I'm not super blonde anymore!

Okay, so the last time I bleached my hair, it fried. I fried it. I tried not to, but I did. So now, I am no longer super blonde, more like a honey blonde or dark golden blonde. Just so you're not shocked when you see me in person, here are some photos for you, self portraits of course, senza pineapple.

What's this? What's this? I can't believe my eyes!

Internet at home? Shut up! Green money? How strange! Things are open between 12 and 3 AND on Sunday? You're joking!

That's right, everyone, I'm back in the states. Well, I'm not specifically in a state, DC being a district and all, but you understand. I think I was the only one from my program who got home on Friday, due to travel dramas that I'm sure you don't want to hear about (let's leave it at, my luggage got lost on the first leg, so I didn't have to schlep it through customs and it was delivered to my door!).

Joe and I have this book about a woman who travels a lot, and she refers often to "soul lag" meaning that your soul can't go as fast as your body can, and it catches up a couple of days later. I think mine got here today. Keep checking in for possible updates, and leave comments if you read something not Italy related so I know you're here, otherwise I have a tendency to forget all about things like blogs.

This man uses walnut halves to hold his paint, and they jiggle around on his tray. He must have them affixed somehow, but I can't figure it out.




They put up a tree in Piazza della Reppublica, and if you look closely, you can see Karen in front of it, probably annoyed that I had to try every setting on my camera to get this shot (no flash).





Karen and I in the Tuscan rain (that's what it does instead of snowing here. Plus it's still like 50).





Our sandbagging efforts (see flood of florence, 2006). Our floor is really clean now.




Sometimes, shamefully, you get really sick of Italian food. A brat at the German Christmas market hit the spot. Funnily, everyone I know was in the actual country of Germany that weekend. It was like bratwurst Sunday.

December 13, 2006, what can I say? It's working.

So I was watching a downloaded epi of South Park, where the creators feature Hell, and they put all kinds of famous people in there, and it’s hilarious. But somehow, my education kicked in, and I thought “Well, Dante was doing that in 1303.” But how funny is that for a paper topic? Thesis: Matt Stone and Trey Parker were inspired by literary classics ranging from Dante to Dickens…

So I texted my friends from class this idea, and of course they responded with LMAO and the like, which was fun. Then I realized I will miss my new friends here a lot. It’s been really fun for me to have new friends to hang out with, especially Dionisia from San Francisco and Adam from Iowa (via Long Island). They have given me faith in the future. It makes me sad that they won’t be in my immediate circle of friends after Friday, but then I think of my friends all over the world and I feel fine about it. The internet sure makes keeping in touch easy, no?

Today’s exams: Italian Cinema from Blow Up (Antonioni, 1966) to Life Is Beautiful (Benigni, 1998) and 20th Century Fashion, same decades. Piece o’ cake, or lemon torte, mmm.

TANTI AUGURI to Steve and Irene, who recently eloped to a gorgeous island! Kisses and see you soon!

This was supposed to be a photo barrage, but the school kicked me out.

Here's the emperor Hadrian, looks just like Joe, right?

The new flood of florence

Ooh, we had an adventure yesterday! Well, not so much an adventure as a huge pain in the butt. Our sink was clogged for a day or two, and we couldn’t get it unclogged, although we tried everything, even this stuff called DIABLO! that made smoke come out of the sink (I’m going to have to get that video from Liz). Nada. I mean niente. We were working with this, since we didn’t want to deal with our crabby landlady if we didn’t have to (is it the landlady job that makes you cranky, or is that part of what they look for when they hire you?) and so I decided to take the towels out of the washer while the sink drained enough to do a few more dishes. Here’s where it gets funny.

The washer is attached to the same drain as the clogged sink, and hadn’t drained at all so we had our own Niagra Falls in the tiny kitchen/dining room/living room of Via dei Serragli 41! I did not have the presence of mind to shut the door again, (although I did have mind to run away) and so Karen ran up and shut it, just in time to keep half the water still in there and keep it out of our bedrooms. Good job, Kdab! Did you read that it was a load of *towels* in the washer? Yeah. All of them. We had to use about 10 bedsheets plus all the dish towels we could find to clean it up. Did I mention that we were going out shortly, and were dressed up? Now, dressed up and smelly like old laundry water. How nice! I called Iris, the drunk English gem at our school who liaises with the apartment owners and she was going to come over, which actually would have been fun for us, but we were on our way out. She called the landlady 30 times, and eventually convinced her to come over and fix the sink. The stupid roommate came home in the middle of the sandbagging efforts and locked herself in her room without so much as offering to help us clean up. Anyway, today I got the sink ungucked and fixed the washer all by myself, and had fun telling the crankylady’s brother that tutto was posto. He seemed happy about that too.

I’ll be back at the end of your workweeks! I’d like to spend the weekend walking around, eating turkey meat and watching tv. Then after that, I’d like to pack up Joe and the cats and come right back. I’m not sure if I’ll keep up the blog after my return…what do you all think? Check the boxes below.

Who are you again?

I read you randomly, but mostly I don’t care

I will die without your witty bi-monthly updates on everyday life

Other (please comment)

In other news, I met a Siciliano (a friend of our Carabinieri friends) who looks frighteningly like Al Swearengen (actor Ian McShane on the best show of all time, Deadwood) who talked a lot about the Mafia and women’s duties. And yet somehow, I was laughing all night, having a great time, even when he tried to pick my nose (his finger wouldn’t even fit in there).

Are you tired of hearing about my schoolwork? Then you’re in luck! Finals start today! Up first, Medieval and Renaissance literature. Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli and Guicciardini. Contrapasso, humanism, et al. Whee!

I'm still here! I promise!

Well dear readers, you few loyals who didn’t give up on me in my long absences, time here in Firenze is winding down at an alarmingly fast pace. Everyone, even the whiny homesick teenagers who couldn’t wait to leave a month ago, is (are?) sad and saying it’s not enough time. But we have allowed ourselves to look forward to returning to the US, although some (like me) have mixed feelings. In the mix is guilt for letting excitement of going home to my wonderful husband spoil the last few days here. But I really must tell you, I’m quite looking forward to having ALL my shoes again.

Last night I went with Vanessa and Hannah to Jazz Club again. We saw an apparently very famous Italian jazz singer. She was really fun to watch and she sang with two accompanists, a violin player (who used his instrument too often like a ukulele) and a marvelous pianist. Often the pianist was stuck with the bass line, but when they let him go, he was amazing.

Today, I’m supposed to be stuck inside writing all my papers, but I don’t care about them at all because last night I found a giant Christmas market at Santa Croce that I must return to today. I simply must. I’m certain no paper will suffer too badly for my time enjoying the city, and if they do, yo mama.

I miss you very much Joe. I underestimated 3.5 months, but will be home in 12 days.

Update: Just got back from the Christmas market and it was all German! How funny is that? I ate a brat with sauerkraut and loads of mustard, and it was fabulously not a panino. Karen had a pretzel and we walked around. I came up with a thesis for my hardest paper which is “this guy wrote nonsense” which I think will turn out very well. Now I’m drinking tea and running with that thesis. I have 2 other papers due and my Italian final on Wednesday, and a super easy paper due on Thursday. Next week we have finals and packing, basically. I’m still going to try to get to San Marco and to see the David again, eat at Mario at least one more time, and not rip my roommate’s head off (the stupid one). Oh, plus Christmas shopping (but not for German stuff). Ciao, ragazzi!