Strange Things About Europe, Volume 2
1) The mannequins in Florence have extremely erect nipples.
2) I heard a little Italian girl in Pisa say, “Oh momma mia!” when she saw all the people in our program coming towards her.
3) I had two people in the Louvre think I was French. I know this because they asked me questions in French. I knew one of them (he asked me what time it was) but the other one was complicated. I’m not French!
4) I had three people just walking back to the hotel here in Florence Friday night ask me questions in Italian. I didn’t know any of what they said. I’m not Italian!
Hey friends, sorry it’s taken me so long to get an update your way. I’ve just been so busy and hadn’t had the time to get to an Internet cafe. But here I am at intotheweb The Cyber Cafe in Florence, Italy. Let me start with the events of last Wednesday.
I went to the Louvre with my aunt Claudia. I was there for hours, about 5 hours I think. There is just so much to see there. It’s incredible. I’ve never been to a place that so mesmerized and awe struck me. I went through the museum by myself (my aunt has seen it many times). I was exhausted by the end of it. I didn’t get to spend as much time admiring the Mona Lisa as I had wanted. It’s just such a zoo by that painting that it’s just not worth it. But I picked out a few paintings by people I’d never heard of and just analyzed them for about 20 minutes a piece. I felt pretty intellectual, even if I don’t really have any experience doing that kind of thing.
So after the Louvre (which I can’t stress enough was incredible), I went to the Paris train station. I got plugged into my first class cabin (which, I found out, is no different than any other cabin, just that I’m in it by myself instead of with two other people). I said goodbye to my aunt and took off. It was really fun, I must say. I didn’t get much sleep, and the food was kind of funky, but all in all it was a great time. The ride was about 12 hours long. I’m just happy that I can say I’ve done the whole sleeper train thing now.
I made it to Florence without a hitch. When we arrived in Florence I was the only one in my car getting off in Florence and not going on to Rome. So I took a cab from the train station to Hotel California where I will make my home for the next six weeks. It’s much smaller than an American hotel, which initially surprised me but upon retrospect it shouldn’t have. Everything in Europe is smaller than in America. I found out later that I was the second to arrive, though I was the first that day. One girl came a few days early with her family. I wasn’t supposed to check in until noon but I was there at 8 AM. Thankfully they let me get into my room early.
Our room isn’t too bad. It’s like a long hallway. You walk in and the bathroom is on the right. There’s a common area with a desk and closet. Next are the beds - four of them. Uh-oh. I thought I was only going to have one roommate. Maybe four beds is a standard setup (yeah right). Anyway, I’m beat from a sleepless night so I pick out a bed (best advantage to being first) and lie down. I sleep for about two hours when I hear someone come into the room…
It’s my roommate (or rather, my first roommate). His name is Paulo. He’s from Ecuador and he just graduated (well, he walked, he only needs 3 credits). But get this gang - he’s a Christian! Praise the Lord! Oh what a blessing I’ve been given. We got to talking about our majors (his is international affairs, he wants to be an ambassador) and we started to talk about religion (that being my major). He said he was raised Catholic but later in life was saved. I get the impression he’s not quite as “on fire” as the Nav gang I’m used to, but just to have someone who believes what I believe as a roommate is such a blessing.
He was in and out during the early part of the afternoon. Oh, that’s the other thing - there’s only one key to the room. And attached is one of those cards that has to be inserted into a card reader to power the lights. How does this work with 4 people? Well, it stays in the room as long as someone is here (that person has to open the door for anyone else to come in) and if everyone leaves the key goes to the front desk. When someone comes back they can pick it up there.
But anyway, it was a rainy day, so I just chilled in the room. I read more in Daws. It’s awesome how memorizing verses made such a big impact on him. Now I see why the Navs stress it like they do. Well, I guess that’s only the testimonial reason why they do, right?
After a while I took to the streets with Paulo and three girls from the program. It’s going to take me weeks to learn everyone’s names, even everyone I interact with. But anyway, we tried to make our way to the study center but we got lost. It’s only supposed to be a 10 minute walk but we were wondering around for almost an hour and still didn’t find it.
We came back, and not long after our other two roommates arrived. Jason and Brian - your typical frat boys, but they seem nice enough. Just to give you an idea: they got here at about 4 PM. By 6 PM they had already gone through two bottles of wine, and they were far from done.
So bear with me as I try to remember names… nope, not going to happen. I went out to dinner with seven other people, five of whom are in the program. The other two with us were in that family that got here a few days early. At first I thought that would be a drag. That is, until the mom paid the bill for everyone. Sweetness! The meal was pretty good. Ravioli stuffed with smoked ham. The wine was pretty weak, but we’ll do better next time.
I got back to the hotel and I just wanted to chill. At about 9:30 Jason and Brian stumble in completely smashed and ready for more. They try to talk me into going but I turn them down. I did find out that they both smoke weed, which is always good to know. But on a more serious note, I found out that Brain is a Pacers fan. They’re playing my Heat now. So there may be a chance for more dialog there.
I decided to leave the key at the front so my three roommates could let themselves in when they got home. I went to bed at 11 PM and got up at 7 AM, a schedule I hope to keep. I thought that Paulo would be the most tame of the three but in the morning I found that he had been out the longest and drank the most. So I’m not sure what to think at this point.
On Friday morning I went to an orientation meeting. Basically we met the staff, saw where the study center is, and filled out some more paperwork. We then had some time between that and our first outing, which was a tour of Florence. Oh, by the way, there are only 4 guys in the whole program… and 47 girls. Yeah, that’s quite a ratio. And the Beach Boys thought 2 girls for every boy was good. 
But seriously, this worries me more than anything else.
I got some food with Jason and Brian. I went back to the hotel to get my camera. When I went to walk to the study center I realized that I wasn’t 100% where it was. I was following someone there the first time. So I got royally lost. I didn’t find the center. I missed the beginning of the tour. I went back to the hotel, called the study center, and asked where I might find them in the city. They told me to hang out at Santa Croce. So I walked over there and stayed for about 30 minutes. They did finally come, so I saw probably the last third of the tour.
That night we had our first group meal. Dang it was good. I sat with five girls that I hadn’t yet met. They’re all in sororities, so the conversation tended to consist of stuff like that. They did seem to be impressed that I’m the president of a student organization (yeah, I pulled out the president hat for the evening, A-Team leader just doesn’t have the same ring outside of the Navs). The walk back home was interesting. I totally didn’t learn my lesson from earlier in the day and walked home alone. And got lost. Ugh. I was looking for the giant church that’s right next to our hotel. It’s easy to see during the day but at night it’s a little tougher. So I’m wandering around, getting a little frantic, when I hear what sounds like a choir singing. So I think, hey, maybe that’s the church. So I follow the music and, sure enough, there’s the church. But here’s the crazy thing - once I found the church I didn’t hear the music ever again. Hmm… sounds like and awesome God sighting to me! 
That night our room was the party room. It was cool. About 20 of the girls came over and just hung out. It was fun getting to know them. At about midnight the roomies went out again. This time Paulo was better behaved, as he called it. He said he didn’t drink, and I believe him. Jason and Brian, however, drank even more than the previous night, and were very noisy coming in.
Saturday I slept in, so I’m already off my schedule of waking up at 7 AM. I didn’t do much of anything until we went on another excursion, this time to a small town just outside of Florence (I forget the name, I’ll have to tell you it later). This town had the most beautiful little church. I’m thinking that sometime while I’m here I’m going to have to get up there and spend a day in prayer there. It was up on a hill that overlooked all of Florence. A breathtaking view. We also saw an old Roman theatre and baths. The cool thing about this is they had two cisterns. I had never seen a real cistern, I’d only read about them in the Old Testament.
I got a quick dinner because I wasn’t too hungry. When I came back I found a group of people on our patio. Oh, that’s right, I haven’t told you about the patio. Our room has a set of doors that leads out to a little patio. None of the other rooms have that, so I like my room more than I used to. It was fun; I felt very European. I was always told that Europeans know how to just be, whereas Americans always have to be doing something. The roomies went out again. If they made any noise coming in I didn’t hear it, so I got a really good night sleep, which was good because I was getting up a 6 AM.
And 6 AM came mighty quick, let me tell you. The reason I got up so early today is because we had a big day of touring. First we went to Pisa. I saw the leaning tower, which looks totally fake. The baptistery was awesome. One of the guards came in and sang in it. The acoustics are incredible. I want a baptistery of my own to take home with me. 
After spending the morning in Pisa (and taking a lot of goofy photos) we went to Lucca. We had another group meal, this one even better than the last. We determined that our bottle of wine was a good bottle by the drip test. This is when the bottle is emptied and you count the drops that come from the lip. If it gets to 21 your bottle is good. Ours had exactly 21, so we were very pleased.
Lucca is a much smaller town than Pisa. We went to another three churches, all beautiful for one reason or another. We also went to the top of this giant tower that had something like 200+ steps. It was pretty cool. It had a great view of the mountains in the distance. I’ve been taking plenty of pictures of everything. I can’t wait to get them up on my website. I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as they’re up.
I’ve been sitting here typing this for more than two hours, mostly because I’ve been IMing Ashley and Renee too. While here I’ve been given a Coke for agreeing to tell other people in my study program about this cafe and a piece of raspberry chocolate cake by an old Italian woman. I bought 25 hours of Internet time for 30 euro, and they gave me a free T-shirt. So all in all I’ve made out like a bandit today. Tomorrow I start classes. I’ve got two on Monday, and both are 3 hours long. I’m actually getting pretty tired; it’s been a long day. Hopefully, with classes starting and all, the roomies will be quiet tonight. I hope to write to you on a more regular basis from now on.
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