Don't call her name, Alejandro!!!

Well, I've been in Italy for a month! I can't believe it! The time has flown by. Before I know it I'll be back in Rome and then headed back to the US of A. Yikies.

Lots of things have been going on here. Last weekend was our first free weekend where we didn't have anything planned as an entire group. I ended up going with some people to Firenze again on Friday. The first thing we did when we got there was go to the San Lorenzo market. Firenze is basically the leather capital of Italy, and two of the girls I went with got very nice, and expensive, Italian leather jackets. I hadn't planned on getting a leather jacket, but man they looked really nice. I'm thinking about investing in some boots, though, so we'll see how that turns out. After the market we went to the Academia which houses Michelangelo's David. We waited in line for an hour and a half because they only let in like 50 people at a time. But oh my gosh it was worth it. The David is at the end of a hallway in a little apse and the force perspective makes this 15' statue look even more gigantic. As soon as I turned the corner and saw it I couldn't look away. There he was, in his glowing white Carrara marble, staring off into the distance thinking about his upcoming task: Goliath. David is seriously huge. Incredible. Michelangelo is a master. You can see the veins in David's arms, hands and neck. My favorite part was probably getting so see him from behind. I'd never seen a picture of him from behind, probably because there is not really any space for a good picture of him from behind. Therefore, I never knew that the sling he holds over his shoulder actually spans his entire back - he is holding the sling in both hands, you just don't ever see it. I was in complete awe. I loved it. Amazing. Unbelievable. So realistic. Michelangelo, I'm a believer, honey. The rest of the day was spent scurrying about the city, going to the Ponte Vecchio, H&M and sitting on the steps of San Lorenzo as the sun set. Not a bad day. I can't believe I can pay 7,10 euro and just hop on a bus to Firenze for the day. Firenze! Florence! The birthplace and home of the Renaissance! Ahh! This place is incredible.

That was my only major excursion as of late. This weekend I'm going with four other girls to Assisi for the weekend. I'm excited about it, it should be really fun. And then the next weekend I think we are all going to Venice. Reeeeally excited about that one, too.

School has been going pretty well. There are four girls in my Italian class, including myself. Two of the girls had to skip Ital 202 because they don't offer it here, so technically Audrey and I have the most Italian under our belts. Well, I think our teacher, Letizia, thinks we're dumber than she thought we were. We all get out of class feeling stupid and are generally on the verge of tears at any given point in class. It's just so frustrating sometimes to not understand what people are saying or how to say what you want to say. It's exhausting to pay attention and comprehend. Ugh. My other classes aren't too bad, though. Talbot is a great teacher and he speaks in English to us! Huzzah!

I love Paola and Marco. Paola loves to feed us until we're about to explode and Marco teases me about being tall, not being able to cook very much (both of which will make it difficult in my husband search, apparently) and the other day he pointed to my nose and declared that I had a pimple on it. Paola denied seeing anything (because of all of the places on my face where there are pimples, my nose was not one of them, at least at that moment) saying "non vedo niente! / I don't see anything!" Marco has finally started to defer some of his attention to Somers to whom he told yesterday that she will have to diet when she gets back to the States. When I said, "oh, me too!" he was just like, "no. Just her." It was fun.

The day after I learned that new Ingrid Michaelson song on my ukulele, I brought my ukulele to school so I could jam with our group since they were the ones who put in the request that I learn the song. At dinner that night I told Marco and Paola that I had brought my ukulele to school and they, with Somers' encouragment, demanded that I play my ukulele for them after dinner. So I did. I played "You and I" and then I played "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. They liked it, I think. Then we showed them pictures of our families on facebook. Then they showed us pictures of their wedding. Paola is about 5'4" and she told us she weighed 46 kg when she got married! That's 101 lbs! But holy cow she looked GORGEOUS. Absolutely gorgeous. And she was wearing a Chanel dress. They got married in like 1962. It was so much fun to see their pictures and show them our pictures, too.

I wore my new ankle boots to church (conference) yesterday and they were insanely painful. They are suuuper cute, though. And when I walked in the door I had to do a mini runway walk so that Marco could see them. Paola's brother and sister-in-law were over. She was the same one that picked us up from the train station and said I was beautiful. Well Paola wanted me to play my ukulele for her, so I did. I played the same songs I had played the other night and then I played "Hey Soul Sister" by Train, which they seemed to like. They asked if I plan on being a musician, and were a little surprised, I think, that I just play for fun. (Of course, I wouldn't turn down a record contract if it came my way!) They said that they liked my singing, even if they couldn't understand the words. I love singing, especially when I'm playing my ukulele, so it was fun to have an audience. If anyone has any requests for new songs that I should learn on the ukulele, let me know! My mom suggested "Everything" by Micheal Buble, so that's next on the hit parade.

Anyway, I've stayed up a little later than I probably should have to finish this post, so you are welcome! Happy October!