Il tempo vola!

Time flies! This first week in Italia has been like swimming through a never ending wave! But we're all learning to tread water here in Italy and reach some sort of stasis. One of my bags of luggage came to today in the mail to school! So Huzzah for Switzerland, my other bag shouldn't be too far behind. I'm going to take l'autobus home cause I don't think I could manage the 45 minute walk with my beast of a bag. Riding the bus in Italia is like riding a bad roller coaster. And that is if you're lucky enough to get a seat! When the bus is racing along the curving streets the ride is fine if a bit disconcerting, it's when the bus jerks to a halt and then jerks to a start that's the problem. L'autobus is not for the weak of stomach! Even though the view is spectacular when my bus (number 13) goes up over the river to the Piazzale Michelangiolo.




I live on Via Masaccio numero 140 in an apartment on the second floor (which is the first floor here, because they call the "1st" floor the "ground floor" - terra piano). My host mom, Anna is an adorable little Italian woman from Venice (originally). She's a teacher and doesn't speak any English but we're gleaning more and more as we have more Italian classes and she is very patient and uses lots of hand gestures!

Anna cooks dinner for us and provides breakfast as well (the best coffee I've had in a long time! - though not as good as Dad's of course). We've had such good pasta - risotto especially, and that's just the first course, there's usually fish or meat of some sort and salad and a vegetable. But vegetables are magical in Italy. I wouldn't have looked sideways at cauliflower or spinach in the States but here, multo bene!

I went and walked around the city on Saturday (as homework) to help orient us and it was a pretty nice day though it rained a little. It normally almost always rains ... a little. Yesterday Rachel and I were sitting in our room with our shutters open to bask in the sunshine and Rachel says to me, "Is something falling from the sky?"

I looked out my window, in the perfectly blue sky and squinted, "Yep, that's rain!" There must have been a cloud over our house! When it starts to rain, street peddlers seem to sprout out of the cracks in the sidewalk and start selling cheap umbrellas.

Well I should start the trek back to mia casa!

Ciao!