Week 3

So Saturday we were going to try to go to the San Lorenzo market to shop around for scarves and leather jackets, but it was just so cold and windy out that we ended up staying in for most of the day. We were going to try to find a movie theater to go see Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but couldn't find any that weren't dubbed in Italian. We did end up going to our first aperitivo at Oibo which was delicious! We each bought one of the drinks on the drink menu (the cheapest was 8 euro) and I got "Bronx" hehe. The 8 euro also bought us unlimited appetizers from the buffet table in the other room of the restaurant. The food included potatoes, rice, two types of pasta, salad, etc. The plates were really tiny so we all ended up going back for seconds and thirds, piling as much as we could onto our plates at once.

Making the Eby shot...

After dinner, we changed and had some wine before checking out Lion's Den. But again it was wayy too crowded and it wasn't fun at all or worth it to stay so we decided to find Eby's bar which I've heard so much about. At Eby's I tried their well-known "Eby's shot." I had no clue what this guy was doing when he was making it and how I was supposed to eat it. Turns out, its for 3 people and first you dip the orange in the cocoa and sugar till he gets the shots ready all while he's making a commotion saying "Mangia, Mangia!"

How cute!

After taking the shot, I still didn't know what I was supposed to do, but the bartender then informed us to eat the banana (also with sugar on top).Although I don't think I'll ever know what was in this shot, it was such a good combination and I can't wait till I take it again.

No one else wanted to try the shot besides Ashley, and so afterwards we went to Salamanca for a little. I ended up going home with Katie, while Ashley went to Twice with Margo and Meghan.




Sunday we wanted to go do something touristy since we hadn't wanted to explore and walk around Florence because of the cold weather so Katie, Ashley,  and I ended up going to the Santa Croce, which ended up being free. It was nice because during my first Art History class here, my teacher took us to the Santa Croce and explained some of it's history to me so I knew that there are famous writers and painters buried inside. I have to say that my favorite tomb is Michelangelo's. Here's a picture:

 That night, we made another delicious dinner of penne with bolognese sauce and salad. Except, I haven't been the one really cooking so far, it's mostly been Ashley and Katie..

We had bought tickets to see the Superbowl at this American Bar called "Blob." We originally tried to go to Red Garter but they had sold out, and we ended up being the first 10 people to buy tickets for Blob.. and I was ticket #1 and we got to sit on a couch instead of chairs and we all got a free drink. I was so proud of myself for actually following along with the game; however, when it was over everyone in the place kind of bolted... I'm not sure if they were trying to get somewhere else, or if they all wanted to get to sleep because it was 4 am. I ended up not going to sleep till noon actually which was fine since I didn't have class on Monday. All I did Monday was laundry and my homework. However, we did have another issue with our door because when Ashley had left for class at noon, she locked the door behind her, which we've done before, but she ended up locking us in! Katie had to be late for class because we had to get a locksmith to come open the door for us and tell us not to lock the door from the outside unless we're all going out and now we have to pay 30 euro for this :(  Ashley and I ended up making little pizza things for dinner out of thin pita bread type dough, tomato sauce, and mozzerella.

Tuesday after class we all went and got Pino's for dinner and Meghan, Ashley, and I then tried to go to Red Garter for Beer Pong night, but it was so empty so we went into Kikuya where I tried a beer called Dragoon, and then walked to Astor. Afterwards, we decided to check out Niama, but it wasn't fun at all. I was pretty tired so I went home, but Ashley and Meghan went to Twice for a little bit longer while I ended up skyping and staying up late as usual.

Yesterday I had Wine Appreciation again. This class seems like such a waste of my time, the teacher went over ONE PAGE of the textbook twice! It was about the life cycle of a grape... I could have fallen asleep but then finally we had an hour left and we tried three wines again. Pinot Grigio and two others.. I forgot. Afterwards I had to walk really fast to my Art History class which got moved to Corso Tintori- a half hour walk and I only have a half hour to get there. Fun fact by the way is that this awful trek to class actually comes to a little over a mile- one way. After class I was craving Pino's again so I stopped by to grab another panino before going with Katie to see Swan Lake in this opera house with a bunch of Fairfield students. The story line had been modified so it was pretty confusing for all of us to actually understand what was going on. But the dancing was good and so was the music.

Today I had to wake up early again for my Cooking class and we made crepes with spinach and ricotta with this delicious sauce. Since there are only 9 people in my class we had made almost double the amount and ended up being able to eat seconds. It was sooo good! And I was nervous making the crepe, but it wasn't that bad.. I also helped out with the filling and the sauce; we didn't get to do anything individually though which was disappointing because I don't know how we're supposed to practice these recipes. Right now, it is 2:30, and I have Italian at 3:00. I think tonight we're going to go to Oibo again, or to Ganzo for another aperitivo and then see where the night takes us.

Tomorrow we have a gelato tasting at 10:00 am at Perche No, and then on Saturday we're going to Venice for Carnevale! I'm so excited but it's supposed to be a pretty cold weekend again. Next week is supposed to be better though. I'll update again as soon as I can (I'm not going to say Monday like I did last time because that never happened...) Ciao!