i | r a c c o n t i

Lots going on right now, but I will try to keep it simple.

About a month ago (the beginning of September), we had a 40 year old woman move in with us to fill the vacant spot that our initial roommate, Jane, had left. Luckily, she got the single bedroom so none of us had to share with her. HOWEVER, she was one crazy lady! I’m not sure if words will quite do her justice because she was one of those people you just had to meet to actually believe how …unique… she was. I think she was born in Canada and then lived in India for the past 6 or 7 years. So she was very big into Indian traditions and foods. She burned incense a lot, and I am somewhat allergic to it so I asked her nicely not to burn it. Instead of saying, “ok I’m sorry, I didn’t know” or anything like that, she responds with “well I can cure you of this allergy if you want. You can come to my room later and I’ll examine you and rid your body of the allergy.” Yeah. Exactly.
She also would not allow us to play music whenever she was home. At the time we didn’t know why, but respected that…and reluctantly agreed not to play it. She also ALWAYS left the bathroom floor SOAKING wet after she used it…no matter what. And I mean soaking. If we weren’t careful, we could have easily slipped. Basically, her presence in our apartment was very uncomfortable and frustrating and we couldn’t tolerate her very long. We complained at our school and had a meeting with the housing coordinator. Eve (the woman) was also at that meeting, where we found out that the reason we couldn’t play our music was because “her body swells up and she vomits” whenever she hears music. And apparently our bathroom wasn’t “clean enough” for her because it made her “body swell” and “in India, her floors were so clean she could eat off them.” I mean, you would think that if all these things bothered her so terribly, she would have wanted to move. But no. she wanted to stay. The housing lady wouldn’t allow it though after that meeting. I think she realized just how nuts this woman was and had to tell her to be out by the end of the month. So she’s gone now, and you have only heard the half of it all! (I guess she lied about being a student at Lorenzo and was studying elsewhere… but just wanted to have our school help her I guess…which is very illegal here. Ugh)
Anyway, point of the story… we got a new roommate, OUR OWN AGE, who goes to the same school. Her name is Claire and she’s awesome! We love her and she fits in well with us! So that was a blessing!

Midterms are next week!! Already! I can’t believe it. Yesterday, I spent 8 hours straight in the darkroom! UGHH!! I actually need to be spending every day there in order to get all my work done on time…so I will be heading there soon to spend, yet another, entire day, printing. I have to keep telling myself it will be worth it…

Some fun stuff we did this past week/ weekend:
- Went to a cultural fair in Santa Croce square. You know…the fests that have booths from different countries selling their specific foods….crafts…music. We loved it because we had a chance to have food that wasn’t Italian for a change.
- Went to a Mexican restaurant called Tiajuana (sp?) which was actually pretty decent
- Went BOWLING with Keith, Andy, and one of their friends, Eva. (and of course Sara, me, Claire, and our friend Erin) Yeah that was awesome. Bowling in italy. Psh. The alley was called “Crazy Bowling” LOL. Anyway, i won with measly 101..yay? Then we spent about another hour in the arcade and watching the boys play this airsoft game. Haha. Bowling alleys are pretty different than they are back home.
- Went to the Boboli gardens! Beautiful!!
- Went to an American style brunch. It was awesome to have pancakes and syrup!!! Oh how we take advantage of food in the U.S. but man do I miss it!

I think that about sums it up. I’m sad that I missed the Chicago Marathon, but congrats to all the runners and props to the people that went to cheer them on!!! I think there is a Florence marathon coming up that im excited to see. Break is coming up! We are headed to Milan, Greece, and Venice. Then hopefully we can hit up some more of the “must see” Florence sights and see Michael Buble! We have our fingers crossed for that.

This weekend I am going on a field trip… but we’re just going around in Tuscany. We are going to see some of the sights where they filmed “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “Life is Beautiful.” Then I think we are visiting some other famous small towns for a little wine and cheese tasting. Not sure, but I will let ya’ll know how that goes.

Keep my dad and mom in your prayers.. there is something wrong with my dad’s optic nerves. It happened after the eye doctor gave him the wrong prescription…and I guess now he is having a lot of migraines and can’t eat any solids because he can’t keep them down. I just got word from my mom that he has been in the hospital for the past 2 days. I’m sure this is taking a toll on my mom, what with me being gone…joey being in Indiana and my dad being sick. So pray for her too!
Pray for my midterms and that I use my time wisely…and for my upcoming travels. For my room mate, Sara, because she is headed back to the U.S. this weekend for a wedding and is very nervous about the flights.
Thanks and God Bless!
All my love, Ciao!
Lauren Grace