September 15, 2011

September 15, 2011

Today in Minnesota, the temperature is in the fifties. Today in Florence, the temperature is in the nineties. I’m ready for cooler weather. I woke up this morning feeling much better than I did when I went to sleep. I was still a little dizzy but that got better over the course of the day. We worked on prepositions in Italian and after class I had my lunch in our classroom as usual. I hung out at Linguaviva until my information session on my Medici class so I wouldn’t have to go out into the sun and the heat. It was nice to kind of lay low and not have to deal with the heat. At 2:00, we had an informational meeting for the Medici class that I am taking, which seems to be a combination of a history of the Medici family as well as art history at the time of the Medici. It sounds like it’s going to be a very interesting class and the majority of our classes are not in the classroom but on site around Florence. I am very excited for that because it really puts things into context and makes things much more interesting. After the meeting, I took advantage of the school’s superior Internet (to that at my house) and Skyped my mom for about an hour, which was really nice :) After that, Franzi and I headed home in order to continue to lay low and stay out of the sun.

When we got home, Massimo and Marco were here! Andrea had gotten Massimo a helicopter that flew when you pulled a cord so they went out into the garden to try it out. While they were outside, I bonded with Marco (the six-month-old baby), which was SO wonderful. He has the cutest smile! Daniella said that he really liked me :) I played with Marco for a while and finally pulled myself away to do a little homework. I do really love hearing the sounds of little kids in the house, though. I am SO glad they have grandkids and that they come over so often. They really make me smile :) I was worried that, now that school has started for Massimo, they wouldn’t come over anymore. But now they just come over after school, so that’s good! Also, Daniella had her hands full for a little while and asked me if I could hold Marco for a little bit! I did, of course, and got to play with him and hold him for a while. He is SO cute! Maybe someday they’ll let me babysit him for a little while :) Hahaha we’ll have to see about that I guess. Anyway, I love getting to play with him and Massimo when they are over here.

YUMMMMM what a DELICIOUS dinner! Our first course was cheese and spinach tortellini in olive oil with freshly grated cheese from the mountains of Northern Italy (I saw the tortellini in the fridge a few days ago and was hoping it would be for dinner this week…)! I ate that up right away and had seconds. For our main dish, we had zucchini flower again (which was still INCREDIBLE…I told Daniella I MUST learn to make it), meatballs (which were not meant for me but Andrea had me try it because it was the texture of hamburger and I liked it so I had a few!), cheese and bread. I ate so much and it was so delicious! For dessert, Daniella made banana bread from a recipe she got from a student from a few years ago. Although it did not turn out quite as we are used to it, it had the same taste and was still very good. I am quite satisfied to say the least :)

I’m still a little worn out after feeling so awful yesterday so I’ll probably go to bed early, as usual. Post my blog, shower, stretch, and then to bed. I’m glad to be getting in this habit of getting a good night’s sleep because I think it definitely helps. I guess that’s a no brainer but it’s still a good habit. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up throughout the semester! Well, I’d best sign off now if I want to be in bed at a reasonable hour. To all of you where it’s so chilly, stay warm and soak up the crisp fall air for me. I’ll take in all the summer heat and sun for you :P Buona Notte!

Love,

Kari