All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Some things I've neglected to mention...
The Filipin Instituto (the prestigious private Catholic high school whose facilities we use) has Brothers living on campus (not full blown priests, but some do wear robes). It just so happens one lives across the hall from me. I thought it was weird that an old man was roaming our halls! Right now I'm in the italian kids computer lab (which we're only allowed to use in the evenings) and two brothers (in street clothes) are chatting and peering at us.

Our campus has a tollbooth and huge fence/gate that closes at night. This is the only entrance on campus. In the evenings the little level is always down so drivers must speak with the gatekeeper to enter. At night, big iron gates protect us (and no cars can enter). There is a corner section of this fence-like protection device that is really a door we enter through if we're returning home late from the Orchidea :) (side note... the Orchidea, one of two bars in town, is closed on Thursday. Not a smart business move based on the habits of KU kids in Lawrence!) There's always someone at the gate, and we're supposed have ID ready (in case some crazy Italian tries to follow us home, we'll be able to get in and the gatekeeper will kick them out!)

My mp3 player is fully functioning now! My dad sent instructions and I basically rebooted it and now it's fine. Although my inner ears are starting to hurt from the earbud headphone things since I'm falling asleep in weird positions and they dig their little selves into my cartiledge.

In sad news, I spilled some pasta and red sauce on a white KU basketball t-shirt at dinner. I washed it in my sink, used one of my room mate Caroyln's ShoutWipes and soaked it in the sink for awhile, but the sauce still remains. I'll have to investigate the tabacchi's laundry products to see if they have any clorox bleach pens or stain removers. It's way too early to be ruining clothes!!

When I was asking for broccoli at dinner Wednesday, Bing (a grad student from the nearby Asolo campus who also serves as one of our program coordinators) told me I just cursed the lunch lady in Italian. I tried to ask for the vegetable by pointing and apologize at the same time, but she didn't speak Italian and gave me the most perplexed look. It wasn't until after I felt like an idiot that Bing said he was just kidding. I think the two grad student program coordinators are lacking in normal social interactions, possibly from being cooped up in small towns like Paderno and Asolo since the start of the school year. During our Mind Based Management workshop last week, Jeremy came up to me and said I needed to leave the room since I looked at the other team's analysis. I guess I was a little more shocked than he expected and he said he was just joking. Let's not play jokes on the CIU students, per favore.

Wednesday night we had our first European Professionalism Seminar, which is required for all students. It will be most Wednesdays from 7:45 pm to 9:15 pm. Later in the semester we'll have a wine tasting in the cafeteria and a trip to a local plant. Did you know that it costs 1500 to get your driver's license in Italy!! The highest speed you can go without getting a ticket is 110 miles per hours, but even going one mile over results in a steep fine so drivers around here program their cruise control to prevent this.

I almost forgot! Today we had chicken nuggets for lunch. We were skeptical...not sure if they were actually rabbit and the lunch ladies were lying to us, but they didn't taste odd after I dunked them in ketchup, so overall it was a delightful lunch experience.

I packed my bag for Florence and I feel as though I'm taking entirely too much. It's not nearly as heavy as when I traveled here and it's only three days. We leave bright and early at 4:45 am from Paderno to get to the train station in Bassano, where we'll have a three hour ride to Florence. We don't get back to Paderno until 10 pm Sunday night, but I'll fill you in on Monday about my weekend.

PS - hey room mates... how is trash duty coming along now that i'm not there to enforce the trash duty schedule? kaitlan...i bet it's your turn! HAHA.