Plans for Italy travel... and random updates!

Written the night of Wednesday, Feb. 3rd:

Tomorrow is a busy day! We have to meet at the police station early in the morning to finalize everything for our “permit of stay” (fingerprints), then we are analyzing our ‘site’ downtown for architecture studio and heading back to school for a few hours of Italian class. All followed by a night a studying for my second Italian exam (lots of verb conjugations to memorize). It was beautiful sunny today in Torino; It was so cheerful! I can also check figuring out another ‘everyday activity’ of my list: pharmacy. I bought cough syrup and nose spray (for congestion). Luckily, the woman who helped me spoke English pretty well (otherwise I think I would have been playing charades in the pharmacy). I have a cold that seems to be clinging on, but it’s not slowing me down too much.
I’m excited for my upcoming travels. On Saturday, we leave for Venice/Verona on a private bus and even get the luxury of a real hotel and not a hostel (it’s a USAC organized trip). I come back to Torino for one day of class (Tuesday) before leaving again to travel down thru Italy with Kate. We will be gone from Wednesday until the next Tuesday night (and only missing 2 classes total, don’t fret parents). We’re calling it our “Tour of Italy”. The plan is to take a train to Pisa (to stop for a few hours and see the tower) and then spend the next 3 nights in Florence. One day we will use to visit small towns in the region (REAL Tuscany), one day for seeing sights in Florence (already reserved two museums… and of course the Duomo), and the last day we are taking a private bike ride tour through the Tuscan country side to Siena with a stop for wine tasting. (Yes, I know what you’re thinking: very expensive… I am splurging. It’ll be so memorable to DO something in the Tuscan region rather than spending everyday looking at art). It is a total of 20 miles (but van supported… meaning when you get tired on the hills you can take the easy way out!). Hopefully my young body doesn’t let me down! From there we stay in Siena and then head down south to see the Amalfi Coast and Naples for 3 days. Hopefully we’ll have some sunny weather… it is supposed to be in the mid-fifties in the south (Fahrenheit not Celsius haha… you have to watch out for all those unit changes!), so a nice break from the cold.
I’m enjoying my classes, but I’ll be relieved when Italian is over. It meets 4 days a week for 2 hours each morning, which means we are covering a lot of material that is all memorization. Let’s just say pronunciation isn’t my forte. I just finished a power point on the Cinque Terre region (and now I can’t wait to go hike there in March when it is warmer) for Italian Culture. Tomorrow we see our site for the semester for studio; that’s where it all begins! And Art History holds my interest… I think I’m enjoying it the most right now. Just the four classes (yay!).
In other EXCELLENT news (I feel like I am an anchor on the 10 o’clock news that is transitioning between updates), we WILL be getting internet at our apartment sometime next week; our landlady signed the contract today! That will be helpful for planning trips, doing homework, and of course keeping in contact. Another random positive: I got stopped on the street last week by two people that looked my age asking for directions… I am excited by the thought that I looked like I belonged, knew what I was doing, and was Italian! Too bad I couldn’t actually help them ;)
I find it really interesting that some moments I’ll be walking down the street and completely forget that i haven’t always been here, that I’m not from the area. I always thought things would be so completely different on the other side of the world, but I keep finding more and more things that seem just like home (passing fields on the train last weekend that were dusted with snow… it’s a scene I could have seen ANYwhere in Idaho). It’s still hard to comprehend that I’m actually in Italy! I’m enjoying city life a lot too… I love being about to walk to the grocery store, the pharmacy, the pizzeria. And I love the effectiveness of the bus system (now that I know where my stop is! Haha). At night when I open the first door into my building and it shuts behind me, it’s always so comforting to be “home”. The apartment is a quiet little retreat from the city (and filled with English speaking women my age!). Not to mention it’s much more relaxing to not be constantly aware of my surroundings (watching my belongings, taking in the sites, making sure I know where I am, observing the people around me… you get the idea).
My meds are kicking in and I’m fading fast! Off to bed… Buonanotte!