium. Florentine can kind of be compared to our New England Revolution soccer team except on a whole other level because soccer is so big here. You should’ve seen these fans! (pics and videos) HaHa, they were hilarious. Singing and jumping up and down. The game actually ended up being unbelievable! It was 0-0 and with two minutes left in the game Florentine scored. It was HILARIOUS when they scored. The three players who were involved with the goal ran OFF the field and around the whole stadium! I guess that’s a customary thing here. As opposed to the US where you get fined for dancing after scoring a touchdown in football. Rivalries are so intense here because they run deeper than the sport. The team they were playing...apparently in the part of Italy, the people there are considered “fascists” and still believe in the fascist regime. They were even doing the facist salute (hand in the air, palm out) at the game! It was really weird to experience this. I can only imagine if we added POLITICAL rivalries to the Red Sox/Yankee rivalry back home!! YIKES!! I can only imagine…
My friends and I have begun experiencing some of the restaurants and nightlife around here and it’s been really fun. We’ve even made friends with some of the staff of the restaurants. There is one restaurant right down the road from us that has a different theme every night. Monday: Open Mic night Tuesday: Beer Pong tournament Wednesday: Wing Night Thursday: Trivia Friday: Karaoke Saturday: Live band Sunday: Sports night Plus it’s an AMERICAN bar, so they have all American food. YES they have CHICKEN fingers….I’m in heaven. I’ve been to all of the nights except Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. My friend and I entered the beer pong tournament last night and didn’t make it past the 1st round. (I know…pathetic..I was disappointed…good thing there is always next week) I definitely took part in wing night (phenomenal) and represented Boston well by busting out Sweet Caroline at Karaoke last Saturday. (pictures) And on Sunday I watched the 6 nation Rugby game there. (Think this bar is sick of me yet?)
I should be done planning my trips by the end of this week, so I’ll have to blog about where I decided in my next post. This weekend I am staying in Florence, and then next Thursday going to Rome until Sunday. And then Rob comes on Monday!:) Yay, can’t wait to have someone from home to see! Speaking of someone from home…my friend Jarrod that I graduated with is also studying in Florence this semester. Not at my school, at a different one. It turns out he lives 5 minutes from me! What are the chances!? So we hung out last weekend. He also had a bunch of NH friends with him so we had a little NH reunion.

Tonight I went to a wine tasting, which was really interesting. We drank 3 different kinds of dry, white wines and they instructor explained to us all of the differences between the wines and just explained general knowledge of wine in general. I’m kind of getting into the whole “wine exploring” thing. Different wines interest me. Too bad they’re not the easiest thing to bring home in my suitcase… Couple more things I’d like to point out about Italy/Italians:
-If an Italian man says “Ciao bella” to you on the street…it is NOT a compliment. Keep listening you’ll hear it 10 times behind you to every woman they walk by. It’s amazing really. It’s like they don’t even care if you really are “bella” All they care about is that you’re a female. No joke: Tonight I got 3 “ciao bellas” and I hadn’t showered all day, had my hair up (which was half falling down), wearing bundles of clothing, and scarfing down a gelato…..pretty sure that says that “ciao bella” means nothing…
-I think it’s funny when they don’t understand me when I speak in English because I “talk fast…” ummm..apparently they have NO CONCEPT of listening to themselves….faster talkers I’ve ever met.
-You don’t tip in Italy..yet the service is better than America. Explain that to me.
-Whenever I meet someone here who is NOT an Italian but lives here (not as a student) they have all lived here for over 5 years and all say nothing but POSITIVE things about it. Never have I heard anyone say they haven’t liked living in Florence.
-They charge you for EVERYTHING. Not joking…at McDonald’s (yes, there is a McDonald’s here…) they charge you for KETCHUP. Hahaha…if you like a lot of ketchup you’re basically screwed..
-If you frequent a certain restaurant, café etc and you start to speak in Italian and make friends with them..they will start to give you free stuff…for instance here are some of the things I’ve gotten free at places since I’ve been here: bread, tequila shots, champagne, appetizers, desert..:) -No one is ever on time. I’m so scared I’m going to be late for class every day. I start practically sprinting if I think I’m going to be one minute late….I get there…I’m still the first one there. We start classes on average…10 minutes late every day.
-The police or cabinarri..or whatever they call the, (they’r e both the same) take anything serious…as not serious..and anything not serious…as serious. For instance if you get anything stolen from you (which my friends have…not me..knock on wood) you tell the police and they tell you, you should’ve been more careful. They don’t ask for a description or anything. BUT..if you forget to punch your bus ticket when you get on the bus you get a 40 euro fine if they catch you, and if you buy a Prada bag or any sort of fake bag off the street from a vendor, not knowing it, you get fined thousands of dollars. Interesting priorities they have here.
-The mafia still controls more than you think and ranks above all of the police and the government and basically is the government. Scary…I know.
-More motorcycles than I’ve ever seen in my life. Definitely more motorcycles than cars. Okay…

That’s it for now. Tomorrow I begin my internship at the local high school. I’m teaching students English..if you can believe that! Thank goodness they’ve been taking English since elementary school so when I can’t speak Italian at all they understand me….haha.

Time for bed!! Miss you all.
-JW
Okay..I tried to upload videos, but it was taking forever..so we'll go with pics for now and I'll try for videos this weekend..

Gelato: Your best friend..your worst enemy.

Me in front of the Ponte Vecchio @ night

Beer pong @ Red Garter

Our large pitcher at Red garter lol


Friends and I at the Florentine soccer game! Yes, they are purple and yellow and their jerseys say "Toyota" on them...haha

The crazy crowd at the game!

The baby from the other team who wouldn't stop arguing with the ref.

The Stadium

Karaoke at Red Garter..a little Grease...

Can't go wrong with dancing queen...

Mom-This is for you. You would've rocked this one.

Letting some New Englander's participate in Sweet Caroline!

I don't hog the mic or anything...

me (aka Pebbles) at her favorite spot.

NH buddies!

Kaylee and Erin with their margarita pitcher and HUGE straw!