The Veneto Weekend: Part One

This past weekend a group of us decided to go on the Veneto weekend trip through JCU. So Julia and I had this bright idea that since we had a 7 hour bus ride, we might as well go out the night before we leave for the trip and just sleep on the bus right? So we signed up for a wine tasting at school with a Sommelier. Since I get out of class at 5:15 I figured I'd just wait around at school till the wine tasting instead of attempting to go home.. and guess what I realized? My UNIVERSITY has happy hour everyday in our cafe from 5-7.. three euro drinks and you get free pizza and other food. How awesome is that? So I tried my first spritz, Italians are famous for those, and then we started our wine tasting class. I learned all about the different colors of wine and what they mean, the thickness of wine, the different smells, etc. At the wine tasting I met the first southern guy here, Drew! Who really looks like a Brad.. but oh well. Anyway, he goes to Louisville so of course we just immediately bonded by talking about southern things..

Me and Brad at the wine tasting

After the wine tasting Julia and I went out to Testaccio, which is an area south of the school right by the Tiber River, where we were supposed to meet up with Drew and some of his friends that live down there but we never ended up doing that. Instead, we went to On The Rox... where we got hit on by girls, awkward. So we ended up just getting a taxi home at like 3:00 because it was forever away and we had to leave the house at 5:15 to leave for the weekend trip. 

The first stop on the Veneto Weekend Trip was Padua which is actually a really cute little town and we stayed in an adorable hotel there. We went on a tour of the church which is named after a Saint who helps you find lost things. This Saint, whom I cannot remember his name, also helps during times of trouble apparently. So thousands of people would write him letters and leave them by his tomb in the church. That night we went out for Cole's 21st birthday-yay party in Padua! Actually, it wasn't that bad minus the fact that all the places close at midnight there. Which was probably a good thing considering we had to get up at 6am to get on our train to Venice. 

Yesterday was Taco Tuesday, a tradition we quickly created at Via Giorgio Scalia... Too much pasta and pizza all the time (I've gotta find the gym, like, yesterday). And on my way home from class I decided I was going to buy a big 'ole bottle of wine for dinner.. cause when in Roma, do as the Romans do.. and drink lots of wine! So needless to say, I had a few glasses before we went out. We all were feeling pretty great and we decided to take the metro to our friends who live in northern Prati (Prati is the neighborhood we live in by the way.. neighborhoods are way different here). 

Here's the part of the story that you might want to skip for a few different reasons: 

1. If you're easily grossed out, stop reading now.

2. If you don't want to think I'm disgusting. 

3. I can't believe I'm actually telling this story but Rachel said if I didn't tell it in full it wouldn't be funny. 

Okkkkay, so I've been sick for like a week.. so with sickness comes lots of congestion, right? So as we're stepping onto the metro.. I get a lot of drainage.. well.. to be frank.. I really needed to hawk a lugi, classy lady.. I know. But hey, don't even judge me.. I know it's happened to all of you. Well I was about to spit it out BUT there's a freaking POLICE OFFICER sitting oh you know 5 feet from me. So I'm thinkin' it's fine, it takes like 2 minutes to get to our stop. Two minutes, no big deal right?

OH NO. Then the freaking gypsy lady comes up with her "moo cow toy".. she presses a button and it makes a "mooooo" noise and then she shakes the cup in front of our faces trying to get us to give her money. Then she finally notices that I'm not talking (because I can't remember or I'll spit all over myself) and she shakes the cup in my face. AND THEN SHE STARTED HITTING ME, I WAS BEING SLAPPED BY A GYPSY ON THE METRO! So as she was hitting me she was making a mouthing action with her hand & for a moment I contemplated spitting into her cup because she really wanted me to talk. 

In then end I gave her 10 cents.

Yep, gross. I had to hawk and lugi and I was molested by a gypsy, awesome. 

Today a waiter at a restaurant on the street I was shopping on followed me all the way down the street. He asked if he could go shopping with me.

Yep, that's life in Roma for ya.

So.. after two weeks in Italy I've decided I'm going to use this blog to tell all of the ridiculous stories and encounters. So of course there's two sides to every story-Europeans LOVE Americans.. well guess what? They hate us too.


You'll get a laugh or two. 

So here starts encounter number one: Pierluigi

We went to a restaurant over in the historic district for lunch & we were all hanging out and talking and all of the sudden one of the waiters walks around the table and comes up to me and says “this is for you”. Of course I read the paper and I start blushing and become extremely confused.. so the waiter points to this guy standing by the entrance of the restaurant with his friend. Then he writes down his name, Pierluigi. By the way, Pierluigi is EXTREMELY GOOD LOOKING. So Pierluigi comes over and attempts to talk to me.. except minor problem. He speaks no English and the only thing I know how to say in Italian is thank you. So the waiter is translating for us.. Pierluigi is 22 so no big deal the waiter walks off singing the wedding bells song.. so apparently I’m marrying Pierluigi.. although we might have some communication issues.

Encounter number two: Barbados

We went out to Gildea which is a realllllly fun night club. So we're there dancing and the DJ decides he sees all the Americana girls in there so he gives a shout out to John Cabot University.. and then he gives a shout out to his Trideltas? Say what? We're just representing all over the world. While we're here some guy comes up to me and literally WONT LET GO. His name is Ray, he's from Barbados.. but he teaches English in Italy. Come to find out now he's an up and coming rapper with some big name producer in Italy so now that I've made sure he knows we are just friends and I "have a boyfriend back home".. we are friends and apparently I'm going to help him with his starter deal. Yay for being a Music Business minor!

Same Night, Part Two. 

So all of us decided we we're gonna go out in heels this night. GREAT IDEA. not. I don't know why we thought walking in stilettos on all the cobblestone was a good idea... Thank goodness for David waiting around for my slow self cause I cannot walk that fast in those shoes.. especially since I've ruined the heel (yes, sorry mom. I ruin all my heels.. you should be used to it by now). So the main point of this is once we got to Gildea I actually had to put them back on.. and the floor was slippery. So down I went laughing the entire time. COMPLETELY busted it. and now my butt hurts a little bit.. 


Now this one.. I wish I had a picture to upload for it.


However, sadly my European phone isn't quite like my iPhone and doesn't have screenshot capabilities... Walking home from the Vaticano area after my adventure with Julia.. this man, and I mean man.. like probably 40.. came up to me speaking Italian and I could understand some of it. He was asking me where the metro stop was in the area we were in.. he said he lived over near where I was and just forgot where it was. Then he finally figured out I speak English and started talking to me in very broken English, but hey, we could have a conversation. We talked about a lot of stuff and STUPID me pulled out my phone when I got a text from a friend. So this guy is like oh here let me call you and give you my number.. so I'm thinkin' okay this guy isn't that bad maybe he'll be a father type (we were helping each other with translating Italian/English). He talked about getting coffee one day. WELL, I would absolutely LOVE to be able to screen shot the ELEVEN missed calls I have from him within a 12 hour period... and I have a missed call from an unknown number, I think it's him too. All I have to say is damn, Italians are persistent. 


Oh there's loads more.. like the main who talked to me in pure Italian for 15 minutes.. even though I said "non capisco" about 500 times. Or the two police officers grabbing our friends ass. Creepy hotel managers who love Julia. Etc. Etc. Etc. 


Don't worry, there will be more to come. 

A nice distraction from packing..

Well I just got back from Orlando with Parras and her family.. And we had so much fun! We met steve spurrier and our football player friends. Relaxed by the pool in 80 degree weather..it was absolutely amazing! Plus, it was quite the distraction from leaving for Europe. I've kind of been a little stressed out lately about having to have so many little details in order but they're slowly coming together. I cannot believe I leave in four days!! Craziness!

I'm probably going to switch back and forth between blogs until I figure out which one I like better. I might use one more of a talk about experiences and one more for entertainment and pictures for people back home. We shall see!