Dear Colin,

Clearly, I had to dedicate this post to Penglin, since last night Adam and I decided to go to Venerdìverso, at Renfe. Renfe is the club outside the walls of Ferrara, and Venerdìverso is a theme night on the last Friday of every month with the subtitle "Gay, Lesbian and Everyone We Know". In January, we had a birthday party to go to instead. In February, I was sick. In March, I was in Spain. So, April rolls around, I'm not sure if there will be one this month, but I finally see the posters the day of Venerdìverso. I tell Adam about it. We decide to go. We meet Jen at Settimo, the bar where Ellen works, and hang out there for a while. I try a gin and lemon, which Ellen makes slightly strong. Then, at about 01,30, we set off, the two of us, past the walls and out into the unknown. It's about a twenty minute walk, and we're both pretty sketched out by the whole situation. We know that it's a club, and we know what this entails: loud, bad techno and creepy people. We finally arrive, and it's not quite as hopping as we probably had been anticipating. It's this little old building with some people outside, smoking cigarettes or talking with the security guard. The sketchometer is climbing, and we stand outside and weigh our choices. Finally deciding that we really just have to go in, we show the guard our Arcicards (or, rather, Adam shows the guard his Arcicard and I show him Jen's) and we step in. We open the door from where we had seen neon lights and heard pounding music. We walk in, and the only word to describe what we saw is "underwhelming". A crowd of no more than thirty people, maybe eight of whom are dancing. Slightly more women than men, and nobody is noticeably under 30 years of age. We stand near the exit. We stare. No one stares back. We give each other a glance, and well over sixty seconds after our grand entrance, we make our great escape. I think we're proud of ourselves, because we did it. We went to Ferrara's club to go to the gay night, all by ourselves, to see what we could see. And then it sucked, so we left.
Moral of the story: it's nice not to care. I have not had a crush since I've come to Italy, and it's not strange. Yes, I did shower and shave before going out last night, and had on one of my nicer shirts, but I knew that I wasn't looking for anything, or anyone. Without expectations, hopes, or my standard delusions, I never gave disappointment a chance to cross my path.
Am I a more relaxed person being in Italy? Or am I less passionate? Less stressed or more dull? Sinceramente, non me ne frega, perché sono contento.

Mood swing

I do love the smell of trees in the springtime. I was biking over here to the facoltà, and the scent of the flowering trees outside of one of the many churches I passed filled my head. That, among other things, got me into the spirit to write a proper blog post.
Quick note about my travels around Italy with DK - since we didn't buy our tickets a day or two in advance, we were unable to get down to Italy's toe to see the town of Riace, where my great-grandmother was born. Economically, this was great, since it probably saved us about 100 dollars each, but otherwise it was a disappointment. I do resolve to go back later, possibly in May or June, which I slowly am realizing are coming up sooner and sooner. Why, we're more than half-way through with April! One of my courses has already ended meeting, so all I really need to think about is the exam. It's a bit sad, since it was my favorite: etnomusicologia.
Anywho, the really exciting news is that I may have just found a subject for my thesis! About a month ago, Adam, Taber and I went to see our landlady's art show set up in a little shop in the medieval part of town. Afterwards, Adam told me that Flavia (the landlady) had told him that the shop had lots of local works, and might have some plays. So today I went in, asked the man who was there, and found a play written by a Ferrarese. I've barely opened it, but Federico, the man in the shop, told me that it is a comedic play set in Ferrara in the 1500s, and is all about the court of the Este family. Some of it is in rhyme, and there are many antiquated forms, so it could be awfully tough, but for my thesis, I think that I could translate it. Federico told me that it's never been translated into English, and if I do it, he would certainly want to read it, since it seems that he speaks some English, as well. I would have to write notes on the text as well, which would require a whole slew of historical research. So, it should be challenging enough. There's also a film adaptation that could help me out pretty seriously. I'll have to read the whole thing first before I start to get too into this idea, but you never know what this might lead to! Baruffino Buffone, what do you have in store for me?

And now for your viewing pleasure....

Sorry y'all, but I've only got a quick one for now. The trip to Spain and then touring Italy with Dan was amazing, but I just can't seem to capture it all in words right now. If you want to know a little more, check out Dan's blog (linked on the side). The main reason I'm here is to announce my shutterfly site, which should be working now. I've finally labeled everything from the most recent trips, although some other Italy pictures are as of yet unlabeled. Hope you all enjoy!
ktierneyphotots.shutterfly.com