33

A year ago today I was making plans for my 32nd year of life and this definitely wasn't part of the plan. Thinking back, I can't say I remember what the plan was. I do remember the celebration with family and friends in Denver. There's a definite sense of missing everyone from home, but at the same time, there's a peace to being in a place with people who treat me as family. I am feeling, finally, a bit more at home in this very different world...to the point that I'm forgetting the differences and assuming many of the cultural nuances as being the norm. 

A couple of days ago, my dear friend, Lana, and a group of her friends visited me here in Perugia. She was the first face from my American life that I've seen since I boarded the plane March 8. As always when I see her, it's as if time stands still; she never changes and we pick up from where we last left off. It was so cool to introduce her and everyone to my life here. There's some level of validation or maybe it's just knowledge that this can't be a dream if someone else experiences it with me.

The evening they got to town, we all went to a Napolitano pizza place that D loves and I have become a huge fan of their pizza and other food as well. The group was longing for real Italian food. After a few days in Rome and being sent to all of the tourist places for food, they knew they hadn't yet had the culinary experience of the locals. It gives me great joy when we can all sit around the same table, D speaking Italian, the group speaking English and we all had a great time. I like playing translator, it's a cool role to be in. And I think D could appreciate the situation I've been in since I got to town: always being the only person in the group who doesn't speak the language of the others. I think this was the first time for him to be in a group setting where he doesn't speak the same language as everyone else.

The next day we walked all over Perugia and for lunch I cooked up some gnocchi because I wanted to make sure they'd had the gnocchi experience before leaving Italy. One of the guys has been traveling all over Europe (backpacking) for 2 1/2 months, another girl is working in Paris. Hearing the stories of the different places they've visited and their experiences was great. I really haven't heard too many of these stories before. I know I need to do more traveling in Europe, it would be nice to be able to talk about the other cultures as well. But I'm not itching to go...I am anxious to see more of Italy, but I don't mind just living here. Especially now that I am just getting to the point of being comfortable. The one thing I heard from all is that Italy and Spain were two places that lived up to (or far exceeded expectations). About Italy, they were in love with the people, food, beauty of the place. They called it a complete place, as opposed to other places that might have most of the elements but were missing things like friendly people or something significant.

I'm sure in the blog I've expressed some of my anxiety at not speaking Italian. Or maybe not. I've probably told you more about the days when I felt like I'd made significant progress with the language. Have I told you about the days where I've been freaked out because I couldn't speak? Have I mentioned all of the times I wanted to express what was on my mind but couldn't? Did I tell you how many, many times I've been lost on the road trying to meet up with friends but couldn't call to ask for directions because I knew that I wouldn't be able to understand anything on the phone? Do you know how it feels to tell someone hundreds of times, "I'm sorry, I don't understand the meaning of what you just said?" or "Can you repeat that, please?" Do you know the anxiety of knowing you will be in a social setting where you will be with people you enjoy very much, but you will not be able to talk to them about what's going on with them, express your appreciation, tell a joke or understand when they say something clever?

I've met many foreigners here, mostly through the university and almost all of them don't speak Italian after class. They hang out with others who speak their native language. They party and have the time of their lives here. So many people come here for the party aspect or simply to have a nice break. I can honestly say that even though classes were part-time and it's a pretty casual life living for school, Italian food, bike rides and not a whole lot more than that, much of the time here has been stressful. You're not going to hear this from most people who come to Italy. Also, when people travel to Italy for vacation, they either go to the tourist places where business owners speak English, or at the very least, they travel with others who speak their language.
The stress comes from trying to live the real Italian life without being able to communicate like I would like to (closer to fluency...fluency itself is very difficult to attain, actually it's impossible to define). I've learned how much time there isn't in each day...and I just can't sit down and memorize vocabularly. One of my teachers said that it's necessary to hear a word 7 times before remembering it. I believe that.

A word on the comfort zone concept. I have always wandered a bit out of my comfort zone for new jobs, and interesting experiences. Fortunately, I eased into this life here somewhat with starting my life in an apartment with a Dutch girl (people from Holland are very good in English) and making friends with English-speakers (though no Americans) at the university. But I will say that even now, I haven't exactly established a new "comfort zone." I'm fortunate to have friends and family here who would do anything for me if I asked them, but still. There are days that I feel like I'm in a free-fall from the comfort zone where I absolutely feel like there isn't solid ground beneath my feet. Fortunately, like anything, the feeling comes and goes. I celebrate the days that I can comunicate and feel good with stuff. The others, I try to remember how much better everything is now than it was before. I used to be totally freaked out about having to talk to my landlord who only spoke Italian. The other day when I moved, I had a very easy conversation with my new landlord and only realized after I'd had a good 45-minute exchange with him that it was possible he didn't know a word of English. It's easy to order food, do business with anyone at the local shops. It's the next level of being able to chill out with friends and just banter. That's the next step. Fortunately, I can understand almost everything everyone says. And when I manufacture Italian words, I'm often correct or close enough that an Italian can guess what I said and give me the correct word in exchange.

The other night, a group of friends (who are all about 15 years older) got together and invited D and I. They had a huge table outside in the backyard of their home not too far from here. They also have a wood-fired oven. They made pizza, had all sorts of wonderful food (lots of antipasta foods like bruschetta, veggies, large platters of different meats and cheese), and there were 5 different types of dessert. It was interesting because all of the men sat together and the women sat together. I think everyone who was there was with a spouse or significant other. The most talkative side of the table was the men's side. They were speaking a lot of dialect so I was able to understand a bit less than I usually can at this point. But still, to be there, under the stars on a perfect night and feel this family atmosphere absolutely embodied at that table, I'm cool with simply enjoying and knowing that the next time we get together, I will be able to understand more and speak more. And, for the record, in dialect in this region, "mangia" is pronounced "manya." Ha.

Perugia is beginning to wake up, I've been in town since 6:30ish. I started the day with a cappuchino freddo (espresso with cold milk) and a chocolate-filled croissant. I bought the news, in English. I've been craving some news and I have started reading Italian news, but considering how long it takes to get through a single article, it feels good to get to digest what's up in the world a bit quicker. 2.50 euro for 19 pages of a very, very slim version of the NY Times. I think it's enough English news for awhile. I will pick up Italian news soon and spend the day reading it and studying. There's so much further to go and so little time...

Back to the birthday thing. Here I am, 33 years old. 33 isn't a particularly signifcant year number-wise. My mom had my bro at 33. Fortunately or not, I have yet to feel the ol' biological clock go off. I'm sure it's a function of situation. I feel about 25 so that might help matters a bit. At least for this month I get to live as an adult (like an adult Etruscan in my Etruscan cave-like home, outfitted with furniture and kitchen cabinets from IKEA) with my own kitchen and no second-hand smoke at home. It feels terrific. Much of the specialness of Italy is home cooking and I am thrilled to have a chance to try my hand in the kitchen again. I'd like to start with apple pie. Hopefully today.
What's the plan for 33? Good question. As things have fallen into place in the past, I suspect they will as the future unfolds. I am going to let nature take its course and go with the flow.
Thanks to everyone for the very special birthday wishes. I look forward to seeing everyone in September and catching up in person. There will probably be very few blog entries between now and then with such limited time and so much to do between now and then. All my best!!!!!!!!!

Blog is Back...

With the entire world being able to read the blog, as much as I like to share everything with everyone, it takes too much time and effort to tailor everything such that it can be read by the whole world. Therefore, I've thrown on permissions and only people with logins can read this. This is open to very close family and friends at this point so I will feel a little more free to blog to my heart's content. And post pics to my heart's conent, as well. :)

I apologize for the very long delay in posting, lots has been going on as usual, lots in Italian.  As hard as it is for me to speak it, I still want to live in that place and be frustrated when I can't find the right words, the cool part is that the frustration levels and stress levels have significantly declined over the past couple of weeks, in particular.

Last night was a birthday party for the daughter of one of my teammates. For the first time in a social setting, not only was I able to understand, I was able to carry conversation somewhat. I am, in general, talking a lot more and able to connect with people I couldn't understand or begin to talk to not very long ago.

Night before last I went to see Sonny Rollins (dude is 80 years old) in concert in Perugia. There's a Jazz Fest here during July every year, it's cool. I have had live jazz streaming in my bedroom window every night for 2 weeks. I hear it now as I'm typing and it's 1 am.

I meant to get to bed a little sooner than this, I am a bit tired but also a bit wiped out after today. Today was a Gran Fondo near Siena (a place full of Americans in Tuscany...all because of the book "Under the Tuscan Sun." Honestly, it's pretty and the couse was awesome, but I believe Umbria to be greener and prettier. The road surface is better in Tuscany, however. Again, the world champ showed up but I raced super hard and took 2nd. After racing my heart out, the result felt awesome. So did the all-you-can-drink red wine and bowl full of fresh tomatoes at the pasta party. Yum. I even met an American who works for Ciclismo, the company who I traveled with last summer who inspired me to come back here. It's a small world...this is small world story #4 since I've been here.

Gotta fly due to time and lots of homework to do before class resumes tomorrow morning.

Yesterday

Today was a very significant day for me in a few ways and I have to capture it or risk losing the memory. Class is a whole new animal with the teachers talking much faster and course materials being more difficult. 5 hours in a row starting early takes me straight back to my undergrad days in college...yet I'm absolutely eating this up. I'm driven hard to learn for a few different reasons, but primarily it's my longing to communicate better with friends and family here that provides all the incentive I need. My thrist for the language grows with every day as so much more of this world is becoming accesible to me now. Books, news, Le Tour de France coverage here (no Phil Liggett or Paul Sherwin, the men and women are Italian)...you name it.


The significant part of today was that I felt somehow a significant change in my ability to think and speak first thing this morning. I made two calls to people who only speak Italian and the conversations went off without a problem. And I had the confidence to do this. (YEeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!!! I'm leaping inside with excitement.)

Tonight was a sagra (festival of sorts nearby) that ended up being really cool (in a perfect summer night kinda way). There were plastic plates, but I kid you not, it was still the full, typical Italian meal with first plate, second, third, forth, fifth... all tasting quite wonderful. I was asked what a typical good American meal is. Hmmmm....sorry, all, I don't have a good answer. Finally I came up with Thanksgiving dinner. That's the only thing that is uniquely American and fairly standard across the country. When I think of "American" food, all I can think about are Indian dishes, sushi, burritos from Illegal Pete's, salads that I make at home and mom's homemade lasagna. In case you were wondering, I haven't eaten lasagna here that I like more than mom's. Hers is the best in the world. And she claims to not have any Italian blood.

The equivalent of the sagra we went to tonight in America would have been very different food-wise. Hamburgers, hot dogs, funnel cakes instead of two types of pasta, prosciutto, formaggio, bread, wine, pork, pigeon, sausage, salad and dessert. Don't misinterpret...I'm not totally criticizing American get-togethers in this statement. It's simply different. I do appreciate all of the good food everywhere here and I never ask or even think "is this organic?" Or "are there trans-fats?"

Yes, I'm too full to sleep and I have class too early tomorrow! I was laughing, someone asked me about the cuisine and said something about dogs. So I was thinking about the domesticated type, until I put two and two together and realized they were talking about hot dogs. Ha ha, gotta love the nuances that get lost in translation!

I might have mentioned before that group get-togethers are impossible for me language-wise. As much as I love the togetherness (totally, totally fabulous), they've always been a little stressful since I can't contribute anything much...and if you know me, you know I like to participate in group activities! Understanding conversations flying back and forth between so many people has been impossible before and speaking was close to out of the question. One-on-one conversations were much better. Tonight was great. I can honestly say I understood quasi-everything that was said and was able to talk a decent amount as well...it was almost flowing at times. My vocabulary needs to be so much more, but for basic conversation, it's almost there. We had a great time.

Vacation Update, Happy Independence Day!

I've been doing nothing but speaking and listening to Italian for a week, I'm going to blog in English.

Last week I didn't have class which was really great...I put in some good time studying and found time for a few other extracurriculars. One involved going to an outdoor pool in an amazingly beautiful place not too far from here a couple of times. When it's too hot to do anything else, it feels amazing to bask in the sun and take a dip. Time after the Dolomiti was spent recovering some, it was exhausting on the body (possibly because of the higher altitude). Spent more time relaxing than riding and that was just fine with me.

I met up with Ciclismo Classico when they rolled through town, that was a fun enounter as always. Watched the paper-making process in Bevagna, as well, something I couldn't see when I was on the tour since I was off trying to see the place. Love to hang out for the day with the Americans and (of course) my guide friends. Interesting to see what questions they have and hear their reactions. There's a lot to American culture that I took for granted before and have now forgotten about. I have really gotten into the Italian life here. I've changed the way I eat food (fork in the left hand, knife in the right...apparently it's English, but the Italians eat this way as well), dress, etc. My nails are all pretty now. That's a first in 10 years. When offered food, I have learned that it is important to eat. Never say no.

Today was a great ride, covering some of the roads I saw on the Ciclismo trip (backwards) from Gubbio to Assisi, but not to Assisi. These were roads that weren't riddled with potholes, gotta love that (hard to find around here). On one water stop, some older guy in Gubbio who makes his own wine offered glasses of it to us from his home. Seriously, he opened his front door and let us come in for wine. Another cool part of today's ride (besides the fact that it was a big, fun group) was that I saw a few guys that I haven't seen in a couple of months...back then, I could hardly understand or say anything. Today we could banter on the bike.

Sometimes the frustration of not being able to say what I want to gets to me. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I almost shouted in English and it felt so amazingly good. Now with the language starting to be a little easier, I'm feeling a bit more at ease and (trust me) there's still frustration, but it's not quite as totally exhausting with having to strain to hear and speak. I expect it to take another 3 months before I'm speaking with ease. At this point, I can understand pretty much all basic conversation and dialog of soap operas (yes, soap operas. There's a German one here that I watch with my friend's mom if it's on when I'm at her house).

Something I have noticed is that I have information in my head that I don't know where it's from. Some of the stuff I know is just floating around without a language. Other stuff is in English...some conversations I've had with my Italian friends I remember as having been in English. It's weird. How is it that I can have (in particular one) very close friend who speaks no English? It is just odd. I never imagined I'd be in this sort of situation. I've heard stories from others about people who didn't speak the same language, but now I'm living it daily. In the past I tended to shy away from people who spoke English with a strong accent because I was self-conscious. I give my friends here so much credit for being cool with me not speaking.

Another activity this past week was shopping in a place that looked and felt like an American mall. I don't like malls much in the U.S. I have about an hour worth of tolerance for all of the people, lack of sunlight and not cool clothes. But I totally surprised myself when I walked into the mall...I was overcome with joy at being at a place that reminded me of the U.S. There was a store just like Best Buy, so I spent time drooling over the electronics, computers, etc. It all felt great. But weird to hear Italian being spoken everywhere. It was fun to go out with a girlfriend. If there's one thing a girl needs, it's girl-time. I miss my friends from the US a lot, but have resigned myself to simply not having that sort of dynamic here. But this, as well as everything is beginning to fall into place a bit more. I've been so fortuntate to meet great people.

Classes have begun again and I'd love to tell you how they are, but I can't say just yet...I attended one set of classes yesterday and today (really like the class and professors), but tomorrow through the rest of the month will be another set of classes and profs whom I don't know yet.

OH I totally forgot to report on the small world stories...I have 2 more! The latest is when I went apartment shopping today, the woman who is currently living in an apartment that I might live in during August is from Pueblo. It was funny because I was speaking Italian with the woman from the office and when we went to check out the apartment and this woman opened the door, the lady from the office told me that I had to speak English. Turns out the lady is a bit older and here for a month of Italian classes. Sounds like there's a very strong Italian program in Pueblo. Who would have thought it?

Just finished watching the very end of the Tour and the women's giro. Pretty cool to see Americans racing it who I've raced with in the past (okay, not like we should have been in the same race...I'm a tiny fraction of strength next to these women)...but still, it's cool to see women's racing on regular tv here and see the Americans at the front.

Internet has been broken, I wrote most of this awhile ago but am just now posting it. Hope you all had an awesome Independence Day!!!

Le Dolomiti

It is much too late to write up the story of the Dolomiti from this weekend in English or Italian. Pictures are posted on Facebook and all I have to say is that I had a fantastic time with everyone who went on the trip (turned out to be a great group, some teammates, many guys from another team in the area and some family members of the guys as well), I ate some pretty fantastic food and saw the most beautiful mountains...absolutely indescribable. Hard to put in words in English...harder in Italian with limited vocabulary! They close the roads for a day the week before the famous Gran Fondo there, so the riding was great and free. Gilberto Simoni (recently retired Italian pro) showed up for the ride. Cooler yet was to run into a couple who I had met riding to Gubbio a couple of months ago (from a city far from here) who I had wanted to ride with again, but didn't realize we were all going to the same place on the same two days. There were thousands out there, amazing weather and definitely how one could describe paradise. Hope to update more, but no promises...spending the week off from classes doing a lot to improve my Italian and putting some reasonable miles on the road, as well. Buona notte!

Ti Amo e Grazie Mille!

Pensando alla mia famiglia! Buono "giorno di padre", DAD e buono compleanno, Nonno!!! Translation: Thinking about my family! Happy Father's Dad, DAD and happy birthday, Grandpa!!!

Going to switch to English now really quickly. It's late and I have to sleep, but I'm a little wound up after a 7-ish course (molto buono) 4-hour dinner that I just returned home from.

Can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged or Facebooked. There is too much going on to spend the time and I feel everything must be written in Italian. Yes, I'm keeping some sort of journal, much of it is comprised of the pictures I've taken in various places...and I'm pretty well documenting every single gelato I've eaten since I've been here. So far, I've missed 2 gelato photo opportunities.

The highlight of last week was meeting up with Ciclismo Classico in Gubbio and riding with them to Spello. I have pics, will post later (hopefully!) Great time to visit with Frank & Marcello, the same two guides from my trip last summer. It's weird to look back on last summer...Frank reminded me of how little Italian I knew back then (I remember not knowing the definition of va bene, sort of the cornerstone of the Italian language) and now I can understand the full conversation when people speak good Italian (not slang).

Here's a shot with the Ciclismo group as we were leaving Gubbio (Frank took the pic).

We also got together in Bevagna for the opening ceremony of their medieval week. I ended up seeing 3 cousins while I was there that evening. It's cool to have historical ties to a place, but even cooler to have living, breathing relatives in a place who are close enough on the family tree to see the resemblance to the rest of the family!

Here's a pic with me and Prof Piatti. He is a friend of Ciclismo's (lives in Bevagna) and he (via Marcello) helped me to get in touch with my relatives here last summer. We ran into him, as well, Thursday evening after the show. He looks much younger than this in person.

This coming week is my one and only exam for the past 2 1/2 months of Italian classes. I have been great at sitting down for hours at a time studying when there isn't an exam coming up...just when I want to know Italian better. Today it was really hard to force myself to study (and it was raining so it's not like I had an option to do much else). While I was taking breaks from studying, I found myself on Monster.com checking out the work scene in the world. It's becoming time to start figuring out what comes next, though I have a sneaking suspicion it might take more than a month or two to get to where I'm going (which is not yet known).

Reading job descriptions just makes me shutter. Really, you want someone who has a passion for something that is absolutely impossible to be passionate about? And you want him/her to do this meaningless work for all of the good hours every single day? Good luck to the "lucky" candidate. I've received more than one email from friends encouraging me to not re-enter the working world as they are currently in the process of being overly stressed out with their jobs.

I'll leave it at that for tonight. I'm still too full to fall asleep, but I have an Italian newspaper that should make for good reading material prior to shutting off the lights. (Actually, reading in English puts me to sleep, in Italian it wakes me up since I have to look up words and be very actively thinking about each word as I'm reading.)

Buona notte a tutti and THANK YOU to the wonderful DADs in my family AND to the wonderful MOMs who bridge the communication gaps to the DADs!!!

Ho Capito.

Mi dispiace, amerai a scrivere più qui, ma c'è non abbastanza tempo. Tutto i giorni sono come una settimana, ci sono troppo cose sempre a dirvi!!! La cultura di Italia, la cultura di le gare, come persone allenare per le gare, le modifiche di me stesso...


La settimana scorsa c'era no gare, quindi c'era tempo per le altra attività! Ho visto una bella fattoria con dei animale grande , questa fattoria è il tipo di romanzi della vita Italia. I carni di questa fattoria è più buona per la salute...i animali mangiano erba e hanno molto terrazza per pascolo.


Sono andata in bicicletta tutto i giorni con amici. Dopo, siamo andati in una piscina in Toscana. Il tramonto ha stato bellissimo!!! E naturalmente, abbiamo mangiato una pizza. Sono passato il intero fine settimana con i miei amici Italiani e era molto divertimento. Sì, ho studiato, anche durante il tempo.


Questa settimana, divento una ragazza Italiana. Mio amico mi serve. Oggi mi sono tagliata i capelli a un posto che lui conosce. Domani compererò le robe più femmina. Vestiti di REI (i vestiti che persone indossano di solito in Colorado) non sono va bene in Italia!!!


Oggi ho mangiato con i miei amici di Cina...il cibo Cinese è molto buono e va bene per la salute! Anche divento Cinese...posso mangiare dei arachidi con bacchette.


La ultima cosa per questa blog è: mio amico ed io possiamo avere conversazione lunghe e lui ha detta alla sua madre sta sera che io posso capire tutto conversazione senza slang. Questa è un sentimento strano: quando ho ascoltato bene, HO CAPITO!!! E le parole sono cominciano a fluire per conversazione casuale. Realizzo più ogni giorno come simile la lingua Inglese e la lingua Italiana sono. Spesso provo a indovinare per le parole giusto...è abbastanza del tempo, i Italiani hanno capito che cosa ho detto.

Maratona Appennini

Oggi era ancora una altra gara non troppo lontano di Perugia. Questa gara era il più difficile gara di mia vita perché due ragioni...1) 93 miles è più lungo, 7742 feet di dislivello è più salite di quanto io ho fatto in una gara e non sono andata questo tipo di giro in bicicletta in il passato 2 anni. Numero 2) Il tempo (weather) era pazzo! Ho fatto solo 2 o 3 gare in mia vita con pioggia. Oggi, il tempo cambiavo molto, cominciava a pioggia a meno 9 volti durante il gara...A uno punto (chilometri 90), ha stato un acquazzone. Era molte discese technicale ma ho paura durante queste parti. Il tempo era caldo uno minuto, e dopo era freddo.

Lungo storia corto, la gara andava trascorso bei paesaggi, ma era difficile a piacere perchè i condizioni. Sono contenta con la partenza...prima la partenza, Mario Cipollini (un bravo corridore Italiano) ha venuto alla gara e lui diceva. Ho avuto una grande vista davante le altre corridore. Comincivava piove essactamente alla partenza. 

Il mio posto era 2° (second) in mia gara...ho ricevuto una maglieta (mi piace) e duo bottigile di vino. Anche, questa:

Dopo la gara (e pasta festa, naturalmente...ho mangiato troppo prosciutto, ma non bevevo vino perché era bianca e nella scatola), noi abbiamo mangiato gelato insieme (con persone di la squadra)...i miei gambe era (e ancora) sono assolutamente stanche!!! I miei compagni di squadra erano contenti, anche, ma nessuno hanno piaciuto i condizioni.
 
Vorrei studiare adesso, già ho comprato 4 libri nuovi per la lingua Italiana e non vedo l'ora a cominciare leggere. Se non leggi bene perchè il traduttore non è va bene, perfavorè mi chiedi domande. 

English note: 1. a corridore is the term for bike racer as well as runner. 2. Cipollini looks larger than life, dude is solid muscle. The world champ woman (M. Gorini) won my race and prior to the race, she had pictures taken with Cipollini. On the podium after the race, I asked her about how she liked meeting him. 3. I wrote this yesterday, but the internet broke and I fell asleep really early!

Sono qui...

Ciao a tutti! Ho ricevuto molto email di voi relativa questo blog. Dopo molto pensa, ho deciso che è importante avere un blog, ma quando scrivo, devo scrivere in Italiano. Quindi, è possibile che le storie sarà più corti e difficile per voi a capire. Mi dispiace! Ma ho bisogno imparare la lingua Italiano cosi. Anche, se tu sai Italiano e vedi errori, perfavorè dimme sapere.

Oggi ho comprato i libri per Italiano per studenti con conoscenza di Inglese. Sarà bello sapere dove le differenze sono tra Inglese e Italiano. Non vedo l'ora quando comincio gli leggere.

Dopo scriverò più...ci sono qualcosa a scrivere di la fine settimana scorsa e domani, una altra Gran Fondo (gara) ...piove domani...domani è uguale in Italia alla 4th di Luglio in America.

Un grande GRAZIE per noi persone in il militare per voi servizio a noi Paese (mi dispiace, questo messaggio è un po' tardi per Memorial Day). 

Ciao ciao e baci! 

Full Immersion

If yesterday was the best day I've had in Italy so far, today was the worst (granted it really wasn't that bad, I just one too many difficult Italian conversations). I'm shutting down the blog for awhile, possibly the rest of the summer. I wanted to share this experience with everyone, but the blog and computer severely cut into my Italian time. It's too high of a cost. I really, really, really want to be good at this language and the realization that June is here just hit. One more month...a lot of people are expecting me to be fluent in that time (including myself) and I'm just not there yet.

I'm going into full-immersion mode. I'll talk to family members in English, but September isn't far away. I will get back in touch with everyone else when I get back home. Know I'm thinking about you always, but the thoughts have to be in Italian now. As long as I'm here, I really need to be here: body, mind and soul.

Hugs and kisses to all!!! Ciao e ci vediamo presto!