An amount of fun only Stephen Hawking could comprehend...

Yah, yah, I know...another day missed. But I went from my bed to my class back to my bed. I'm trying to get better!
Also, the previous statement may not be completely true due to information that has been omitted. Here's the true story...
 
Yesterday was our day trip to Assisi. I woke up feeling horrible, and it was a bit of foreshadowing for the day to come. 5:30am wakeups aren't for this kid. However, I was the first one up out of my roomate(s) Kayla and Daniel (he is staying on our floor for funsies). I always feel terrible when I have to wake someone up because I get very close to murdering whoever does it to me. Thus I invented a game. Fun for me and fun for...I WOULD say them but then this story would be false. I called it " Where is Victoria's alarm coming from?". I set the alarm to go off (loud-getting progressively louder the longer they take to find it) and then I hid it somewhere in the room. A place that either of them would have to actually relocated themselves to find.
Watching the outcome of the first annual game was as entertaining as you could imagine. The disorientation of just waking up along with the disorientation of not knowing where the horrible horrible sounds are coming from. Genius.
Daniel was the winner of that round. We got ourselves ready and we were off.
 
The train ride there wasn't all horrible because it was over 2 hours long which gave us the chance to catch up on our sleep. After studying my research on Saint Chiara (St.Claire) I was ready to get into character.
Side note: Daniel and I's special project was to act as Saint Francis and Saint Claire all day.
 
And boy did we ever! Now you should know, in history, the two were good friends. St.Francis took St.Claire in after she ran away from her family and continued to help her and her ambitions regarding women in religion (Pigs in Space comes to mind, anyone else? (http://madsilence.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/the-pigs-in-space-cast-1980.jpg) ). And St.Claire took care of him when he was ill until his death.
Daniel and I however, played the parts a little...off beat.
As St.Claire I felt under appreciated. Francis has two churches and millions of frescos-basically lots of recognition-while Claire has a church on top of a freakin' hill. What the hell?!
Daniel and I acted like an old married couple, bitter about each others accomplishments. It got pretty ridiculous at times but seemed to be very entertaining for all. Success!
 
Assisi was one GIANT hill. We walked on a steep angle for about 30 minutes...and then climbed billions of stairs. The views were incredible but I didn't enjoy being so sweaty. On top of that my knees were so stiff I felt like they were filled with hummus. I managed to survive though. It is a nice city-if you like calves the size of small children...
 
We were all looking forward to the 2+ hour ride home for another napping opportunity. Perfect...or it would have been if it wasn't for...wait for it...ANOTHER CRYING BABY.  
Us-0  :  Irritating Children-2 .
The terrible crying didn't last too long which almost felt too good to be true. And boy, I couldn't have been more right. Just as a feel-good song came on my iPod and as I started dozing off noise pollution took over my preferred audio waves. Is that...an accordion? IS THAT A GOD DAMNED ACCORDION?!
Imagine, as I was in the blissful place between awake and asleep I was abruptly interrupted by a box of air that sounded like Fran Drescher sneezing at a volumn that could make Hellen Keller to them to shut the hell up.
We all played the "just don't look up" game and they finally moved on to annoy the next car.
 
When we (finally) arrived back in Florence we all scooted home to clean ourselves up before dinner and then continued to Doug's (head teacher on the trip). His wife and family were staying in Florence as well for the week and generously fed us a couple times. Amazing food and it was SO nice to have some home cooking. Doug's wife and kids were leaving this morning so last night was the last time we would see them. As a kind gesture, we bought Mrs.Doug (Trish) a bottle of wine and a card expressing our gratitude for their hospitality. We said our thanks and gave hugs goodbye- or at least until we see them at Toronto Pearson.
 
We were handed a flyer advertising more cheap drinks and we couldn't say no. We cleaned ourselves up, started pre-drinking and at 12:30 we headed out into the night. If you're thinking that's late, well it is but nothing out here really picks up until then. We each paid ten euros and was given a 3-drink card. We had a list of drinks we could choose from and embracing my Durham College days I enjoyed three Blue Lagoons (AKA Finding Nemos). Now I'm not sure if it was the fact I only had one contact in or it was actually the free-poured drinks but one way or another I was seeing doubles. Sorry mom but I did say I was going to tell the truth.
I was given a rose and with some team work by my collegues we managed to get ourselves home before 4am. Now you can think this is late. It was late and we had to be up in 4 hours. Yikes.
 
Waking up this morning was as fun as burning your tongue and being fed spicy food for every meal. I had a headache-the only consequence from the previous evenings antics, a fever and the beginning signs of losing one's voice. But, I got my ass out and off to meet our group.
 
We took a 20 minute bus trip to Fioselli after visiting-what I like to call- a Monk's habitat. Thankfully the bus went all the way to the top of Fioselli because it was at the top of a very large hill. We took a walking tour and stoped in a market square where some people were selling some antique items. This one knowledgeable gent had a VERY large collection of antique advertisments dating all the way back to the 20's. AMAZING. Us advertising majors were in heaven. Even the fashion students found old clothing sketches. I bought this one advertisment I fell in love with by Armando Testa-a very famous Italian designer. It's so very cool and weird!
 
We were set to climb another hill but I graciously sat out, which I don't regret. After this our day was done. We made our way home and did some shopping along the way.
 
I now have no voice and can't wait to take it easy tonight. Perhaps go for a walk and get some gelato. I'll go where ever the accordion music and loud children aren't.
 
Wanting a hamburger...
 
Love & Pigs in Space,
V.
 
 
Post Script:
For those who care, Ronnie and Sammy were seen together today. Not holding hands but giving off a very couple-y vibe.
I also may be in a couple shots on Jersey Shore as I keep passing by them as they hand out flyers for their pizzaria-it's on the way to our place.