Woke up this morning to another beautiful day in Tuscany. I am sleeping next to a wall that has a radiator fastened to it, which my face got into a fight with last night while I was sleeping- aside from that, it has been another wonderful day.

Yesterday we went into Florence for the entire day. Among our many, many adventures were the Uffizi Musuem, the Duomo Cathedral and the Ponte Vecchio. The Duomo is right smack in the middle of Florence and you can take really creepy stairs that are in the walls of the cathedral to get to the top of the cathedral tower and then there are even creepier stairs in between the two layers of the dome on top which take you all the way to the roof where you can see all of Florence. It took a total of about 25-30 minutes each way to climb. It is 130 yards straight up, but the stairs wind around the building, so I would imagine that at least doubles the length. In short, it was way too many stairs and I was tired.

but it was worth it...

I have been mixing my Italian with the French I learned in high school since we've been here and yesterday when we got to the top, I was finally able to use my French when we ran into a French couple. The gentleman's name was Pierre which I found completely stereotypical and simultaneously adorable. My only regret is that I didn't get to use my favorite French word when I was speaking to them- la poubelle (trashcan). It just rolls off the tongue. 

I am constantly amazed at how good my Italian is getting. I'm not certain anyone else would agree, but who cares. I ordered lunch yesterday in Florence for our entire group completely in Italian. It's the little victories, folks. While we were eating lunch, two men rolled an open cart down the street with dead bodies on it and just left it right in front of our restaurant. So, naturally, I went out to investigate. They turned out to be dummies and we were right in the middle of an Italian film shoot! I always knew I was going to be famous one day, I just wish that I had know it was going to be yesterday and I would have not climb a million stairs and gotten sweaty prior. I met the most charming Italian Carabinieri (police). I am going to bring him home with me. He is definitely the one.

Aside from the traveling, we are also participating in seminars every other day. That is apparently supposed to be the focus of this experience, but all I can think about is the Carabinieri I'm bringing home. In seriousness though, the seminars have been thought provoking and intriguing. The very first one we had was with an American who has lived in Italy most of her life and teaches in Italian schools. Hearing her passion for what she does and the progressive ideas she has for the Italian school system really pulled at my heart strings. It made me think of my coworkers back home and how amazing they are and how it really takes a passion in your heart to make a difference in the life of a child.

There are so many different professionals here staying in the villa with this group, as well as current counseling students and the conversations are delightful. Every topic you could ever imagine has been touched on at some point either during a dinner conversation or a bus or train ride or a late night chat over some vino (wine). I have thought in ways that never really occurred to me before coming here and I have heard perspectives from other people that I never really considered before coming here. There has been a lot of self-evaluation and processing over the past week which has been tutto benne (very good).

A few light recollections for those of you wanting some entertainment:

Since I was having to pack for nearly 3 weeks, I resorted to rolling my clothes so they would all fit. This has since come to be a pain in my rear. We brought a steamer along to cure this issue, but apparently I broke the steamer before I could even use it. Thus, I constantly look like a large wrinkle in time when we leave in the morning to go out. non tutto benne.

For the Italian words we do not know, we have resorted to adding atta or o or ichi at the end. Thus, we have created our own language. It started out between just my roommate and I, but others in the house have started to pick it up. I know this only because our favorite and most used is shitatta and the other evening in the common room I heard it slip out of someone else's mouth. Our ridiculousness is contagious.

My roommate and I are going to have to detox from one another when we return home because we are becoming too much alike. Yesterday morning at breakfast we made the same gesture, followed by the same noise, followed by the same interjection and finally the same phrase all within a 20 second time frame. We are a frana (landslide, but can be used in reference to a person as a mess).


I do believe that is all for now. We are about to head to a wine tasting. Keep your ears and eyes ready for further adventures.


Stay classy, America.