Food, Fun, and Free Vodka!

Today, we went to the central market. It was busy and loud, and one of the vendors was screaming the song "Billionaire" at the top of his lungs in English, and everything was colorful and aromatic. I was slightly overwhelmed, but it was great, and I'll definitely go back. Everything is incredibly fresh, and really cheaply priced.

We met up with another group of girls from an apartment that overlooks the Arno and spent most of the day with them. As we went by the Arno, we stopped by a jewelry maker on the street. He was from Ecuador, and only spoke Spanish and Italian, so I was able to converse with him in Spanish. It was quite fun! He made Amanda a really beautiful necklace as we stood around talking, and it was nice to practice a language I was more comfortable in. Hopefully by the end of this trip, I'll be able to use my Italian as confidently.

We stopped by the Galleria Uffizi, but didn't go inside the museum because of the horrendous line of tourists. So we walked around the outdoor sculpture garden, saw the fake David, and met a great statue impersonator of Cupid.

Then we met two of the very few guys at our school and they showed us a great supermarket that was quite close to our apartment.

This evening, we went to a club nearby, called Astor (pronounced AH-store), and there were lots of people there because the club was celebrating a Brazilian guy's 20th birthday with Ketel One Vodka on the house. The DJ was mediocre, but with so many happy, drunk people around me, it was hard not to have a good time, dancing and doing my best to avoid getting drenched in spilled alcohol.

This weekend, some people are going on a trip to Cinque Terra, but the rest of us are planning on exploring the city more extensively and possibly organizing a Penthouse dinner. I can't wait.