mio cattivo

the last few days have been filled with quiiiite a few mishaps by me. fortunately none of them have been too terrible.
the opera was good. they gave us plot summaries so we could follow what was going on. also there was a screen above the stage, which showed the words being sung. would have been helpful if i could read italian. the opera house was boss. there was a little old lady sitting next to me and she tried to speak italian to me. i had to tell her that i couldn't speak it, which was too bad because otherwise she probably would have been talking to me the whole time which would have been funny. she called someone on her cell phone and was talking really loud. she also started singing the words on the screen.
before the opera i was taking pictures of the opera house with someone else's camera, and i got yelled at by one of the ushers. note to self: learn mean words in italian.
i forgot to mention mistake numero uno. pre-opera we got gelato at grom, and i paid 3 euro instead of 4 because no one told me how much it was and they weren't paying attention when i gave them the money. so we got chased out of the shop and the guy yelled "hey!" which was kind of scary. it really wasn't a big deal because i gave them another euro. big deal guys, get over it. so it kind of wasn't my night, even though i wasn't too concerned by my stupidity.
then last night we went out to eat at this place suggested by my guidebook, trattoria da benvenuto. i ordered pasta and bistecca alla fiorentina, which is supposed to be a traditional and good thing to order, or so i've read. it was 4 euro, so we assumed that it was a very small piece. probably should have paid more attention to the note in parenthesis, along with the waiter's warning when i ordered. unfortunately, both of these were in italian so i just kind of ignored the writing and nodded at the waiter. marina ordered the same thing and her meal came out before mine. it was a huuuuge steak. turns out it was 4 euro based on the weight in grams. some of the girls helped me finish it and the waitress seemed amused by my clean plate. most filling and expensive meal i've had here yet. but it was the best meal i've had so far. and of course that did not stop me from getting gelato afterwards. :)
then at night we went to a bar filled with more italians than americans, which is how we like it. it was a nice place. this guy from naples asked me about what school program we were in. he also grabbed my face and told me i looked much younger than 21. i don't like when people grab my face. but he was better than the old men who sat next to us later and tried to get the attention of the "beautiful blonde girls" of our group by waving a lot. old men are creepy, no matter what country. i like our group though, we have fun.
this should be a good weekend. we're planning on climbing the duomo, starting to explore the uffizi, and seeing the david.

classes

this week was the first week of classes. my "weekend" started today, since i only have classes monday through wednesday. not a bad deal, right? monday i had my first italian language class. the professor jumped on the desk and played motown music in the background. tuesday i had my food, culture, and society class at 9 am. we are going to be cooking in that class, which is both a good and a bad thing. it's good because it means that i can cook in italy...and eat too. it's bad because it sounds kind of difficult. during our first class we made crepelle fiorentina, which were crepes filled with spinach and ricotta and covered with a cheese sauce. it tasted reeeally good, but it was not easy to make. then later in the day i had my social psychology class, with an american professor. yesterday i had my intercultural communication class, which seems like it's going to be really good. then i had writing about florence, which i am unsure about. everyone seems way more intelligent than me. then i had my second italian class of the week.
today is lauren's and my dad's birthdays. happy birthdays to them!
tonight i am going to an opera. should be fancy.