A day in the life of an American in Italy

So today, being January 13, was an okay day in all. I had my Italian literature class at nine this morning which means I had to wake up before 7 am (gasp, I know. Such a hardship, lol). We basically just discussed the background of Renaissance Literature and definitions. We were given our photocopied books and assignments for next week and class was over with. You might not believe it, but all that took 2 hours to complete. Crazy, I know. Our professoressa, Chiara, is a very nice woman who majored in Italian Literature so it should be a very enlightening class.

Next, the whole group had our first Italian Language course with the same professoressa; we found out her name means clear, like clear sky/water. Anyway, she made us promise to only speak Italian in the classroom as it will help us learn faster and better. We were given our workbooks and started with three basic phrases that we would need to know for the course. Then we moved onto the alphabet where each one of us had to say a word in Italian. We were trying to go through the alphabet so we each tried to pick a word that started with a different letter. We remembered some words from our previous language course and learned some new ones today. Then we moved onto the workbook and did a few exercises. After our hour was up, we were given our assignment and let go.

The third class being taught today was the Theology course, which I did not enroll in. Betsy and I lounged in our room for the afternoon, catching up on emails, facebook, and homework. Even though we have each class only once a week, except for language which is twice a week, both of us still wanted to keep ahead of the homework and not fall behind.

Around one this afternoon, which is 6 am back home, Betsy and I decided to go for a walk. We wanted to beat the rain that looked like it was in the hills. We walked up instead of down the road and around until we came back to the piazza in Fiesole. Neither of us really knew where we'd end up so we just walked and chose directions to turn when it came to it. It definitely was a workout though because we were walking up steep hills and down steeper ones. Working those calf and glut muscles. Two of the pictures in this post are from our walk. The countryside is just gorgeous, even today when it was cloudy with the coming rain.

After our walk, all of us were trying to figure out where we were going to eat tonight. The restaurants that we eat at on the other days of the week are closed on Tuesday so we have to fend for ourselves tonight and all the rest of the Tuesdays. At first we wanted to go into Florence and eat but after it got closer to 7 we decided to just go to this soup and sandwich place in Fiesole.

A bunch of people were in the lounge are drinking wine before dinner and I went out to join them. Betsy brought the bottle of Chianti she bought at the co-op the other day, Ania brought her bottle of Chardonnay. The guys had already gone through like 3-5 bottles of their own when I went to join them. I hadn't eaten very much for breakfast or lunch so after only a glass of Betsy's Chianti and half a glass of Ania's Chardonnay, I was a little tipsy. That's when we decided to go to eat.

The restaurant that we ate at was very small and quaint. I appreciated that the waiter was kind enough to explain the menu to us in English. He was very helpful but some of the people at the table were a little obnoxious. I felt very uncomfortable after dinner because our table was becoming too loud and very rude at times. But for dinner I ordered pasta with meat sauce and shared a 1/2 quart of vino di la casa rossa with Ania. Afterward I came back to Villa Bonelli to relax.

The other two pictures in this post are from my room. The one to the right is the view outside the window. Betsy and I may have one of the smallest rooms but we definitely have one of the best views. Even with the crane in the way we can see out over the entire valley on a clear day. Today we could watch the clouds move over the valley and sometimes see the rain fall. The other picture, below, is of my corner of the room. Our beds are very close together and seem smaller than the twin beds at school. But I like the room and am comfortable in it.