Kes and Irin decide to go out... (July 5)

After class was over for the day, Kes and I decided to take ourselves out and explore Florence after dark. Most of the bars at the center of town are pretty touristy, but we didn't feel like walking very far so we picked one closer to our apartment. Our first choice "Loch Ness" sounded promising (their slogan was "get messy with Nessie") but it was closed, so we ended up at an Irish pub crawling with Americans.

We were hoping to meet some other foreign students, but were approached by two Italians instead. Kes and I knew about three phrases and a handful of Italian words between us, and the two spoke even less English. But with the help of google-translate and a lot guessing, we were somehow able to carry on a conversation. As it turned out, I was better able to communicate using what little I remembered from three years of high school Spanish (not much) than in English or Italian. In any case, humor is universal. We swapped stories and joked around even though only 30% of the conversation was understood. By the time Kes and I left, we had improved our Italian vocabulary bank by a few more words and vowed to remember our language guide next time.