11 days to go, 400 euro left

CAN HE MAKE IT?!!

DUN DUN DUN.

DUN.

Last night was awesome. Awesome awesome awesome. I made a friend here in our school, this girl Allison from Chicago. She's a fellow polynaut, though didn't really know there were terms to describe the practice. Over the last few weeks we've bonded over talk about relationship styles, partner issues, etc, and last night her, myself, and her two roomates Sam and Jaquelin went to a festival behind Circus Maximus (where the chariots used to race, now a public park).

We were sent there by Davide, one of the teachers here, to see some indie rock band. I never found out who they were, but they sounded very similar to Bjork or Mazzy Star. We didn't actually go inside the area where the stage was, because it was five euro, and we discovered the most amazing candy stand run by a family from Firenze (Florence). I bought a bunch of sugar-dried apricots, and the girls got sacks full of a variety of gummies and jellies.

We traded candies and walked around the festa, stopping in at little shops and occasionally making purchases, talking to shopkeepers and checking out the Italian indie/emo scene. The styles of clothing and makeup are amazingly similar, even down to the lightly scarred undersides of their pale forearms where they used to cut themselves during their "dark" period (middle school).

Candies in tow, we trucked over to Maximus and sat in the park drinking beers and redbull, bullshitting about the incredible nature of the very park itself. Once thousands of Romans would gather there, women never to be allowed where there are now jogging paths, and great steeds would rush around the elliptical track, spurred on by screaming fans and the cracking whips, pouring sweat onto the dusted road, dragging their champion's chariot to the finish. The park is still the same shape as the circus, a bowl surrounding an elliptical track, and in the center were a group of teenagers drinking beer with candles set in a circle around them, probably talking about who-likes-who in their school. Shady gents in hoodies lounged about the center as well, sometimes being approached by nervous looking tourists. Hands would move, items hidden away in pockets, and they would separate.

Allison and I broke away from her roomates, who called it a night early, and returned to the festa with an invigorated lust for the items we wanted but hadn't purchased yet in Italy. I finally bought a second ring for my left hand, successfully replacing some unwanted jewelry with some Italian silver, and a pair of capri pants that it took Allison a good 10 minutes and two visits to the same store front to convince me would look good on me. They're brown and orange stripes, a boldly European pair of pantelocini if I ever saw one. We found her some nice shirt/skirt things, and giggled as the guy behind the table flirted with Allison, commenting on her bust being too big for the shirt, etc.

We resolved to memorize Italian phrases as well as the regular vocab and conjugations we've been studying, so we can at least appear to be good at Italian to anyone we only have to speak to for less than 30 seconds. I still have to stand there and stare at someone when they ask me something to think about how to answer them in the right tense, and move all of the direct objects in front of the verbs, and remember what words mean what, etc. The whole process is exhausting, and not nearly as fun as saying "Basta!" When someone won't leave me alone.

Just found out it's going to be 66 degrees and probably raining in Dortmund for Love Parade, but that's not really getting me down at all. I'm just having a hard time figuring out what to bring with me. I don't want to bring my backpack because I won't have anywhere to deposit it, since I have no lodgings for that night, and I don't want to be overburdened for just a day there when the more I'm carrying means the less easily I'll be able to dance.

Feel free to post comments with suggestions. Right now I'm thinking capri's, boots, short sleeve black shirt, vest, space holster for various items, but that's where my creativity stops. Maybe I'll get one of those plastic collapsible rain sleeves, but I still don't know what to do about a place to put sunglasses, etc. I might have to cave and buy smaller sling bag. Damn me for not bringing my camelback, it would have been ideal for this conundrum.

Of course, the airline might have made me check it, since it is a giant receptical for liquids. Who fucking knows.

Vexed,

-Sean