Florence, Saturday, November 19, 2005

[Saturday, November 19, 2005 // 1:38pm]

[ mood | happy ] [ music | Moulin Rouge ] Hey beloveds! I am OK, although still not king yet. And also youàll have to excuse the apostrophes, because despite writing an excellent essay on their use, Iùll not be using them on account of I canùt find them on the Eurpean keyboard. The second flight, which I thought would be hellish, was actually pretty good. The plane was really empty, so I got three seats to myself and was able to lie down and get about six hours of patchy but much needed sleep. The chicken looked very suspicious. Like a duck. Coming into Rome at dawn was AMAZING. All the lights of the city were just mind blowing, and Bri, Penny and I were almost speechless. I counted eleven nuns at the airport. They were proper nuns too, with wimples and everything. I was quite tired. The bus trip to Florence was four hours. The first two hours were fantastic, as we were driving through the countryside spotting aqueducts and mediaeval defence towers (shutuphistorygeek). Tuscany is beautiful. After a couple of hours though, everyone was a bit tired of travelling. Lydia fell asleep next to me, and as there were no nuns to spot, I turned Caspian on and listened to music. We arrived in Florence around 1, but our rooms werenùt ready, so Hazel, Lydia and I went and got lunch. A guy tried to sell me tissues on the street and then tweaked my nose when I refused. So THAT was a bit weird. The worst thing about Florence so far is that everyone but us is so well dressed. We keep walking past impeccably groomed women and men and I feel very inferior in my unironed khakis and Kathmandu windcheater. This has been exacerbated by shopping for boots (saw a lovely pair in Zara, 130 Euro, havenùt tried them on, most that Iùve tried dont fit my orthodics) as shop assistants are mostly the same but worse. My Italian is very very bad, as all I end up saying is grazie, buongiorno and after an afternoon shopping, pelle? and molto bello. My roommates, Hazel and Katrina are just lovely, and dont snore at ALL, which is a blessing that I do not underestimate. (Hi Fache!) Hazel bought boots, and theyre really cool. We had our first class this morning, and it was awesome. Started at the Arno and ended up at the Baptistry. I cannot express how lucky I feel to have this opportunity to see the things Ive heard about for so long. It is so incredible to look out our window in the morning and see buildings that have been there for centuries, and to walk through streets that great artists and humanists once walked. We passed a building today that I think said Michaelangelo was born there. Liek, OMG so totally cool!!1!1!11!!elevntyone!! AND its sunny. I blame you all for the fact that I have only ONE short sleeved tshirt, because the weather so far has been permanently Summer morning weather. It is GORGEOUS. Other things I blame you all for are the fact that noone has pinched my bum yet, and I havent had ANYTHING stolen, despite having a decoy wallet STICKING OUT OF MY POCKET when walking through the San Lorenzo market. What is wrong with my bum, and why is my stuff not worth stealing. SO INSULTED BY FLORENCE AS A WHOLE. I got a great sleep last night - eight hours. Mmmm. And I felt great this morning. Have also been eating well (Cream on a pizza is something I feel we should import into Australia). The Net near our hotel is five Euro an hour, but Hazel and I found this place with is 1.5 an hour, so if we can find it again, I should be able to post a couple of times a week. Much love to my family and friends, especially those who commented on my last entry, and Laura, Claire, Kelly and Sam, who messaged. Hope youre all well. Lots of love, Katherine