Tuesday, I get a little sideways

Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday. The last day to binge and indulge before the season of Lent which starts today. My Mardi Gras, or Martedi Grasso in Italian, was one of the best I've had.

I spent the morning going to class. In lit we watched sections of a movie that was an adaptation of The Decameron , a set of 100 short stories written by Boccaccio, the next author on our list. So, the first hour of class was spent watching these little mini-movies. The second half of class was actually talking about the writer and his life. Our assignment was to read another of his stories and be prepared to discuss in class.

After lit we had language. This past weekend held a major event in Italy. Kind of like our American Idol, the San Remo musical festival showcases singers and their composers. For class we listened to the winner of this year's festival as well as the runner up. We also played some word recognition games with the songs they were singing. The three songs we listened to were each very different in style but very catching. I liked them a lot.

After classes, I went to the post office and mailed out my scholarship application. It cost me 1,50 euro to send it. I took the letter in, greeted the man behind the counter and just gave him the letter. He seemed to shake his head at me, as if saying "Ah, tourists!" before weighing and stamping the letter. I left feeling better knowing that my part was finished.

Eldon, Allyson, Ania, Betsy, and I all went to see the Carnevale parade at Viareggio yesterday. So after class was finished, we went back up to Villa Bonelli, grabbed what we needed, and headed for the #7 bus. Once at the station we purchased our tickets to Viareggio and hoped on a train to Lucca. We had to switch trains at Lucca as the train we were on only went as far as Lucca, but that was alright. When we finally got to Viareggio is was probably aroun 4:30-ish.

We started down the first street we came to, stopped inside this little shop to check out the costumes. Allyson and I both bought masks there. Hers was a white mask with silver accents, and pearl in the middle of the forehead with three white feathers coming off on top. Mine was a gold and purple mask the swept up the side of my head on one side of the mask. Each of us really liked our masks and put them on soon after leaving the store. We then walked to where all the action was taking place.

After purchasing our tickets to get into the fairgrounds, we found a great spot to watch the parade. I have a ton of pictures of the floats and various people in their costumes that I will upload later today. The parade lasted until 7-ish. Then it finally struck us that Viareggio is on the coast, so we had to go find the Mediterranean Sea. Betsy, Ania, and Eldon shucked their shoes and ran into the sea. It was fun to sea them, in the dark, just dancing on the shoreline where the waves broke. I got a ton of sand in my own shoes even without taking the off.

At this time, Eldon and I headed back to Firenze as we both didn't want to be out too late. The last train heading to Firenze left at 10, we were on the 8:45 train and were back in Villa Bonelli by 11. Allyson, Ania, and Betsy had wanted to eat in Viareggio so they stayed behind and came back on the 10 pm train.

Overall it was a great Mardi Gras, one I won't forget. I had a ton of fun and will post those pictures very soon. Ciao.