La Vita E Bella

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

It really is....

First, if you havent seen that movie - please drop everything and go watch it. It's amazing.

Second... Life really is beautiful. The Italian culture embraces that idea so well. Though a little crazy, they're zeal for living life and for living it well is constant. "Well" not necessarily defined as wealthy, rather as being content, joyful, and passionate about each day. Sometimes a little extreme, but at the same time, they're in touch with their emotions and proud of it... there's no shame or embarrassment in their self-expression... no matter how ridiculous by our standards. It's a wonder and an inspiration to experience.

Florence was absolutely sensational. Our central meeting place was the steps of the Duomo.... these steps serve as a thousand year old meeting spot to sit and talk, or to wait, or even for people - such as Michelangelo - to watch the girls walk by. Haha. (Every little place is packed with history.) From here, we branched out into every last crevice of the city.

The Pointe Vecchio bridge, the oldest bridge in Florence, is one of my favorite places - from here, Italy looks just as I imagined it would. Along one side of the Arno river are old beautiful apartments... 6-7 stories high... painted yellow with green shudders, with balcony's where their clothes hang from, and restaurants underneath with decks extending over the river. Lining the other side are tourist shops, the Uffizzi Gallery (which is INCREDIBLE!), street vendors selling fake Louis Vutton, more cafès and busy streets. The bridge itself is infamous for it's jewelry shops, with a break in the middle where one can lookout over the river just in time to see the boys rowing team practicing up and down the river, or if you're lucky enough, (as was I) you might catch sight of the biggest and ugliest river rat known to mankind swimming beneath you (I was fortunate enough to have both experiences and capture them each on camera. Get ready.) :)

Another favorite spot of mine is the beautiful Piazza de Michelangelo which is just beyond the bridge and a little walk up a good sized hill. There's a bronze David replica in the middle, overpriced cafès along the sides, vendors in the middle, a chapel hidden above, and a spectacular view of the city from all around. To say the least, I had some great journal time up there.

I went to the Academià and saw the "David"... Michelangelo's most famous statue. An Italian TV show was there asking people to share their thoughts on the statue and Jeanette and I were interviewed... too bad we didnt have a TV to watch it. The statue really is gorgeous. It's 13'5" tall... and simply the most incredible creation to have come from a big block of stone. It took Michelangelo 4 years to finish. No wonder. Well worth the time.

My friend Jacquie came to visit while we were in Florence.... such a wonderful treat! She just got engaged and waited until she saw us to share her exciting news. Congratulations Jacquie and Mark! She stayed with Emily at her apartment, but 6 of us girls were able to go out to ZaZa's for some Italian cuisine one night and catch up with her. SO much fun!

Unfortunately, we missed Halloween back home... but fear not, we went ALL OUT to make up for it (some of us more than others *ahem - Professor Ed Westbrook.*) We had a costume party in the room we used for class at the villa, and we weren't allowed entry unless we were dressed up. Desiree had the honor of putting it all together, she did a fabulous job - we had candles and candy and prizes and music, and lots of laughing... but before i elaborate further, let me share some foreshadowing a couple of us girls had before the big night... Earlier that day, some of the guys came upstairs to our room and asked if they could borrow some rather interesting possessions belonging to a few of us girls... we werent allowed to ask questions, plus we didnt really want to know the answers, so we simply complied.

To our amazement......

.....Jon, Aaron, and Jason made some of the prettiest girls I have ever seen. My black eyeliner and red lipstick really brought out their eyes and hair... no to mention the clothes have never been worn so well. Ryan, slicked his hair back, wore gold sunglasses, and held a cigarette as he attempted to charge us to take pictures with his women... quite the believable pimp. Again, strange - but then again, what wasnt strange about the night? (By strange, i also mean hilarious.) Our professor, Ed, had warned us of his costume since Prague (without giving it away, of course) and boasted of his plans on taking first place... well, in lieu of our Day Spa experiences (some less modest than others)... Ed came as just that. A man, dressed in a robe, slippers on feet, shower cap on head, and other personal details i wont publish for all mankind to see. (Instead, I'll send a picture through the all campus Vanguard Email. haha) Michelle, Liz, and I couldnt decide what to be, and didnt want to spend a lot of money on a costume that we would only wear once that probably wouldnt even fit in our suitcases home... so alas... We were Nudists. . . on strike that is. I know, i know, original. My attire consisted of shoes, jeans, longsleeve shirt, gloves, tank top over my shirt, bathing suit over my jeans and tank top, scarf covering head, and a sandwich board reading "Nudist on Strike" on one side, and "Vespa is the place for me, Thanks to all it's Modesty" on the other. We had a picket sign in hand with other catchy phrases... and made quite a scene upon entrance. Though nothing compared to the scene we made while passing all the other strangers staying at the villa on our way to the party. In light of the pimp and hos at our party, Ed didnt quite make first place, but he did well for himself nonetheless. :) We ended the night in the underground movie theatre watching Casablanca and eating popcorn. A different halloween experience to say the least, but lots and lots of fun.

As follows are the results from the Poker Tournament I mentioned last time: I beat the one person I cared about beating, (also the one who prides themself in their poker playing ability - might I add.) That's really all I need to say about that... it felt great. :)

Finally, my other favorite memory from Firenze was the Firenze Football (soccer) game we went to. Crazy, insane, unlinke anything in the US, chaotic, FUN, intense.... none of these descriptions do justice to the experience. Let me see if I can at all create an image of what it was like...
First of all, the opponents fans were not even allowed to sit among the Firenze fans because of the intense rivalry... instead, they had to sit in their own section, barricaded in by massive plastic walls, and unable to leave until every single one of the 30,000 other fans had completely evacutated the stadium. Firenze was the underdog, but thanks to our presence (let a girl dream) our team won a shut-out game of 4-0. With each goal, the opposing fans somehow managed to throw a flare over the tops of the walls, landing on the field, lighting the grass on fire. The first time this happened, we somewhat panicked... but were relieved when our questions about why there were fire fighters standing on the sides of the field were answered... though not as quickly as we would have liked. The firemen, took their precious time as they mozied (sp?) on over to the fire (meanwhile we were saying our prayers and figured the place would burn down before we ever made it out alive.) They kept stepping on the fire until it was out and then shuffled their feet back to the sidelines completely unaffected by the enormity of risk at hand. After the 5th time this happened, we too, were accustomed to this typical display of dissatification with our score from the sore losers on the other side (though still a little traumatized.)
Oh ya, i also forgot to mention... although i paid €15 for my seat, I did not sit once during the game, in light of the fact that my entire section remained on its feet - singing, and cheering, and yelling, and lighting purple and gold flares of its own to light up the stadium with team spirit colored smoke.... After the game ended, the smoke cleared, and the cheering ceased, I found out the translation to the Italian cheers I had learned and sung along to with reckless abandon... goodnight! ... To think the songs they teach their children to yell at the opposing team, awww, it warms my heart. This is where I'll need to apologize to my parents and grandparents for the vulgarity and coarseness of the songs i proudly sang. HAHA So, in order to redeem ourselves, we decided to memorize the Italian cheers and bring them back to our Vanguard Basketball games...... they'll never know. (Rivalry has a whole new meaning to me.) Wahahaha. *evil grin*

On that lovely note, I'll end this ever long post. I will write more on my trips to Venice, Cinque Terre, Pisa and now Rome, my current and FINAL location - next time.

With much love, love, love,
Melody