That time I almost got married

So this past weekend I was flying solo because Charlotte and Shawn and several of my other American friends went to Perugia for the Chocolate Festival. I decided to skip it because I needed a break from traveling after Holland, and I'd rather save the money for something bigger, like Barcelona or Prague. So there were only a few Americans around and other than that it was just me and my Italian roommates!

It was a very relaxing weekend...filled with reading, bars, movies, long baths, and many Italian conversations. On Friday night, my friend Andrew joined me on a night out with my roommates, and pretty much everyone else in Bologna that's from Calabria. They're like a cult...they all know each other! I don't even ask where people are from anymore.

On the way, while we were congregating in the street, my apartment-mate Federica pulled on my arm and told me to look at the guy with the strange glasses. He was sitting on a bench, playing a guitar, and wearing foil glasses (through which he could not see). He was surrounded by a group of friends, one of whom came up to me and asked me to sign this piece of cardboard, which I did. Come to find out, after much language confusion, that once they get 100 signatures, he can remove the glasses and get married. I had the hardest time figuring out what marriage had to do with it. Was it a bachelor party? No. Does he have a fiance? No. Well it turns out that after 100 signatures he can buy a bride. I'm pretty sure the whole thing was just a big joke, but I decided to play along. So once they asked me if I was interested, I asked, "How much?" Henceforth ensued a flurry of excitement by all his friends (during which I turned to Andrew and said, "Why did I say that?!") and they responded with 30 Euro. That's nothing! And so, offended, I explained that I'm worth more than that, and they were all defeated. They tried to lead him around to give me a kiss but I hid behind all the Calabrese, laughing with Federica and Azzurra...and finally the situation fizzled out!

Later we went to the Irish Pub and Andrew and I spent a couple hours struggling with our Italian to converse with several new people that we had met. It was really interesting...one guy was asking me what my favorite things were about Italy, and was apparently offended that Italian food came before Italian men! Haha. I told him that maybe they were number 7.

As we were leaving the bar, we ran into that same group of guys from earlier! Only this time, the main guy was no longer wearing his glasses. So of course the friends recognized us, and it was pointed out that I was the girl who turned him down. There was some laughing and such, we kissed on the cheek, and that was that!

And so that was the time I almost got married in Bologna.