Bella Notte

I wish there was a well-known movie that accurately represented Naples for what it is: a city with no apparent trash collecting system and a place that makes wearing a cross-body bag with hidden compartments for your money absolute necessary. We got off the train at 10pm for our field trip. It was a foggy and wet night and the train station isn't exactly in the posh part of town so my teacher was walking behind the rest of us like a shepherd herding his flock. We walked in a few circles before finding the hotel that the President of the European College of International Studies recommended to us personally. I'm convinced, based on the whole experience, that he probably has never seen that hotel in his life. We had a late dinner at the hotel, not unlike the true Italian way, at 10:30pm. I have never been so untempted (and yes, I know "untempted" is not a word) to finish a meal in my life. Dessert was, drumroll please, fruit. Literally, a wire basket of apples and oranges. The head waiter tried to charge us €90 for the evening's wine, which consisted of a liter of red house wine for every 6 people, totaling 4 liters. Lucio said "no" and the waiter came back offering €50 instead. I think they settled on something even lower but it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place considering the quality of the meal.

It was up with the sun on Wednesday for the three meetings we had scheduled. Our meetings with NATO and customs officials were unfortunately cancelled. I was so looking forward to NATO, too. It was a long day, broken up by our lunch at this delicious pizzeria -- I feel like I've eaten enough pizza here to be allowed to say that it was definitely fantastic. The city had trash heaps taller than me, smelled bad and I never felt safe until I was sitting in my seat with my validated ticket and headed back to Arezzo. I saw some of the "pretty" and "old" parts of Naples, too, though none of it compared to some of the prettier places I've been. 

By the time I arrived in Arezzo at 11pm on Wednesday night, I hadn't fully relaxed since before our trip to Nice. I was really tired but had an Italian Quiz the next morning so I stayed up to "study" for that. Since I hadn't seen Danielle in 24 hours (pathetic, I realize), we had a lot to talk about so bedtime ended up being at about 3am.

It's a rare thing for Danielle and I to not go somewhere -- anywhere -- on the weekends but our professor had planned something special last night. He had organized a trip to Florence to go see an opera at St. Mark's English Church. We got dolled up in our dresses and curled hair and stepped out onto the soaked streets, where at least my hair instantly went flat as a board. I guess not everyone can have the best curly-haired genes. It was in a small place without a stage that looked like a space for a dinner theatre without dinner. That sort of thing. The Marriage of Figaro was on the agenda for the evening and the host was a complete gem. He was witty and clever -- at one point, Leanna was taking a picture (with her flash off) and he strikes a pose for the camera, completely embarrassing her but causing the entire crowd to die laughing. The characters were hilarious, which makes sense since it was a comedy. Sense since. That was unintentional. Anyway, great late evening. We spent the ride back playing a million mind-teasing games, annoying all the rest of the people in the car. It's nights like these that I'll look back on with a smile, I think. Everyone together, having great fun and knowing that we'll be heartbroken to leave this place, where we are but a very small piece in a very large puzzle. 

Ponte Vecchio a notte

With only 28 days left (eeek!), course loads will be picking up. I have 3 enormous projects/papers due that will require anywhere from 20-25 pages of writing from me. I'm having trouble focusing, especially since my grades in those classes are, so far, safe. AND it's much more fun to travel and play, right?