Church at the Santa Croce

This weekend was a lot of fun. Saturday night Zena and I had a bottle of wine and then went to the discoteque Space Electronic. It was not lame this time. I guess all the locals are starting to come back in town for school. Both dance floors were open and I was dancing all over the place. I was hilarious I know, but it was so much fun. The locals would follow me around. Thank goodness when Zena and I went earlier to a place called JJCathedrals near the Duomo I called Paul to come. Paul is a guy who goes to Baylor that we met here in Italy. We always get him to walk us home from the clubs.

I didnt go to bed until about 4, but I got up for church at 11 to go to Santa Croce, the church that is near our apartment. I hadnt been inside yet. There is a statue commemorating Dante and the tombs of Michaelangelo and such are in there too. There was quite a crowd for an Italian church. There is still work being done inside so there was scaffolding at the front altar, but it was beautiful inside. The service lasted under and hour and was all in Italian. There was a bulletin that they all read from word for word throughout the service and a short message about halfway through. Then they took communion and it was over. It was a beautiful service! Afterwards we all went to lunch near Moyo, which has good apertivos. Apertivo starts about 6 or 7 and you get whatever drink you want and then there are little sandwiches and pasta that you have with it. I usually costs about 6 euros, and if you didnt feel like waiting until 9 like the italians do, it works perfectly as a meal. The other day Zena, Amber and I went to the cheapest market here in town, the Lorenzo market, and we did that. I bought two pairs of shoes that I have been wearing a lot, but I have yet to get any clothes to fit in. Soon, very soon.

Last night after i took a siesa (to include some spanish) the four roommates ate and then went to talk around. There is a supermarket named Standa fairly close to us. We got some bread, cheese and tomatoes to make sandwiches. That will be our staple food while we are here. you get the bread, dip it in balsamic vinegar, put a cut up tomato on it, and then a slice of cheese. It is amazing and I had it again today for lunch. It is much cheaper. Also, the orage soda here is amazing. It is more like orange juice with a little carbonation. I am starting to get used to the slow pace of life. It is really nice just sitting around and relaxing for hours on end. To get back to last night, we walked around after our little dinner at home and got gelato at vivaldi. i really need to cut back on my spending on gelato. They we just walked around Firenze (florence.) WE went to the piazza republica and listened to different little street bands playing. One was playing turkish music with people dancing. Zena promised to dance if they every played Syrian music. You are my witnesses to that promise.

I have to head to class, it is our first day and i also have to go fix my cell phone. We just finished paperwork that we had to register with the italian police. We had to pay 14.62 euros for a stamp to go on it. They like to rip you off on little things. Wish me luck with class, i have contemporary Italian anthropology today. I am going to start researching for my trips around europe today. We are going to Germany for octoberfest, the alps to ski in the winter, rome or milan-venice this weekend, and greece-spain for the week break. Oh, and London to see Alana! Ciao and have a wonderful Labor day!