I don’t know much in this crazy, mixed up world of ours, but I do know that the new goal of my life is to spend more time on a cruiser bike. Law school, finding true love, and hiking the Appalachian trail all just took a back seat on my life goals. Denny made me ride home one night on the top tube of his bike, which was both terrifying and exhilarating.  In a safer and more practical turn, I rented a bike today while I was in Lucca and it was just so darn wonderful that I can’t believe people ever invented cars.

This week, or really since last Thursday, I’ve been on fall break. Thursday and Friday I was an unapologetic bum.  Saturday – Monday I traveled around Tuscany and Umbria.  On Saturday, some friends and I went to Arezzo, Orvieto’s train station, and Lake Trasimeno.  On Sunday we went to Perugia. Arezzo is just about the most perfect place ever made, Orvieto was a train mistake but I would like to see it intentionally and during daylight hours sometime, Perugia can go to hell, and Lake Trasimeno… well, it’s the 4th largest lake in Italy.  Our hostel was on its shores, which was cheap, convenient, and very nice.  I’m an urbanite at heart, though, so it creeps me out when there are as few commercial structures (I counted one: our hostel) as there were by the lake.  Lots happened on this little jaunt, so I’ll list the highlights:

• Arezzo is so perfect.  Tour books always say “Tuscany is at it’s most breathtaking and impressive in it’s small towns,” which sounds like sappy crap, but is totally true.  Florence is wonderful, but there’s just something about those windy streets and little cafes.  You know that time in the late afternoon where things are sleepy from morning busy-ness, but pregnant with excitement for the night?  That’s how it feels all day long here, but it was especially strong in Arezzo. “Life is Beautiful” was filmed there, and we saw a wedding where they recreated a scene from the movie! Cute!  And then practically the whole town toasted them in the main piazza! Cuter! And everyone was so happy and stylish! Cute overload!

• Italy might have a negative birthrate, but they’re procreating like rabbits in Arezzo.  It’s such a baby-crazed place that my friends and I stuck out for being young girls who weren’t toting a kid around.
• Toasted corn! Wow, this stuff is AMAZING. Little corn kernels that taste like what Fritos wish they
• could be.
• We made a train mistake and got halfway to Rome before we realized we weren’t headed to our hostel.  But Orvieto turns out to have a very nice train station full of helpful train station employees and tasty pizza, so we landed on our feet.
• The hostel nicely offers to pick people up from the train station since it’s far from the lake, but they didn’t mention that the driver is crazed (even by Italian standards) and the route is more like an off-roading race track than a tranquil country drive…
• Perugia sounded so promising. because we were going for a chocolate festival taking place in a notoriously beautiful city. A no-brainer, right?  Well maybe Arezzo set the bar too high, but I was disappointed.  Perugia is SO HILLY.  It’s painful to travel through it.  Second, it smells alternately like the best food ever and then abruptly like cat piss.  And it was designed by a demented and/or blind idiot.  So windy and confusing! We got so hopelessly lost that we decided to just wander and appreciate the pretty views and buildings without knowing what they were, which was pleasant.
• Eurochocolate 2009 would have been more aptly named Lose Your Faith in Humanity and Get Diabetes 2009.

• I think Italians are great people, but this event brought out the worst in them.  They just don’t believe in lines, so moving through the crowd felt like what I always imagined babies feel during birth.  It was like a war zone around the sites stands giving out samples, none of which were even that special.  The event was super commercial, too – we only saw stands from the biggest European candy brands.  We had envisioned a tranquil festival of artisan chocolates and happiness where we could linger all day, but we had to flee after about 20 minutes.

• Lucca was so cute and medieval and boy do I want a cruiser. I climbed a tower and rode around the city walls.  Did you know they used to have trees on top of medieval towers?  Weird, huh?

I have two days here in Florence to enjoy myself and finish some schoolwork before I go visit the leprechauns (and Kathryn) in Ireland! I’m so excited!!  Even more than writing the paper due next week, my main priority here in Florence is to buy new jeans.  These penny-pinching morons won’t spring for dryers, so my jeans have stretched to comical (and wildly unflattering) proportions.  After taking 4 steps, they get so loose that it looks like I’m either 7 months pregnant or trying to dress like a rapper.