Day 5

4-9-2008
It’s now about 7:20 a.m. I am in my bed, awake as I never would be at this hour in America. There is a bell tower called the Campanile, which sits next to the Duomo and at 7 a.m. it rings for about five minutes, so I am now awake. Last night about 20 of us went to an outside bar/club. The bad thing was that it was about a 30 minute walk from where we live. We met this club promoter who got us in for free, told us the rules, and showed us a good time. In Italy, the clubs give you a ticket when you get into the club. This ticket is used for buying drinks; as you get drinks for an inexpensive 10 euro, the bartenders punch a hole in the card, so you have to watch them to make sure they don’t over punch, because 10 euro will rack up! At the end of the night you go to the cashier and give her the ticket and pay what you owe. If you lose the ticket, you pay 50 euro. This club was called ‘Il Central’. It was huge, with 3 or 4 bars, illuminating lights, and a dance floor. The clubs here don’t get going until about midnight, but unlike the U.S. they stay open until 4 a.m. We all had a good time, didn’t get too wasted, but had enough to enjoy ‘the vibe’ as I like to say, and my phrase is catching on here in Firenze! Ended up trecking home around 1:30.