Random Notes 2

Since my energy is at about a zero, heres just a random list of things that I have noticed/discovered/thought about recently.
1. The dogs here seem to be infinitely more friendly and well trained than the dogs back in the states. I have no idea why, but they all seem to never bark and a person, are always friendly, and listen to their masters.
2. going along with this, there is a stray dog that I see every tuesday wandering around. Hes tan, kinda big, with a black and white nose. He always is trotting the same direction down the street whenever I am going to my wine tasting class, and proceeds to wander the park near my hostel. I wonder if he has a routine...
3. I am not picking up italian anywhere near as fast as id like to.
4. MCD is expensive! as in, i was craving french fries and so i went in and ordered then, fully prepared to order a meal when she announced that for a medium thing of fries and the ketchup, i would be paying 2.90 euro, which equals out to being almost 4$. for fries. so i just left it at fries and vowed never to go back.
5. I was wearing my hair in pigtails the other day, as i normally do when i feel my hair is no where near acceptable to be seen in public but im too lazy to wash it, and as im walking down the street every single person i passed gave me a really weird look. and so, feeling very self conscious and thinking it could only be my hair-do, i took them out and stopped getting weird looks. I guess italians dont do the pigtail thing?
6. Chocolate in Italy tastes infinitely better than in the states.
7. My wine teacher's family has been in Tuscany, making wine since the 1200s. can you imagine your family line dating back THAT long in the same place doing the SAME thing? He said his family is about the second/third oldest in the region.
8. Gucci was a wine maker. yeah, the fashion family.
9. NY apparently is one of the best wine regions in the world. There's a few that i never thought, like Japan, but idk, i didnt think NY would be up there.
10. My teacher also described aging wines as to hott older men actors. "They are good looking to a point, like sean connary...my wife likes him...but then you stop seeing them in the movies! When was the last time you saw sean connary in a movie eh?" Hes very adorable.
11. As I am sick with a cold, i am craving soup so badly, but italians do not believe in canned or processed things, so i have been unable to have any and its very frustrating.
12. I have tentative plans to make a trip to Rome this weekend??
13. My intercultural comm. book is rather funny. It opens with an entire section about Italians, and how they perceive themselves and the rest of the world. Some interesting Facts from that include:
-Italian men are all mommy's boys, because their spoiled their entires lives to the point where their so dependent upon the women in their lives....that in reality the Italian women are the runners and true "men" of the households. The women just pretend that the men really wear the pants.
-Italian women were polled to be the hardest working people in the entire world.
-Italian operas are usually overacted because the drama of daily life is so intense. The book described it as constantly performing on stage, which is why italy produces such amazing actresses.
-Italians would rather die than be caught losing face.
-Love is a serious buisness. and apparently the stereotype of italian men being amazing lovers has caused Viagra sales to be record high in Italy..and also that italian condoms are half a centimeter longer than other countries. lols.
14. I have yet to understand how anyone drives here and doesnt die. I have yet to see or hear any crazy accidents but with the way they drive it seems impossible that could be so. For instance, I was walking down Via Faenza, a small but busy street, and a car i guess missed the st it was supposed to turn down so it decided to just throw it in reverse, and careen backwards down the street towards another car that was going equally as fast forward. I just stopped walking and watched because i figured there was no way they could pull this off. A) he was going so fast and B) the street was so little! But no, as if by magic and at the last possible second the forward moving car slowed down just enough so that the crazy reverse car could just swerve into the originally intended street, all without a single horn or screech of brakes or anything. needless to say, i was amazed and continue to be by this sort of thing happening all the time.
15. I miss sweatpants/sweatshirt days. you dont do that here. ever.
16. I have become addicted to Kebabs. ohh their so good. the hot sauce and whatever that other thing they pt on there is so damn good.

so thats it. hopefully i feel better by this weekend so that Roma will be bene. mm.