Supermarket Woes

Hey guys.

Don't worry, I'm not going to go from being post-negligent to post-obsessed, but I thought I'd share this story because it's making me laugh, anyway.

So I went to the supermarket today to buy stuff to make pancakes (yay!) tomorrow for my landlords and their friends.  The supermarket was insanely crowded, and I kind of buzzed through the isles at high speed trying to get what I needed and get out as soon as possible.  

On my way to the register I grabbed a packet of pantyliners because I'd run out.  I didn't look too closely but they seemed pretty normal.  An older gent rang up my purchase and I left.  In general, pretty painless.

It wasn't until I got home and was putting my groceries away that I realized that I had in fact purchased pantyliners intended for use by people with bladder incontinence.

Whoops.

If you think getting your tampons rung up by some dude at the supermarket, wait until you buy Depends at the age of 19. 

All the old people I was in line with must have thought I was crazy.

But anyhow.  The weather here is beautiful, and I've had a great day getting veggies at the market, getting ready for the Festival of the Pancakes, and talking to friends.  I hope you're all well!

The Second Post Arrives

Sorry guys.

I know it's been almost exactly a month since my last post.  The truth is, I wrote one about a week after my first one, and blogger.com seized up and refused to post my post and decided to erase it instead.  After that, I hated the idea of rewriting that post so much that I procrastinated for a month.  But I've decided to just scrap that one and move forward.  It really wasn't that interesting anyway.  If you're curious, you can send me an email.  Basically I got lost on the bus.

But anyway, for the last month I've basically just been settling here.  I've been having fun just living - shopping, cooking, going to class, etc.  - mundane things which are somehow more exciting just because I am doing them in a beautiful European city and speaking in Italian instead of English.

But I've done some cool things - many of them when Elliott was here visiting last weekend, which was awesome.  I know most of you probably already got the scoop from him, so I'll try not to overlap too much.  And I have pictures too!  (although I don't have that fancy panoramic picture option - you'll have to see his blog for that business).  To start out, here's a picture showing the dam in the middle of the Arno that we hung out on one afternoon:

As you probably gathered from Elliott's blog, we climbed up Brunelleschi's dome while he was here.  If you don't know about the dome, it's basically the cupola of Florence's main cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, commonly known as the Duomo.  The cool thing about it is that the many architects before Brunelleschi tried to construct the dome for this church, but they just couldn't figure it out.  It was just too big.  Finally, Brunelleschi took on the challenge.  He was successful (obviously), but even today we don't know how he did it.  He was kinda paranoid, and burned all his plans so that people wouldn't copy his genius.  The dome was also apparently constructed without the use of scaffolding, which blows my mind.

Anyways, the dome is actually a big dome with a smaller one inside, and for a fee you can climb up between the two through this tiny little passageway.  It's one of those classically touristy things to do in Florence, but it's just so cool.  I think that's a good way to describe Florence in general actually: even the masses of somewhat obnoxious tourists can't bring down how cool a place it is - the history here is just so vivid.

Here's a view from the top, with the Campanile (belltower) in the foreground:

Well anyways, that was fun, although kinda scary.  The passageway is very narrow, and it got pretty claustrophobic when the 10 or so people going up met the 20 or so people coming down...but it was totally worth it.  Luckily there are teeny tiny windows every now and then...and we passed one that perfectly framed the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio: 

Another place I've been (twice now I guess) is Piazzale Michaelangel0, and the beautiful church above it, San Miniato al Monte.  The piazzale is lovely, with a beautiful view of the city, but you heard/saw about that on Elliott's blog, so I'll tell you about the church.  It's even higher up then the piazzale, and you have to climb these giant Aztec temple sacrificial-esque stairs to get there.  The facade, in green and white marble, is beautiful - complex, but not over-done like the facade of the Duomo.  Inside, the sanctuary is dark and cool, and every surface is covered with geometric patterns, frescoes, and carvings in marble.  Even the ceiling high above is painted in primary colors.  Despite all the decoration, the effect is still somehow harmonious.  The whole place is very peaceful and clean-feeling, high on a hill above the busy, sometimes muggy city.

That was a long post.  Sorry about that.  But I haven't written in a month, so I thought I'd put some details in there for you.  But from now on, I'll be writing weekly (or something like that) so I'll try to keep things short and sweet.  I have a bunch of pictures, so I'll put them in as I go.  Disclaimer: descriptions of buildings/things I've done probably won't go in chronological order. 

Well, that's it for now.  I'll leave you with this cool door-knocker I found in San Frenediano:

Exploring

Hey everybody.

So I thought I'd make a blog, mostly because I really enjoy everybody else's.  So I thought I'd contribute, although my stories may be more cringe-inducing than entertaining - we'll see.  But I figured some of you would like to be kept posted, so here it all is.

I arrived in Florence yesterday at about one in the afternoon.  When I got of the plane it was raining, but it felt so good to be on solid ground in a real place (not an airport) that I could have cared less.  Even sopping wet, Florence is incredibly beautiful.  I took a taxi to my apartment, which was enough to convince me that driving in Florence is a bad idea.  My taxi driver maneuvered his small car in creative ways around the construction sites, vespas and buses creatively, using pathways such as sidewalks in ways that I would not have though of.  There was only one near collision, which was apparently caused by the fact that the other driver didn't know how to drive.

We arrived safely though, and as soon as I walked into the apartment belonging to Jozef and Carlotta that I will be living in, I knew it was going to be a good place to call home.  After sharing some awesome food with them, I took and nap, unpacked, and generally decided to wait until the next day to do anything particularly exciting.

Unfortunately, I made the foolish decision to not set an alarm.  I figured that I had nowhere to be in the morning, and that I was tired from traveling, so it would be good to sleep late.  And anyway, how late could I possibly sleep? 

I woke up at 2 in the afternoon.  After my initial horror, I moved fast and went to explore the city.  I stopped at a gelateria close to my apartment and, with Angie in mind, tasted my first ever yogurt gelato.  It was fantastic, and has me wondering whether yogurt gelato every morning is the same as yogurt every morning.  I mean, yogurt every morning is good for you, right?

The light in the city this afternoon was beautiful, the kind of clear, clean light you get after a storm passes.  In the distance, you could still see the storm clouds moving away to the mountains.  People were taking pictures everywhere, tourists and Italians alike.  Even in February, there are alot of tourists.  It's a little startling, to hear so much english in an Italian city.  I haven't had any problems with people not wanting to speak Italian with me, though, so I think that Florence's status as a tourist destination will only be a bit of a nuisance.

This was long!  Basically, it is good to be here, and I'm starting to adjust to the big city.  Hopefully I can explore more tomorrow, and I can't wait to visit il mercato centrale on Monday to buy some food!  

Mmm, food...