Fuckin' Fish Puuuub. Need I say more?
Well probably because if you haven't been here you don't know...there is this pub down the street that has young people roaming the streets at night handing out fliers, practically attacking you to go there. They say they have free champagne one night, free shots for ladies, etc...but then you go, and either no one is there and it was a desperate attempt, or it's so crowded with drunk stupid American girls that you have to turn around and just keep on walking. But regardless, you always end up checking out the flippin Fish Pub. We got sucked in tonight and it was the latter story...hence why we came home within the hour.
Ahhh so in any case I am back to finish my story! Exciting I know. Please contain your excitement.
Alrighty so last Thursday...ahh yes, the night we learned that we can get a crate full of 12 red wines for 20 euro. Needless to say my roomie Lauren and I are winos and so we split a couple bottles before we all went out to try out a local place everyone had been talking about. Now granted most of the people studying here, I don't know how they do it but they literally go out EVERY NIGHT. I would be broke already. So they know alllll the hot spots. We travel on the weekends and usually just end up going out on Thursday/Friday/Saturday, you know, pretty standard. No, we're way behind the curve. So we go to this place called the Red Garter and it actually was pretty fun, live band, upstairs area to sit down, and a dance floor and solid sized bar. Not as many creepy Italian men, more normal ones so it was all good. Didn't make the best decisions that night so I'm just gonna end it there (roomies, I still am in awe as to what we found out tonight) but I love that we can just go out with no plans and walk down the street and find a new place to go! It just keeps it all new and exciting.
Friday my roomie Lauren and I decided to hop on a train when we woke up and spend the day down in Siena! It's a city about an hour southeast within Tuscany and is famous of course for its wine and a certain type of pasta. It was a pretty fun day, we hit most of the major sites and ate the local food of course! The Duomo there is the largest gothic midieval structure in all of Europe! It is massive and truly a sight to behold. It is entirely different from the Duomo here, all of the angles, gargoyles, images, and well everything. Siena was just an interesting place because of its structure. The roads were uphill then downhill, then up, then down, etc. It is right into the side of these rolling hills with intense architectural pieces popping up every so often. Good day trip destination.
Saturday night: FIORENTINAAAAAA!!! VAFFANCULO LAZIO! Haha that's what we were chanting all night at the Fiorentina (Florence) vs Lazio soccer game! God these fans put American football fans to SHAME. We were in the crazy section. Literally the lady at the ticket booth called it that, and we were all for it. Why not experience a real soccer game the way it should be in Italy right? Well first off I don't think I've ever felt more testosterone in my life. SO MANY MEN JACKED UP ON BEER AND AGGRESSION. It was a lot of fun to watch people go crazy for the game but I definitely felt like we stood out more than usual. These people all have organized chants as well, and they did them for the entire game it felt like. Vaffanculo is fuck off or fuck you by the way so they are pretty explicit as well. There was a section with people setting off flares so it looked like there was a fire in the stands, and a stink bomb that let off purple smoke because Fiorentina's colors are purple, red and white. What an experience.
If I've learned anything from living here for the past three weeks it's that the Italians are a very proud people, and they love everything about their country and about themselves and their way of life. And they do have a point, they have a lot of things to be proud of...well this sentimental feeling is intensified and amplified by thousands of chanting men who bleed purple for their team. There is no messing with the Fiorentina fans. We researched them a bit and apparently they are the only fans in history to be banned from their own stadium for how outrageous they are. Not a joke.
Anywho, Sunday, Cinque Terre. Now this place was talked up to us big time as one of the best and most memorable places to visit in Italy. I was pumped for this day trip. Cinque Terre in Italian means 5 lands, and in northwestern Italy along the coastline there are 5 towns that are connected by this windy insane hike (also by train). The plan was to hike through all the towns and then hangout at the beach at the last one. Yeahhh never made it there.
That hike was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It was steep like crazy, rocky and extremely slippery because it had rained the day and night before we went. Therefore, it was FULL of mud so you could potentially just go flying off the side of a cliff at any moment. It was insanely beautiful and worth the hike, but during, I wanted to die. I think for me it was the humidity that put me over the top. I still have so much trouble with that. California is humid enough for me to handle, this humidity in the forest hillsides next to the beach, after it rained? Yeah probably 90% humidity. In any case it was an adventure getting everyone to the fourth town, Vernazzo, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. But in the end we all got to sunbathe on the rocks and beach of this small town and eat some authentic, if overpriced, local dishes!
Everyday is an adventure so far in every sense of the word. I learn and try to absorb as much as possible about the Italian culture, language, and atmosphere. And it is only the beginning...three weeks down. Three months to go!
This weekend: Oktoberfest. Biggest festival in the world. Please wish me and my liver good luck with this one. I am not a beer person. And we're camping. Please Munich don't let me die.
Ciao for now,
Jessica
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