B's Rambles Through the World: 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Just Not Enough Sex, Drugs, or Rock and Roll

I spent the weekend in Amsterdam...

This is the second time I've been there, and I really like the city. It's a ton of fun and offers lots of sights to see. Sadly this trip was not as fun as the last one, but I was with Brandon, my boyfriend and we stayed in a four star hotel. So as any person can imagine, staying in an 18 person co-ed hostel is a bit of a step down, but I did not care...until I realized I was the only female in the packed room. Needless to say, I was paranoid out of my mind that some man would try to crawl in bed with me! I was tempted into asking Peter, my travel buddy to sleep in my bed to protect. No worries though, I slept safely alone.

As I have said, I traveled to Amsterdam with my friend Peter. And let me just tell everyone never to go Amsterdam with someone of the opposite sex unless you are dating or they are gay. Because I have never felt more awkward than I did walking through the red light district. Don't be misled here, I thought the whole thing was funny and a little sad (because I can't imagine what would make anyone do that as a profession) but I was enjoying it for what it was. Peter on the other hand was clearly so uncomfortable with me being there he hardly glanced at any of the woman! Not that I was staring, but that was part of the fun I thought. There are just too many things that he would have enjoyed so much more if I was a man.

I would also like to let the world know, I can know spell appendicitis perfectly and without thought. Why? Because Peter was convinced he was dying of it the entire weekend. He actually wanted to go to the hospital Saturday night, but I was having no part of that sort of shenanigans man. Instead, I made him just go to bed and deal with it. After returning to Florence, whining for a day, and a trip to the hospital, he is fine. Just a hypochondriac. And sad to say, after separating myself from the entire experience and no longer trying to make the best of it, it was probably one of the worst trips I've taken. I did go to the Van Gough museum, chill out, take a break from life, and have some really cool conversations though. And all of these were awesome and just what I needed. I just hope if I ever go back to Amsterdam, it is with my parents and siblings, because that would be a really fucking good time.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Oh Venice

So it took me way to long to post this, but what can you do?

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

My Love Came to Italy!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Oh Italian School!!

Allora, I am breaking my tradition of only comics to put up this post, but it is very necessary. In the last ten weeks of school in bella Italia, I have noticed several funny fashion trends in the fashion school I attend.

Firstly, there are a group of Swedish girls that go to school with me, but three of them stick out in particular. Two have this really unique and awesome high fashion punk look going for them. Like pencil skirts with funky button ups and chokers with heavy eye make up. The one has a really neat face, as odd as that sounds, strawberry blonde hair with circular eyes, chubby cheeks, and her septum pierced. She also has a sweet tattoo on her forearm of like, a flower explosion. I really want to take a picture of these two, but I have enough against me being an unfashionable American, I don't want to add crazy to the list. But then there is the third Swede, and she looks like stepped straight out of the 80's. High waisted "mom pants" as Niki as dubbed them (baggy in the ass that taper to a tight ankle) are a staple of hers. A common outfit is one I like to call "First Matey." She will pair her "mom pants" with blue keds, and a white tee shirt, tucked in with a funny looking belt. The real gem of this outfit is the tee shirt has printed upon it the tie thing of a sailor's outfit, with the illusion of another shirt beneath it. Here is the closest image I could find of it. Imagine blue with stripes on the "undershirt."

She honestly wears this outfit once a week.

Next I would like to mention one of the other North Americans, named Chantal. Yes Chantal. She is from Mexico, but you would never guess is unless she is speaking. She has that "I really want to look white" image about her. Which I can never understand being as I am white, and a pasty white at that. She has bleach blonde hair and an expression that just screams "squirrel." Here is my interpretation...

I have never seen her without heels or a touch of gold in her ensemble. For the first eight weeks I don't think she repeated an outfit. Which is both impressive and disgusting. Her color palette consists of white, gold, and brown, with an occasional shirt that looks like a rainbow vomited on her. She also owns a gold headband that she wears often. But not a headband to keep the hair out of her eyes, no no, it is a "gold crown of thorns, like Jesus wore" as Niki just told me. Ridiculous.

I will finish the post with the girl who I think puts the most work into her hair of anyone at my school, which trust me, is quite a competition. I do not know where she is from sadly, but if I find out I will let you know. This woman seriously comes to school everyday with her hair teased up about 6 inches above her scalp, with it just pulled back. Clearly the height is the main focus. How she isn't bald, I will never know. She also has a self imposed uniform. She wears either blue or black sheer stockings, ankle boots, and a long sleeved loose fitting dress, with either blue or black thin stripes with thick white stripes. How she has suck a variety of these dresses, I will also never know, but I am nonetheless impressed with the consistency.

Well that about wraps it up man. I will spend the next week attempting stealth photography to capture these women in their prime until then, use your imagination...