The Red Garter/House of Sizzle

So I'm back since we talked last. I'm in the middle of my third week now. School is going by pretty quick. But nonetheless, I am making the best of it. Last Saturday I hopped a train and went to Pisa with a small group. It was an alright city. The only reason we really went was to see the tower. And then I saw it. And that thing was fuckin leaning! I was like "holy shit! that's a leaning tower right there!" I mean, you always see it in photos and on cartoons...but once you see it in person, It's a whole nother story. We went to the very top of it. Like the tippy top. You would think that you're at the top, and then you would find yourself wrong because there were all these extra secret flights of stairs. The view was incredible though. You could see the whole town and the mountains in the background. I'll show you all some pics later. We were only there for a couple hours. After that we went to Sienna that very same day. A very old town similar to Florence except even more trapped in time. It is a hilly town too. Walking through it was a work out. It was really cool and midevil. From the black plague era. We would've checked out the Chianti region which is right near that city, along with a small town called San Gimignano but we just couldn't fit it in that day. Chianti is the region where Italy's best wines come from. And San Gimignano is just a super old town that has some midevil character. Even older than Sienna. All these town are an hour away from Florence at the most so I'll just have to try again later.

About a week ago, I stopped at this clothing store cuz I saw some sweet stuff through the window. And the chick working there was hella fine! I tried talking to her for a bit but she barely spoke any english. And my Italian is not that good yet. I asked them to put my shirts I picked out on hold so that I could come again to see this girl. I came again the next day. She was excited to see me. Remembered my name from when I left it for the reserv. So I talked with her some more that day. Tried to ask her to hang out or do something. But she just wasn't understanding me. Man! I wish I was just fluent in Italian. I got her name though. It is Francesca. I know right! Even the name is hot. Unreal. I'll just have to practice my Italian and stop in every once in a while.

More bulletproof good news! There is this bar/restaurant called the House of Sizzle. Well, the Restaurant is called the House of Sizzle and right next to it is the bar called The Red Garter. It is a cool place. I checked out a soccer game on sunday and drank some good beer. It was a really good beer actually. It is a red ale called McFarland. Florence won the soccer game against Bologna. Good stuff. Then the rest of my roommates came to watch some sunday american football since this is one of the few places that plays american football. The menu at this place has Italian food and American food. Not bad, but kinda pricey. This place got way packed that night. I met a bunch of people from the U.S. that were studying abroad also. So it was a fun night. Ended up going over to these girls from new york's place afterward and we chilled on their rooftop. They got hooked up with a nice spot. There were a couple guys there too. One of the dudes had some bud for sale. First time any of us had seen some bud here. All we have found since we got here has been hash. Not even that good of hash. Gets you high, but it might be cut with wax. But yeah, It was night and dark when we were on the roof. My roommates wanted to get bud. I told them I'll check it out. I ask this guy if I can see what he's got. He hands me his bag as he is busy rolling a big spliff for all of us with my tobbacchi. I look in the bag, take a small nug out, pocket it, and hand the bag back. I know I know. Bad karma. At the time I didn't care though. Damn this story is getting long. So later in the night, my roommate Geoff was all like "we should have got some bud from him." And I was like "don't worry guys. check this out." Hahaha. The bud was shit though. The guy selling it knew too. Probably why it was so cheap. But yeah, we saved it for the next day. Why? Cuz Monday night is Open Mic!

The Red Garter has open mic night on Mondays. Brian and I bought a guitar and hand drum here for a decent deal at a music shop. I brought both instruments to the bar. Brian went there and did some stand up. He's a funny guy. What's cool is that he's into Brian Regan just as much as I am. He knows all of the jokes. He did his own material and it was pretty good. I ended up jamming with the man runnng the open mic show. The guy's name is Chris. He had an acoustic. I liked his style. He covered a few Zeppelin songs acoustic style. Also did Beatles' Helter Skelter right to Because back to Helter Skelter. I jammed with him the second set. I was nervous the whole day debating if I would even perform on stage. That was the first time. And it went really well. People were feelin the jam. And some dude that worked at the bar asked for my info so that he could have me come back. I guess I'll be coming there every Monday night. My roommates and I got home and smoked a celebratory J to that. That's that for now. I'm going to Munich this weekend for Oktoberfest!!!!! I'll let you all know how it goes. Peace!