Officina Zoe and a Night out on the town
The past few days have been pretty interesting. Thursday night, a few of us went to a concert that API planned as one of our many cultural events this semester. The band was called Officina Zoe and apparently they are responsible for a new sort of revolution in the modern Italian music world. Their music is from the South of Italy and was made up of two guys playing Irish drum type instruments, a guy on a guitar, a guy on an accordion, another on a violin and two women singing. It reminded me at different points of irish music, then some sort of tribal african dance and simultaneously tejano. The concert was an experience in itself. The audience was large, but as much as Italians don't have much concept of personal space, they didn't crowd that close to the stage. The energy and rhythm of the music was one of dance, and by the end of the concert no one was standing still. It kind of reminded me of a rock concert where everyone is moshing, but without the running into each other. Everyone was moving, but no one really interrupted the motion of anyone else. The other girls I was with ventured off into the center of the crowd, but I wasn't quite that adventurous. I hung back in one of the little circle niches they had with chairs and tables, but I had a marvelous time just taking in all of the motion and energy. I spent most of the concert with a ridiculous smile on my face. I sorta made friends with an Italian guy that kept coming over to refill his drink out of his smuggled-in beers. His English wasn't good and my Italian is worse, so our conversations were short but friendly. He asked why I wasn't dancing; I said I was shy and then laughed when he said he didn't know what 'shy' meant. It was the kind of familiar yet comfortable interaction that you have with people you sort of strike up conversation with in the middle of a crowd.
Last night I went out with Nalleli and some of her roommates to celebrate Nalleli's 21st birthday, and had a pretty good time. Dinner was really late because the restaurant they wanted to go to didn't take reservations until 10:30 and there were 10 of us going. The food was really good and definitely reasonably priced, and the company was great. I had a great time talking with Nalleli about family and friends from home that she's missed out on since she's been in New York for the past 3 years. I think I might have convinced her to come back to Texas for graduate school, and she'll be in San Antonio this summer. She had plenty to drink and is probably hurting pretty bad this morning, but she was having a great time all night. I had a good time, especially since it was my first experience 'out' since I've been here in Florence. I'm more of a stay-at-home-and-hang-out-with-friends kind of girl, so I haven't really wanted to venture out too much in a strange place. I braved the Italian crowds last night, had a good time but don't think I'll be repeating it every single night like some of the other students here. It was quite a bit more stressful with the Italian guys hovering over our little group of girls; you have to make sure you don't make eye contact with any of them otherwise they consider that an invitation to come over and talk to you. I was out with my girlfriends and didn't want to have to worry about beating off a persistent Italian guy, so it was kind of irritating.
So I got my dose of Italian culture for the weekend, and now I'm just taking a break from my studying. Mid-terms are this coming week and I'm not sure exactly what to expect. After that comes Easter and Spring Break. I'm about halfway, eek!
ciao.
Last night I went out with Nalleli and some of her roommates to celebrate Nalleli's 21st birthday, and had a pretty good time. Dinner was really late because the restaurant they wanted to go to didn't take reservations until 10:30 and there were 10 of us going. The food was really good and definitely reasonably priced, and the company was great. I had a great time talking with Nalleli about family and friends from home that she's missed out on since she's been in New York for the past 3 years. I think I might have convinced her to come back to Texas for graduate school, and she'll be in San Antonio this summer. She had plenty to drink and is probably hurting pretty bad this morning, but she was having a great time all night. I had a good time, especially since it was my first experience 'out' since I've been here in Florence. I'm more of a stay-at-home-and-hang-out-with-friends kind of girl, so I haven't really wanted to venture out too much in a strange place. I braved the Italian crowds last night, had a good time but don't think I'll be repeating it every single night like some of the other students here. It was quite a bit more stressful with the Italian guys hovering over our little group of girls; you have to make sure you don't make eye contact with any of them otherwise they consider that an invitation to come over and talk to you. I was out with my girlfriends and didn't want to have to worry about beating off a persistent Italian guy, so it was kind of irritating.
So I got my dose of Italian culture for the weekend, and now I'm just taking a break from my studying. Mid-terms are this coming week and I'm not sure exactly what to expect. After that comes Easter and Spring Break. I'm about halfway, eek!
ciao.