Oh, you speak English?

So today made me very happy for a litany of reasons. Firstly, today is only a day until I leave to go be with KK in Athens. I am far too excited, and I can't wait to be in such a historic place, one of the few in the world that makes even Roma look young. Secondly, Matt Damon's comments on Sarah Palin were fantastical in every way. If you haven't seen them, please, do yourself a favor and do. It's a very intelligent, honest, and eerily funny (not actually funny, since it's too honest-to-God true it does make me scared).

But really, I had a pretty awesome experience today after I got out of class around 1. We studied ALL class period for the exam tomorrow, worth only 40 percent of my final grade, no big deal. Our class was absolutely put through the ringer, and I felt at the end of it like I was sitting pretty nicely for the exam tomorrow. That is not to say that all night after I blog (and make dinner) I won't be studying, since I will be. Until I go to bed. How grand!

After that monsterous 3.5 hours of review, I just went for a walk to take a break. I walked over towards Piazza Navona, a rather famous Piazza which is home to the Fontana dei Quattro Fiume, or the Four Rivers Fountain, one of the alters of science in Angels and Demons, for those of you who have read that. I just walked over there about 5 minutes after I got out and just wandered around, taking a few pictures and checking out the arcitecture of the buildings surround the Piazza (they're Baroque and apparently a focal point of Baroque architecture, no big deal, right?). It was really cool to know that it's just right there, a few blocks away.

There are several fountains in the Piazza, but the biggest Quattro Fiume is under construction. Lameeee. But I still got the Obelisk in there, it's the center of the picture to the right. And I just like how all the fountains here are user-friendly as far as drinking out of, how awesome is that? Not to mention refreshing.

But from there, I browsed some of the artwork for no one in particular, and there were literally 2 dozen or so stands around vending their artwork, and I decided to ask about the cost, and of course, in Italian. I asked, he responded, and I told him what I was looking for, and he showed me a few things that I might like, and I mentioned how hot it was today and he laughed, saying he'd been out there all day. I only had a 50, and he went in to break it but gave me my purchase as leverage, came back, and I was getting ready to leave the stand when these two tourists did exactly what tourists do: speak in their native tongue, in this case, English. But they were talking a few feet away, and I overheard their conversation about how they wanted to have someone take their picture, and one of them gestured to me, but I was speaking Italian and they didn't know how to ask. So, they came up and asked if I could, and I said "ok"

They did not know I knew English at that point, and I was curious if they did or not. So, I counted to three in Italian and took the picture of them, smiled, and handed them their camera back and I told them (in English) to have a nice day, and they both looked surprised I spoke English, and affirmed that by saying:

"Oh, you speak English! How many of you over here do? It's impressive!"

Yup. So I fooled some tourists. Pretty awesome. Now for fooling the people who actually live here. That's much more difficult. I told them I wasn't from here, just lived here, and they were impressed. So cool for me, I suppose.

I wandered back here and got some money from the Bancomat (or the ATM) I took out 100 Euro, which before cost me 149 bucks a few weeks ago. Now it cost only 141. Or 8 fewer bucks. SCORE! Here's to hoping the Dollar keeps going up and the Euro falls a bit more! Anyway, I made my away, dealing with the insanity of heat today: 32 Celsius with 100% Humidity. Whew. I'm really going through laundry quickly, that's for sure. I always feel like a shower is a good idea, but I joked with the vendor about how hot it was and asked when it cooled down and the tourists leave, as if they were connected. Maybe they are, who knows?

That was sarcasm, by the way. I really like tourists (so was that).

I got back here around 2:15 and had to fix the internet for the whole floor by telling the front desk they needed to give us the new codes, which I then had to help everyone figure out how to enter. I really am just doing it all today I guess.

But yup, that's really about it for today. I think I'll include another picture of my walk home since hey, why not? I am leaving for Athens tomorrow and I'll probably get a quick update in before I go, but I'm not sure how plentiful the updates will be while I'm over there, so just know that much. I'll post my infinite number of pictures when I get the chance, fear not! But as always, until next time,

Ciao.