MTV ITALIA TRL Awards: A Night of Utter Confusion

I was very excited because Florence was chosen to host this year's TRL Big in Italy Awards. The concert was absolutely free, in the middle of Piazza Santa Croce, right by my apartment, so I was so going. I mean, how could I miss seeing such Italian greats as Marracash and Modà, as well as some apparently popular English speaking artists, such as Mads Langer and Alexis Jordan? I went after class yesterday to scope out the scene, which was already somewhat crowded at 5:45, and decided to go home, eat, and drop off my junk before I situated myself in a perfect viewing place for the show. I ended up meeting up with my student and fellow CofC Phi Mu, Kristen and her friends and we braved the crowds to secure our spot. At first the crowd wasn't as horrible as I thought it was going to be, but my new friend Lauren decided that she wanted to get closer to the stage, so we turned into Italians and pushed our way closer (see my post on "la fila"). All the teenage Italians around us decided they were going to push their way forward too, and we joined this clump of confusion, where we were pushed in every direction and had to "backbutt" (if such a term exists) to stop people from holding onto our backs trying to push themselves closer. Besides almost falling backwards multiple times, having my feet stepped on, and being afraid this girl was going to put her cigarette out on me, I guess the concert was cool. It was actually really hard to hear what was going on, especially because all the teenage boys around us where shouting "dai cazzo" imitating the hosts (the people from the stupidest show ever, I soliti idioti) and telling Marco Carta to go..., well you understand. I was very excited to get to see some of my favorite Italian acts, Marracash, Zero Assoluto, Nathalie, etc. I even got to see Montolivo, one of the players from Fiorentina, present an award. Did we stay for the whole show? No, instead, after 2 hours of being pushed by the mobs and fearing for our lives, we made a chain of linked hands and shuffled our way to the Scottish Pub to decompress. MTV, for future reference, you may want to control the crowds a bit, but I mean, what am I saying, these are Italians we are talking about, and they really don't know how to organize, so I just know for next time I'd probably have a better view, and a better time, watching from the comfort of my home.

A San Gimignantastic end to a Cinque Terrific Week!

The past week or so has been quite interesting for me. Pretty much a lot of great weather, good times, and fantastic news. Here are the highlights:
1)I'll start my story a week ago Saturday when my friends and I took a trip to Cinque Terre to hike and have a picnic. Well, when we arrived, the main trails were all closed due to rock slides, but thank goodness it was a bright sunny day and we were able to have a beach day. Imagine laying on a very picturesque beach, staring at the Mediterranean, drinking wine and eating pasta. Couldn't be more enjoyable. While at the beach we even had entertainment in the form of some of the dumbest study abroad students I have ever encountered. These 4 kids come clambering down the beach, one in an American flag swimsuit looking very much like Tom Cruise circa 1982, one in leggings and a bikini top (?), one straight from Jersey Shore, and the other one of the drunkest fools ever, who managed to fall twice, take all of his clothes off, and almost go around the beach totally naked. We watched in horror as these kids, including the drunkard, began climbing a giant rock and almost dying. Then we watched as the drunkard somehow made it off of the rock, but proceeded to fall face down in the sand and not get up. His "friends" walk right by him and come up to us, assuming we speak English like them. The Tom Cruise clone asks us where we are from 3 times, and we started teasing the girl about how much we all love going to clubs in Florence (lie). Here is the best excerpt from the conversation:
Us: "Where do you live in Florence?"
Tom Cruise: "I live in Bangladesh. Take a left at India, then find the Italian zip code."
Us:"Ummmm"
Tom Cruise (interrupting): "Let's just cut to the chase. Do you guys have pot?"
Us: "No! Why do you think that?"
Tom Cruise: "We just assumed since you had pretzels you would have pot."
2) Out of the blue, the director of my school comes up to me on Tuesday, asks me to translate a contract into English, then hands me a 100 euro bill. This, on top of getting my pay check, plus being paid for English lessons, made my week even better.
3) The three nice girls from Old Dominion University that I met in Dublin and who had given me their Dublin Pass messaged me to tell me they were in Florence, so I got to meet up with them and show them a good time in Italy. I took them to my new favorite spot in Florence, Kitsch, for a real Italian apperitivo, which I think they really enjoyed.
4) I got a second summer job in Chapel Hill for an Italian family. I will be watching a 3 year-old Italian boy and must only speak Italian to him. Pretty much my dream summer job!
5) I met a prospective PhD student at UNC in Florence who was super nice and cool, and we had a delicious lunch on Friday, where I think I did a pretty good job convincing her to come to UNC instead of another big University in the frozen North. It is always nice to meet fellow Italian lovers, especially ones who a) studied in Perugia like me b) have a similar apathetic feeling for the city of Florence and c) write on something that isn't Dante/the Renaissance. She even showed me where to get a cheap manicure in Florence, which was great for my chalk destroyed hands.
6) Saturday I went to San Gimignano, pretty much my new favorite place in Italy. It reminds me so much of Perugia and Assisi, which may be why I liked it so much, but the day we had there was beautiful, and the city is incredibly charming. The only downside was that, since we were in Italy, the busses didn't come on time, so we had to wait for a bus to stupid Poggibonsi for two hours, during which my friend Katie and I got separated from our friend Jen, then had to wait for her in Poggibonsi for another hour until her bus arrived. Even though we had a lot of travel issues though, I will definitely go back to San Gimignano again.
I love weeks like this when there are so many things happening and so much fun to be had! I can't wait for this Thursday when all of my Spaniards arrive so the fun can continue!