I was wandering around Florence yesterday afternoon looking for this place my friend said had killer sandwiches, and then (what a small world!) I ran into the girls doing Vandy in Siena! After only an hour with these girls, my day’s plan had gone from a delicious sandwich, followed by homework and a quiet night in to going back to Siena with them and checking out a mysterious discoteca in the Tuscan countryside. If fun were a drug, these girls would be pro-level pushers.
None of us had ever been to Vanilla before, but all the information we had seemed innocent and not at all creepy: you take a white, unmarked bus to the club, it’s the only building around for many kilometers, and one of the strange Italian roommates (admit it girls, Gianluigi is nice but a little weird) had gotten us “passes” to get in. We rushed to make the bus, which was stupid because Italians don’t operate on any sort of schedule, so we were just as likely to be early as were late. The bus arrived (technically 23 minutes later than expected), and forty minutes later (read: in the middle of nowhere) we were at Vanilla.
Claiming to be a bingo hall on one exterior sign, Vanilla is actually the largest, most amazingly awesome club I’ve ever been to. It’s hard to say if this greatness comes from any intrinsic value of the place itself, or just because we were a huge group set on having a good time. Gianluigi brought some of his friends, half of whom are hilarious and wonderful and half of whom are stereotypical Italian creepers. Even at their creepiest, though, Gianluigi’s pals were better than some of the more aggressive gentleman callers on the dancefloor, so their presence was much appreciated. Plus that Rocco guy can really dance/flail around amusingly.
As proof of Vanilla’s greatness, here’s some notes about the music played.
Songs we DID hear:
- “I Gotta Feeling” – The Black Eyed Peas. Usually I hate it, but the DJ’s frenetic remix really brought out the best of Rocco’s dancing. Plus it really WAS a real good night.
- “Sweet Dreams” – Eurythmics. Duh.
Songs we did NOT hear:
- “Party in the USA” – Miley Cyrus. Europeans (like everyone except me, apparently) love this song. But the DJ was merciful and we weren’t even in the USA, so we were spared for one night.
- “Sandstorm” – Darude. Duh.
For much of the night, when the weaker are sleeping, we danced and raged and took Vanilla by storm. Then, at 4 am we decided to call it a night, or an early morning, or whatever. By the time we got back to Siena, it was 5 am and we were hungry and cold and ready to sleep. And I had been wearing my contacts for far too many hours. So we crammed ourselves onto the sketchy bus once more and headed home after a night of most perfect merrymaking. Interesting revelation about partying with real Italians: you know how we eat crap like pizza rolls and pop tarts as drunk food? Italians make penne all’amatriciana (FROM SCRATCH). I had that for an early breakfast and rolled into bed around 6:20.
Then we all emerged from our naps a few hours later and had some great hot sandwiches from Great Hot Sandwiches, and then we hung out in the Campo before it was time for my bus. Although Siena could never compare to Florence’s beauty and grandeur and importance in my heart, sitting in the campo with friends is just about one of the best things you can do with your time.
Ain’t life grand?
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Children: As an aside, I urge everyone with access to Facebook to gently view this group, which highlights the wonderful quotes and mannerisms of Peter (pronounced Pee-tah), my Renaissance Art and Architecture professor here. The video of his thoughts on limoncello is a must-see. Because Peetah did something wonderful: he did teach us all about the Renaissance and completely charmed us all, in a few months. Va bene? Ok, now we will go have one, maybe two, Heinekens.
