I have a lot to write, so I will probably break it up into two posts... first the "fun" post, then the work post. My friend Silvia graduated on Wednesday. There are few times where it is socially acceptable to be completely drunk by 5pm, and this was one of them. Graduations work very differently out here than they do in the U.S. To begin with you have to write a these, around 50 pages more or less and discuss it in front of a panel in order to graduate! This discussion takes place in front of all the people you invited to your graduation, then the panel gives you your graduating grade (like a G.P.A., but not) in front of everyone, then everyone says congrats, they sing a few graduation song, and then proceed to make an ass out of the "laureato/a". Often they make them dress up in funny costumes and they throw flour all over them, make them chug wine or what not....basically they go through hazing at the end of their college careers.
Silvia graduated with the maximum grade possible... it was interesting to see her discussion with the panel, she studied foreign literature with a concentration in English and Russian. So she wrote her entire thesis in Russian and did part of her discussion in Russian, it was definitely interesting to watch.... So after the discussion, they hand you your diploma after they write the grade on it and you are officially graduated! So we didn't do anything embarrassing to her, because she really didn't want us to. So after the graduation we went to a bar called Bar Fiorentina and had finger foods and champagne and there was a HUGE punchbowl with "cocktail" in it, at least that is what they told us when we asked.
Here comes the best part of the Italian Laurea (graduation)... the family members stayed for about an hour... then headed out... ALL OF THEM... leaving Silvia and her friends at the bar with an open tab running!!!!!! So while the parents are leaving this tray with about 40 big glasses of beer comes... mind you there are about 20 of us and about 5 aren't drinking.... so we start drinking that... after about 20 minutes they come out with a tray full of really strong Spritz and another tray of beer, at this point a lot of people have left, so it is our usual group (around 8 of us) and we have a LOT of alcohol left, so we are really drinking at this point, I go outside to get some fresh air and realize it is still daylight and I am totally drunk... it wasn't even 5 yet! So I go back inside and we all think there isn't anymore drinks left... well then they bring around another huge punchbowl of "cocktail" and another tray of beer spritz... so we keep on drinkking... then someone says that since Silvia did her discussion in Russian she needs to have more Vodka in her cocktail... so they go to the bar and get a brand new bottle of Vodka and open it, and just stand there pouring it into the cocktail... THE ENTIRE BOTTLE... then they pour the last bit into a punchbowl spoon, the big ones and mkae Silvia drink... and she is drunk enough to actually do it. So right before we all leave we all have a shot of vodka and the bartender told us to throw the shot glasses over our shoulders when we were done for good luck, so you hear all this shattering (they were glass shot glasses) and we had full cups of beer as our chasers... we leave at 8 and decide to meet up again at 9, Adriano and Silvia are moving to England for a year and they had to say bye to his landlord... so for some reason Antonio, some guy Dennis and I end up going with Adriano and Silvia to his place... by 8:30 Silvia is puking, so we put her to bed and go out again... we keep drinking decide to go grab a pizza... we ended up eating 3 HUGE pizzas between 5 of us, and drinking a ton of beer...
I have no clue what time I got home, I have no clue about anything, all I know is that at 6am the next day my alarm was going off, so I got up, got dressed and went to work... still drunk... and felt like shit for the rest of the day!
I LOVE ITALY!!!!!!!
