Last weekend was super fun. On Friday the roomies and I spent the entire day grocery shopping and then FINALLY eating at the Oil Shoppe (this amazing sandwich place that's so famous they have a facebook group). Then we made some dinner and took it with us to the bridge. We climbed over the bridge and onto this ledge to eat. It was beautiful just sitting there watching the ponte vecchio (old bridge) change colors due to the sunset.
Afterwards, we walked around for a bit and Kailey showed us this place where couples will put a lock on the gate and then throw the key away as a symbol of their everlasting love for each other. Freaking Florence and all it's romance.
On Saturday, we went with CEA (my program) to San Gimignano which is this medieval town on top of a mountain. It was a crazy steep hike, but the view was gorgeous. It's such a touristy town, but there are actually locals who still live there! During the medieval times they built towers like these in order to protect their families more easily. It was also a sign of power and wealth.
:) Look at that view; imagine what it looks like from the top of a tower!
Then for dinner we went to this medieval fair where people are dressed up like they were back in that time period and you have to exchange euros into the currency that was used during that time. It was pretty interesting to eat the food that they ate, but everybody was so hungry people were getting grumpy. We saw a creepy jester and then he came over! It was actually HILARIOUS because they told a story of the rope that they use to try to find their way when they are lost. However, the rope will only work if a virgin touches it. Of course, nobody is going to be like I'M A VIRGIN PICK ME PICK ME. So then he picked somebody out our group and told her to stroke the rope as he strategically placed it right where his belt buckle would be. I didn't get a good picture of that, but hopefully my roommates did.
Then after dinner we walked around the town. There wasn't much to do or look at and it was FREAKING CROWDED, but there were some amusing characters. These two "ladies" were on stilts and they were pretty funny. They would go up to a guy and stick his head in between their fake boobs and rub. I was so scared they were going to come after me, but thank goodness they were heterosexual women.
Then we saw this guy dressed up as a sheep so we wanted to take a picture with him. His friend got all jealous since he got to take a picture with all these girls - it was pretty funny too. Then some how he ended up showing us his sheep balls (not his real ones, but the ones on his costume)? Haha, these people were crazy.
The next day my roommates and I set out for Cinque Terre at 6:30am. The train ride was long and uncomfortable (the couple in front of us kept making out), but it was definitely worth it in the end. This was the first place we went to that had more Italians than tourists and it was so crowded (and expensive).
We rented a chair and umbrella for 10 euro each, but it was worth it since it got really hot. I definitely saw some naked old ladies and the middle aged man in front of us finger his wife as he was rubbing sunscreen on her butt. Oh, Italy.
I don't know if you can see, but there are some rocks off to the distance between the umbrellas. Kailey and I swam all the way out there and laid out on a rock. It was pretty sweet. Then some cute Italian boys started to talk to us which was fun too. :) The water is so calm (there are no waves really) so we just floated around and did flips like we would in a swimming pool.
Taking the train was an interesting experience. On our way back, there weren't enough seats so we had to stand for a while before getting to sit down. After this one stop, a group of four boys were leaving so we all got up to sit down in their seat. One guy started to rub Jenna's face and hit on Kailey and then this other guy came up from behind us and started to talk to the guys who were leaving. That guy then proceeded to sit down in the seats that we were just about to sit in and saved it for his three friends! It all happened so fast and since we were in a foreign country, I didn't really know what to do except to just go back to where we were standing before. This one lady got so fed up, she started lecturing the guy and then this other lady joined in. They were basically asking where his chivalry was. The second lady then turned to us and said, "I'm sorry - I am so ashamed of some of the people in this country. Please, we can share my seat."
I felt really bad that she gave up her seat, but she INSISTED like no other so Meg and I each took a turn. Eventually those four seats opened up again so we thanked her and she got her seat back. This situation had so many different things going on - gender issues, tourists vs. Italians (honestly if we were in California I would have definitely said something and not taken that from anybody!). Though at the time, all I could think about was how my friends and I probably would have done the same thing in high school or something.
This week I've been going to museums and churches during my free time as well as going to extra tutoring sessions for my class. I think I'm also going to this music festival later this afternoon (Italia Wave Love Festival) and I'm pretty excited.
The more you learn about Florence, the more you realize how much more there is to learn.
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