Ew. That just sounds weird.

So yeah, this week was primarily defined by that ever-so-enthralling event which resulted in my wandering of this thing we call Earth.

(Thanks Mom, for that. 21 and counting, ha!)

Monday, March 31

Started out simple enough, with me realizing that when I woke up, the oft referred to and quite fantastic 2:22am had already past, leaving me an entire year older than the last time it passed. (Crazy how that works, I know.)

I’m sure there was class or something quite forgettable. Then lunch, which usually falls in the “forgettable” category. We were all still getting used to that “post Spring Break ‘What is work? I don’t even know. I don’t even care’ ” feeling, so things moved a little slower than usual. We met for studio after lunch (I think) and did a little here and there.

Then came dinner.

First off, I was treated to an ice creamless Coke float, courtesy of Dashawnda. She had heard that I liked them, and got me one for my B-day. I was quite surprised, it’s not often that I get presents from acquaintances. (I owe her something, before we leave. I’ve got to find something awesome, hahaha.)

Here at the center, every time someone has a birthday, they get a little bonus dessert with a candle in it, and everyone sings “Tanti aguri a te” (I think) which is the equivalent of the Happy Birthday song. They bring you up to the front of the dining room and dim the lights so that you can be thoroughly cool-guyed out, everyone sings, then you blow out the candle (and bow, as though you’d just performed a high-wire act of fantastic magnitude) and Walk of Fame© your way back to your seat.

So that’s nice, of course.

But, being the super-psychic-psycho-sucka that I am, I knew something else was up. I dragged Jessica and John back to the room, wherein I knew resided a collection of something-or-other that wasn’t previously kickin’ it on my bed. (I had accidentally stopped by post-studio. C’est la vie.)

Turns out the grand collection of people I am lucky enough to be able to call “friends” had set me up with a little somthin’ somthin’.

• The card: Which was in Italian of course, depicting a monkey driving. There’s a joke there, I hear, but even the guy at the store couldn’t explain it (neither could his friend, or his friend’s friend. Some sort of cultural thing. Dern Americans.) Signed by more people than I expected, actually.)
• The toys: KINDER EGGS. Three of them, which held the most fantastic collection of minitoys I’ve gotten so far! One was a Smart Car, the perfect souvenir!
• The drink: Apparently, they don’t sell Bailey’s anywhere around here. But those persistent friends of mine scrounged and found an acceptable substitute, affectionately called “Not Bailey’s”. A “Hi, my name is Bailey’s” name tag topped it all off. I took it downstairs to the bar and had a great “Not Bailey’s and Ice”. (I’m not a drunk, I promise. The stuff just tastes…tasty.)
• The kicker: An envelope stashed inside the monkey card. Written on the front of said envelope: V Mask Fund. (Did I tell y’all about the V mask I found in Florence? We accidentally found the mask shop, and OMG they had V masks. Kinda pricey, we noted. So my amazing friends decided to lessen the blow by contributing a bit. How awesome are they?) We were heading to Florence again on Wednesday, so the plan was set up perfectly!

I think that was the end of that night. But it was a great birthday!

Tuesday, April 1

April Fool’s day.

Woo hoo.

Actually, no one pulled anything that I saw. We had an essay to turn in for Paolo’s class. Then it was lunch. Then nothing, for me, due to the cancellation of my printmaking class.

I had to work that night, so I did. (Exciting, I know.) Luckily, the cook (Juliana) loves me. We end up just playing around all the time. She’s a trip, and keeps work fun. For instance, she’s been threatening to spray me with the surface cleaner we use. She takes aim at me and asks “Do you need a shower?” (but in Italian, of course. She only speaks Italian.)

Wednesday, April 2

The big day. We head out to Florence at 7:51, and stand on the train until we get to Florence. (We didn’t stand the whole way, but for a while it seemed like we would.)

In the morning, we had a little free time to shop around for breakfast or souvenirs or whatever. Then, it was straight to a gallery that houses some of Michelangelo’s works.

So yes, we saw the David. He’s kinda gargantuan. I mean, you assume that he’s human size, but no. He’s quite a big taller than the average human. It’s interesting how a photograph can’t relay a proper sense of scale.

Anywho, that was pretty much all there was in that particular gallery. (There were paintings and other sculpture, sure, but everyone knows that everyone goes there for one reason.)

We all ended up splitsies. Jess and I found lunch at a (theoretically) cheap place. We made the mistake of sitting down, at which point we volunteered to be robbed by the person behind the register. The price nearly doubled, which usually doesn’t happen so drastically. We left a little miffed at the theft that had just occurred.

After lunch, we were all meeting up again to check out the Uffizi gallery. (I may have misspelled that, but I don’t think I care.)

Plenty of paintings to be seen, including Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, but generally there wasn’t anything too exciting. I managed to see a few Caravaggio’s, but only a few. The crazy boring tour guide lady talked too much about things that weren’t interesting and then breezed us past the actual interesting pieces.

After dragging on for ages, our tour ended. Sahweet. Mask time.

I made the mistake of thinking that I remembered where the shop was. We wandered around the whole train station looking for something familiar before noticing that where we began was where it was closest to. Yeesh.

We make it into the store, and Voila! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate.

The price had been upped a bit (lousy tourists), but nothing unjustifiable. I talked with the artist about the change in price, and he ended up giving me a 10€ discount. Awesome. He signed the inside and dedicated the mask to me. Fantastic. I was giddy like a total dork.

After we returned home and had dinner, we watched V for Vendetta. How perfect of a day is that?

Thursday, April 3

Who cares? I have the mask!

(But srsly, it was studio all day. Oh, and apparently Paolo was a hippie with an afro.)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Charles