what the heck is up with these pants.

I would just like to say thank you, Cameron, for recognizing that I am fashionably challenged. Clearly I had no idea what these pants were and plan to go do some intense research at target.com. Also, could someone please post a phonetic spelling because currently I am thinking that you pronounce it similar to the name Groucho Marx and I'm like 99% sure that's wrong. Anyway. I don't think I like the idea, I'd just like to say for the record. I have seen these pants around, but when I have seen them they have been on very very very thin girls who wear them with baby t-shirts that show like 3 inches of very tan, muscular midriff and who also wear their hair like Lindsey Lohan and really big fashionable sunglasses. So I don't have a very good perception of them.

Just would like to say I went to "www.chapelthrill.com" by accident trying to see the blog and you should all go. Seriously.

I am about to tell you the scariest story in the world. Well, scary to me, because I have a stalker. A real one.

Sooo last like, Thursday night I was riding the bus home. My roomies wanted to stay in the city awhile longer but I was beat and headed home. If you didn't know, I have a COMMUTE. I am sometimes on the bus for an hour or so...but usually later at night it can be just a half hour, so not too bad, right? I got on the bus at the stazione (the START of the line) and get off at Antella (the END of the line) and was chillin out, read the Italian newspaper that was on the seat in front of me for awhile. This man, who looks smily and cheerful, sat in the seat in front of me and asked (in Italian) if he could read the newspaper. It wasn't mine, so I was just like, "whatevs, dude," and turned on my iPod. I was reading a book but couldn't focus on it, and I kept noticing that the guy in front of me kept sneaking glances at me. I was like, ooook, whatever, and about 10 minutes into the ride he turned around and started talking to me. Now, I'm a friendly person, and I really like speaking Italian so I chatted with him for awhile, told him I was studying here, blah blah blah. He asks for my phone number. I don't actually have the number memorized, I keep it on a card in my wallet...but I told him I had left the card at home. He asked if he could see my phone and try to get it out of there, so I gave it to him because the keypad is LOCKED and I was not about to tell him how to unlock it. He fiddled with the phone for like 10 minutes and kept talking to me. Finally I asked him where he got off, and he was like, oh, my stop is already passed, I'm just riding with you now. This is the point where I freaked out a little. I had originally planned to walk home from the bus stop (it's kinda far from the house and usually our host dad picks us up after we call him) because it was a nice night, but I decided THEN that I would be calling Marcello to pick me up. I took my phone back and he gave me HIS number and told me to call him right then so he would have my number. I told him I didn't have any money on my phone (phone system here is different, you have to keep your phone "topped up" with money so you can make calls) which was clearly a lie. He busted out HIS phone and tried to take a picture of me with his camera phone which I put a stop to with a quickness. Then he started bugging me about when we were going to get together again, was I free the following morning? The following evening? Apparently his stop was like 25 minutes before mine and we just sat there talking and whatever. When we got to my stop, I called Marcello and asked him to pick me up, the dude tried to like GRAB me as I got off the bus, but I pulled away and was like CIAO!

Ok so I thought that was the end, right? I got rid of the scary man, Marcello picked me up and I told him about it, and he was just like, be careful, you can call me whenever, blah blah blah. This was awhile ago! I forgot about the scary Moroccan man! (oh yeah he told me he was from Morocco and he WAS smily and friendly but in a VERY SCARY WAY). This morning, I get out of the car at the bus stop and THERE HE IS. Kat and Piya get out and my brain just like shut down. We look at the bus schedule and realize we missed the bus and the other isn't coming for a half hour. I suggest we go to the other bus stop in Antella, they look at me like I am nuts but I whisper that the scary scary man is at the BUS STOP. So we walk away. HE FOLLOWED US!!!! He is like saying my name and we are just ignoring him and walking away. SO we get to the other bus stop and pretend to be very interested in the schedule. He comes up and he's like, "Mary Ellen, cara, mi ricordi?" and I just stared at him. He kept asking me if I remembered him and I just looked at him and pretended I didn't speak Italian. Then he asks me in ENGLISH what my name is and I was just like...um...why? Who are you? What? And he keeps asking and finally I told him my name was Debra (what? where did I come up with this?) and that I didn't speak Italian. So he like wanders into a bar. I am so nervous, I am like shaking. This man is crazy. He comes back OUT and asks us if we want coffee, and we're all like NO, and I just give him this look like he is nuts. That is it. We get on the bus, he doesn't, it's done. RIGHT!?!?! I am so afraid to ride the bus alone now. Because CLEARLY he was in Antella JUST TO FIND ME AGAIN. He doesn't LIVE there!!! Kat suggested that maybe he lied and actually does live in Antella....but really....he didn't get off the other night....AHHHHHH. I'm so bugged out. I'm going to attach myself to other people and never be alone again. Actually, that's not true. I have to be brave...but seriously it was the weirdest thing ever and he is so creepy and scary and he's after me...

Ok sorry for the excessive drama. I'm really not THAT afraid but I am freaked out and I don't really know what to do. If I see him again...um...I still don't know what I'll do. AH! I need some of those pants and then I could suffocate him with all the excess fabric.

wow-chos

Thanks for the shout-out on the R&R's cam. Clearly I have to do something since I cant wear gauchos. I am going to go ahead and predict the "it" style for next spring/summer...COOLOTS!! I am not even sure how that is spelled, but you know what I am talking about. Coolots are somewhat like gauchos, except less flowly. They are much more matronly and appear almost skirt-like from afar. However, a skirt never dreamed of movement and freedom like this. ANYWAY, i just felt like I had to comment on the pants-craziness that has transpired on the blog. Hey, at least there were posts right? Oh well, I am gearing up for my last week in WS, and I am pumped about moving to rdu/ch next week! Maybe I wont be so utterly alone anymore! haha. It was great to see you this weekend cam and kel, and amir and ME, hope to hear from you soon!

Introducing the "SAVE THE BLOG" campaign

Alright. So whoever told me that I would not only be blogging, but i would be spearheading the move to SAVE THE BLOG...I would have laughed in their face. HA! But now, it seems that everyone has something better to do...except me. I just ran a track workout with a bunch of crazies, and I am still bored and borderline depressive. SO, I beg of you, for the sake of my existence, my sad, lonely, bleak, did I meantion lonely? existence, SAVE THE BLOG!!! it needs serious CPR, and seeing how I will hopefully be a certified health professional in less than one year, it seems to have fallen on my shoulders to do the mouth to mouth. BREATHE BLOG BREATHE! Help me breathe life back into this withering artifact and help save one of the few connections I have to some really good friends for the moment. I miss you all more than I can say and I hope you are all doing fabulously. Thank you.

hoodie hooooo!

Hahahahahahah….last night I was doing homework with Kat (my roommate) and I said something about how I get ready really fast in the AM. She was like, really? How long do you take to get ready? And I was like, OHHH man I get ready with a QUICKNESS! And she looked at me with this really puzzled expression and was like…with a quickness? And I realized again that this is actually a WEIRD phrase but I love it, like I LOVE it. In other news, there was a phone number for an Italian-spanish gigolo on the bus today, so if anyone is interested…let me know and I’ll hit that up.

wow.

So here is my story. I was at the Cinque Terre this weekend, basically these 5 little beach towns that are SO incredibly Italian (check here for pictures). I was with 10 kids from the program, and the town is so small that we were basically just all over the place at night, some people at the bar, some people at the marina, etc. I was one of the marina kids, so I wasn't drinking. I was sitting at a trattoria with some other people and we had some dessert (but it was gross, sadly, and the waiter yelled at us so we were pissed) when this other girl came up and was like, "we gotta go, NOW" so we all busted a move. As I left, this random UGLY dude was like, "Where you go now???" and so I said to him (in Italian), "I've got friends up at the bar that I have to meet" and he was like, (in broken english) "you have friends HERE." And I was like, HA, NO, and peaced out. So I went up and met my roommate at the bar, and she was drizunk, and wanted to go down to the marina, so I was like ugh, fine. So we start wandering down, and she is going on about how she wants a cigarette but doesn't want to buy them, blah blah, so I mention that I have a "friend" down at the marina and could get one...and she's like YES YES YES YES YES!!!! So. We pass the dude on the way down and I told him that my friend wanted a cigarette, and he was like, what, YOU don't want one? and I'm like, no thanks, I'm good, and he lights one up for Piya and she goes on her merry way with Maura. Well, the guy like STOPS me and starts asking me all these questions (in really bad English) and I'm trying to talk to him in Italian and GET PAST HIM (I was at the top of a set of steps) and Piya and Maura are just wondering away and he tells me that he's Portuguese so of course he doesn't understand what I'm saying in Italian and THEN HE KISSES ME and grabs my back and then like drraaaaags his hand up over my breasts....EEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Piya and Maura are laughing at me and I couldn't get away and then I just like busted free and ran down the steps. It was so sick. SICK.

So that is the story of my first European groping.

p.s., if anyone goes to Lisbon, I bet I can hook you up with a place to stay. George seems very accomodating.

To clear things up a bit...

Ok, sorry for that random posting...I was a little excited/unhinged at the moment. SO, rock & republic is an overpriced brand of jeans, a pair of which i have wanted for some time now. On friday, i broke the bank and bought a pair, after which i was in a hyper-emotional state for the rest of the night, ask kel, and into sat, ask cam. By nothing short of a miraculous intervention to save my health and conscience, i found a pair on sale in raleigh on sat for less than half of what i paid for the originals, which have now been returned and all is right with the world again. Its sad really that I am this preoccupied with a stupid pair of jeans, but its really just a distraction from other things. However, I do now have a really FABULOUS pair of jeans, and by fabulous I mean flamboyant and wonderful. I hope you all are doing well and I want to hear from you soon.

PS cam's nano is so cool that it came in its own specially designed bag. I had a great time this weekend! Miss you ME and amir.

New pop culture vignette for Mary Ellen

Rock & Republic

PS - I am the reason people are starving to death...including me now.

thanks...

Ciao ciao. I wanted to post and THANK you guys...today my roommate talked to me about a pashmina and I knew what it was! All because of you. (sigh)....Allora, last night I got my first call out by an Italian ragazzo...I was walking in the open air market and caught his eye, he smiled and winked and his partner was like, "Ciao, bella!!!" Woohoooo. Went out with all the students in the program and had a blast talking to these little boys in a bar (ok so they were like 18 yo....young!) and a couple sketchy guys outside who were VERY interested in American girls. HA! I was reading an Italian newspaper this AM on the autobus about the situation in California. Very exciting...the Terminator better not veto it, though! Ok. check my other blog for more info.

Firenze, LA, Chapel Hill, aaaaaand WINSTON SALEM

Guys,
Ok so seriously why am I the only one here?? Can't someone come stay with me or at least take me somewhere amazing? Whatever, as some of you know, I am turning over a new leaf and heretoforth, i am going to be the old, excited, hyper, happy, carefree, jubilant, wild and crazy Daniel that you all knew and loved/hated so much! hahaha. Seriously, I am going to be content here and I am excited that I can still hear all of your great stories....I love you guys, you keep me young! Whoever can tell me what movie that is from gets lots of cool points. So for those of you that arent a multi-hour plane flight away, I am going to be in chapel hill this weekend, so I want to be sure and see you, esp you CAM LAMA DING DONG, since i missed you last time. This blog thing is pretty fun, so I am going to try to keep at it, and I love reading everyone else's postings, so maybe we'll really get some discussion topics going instead of me whining and talking about myself, which is clearly my favorite activity as of late. I miss you all and I hope to hear from or see you soon!

STAI ZITTO

Shut up, Cam, that was amazing...holler at a blogger if you see him in da club???? PURE GENIUS!!! I started laughing in my school and then had to try to explain it to someone IN ITALIAN...and no. Anyway, everything is great here. Marcello e Giulianna (my host parents) are SO NICE. Giulianna is like the best cook I've ever eaten, I swear Amir would convulse all over the floor and probably have a seizure or something. We have like 7 courses in each meal, I am coming back 20 pounds heavier for SURE. Today we had a meeting with our housing director which was STUPID and now my roommates and I are going to plan our trip this weekend before going to get gelato. YUM. Piya and Kat are really cool and it's lucky that I like them the best of all the people in the program so far. Probably bc I've spent the most time wtih them but whatever. Last night we were in front of the Duomo, chillin, when these realllly sketchy Italian ragazzi came up to us and started hitting on us, basically, and this one girl we were with was DRUNK (how she was drunk on 3 drinks I'll never know. 3 drinks! but she's also on Paxil so...maybe there was a bad combination or something. Kelly? Any insight :P) and kept telling them to VA VIA!!! which means go away, and they were SOOO HARDCORE, one guy was like, come here and kiss me!! and we were all like, damn, italian men are serious! But the night was beautiful and we got away from them and had some prosecco in an Irish pub (weird, right? they arE ALL OVER the city). Ok, I have to go but I wanted to say CIAO! and I hope everything is great with you guys....tanti baci!!!

SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE excuse the randomness of this blog...

well a lot if going on. I am obviously in la. OH MY GOD I AM SO EXCITED I CAN'T CONTAIN MYSELF!!!! LA is defintitely exactly what i expected. in many ways it's just like chicago. just the way it looks, feels, smells...the weather is cool actually. it's sunny with a constant breeze. today in and outside our hotel they were shooting a film. we walked right through the set. i didn't realize it, but i walked pass this car, and i looked in it, and there was this hot white guy just chillin' in it, like I could have knocked on the window if i wanted to, but whatever, it was just a car. anyway, my mom was like "I KNOW HIM I KNOW!" and it turns out it was branden fraiser. my mom was like "LET'S TAKE HIS PICTURE LET'S TAKE HIS PICTURE!" (HAHAHA..) and me and my sister we like "LET'S GOOOOOOOOO MOTHER!" and she went across the street to watch them shoot. so we stuck around and watched them shoot the same scene a couple times. it was cool to see. i also got to see my apt. it's cool. it's in sherman oaks (as I mentioned before) which is right above la in the valley. it's like a small burb. it's a cool area. it's just like cambridge in boston (if you've ever been). it's an okay apt. the land lady is *interesting* but it's REALLY quiet. there are familys and peeps our age all there. my room is BIG. it's fine. and my closet is like 3 of the ones at chapel ridge. (i dont need all that space!) for an apt in la at that prize, it's great. around the corner from the apt is this new plaza with a lot of stores and rest. that are hiring. i already applied to pf changs and mac grill. i don't want to say i basically have a job there, but if i am right than i do, which is cool. i'm also excited b/c i have an meeting with a producation company in beverly hills for an prod internship! if i get my way, i'll work at one of those restaurants in the evenings and the comp in the morn/afternoons for a bit, until i can have a better balance...maybe move up with the prod comp. soon i'll be in a class. there's a lot to choice from and i'm excited and ready to dive in! a lot of cool stuff is happening too (including the car stituation)! and as stuff gets final i'll be sure to let you know now things are going!i've already met a lot of cool people here, some in the business. i really like the people here. everyone is just so chill and laid back. EVERY type of person on this earth is here...homeless, shady, latino, poor, rich, snoby, beachers, druggies, arabs, ghetto fab, tourists, preps, hibbies, ASIAN!!!!!, celebrities, business, i think you get the idea...and there a lot of "our" people (HOMOS!!!)...hahaha. like, a lot of the clubs are in rainbow letters, and you see guys holding hands...IT'S SUPER! AS;LDJG;IESJA! It was great, in one of the bathrooms i was reading some of the graffiti on the wall, and some one wrote some homophobic comment, and ALL around it were like 5 more comments that were like PRO homosexuality! they were like "YOU BIGOT! GO BACK TO THE SOUTH WHERE YOU BELONG!" "JESUS DIED FOR GAYS TOO YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" and random shit like that. I don't know, it was just great to see and made me feel like "yes!!! fight the power!" "THIS IS WHERE I AM SUPPOSE TO BE!!!" hahaha. i know i'm a dork. AAAAAAAAAAAAND, the state leg just approved gay MARRIAGE in Cal. !!!!!!!!!! wow!I am excited. just trying to take it one day at a time. i have to get a bed. ANYHOW, I love you and will talk to you soon!!!!!-Mirashad