Day 2 in Firenze

Saturday I met up with my cousin Kristin who goes to Mizzou and is studying this semester in Florence. I can not tell you how wonderful it was to have a close friend to hang out with in a foreign country. We spent the day wondering the streets of Florence, eating lunch on the steps on the Duomo and staring at the very large and very naked David sculpture at the Accademia. I enjoyed the Accademia more than the Uffizi (and yes, I enjoyed the art museums in general). I didn't realize how large the David sculpture was. And it is definitely something you need to see up close. Michelangelo's detail with muscles and veins is amazing (not to mention David has quite a firm behind...) I also enjoyed being able to read the art work's descriptions in English. Kristin and I went over the bridge to the Ponte Vecchio, which has an amazing view of buildings near the water front. I was able to get some gorgeous pictures.

After an enjoyable and random day with Kristin, I met back up with my travel mates. We went to a restaurant near the Duomo (by this point, everywhere we went had to be referenced by its location to the Duomo) and met up with MaryBeth, Brynn and Nori from our school. It was hilarious that 4 groups from our school walked by the window and stopped in the restaurant to say hi.

Once our leisurely dinner, complete with red wine, was complete, we gradually started meeting up with more people from CIU. We headed to one bar, not thinking if the 20 of us would actually all fit inside. Some people just decided to go back to Red Garder and a group of us headed to YAB. We had fliers to get in without paying the 13€ cover, thank goodness, because every drink cost 8€! YAB, which apparently stands for You Are Beautiful, was a true Italian club, unlike the Americanized bar we took over Friday night. We were the only Americans in the bar. All the Italian girls looked as if they had forgotten to finish getting dressed and were missing important articles of clothing. There were all the size of my left calf and wore shirts with the back cut out (revealing their stringy bras) and skirts the size of belt. I have never seen so many girls spent such a long time staring at a bathroom mirror and primping. It was out of control. The men that were there were 14 and just looked silly. The part I found most amusing was watching the Italian guys dance. One looked like he was on an elliptical machine, he just kept skipping/dancing in place. I suppose the odd dancing is a result of the horrible music the club played. It was not true techno, but more of a blend of Italian mariacchi music with techno on crack. Thank goodness some girls requested American hip hop and we heard some normal music.

Besides the high school boys, a few creepy old men loomed around the bar. One sketchy dude, who was at least 37, balding but still with a low ponytail and large glasses, would not leave Kelly and me alone. He tried talking to me but I pretended I didn't speak English. Then he tried Italian. Then he said he was just trying to introduce himself but by this point Liza pulled me next to her on the couch and talked to me until Jon could distract him. It's times like this when it's very handy to have your male school mates around to look out for you.

By 2:30 am Sarah and I were exhausted and headed back to the hostel. We thought once we followed the signs to the Duomo we'd have no problem getting home. We were wrong. We stopped so many randoms in the street to help us find Borgio de' Greci. Some had never heard of it and we couldn't remember all of the extensive directions that the others gave us. We stopped into a bar when an very nice English speaking Italian bartender tried helping us and then had another guy in the bar show us where to go. This only got us so far. We saw another group of people but it was their first night in Florence. Two guys were from English and when we said we were from Kansas, they yelled for their friend from Tennessee to come say hi. It turns out he lived in Ft. Leavenworth for awhile. Despite our immediate bond in a foreign country, these guys proved no help. After wondering for nearly an hour, Sarah and I gave in and got a taxi. Our feet were throbbing with pain, which overshadowed the fact that we paid 9€ for a two minute ride home.