"in Italy it's more for people with significant others.."

alright lets talk about Valentines Day weekend shall we?
ok great, sit down and listen.

So its Friday night at dinner and we're all super excited for the weekend, the theme of the weekend "Cortona In Love". (I guess Valentine's Day is pretty big here...granted that everywhere you turn is a dumb romantic restuarant or a wine bar or a chocolate shop...Cortona is basically where Valentines Day hangs out for the other 364 days out of the year...great, how did I get sooooo lucky.) Ok so we're at dinner and I flag down Mr. not so tall, dark and handsome; Marco. I asked him if there is a certain color to wear for valentines day besides pink and red (I mean I was planning on wearing black all weekend...its basically a tradition for the juniors of the volleyball team...). He proceedes to loose it, laughing hysterically, and I'm like...god this guy thinks I'm a joke...but I'm ok with that, most people think I am...and most of the time I will agree. Ok so he started laughing and proceeds to try to lay it down gently on me that Valentines Day in Italy is a holiday more for those with significant others (I wish you guys were here I can do a great impression of him doing this...hand gestures and all)...WHAT ARE YOU SAYING MARCO, JUST BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE A BOYFRIEND I CAN'T CELEBRATE IT!?!? (no I did not say that, but I was thinking it, and I was thinking it all in caps too). After that bomb was dropped I sunk into my wonderful puffy cloudlike dessert that I could of eaten until the day I die.
Saturday night we all decide to go out to dinner then go out. Well at dinner Bailey realized that she was not only sitting inbetween two groups feeling that she can't really be part of one or the other's conversations but above all, she was the third wheel in an ever so obvious date between Carrie and Triscuit. Yep...folks it looks like the first heat of the competition is over, and Carrie is the winner...Will this relationship blossum, or fail miserably with a messy breakup and a surprise ending? JEE I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!
So dinner went off without any casualties...well except for the glass that Alexis shattered....we hadn't even been served our first course yet...ha. I think my dinner consisted of half a bottle of red that Alexis and I shared and maybe a gallon of balsamic vinegar (I looove this stuff over here, its ten times better than anything back in the states...balsamic vinegar has become a major food group in my diet...along with chocolate and wine..I'm a health nut can't you tell?). Ok then we decided we owed it to ourselves to order dessert before we drowned our sorrows in "fruity sweet surprises" at the bar...
Alexis and I shared creme brulee...holy shit it was the best thing everrrr. The table went silent after all the  desserts were brought out, then it sounded like everyone was having sex when really everthing was so good...we couldn't help but make noise.

we love dessert

We arrive at the bar...already feeling pretty good. After we order our drinks...when I say order I mean, we flagged down John Luca and said "SURPRISE US! (I obviously got my fruity sweet surprise while Alexis...well we're pretty sure she got straight alcohol....) As the night went on, Kate proceeded to whip her hair while "free boobing it", Alexis ran off to take tequila shots and my girl Karina made sure I didn't rest my head on the bar long enough to fall asleep. Then the night picked up...we found an old exam for one of our Art History exams...and took it...then...the heavens opened an a futbol team walked in...shit, it was a high school team. (you forgot that the drinking age here is 16 so half the time you're getting hit on by a pubescent teen...jesus) I quickly made friends with Mattio...he was such a little cutie pie, obviously shorter than me, 18, and the one out of them all that spoke english the best. We met while he was translating for his coach...who thought I had "beautiful eyes"...

(At this point in the night our wonderful friend John Luca had been giving us drinks on the house including a round of Limoncello...yayerssss....oh and then we proceeded to invent the "Awoww" cocktail...now being served at the Lions Well Pub....so taking this all into account I had completely lost my filter to what I was saying and found everything funny)

John Lucca making the first official "Awoww"

So as the futbol coach proceeded to hit on my through his translator Mattio, I asked a simple question "HOW OLD IS THIS GUY!?"...Mattio proceeded to tell me 27/28. WOAH WOAH WHAT?!
Ok, in America you're not a range of ages, you're one age. And this guy was not 27/28...more like 30-35...hell maybe 38...I make cuts when it comes to potential suitors...and he didn't make it. I proceeded then to make a dear friend out of Mattio and his teammates.
After spending a few hours at the bar and rounding everyone up...Kate, Karina, Alexis and I all went to Route 66. Jesus this place is the euro version of the ticker...but if Coach actually put money back into the buildling and had a decent selection of liquors. We saw a few other girls from out program and proceeded to dance the night away. As we were doing so Kate proceeded to dance with our waiter from dinner than night (so great...he must of been at least 48), then she had what could only be described as a scene from Step Up 3d with a...I'm going to say 13 year old, I was dragged onto a table with this guy that I thought was decent...until I focused my vision. BARFFFF...he tried to make out with me...I needed an out and fast...I told him I was a lesbian and that Kate was my girlfriend and ran away..while this all took place we had lost Alexis. christ.
So as we gathered our stumbling selves and some friends that we had met (actually very nice guys but none of them had a chance with any of us...but Zane thought otherwise with Alexis..bro you're 16, this isn't The Graduate). As we're all looking for her, I was not in the best state and thought for sure that I had seen someone from home. I got soooo excited, beelined it to the other side of the club and hugged him...then he turned around..and it wasn't him. I quickly apologized, and walked away...one of the most heartrenching experiences ever.
Alright so as Karina has officially hit mother mode and is frantically looking for Alexis...we finally realize she's fine, and leave. On the way out we grabbed a shitton of their flyers for Valentines Day and thought we would help their marketing and post them all over the Kehoe center and slide them under everyone's door (GREAT THINKING KARINA!)

the flyers we posted

obviously we needed to put one on the announcements board

So there was the weekend in a nutshell...oh and on Sunday there was a soccer match organized for the program for whoever was interested...Jacob played and I guess the guy is shredded...never would of thought it. I'm obviously going to be at the next one...with my camera.