Italy Post #18

Dear Readers,
Its that time for another update I think. Although I love providing snapshots of daily life, the little things that I find fascinating or the things that interest me, sometimes the dryness of a play-by-play is good just for orientation. And I want to keep you oriented readers.

Life here has been pretty regular, which is not a bad thing. I have a schedule for each day, usually starting out at around 7 with a cappuccino and a good read or some singing in the chapel (have I mentioned that the acoustics here are AMAZING?!). Class goes pretty much the same way every day, split equally between a discussion of the reading (which I excel in) and a critique of the poetry (which I fail in). I find it much easier to discuss the reading, probably because literature classes have been my main focus up until this semester. Its so hard to have my poetry critiqued, to have people tear apart this work that I've spent so much time on. I've gotten a little more used to it, but it still is hard. Lunch is next, which has been going pretty good; they serve amazing pasta, usually followed by some sort of meat and veggie course. Not bad, right? This is where the variations come in: after lunch, each day includes different activities, which are sometimes mandatory (eg. Italian class). It just fills up my day, but not in a bad way. By the time dinner is ready, I've made a good use of my time, writing and reading in the breaks in my day, usually with a warm glass of tea by my side. Its quite enjoyable.

Florence was AMAZING! I couldn't believe how daring I was: getting on a train for the first time by myself, venturing off into a foreign city alone with some sketch plans to hopefully meet up with Jenny. But it all worked out in the end, we met up and ducked into a cafe for some lunch since it was raining and got to catch up with each other. All in all it was a great time, plus I got to get a TON of christmas presents for people :0) And the best part was that I walked into dinner late that night back in Orvieto; everyone was sitting down already and saw me walk in and they were so happy to see me! I just felt so welcomed, it was great! Then we all went back to the monastery and played 3 games of Werewolf (like Mafia, but horribly inferior). Fun fun fun!