Quanti guanti? Tanti guanti.

That’s right, the title means “how many gloves? Lots of gloves.” Jamal and I like to say that to each other. And slowly but surely we are inducing Kristin and Umrao to say it with us.

So what having to do with Italy have we done recently? Well, you know, not a whole lot, I mean we went to Venice and Milan and that sort of stuff.

So, Milan. Big industrial/commercial sort of city. Not exceedingly pretty except for the gigantic church that apparently took six centuries to finish. That place was pretty cool. For a measly four euro we were permitted to ascend the very skimpy staircase, and we found ourselves on the roof of the church. Spires and statues and that sort of thing everywhere – but the place seemed to have been designed with tons of meandering tourists in mind. It was pretty strange, you could walk all over the top of the church and just hang out, get a better view of the statues, play with bouncy balls, whatever. So we did that for a little while. Then we went to some famous opera house where pictures of the inside were not allowed, though I did happen to take one anyway.

After that we left the big group and split up into our tiny ones. So I was with (you guessed it) Jamal, Kristin, and Umrao. We basically just wandered around for a while, went to this supposedly formerly bohemian street that didn’t really seem very artsy, and we ended up at the castle. So we walked around the castle for a while, and then jamal and I commenced talking about knights, swords, bows and arrows, flaming arrows, boiling tar and pitch, moats, dragons, wild boars, tigers, maces, laying siege, and other varieties of sweetness. None of which was much appreciated by the girls. Anyhow then we went to one restaurant, snacked, went to another, ate, then returned home.

The next morning we woke up and went to the local Saturday market. Jamal and I looked around for shoes and sweet track jackets, but all the cool ones were for girls. But it’s a pretty frequent event so I’m sure we’ll find some sweet euro-fashion items to bring back to the States.

And then after that we went to Venice. Now, I know I’ve been there several times before, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t still get us lost, which I most definitely did. Umrao was to go visit some museums and then to meet me and Kristin and Jamal. However, on our way to the Academy of the Fine Arts, we happened to get lost. Usually there are signs all over Venice telling you how to get to Piazza San Marco, the Academy, etc, but we managed to avoid all but one on our hour-and-a-half trek around the island. Usually you can make the trip in 15 minutes, if you know what you’re doing.

But the lostness wasn’t entirely our fault, we received some pretty crappy directions, most of which consisted of “gira al ponte, e poi sempre dritto. Sarà una cammina lunga.” (turn at that bridge, then just keep going straight. It’ll be a long walk.). Following said explicit and complex directions, we ended up on the outskirts of the island. We tried to just continue walking, but you see, the island ended. So we had to double back. Oh, and all this while, Jamal was starving and griping about needing to eat, Umrao was waiting alone for us in San Marco, and I was continually assuring everyone that we’d be where we wanted to soon, and then we could eat. And also it was relatively cold out. Anyway we eventually got ourselves together, had a little pizza, and warmed up a little in a tiny restaurant.

By then it was about 5pm. The opera was at 8. Oh, I forgot to mention, we spontaneously decided to go see an opera, the Barber of Seville. Maybe you recognize the name? or the character Figaro (Figaro su, Figaro giù, Figaro qua, Figaro la?). So we called our Venetian italian professor and asked her if she wanted to come, which she of course did, the four of us being such funbags, so we managed to pass the time until 8pm and then we went to the opera inside a little church thing, and it was even pretty cheap to boot. So I guess that’s all I did this weekend. Nothing that exciting really.

On to domestic news. Donatella does some laundry every week; last week I forgot to take my read to me shirt off the drying rack. Donatella, however, interpreted my forgetfulness as a command to wash the gross stains out of the shirt. So she apparently slaved over that for a while, and then when I asked her where my shirt was, she told me she thought I had left it there as an indication of it needing to be washed. I felt a little guilty about that; but on the other hand, those stains are gone and I’m frankly a little amazed.

Grammar classes end on Thursday. Mine has been exceedingly easy. On the following Monday, I start taking real classes. I don’t know exactly what yet. I might take some class about the history/future of the EU, and I’m hoping to take some philosophy at the university. And maybe I’ll audit something else, art history or some such, but really, who needs credits, right? 12 will do me just fine.

Well, I hope that satisfies all of you who so desperately need to know what’s happening over here. And I hope it can hold you over until you come visit. Which for Jackie is about 5 days, for Adam is about two weeks (is that right adam? When the heck are you coming?), for Justin might be about a month or so, and for Mom is about 3 months. But, anyhow, more to come. And I might put up some pictures elsewhere sometime. Ciao.