today in anthro my teacher asked a question, which doesn't happen often since it's a big lecture class, and i actually raised my hand and got the answer! before italians! it wasn't a particularly difficult question, but i was ridiculously proud of myself for really speaking out loud at all in a class here.

yesterday i walked by a shop window with a display of a RIDICULOUS amount of porcini mushrooms, and i was like whoa, that is an enormous amount of funghi. then i realized that the WHOLE SHOP was devoted to mushrooms. a mushroom shop. totally normal. the sign over it said "profumeria: the sweet perfume of porcini mushrooms" in italian. i'm going back to take a picture at some point.

my salsa lesson yesterday was disappointing and meh, but i won't bother going into the details of why because it's not that interesting. however! afterwards i went to a discoteca that was having a salsa night, and it made up for absolutely everything the lesson was lacking. i have never been to a dance where all the guys were experts and were showing the ladies what to do. i have also never been so well salsa'd in my life! i learned a new style called "bachata", which is sort of like latin america's response to the blues. the whole evening was also free, because i didn't buy any drinks. unfortunately the club was reeeeally far away from my apartment, so i had to walk for quite a bit after dancing all night.

tomorrow i'm going to modena and parma for the afternoon with laurel, which should be cool. i'm looking forward to an exquisite lunch, because parma is famous for parmesan cheese, parma ham, and balsamic vinegar. oh yes. i've been planning a visit for quite some time now. :)

next week my contemporary history of europe class ends and my philosophy of music class begins! that means there's a history exam in my near future, but i'm not sure exactly when. hm.

i washed my hair today and my new haircut is still working out. my perm has grown out enough that the bangs only curl a little bit naturally, and didn't prove to be much of a problem to make presentable.