Pisa 2.0

Okay, so Pisa has mildly redeemed itself in my eyes. Rather the people here have done as such for the city. It's still not my favorite city, but I no longer look on if with scoffing, disrespectful eyes thinking, "Ugh, Pisa."
Yesterday I took a walk to the leaning tower. And I managed to take the big shopping street/market. It is always so much fun to walk in those areas in Europe! Markets are the best. I really can't wait to get to Florence's. I remember then having the most amazing ones, especially the leather one by the duomo!
Eventually I made it to the tower. Yes, it is just as tiny as I remember it to be. However, it is also much prettier than I remember it being. Maybe they have cleaned it up in the last ten years, but it is quite lovely. And the walk was a nice one, though there are a bunch of student protests going on right now, so I had to skirt some areas of town, because there were so many people blocking the routes.
After the tower I got some food and came back to the hostel. There really isn't much else to do in Pisa after all. My roommates are amazing though. One gal from southern Italy, and the other from England. The Italian girl is so social. We talked and talked. She is planning on going to Texas where her dad is working so that she can work on her English. It is amusing to me how they speak English rather well, and to a level where they can communicate easily, and they think they don't speak it well at all, where in the US if we can say a dozen words, people are like, yeah, I can kinda speak the language. The difference in mentalities is staggering here.
Then the Italian girl brought me a giant glass of Chianti because she said the bottle was too big to drink herself. They are just so much more friendly here. Everything is meant to be shared and socialized over. As long as you show interest and are friendly, everyone wants to chat with you.
The English gal is trying to get a job here. She's been running in and out of interviews the last couple days. She cracks me up! She's super nice, but she is just very English in an Italian world. I'm sure it's the same when people interact with me, I know I appear very American, though I have been told by locals that they don't mind because I respect the differences in our cultures.
Anyway, she had been telling me last night how she has a coffee maker and makes good Italian coffee in the mornings if I wanted to share some with her today. I had forgotten all about it and was lying in bed, when she brought me a mug to our room! It was delicious, but the sheer fact that she went out of her way to do that was incredible to me. The hostel workers here are much the same, making sure stuff is set up for you, and very cheerful and friendly. So Pisa's redemption has been the people I have interacted with.
Today is pouring rain, which will make an interesting walk to the train station. You should see my umbrella at this point. It's quite amusing. Maybe I'll take a picture of it on the walk. It is done in. Two spokes are completely dead and just dangling, and the others are bent and distorted. I think I may need to buy a new one, as my weather report says rain almost all week. Still, I am heading to Florence today, and for that I am excited!