Fashion Whore

One thing that is no different no matter where I am is midterms. They are always bad. Admittedly, they are not as stressful or involved as Notre Dame midterms, but considering I am in a very low-key, low-work, low-scholarly-motivational environment, midterms seem just as hard. Fortunately, I'm mostly through them and only have one more left tomorrow.
This past weekend was a weekend dedicated to fashion. This kind of happened accidentally, as we only actually had one fashion-related thing planned. On Friday, Kristina, Jackie, Caitlin, and I went to the Valentino exhibit in the Ara Pacis museum. I had been there before, but it was for my Ancient Rome and its Monuments class, so when I stopped to gawk at the dresses, the professor screeched in her faux-British accent (she's from Baltimore or something and studied in England) "Stop looking at the dresses! We are here for class! I used to like pretty dresses, too, but now is not the time for such frivolity!" So I begrudgingly turned my attention to (fell asleep while standing in front of) the Ara Pacis and some other old rocks with historical significance blahblahblah. Actually getting to go through and enjoy the Valentino exhibit was definitely worth the trip back to the museum. It was a very creepy display. Strange music was playing and all the manikins were shiny and bald and had really long necks. They were either hung on a wall or posed with their arms extended, seemingly beckoning you into their world of high fashion. It got a little less creepy when we got to the display of celebrity gowns. It was really cool to see dresses I remembered Reese Witherspoon, Julia Roberts, and Jennifer Lopez wearing. All the dresses were gorgeous and it was definitely a nice break from looking at ancient Roman architecture or Renaissance religious paintings.
After the Valentino exhibit, Caitlin and I bought chocolate and coffee and hopped on the metro to go to Cinnecitta. We really knew nothing about this metro stop, except that it was near the end of the line and the name sounded cool. Cinnecitta is like the Hollywood of Italy and I think it produced Gangs of New York and The Passion. The production studio was directly outside the metro stop, but when we tried to go in, a security guard stopped us to inform us that it was not for the public, but for work only. I thought about saying that I was there to see Spike Lee, as he had recently been spotted at Campo dei Fiori, but I decided to just pursue an internship there so I could go there every day without lying. The are around Cinnecitta looked very un-Roman, as there was no sign of the ancient to be seen. It was very industrial and open, so with nothing else to do, we just walked down the street. And then we found it. A mall! In Rome! Hooray! I don't mean to seem material, but it was really cool to see a giant 100 store mall in the middle of Italy when stores are usually no bigger than dorm rooms. Also, I just like to see Italy's take on American things (America's take on Italian things--like cappuccino--just don't compare). The mall had a department store (!!!) and a bunch of other chains, much like our own malls. But unlike our malls, people brought their dogs in with them (they were not blind) and instead of cell phone kiosks, there were bars advertising happy hour. Shopping and just walking around the mall was excellent and afterwards, we went to Piazza di Spagna and had a delicious dinner. We took a bus to the Vatican and as usual got kind of lost in a place we'd never known existed, but eventually made it home. Online, we found another mall on the eastern side of Rome that has 210 stores (!!!!!), so the plan is to make it there this weekend.
Saturday was the one day of actual planned fashion. Caitlin and I had signed up for a JCU sponsored trip to the fashion outlet stores in Tuscany. Since this was a JCU trip, there was a long walk early in the morning, an even longer bus ride, and really obnoxious people. The bus was packed, so on the way to the outlets, Caitlin and I could only get seats diagonal from each other. This put us sitting next to people as shallow as puddles and dumb as mud. I wasn't exactly expecting a group of MENSA potentials to be going on this trip, but I was expecting college students who acted like college students. Instead, there were what appeared to be high schoolers imitating what they've seen on Laguna Beach, though they were indeed college students, mostly from American University. Here are some tidbits from their conversations that made the bus trip nearly unbearable. (my comments in parentheses)
On Sororities:
Shallow Sally: I really didn't want to join my sorority, but they wanted me, so I guess I just kind of had to be nice (isn't that generous of you to offer yourself when they want you sooo badly)

Dumb Debbie: I joined a sorority without a house so I wouldn't have to live with all of them. Wouldn't that be awful, having to live with your sorority sisters? (why join a sorority if you hate the people in it???)

Shallow Sally: At your school, which sorority has the fat chicks?

Dumb Debbie: My big sister (assigned in the sorority--lucky her) sucked. She totally ignored me because her brother died! (how selfish of her!)

On everything else:
Sally: Counting is hard! (for some...)

Debbie: She looks like she has down syndrome. It's probably because she's Swedish. (so what's your excuse for acting retarded?)

Sally: I always have really awesome birthday parties. My 10th birthday was on a boat, so it was really mature for 10 year olds. The next year, we took a limo to Dave and Busters. (Dave and Busters?! High roller!)

Sally: I get 7 days of my birthday and 7 days of Christmas!

Debbie: (referring to the houses near the outlets) I doubt the people who live here can actually shop at these outlets (they were nice houses...)

Once the bus stopped, I ran off. These girls were too much for me. Our first stop was a store that had just Prada and Miu Miu. Caitlin and I soon realized that 50-70% off of designer fashion still puts the price at 300-1200 euro, so we got bored pretty quickly and decided to walk around a bit. Past the parking lot of the outlet, all we found was a closed sandwich shop and some guy peeing on the side of the road, so we just sat outside. The next stop was much better because it had a lot of stores. They were still really pricey, but it was fun to look at all this stuff. The restaurant at these outlets was so trendy and had fashion TV playing and was the only place I've seen in Italy that offers salads as a meal and not a side dish (though the salad looked like something I would make because it was just tuna thrown on top of lettuce with some corn, a tasty and unusual combination).
The bus ride back was quieter since people were sleeping. It got noisy again when people started pointing out the window and yelling "Prostitutes!". All along the road back into Rome were hookers. First, transvestites, then actual women. Most of them were not wearing pants, only thongs, or some version of that. They were all just out in the open, standing on the side of the road. A few cars did pull over as we were stuck in traffic. They did look better than the hookers we saw in Rome near the Vatican earlier that weekend.

Thus ends the weekend of fashion...and of annoying people...and hookers.......