Friends, there is so much goodness to share! These past few weeks were unbelievably amazing. I don’t think it is possible for me to relay to you how incredible they were, but I will try to anyway.
Rewind two weeks. That week included an absolutely ridiculous trip to the Laundromat, a pleasant God Squad where we learned about the church fathers, a gelato trip with our deacon and seminarian friends, a demonstration of Italian college students that blocked up the streets, an eight-page paper for Archaeology, a moral theology midterm, and piccolo amounts of sleep. All of these things were good (except for the lack of sleep), and when Thursday night rolled around, things became even more brilliant.
I have two words for you: Fleet. Foxes.
If you are not already in love with Fleet Foxes, you should introduce yourself to them and then fall in love. A good place to start is White Winter Hymnal. It is one of their well-known songs. (And it’s my favorite song to sing in the shower.) A few of my current favorites are Bedouin Dress, Ragged Wood, Battery Kinzie…the list goes on. Just check it out, yeah?
After I dominated my religion midterm, my friend Francesca and I hailed a cab and made our way across town for the concert. It was my first time ever riding in a cab, and let me tell you, the cab drivers in Rome don’t mess around. We arrived safely to our destination and waited in line for an hour for the doors to open. Frannie and I couldn’t stop smiling because we were so pumped.
The venue where they held the concert was a club that is usually used as a discothèque, so it was all floor space. Frannie and I made our way to the front; we were stuck behind the tallest person in the entire room (of course), but we were only about ten feet from the stage. Great success! The opener consisted of a chick singer and two men on guitar. I think they were called Alela Diane and the two Toms. They were quite enjoyable. If Florence and the Machine and Fleet Foxes had a baby together, it would sound kind of like this band. They played a nice set and at the end, Alela mentioned that one man was her husband and the other was her father. How cute is that?!
Then came the foxes. And foxes they were.
The concert was absolutely incredible, as were the beards. Fran and I formed a huge crush on one of the members who was a skinny little guy with a big beard and a round head and who could play about 5 million different instruments. The atmosphere and stage presence were just right, and they played all of our favorite songs. I may or may not have cried at one point…go ahead. Judge me. I am going to be so bold as to say that it was the best concert I have ever been too. Well, it’s tied with Avett Brothers.
Fran and I had an epic night and everything went smoothly until it was time to find our way home. When we left the venue, we couldn’t find a taxi anywhere. We waited patiently and finally one drove by. And didn’t stop. Alright, take two. A few minutes later, Fran hailed another taxi. This one did stop, and we hopped in along with three other girls. The driver said, “No, no, no. Only four to taxi. Only four.” The other girls were really nice and said they would just catch the next one. When they got out, the driver was livid. Apparently he only serves blonde females. So he made us get out of the taxi, and then he backed up on the busy street and picked up a couple blondes on the corner. Fran, who originates from Manhattan, was shocked. Never in her life has she been kicked out of a taxi. So, she was irritated. Well, irritated is putting it lightly…It didn’t help that we kept getting up-streamed after that. Finally, Fran hailed another taxi. This time, some girl started sprinting in order to steal it. So Fran sprinted after her. I want you to imagine an extremely angry redhead, who just happens to be wearing a foam crown, running down the middle of a busy street. That was Fran. She beat the girl to the cab, but the girl shoved Fran and made her lose her shoe, which gave the girl time to hop in. So if Fran was angry before, I can’t even describe what she was after that scenario. From my point of view, it was ridiculously funny. We had a good laugh about it afterwards. After that, we waited a few more minutes, but there was not a taxi in sight, so we decided to start walking home. We figured we would catch a cab eventually. About 15 minutes into our walk, Fran hailed a taxi and we were not denied or forced out. We laughed the entire ride back, just glad to be safe and a little warmer. When we got back to our street, the cab driver got out, opened the door for Frannie, and said, “Now I can say that I have opened the door for the queen.” We were confused for a moment, and then we realized that Fran was still wearing her crown that she got at the concert, and we laughed. As we crossed the street, about 30 taxis drove by in a large group. Oh, the irony.
It was quite a beautiful night and it was definitely a growing experience for me. Frannie and I are so different from each other, but we are such good friends, and I am so very thankful to have her in my life.
Hhhhhokay. So fast-forward a few hours to Friday morning. Gracie and I wake up before the sun so we can catch a four-hour train to Venice. We slept for the majority of the ride, and when we heard the stop for Venice, we hopped off. After the doors of train closed and it began to leave the station, we realized that we had gotten off at the wrong stop. Oops. Apparently, there are two stations in Venice and we got off just a tad early. We dubbed the section of town we were in “fake Venice” because there wasn’t a drop of water in sight, and we were expecting gondolas and everything. We grabbed a cappuccino and then caught the next train to “real Venice.” When we got off the train and walked outside, we finally saw water. And oh how glorious it was! The streets of ancient Venice were waterways, and so many of the buildings had doors that opened up to the water. There were bridges and boats and gondolas galore, and the sun sparkled on the water. We could tell it was going to be a great day.
We walked around the city, wandering in and out of shops that had walls lined with handmade masks. We stumbled upon a park with trees and a play area for kids. Of course we had a turn on the swings and I climbed all over the jungle gym. Oh, to be young again…
In the afternoon, we took a gondola ride. Yes, we had a dude with a striped shirt and a sweet hat. No, he didn’t serenade us. But that didn’t make it any less good. He actually told us all about the history of the city as he rowed us along. We were impressed at how well he navigated the narrow alleyways and managed not to crash into other gondolas and boats as we passed them in tight spaces. Seeing the city from the perspective of the boat was amazing and refreshing. Grace and I may have made a slight attempt to rock the boat, but it was an epic fail. We did get a lot of funny looks from passersby on land. People must have thought we were lovers. I’m sure our constant giggling and smiling at each other probably didn’t help. Sorry we’re not sorry…
We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city. We absolutely fell in love with Venice, and we were so sad to leave. Someday, we promised ourselves, we will go back. Sigh.
Saturday and Sunday were filled with lots of learning and growing and loving. You know, the usual. I spent some good quality time with my friend Libby, and I fell even more in love with her. (As if that is even possible.) We had some amazing conversations and ate good food and she was present when I bought a kick-ass pair of boots. It was quite the weekend.
On Sunday night, Grace came back from hanging out with her parents, and while we were talking, we discovered that a bird had defecated in her hair. After she had a minor freak out (nothing is minor with Grace), she stuck her head in the shower and I helped her wash the poo out of her hair. Talk about friendship! We take good care of each other for sure.
I realize that this post is already ridiculously long, and I’m not even close to being done. I am going to quit for the night, but we will pick up again soon. I promise. Oh, the tales I have to tell.
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