Alright so last I told you I was off to a transportation meeting. That was cool. Got to really hang out with Maggie, Aviva, Jenna, Liz, and Mary. After that, Jenna and I headed home I'm pretty sure. We had some dinner with the fam and then went out with Maggie, Aviva, Jenna, and Kate. We got some drinks in Piazza Savonarolla and then decided to head down to the Duomo and just walk around. We stopped for some pizza and just people watched after that. It was fun - but crazy expensive. To finish off the night we had to set Aviva up with a cab which is no easy feat in Florence let me tell you. Finally, at about 2 she got picked up and everyone headed home.
We made plans to meet in front of school at 11 to go shopping in Piazza di Lorenzo. It's just your typcial market. There were so many vendors it was ridiculous. I bought a new wallet (to replace the velcro Billabong one that I have held dear since I was 12) and an Italian National Team jersey to represent Totti in honor the game that night against Georgia.
So we keep on walking along and Maggie stops to try on a leather jacket and we all kind of just lingered in the street for a bit. I went to go find her and was sidetracked by this guy telling me I dropped something. I turned around and he said, "Hello!! You must be Irish and Italian. I like your style. Where are you from? I have a free jacket just for you because I like your style." I have enough confidence in myself that I followed him into the store. I can definitely hold my own against a lanky Italian store owner. So he has me try on this jacket that fits me perfectly and tells me that he will give it to me for a special price. Now, I don't really ever picture myself as a leather person, so I was a little skeptical from the start. But I kinda rocked it. It was strange. The price of the jacket was 320 euro. He told me that he would give it to me for 110 - still a ton of money. I told him I wasn't sure and would come back later. By the way, during the course of all of this pedaling, we got to talk about Italian stuff. He told me he was from Sicily originally and I told him I was too so he freaked out and started going off about how we were cousins and stuff. Really funny. We also introduced ourselves - a little late into the conversation but it happened nonetheless. Angelo was a really nice guy and so I promised him I would come back with the girls.
When I came back he was ECSTATIC that I had brought friends. He set up each one of us with a jacket that honestly fit us all perfectly - it was crazy. He was pretty convincing in the manner in which he was soliciting us. Jenna decided not to go through with the jacket so Angelo told us that he would give me and Maggie our jackets for 100 and Aviva and Kate theirs for 120. Just for number purposes, please note that two of the jackets were originally 320 and the others about 370 and 380. Insanity. Maggie dropped out and went next door to see if she could get a better price.
She got it. 95. Angelo freaked and decided to give us all our jackets even more discounted. I got mine for 90 and Aviva and Kate got theirs for 110. Dang good deal. Angelo had gotten us drinks and stuff and treated us like queens. He engaged us in conversation as well as selling stuff. His tagline was the title of this post. He spoke English quite well. His boss Rino also befriended me and offer me more deals. I had to turn him down because let's face it, 90 euro still isn't cheap. The three of us exchanged business cards and chatted some more. They invited us back whenever if we ever needed anything. Maggie ended up returning her jacket and buying a bag and jacket from Angelo. He set us up with a good place for lunch then we all went off in separate directions. It was a good day.
Dinner was nice and we all watched the soccer game as well. Italy won over Georgia 2-0 but a Georgia player who actually plays for Milano as well scored both goals for Italy - irony.
Sunday we went to Mass at La Basilica della Croce - one of the more famous basilicas in Italy. Sat right in the front row, of course. After Mass, Franco took us up to Fiesole. The views from up there were incredible. I can't explain it. It reminded me a little bit of Anacapri. We walked around for a bit and then headed back for lunch. We had a nice lunch and then got ready to go to the Monastery just outside the city. It was really ancient and had some cool views. On the way back, we stopped in Piazza di Michelangelo which is where a lot of the pictures and paintings of Florence are done from. Magnificent. I wasn't really feelign well so I stayed back while Jenna went to the park with Tori and Frankie. We had dinner when they got back which was smaller than normal because we did a big lunch. Jenna and I went over our itineraries for the semester with Franco and Barbara and then called it a night.
The first day of classes was today. I had Meditteranean City which is basically architecture. It'll be awesome. Italian was the second and last class. The level I chose was too easy so I have to move up a few. Agh. Anyhow, I'm sitting in the courtyard on campus and going to grab a sandwich before heading home.
I'm thinking about going to see Justin this weekend and meeting him in Paris? Gotta travel.
Buona giornata.
Sooo, what color is the jacket? Orange?
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