Yesterday was quite the adventure. Well, everyday is but yesterday was espcially jam packed with adventures. Oh yeah, and Tuesday was "Mardi Gras" (they dont call it that here but thats essentially what is was). It was pretty uneventful for me. I had class at 9, so I didn't want to get crazy. But we did go out for a little bit and it was funny because there were all kinds of crazy people running around in costumes. They are really into dressing up for Carnival here. There were a lot of drag queens with horrible make up.
But anyways, onto Ash Wednesday. So, I have to get up at 9 for Photography and meet at Castel San Angelo. I thought we were going to just take pictures there, but our teacher tells us to focus mainly on St. Peters Square, which is right down the street since there were a ton of people there for Ash Wednesday and the Pope. We have 36 pictures to capture the "essence of Ash Wednesday," with anything from architecture to people selling all their crazy rubbish. Seriously, they have everything! Little statues of THE DAVID, flowers, food, lighters in the shape of the leaning tower and then there is the Pope merchandise. His face is on everything! Plates, lighters, bottle openers, flags, shirts, cups, bags, hats, seriously, everything. Its insane. So whatever, I wander down the street, taking pictures of whatever. I don't really like taking pictures of people because 1. I don't really care to have pictures of them. 2. Its hard to set up a frame of something interesting because I can't get that close or get them to do what I want and 3. I'm afraid they are going to get mad or tell me I owe them 5 euro, like the gladiators at the Colosseum. So I take a lot of stills, thinking how cool it would be if I could actually get in the square to take pictures. I heard you had to have a ticket, which I didn't so I just stood outside the gates. And I looked kind of creepy too because I busted out the zoom lense to try and get some shots inside the Square. And it was so funny to just watch everyone because they are all getting so hyped up about seeing the Pope. There are tons of people there, singing and waving flags and cheering...even before he comes. It was like a rock concert! Then, he finally comes out on his little Pope chariot (it wasn't the actual Pope mobile) and people go crazy! It was fabulous. And I'm still standing in the back, just cracking up because all I can see is his little white head going by. Oh, and I can see him on the JUMBO TRON they had set up. Thats right, Benedetto was up on the jumbo tron. So hes waving to the people, and people are crying and yelling "Papa!" And I'm laughing because I just can't believe that this is real and I'm really in ITALY at ST. PETERS SQUARE watching the POPE ride by on his chariot. I still can't believe I'm here sometimes. Anyways, I walk closer to the gate because I see some friends and a carabieneri (local police) is all, you want to come in? I told him I didn't have a ticket and he said that you only had to have a ticket to sit down!! I was a little mad because I already used up all my shots, but whatever...I still got to go in. I only stayed for a little bit, but I heard the gospel read in like, 6 langauges and listened to the Pope speak for a little while. I didn't stay to hear him speak in English, but it was still pretty cool. I SAW THE POPE!
So, after my exciting morning, I walked to school, did some random stuff (Photography is my only Wed. class) and then wandered around and did some shopping. I walked off my usual path and found the prettiest little back and side streets. I mean, everywhere you walk here is gorgeous, but it was such a nice day, it was great. And, of course, my camera is still dead because the batteries I bought for it don't work, so I couldn't take any pictures. I spent a couple hours in a bookstore which was amazing as well. I bought some books and a Belinda Carlisle CD, because she is my hero (Heaven on Earth singer...). I also went into this shoe store because they had really cool tennis shoes in the window and I have been wanting cool tennis shoes, so I went in. But it was really strange, because there were no tennis shoes in the actual store, which was only this tiny room. So I stand around for a bit, because the sales person is talking to some guy outside and isn't really interested in helping me so then I just leave because I didn't want to cause any problems. Sales people and waiters here are not very friendly or helpful. I kind of wish I could be a waitress like that at home because they come take our order whenever they feel like, never check on us to see if we want anything, usually someone else brings out the food, and they only bring the check if you can flag them down to ask for it. Anyways, I ended up just walking home and will try again one day in hopes someone else will be working and I can speak better Italian.
I signed up to work in a soup kitchen, so I started that last night. It was very interesting. We had to fight our way through the crowd to even get in. There were some crazy people there! But I guess I would be a little crazy too if I had to resort to the soup kitchen for food. Anyways, there are about 5 of us from my program there doing it, and we were there to clean up and refill the water mainly. Of course, people were making all these demands in Italian, and we were all kind of like, ummmm...I don't understand you. It was frustrating and a little scary sometimes because people would get so mad! There were some Italian girls working as well though, so they could figure out what they wanted. I met some really nice people though. One man taught me the days of the week in Italian and we managed to have an entire conversation with me struggling along in Italian. And most of the other people working were nice as well. There were some jerks though that got all demanding and rude. It made me a little angry because we weren't there to be their waitresses, but they would treat us like we were. I didn't mind helping the nice people but there was a group of younger guys that were so rude and wanted me to take their trays and all this other stuff. And of course, we had some men like, hitting on us, and I'm like, are you serious? We are in a soup kitchen, no I am not giving you my number. Overall, it was good though and I'm looking forward to going back next week.
To end the day, my roommate and I ate some amazing Chinese food and I took bath and went to bed early for once. It was lovely. Tomorrow, we are going to Naples and then Pompeii. I AM SO EXCITED! More to come on that next week! Ciao ciao!
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