Today was eventful.

Up: I climbed the Duomo’s 463 steps and admired the beautiful Firenze that I live in.

Up: I visited Santa Croce—a beautiful church in Florence where bunches of famous dead people are buried. For instance, Machiavelli, Galileo and Michaelangelo. It was really neat to see these Italian celebrities, even if they were 6 feet under.

Down: Went to the San Lorenzo market and had some Italian creeper stalk me for a while. It began with a “Ciao Bella” and turned into a game of cat and mouse. Good thing I made friends with the owner of a little leather shop—my friend scared the creeper away with an evil look and told him to buzz off.

Really down: Went for a jog today. Had my ipod blaring. Almost got hit by a bus (the tire brushed my foot).

Down deep: As if being hit by a bus was not a good enough sign to turn home, I kept going, crossed the Ponte Vecchio and proceeded to eat the pavement. Yep, being the grace that I am, I tripped on the cobblestone sidewalk and fell face first into the concrete. It left some pretty large scrapes and raspberries on my hands, knees, and shin. Not to mention my running pants are now torn and my ipod has some fresh dents. At first my fall kind of stunned me—and I sat on the ground praying no one saw. But some nice men came over, scooped me off the cobblestone and set me on my way. On my way home, I saw Deena from J.Shore shouting about pizza and going home to get drunk (so this concluded my eventful day with an up:D ).

Lesson of the day: There are two kinds of Italian men—genuinely kind guys, and creepers. Stay away from the creepers and make friends with the nice folks. Traveling to foreign places is fun. But pay attention to your surroundings.