All Settled In

After a week of classes, I feel like I am settling into this foriegn place I now call home. It is definitely different than what my home usually is with loud Italians constantly sounding like they are yelling at each other. I have come to learn that that is just how they talk to each other, but then again I should be used to that having a brother and a dad that typically sounds as though they are arguing about everything.

(do you see my clothes hanging on the rack outside in the corner there?)

It is definitely a change having to speak Italian all of the time. I think I am catching on quickly, however, there are days when I wake up thinking that I really do not feel like speaking in a foriegn language for the day or when I just get so tired that paying such close attention to each word in a conversation is not entirely what I want to do. I do think that it is helping my listening skills in general though. You really need to follow the professors so closely to interpret what they mean even when they are speaking in english to be able to understand the point they are trying to get across. I think all of this "stare in attenzione" will help me to pay better attention in my classes at school, hopefully.

I do love my Italian teacher. He is gay and has more energy than any other 30 year old man I have ever seen. We plays games and just casually converse everyday. One day last week he had us meet in centro (the center of town) at la basilicca di san lorenzo where the market is, so that we could have a vocabulary lesson. We had to do a scavenger hunt through the food market then we walked along the vendors learning words for scarves, belts, rain boots, luggage, wallets, ect. Finally, he treated us to ice cream. How can a class get much better?!

So far I have just done day trips. The first weekend I went with a group from school to Lucca, which is a really neat little walled-town that was one of the first independent republic states even though it seems itty bitty to be cabable of ruling itself, but there were a lot of wealthy merchants from the silk trade in its day. I had a really delicious lunch there, the best gnocchi I have ever had and it was gluten-free!

This past weekend I went to the beach with some friends (called Viareggio). It was about an hour and half train ride. It just amazes me how much the landscape can change in such a short distance! Not only from the city of Florence to the country-side of Tuscany that surrounds but here at this beach I could stand far out in the water on a sand bar and see snow covered mountan-tops on what seemed like just the other side of this small shoreside town. We rented some umbrellas with beach chairs (because that is the only way you were allowed on the beach) and standing there on the beach it was a mirage of colorful umbrellas. Probably from a birds-eye-view it would look like a stained glass window.

Oh yeah and I bought a bike, which makes the walk (which takes 45 min- an hour) into town a lot quicker (only like 20 min). It certainly is an experience biking through Florence though. Kind of a maze when you are trying to ride on one-way streets. One time I took a rode to avoid going against traffic and I have yet to figure out where I ended up or how I got there. Luckily butlers from the 4 Seasons Hotel are always there to help you out when you need them because they speak English and always know how to point people in the right directions.

Oh and our campus is absolutely unbelievable. I stand there everyday and thank God that I am so luckily to even see a place to gorgeous in my life let alone every day!

Well that is all for now, talk to you again soon!