florentine adventures, part one.

two weekends ago, the girls and i went to florence. we ran to the train station after class on friday because class gets out at 1 and there was a train leaving for florence at 1:35. but, when we got there, it was sold out. so we bought tickets for the next train, at 2:20.

when we got off the train at the station in florence, we were feeling a little lost because we didn't really know where we were going to sleep. but, luckily, one of the girls, agustina, had been talking to these 2 asian girls on the train and they said that we could probably stay at the hostel they were staying at. but that the woman didn't speak any english. only chinese.

so we were like, ok, whatever, and followed them. and it was… an adventure. the lady was maybe 4 ft tall and spoke in super angry sounding chinese the whole time. and the chinese girl was talking to the lady and then she just kept turning to us and saying, "OK-NO-PLOBLEM" and we had to take our shoes off and everything. and the "hostel" only had 6 beds. but it was super close to everything, and was pretty cheap, so we decided to stay there.

looking a little worried about our lodging...

so the lady left and we went out to eat. we walked toward the duomo because i thought that there'd probably be good restaurants over there, near the touristy area of town. we found this restaurant that was two courses plus coffee for 10 euros. which is a great deal. and it was good! i had rigatoni with pesto, and then pork and mixed veggies. i also had prosecco, which is a dry, sparkling white wine from veneto, the region of italy where venice is located and it was AWESOME, served in a champagne glass with a strawberry on the rim. CLASSY and soo good.

shalley and i at the restaurant

cindy and agus

but the service was horrible, probably because there were so many other people there who were italian and the guy just neglected us. so, when we FINALLY (after about 25 min of just sitting in front of our empty plates) got our bill and paid, he gave us the wrong change. it was a 46 euro bill, and we paid with a 50, and he gave us 14 back. and we just got up and scurried out of there. i wasn't gonna say anything after how poorly we were treated. plus, that's the second time that's happened to me! last time that happened, i got my tiramisu fo' free. and that was also awesome.

so then we took that bonus 10 euro and found a grocery store on the way home. we bought some limoncello and sprite to make drinks back at the hostel.

yum! cindy, agus, shalley and i with our "free" limoncello on the hostel patio

so we went on to the little patio thing at the hostel and we were making drinks and talking softly and whatever and the lady popped her head out of the window three stories up and said something to us in chinese. and we were like "ok, yeah!" because we don't speak chinese.

and then ten minutes or so passed and she did it again. and we were like, "ok?" because WE DON'T SPEAK CHINESE.

and then finally she came downstairs and was like "escusssme?" and mimed that we weren't allowed on the patio or something. which was odd because there were doors from one of the bedrooms out onto the patio. so it's not like we climbed out a window or anything.

so, we finished our drinks and decided to go to the club, space electronic, that i had gone to when i was in florence when i was 16. so we left and started walking in that general direction. i asked some italian girls how to get to space, and they told us but also said something like, "but space sucks, we're going to this university party and there's a electronica festival right next to it.."

and we were like WHAT YES PLZ.

they told me how to get there on the bus and i told the girls and we took the bus and got off when a bunch of other kids our age got off.

and i met this other italian girl who had studied at berkley, and she and her friends were like, "come with us, we'll show you how to get there." but they said that first they were going to the university party because the beers there were cheaper. so we went with them there, and it was fun, with a dj outside and tons of people and everything.

after we were there for 30 or 45 minutes we decided to walk over to the concert.

and IT WAS SICK.

it was this huge stage in, like, this in-ground arena, and there was amazing music playing and everyone was dancing AND IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER.

and we were dancing wayyy close to the front and it was amazing and i don't know what else to say.

and when that was over i SOMEHOW found our way by foot back to the hostel. seriously, my directional skills are A++ now. we got back, and opened the front door, and the chinese lady was sleeping on a cot by the door.

AND THAT WAS THE WEIRDEST THING EVER.

we were all pretty freaked out by that. unnecessary, right? so we all just went into the room and got into our beds and didn't make a noise. none of us even changed our clothes.

weird.

TO BE CONTINUED…

p.s. i've found by doing a little online scouting that the festival was called "elettrowave challenge 2010." of course, all of these websites are in italian, but if you're interested in looking at the lineup, you should be able to figure it out. or just pop the urls into google translate. another hint: italian time is military time, so that's why things happen at 21.00.

p.p.s. i know this post is severly lacking in photographic evidence (especially of all asians involved) but, as soon as the other girls post pictures on facebook, i'll steal 'em and update this.