Birthday Abroad

So tomorrow is my birthday and I think I just realized that this is the first time I'll ever be celebrating my birthday abroad... that can't be right, can it?? Well anyways, I'm just (barely) over a stomach bug and am essentially willing myself to feel fantastic (I'm not entirely convincing, but a trip to the pharmacia should help my cause). I'd like to give a shout out to fellow intern Fava whose recent blog post perfectly and eloquently illustrates how I've felt these last few days.

In a few minutes Katie and I are heading into Florence for some shopping, dining (probably Indian food woohoo!) and other birthday-related activities. I was hoping that Snookie and Jwoww would be able to join the fun, but apparently Snookie had an altercation with the polizia a couple days ago...

Another exciting thing happening this week is that we might finally be getting internet (AKA. "the email") in our apartment so we don't have to come up to the villa in the daytime only. We have high hopes, but our knowledge about this comes from a multi-lingual game of telephone, so we aren't entirely sure what's going on. Apparently the other day, Sig. Gori said that they were aiming a satellite to shoot internet at our apartment... Then yesterday Miranda told us that we were getting wifi... the kind that needs cables. We were originally told it would happen yesterday, but then while I was sick on the couch watching Battlestar Galactica (just getting into it.. totally hooked), the "internet guys" came in and said something about venerdi (Friday)... soooo maybe by the time I get back from Croatia. We'll see.

Oh I should also update you on Katie and my excursion to the seaside town of Viareggio on Saturday. It didn't help that I was getting sick and sort of passed out on the insanely crowded train on the way back, but besides that it was good. We got there and plopped ourselves down under an umbrella on some loungers, but after a little while, some donne grosse beside us told on us (apparently it was a private part of the beach where you have to pay 15 euros for an umbrella). So we said ok, we'll just go put our towels down on the sand. Apparently you also need to pay for that. So we asked directions to the public part of the beach. The lady told us it's "piccolissimo" (tiny). That is an understatement. It's about the same square footage as my last 1-bedroom apartment in Toronto, and it's not even by the water (See below picture). It is also apparently make-out central. Nevertheless, we worked a bit on our tans, and I am officially "off-white" as opposed to "eggshell". Hurrah!

That's all for now! Ciao ciao.

Italian boys + legs shaved = ready for beach!

Looking over the private beach to the mountains beyond. Very scenic.

Katie kindly showing you the public beach. See what I mean??