July 10, 2005
Day 8
I definitely don't get the time to write every day like I had planned.
Yesterday we had to go to the fabric store to get fabric samples for our projects. We each need around 12 different materials. We got there right when they opened and started looking. We each picked out everything that we needed and when we told the girl we were ready to have them cut, she said no! She said they don't cut strips on Saturdays! So we'd be screwed because we have to put these into our books and start drawing, for Monday. I figured if I just explained to the girl that it was for school and we had to have them, that maybe she'd give in, but she didn't.
There was a lady standing there during the conversation and after the girl said no she chimed in by saying that her friend who is there with her owns a clothing store where they make the clothes right there. She said we could go back there with them and look through their fabric scraps! So they called us a cab and told the guy where to go and they drove in their car. When we got there and were getting out - someone ran out and paid for our cab! They dumped out tons of fabric scraps for us to dig through and we paid them 10 Euro for a bag full. We also got some sequin appliques and they're so beautiful because they are hand sewn!
Then we went to H&M to go shopping and I found a really cute suit. We saw our teacher Massimo while we were shopping. After that we went to this little bar called STRAF that we found earlier and made a mental note to visit. It was happy hour which means free food! So we got strawberry margaritas and had a bunch of appetizers (hello, free dinner), then we hopped on the train back home. When we were at STRAF we asked the bartender where a good place to go dancing was around here. He wrote it down for us.
He said that there are tons of "discotheques" all in one strip at this place called Corso Como.
The cab driver that came and picked us up was really cool because he was young and was talking to us and he told us which club to go into. He said that "Loolapalooza" was the best one. He gave us his number so we could call for a ride when we were done. When we got to Corso Como it was packed! You can imagine it like a strip mall - but with bars - and there were people walking all around in the road. All different music was coming from all the different clubs. We heard a lot of American songs. Another crazy thing we learned yesterday - the bars stay open until not 2AM but 6AM - Yikes! The one we went to, Loolapalooza, was 20 Euro to get in and that also includes your first drink. Then each drink is 10 Euro no matter what you order. That is really expensive, but they make them really strong so I guess you get your moneys worth? It was an international bar so there was an American bartender from California. She was great and talked to us for a while. She has been living in Italy for five years now and she is going to start her own clothing store soon. That would be so weird to just up and move to another country. (It later turns out that we discovered - after we left the bar - that we had gone into the wrong one. We were in "Hollywood" and not "Loolapalooza". Oh well!)
It's funny how we get so excited to hear our own language. I am already getting sick of never knowing what people are saying... and we've been here for... 8 days. Haha.
Tonight after homework, we went out to the Califoria Pizzario for a late dinner. That place is always packed between 10 and 12 at night. Everyone is always eating full dinners even though it is so late. But no one really eats much breakfast. We've been doing okay with food ordering lately so we're starting to get more brave to order new things. Tonight, Renee wanted to try and get a salad, so she pointed to the one she wanted and the guy wrote down the wrong thing! We didn't know that until he put it down in front of her and it was covered with tuna fish, corn, beans and anchovies! So we eventually got that switched to the right one but it was still weird because they only put oil on it for dressing. Not even oil and vinegar, just oil. Oily greens, anyone? Mmm. I got a calzone which had pomadoro, mozzarella and prosciutto. It was good but so huge so I got the guy to give me a box. We don't think that they really do that around here because we've never seen anyone else do it and they don't really have proper boxes, just foil.
It's funny that entertainment things in this country are mostly American! MTV plays all stuff in English with Italian subtitles and at Blockbuster almost all the movies are American and just translated into Italian. Almost every song at the bar last night was one we knew - but most people still don't really speak English around here.
Tomorrow is week 2 of class!
