Well I'm off again this time to Capetown, South Africa. But on my way i decided to go back to florence where i studied before. Even before I left london i felt i was back in italy, I got cut in line by everyone while waiting for the plane, somehow i went from standing about third in line to dead last, and they managed to do it so politely i found myself often helping the older folks cut me, like helping an old lady cross the road. then when we reached italian customs and there was no cutting to be done, all the men started singing in line for the customs people to open another booth. Welcome Back to italia!!
One of the first things i noticed when i got back to florence, was of course my mother was right, she always talks about how when she returned to rome after studying there it was completely different. So was florence, my favorite bars were either empty or clothing stores (apparently the bars i used to frequent weren't as cool as i thought, if they can't make it 4 years), there were no men from senegal offering you fake luis vuitton bags and sunglasses every five feet (apparently the government has combated this by not fining or putting these men in jail, but fining the customer, thereby eliminating their customer base). But the biggest shock of all came when i went to light up that huge celebratory cigar at the one bar that is still there teatro and was told non fuimare!!!!!!!! No smoking?!? what!! que??? you can't smoke anywhere inside anymore! I don't even know how the italians can cope, i'm sitting in a internet cafe and there is no ashtray nearby, no cloud of smoke above me making me nauseaus, it's a very sad day.
it's good to be travelling again, although i'm beginning to think i'm not really any good at it, I've already had several incidents the first occured my first night out in florence, when i returned to the hostel, as i was walking back i was just thinking to myself how funny it would be if i had misread the hostel policy on returning late (i had intentionally booked a hostel that would let me in 24 hours a day, due to some of the incidents levi and i had on the Camino de Santiago, which resulted in street sleeping or angry proprietors) and sure enough when i got to the door, it was locked and said that everyone MUST be in by 2am. &%$&!! %£$"£!!! $%"$"/%!!!! "I'm not doing it again" I thought "I refuse to wake up the hotel, or get yelled at" so i did what was in my mind my only logical choice, took out my money and valuable cards and put them in the sole of my boots and took a seat at a nearby outdoor patio intending to wait for the next 3 hours, perhaps even catch a few winks. Luckily for me some guys were leaving the hostel only like a half hour later and the women on duty let me in, apparently when they say EVERYONE MUST BE IN BY 2AM!!! it only means that if you aren't just ring the bell and i'll let you in. the other incident was less idiotic, but certainly could have been worse, as my friend pickel (she's studying here) and I went to bologna yesterday and just as we were about to get on the train realized that there was a train strike starting at nine that evening, you know right around the time we had intended to come back. so we cut the trip a little short (we still almost missed the last train to florence, when they say 9 they actually mean 8:30, duh) but still had a great meal and I finally got to put a face to the name you hear so often, Mohammed (the bologna cathedral has a fresco in it depicting the prophet Mohammed, which is why the security is rather tight). that's all i have time for, i took the liberty of just adding some people's emails to this list, if you're one of them and you find this horribly boring and not interesting just let me know and i'll cut you from the list. the next one i promise will be sillier, more informative and from south Africa
-ell
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