Fashion. What does it mean? According to dictionary.com it is, a prevailing custom or style of dress, etiquette, socializing, etc. Obviously I am always in on the styles and follow them. Not. I have only recently begun to try and understand what having a good fashion sense means. Katerina (my little sister) has been in to fashion for a long time and she always gives great fashion advice. Kelsey has now inspired me to write a fashion blog so here are just a few of my favorites!

- Favorite all time designer: Chanel

o Obsessed with her chic classy tweed skirt suits that never go out of style and her timeless pieces of gold vintage jewelry

o Chanel is the epitome of my late great aunt Melba. She had the perfect style. Hair always done, nails and lips painted red, chic outfit, and excessive but classy jewelry)

o I have the amazing pleasure to own two pieces of Chanel jewelry that my mom has bought for me. Whenever we go on a trip we each buy each other something small from Chanel.

o Check out this article: Top Five Chanel Timeless Creations

- http://classnfab.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/top-five-chanel-timeless-creations/

- Favorite newly discovered designer: Elie Saab

o The purple lace dress that Mila Kunis wore to the 2011 Oscars was simply to die for. I want it, but I definitely know I will never be able to afford it.

o His 2011 Spring/Summer collection is a dream. The dresses are made with soft tones like peach and lavender, incredibly flowy silhouettes, and beautiful subtle sparkles throughout. Need I say more?

- Favorite fashion trends that never go out of style:

o See through items (only when classy of course and not too revealing)

o Pockets on anything (its always fun to have somewhere to put your hands)

o Low back (the lower the sexier, but never showing butt crackage because that’s just gross)

o Sparkles (only when not over done)

My life as of late

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Club: Full Up.

Time: 12am-5am

Drinks: Spumante + Sex on the Beach

Men: Egyptian

Description: Kels, Soph, and I were VIP. Does anything more need to be said?

THURSDAY NIGHT

Club: Twice.

Time: 12am-3am

Drinks: Delicious shots + Champagne + Vodka w/ lemon soda

Men: Creepers – one gay dude.

Description: Dancing on couches and getting hit on by creepers we don’t know aka didn’t last long.

FRIDAY NIGHT

Club: YAB. 21. Full Up.

Time: 1am-6am

Drinks: Vodka w/ lemon soda + Sex on the Beach

Men: I don’t kiss and tell.

Description: Kels and I yet again back in VIP. House music all night long!

SATURDAY NIGHT

Club: Kikuya. Full Up… Fail.

Time: 1am-4am

Drinks: Delicious shots of coconut and fruits + Champagne w/vodka

Men: Waiting at my doorstep.

Description: Night out with Pa! Raiding his restaurant at 3am.

End result of the weekend:

Best friends + great laughs + dancing + free drinks = priceless.

OTHER WEEKEND ADVENTURES:

Wednesday:

- Body language

o Neutral mask: so we learned about this thing called the neutral mask, which essentially is a plain white mask with holes in the eyes and nose (traditionally the mask is made out of leather). We each took turns putting on the mask and walking around in it. The whole point is to become neutral, so nothing about your walk is you. We are stripping down to nothing so we can eventually build up better habits, posture, and qualities. These are the things I need to change from wearing the neutral mask:

- Do not stomp

- No tension in wrists

- Lengthen body

- Avoid tilting head to the left

- Keep shoulders back instead of forward

Thursday:

- Hung over in Italian: not fun.

Friday:

- Errands

o New makeup, groceries, etc.

Saturday:

- Greve in Chianti

o So Katherine and I went to Greve, a town just an hour below Florence. We took a bus and saw such pretty scenery along the way! I was running on three hours of sleep, but that did not seem to bother me. We got to the little town and there was a market in the main square. It was not touristy at all. The vendors were selling food, clothes, and appliance type things. We walked around, bought amazing fried goodies, (polenta, cheese balls, and mashed potato type things) saw a famous meat store, and bought spumante and drank it on a hillside looking over the city. It was such a perfect day! After we came back and I bought a rolly backpack. I am so excited to use it! Then we bought the making for white chocolate truffles and of course more spumante, which if you were wondering is a sweet champagne like drink and it tastes so good! We made the truffles and hung out. Of course the truffles did not turn out to be truffles, they taste like white chocolate fudge because they didn’t harden right. Still tastes just as good thought! Then our power went out, quite scary.

Sorry to anyone that I have offended during the proceedings of my blog. Many things have been exaggerated or overemphasized due to the pure fact I am using this blog to become a famous comedian. I hope all of my avid readers can understand. Lets all cheers to my future success!

The past few days.

Bella!

On Friday we just wandered around until we met Lea and her friend Dani at the train station. We walked around around and showed them all the main sites (Duomo: The Baptistery and Santa Maria del Fiore, Ponte Vecchio, Piazza Repubblica, Piazza della Signoria). Then we went to dinner at Il Sasso de Dante, where else. Sophia and I split the lasagna and risotto. Delicious! We started off the night at Slowly with Usher, the Jewish dude, and champagne, naturally. Next stop was Colle Bereto, which during the day is a restaurant and bar for espresso, but at night it is a club. We walked right through the bouncer to the VIP section upstairs. Usher was behind us and it appeared as if he was counting us like duckies in a row tapping our shoulders as we went by. Upstairs was a table and a huge bottle of grey goose waiting for us. My new favorite drink is vodka with lemon soda, which I already knew about thanks to Christina but forgot. There was lots of dancing and merriment throughout the evening aka until 3am. Finally we decided it was time to go to bed.

Now we are on to Saturday where we slept in extremely late. Ashley left which was very sad! Lea, Dani, Becky, and I met up with Nicole and all her friends. We attempted to eat Mexican at this place called Tijuana, but it was closed! We went and ate at the diner. Bad move. I got a BLT and specifically told the woman bacon extra crisp. Apparently no one in Europe eats their bacon cooked. Also one of Dani’s eggs was way too over easy, as in not cooked. I mean not trying to get salmonella. Then we wandered around and did a little shopping. I bought some presents for the fam and then it was back to the house to make dinner. Gotta save some money somewhere. Of course then I went out to eat again and a few hours later ate again. I didn’t have three dinners or anything. I met up with Morgan, her roommate, and Carli for dinner! I took them to my favorite (you should know by now). They all got the gnocchi! It was so nice catching up with them because we hadn’t really hung out like that since high school. Then Kelsey and Becky came to meet us. We attempted to go out, but kind of failed. So in the end at oh lets say 2am after walking around for hours Becky and I decided to get falafels. We got the last of it and it was so spicy and tasty!

Sunday morning Lea and Dani left, but I can’t wait to see them in Milan! Sunday was a day or relaxing and being lazy. I left the house for the first time when we walked to eat at Tijuana! I was not aware that it was raining so of course Kelsey and I were both wearing skirts, completely inappropriate of us. I got a pina colada, which was TO DIE FOR. I forgot how much I missed them. I also got a tostada. It was extremely small but really good for Mexican food in Italy. I will definitely be back and during happy next time.

Monday, got up late again. This is a habit I need to discontinue. I went for a run alone along the water. I went a different way this time to Cascine Park. It was really far down, probably 5 bridges away, but boy was it worth it. I was literally running through thousands of trees on both sides of me with water on one side and a precious carnival on the other. I was so content being there in my own head, simply and purely happy. It was probably overall a two hour excursion. Got back home, showered, made raviolis with chicken, and read until I died. Class was boring, but I think I did well on my quiz. Yay me. I also talked to a cute boy in my class, yum.

ALSO in class I thought in my head, I could really use a paperclip right now. Little did I know there was one waiting for me right when I got home. I opened the front door and low and behold there was one right on the ground. It is Jesus calling to me, there for I am the prophet. For dinner I made pasta with meat sauce and melted stracchino. Delicious, minus the over sexual noise it made every time I mixed the pasta. You know which one I’m talking about.

Then…. I watched Trueblood! I am so ecstatic that I found season three. I am going to watch it in a week, which is sad, but going to sleep to it every night is perfection.

Today was my early day, but it was such a great day! In my architecture class we went to Santa Croce, which is my second favorite church next to San Miniato. I learned so much about how it was built, who was buried there, important families that contributed, etc. Please see my “History blog” soon to follow this one if you would like to know interesting history about Florence.After class I have a long break and Becky and I attempted to book some trips through a travel agent. Big fail because everything we looked up was super expensive. On the bright side Venice Carnival for next weekend is booked as well as the soccer game! Goooooooaaaaaaal!

Got some 99-euro cents toilet paper from the store. Sveeet.

Italian… you know how that goes. Learn nothing, but we played a memory game. Kelsey, Sophia, and I are extremely competitive. We lost, which was quite offensive.

The Kelsey and I went in to a store called Patrizia Pepe, who is a high-end Italian designer. Of course we can only go in when Kelsey is dressed appropriately as to not offend the designers. Today she was wearing her heeled boots, which she deemed an appropriate outfit. I don’t think I was quite up to par. Patrizia was obviously very angry at me. If I went into Chanel she would probably wake up from her grave to scold me. Must look top notch when I walk in there, although the mannequins in the window have red hair so that’s a little confusing? We have decided one day we will go into Pepe and buy one thing each. I already have my eye on this adorable white skirt AND it comes with a slip!

More class. Today in globalization we went UNESCO, which is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. It was in a sketchy building and then in another sketchy room. The people were really nice though and I learned a little about what they do. Similar to the internship I had with the UNA. It is hard to be a group acknowledged by the UN but not directly related so there is no funding or resources to really get anything accomplished. Then as a class we all got pizza and bonded, it was the cutest thing ever. Now I am back at home and we are all debating on whether or not to go out… Obviously did not happen and I am in bed watching 90210.

When I watch a video online I always have to push continue to video and right above that it says "human verification". I mean really, who else is going to click that button? Some other life form like an alien most definitely. Anyways back to The Roommate! Oh boy so scary, not.

Reminder to myself:

Tomorrow morning:
-Wake up early
-Go for a run
-Drink a cappuccino and read for my class
Now I can't forget and must do it!
Sweet dreams to the big beautiful world that is out there waiting for me.
:)

I wish there was a way to get out of my own head...
Staring at this everyday just might do the trick.

Or this...Haha.
To be continued.

...

Need to start censoring blog.

Updates on the weekend will come soon.

Don't see The Dilemma, bad movie.

Twice

February 18

Ciao readers! (Mom)

I haven’t blogged for a couple days and this one is going to be a short one because I have to throw clothes on and go out for the first time today. Wednesday and Thursday consisted of class and not much else. Some yummy groceries and lots of rain! I RUINED my uggs. Someone please send me a new pair preez?

Kelsey’s best friend from home, Ashley came yesterday so we picked her up from the train station then Kels made dinner for all of us and she ate MEAT. The tortellini she bought had prosciutto in it. I didn’t realize this until the very end of our meal. I decided to tell her, perhaps bad idea? But then she would have eaten the second bag she bought and never have known. I have been kind of waiting for this moment for a very long time just like when Katerina ate chicken at a Giants game thinking it was a crouton. Fantastic. I love seeing vegetarians freak out. I mean come on meat is the greatest thing in the world.

Anyways then we got ready to go out. I had two drinks. Big for me. All together it was about five shots. So I can say I was pretty much wasted. Then we went to Kikuya where Ashley and I bonded quite a few times. Love that girl. We had some delicious tasting shots and then split a sex on the beach. Finally a yummy drink and not a bad price either. We also drank stolen beer from another table. Epic.

Finally we got to the club Twice. Were only there for a few minutes until we were invited to the top VIP section. We popped some bottles and grinded up on many sexy black men. Well only one was sexy and he looked like Usher. Kelsey got the pleasure of spending the evening with him. After a while of that Ashley and I decided to wander down and dance with everyone else. We basically made our rounds to many groups of guys, sipped their drinks, danced with them, maybe a little make out sesh, and would move on. Perfect. Then I lost Ashley and found Katie and all her friends! Thank goodness because at that point I was sick of all the guys grabbing up on me. Literally it was so constant. They all saved me multiple times. Finally Kelsey came in and found me dancing with a black guy (score) and we left. It was quite a fun walk home. Got home, shoved food in my mouth, stripped off all my clothes, and passed out. The end.

Tuesday Blues

Fresh pasta with grilled mushrooms and zucchini

For some strange reason I love and hate Tuesdays all at the same time. I hate them because I have to wake up early and then I have to go through such a long day of classes with random breaks. Not to mention I have two quizzes today, both of which I forgot about, but luckily I am learning so many things in all my classes that I think I did pretty well on both. On the other hand I love them because my classes are absolutely amazing. Also Kelsey and I hang out during both our breaks because we have the same schedule and always find entertaining or fun things t occupy our time.

To start this morning in my architecture class we went on a field trip. We took a bus that lasted about 20 minutes and ended up at Palazzo Michelangelo. Takes about the same time or less to walk it, which makes no sense. It seems like walking always takes less time than driving because the streets are so tiny and confusing. We went to San Miniato church, which has the most incredible view of the whole city. It is surrounded by an extremely old cemetery and built next to the church is a monastery. We stood outside listening to our teacher tell us the history, such an amazing story. She then went over every detail of the exterior of the church and its significance. To sum it all up in one sentence I would say that every single thing built or put in that church has a message to send. It is a “poor peoples bible”. If they could not afford a bible they could come to church and decipher the messages that were told to them either through the guilds on top of the churches, the frescos on the wall, or the etchings in the ceiling.

The inside of was probably the most unique church I have ever seen. I couldn’t take many pictures because I was taking notes, but I will go back again. There were three different levels of the church. One for regular mass on the main level, one for holy people, which was the upper level, and a level for the crypt of Saint Minius, the lower level. The detail of the church was impeccable. It was a Romanesque style church meaning it was really dark with only small windows (this was also partially due to the largeness of the church, so small windows were only possible in order for the church to be supported). The church has so much history that you could just feel it while you were standing in there. Then we went back outside and there was a live monk right in front of my eyes. There was also a beggar woman who was at the top of the steps just sitting there curled up with only her hand extended asking for money.

I have learned so much history in this class; it’s amazing. I could go on and on about how the city of Florence was created. I wont write it all down, but more than happy to tell anyone that wants to know!

Italian was actually quite fun today. We played a game where you split up in to two teams and a person from each team comes up to act out a word. Then the remaining players have to run to the board and write down the word. We all got so competitive. Sophia and I were literally racing to the board every time (we were on the same team). We all got so worked up over it and I think I actually learned a few words. Lets see magiare is to eat, scribire is to write, and telefonare is to talk on the telephone (so original).

Then another hour and a half break. Kelsey and I went to finish our permit of stay now we are no longer illegal citizens living in Italy! I also bought a pair of gorgeous leather flats made in Italy. They have a black patent toe and the rest is cream-colored leather. I paid 100 dollars less than the Chloe ones and they are something I can only buy here. I would say a much better deal. :)

Finally we have globalization and its oh so many consequences. We watched a documentary called The Corporation. I was moved, saddened, and angered to say the least. Here is just a little snippet about how I feel:

It is sad to realize that millions of people and animals are suffering everyday because of the corporations that use them without a care in the world. And in some small way I am a cause and a contributor to their misfortunes. It hurts that there is nothing I can really do about it. If I don’t buy a shirt, drink milk, or buy Starbucks, workers and animals will still be exploited and used for what they are good for and that is that they supply good to the populations that can afford them while they only get paid .17 cents for a shirt that retails for 14.99. I benefit from these things, but maybe its time to make some sort of change. Maybe my opinions and changes could influence someone else to do the same and at the end of it, we could all make the world a little bit better. For example don’t buy a meat that isn’t organic or that wasn’t raised right. Also don’t buy from a store that has sweatshops for their workers aka Nike. My dad is spot on with all this stuff, so we should all learn from him.

Homemade potatoes Kelsey made!

The strangest little dog Kelsey and I saw today. We walked s properly and his legs we extremely tall and skinny. He was even wearing a sweater with a rhinestones Fleur de Lys. Awkward.

S.

More pictures to come for the weekend, but I am too lazy now so look out for them tomorrow.

I have also decided I am going to start writing daily quotes or little inspirations. Today's is:

"Do one thing every day that scares you." - Eleanor Roosevelt

This is one of my favorite quotes that I preach, but never live by it myself. I plan to start doing thit in Italy. Every time I do something that at first seemed scary, it will make me feel happy like I have accomplished something, and in the end I will realize that there was nothing to be afraid of from the start. Also if I do things that scare me I will with time become less and less afraid. Sounds like a perfect plan to me.

France!

February 14

Today is Valentine’s Day! Not like I care, but I am excited to go out and see how Florence celebrates.

So much to say about this weekend.

Friday.

Kelsey, Becky, and I went on a little adventure. We crossed the river and kind of just started wandering down this little street. It started going uphill so we figured it would lead to something good. It was a residential area, which was fun to see. Probably where rich people live since they always seem to reside on hills.

It was so amazing being outside of the city. It was so peaceful and quiet. The road was a never-ending curve with moss growing from it and you could see everything down below. It was almost countryside, but that will only completely happen when I get to frolic in the grass. The road did end because we walked until we hit a dead end. We saw a huge castle looking thing but it appeared to be blocked off. Obviously we went down to investigate. We weren’t the only ones, there was a bunch of other people walking around the area because of Giardino di Boboli behind what we found out was Fort Belvedere. Apparently two people and a few dogs fell to their death because some area wasn’t properly lit or restricted. Apparently the place is haunted as well, so it’s safe to say we didn’t go in. We enjoyed some furry creatures there though and named them George and Toby. Then we kept walking on the tiniest road with probably about a foot on walking room on each side. We got honked at and almost died a few times. It was quite an adventure; we walked by some many cool houses, gardens, and saw such amazing views. We walked forever and ever not knowing where we would end up. Finally we reached an intersection. We weren’t even on the map anymore. We kept walking through beautiful parks with magical fountains and over towering tress. Finally we were back in what appeared to be our way back in to the main center. I was disappointed to walk back in to city life, but happy once we finally got home because after four hours of non stop walking, my feet were dead.

Now on to the stories of the French Riviera

Ode to France

As we drive along the hillside, to one side I see the beautiful crystal blue Mediterranean and to the other the fog is rolling down the mountain side with little towns perched on hill tops all beautifully aged and built with such pristine perfection. It’s hard to think you’re not looking at a movie set. To make things even better I am sitting quite comfortable on a bus with my best friends and listening to my favorite music that Christina gave to me. This is what makes me happy; nothing could be better. We visited Nice, St. Paul de Vence, Cannes, and Eze. I think France is where I am meant to be. Just walking around these places was enough. Aside from buying a hand made perfume and home made money, I bought nothing. I picked up some rocks on the beach, but nothing else seemed important enough to buy. Just being there in the presence of such beauty made all the difference. Seeing a different style of architecture I hadn’t seen before or the lights and festivities of a carnivale made my eyes light up. These aren’t things you can see in America, which made me appreciate them that much more. France as my backdrop for the weekend was purely enchanting. For some reason the places I have seen remind me of New Orleans, not that I have ever been there, but they just do.

Saturday.

Went to bed at 1:30 and woke up at 5:30, perfect. Got on a huge bus that scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t sleep for the longest time, all I could do was look out the window and make sure we weren’t going time. With time I ended up trusting the driver with my life and fell asleep. The drive was about five hours to Monte Carlo, Monaco (the second tiniest country in the world, first is The Vatican). We had a tour of the old town. The main attractions were gorgeous views of the water and beautifully built buildings. The country has a LOT of money. We learned a lot of history, but the one thing I remember was that Grace Kelly was a former princess. The only reason I knew her was from the SNL skit “Excuse me can I have yo’ numba?” The black man (or shall I say woman) references Grace Kelly and it is quite hilarious. If you haven’t sent he skit I suggest you watch it right meow. We had a little lunch there and then it was off to Nice!

We checked in to our hotel and I was super excited about the bed. There were no springs poking me when I sat down, which is a good sign. We wandered around the city and found cute candy stores, tried on hats, walked on the beach, drank hot chocolate, and met a sexy guy that serenaded us. Nice was also setting up for Carnivale so there was a fair with a ferris wheel, games, and everything. The city had so much life in it. There were vibrantly colored buildings, people everywhere of all ages looking so happy, and just an over all character of the place that made me so happy. ,

We then got ready for a typical French dinner, which consisted of pasta with eggplant, pork & French fries, and a tiramisu type dessert. All delicious! Then we wandered around forever trying to buy alcohol from a liquor store and found NONE. Like is that some kind of joke? So we met with a whole group of Chapman kids, we took over and walked around aimlessly looking for somewhere to go for the night. We finally got cozy in an upstairs part of a bar with couches and pillows. I had a blonde beer, so good. I love that I am finally enjoying alcohol here. Then we found a small club called La Trappa. Best experience ever. I didn’t have anything to drink and just watched everyone. The French are fantastic. They are totally in their own world and did not care that we were even there at all. They freaked out and danced to every song. The DJ was awesome by the way. He played all different types of songs from 80’s to reggae to Spanish. It was so fun just being in that environment. Then this old French guy hit on Kelsey. He kept taking her hand and pulling her towards him. I was quite concerned and kept watching but Lindsay came up to me because this guy was creeping on her. I decided it was time for me to get out of there so we all kind of left in quite the hurry.

Sunday.

Then another few hours of sleep because we left at 8:30 and went to St Paul de Vence, a charming hill top town. No one was up and nothing was open because we were there so freaking early. It was nice though, peaceful. We took a bunch of pictures and basically saw the whole town. It was so serene.

Passed out during the drive to Cannes. We drove around it and it almost looked like a trashier version of Nice. There was a really cool outside antique fair, which I loved and a huge open market! We got crepes, which were amazing and Kelsey helped this old woman pull her bike up the street. Then we watched her pedal down the street. It was quite the scene. We all couldn’t stop laughing. It was a fun town to see nonetheless. Another place where only the rich can live.

Last but not least we went to Eze, which was another hill top baby town. We had a tour of Fragonard, which is a famous perfume factory. It was really cool to see how they make perfume with all natural ingredients. You can only buy it there so naturally I had to buy a tiny bottle. I got the sweetest one called juste un baiser, just a kiss. We were leaving in ten minutes and still hadn’t trekked up to the town. We sprinted up took one picture and sprinted back down. Pointless. Then we had a long five-hour bus ride back and finally back to Florence! It felt really good to be back, we even called it home J I feel like there is a lot I am leaving out, but I am tired and have homework so that is all you get.

I gave her a fright

Kelsey for some reason unbeknown to me is quite the scaredy cat. I have frightened her on a few occasions now. I don't know why she gets scared when she comes in the room and I am there... I mean we share the same room. Anyways just a few moments ago I was standing in front of the double doors, she walks in, looks at me and literally not even joking puts her hand on her heart, gasps, and jumps back. Kodak moment right there. I guess since you weren't there you are just going to have to imagine it. Of course when I see her reaction I burst into laughter for a solid few minutes. I had to write this one down in the books so I can remember it and tease her about it fifty years from now.

Heels.

It's sad that heels are just not an option in Europe...

Really wish I could whip these sexy things out.

Kill the baby inside you

Later that day...

About the title... We were talking to Pa at dinner and Disneyland was brought up. Pa said he had never been. Becky told him it was my favorite place and he couldn't understand. He felt that it is only a place you need to go to once and then you must kill the baby inside you. What he really meant to say was you release the inner child in you or something of the sort. Translating bad English poses to be quite the challenge.

Dinner with Pa. Oh what fun times those are. We sit down and he immediately starts talking to us. I love it because he will ask us how to say certain things in English and of course we ask him how to say many things in Italian. Then he said we could only speak in Italian, which was fun. I ate delicious huge round noodle pasta with spicy sausage. I also asked him if he knew what Prosecco was (a sparkling almost champagne like white wine) and he brought a bottle right over. It was so good! Then we moved on to red wine and by the end of a few hour meal Pa took 5 euro off the bill.

THEN…

We got ready to go out, which took us hours. It was eleven and we were just starting to drink. We all had a little bit. AND we were all wearing black pea coats with skirts and nothing covering out legs. Naturally we knew we were going to get some looks. We not only got looks, but dirty stares as if in their minds they were saying we were whores. I honestly wasn’t cold the whole night; I was perfect. I was wearing fishnets, but I doubt that made much of a difference.

So we walk a long way to get to the place Elsie recommended and little did we know it would be filled with older Italian men and women. They were all hanging out outside and literally made a passage way for us to walk by. Obviously way too awkward for us to actually walk inside, so we kept walking. Only for us to get even more stares, whistles, hollers, ciaos, and the list goes on and on. I honestly don’t know what they expect from us? We were all feeling good so we would say ciao back on occasion. Then we got to a sketchy area and decided it wasn’t the best idea to ciao anymore.

We finally got to Kukuya, a fun bar and had the tastiest dark beer I have ever tried. It was really crowded, but we say Chapman kids, which was nice. Then we left there and went into a club called twice. What an adventure that was. A midget Italian man hit on us and I was nice to him so he wouldn’t stop talking to me. Then we witnessed a disgusting drunk couple (obviously they had just met) making out right in front of the bathroom and then potentially sleeping on each other? Finally we decided to go in and dance. It was really fun… for a few minutes. Then drunk bitches and asshole guys kept hitting is and the fun was over. There always seems to be these important black men at every club we go to in really nice suits and one came up to me, grabbed my ass, and we danced for a bit. Definitely a great high light of the evening, I love me some dark chocolate. Then we decided to leave and this guy touched my as he walked by me, so I touched him right back then proceeded to run away like a little girl. That’s when the midget Italian started dancing with me. No thank you. So I ran away once again and Kelsey, Becky, and I left the club to find a secret bakery!!! (Just a few tidbits: we almost witnessed two fights: Becky and I walked right through the first one where two guys were yelling in each others faces and then I got punched in the head by a black man because of a drunken Italian woman.) One thing to note: don’t trust Becky’s directions when she is drunk, but all other times trust her one hundred percent. We find the bakery and its so sketch. There is a sign saying be quiet and a door that opens every few minutes to take the next order. We could either get chocolate croissant, cream croissant, or pizza. We got all three, duh. It was so yummy. Then we walked home and now its time for bed!

Side note: we also decided as of yesterday that we are going to start saying “no grazie” to men that are all up on us. They don’t seem to mind it but the next time a guy drives by in his car and shouts at me, I am going to put my finger in the air (you know which one) and yell no thank you in Italian. That’s right I’m sticking it to the man.

I smiled and then I "ciao-ed"

February 10

Today was a great day! Slept in, SO nice. Kelsey and I got groceries across the bridge. Bad idea. We were both holding lots of food. Half of Kelsey’s bread loaf literally just snapped off magically. Some man just pointed and said “bread”. Another woman shouted out, “you dropped something!” Kelsey pretended to not acknowledge that it was hers and we kept walking. No big. As we were walking to class, the sexy chef in our favorite restaurant came out and usually he just stares at us, but this time Kelsey smiled and he said bon journo and then she said ciao! Best conversation ever. Then Pa walked out and he grabbed my arm and called me Stephie, so cute. He is our adopted father here. He wanted us to come in for an espresso, but we were rushing to class. I’m sure he just wanted to have a little chat. I will post a picture of him soon. Then we had Italian, another hilarious class per usual. We learned probably 100 vocabulary words. Not like we have to know all of them for the quiz next week. After class Kelsey and I went to the Uffizi museum and I bought the 40-euro pass that gets you in to all the museums, gardens, palaces, and some churches for one year. I am very excited! Then we walked around and looked in some shops. I stopped to have a peak and show Kelsey the Chloe flats. They are on sale and would be 180 US dollars. Kelsey says this is a great deal! If I still want them when I come back from The French Riviera (I will) then I will get them. Now we are back in our apartment, with no internet and I am eating fresh bread, burrata (better version of mozzarella), stracchino (very creamy soft flavorful cheese that Katherine recommended), with tomatoes. AMAZING.

Photos: just a few concoctions that I have made myself. Top left is pesto with ricotta and top right is tortellini with meat sauce. Bottom is mozzarella and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and oil. YUM.

Just a little love note...

Oh herooo famiry!
Just wanted to give a little shout out to the ones I love most, hold near and dear to my heart, the ones I will be buried next to. Any whosers I haven't talked to most of you regularly (you know who you are). No excuses of I am working all the time. I am in Italy, yet still find time to write this email to my adoring family. Let me just give you a little break down.
Mom: We chat everyday via facebook, skype, the phone, and email. Success!
Dad: Talked to once, only because I called you!
Christina: One phone call and one skype.. Not good enough!
Katerina: One baby skype but other than that... Zip. Nada. Zilch. NOT OKAY.
You all know how to use your little fingers on the computer, so lets start acting like it shall we?
Thats all for now.
Lots of love from Italia!
Stephanie
PS send me things.

More...

Okay EW, first thing first. Becky and I were walking back from class tonight and naturally we were prepared for some whistles, stares, and maybe even some following, but not THIS à We walk by this normal looking chill guy with a beanie sitting on his bike. I look over at him because I am a very inquisitive person and basically look at everyone that walks by me (not such a good thing to do in Italy, which I have come to learn). Anyways he was making this noise and then I see him moving his hand up and down by his crotch. I was in shock. Like is this guy really jacking off right now? No he wasn’t actually, but it looked so real. My eyes are burned for life. I never thought I could ever be so disgusted. He was literally pretending to jack off to us. Only in my dreams would anything like that be a turn on, of course in my dreams he would be this sexy Italian and was just so turned on by my beauty. This was not quite the case in the least bit. I hate Italian men. I am going to pray tonight that I might find a nice boy soon otherwise I think I might go crazy and go after the next Italian perv that hits on me.

I am going to try to block that image from my head now and tell you about my body language class. I am in love with it! We started off with stretching, which felt amazing! Becky said she got that "tingling" feeling. Someone was really enjoying the exercises. Then we did trust games. I’m sure you know the one that comes to everyone’s mind and is almost always terrifying. Everyone stands in a circle and one person is in the middle. Then they have to literally fall back expecting the people behind them to catch them. I can honestly tell you I have never done it in my entire life. I have always gotten out of it. This time I did it! It felt amazing. Also Becky and I almost dropped this girl. Classic. Lets see other things I have learned in the class so far:

· My last name is super hard to pronounce so I need to learn to annunciate the syllables so people will be able to remember it

· The status I give off is a 3-4, but I want to be at a 5

· I have a baby lisp aka when I say the letter S it is “soft”

· I need to have better eye contact

· I need to stop biting my tongue

· I need to have better posture i.e. standing up straight, jutting my hips out

So many of these things are so helpful! I am so excited to learn more. ;)

Meow.

To run or not to run? Currently it has been really cold here so that has been my excuse. I know I should get off my ass and run to the river... but I just cleaned my room. It would be a shame not to enjoy it right? :)

Lets see as for updates yesterday was a long hard day full of classes. First was The Built Environment of Florence. First lecture then a tour of a couple churches. I learned a lot of history and we even got to go in to this special part of the Uffizi museum that no one else gets to see.

Then Italian, which is a joke. She expects us to know everything without even being told what it means in English first. Hah.

Lastly Globalization, which I am obsessed with! We read an article about how Venice was offered a deal by Coke to set up vending machines along the boat docks for 2.7 million. Venice obviously is in need of a lot of money to restore the sinking city, but it has been a couple years and still no decision. We debated in class on whether they should or not. I had a LOT to say. Then we got in to groups and I was with three guys from Mexico. They were all super nice! Even nicer than the guys that I have met from America. Sadly still no Italians yet. But I loved talking to the guys from Mexico, they were super funny, and I would say we came up with a great solution to the issue of Venice and coke. :)

Right now I am dying for these See by Chloe black bow flats with a gold zipper outline. They are at a store right by me and they are on sale!!! I think I might have to go try them on. They are calling out to me!! I can't bring myself to buy a crappy pair of 10 euro flats so looks like designer is the way to go.

Ashley Coffey

VIDEO CHATTING WITH ASHLEY COFFEY JUST MADE MY NIGHT!!!! I LOVE YOU! have fun painting your nails.. wish i could join in with you!
that's basically the only thing that happened of importance today. duh.
PS don't you love all the pretty colors? :)

A day in the life of Kelsey and Stephanie:

Just the other day Kelsey was attempting to sit on my bed because we were having a picnic with lots of delicious foods, but somehow she sort of slid off the end of it. I honestly could not tell you how it happened but one second she was on the bed, the next second she was literally on the ground, and a second later she had pulled herself back up. Needless to say it was quite hilarious and possibly magic of some sorts?

Typical us pose

Peaches

So Kelsey and I have an obsession with those chewy peach candies. We discovered this candy store that is right next to Grom, which makes it very convenient to eat Grom then walk across the street and proceed to buy candy. Kelsey bought a box of the peaches last week, they were gone within two days. Today we each bought a box. Kelsey's will be gone by tomorrow and I will give myself a couple extra days since I eat slower. We also each bought a bar of chocolate. I mean how could we not with so many choices?


I also changed the class I didn't like to the European Union, which is in less than an hour. Should be interesting. Now at least this one will count for something but the question is, will I hate it just as much? Only time will tell..

Like monkeys in a cage..

February 6

Here is some background on the past couple days. On Friday Becky, Kelsey, and I went out to dinner with Colleen, Tara, and Topher. Colleen and Tara are studying in Perugia and come to Florence for the weekend. It was so good to see them! Of course we took them to our spot. Then on Saturday, left the house late like usual, it takes forever for all of us to get ready. We went to the chocolate festival, which was absolutely amazing! The best and most chocolate I have ever seen right in from of Santa Croce. I had a skewer with bananas and strawberries covered in white chocolate. I also bought delicious truffles that melt with just one touch of the tongue. Then we decided to wander to new territory and found ourselves right by the river at the end where there were actual streets with cars and lights. I took us to Piazalle Michelangelo (quite proud of myself) and it was probably the most amazing view I have ever seen in my entire life. It’s even better than the Duomo because you really are able to see the whole city in its entirety. It was a hard walk up to; I can’t wait to go running there. That will definitely keep me in shape here. We are one week in and it’s not looking too good. After that little excursion we went home to eat, went back out to shop, and ALMOST saw George Clooney. I know you are dying right now. He was in this store and there were news crews, but then by the end of it there was a huge mob and they told it was a joke and he wasn’t really in there. I swear I saw his beautiful peppered hair from the window, but I guess I will never know. All I know I cant wait to party with Jersey Shore when they start filming their next season in Italy. After shopping usually comes dinner and we went to this place called Dante’s where they give you free wine. I had amazing pizza! Then comes more drinking at a bar or club. We found a random guy on the street and he led us to a pub, we drank beer, listened to awful live music, and finally decided to leave our new friends. We proceeded to be chased home by a group of 15 Italian guys that were literally singing it us. We kept giving them attention, so they kept following. it was hilarious.

Best view in town.

Palm trees in Italy... whatttt?

Today Becky, Kelsey, Katherine, and I wandered around and this consisted of: buying fresh bread and cheese at the market, shopping, chocolate festival again of course, playing cards, and just walking around. Quite a good day if I do say so myself!

This evening Becky, Kelsey, and I went to our favorite restaurant, Il Sasso di Dante that is right next door to our place. We only wanted some vino and dessert, but left feeling like we were animals at the zoo. We sat right next to the kitchen, bad idea. The two chefs would take a peek at us every couple minutes without fail. The first few times we went there it was expected since we get stared at literally every place we go. Are we some sort of alien foreign beings? I mean they probably have never seen such beauty in their lives, so naturally the staring makes sense. At first it was kind of amusing, but then they started talking in Italian while staring at us, so it makes it even more awkward. Do we give them a bitchy stare, a flirty wink, ignore them.. who knows? I think it’s safe to say next time we will sit closer to the front of the restaurant.

Now I am currently sitting in my bed writing this blog and just had yet another fantastic conversation on facebook with Caio! There you go, hope you enjoyed that. :) Now here a few pictures of where we are living, since I haven't posted any yet. Enjoy!

My front door :)

Walkway

Kelsey opening the second door

And finally the walkway to the third door

The kitchen Kelsey and I share

The double doors into our room.. we like to keep it classy. Then there is the upstairs, but currently I am too lazy to take pictures of all of it.