Busy in Slow Motion

Well, I've been here for a little over a week and already it seems like I've been here forever. As most of you already know, I arrived here on my 21st birthday and without any luggage. Thankfully, it was only about 24 hours that I had to live without any other clothes or shampoo!

Last weekend my new roommates and I ventured up the hill and into Fiesole. The view from above was wonderful! I keep thinking back to the book I read this summer, A Room With A View by E.M. Forster. The subject of having a view seems to come up quite often in Florence. Everywhere I look visual pleasures distract my eyes. If I wasn't scared of being run over by a speeding Vespa I would have my head cocked at an angle looking up continuously. But, the streets are packed with people and the sidewalks are only about two feet wide. The other day I actually got splashed by a dumped bucket! The Indian-Italian man apologized, but I couldn't help thinking about how Florence probably hasn't much changed since Medieval times.

I have now gone to all of my classes at least once. It is going to be a very comical semester because all of my Professors have limited English--some more than others. They are very enthusiastic about the subject they teach, waving their hands in a frenzy. But I still don't feel like I'm at school though. I suppose it's because I'm in a different country and I'll be traveling every weekend and all but one of my classes will be visiting museums on a regular basis! For instance, my World of Museums class meets once a week and all but three of the lessons will be in a museum in Florence!

I have done so much in the past eight or nine days that I have trouble remembering all that I've done. Last night we went out to dinner ON OUR SCHOOL! It was a little restaurant down by the Arno River. They had tables set outside along the bank. Under a terrace a long table was set with meats and cheeses and wines and figs and bread and other unique foods (that I have no idea what it was). It was wonderful! The other evening we all went to the Piazza Santa Croce to celebrate the birth of the Virgin Mary with the Italians. They had a great brass band and lots of paper lanterns. We danced our way through the streets, past the Duomo, and into another piazza across town. It was so much fun! Some of the band were really cute too! My roommate, Kristen, and I picked out our favorites...and of course mine had long hair! haha

Tomorrow we go to Siena, then Saturday and Sunday we go to Pompeii, Capri, and Sorrento!
And next weekend we're going to the Florence vs. Bologna soccer game!