Tuesday, January 25 2011.

Our quiz today was also extremely easy. I’m really hoping that this is a sign of what class is going to be like in Florence, because if it is, I’m in for a great semester of doing very little work, and lots of traveling! After class we took a group AIFS picture outside the Duomo and then Miriam and I headed straight for a café called Nannini, which is known for its super delicious pastries. We each had a panini first, and then got a pastry. I had what was basically a donut sliced in half and filled with whipped cream. It was light, sweet, and heavenly. Nannini is a little further away from our hotel, but the pastries were definitely worth it. After lunch, we went back to school to finally get some internet access. It was so nice to catch up on emails and Facebook, and get a feel for what is going on back home (this lack of internet is making me realize how much I rely on the internet. I literally can’t do anything with my iPhone except make phone calls. Weird.). Miriam and I went back to the hotel to drop our stuff and meet up with our friend Emily to go look at cell phone stuff, which I finally really need to look into as Florence gets closer. On our way to the cell phone place this official looking Italian man stops us across the street from the store, and we notice other people are crowded around as well. At first we though there was an accident, but then I peered around and saw a film crew and it turns out they were filming an Italian soap opera that’s apparently famous and is broadcast throughout Europe. We hung out for a while and watched them film, it was actually really really cool to watch them do a few takes and see how the extras had an exact pattern to walk in and how planned out everything was. We started taking pictures when we realized the Italians around were doing so as well, because the actor is apparently famous; one guy went up and took a picture with him, it was pretty cool. I found it ironic that in my week and a half in tiny Siena I run into a show being filmed, but in all the time I have spent in the City, I have only seen a movie being filmed once, and there wasn’t even much to see (although when Miriam came to the City she got to see Enchanted being filmed, not fair). We finally went into the phone place where I only got slightly less confused about what I’m going to end up doing about a phone here, but the guy who helped us was such a typical Italian; slicked back hair, big gold ring on his finger, leather jacket, in the US he’d be a straight up guido. Getting a cell phone here is a little complicated because not only is there a language barrier, cell phones in general are a little confusing, so if anyone knows phones really well, and speaks both English and Italian well, and feels like coming to Italy, then I could use your help. We went back to the hotel to nap (this is what happens when I wake up at 8 am everyday) before dinner. For dinner, Miriam and I went with our friends Emily, Joanna, and Stacey to this restaurant that was a little further away. We had tried to go once before, but it was sketchily chained up, but we heard the food was really good, so we decided to try again. The restaurant was great—good food, good music, and good wine. We had a nice long dinner followed by gelato, and then went back to the hotel to watch The Holiday and go to bed.