My last week... Arrivederci Italia!

Monday June 27
It was just a day to review for our Italian final and the last days of classes. We did a run through of our scenes for Tuesday. It was the hottest day of our stay here with a high of about 40° C. And since Florence sits in a valley of mountains/hills, there is no wind and the air just sits muggy and miserable. So, after our miserably hot rehearsal, we just sat at home and relaxed. I looked through my Italian workbook and tried to learn what there wasn't time to learn. Sabine said I was her little Italian over-achiever. What can I say? I love speaking in foreign languages and when I start to learn one, I want to REALLY learn it. However, I have noticed that my French is slipping. I can't think of anything in French anymore! Agh!!! Must be multi-lingual! hahah...

Tuesday June 28
Tonight is our concert and we had no classes today except for our Italian final.

Wednesday June 29
Free day to do last minute sight-seeing. Last night in Italy.

Thursday June 30
Arrivederci Italia! Benvenuto gli Stati Uniti!

Ciao e baci miei amici!
Stephanie Hope

P.S. Just FYI... I've put a few music files up on a music profile that I have. If you're bored or curious... check it out... www.myspace.com/stephaniehopejarvis
Baci mille!

The week of the 20-25

So, I know that I've been writing less and less as the month has progressed. I've realized that this morning on my walk to class. But, I'm not sure that many of you are really keeping up with my journal, with the exception of my dear parents. I LOVE YOU MOMMY and DADDY!!! But, here's to catch you up... I hope I remember everything... I forgot my journal at home... :-P

Monday June 20
Today was a very busy and scholastic day for me. I had classes straight from 8:30 in the morning until 4:30 pm (or 16:30 military time). Then, I had just enough time to go home, veg from the heat, make some dinner and then get dressed up for the opera that night. We went to see Boris Godunov (spelling???hmm... Not sure...) by Modest Mussorgsky at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence. Just a 15 minutes walk from my apartment actually! It was incredibly long (4 hours) and we didn't know anything about the plot or music going in. In addition, the opera is in Russian or Czech or something like that and the supertitles were in Italian (of course! We're in Italy!) so all I could understand is what I could quickly translate of the supertitles which was actually rather fun. It was almost like I was studying Italian and watching an opera at the same time! Although, after the first two hours of utter confusion and then finally getting an intermission (the aisles were dreadfully small for this tall girl as well) I finally got clued into as what was going on. Even though that helped, the staging was rather erratic and its concept was not clear, at least to me. The singers were amazing though and the music was spectacular. However, the staging and acting was so off the wall that it was distracting and I felt that I didn't appreciate it as much as I could have. However, that's how this career is. Very subjective and you can't please everyone.

Tuesday June 21
Classes... same ol' same ol'... Sorry for the lack of poetic justice...
In fact... let's just skip to Friday...

Friday June 24... San Giovanni Battista Day!
Today was a city holiday and so we didn't have any classes or rehearsals. In the city there were parades, mideval soccer tournaments, and fireworks over the Arno to top it all off. So, our apartment (since it's a rather large apartment) decided to host a post-firework party for the people in our program. Just a nice get-together to top it all off. Well, we get back from the fireworks and just sit around the couch as we wait for the other students to arrive, when all of a sudden, they arrive... As well as half the Italian military!!! Agh! Well, that's an exaggeration (obviously) but there were around 10 young Italian men who had "Party with Easy American girls" written all over their face. Well, they sure didn't get that from me! I said upfront to one guy "No. Don't touch me." And went and immediately locked the doors to my bedroom and said to one guy standing in front of the door "No naughty naughty in there!" Then, the guys began to start their game with drinking, eating and a sort of merriment. Merriment was the last thing on my face, more like horror. What was going through my mind was "Agh!!! They're going to trash our apartment!!! Psycho Italian boys!" Then, one Italian guy jumped up on our dinner table and started dancing and Dru jumped up there with him and was grinding on him when the table began to tip over and the top came completely off. I think I lost half my hair that night. So, then he tried to get Mary Ellen to strip him while he danced and I thought she was going to die because they tried to drag her up onto our stairs. She put her hand up and said "Mi sposato! Mi sposato!" I'm married! And one of the guys said "Is he here? It doesn't matter if he's not here." But she continued to refuse and they let that alone. But, he went up and started to strip anyway, down to his tightie whities, except they were gray. :-S Egads... And all of my friends were hollering "Stephanie! Get your camera! Stephanie! Get your camera!" And I said "No way!!! I don't want pictures of that!" It was after that girls started pairing up with guys and it turned into a makeout fest, so I went in the living room and hid with some of my flatmates. But that didn't last long, because Lauren was drunk and angry (she has decided that she hates all Italians) and said that all Italians are ugly and like those guys. And I said "Not Francesco!" And she, in her hateful manner, said "Yes he is Stephanie." So, since she hasn't even met the guy and wants to be bitchy I just left and went in my room. It's not my fault that she hates it here and wants to be negative. Finally, it got to the point where we all had to say, "Go home." And the girls that brought them and the guys all left and I went to bed.

Saturday June 25
This was the first time I had felt homesick. It partly had to do with missing my life partner, Chelsea. :-) And not having money. A bunch of people went to Pisa and the beach and just me and Susan were left at home. It was hot and miserable, and I lounged all day in my cool linen pants and a bikini top watching Italian MTV. At one point I had dozed off but then heard the song from the famous scene in Dirty Dancing, so I thought they were showing Dirty Dancing in Italian and I got excited and made myself wake up. But it wasn't, so I was disappointed. Then, my aunt Carol called me and made my day! It was the first time I had laughed all day. Thank you Auntie! Mille Baci! So, after getting off the phone with her, I got antsy and needed to get out of the house, so Susan and I went and got some gelato and then sat on the steps of Santo Spirito for a few hours talking and people watching. Then we went walking to the S. Trinita bridge and sat there for awhile until we realized that our friends would be walking home in about an hour. So, we walked one bridge west and sat on that bridge until the would walk by. But in doing so, we had about 5 creepy guys walk by and talk to us. Ugh! Yuck!!! Before the last one, we decided that we would talk in a made up language (that ended up sounding like a mix between German and Russian and Czech) and Italian. Then the last creepy guy walked up to his and tried talking to us, but we just kept talking gibberish between us until we finally told him to go away. It was hilarious though because we confused him so much as to our nationality. However, after that encounter we decided we didn't want to wait any longer for our friends and hurried home holding hands, hoping that would keep guys from talking to us.

Sunday June 26
Today I decided I would go walking and exploring parts of town I hadn't seen. So, Mary Ellen, Valerie and I grabbed our cameras and went were the wind (or lack thereof) took us. We ended up happening upon the Giardino di Bobolino (the little Boboli Gardens) that are just south of the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. It's a public area with rich residences and scattered public parks. It was a nice walk and there were a few flowers (though most had died or wilted from the heat). Plus it was cool that we happened upon them. They scaled all the way up this hill and by the top we could see the horizon of Tuscan hills. It was very beautiful. My favorite part was all the little turtles we saw in the little ponds! They were so cute!!!!

Ciao miei amici! Vi amo!

Saturday June 18th, 2005

We left at noon from Florence to go to Verona to see Nabucco (which has been my favorite opera that we've seen here). We got there at about 3 pm, so we had a few hours to walk around. So, Marie took us for an informal tour of Verona. We saw Roman ruins, an old Roman city that's now a museum, the garden of Romeo and Juliet and saw Juliet's balcony. Obviously it's a fictional story, but Verona is playing it up for a tourist attraction. The main street is all marble and lined with designer stores like Gucci, Armani and Louis Vitton. In fact, when we walked by Louis Vitton on our way to wait in line for the opera, there were 6 security guards outside Louis Vitton not letting anyone in. Inside you could see they were serving appetizers to the selected guests. It was quite the ordeal. We tried to see who the celebrity was that all the commotion was over, but we couldn't see anyone we recognized. So, then we went to stand in line (you can't really call it a line) in the MOB of people waiting to get into the Arena di Verona for Nabucco. It was a FULL house! The Arena di Verona holds 32,000 people and looks kinda like a smaller version of the Colliseum. It was pretty disgusting standing in the mob, because it was SOOO hot (I know I know, not that long ago I was complaining that it was cold) and everyone is touching each other trying to get a good seat since it's general admission and sharing sweat. It was SO gross!!! But it was cool in a way that there were THAT many people out to see an opera. Very cool. The opera wasn't over until 1 or 2 am and then we had to ride back to Florence after that. We didn't get back until 5:30 in the morning. I was so tired and I had a blanket with me (it got chilly in the morning back in Florence) so I wrapped my blanket around me and my bag as we trekked the 20 minute walk home sleepily. Then, I got home, and CRASHED. I didn't get up until 3 pm on Sunday.
Sunday was uneventful so I won't post for that day... P.S. I was told that I look like the French top model, Latitia Casta... How is everyone going to deal with my ego when I get back? Haha!
Ciao e baci e vi amo!!!

Friday June 17th, 2005

This morning we had a master class with Richard Gordon from New York City, who is a coach, pianist, music arranger... he basically does it all. He's coached for many opera companies around the U.S. I was first up, so i was singing while many of you were sound asleep at the wee hours of 2 am. Can you imagine? It went really well. I worked very well with him and made many revelations in my singing and breathing. He said that because of my scoliosis, my ribs had not been expanding properly in the back. So, we mainly worked on that and it was AMAZING! I was able to record the session on my camera, so some o fyou will have the oppurtunity to watch it if you want to.
After the master class, we went and toured Santa Croce, where Rossini is buried among many other significant people in Italian and music history. It was very beautiful and there is a chapel in Santa Croce called the Pazzi Chapel that has a 10 second reverb. So, we harmonized with ourselves. It was so cool. It was the longest reverb I had heard. The second longest was when I was in England at the Ely Cathedral Lady Chapel and it had a 7 second reverb.
That evening, a few of the girls had a party at their apartment, so everyone went to that but a bunch of us missed the last bus of the night, but there was rather large group of us, so we just walked. It was a nice night anyway. Stonehenge (where Francesco works) was on the way home, so I said good night to everyone and dropped in to see Francesco. Also, we're all spending so much time together that I just wanted some time with Italians to work on my Italian and learn about their culture. Plus, I don't think it hurts to make some friends while I'm here (in case I ever move here!). I paid enough to be here, I want to get the most out of my experience and spending my entire free time with Americans, speaking English isn't going to allow me to do that. I had a blast there. I sat and talked with Francesco as he worked (and he made me free drinks) and his friend that frequents Stonehenge and works at Beccofino, a restaurant just around the corner from my apartment. And I spoke about 90% in Italian and Francesco was proud of me! He helps me a lot with my grammar and vocabulary. We've become really good friends since we met two weeks ago. And he's not creepy like most of the Italian guys here. It's just cool. hmm... I'm having deja vù... Did I tell you about him already??? Okay, well then... I'll just stop. If I haven't, you'll be left in suspense and be forced to contact me out of curiosity, or if I have... then I should stop anyway.
Ciao e baci! Vi amo!

A Couple Special Thank Yous

Everyone, I want to say thank you for continually checking in on my journal and keeping up on the news here in Italy. It really means a lot to me, because I take quite a bit of time to sit down and account all that I've been up to here. So, with the comments left and emails letting me know that you've been here really makes my day. Baci Baci (which, by the way means Kiss Kiss). Also, a few of you have been so awesome unexpectedly to put a link to this journal on your respective websites. And so I'd like to return the favor, and encourage all of you to visit their sites. These are some really incredible people doing some really incredibly things and it's humbling that they took the moment to help spread the word about my endeavors and think that I'm pretty cool too. :)

Dan Mengini... www.danmengini.com (He's an incredibly funny genius of a comedian. You're missing out if you don't check this website.) Though we're both such busy little performers just trying to rise to the top of our careers, you've been so supportive and such an incredible friend through many ups and downs within the last year. You've made me laugh in moments of joy and sorrow. I hope we never lose touch of our friendship and of who we are. Thank you so much.

Aaron Story... http://taiwanstyle.blogspot.com I can't believe how far we've both come since those days in that little town of Baldwin. Doesn't it seem like forever ago! You were my best friend in the whole world then and you still remain an incredible, endearing, close friend today. I wish we could see more of each other, but since the world literally stands between us, then, the emails are just as good. I hope we do get to travel together someday (the world wouldn't knew what hit it) before it becomes too late and we both become so entangled in our lives and careers that we can't take advantage of the oppurtunity. I'll never forget the laughs we've shared and all the moments you would attack me and tickle me until I surrendered to the ground out of breath, or when we catch attentions with our skilled swing dancing. Oh how I miss those days, but don't regret the path traveled. You will always be in my heart, dear friend.

Ciao e BACI BACI!
Stephanie Hope

Thursday June 16, 2005

Yesterday when we talked with Kathleen McCalla, she was so inspiring and incredibly down to earth. We talked for two hours and finished off the discussion with her singing a song from Rustica Cavalleri by Rossini. My spelling may be off, so I apologize. She is well-known in Europe as a Dramatic Soprano and a Dramatic Coloratura Soprano. In fact, she is currently learning the role of Norma. She's been living in Italy for the last 25 years with her Italian husband who is a Verdi singer (his website is linked on hers www.kathleenmccalla.com) and she is strikingly beautiful. She has to be in her 50s or so and still looks like she's in her 30s. I hope I age that well! I really encourage you checking out her website because she's got amazing pictures and sound clips of her singing. I almost cried when she sang her FIRST note. It was amazing and just cut through your heart (in a good way). Her focus was intense, and she's an incredible musician. She told us that she learned a role in 4 to 5 days. An entire role that is. That's a lot of notes and words!!! It was very inspiring.
Today, I found out that there's a piano concert that I'm going to try to attend here in Florence. I love piano music and it'll be a nice change from all the operas we've been concentrating on.

*side note* For some reason my hands and my brain are not connected today and I've been thinking one word and my fingers will type another... So you may have to bear with me if it gets a little out there... I'm trying to catch all of my errors.

I have decided that this summer and fall I'm going to learn the role of Susanna from Le Nozze di Figaro (I already have a recording of it with Bryn Terfel) even if Marie King doesn't cast me. Because I KNOW that I would make a PERFECT Susanna. It's right down my alley. Both Dr. Baxter and Dr. Yenne say that I'm a great Mozart Soprano. But the unfortunate part is that many sopranos make good Mozart sopranos. So, I will have to be perfect. Is it apparent that I'm beginning to get into my opera craze personality??? Just put up with it, if at all possible, and I promise that I will come down after awhile. I think I'm getting over my stage of being burnt out from last semester, which is good, because I have projects to finish. *I offer a smile and a bat of the eyelashes to the gracious professors to which this applies.*

It's getting hot here again which is good and bad. It's now appropriate to wear the clothes that I brought, but now it's going to get tiring in the middle of the day when it's hottest. I can already feel it.

Okay... I've noticed that none of my thoughts are connecting and I'm beginning (or long gone) to babble so I will say Arrivederci and Vi amo!
Baci tutti!
Stephanie Hope

By Popular Demand, Things the American Boys Could Learn from Italian Men

Top 10 Italian Pick up Lines
10. Ciao bella!

9. You lost something back there... Your sense of humor. Why do you look so serious?

8. How tall are you? I'm looking for a wife.

7. You break my heart bella.

6. Every day you walk by and you break my heart. After a month, I will have NO heart left!

5. Canti per me. (sing for me)

4. You look like the French top model, Latitia Casta.

3. I love you everyday!

2. I tuoi occhi sono come due stelle nelle notte. (Your eyes are like two stars in the night. -take note of this one gentlemen... definitely a sweet line!)

And my favorite of all time!!!!

1. Io avevo la lingua che spazzava in terra. (My tongue is sweeping the floor.)

A correction

I had said on the weekend of June 10-12 that I had met William Croft and Samuel Ramey. But actually, it was Dwayne Croft playing Billy Bud, not William Croft. My memory is already starting to fail me. This could be a bad sign.... or a sign of lack of sleep. Take your pick.
Ciao and my apologies.

Wednesday June 15, 2005

Ciao tutti!
This week has been pretty rigorous as far as rehearsals go. But, it's been raining, so there really isn't much else to do anyway. I didn't pack any warm clothes or shoes condusive for rain, so it's been interesting deciding what to wear so I don't get sick. Yesterday morning it was pretty nice, so I wore these really cool and comfortable white linen pants and a short sleeved brown peasant shirt. But that was a mistake, because in the afternoon it started pouring when I was walking to rehearsal, and I soon became drenched!!! Luckily, the peasant shirt was long enough that when my white pants became soaked and see through, all you could see were legs. I bet the Italian men LOVED that. Haha... So, I learned a lesson and wore black pants today because we got more rain on the way to classes this morning but now it's sunny and hot! I doubt I'll ever learn.
This afternoon, Kathleen McCalla (www.kathleenmccalla.com) is visiting us to talk to us about the opera business and having a career in Europe. I'm so excited to meet her and talk to her. She's also a graduate of Wichita State. You know, between Kathleen McCalla, Samuel Ramey, Joyce DiDonato...Wichita State is really pumping out the opera superstars. :-)
This weekend, we're heading to Verona to see Nabucco by Verdi.
Well, not to much to say actually, been a pretty uneventful week thus far. Except the moment where the guy who proposed to me said "You walk by everyday and you break my heart. After a month, I will have no heart left." Too bad for him.
Hope everyone is well. Stay in touch! Send me emails! Call me! Leave comments! I miss you all and I love, I love.
Ciao mi amore
Stephanie Hope

Last weekend June 10-12, 2005

Friday
Today was a Master Class with Claudia Catania who sang for the New York City Metropolitan Opera. She's amazingly full of life and energy and is an amazing teacher. She's already promised me lessons anytime I want to fly to New York for them. So, I'll exclusively tell you that I'm throwing around the idea of moving there after graduation to work and take from her until I'm accepted into the grad school of my choice.
Anyway. Then, that evening, a bunch of us wanted to experience nightlife in Italy, so we went to the Fish Pub that had been recommended by the group that came last year. But, when we got there, it was all Americans! Yuck! I'm in Italy, I want to be with Italians! So, we left there and just started walking in the direction of home in hopes that we'll run across another one. We saw a couple of guys standing in the street, so our whole group walked up to them and asked them where the nearest bar was and they said "Right here!" It was this unmarked, exclusive bar that you have to know its there to really know its there. Make sense? Anyway. So, we went in there and it was really cool. They had all these really interesting drinks and there was a Danish guy, a Welsh guy, and obviously a bunch of Italians. The bartender, Francesco, knew a lot of English and he was very friendly. Me and Rebecca flirted with him the whole night and got a bunch of free drinks out of the deal. We ended up staying after everyone else in our group went home. So, we talked with Francesco and we found out that he's 23, studying radio journalism and English. He told us that he has an English exam on the 29th and we told him our Italian exam was on the 28th. So, he said "You help me and I'll help you!" So, now I have an Italian tutor. :) He's REALLY cute. He's also a drummer in a band and they've toured the US before for 5 months. So I hope that they'll tour again in the USA after I come back! After the bar closed, he took me and Rebecca home. It was cool riding in a car in Italy. Definitely hadn't done that yet.

Saturday
Today we were at the Boboli Gardens bright and early at 9 am! We toured the Pitti Palace, which had various museums in it, including the treasures of Maria de Medici and the Costume Gallery. I saw EVERYTHING! And it was so cool. My heart raced in the Costume Gallery when I saw that they had two costumes that Maria Callas wore in the movie "Medea." It was awesome. They also had clothing from the Medici and period clothing. They were so tiny! But I had to consider that they also had corsets keeping them pulled in. Then I got lunch before I went to the Gardens and then spent the entire afternoon walking in the Gardens and I wasn't even able to see all of that. Evidentally, there was a labyrinth that I missed out on! : ( Oh well... I did get some neat pics of the flowers that were still in bloom. I impressed a few people with my photography but it has room for MUCH improvement. I need to learn more about how to manipulate this camera.

Sunday
Today we went to Genova, Italy to see the production of Benjamin Britten's "Billy Bud" with Samuel Ramey and William Croft. It was amazing, but definitely an experience seeing an opera with no women or treble voices. After the show, we got to meet Samuel Ramey and he was so very nice! I had no idea that he is 63! He sang SO well at the performance. He gave me a kiss on the cheek when I greeted him (the standard European greeting) and I also got a picture with him. I suppose you could say it was the first celebrity I'd ever met. Dr. Yenne said "Wow, I saw you got a kiss from Sam." And I said, "Yes, I'm definitely writing home about that!"
We then got back to Florence around 11 pm. Ciao! A domani! BACI BACI!

Wednesday June 8, 2005 and Thursday June 9, 2005

I had such a wonderful lesson with Dr. Yenne today. We talked about performance anxiety and presenting myself with nobility and confidence. He even tested me at the end of the lesson by saying he's going to be someone unimpressed with me and he's going to be vocal about it as I sing. And I was able to keep confidence and even improved my artistry as I sang. I just kept thinking that I know I'm talented and anyone who knows anything will realize it and love me! I know it sounds egotistical, but Dr. Yenne said that's what I should think to keep confidence. He told me that I'm tall, gorgeous and talented and I should present myself and perform as such.

Thursday
This Saturday, we're all going to the Boboli Gardens and the Pitti Palace that were owned by the very powerful Medici family. I'm looking forward to it to take pictures of the Gardens. I'm hoping to make Dad jealous that he wasn't there. Hehe! Wink! Then, maybe he'll want to come to Florence and take me for his translator/guide. Hahaha! I'll be sending a few postcards to a few people, so keep a look out for those. I also want to say thank you those to who have emailed me, called or left comments on my journal! It means a lot to me that you are thinking about me.
***
On my lunch break, Dru showed me a place that had cute clothes that were inexpensive. So, Valerie and I went in and I found some cute white pants and they were super long. And they were only €20. So, she (the lady working there) gave me what size she thought I was. Yeah, well, she was wrong. I couldn't even zip it up for fear of tearing it at the seams. So, I asked her for a larger size and she gave me whatever size that was (I couldn't find a size tag anywhere!), and that, at least, went on and zipped up, but it was so tight that you could see the material pulling and every curve of my body! Eeks! Plus, it was thin, white material, so I couldn't make it work. So, I asked her for another size and she said "This is the modern look." And I said that it wasn't flattering and I would like a bigger size. And she shot her nose in the air and said "We don't carry sizes larger than that." I said "anywhere in anything???" And she said No. I couldn't believe it. I'm not that big! In fact, I think I'm on the thin side of average and they didn't carry sizes big enough for even me. How sad. Mom said I should've asked her "Well then, where do the fatties shop?" I LOVE YOU MOM! Oh well, they didn't get my business!I went to the markets after the afternoon classes and got a pretty colorful scarf, a shirt and a pink poncho. Mary Ellen, Valerie, and I met some really nice people running one of the scarf stands and talked to them for awhile and they made us a deal so we sang for them and they took pictures. It was so fun. By the time we finished, a huge crowd had gathered around to watch us and applauded. It was so fun! Then, we continued to walk down the street and a guy selling leather jackets wanted us to sing for him, and he gave us €6 to get gelato for singing for him. It was cute. Then, we got our gelato and went home! It made up for being implied I was fat by that snooty girl at that store! Haha!! Ciao! Baci!

Tuesday June 7, 2005

Today we had our Welcome dinner from CAPA at Osteria de' Pazzi. Which means the restaurant of the crazy. It was such a blast. The staff would do funny things and say catch phrases. When, one of the guys was pouring wine for Jennifer Lindshield, he said "Get 'er done!" It was hilarious. I also have a couple of pictures of another signore making me finish the last of the spaghetti (a whole serving) in only two bites. A couple of people got drunk and that was pretty funny, even though I took care of them as the sober one. Dru and I went and talked to some cute Italians too, and they were really nice. I think they were amused by my drunk friends. We told them we sing opera and one of them burst out in song like he was an opera singer jokingly. They were shocked because we are young and beautiful. They said the opera singers in Italy are old now because there are no good music schools for opera in Florence anymore. They're all in Naples (Napoli) or Milan (Milano). Milan is were the opera house of my dreams is. You know you've got a great career when you're singing at Teatro de La Scala! Congrats Joyce DiDonato! She's singing La Ceneratola (I'm not sure if that's spelled right) at La Scala at the end of June. We, unfortunately, won't get to see her. :-(
Ciao!

Monday June 6

Today was our first full day of classes. We had Italian at 8:30 for two hours. Once we jumped in, even though we were all still sleepy, the time flew. Then we had opera lab from 10:30 until 12:30. The way that all works is during that time, 4 people will leave at a time to go to a lesson or rehearsal. Then we had lunch from 12:30 until 2, which I used to get money and get passport pictures. I know I got ripped off though because I had to pay €12 and I found out later that my friends who went to the same place only had to pay €5. I was already ticked that they didn't tell us ahead of time to have passport pictures, but then to have had to pay €12 for them! Grrr..... The, on top of that, all of our group tours were supposed to be covered with the program cost, but they sprung it on us here that the tour of Pitti Palace and the Baboli Gardens isn't going to be covered because 'they didn't want to make the decision for us which tour cost to do.' There is a range of tour options from €5 to €15, but they recommend the €7. My opinion is that that's a pretty lame excuse. If there was any doubt about it, they should've gone with the more extensive tour. We're not here that often! But, what can you do? Anyway. After classes, Rebecca, Dru and I started to head back to the apartment when we walked through the same area where the American boys hit on me. As we were walking down that street, two Italian men were standing outside of a shop and one of them asked me how tall I am. Well, I was wearing heels, so I asked with or without shoes and he said 'without' So I told him that I'm 5'10". Then he said "I'm looking for a wife." And I said "I'm not looking for a husband!" Then he continued to plead with me as I walked away. It was so unexpected, it blew my mind. Anyway. On that note, it's time for bed. I'm very sleepy. Buona Notte! Ciao!