Italian Bus Drivers: someone should really suspend their licenses

Let me first tell you that I am writing to you in what I not-so-affectionately term the longest hour of the day. The time between noon and 1pm is infinite. I get out of class most days at 11:45 and walk back to Savonarola, and when I walk in the door the fabulous smells of Italian food waft in from the kitchen. I must then suffer through the next hour while I wait, very impatiently, for lunch to be served. I've just always been kind of an early eater anyway, so this 1pm lunch and 7pm dinner thing is kind of difficult, but I'm dealing. The food is, at least so far, never a letdown though, so it's worth the wait.

Today we're back to school, after a very long weekend. I'm afraid to get used to this short week long weekend business, because next year will be nothing of the sort, but it's nice for now. I'm really liking my Renaissance History class, since the Renaissance has always been interesting to me and it was really born in Florence, so it's fun to be at the epicenter of it all, able to see exactly what he's talking about in terms of art and architecture. Today, unfortunately, Italian was canceled, as our professor is ill. I am excited for Italian but also really nervous, because I really want to learn, and it looks like everyone else in our class so far has been really slacking. I hope she holds them to her pace and doesn't slow down to theirs, but we'll see. I'm still thinking about trying to get in to Italian conversation as well, which I've heard is difficult.

Yesterday we went to Siena, a little town about an hour and fifteen minutes north of here. We took the bus, which was a ridiculous experience. On the way there it was pretty much freeway the whole way, but if I haven't mentioned it before, Italy is REALLY hilly, so even the main thoroughfares are pretty windy. I got pretty carsick on the way there, but it wasn't too awful. The town was adorable! It had a great park on top of an old fortress that we spent a lot of our day in practicing our Italian, and a great old Gothic church I really wanted to sing in for its acoustics, but didn't dare because it was so quiet. The town square is really interestingly laid out and is huge, and apparently they use it for horse races twice a year where each neighborhood competes against the others. It's a very cozy town and doesn't feel touristy at all, but there were tons of American students wandering around. We also tried to go to a music academy, but it was closed. We did, however, climb the second tallest tower in Italy and got some gorgeous views of Tuscany. We also got the best gelato we've had yet there! Banana flavored. I would probably go back to Siena just for the gelato if I could, and the shopping wasn't half bad either. I finally got a pair of flat black boots! In Florence you can't find them for less than 100 euro, but I got mine for 25. A steal. Overall it was quite a successful day, and we got to meet some really great new girls from our pensione, as they were going as well. On our way out of town we grabbed some ciabatta bread (DELICIOUS - the only unsalted bread I can stand to eat so far) and some brie and ate it on the bus for dinner. The bus ride home, however, was a mess and a half. Thank goodness I never got carsick, but I did feel pretty nervous for my life most of the time. The traffic was bad, the bus driver was in a hurry, the roads were curvy and bad, and overall I think I'll never get on an Italian bus again, thank you very much. From now on, it's the train for me.

Other than that, as of late we've just really been enjoying Florence. The weather is finally getting warmer (or maybe we're just getting used to it), and we found some beautiful gardens where there are lots of benches in the sun to sit and read. Because they're attached to the Pitti Palace, it would cost us to get in, but thanks to the Uffizi pass we can go in whenever we want. A few days ago we bought Harry Potter e la Pietra Filosofale (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in Italian) and equipped with an Italian-English dictionary and a verb conjugation book, we've been slowly but surely reading it. It's been a really great way to learn Italian, and while we aren't getting any better at speaking, I feel like we're getting a better sense of how Italian is constructed, and learning some really fun words, like sciocchezze (nonsense) and gufo (owl). If we read three pages a day, we'll be able to finish the book by the time we leave. So far it's been very slow going, but fun, so hopefully we'll be able to do it. It's so weird for me to read that slowly, but it's a humbling experience, for sure.

I'm excited because in an hour, I have my first Romanticism class today, which I'm excited for. The more I can know about music, the better! Speaking of music, this weekend we're going to Rome (yay!) but I'll be out of town for another ballet at the Maggio, which I'm disappointed about. Such is life. Rome should be great though! It's just spring students, which is kind of nice because we'll all really get to know each other, but kind of a bummer because I'd like to bond with the yearlong students as well. It's supposed to be a pretty nice trip, so I'm looking forward to it. Then next weekend, Innsbruck! We've heard that the alps have been getting some pretty decent snow - some students just got back from Torino and said the skiing was great and not that expensive, so I may ski after all! We may also decide to go to Salzburg, since it's not too far away. No matter what, I'm sure it'll be fun.

I'm going to take a quick nap before we head out to three hour evening classes. I've never had to sit in class that long...ugh. Not looking forward to that part. I'm definitely going to need the nap. Ciao!