Firenze! Part IV (fini)

Tues 27 Jan

*********Sunday***********
Checkout time was 10:30 a.m.

We left the hostel probably by 12:30, which I'd say isn't too bad.

We set an alarm for 10 a.m., honestly we did. But then, our eyes wouldn't open and we were back to sleep for another half hour. I have to hand it to us though, we did actually get up at 10:30, all of us completely dead, dazed, and for those of us (me) who hadn't showered since Wednesday night, smelly. (***Writer's note: for all future trips that include a stay in a hostel, BRING A TRAVEL TOWEL.) Except for Kristin, who somehow awoke looking completely peaceful and well rested.

Nick wanted to go to Sunday mass and St. Croce was right around the corner. No one else was up for it, but at this point I must have had some kind of adrenaline rush and was pretty awake so I went with him, just for kicks.

St. Croce was really beautiful, and really freezing, on the inside and outside. I guess it's not exactly easy to heat a huge, cavernous building. We got there for the 11 a.m. mass and the entire service, as expected, was in Italian. Nick told me the songs were all the same tunes but with different words. I was prepared to sit when the others went up for commune and shake hands with everyone around me while saying "pace" (because I have no idea what the translation for "peace be with you" would be in Italian–yet) from the cues I had remember when I went to mass that one time with Bri-Bri in her hometown.

After the service, Nick and I met the others who had just finished breakfast. Kristin's roommate from home, Dana, had met up with them for food. We got our stuff and checked out of the hostel and Dana suggested we try out what was really the best gelato in Italy. Only about a block from our apartment, this place called Gelateria di Neri was one my roommate Jenny here in Viterbo had told me I absolutely had to go to in Firenze, but realized after I got there I had no idea where it was or how to find it. I guess it was just another crazy even that fell perfectly into place this weekend.

Best gelato in Italy is right, and doesn't do justice to how good this stuff was. It only reinforces times 1,000 that we have nothing like it in the states. I had cioccolato e strawberry, and oh god was it fantastic. After we finished, we bought our train tickets and went to kill a couple hours at that everyday market.

Our last perfect coincidence happened there. We were walking around, buying gifts for ourselves and everyone back home, when at some point, Lauren and I fell behind the others. When we caught up, there they were talking to none other than Sam, the awesome 18-year-old from Vermont. He took us to an amazing kebab and felafel place where we filled ourselves for the trip, and then we left for the train.

The ride back was filled with journal writing, music listening, and sleep catching-up-on. On Monday, I slept until noon, which is the latest I've slept since I've been here. A weekend immortalized in photos and remembered just as vividly as when it happened, for sure.

*********Monday***********
Back in class, not thrilled. It was also Chinese and Korean New Year? I had completely forgotten about that this year, but we do have a few Koreans on our trip and people who keep up with stuff like that better than I do, so it was Asian Night at Christine's apartment. With the week before being American Night and the week after probably having something to do with Groundhog's Day, I'm sensing a trend.

More vegetarian food for us veggies, but this night it even dominated the meal. Peanut butter noodles and some kind of thai soy sauce rice noodle dish, plus rice balls, plus Pocky (!!) which is called Mikado and some Nutella, because we can't avoid it, for dessert, plus the most wine bottles I've seen drank and finished off in one location at one time, and it was a good night.