Out and about

After the crazy hassel of taking a taxi and driving like a maniac through tini streets, we finally found our apartment! Our friend, Jeremy, hauled a good amount of our luggage up the three flights of stairs and arrived at our cute antique door. Opened it up and I couldn't believe it! We had a wonderfully bright and colorful apartment and everything smelled new. Caroline and I walked into our room and found it to be similar to our dorm set-up, but still was so cute with off-white closets and desks with black accents. Our window opens up to a small alley and a pully clothes-line. So excited to do my first load of laundry! As some of the other girls met guys the floor below us, all from places between Michigan and the east coast.

After settling in, we heard from a travel group that was having a wine/dinner night at a local restaurant. We showed up at the stairs of the duomo and there were 100 college students there! Saw our friends from gustavus and 10 of us from ISU were there. So funny how small of a world it is talking to people that know friends from high school! Dinner was so great- had ciabatta with tomatoes and a garlic mix, also roasted red peppers, zucchini, and squash. The next round included mozzerella, tomatoes, and various Italian meats. I knew one was bologna but no clue what the others were. The main course included ravioli with a spicier tomato sauce and hamburger. The other two dishes were chicken and alfredo, and stuffed spinach ravioli with mushroom sauce. No wonder people get fat coming here, the food is so good!

After dinner we went to a "discoteca", called Yab. I felt like I was on an episode of the Jersey Shore with the loud music and people jumping and dancing everywhere. A lot of kids from dinner went and it was so fun to meet people and have a girls night out with my Iowa State friends. We left after about an hour and found an Irish pub ran by Bill Unplugged, at least thats his facebook name. They were playing hockey on a HUGE screen, and have American movie nights on Thursday. He had Boondock Saints posters hanging up everywhere, so I felt at home. Tonight is Zoolander, so might have to stop by! Caroline asked him about his Irish family, he told us of the secret places in Ireland to visit, and to not go over St. Patties day. Had some Irish beer and headed home. Except we got lost, but a guy with a THICK Boston accent recognized our voices and was a musician that played at "The Blob Club" down the street. He helped us find the road our apartment was on and was on his way. Not a creepy guy that followed us home, so it's actually nice to see there's some helpful people to help us get around!

Lastly, we walked around the market this afternoon after orientation and boy were some of those sellers creeping me out! "ooo I love american girls" and saying weird stuff that like to get us to come look at their items. We decided if we ever felt we were getting hit on by weird guys, we would tell them we were from Canada. Used that response a few times and we usually giggle about it after. Also went to a grocery store and got a pineapple! SOOO glad they have that, been craving it since I left. A few items I hope are what they are and not something else, but hard to tell without a dictionary and they're all in Italian. Yay for adventures! Making dinner soon with my roommates and having the Gustavus group and the ISU apartment over. Going to be nice to say we cooked a large meal on our third day! Much needed,   since my dad said I was sooo domesticated over winter break. Show off some cooking skills to the roommates, and stay in and relax tonight. Just another day in Italy! Much love, AF