Final final finally finished

Ciao everyone!

Today, I closed out my first semester at the University of Florence with a bang.

I woke up this morning and was not nearly as nervous as I had been for Museologia two weeks ago. It worried me a little that I wasn't worrying, but I tried to ignore that. Andrea and I traveled into the center where we met Grace and Carla. Together, we walked to the site of our Storia del Costume exam. We arrived on schedule at 9:30, but our professor didn't arrive until 10:15 because she was having back problems. (She's the cutest little old lady with a big hunchback). When she arrived, she did role call and we were numbers 8-11, so we knew we'd be going in the morning, which was great.

Some commotion began a few people before us because our professor had mixed up the dates on the sheets and some Italians were cutting in front of others because they were confused. We kind of sat there quietly because we didn't want to piss off the teacher. However, the Italians unfortunately succeeded at doing just that. Two people before Andrea was supposed to go in to take the exam, the Italians pissed her off so much (by bombarding her with judicial questions) that she stomped down the hallway cursing and saying "basta" very loudly. ("Basta" means "enough"). That made us soooo nervous. For the whole semester, our professor had been famous for being very sweet all the time, so we figured that we were doomed if someone had actually succeeded in making her angry.

A half hour or so later, Andrea went in to take the exam. It felt like she was in there for a whole half hour and I was trying to keep my cool in anticipation. She came out with a smile on her face, but I didn't want any information that could screw me up, so I made myself scarce. When the professor called me in, I walked into her office and then she disappeared into the bathroom for about 10 minutes while I sat there staring at the papers on her desk. She returned and started to fill out a paper for me, since I was a foreign student. As she was looking at my school ID for Florence, she commented on my birthplace (Teaneck, NJ) and wanted to know where that was in relation to NY. Then, she asked about Holy Cross and how long it takes to get there from my house. I was ALL ABOUT the small talk. Sadly, we had to start with Storia del Costume soon after but miraculously, everything went smoothly. Because she had chatted with me so much in the beginning, I was wayyyy less nervous than I had been while taking the Museologia exam. I felt so much more confident, besides the fact that the material was much easier to grasp and had some breathing room with terms and dates. 20 minutes later (which actually felt like 5), she announced "facciamo trenta," which literally means, "we'll do a thirty."--- a perfect score!

I was flying! I thanked her and told her I loved her class (I'm a loser, I know), and then left the room. I quickly found out that Andrea had also gotten a 30. Carla took the exam after I did and received a compliment on her outfit, which is a huge deal for a fashion teacher. She wore a Grandma sweater, so that must be why. She ended up with a 29 and then Grace too received a 29.

We were the happiest kids alive after that exam! We had ended up waiting a total of 4.5 hours and were completely starving by 2:30, so we took ourselves out to sushi to celebrate. Tonight, we're going to go out for a few drinks, but the real celebration starts tomorrow with mine and Maggie's birthday extravaganza!

We'll be going to "La Casalinga" again (the place that the Holy Cross professor, Andrea Borghini took us before Christmas) and then going dancing. On Saturday, we'll all be going over Benedetta's house for dinner because Anarita insisted on celebrating mine and Maggie's birthday. She's making TWO cakes and lots of food. Then she's sending us out dancing. On Wednesday, Maria Pia is cooking a birthday dinner in celebration of mine and Andrea's birthday. All my friends will be coming to that too. On Thursday, Elisa is taking us to an artisan to see how they work leather. And last but not least, we're leaving for Amsterdam on Friday the 5th! We have a whirlwind of events ahead of us and I'm so excited! After a month of studying, we totally deserve it!

I'll update after the birthday celebration!

Ciao!