Thursday to Monday - an extended weekend

road in Florence


As I write this blog, I'm listening to a local musical group who plays nightly in the streets of Florence for spare change and to sell their CDs. One signer and one accordion player, both of who are spectacular. It makes me want to dance and gesture out the words with my hands. Bella!

Thursday was a night at Loonees for the Taxi Drivers band again. Before going to see the band, I stopped by a Scottish Pub to see my friend Marco for "6 euro beer and crepe night". While there, I met three students from Lithuania who are studying architecture here in Florence for a year. They actually found me, because they heard me speaking English and tapped me on the shoulder to talk. The relaxing hug and glue of the English language in a foreign land. Love it! Marco and I with the Lithuanian girls:



Ignas, the third Lithuanian, dancing at Loonees (far left):



Ignas and I were the only ones who eventually went to Loonees. As you can see from the photo above, it was an exciting night. The Taxi Drivers band played everything from country fiddle to funk.

my favorite drummer, Lorenzo, of the Taxi Drivers. so concentrated!

Looness live music bar...underneath an apartment complex, 14th century construction

After Loonees, we spent the night in the crowded Lithuanian apartment and then I had a wonderful breakfast made by my hosts. Hard-boiled eggs, native honey butter and a type of dark bread. It was utterly delicious.



Friday night was similar, except that the Lithuanians were busy so I met other friends at Loonees for a second night of the Taxi Drivers. Saturday night I didn't have any events planned except for a football game with Marco again (he's from Spain) and a few other friends.

Marco taking the ball

Sunday night was karaoke at Loonees. There was a large group of Italians singing loud and proud, and they covered many Italian ballads which I was happy to hum along with even though I hadn't the slightest clue what the message was.



Afterwards, I went out for a walk. There was a beautifully lit-up carousel in the middle of a piazza.



And as an end note, regardless of political opinion or representation, the excitement over Obama has been amazingly surprising over here. There were multiple parties held around the city for him and the election night. His photo is everywhere. So I'm happy that the world is excited about a new presidential term. I'm an optimist, not a Democrat or Republican.



I also have a new haircut, free to me via a local hairstyling school where semi-professionals work with a main teaching professor. They spent 2 hours on me Monday morning, but it was a very relaxing experience. It is still the same length basically, just much lighter and more feathery. I'm very happy with it. Like the stylist said, "rockstar" (Grey's Anatomy reference! woohoo!)!