Hangin' Around this Town

Not much to report on the past few days. We’ve had welcome week stuff and then a lot of walking around and sightseeing, although I have yet to go inside the Duomo. I know, what am I thinking. 

The nightlife is TONS of fun. We’ve gone out every night and the bars and clubs are great. So far we’ve been to the Red Garter, Twice, YAB (Young and Beautiful, why anyone would name a club that is beyond me) and Astor (where they went on the Jersey Shore).  I’m excited to keep trying out different places and almost all of them have some kind of special certain nights of the week. There are SO many Americans here though! I keep running in to people I haven’t seen in ages. Our first night here I saw my friend Emily, who I did a summer program with the summer before my senior year and Thursday night I saw Brooke who I went to sleep away camp with for 6 years when I was younger but haven’t seen, or spoke to, her since...until now, that is. Talk about a small city! I don’t even see these people in the States but when I’m across the Atlantic Ocean I can’t stop fining people I know.

Hannah and Megan came to visit this weekend too! They’re studying in Rome and came with a few of their friends.  I ran into them Thursday night (I wasn’t planning on going out but last minute had a change of heart..shocked?) and it was SO great to see them.  Its been weird adjusting to the change in pace so seeing them made me feel a little more at ease. As of now I’ll be seeing them tonight and tomorrow, too.

Jenn and I went out to lunch today at Antico Noe. It’s this little hole in the wall panini shop that was sooo good! The guy working was singing to the radio in Italian and it was hilarious. From there we went to the supermarket, Billa.  It was so confusing and weird to see everything in Italian. At home I’m used to my mom going food shopping for me and getting everything so it was difficult for me to figure out what I really needed, not to mention I couldn’t read the labels of any of the products. Needless to say, I didn’t leave with that much. Bananas, cereal (Special K since I didn’t know what any of the other ones were), water, bread, and some tea. A pretty weak diet if you ask me but I guess I’ll have to either take a chance or wait until I learn enough Italian to read the labels. 

Welcome week is almost over; we have a free day tomorrow and then a trip to Pisa on Sunday. I’ll report back then!

Ciao, for now!