Pretty Girls.

This Italian men thing is a double-edged sword.

One of the more difficult experience about living here is learning how not to make eye contact with anyone. You're in a bar and creepy dudes are catcalling you, and you pretend they do not exist. You walk down a street, and men are literally leaning out the window to yell how beautiful you are. The trick is to look as though you are entirely deaf.

Every once in a while, though, it does work out to your advantage depending on your level of wit and astuteness. Many men here simply enjoy looking at pretty women. If you allow, given certain circumstances, and even play the role of a woman who toys with men's hearts, they will reward you. Today, Eli and I went to a restaurant, and our simple presence earned us a free appetizer from the all male staff. Last night, a girl from our group flirted with the bartender at a reasonable level and earned a bottle of asti spumante for our group. Free dessert wine, free desserts, and other little surprises are the benefits of women who work to be attractive.

It's not that bad of a deal. I can live with it.

MTV Italia!

Alright, anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not the biggest fan of pop culture. I keep up enough to consider myself a cultured individual, but... I could really care less about who's with whom and crap like that.

However, I'm in Italia. It's hot here and there is absolutely no air conditioning anywhere. There is one except: Our hotel rooms. So, I've been spending endless hours with my two new friends Kristin and Ryan watching MTV Italia. Oh, yes, have you seen the new "Stop, Domentica" video? Hello! Number one video in Italia. It's absolutely amazing.

Actually, straight up, that's a lie. Italian music is not so great. Number 2 is Shakira's (is that how you spell it?) "Hips Don't Lie." American music frequently makes the top of the list. I've seen Madonna, M.J. Blige and Bono, and Hillary Duff.

It's amazing how I went to Italy, and now I am definitely more in tune with American culture. The little Italian culture I am picking up on MTV Italia is Italians pretending to be as cool as Americans. Sorry, y'all, we've got the monopoly on that market.

Catholicism? Hah! I'm a Catherinic!

Praise to St. Catherine!

While in Siena, I came across a shop that had one of the more extraordinary dresses I've every tried on. That is to say, in America, it'd be a little dull, but in Europe I look absolutely incredible. All those people who say Europeans are so fashion forward? Well, at least in Italy, that is one big lie. These people dress worse than Oklahomans. No concept whatsoever for flattering shapes or colors. And I don't think it is a matter of different tastes, because it is quite apparent from store fronts in every town that I've been in that style is quite similar to American styles. These people simply do not know how to dress themselves.

Anyway, I tried on this dress and damn (!) I looked good in it. But it was a little pricy. I mean, dresses here are cheaper than in the states, but it was still a bit much. So, I gave the dress a little hug, left it on the rack, and left. Our next stop in Siena was to see the head of St. Catherine. Oh yes, this is literally the diembodied head of St. Catherine, displayed in glass in one of the churches. You can also see her thumb (or one of her other fingers). She's performed all of these miracles. One of them was her followers dug up her body to return it to Siena, but they didn't think they could get the whole thing back, so they removed her head and thumb. When they trekked out of the city, they were stopped by city officials to pay taxes on what they purchased. "What's in the bag?" the offials ask, and this of course comes to quite some concern of the followers. They open the bag, and the officials say, "Hey, nice flowers'" and let them pass through. So, now they can display her head at this church in Siena.

Well, I get to Florence (or Firenze) and start doing some dress shopping. I quickly relize that I'm a moron for passing up that dress. Yes, it was a little expensive, but I looked good! Then, I have troble finding the chain store that sold that dress. That's when someone suggested I try to hit up St Catherine. Maybe we could come to some arrangement about the dress situation. If she can turn her head into flowers, she could reveal the store to me, have that dress available in the right fabric and size. In return, I promise to return to the church where her head is at, make a small donation, and never again question the legitimacy of the catholic church. I know, it's quite a sacrifice, but you need to see me in this dress.

Well, sure enough, after much searching, I find the dress. Not only that, but they had it one size smaller than the one in Siena, which looks even better on me. Then, I found these great earrings and shoes to go with it, as well as nice undergarments that flatter the breasts without visible bra straps, and no panty line with a thong. So, I didn't promise to convert, but me and catholicism have found a respectable agreement. It was a good day.

The little red spots have not gone away. (It's not zits. I don't carefully proof read my stuff, because it cost me money. And typing on European keyboards is a little tricky.)

I am now in Arezzo. It's an adorable little town. A few things have suprised me on this trip:

1) Internet is expensive and very difficult to access. This results in no pictures and fewer posts than I desire.
2) I haven't take a lot of pictures. My camera is quite heavy and really impractical to carry around with me. I'm usually walking around with a group, so I don't have time to stop and take pictures without getting separated from the group. And, straight up, y'all, I'd much rather not take pictures than not hear the stuff our guide tells us. I think there are others in this group who don't enjoy what he has to say, but I've gone from knowing nothing and caring nothing about Italian art to understanding the connections and differences between Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Donatello. I'm just really sad I can't explain it all to you. I'm going to forget by the time I get home.
3) Food is not as great as I anticipated. It's good, to be sure, but not sex on a plate like many have told me. There is a McDonald's in Arezzo. When I find it, I'm eating EVERYTHING! Though, I had this dessert last night which was composed of slices of dry cheese, topped with honey, walnuts, and pears. It was pretty fantastic.

Little side note, Arezzo is where they filmed the city scenes from Life is Beautiful. If you have not seen that movie ("La Vita Bella"), you are missing one of the world's finest cinematic achievements.

I need to go study dissimulation in italian life through observation, so I'll catch you later.

Firenze.

Ah, I'm so happy to be in Florence! Perugia had it's own unique enjoyability, but it was a little dull towards the end there. Same thing every day: Wake up, breakfast, go to class, make plans for the evening, say you weren't going to get drunk that night, eat lunch, go home to "do homework," end up taking a long nap, wake up too late to do homework, go out for dinner with friends, end up getting drunk, go home, go to sleep. Fun for two days. Two weeks is a bit much.

Florence is wonderful. Rome was a little.... seedy. Amazing city, but it was a little scary, grafitti everywhere, and no internet cafes! Here, I feel quite safe. I definitely went out last night and watched the U.S./Italy soccer game in a big crowd of people on this huge screen and had no fear of cheering for my own team or getting robbed.

Our brave and brilliant tour guide is getting a little annoyed with the way of Italy. Yesterday we went to some big church in Siena, and he asked them were tobuy ticekts to this museum. They said, "You can't buy it at the church, you have to buy it at the museum." So, we go over to the museum and they're like, "Uh, you are supposed to buy them at the church, but you can buy them here, but it's a lot more expensive." Apparently the hotel we made reservations at lost our reservation, so he had to get a new hotel for us literally at the last minute. The bus was twice as much a it was last year. Today we saw Michelangelo's David, and the dude running the place decided to make up an arbitrary rule that because we are a big group, it's going to be 3€ extra person. It's definitely illegal, and Kirk fought for us. They ended up agree to space out the entrance of everyone. What can you say? Welcome to Italy.

I woke up this morning to find my face was covered with little red dots. They are zits, they aren't bug bits, the skin isn't raised, it's just little red dots. I'll post pictures later. (I will post all my picture eventually. It may not be until I get back to the U.S., but eventually.)

Oh, defintely saw the remains of someone hit by a vehicletoday on the street. Lots of blood and big fleshy chunks ground into the pavement. Without a doubt, the most gruesome image I've seen with my own eyes.

I need to go buy a dress.

Anyone want to add it up?

Gelato: Italy - 1 point.
Ranch dressing: Oklahoma - 1 point.
Toilet Paper at every bathroom 99% of the time: Oklahoma - 5 points.
Alcohol legal to all people over the age of 18: Italy - 2 points.
Really cool old buildings: Italy - 3 points.
Things to do on a Sunday afternoon: Oklahoma - 3 points.
Customer service: Oklahoma - 4 points.
Flat streets: Oklahoma - 2 points.
Practical buses and trains for reasonable prices: Italy - 4 points.
English speaking: Oklahoma - 2 points.
Beautiful toddlers who speak Italian: Italy - 3 points.
Pizza: Italy - 2 points.
Tax included in price: Italy - 3 points.
Free water: Oklahoma - 3 points.
Variety of restaurants: Oklahoma - 3 points.
Likes my electrical devices: Oklahoma - 2 points.
Most people shower every day: Oklahoma - 1 point.
People generally dress well: Oklahoma and Italy - -2 points.
Being able to talk to men without fear of getting molested: Oklahoma - 3 points.
Never doubting your female form is being enjoyed in the eyes of men: Italy - 2 points.
Cappuccino's and Espresso for less than a euro: Italy - 5 points.
Pasteries everywhere: Italy - 4 points.
Tiramasu: Italy - 3 points.
Nutella pizza: Italy - 6 points. (As one of the other girls described it: Sex in your mouth!)
Everyone takes their dogs out with them: Italy - 5 points.
Chips and Salsa: Oklahoma - 4 points.
Cold sodas for cheap: Oklahoma - 2 points.
Availability of photographic opportunities: Oklahoma and Italy: 4 points.
Mountains: Italy - 4 points.
Ethnic variety: Oklahoma - 3 points. (I know! My God, we're the lilly white state of the union.)
Comic vaue of Italian interpretation of American culture: Italy - 3 points. (Last night, we went to see if there were any good American films out. There weren't, but they did have a popocorn station. It was a little square kiosk with four microwaves. It had bucking horses with cowboy's on it that said, "American Popcorn.")

You get the gist.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Okay. So, like, best birthday EVER!

Okay, so, it started last night. Elizabeth and I were chilling at a bar thinking alone, "Hm, this is boring. Should we go home?" But, it was 11:20 p.m., so Elizabeth said we should stick it out 'til midnight. That way we could celebrate my birthday when it began. So, we waited, sipping out Pina Coladas (sp?).

Anyhow, we waited a few minutes, and suddenly like half of our group shows up. This guy comes to our table with a ton of shots, and he says, "Who's the birthday girl?" (Or more like, "Hoo es dee berthday gerl?" When I raise my hand, he gives me the first shot and kisses me on the cheeks. Awe.

Then, at exactly midnight, he brings over a bottle of champagne for our group. There's a picture of me fake chugging it on Eli's camera. (Seriously. I am smart enough to not get too drunk in a town were I don't speak the language.) Then, I get another couple of free drinks and our group is crowded around the table all fidgety. No one was dancing in the bar, but the music was good and the buzz was good. Then, all the Oklahoma students start dancing at once. Crazy Americans. But, after like 30 minutes, half the bar was dancing. And by the time we left, the entire bar was dancing.

The dude who's the internet guy here has connections with on of the discos in Perugia. So, he hooks us up to all get into the disco for free. We hung out way late into the night and finished off with 50 Cents song with "We're gunna party like it's your birthday." Very nice. The gentleman who got the group in was kind enough to walk us back to our apartment to make sure were weren't rapped or mugged. (He might have had alterior motives, but he didn't push them, so it's cool.) Thanks, Daniele (or however you spell Daniel in italian)!

This morning Eli and I woke up rather miserably. Fortunately, neither of us we hung over. (Lots of water, don't go to sleep drunk.) However, we had been dancing all night long. It's a wearisome activity! But, we got up and met or new friend Kristin to make our way out to Lago Trasimeno. We grabbed a slice of one euro pizza and headed to the bus station. Well, the people here are absolutely awful to talk to when you need help. Customer service has not been introduced to this society. So, we're not exactly sure what we need to do to get there, but we've got enough to get us close. Bus and train tickets are only between 2 and 10€, so one mistake isn't that big of a deal. Well, we do get off at the wrong place, but we were having fun on our little adventurous trip.

We find a train station that can get us to the right spot, and there is this little boy at the station who comes up to us and says, "Tu tu!" Don't speak italian, so I look at his grandfather and he responds, "Tu tu... Traino!" Tu tu is the sound trains make in Italy. Absolutely adorable!

We finaly make it to Passignano (town outside of the lake) and we catch a ferry going to a little island in the middle of the lake called Isola Maggiore. We ate lunch, had some great gelato, and walked around. So absolutely quaint and endearing. The island is known for supporting the lace making industry. By that, I mean there are little old ladies with lawn chairs lacing outside their houses. It was so cool.

Now I am completely exhausted, but it was worth it.

Thanks to everybody who wished me a happy birthday!

Sickness... Bah.

Yeah, I've been sick the whole time I've been in Perugia. It's not cool. I keep forgetting to bring my card from my camera with me. Ah, you'll wait.

Today, I bought a awesome jacket for 9€. It's awesome.

Everyone is not enjoying Perugia except for Eli and I. Very strange, but whatever.

It's a slow life here. It's cold. There is no TV, no movies... essentially there is nothing to do but eat and drink. Somehow, however, the arranging to meet at the steps in the town center and gossip about each other represents the small town life I never got to experience. As long as they are not gossiping about me... (I'm the sick one, so they all feel bad for me.)

There's not much to tell.

Florence is coming up shortly. We'll see how that goes.

Benvenuto a Italia.

Yeah, so, life is tricky here... I did go to the camera store and I did find a charger for my camera batteries (score!). However, when I got home, I opened the box to find plugs to the charger, but no charger. Not only that, but none of the plugs were a European plug. Of course, after I get class, I go back to the store, but it was closed. Most stores are closed between 1:00 and 3:00, so you have to come back later. Anyway, I finally have it now, but I still haven't charged my camera. Pictures are coming. Here's one to wet your appetite:



Men here are completely different! It becomes wearisome dealing with the constant cat calling. "Have my babies," and "Mm, love me" are among Eli's and my favorite. All the same, I like talking to people, especially if they like talking to me. Here, though, I have to completely ignore men when they are talking to me. One girl entertained some affection and ended up having to call our tour guide at 3 in the morning saying, "There is a guy here who has locked me in a bar and he won't let me leave." Yeah, not the experience I want to take away. As we speak, there is a guy a two computers down from my trying to talk with me. Bah.

Class today was fine. I have the advantage of French, which makes Italian very, very easy. Yup, gender of nouns and adjectives must agree. The possesive agrees with the gender of the noun. Blah, blah, blah. Apparently, however, there is no phrase "International Studies" so I can say "Io studio [International Studies]."

In Elizabeth's class, they had this list of get-to-know-each-other questions. One of the questions was "Have you ever been in a skyscraper?" She was really confused by the question, but the class is composed of international students, so many of them have never seen skyscrapers. If you are thinking skyscrapers like 80 stories high, that is not the case. Skyscapers are anything above 10 floors. One man was like, "I've never been in one, but I saw one once and I took a picture of it!" Adorable.

Perugia is lovely. Life is so slow, but I love it here. I have a cold right now, but I should be feeling better soon. Maybe by then it will warm up. I've needed a jacket every day I've been here. It's maddening.

Pants, fat, jealousy, and anger.

I got pants today! Really, it has been absolutely awful walking around in shorts and skirts while it's like 50 outside. However, shopping is a very difficult thing. My size is the largest they offer here in Europe. At home I'm a 6 in pants, and a small in shirts. Here I'm a large in both. And it's still a little tight. I feel bad for the other girls in our group that are even just a little larger than me. It's difficult not to take it too seriously. I'm very happy for their skinny little asses, but man I wish they went one size larger.

I was able to get my camera to turn on long enough to take a couple of pictures of my room. However, I was a ditz and left my camera in my room. There is a camera store in town, so I should be able to get a charger soon.

Last night was really difficult. I don't want to get into lest some people are familiar with the names, but I was forced into a difficult situation. I was brutally angry with someone on the trip, but felt that trying to communicate my frustration would only make the situation worse. I will have to see this person a lot, and I don't want to make it awkward while I'm in Italy. But it's pressing so heavy on my mind that I can hardly stand it. It's a betrayal that may not be forgivable.

I must note, however, that things are so much cheaper in Perugia (even compared to the U.S.). I got jeans, kakis, and a belt for 30€. Nice. Very nice.

Here I am...

I hardly know where to begin. I am now in Perugia in Italy. I've been in Rome since the 30th, but it appears there are no Internet Cafés in Rome. If there are, they're on the outskirts. It's frustrating because so much has happened, I can't remember all of it... I'll come back to elaborate. I will talk about today because it's easy to remember.

Today, we woke up early this morning and took a charter bus from Rome to Perugia. Rome is pretty flat and geographically not that different from Oklahoma. (Obviously, the plants are different... By the way, I'm using a European keyboard and the punctuation is different, so if you see a typo, it's probably because the apostophe is next to the zero at the top of the keyboard.) Perugia, on the other hand, is in a hilly area and the city overlooks a valley and then mountains. It's so hilly that they actually have public elevators and escalators to get from one part of the city to the other. The escalators were built into the old medivial part of town that used to be "buried." I'm not sure what this has to do with.

I'm having computer troubles, so hopefully I will get some pictures for y'all soon enough. Power conversion is very difficult, and I can't find a way to change my camera batteries.

Kirk, the man who's sort of our guide to getting around, met his wife and his two little kids. Blast, I need pictures of them, too. They're adorable! Kirk is a great guy. Here's a picture of him with the Borens while we were chilling outside the Vatican.



We were met at the bus station by a tour guide (I don't remember his name) who took us around Perugia. He was afraid we might get lost, but I think the city center is about the size of the OU campus. Yeah, I think I can handle it. We returned to the bus station to be picked up by our host families. Elizabeth and I worked it out to stay in the same place. The woman who picked us up is very nice, but she doesn't speak english. Our room is so cute (I need to take a picture of it at well) with a beautiful view of the mountains and the scenery on the hill. We went to an "american" restaurant today for lunch, which had amazing fries, but the burgers were just a bun with meat on it. No lettuce, tomato, pickles, or condiments. I had coconut and chocolate gelato (italian ice cream) with Elizabeth as we searched for an internet place here it town.

The differences here are subtle. You walk around and if you run into someone you say "I'm sorry" without even thinking about it. Obviously, all the buildings are completely different. If you take the elevator to the bottom floor, you'll hit 1 forgetting that Italy has a 0 floor. Coke is very expensive here, as is just about everything. However, travel is not that expensive. You can catch a train to almost any other town or city in Italy for about €20.

I haven't done much here in Perugia yet, but getting on the internet and calling my parents was a big accomplishment in terms of what I've been trying to do in the last few weeks.

I have some pictures from the Vatican, so I'll talk about it a little. Kirk is a fantastic guide, so the Borens came with us as we toured the different areas. The Vatican opens at 8:00 and closes at 1:30 p.m., so time is limited for getting in. The lines are extremely long, and though we arrived quite early, we were in line for close to an hour an a half.

(I was uploading pictures, but this computer is giving out on me...)

We saw the Sistine Chaple, the Deposition from the Cross by Caravaggio, the Transfiguration by Raffaello, the School of Athens by Raphael, the Pietà and St. Peter's Basilica. It was great because these art pieces are kinda spiffy, but I don't know anything about them. However, we had these head phones and Kirk, this dude who knows all this stuff about this artwork, is giving us private lectures about the art whole we are in the museum looking at it.

Then we goot hooked up with this super cool tour underneath the Vatican. They've been excavating underneath, finding these old pagan tombs. Well, if you know your Catholic mythology (which I do not), it is believed that the vatican is situated above St. Peter's tomb. So, digging under there was a big controversy, because if you don't find Peter's bones, you're questioning the legitimacy of the Catholic belief system. But, they do find something rather sigificant. It's a tiny little tomb with the bones of a 60 year old man. His head is missing and his feet are missing (Peter was matyred by being hung on a cross upside down, so it's likely his body was removed by chopping off his feet). On the outside of the tomb is this old writing that says "Peter is here." They've placed his bones back in the burial spot (in the really nice NASA designed boxes to preserve them), and I was able to see them. It's not a public tour in the traditional sense, but takes months of planning to get set up. It was an amazing experience to think, "This is the body of one of Christ's disciples and I'm looking at it."

Anyway, there is much more to tell, but I'm thirst, so I'm gunna jet. Tomorrow is first day of classes in Perugia. Finally, I'll be able to talk to people beyond "Grazie" and "Ciao."