grump

last night i didn't sleep at all, and this morning i slept from 4-5 and 7-11. i managed to get up and get ready for the bus tour at 1130, and i'm glad i had all my stuff together because at 1145 the hotel staff came in and said i had to check out by noon. noon was also the time i needed to be in piazza maggiore to catch the bus, so it was kind of a problem. i had told them i was moving into my new apartment at 2030, but they neglected to tell me that i needed to check out at noon regardless. i ended up having to move absolutely everything i own down three flights of stairs to keep at the desk, helped my roommate move all her stuff into another room two flights down, then sprinted several blocks to catch the bus, all within 15 minutes.

long story short i am kind of a sour patch today.

the bus tour was enjoyable. i saw the sun today for the first time in six days, and it was glorious. i wore my sunglasses because i could, even though they weren't exactly necessary. it's not like italians need sunny days to wear sunglasses though; i guess the sun never sets on the roman empire. i saw a bunch of places i'd like to visit this semester, so i think i'll be able to keep pretty busy. i can't wait until it's warm enough to visit the beach.

bologna trivia:
-saint catherine is mummified in a cathedral here, and according to my program director, she is so well preserved that it looks like she's only been dead a year or something. the problem is, you have to have "connections" to get in to see her.
-the basilica of saint petronius (i posted a photo of it yesterday) is half marble because it was supposed to be bigger and fancier than saint peter's in the vatican, but then the pope was like no way that's not cool guys, so they did the rest in another type of stone.
-bologna is called la grassa, "the fat one", because the food is so good here that everyone eats too much. now i definitely need to figure out where to get some exercise. :P
-the meat that we call bologna/baloney in america is called "mortadella" here.

i found the market the other day, and it is the greatest place ever. so many delicious things, oh my god. i can't even describe it. i need to go back and take pictures for you guys. i can't wait to get my groceries there, although i'd have to walk a fair distance with a bunch of grocery bags if i did that.

i'm still trying to break ties with my dear friend caffeine, and it's actually going alright. i've been avoiding it as much as possible this week to try and get onto a decent sleep schedule, although there have been limited results. :P

this is getting long, so i'll stop for now. moving in to my apartment tonight!