Piazzas, Breakdancing, and Crappy Clubs

It's only been 2 days, but I feel like I've neglected the blog recently - my apologies. I'm going to try my best to keep this site as up-to-date as possible, but again, with so much going on, sometimes it's easy to get distracted. 

Monday's italian class was again a very enjoyable experience. Having studied at College of Dupage for 8 weeks definitely has paid off - I'm ahead in the class and therefore Barbara's go-to when people don't understand. I'm of course glad to help her. Monday night I wanted to go into the city, having stayed at the dorm 2 nights in a row. I found out Bena (Montreal) and Aaron (London) were going to meet people for dinner, and even though I'd already eaten (Mark [roomate] and I made pasta and italian sausage - molto bene) I joined them. I helped Aaron drink his bottle of red wine on the way there (we're still not entirely sure if there are open-alcohol laws in this city) while he entertained. Aaron is extremely witty and has a strong british accent, so he really cracks me up. Melissa (Dublin) also came with us, and told me that I have a terrible Irish accent. I still think it's spot on, but I guess she knows better.

When we got to the restaurant, the people we were meeting (kids from all over) had already finished, and wanted to head to the next evening spot. Aaron and Bena stayed to eat, while the rest of us headed to this Piazza someone had heard of. I was up for anything, and really had no idea where the night would lead, so just followed the crowd. We passed Navigli and that spot in the city with the big arch and big arches (McDonald's) and headed down the road. We arrived at this huge courtyard and it was like nothing you would see in the United States. I wish I had brought a camera (I promise to take mine now wherever I go just in case), but the Piazza was filled with kids, all sitting around on the many benches, drinking alcohol that could be purchased cheaply at a 711-ish place down the way. There was a huge statue of a guy with his fist raised and what looked like a church or important old building. Everyone just hung out and drank cheaply - it was exactly what I had wanted to do. 

We headed back early, wanting to catch the last tram, and got home around 12:30. Naturally I stayed up to hang out with people outside and at one point in the night it was discovered that I, as well as Charlie (the other guy from Illinois) could both breakdance. Jordan (Ohio State) brought down his lap top and a terrible breakdance battle ensued. Everyone outside gathered inside this little room and, to the extremely soft music of crappy laptop speakers, we gave our best. I think I've drawn some attention to myself as the guitar playing, breakdancing American. Still fun.

Class yesterday, then a nap. I found out that Andy and Ned (Richmond, VA) bought a tiny grill for their balcony, so used this opportunity to make a cheesy-chicken sandwich, as well as some of the salmon Mike and I bought. Everyone was going out again last night to a club called Hollywood, which apparently, without our international student discount, costs 50 euro to get in. It's supposed to be a hotspot for european celebrities, so I was expecting something incredible, but was pretty disappointed. It only cost us 10 euro for 3 drinks, but the service was miserable. It probably took me over 30 minutes to get one cocktail - maybe I'm too polite. But again, the italian customer service is pretty bad in my experience thus far. They are much too casual and don't really seem to care about your needs. But anyway.

The club was underground and kind of just felt like a glorified basement. All of the music was cerca 1999, so the atmosphere kind of stunk. I actually ended up hanging out outside most of the time talking with Pascal, a really cool girl from Montreal with a heavy french accent. That was fun, but the rest of the evening was kind of lame.

When I got home (late), Mark got up to see how the night went. He couldn't sleep that well, so was up for talking. We hung out on our balcony and got to know each other some more. I like him a lot and am happy to have a cool roommate. Randomly I got Skype called by Mitch, Billy, Amy and Stewie (friends from Illinois) so I got to talked to them. Like Scott, they were also impressed by my ability to avoid sleeping. 

Today I didn't have any classes, so I woke up late and went running. I haven't really looked around my building that much, but found out it is surrounded by apartments and parks. The big open fields nearby were fun to run through and when I got to a main street I started heading down it. Around a half-mile away, I found a Ferrari / Maserati dealership. That was pretty cool, so I checked out the cars and kept going - it was good way to work off the excessive partying that has transpired in recent nights. Maybe I'll dress to impress and head back to the dealership to test drive some of the vehicles this semester - but maybe that's not a good idea.

Tonight everyone is heading to a happy hour organized by the school. I'll probably go to that and then head back for an early evening. I have my first class tomorrow morning at 8:45, so am going to do my best to get at least some sleep. Sunday we are going to Cinque Terra, which I'm looking forward to - I've heard only good things.

Anyway, glad to keep you posted and stay classy Stati Uniti.