Okay, I’m going to start with the most vivid thing that’s happened.

James is a crazy, uninhibited drunk. Usually I enjoy it. That was until tonight —

When, walking back from the game, he saw one of the African guys with the sheet full of knock-off designer bags and goes, quite loudly, “OH, IT’S THE AFRICAN BOY AND HIS BLACK MARKET GOODS.”

“JAMES!” Sars and I squawked. We had to keep him quiet the rest of the way home. Since making a criminal angry is exactly what you want to do.

Other quote classics:

“Dammit, I got a mosquito bite RIGHT IN MY HAIR! Everyone’s going to think I don’t shower cause I keep scratching it!”

“I haven’t heard this song in ages. By ages, I mean yesterday.”

“It is obvious that I am not 100% sober right now.”

He also tripped in a crowd while holding the bottle of wine in his hand. And I have some video classics.

Right after I wrote the last entry, Sars showed up. Not a lot of time here (although James DOES have mysteriously free wireless internet!!! It’s probably illegal but AWESOME!!), so I’ll bullet the main events.

–Sars showed up around 3:30, a bit more than an hour after she landed. The thing was, I was exhausted from a mere two hours of sleep the night before and walking around London for six hours or so without much of a break. So I went to sleep with my earplugs in and the eye mask on. She comes upstairs without a key because the guy at reception told her that I had one. So she knocks and knocks, and I don’t answer. She goes ALL the way down (a few flights), gets a key, comes back, comes in, and tickles me awake.
–We slept for a LONG time, then had Thai food for dinner.
–We checked out the bar downstairs and met two really cool guys from Virginia, Doug and Rob. They were awesome, and we hung out all night. We’re going to meet up with them in Venice tomorrow!
–Woke up extremely early. There were two other guys in our room (the night before, it was just me and SEVEN guys, a few sleeping only in their underwear and money belts!). Got a cab to Stansted and flew to Bologna. RyanAir SUCKS, but hey, you get what you pay for and the biggest discount airline in Europe doesn’t have much to offer in terms of comfort. Sars and I slept on each other on the plane.
–Took a bus to the Bologna train station, took a train to Florence — and missed the time to meet James by a few minutes, but totally ran into him by chance on the street! It was awesome.
–Spent the afternoon walking all around the city. Got gelato at Neri, which finally made it to Let’s Go! I’m proud — my roommates and I LOVED their gelato more than any other place’s.
–Went to dinner at Le Collinine with James’s friends — really nice girls. Then walked around by the river and took tons of pictures.
–Sars and I slept in earplugs from 11 PM to 10 AM. James kicked us once by accident, and he says we were so OUT neither of us stirred. We’re sleeping on pool mats and they’re incredibly comfortable.
–Woke up and James brought us GIANT cappuccinos from News Cafe, and croissants! We went to the market and I bought a skirt and a dress, then we went to Oil Shoppe and found out it was closed on Saturdays, so we went to Piazza San Marco and got pizza slices.
–Went to the station and got Venice tickets, then grabbed a bus to Fiesole, a tiny Etruscan city older than Florence on a giant hill overlooking the city. We went, and stayed, merely for the views — they were breathtaking.
–Got some dinner (I had pasta with wild boar sauce and some spinach), then met up with the girls and BOOKED it to Piazzale Michelangelo — what a walk!! Very strenuous. We went to watch the World Cup, but it was tough to get a good seat, so we walked to right beneath the piazza to get a seat at the other large screen.
–WORLD CUP: ITALY VS. USA. I can’t believe I got to see this game IN ITALY. And it was awesome. We actually ended up sitting in this little American corner with tons of other students, and Sars and I sat on a Vespa. Lots of fun. It was a tied game, 1-1. Would have been 2-1, USA, if they had allowed a goal that kind of resulted in a penalty. CRAZY game and SO much fun. We just got back.

Tomorrow: Venice
Monday: Maybe the beach at Viareggio (just me and Sars)

We are having the BEST time.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

James is taking a shower and he just screamed, “OW!! FUCK!!” at the top of his lungs. Hopefully he’s okay.