Firenze Day 48: Halloween, Viareggio, and Bologna.

White and nerdy that's me! 

Ciao Rigazzi!


Guess what? I'm still alive! 
Yes, I realize it has been a little bit since I last wrote you, but do not fret for I did not die. 
Did you even care? I bet you forgot I even had this blog.

Hunger Games pumpkin!!!

Did you all have a good Halloween? (My Jehovah's Witness friends: Ignore the question to the left.) 


So, I spent my first Halloween out of the country. It was fun. That day my fellow Oregonians and I went on a tour through the secret passages of the Palazzo Vecchio. We saw where Cosimo the Elder's office was and that was just so cool and eery at the same time because of tour guide told us that the place was haunted. 

Ceiling of the Palazzo Vecchio. 

On behalf of the Florentines I would like the address the following issues... 

My spiffy politician stance. 

I am so glad we went during Halloween. It was perfect. The sky was cloudy and ominous and it just smelled like Halloween. 

Witch & creepy beggar woman. 

Me at 8 or 9 on Halloween. 

When I was around eight years old, jumping on my friend's trampoline I randomly told her that it smelt like Halloween. (This was in mid-June mind you.) She asked me what Halloween smelt like and I couldn't really tell her, but I'm a writer now, so I'm obligated to tell you. Plus I've had lots of practice describing various things to my doctors in full detail, so I'm a pro. 


Here is what Halloween smells like in Florence. The air smells of roasting chestnuts, chocolates, coffee, waffles, and melted Nutella. The wind blows through the streets, playing with the twigs, garbage, and leaves. These items swirl together in a way that reminds me of a whirl pool. It was also drizzling that day, so the air smelled of rain, which made me think of home a lot. 

Our school had a Halloween party with free pizza and drinks. No worries I just went with my normal drink: Orange Soda. I'm such the wild child, right? There was bobbing for apples which was fun to watch. But I didn't really stay that long. No one did, actually. Lots of people went out partying and got drunk and me... well, I went back home and had a bit of a Dexter marathon. I enjoyed myself. I stayed up really late watching Dexter. I went to bed at about 2am, but this was nothing compared to some people. I heard they got back to their apartments close to the time we wake up for school in the morning. When they woke up it was still Halloween for them because they looked like zombies...

Last Friday, my friend and I decided to go on a day trip to the beach in Viarregio and then to Bologna. We got on the train at 8:07 and got in Viarregio at 10-something. It was a beautiful city. It sort of reminded me of Southern California, except with the addition of Oregon weather. Yes, unfortunately, it was a bit on the chilly side and there were these really intense dark ominous clouds that looked like they really had to go pee. We took a long walk down the streets until we found the beach, which we were both extremely excited about. The sand was wet, but we trekked across it anyhow. I was in my tennis shoes by the way, I'm not sure if you need that information, but I am going to give it to you anyhow. We went to the shore and then my friend asked if I wanted to go into the water. 
Here were my first thoughts: 

1. Well, no, I am going to get wet. (No duh, Amanda. You go in water. Getting wet happens.)
2. My feet are going to get sandy. (No duh, Amanda. You are in the sand. Getting sandy happens.)
3. I don't have a towel and there is no hose to get the sand off my feet.  

But then I thought about this again:

1. Amanda, you are the most boring person EVER!
2. Amanda, I mean you didn't even go partying like crazy woman on Halloween. Your blog readers have nothing to read. Oh yeah, you watched Dexter--big whoop! Give them something fun to read! 
3. You only have one life dear Amanda, use it wisely. 

Ok, so this is the part where I started pulling off my shoes and socks and began rolling up my pants. Then I went into the water and I had a blast. Basically my friend and I had a photo shoot that day. I just went running around in the waves and she just took a bizillion pictures. It was a lot of fun and the water wasn't all that cold. I know from some of the pictures it looks like it was cold, but I was just exaggerating. You know the drama queen I can be sometimes. 

The jumping shrimp! 

Chariots of Fire!

Not sure what is going on here...

Oh yeah, a wave knocked my pants down, by the way. Not completely down, but the pant legs got knocked down. It was awful. My legs were super wet and sticky with saltwater. 

Then we got out of the water, trekked across the sand, of course getting super sandy and then found a spot to dust our feet off, but guess what happened?

I'm not waiting for your guesses. 

It started POURING on us. There was no shelter either. I had to grit my teeth and just put my socks on over my sandy, gritty, wet feet. Oh, but it wasn't that bad. I went on with life. You should have seen me. I was actually cracking up like crazy because I knew this was going to happen. 

Wave crashing into me. 

Sad, wet Amanda. 

Ah, dang it! 

After Viareggio we hopped back on the train and then went to Bologna. The train ride was super long... or at least it felt that way. We also had to switch trains, so that can definitely get tiresome, but at least the country side is gorgeous to look at. 

Oh, I need to tell you something... I think I broke the train's bathroom. That's all I'm saying. 

We got off the train and then went into a ristorante where we totally got ripped off. We ended up paying 11 euros for a plate of lasagna, water, and bread. It was awful!!!

Then we just went walking around the city and it was a lot of fun. There were some really neat buildings and markets. They had more parks and trees there than they do in Florence and I really liked that. It started getting really dark and we need to head back to the train station for home, but before we left I bought a waffle with Nutella for only 3 euros. It was amazing AND I ordered it in Italian. It was awesome. 

I love books!!! :) 

Naked woman and sea horse! 

Creepiest thing ever... almost. 

Medici! 

I need to admit something here. My relationship with Nutella is a lot like Bella and Edward's. I love it, but at the same time I HAVE to eat it. Edward, unlike me, is stupid and never ate Bella. 

My friend and I then hopped on a train for home, which took a while again because we had to switch trains again. We were both extremely tired when we got home. It was a good day. I took a shower afterwards. 

"L" is for the way you look at me...

That's all I have for you friends. I will say that I am going a trip to Switzerland and then Germany all by myself during my break, so I will most definitely have something to talk about then. 

For now, it's more Nutella, pasta, pizza, and art for me, so basically I'm loving life here. Hope you are all doing well!  

Arrivederci! 

~Amanda