Things I miss

Okay, I'm determined to get this blog up and running today. I've started blogging a couple of times this semester, but never successfully posted. Today is different. It's raining in Florence right now, which would make me miss home, except the weather is probably about the same at home right now. The snow in LA got as low as 1000ft yesterday, INSANE!!! (I could probably bike to the snow, if I had a mountain bike still) The weather forecast says it might snow in Florence tomorrow, which I'm pretty excited about (make use of these rain boots I brought) but also kind of nervous because I heard the whole city shuts down when it snows (London much?) I had two goals today and I completely failed on one: Go to the Episcopal 'sung' service this morning (didn't set my alarm oops), they have spoken service but I secretly love church hymns and the silly chanting, it reminds me of the days when I served as an altar girl at my old church. My other goal is to check out this bike I'm probably going to buy, but I'm afraid someone is going to think I'm stealing it. The owner told me where it's parked so I could check it out on my own, super cool, but what if I can't find it? I'm really excited about getting a bike because I miss my beautiful schwinn that's sitting in mom and dad's garage, it's gonna get some TLC when I get back! Forse, una nuova luce? thinking about getting a bike here is making me realize the little things I'm missing:

The snazzy electric bike pump my dad gave me: I don't know where I will fill my tires when I'm here. There's always something I need to figure out how to do here. I feel like a child when things like this happen. I was trying to buy hairspray the other day and I had to ask people where to buy it and look up what its called. I, of course, got ripped off and found it much cheaper two days. You live, you learn... plus my hair looked good, and really that's what's important.

My Mom's Juicer that she thinks is mine: I would really like to make juice everyday here. Sure at Chaptown I didn't have a juicer, but I had a blender, a food processer, and access to plenty of fresh juice places (mmmMMMMmmmm Mother's Market, I miss you too). We don't have any of these things at my apartment, but we do have a juice place down the street that's kind of overpriced for the amount you get, but it feels super californian so I know I wont be able to keep myself away.

Ice: I didn't think it would be a big deal that they don't really have ice here since I hate ice cold drinks while I'm eating, but you can't even find bagged ice in the grocery store (this is my next mission). We have a tiny fridge so I don't refrigerate my stuff until I open it, which would be much nicer if I had ice so my first glass of (not freshly squeezed) OJ were not, you know, WARM. The other thing is the perfectionist/hostess in me always wants to have ice for guests. (I'm that person who calls/texts on my way to a party asking if I should pick up a bag of ice).

Eccentric People: I've seen one cross dresser, don't really miss them, but there's like no in between. I always thought the people of Chapman were so homogenized but everyone in italy wears the same (posh) stuff. All the people look the same. This may also be because I'm too scared to look at people and I tend to just see people in my peripheral and I'm like 'hey where are the lady gaga wannabes at?' Crazy Chapman people suddenly seem so much more interesting


Things I've managed not to miss:

The illusive ranch dressing: I've had three friends tell me to bring that powder you mix with sourcream to make ranch dressing. This was on my packing list back in november and I started trying out all the different brands from the super organic weird ones to the MSG filled weird ones. The drama of packing for two different airline requirements, and trying to skype with Jake got in the way of my frivolous ranch dressing needs. I was really sad when I got to London and noticed Bill's parents had the same packets in their pantry, Those Expats are very good at remembering to pick up such things (or maybe they sell them in London). Either way I was bummed until a friend of a friend of a friend took me to a grocery store that was like the equivalent to stater bros or food for less so obviously not my favorite store, but they had: swiffers(like an hour after telling my friend Topher he would never be able to find one here), a wide selection of cheap alcohol (that I didn't buy), and RANCH DRESSING! I got home and ate Gluten Free Pizza (Pizza Senza Glutine, duh) with ranch dressing. I'm SO American.

My car: Okay so I still miss the mustang, I always will. But I honestly, don't miss the exploder. Walking is cool, the trains are good even though I haven't used them yet and I'm determined to learn the bus system (I really just need a map)--unless this bike thing works out.

Big Cars: Jake told me nobody here drives big cars and it was going to freak me out so much. This is only partially true. As it turns out, there's major restrictions on the types of vehicles allowed in the tourist section of florence so you mostly see electric cars, scooters and every type of motorcycle cannot believe the number of ktms I've seen. Once you leave the center of town you start to see truck and stuff. In fact I took a bus to ikea and saw a huge chevy 1500 diesel covered in mud. These people definitely just got back from offroading.

Waiting in lines to get into places: I honestly don't go out often at home, but I hate having to wait behind annoying people to get into parties, events, or the very rare night out on the town. Everywhere I go here, I get to cut the line. I don't get it, but I'm not going to adjust back to LA well with this.



In my time here I'm trying to make a list of goals to set upon my return to the states, among them:
-Learn to use LA's public transit (PS scope out the news story where the Metro is buying Union station, there's hope for real public transit one day)
-Go to the farmer's market EVEN MORE OFTEN
-Attend more sporting events
-Keep track of cultural events in town and actually go (bonus points for using public transit)
-Ride my bike more, especially because I have to pay for my own gas now
Outside of LA:
-Go to Boston and visit my beezy Alex at Emerson
-Go to New York
-Get a summer internship in either Vancouver, Seattle or maybeeeee NYC


I'll be adding to the list all semester and hopefully have at least one new must do thing each blog post.
Praying for snow,
CIAO! -jf