La mia vita a Firenze: October 30, 2011

October 30, 2011

This morning I woke up around 9:30, having very much enjoyed the extra hour of sleep thanks to Daylight Savings Time. I had a very long and lovely breakfast and then decided to go out and enjoy the day a little bit before I went back to my studying. It was another sunny day with a high of about seventy so I took the bus into town and then, as I do so often, just walked around, exploring new places. Unfortunately, there weren’t any markets today but I still had a lovely walk. I love seeing all of the fall colors (finally!) and seeing all the families out doing things together. I got some lunch at the Mercato Centrale and then headed home around 12:30. When I got home, I did a little bit of homework for my Weaving the Tale class and then studied for my midterm for the next three hours, which was not a whole lot of fun but something I definitely needed to sit down and do.

Around 4:15, Franzi and I caught the bus to Santa Maria Novella and then the bus that would take us up to San Miniato for Vespers at 5:30. The bus ride took about forty-five minutes, which was kind of ridiculous, but we met a family from France/South Africa (who spoke English) on the bus so it made the time go by a lot more quickly, talking to them. I love meeting random people and getting to know them :) Thankfully, even though we had such a long bus ride, we made it in time for Vespers. The view from San Miniato was spectacular and, although we had just missed the sunset (unfortunately), the sky was pink and the whole city kind of glowed. Vespers was very interesting and the Gregorian chants were really beautiful. We actually happened to sit by a priest who was visiting and spoke some English so he helped us follow along. When we came out of Vespers, in was completely dark and the city lights were twinkling below us—it was absolutely gorgeous! We had some troubles getting home because the bus never came in the 35 minutes we stood waiting for it (they are supposed to come every ten minutes), so we made our way to another bus, hoping it would get us somewhere we recognized. We got lucky and it dropped us off near our house and we walked from there. We got home around 7:45 and just in time for dinner!

Dinner this evening was just Andrea, Franzi and I because Daniela still is not feeling well. She has been sleeping almost the whole weekend, though, so hopefully that will really help. It’s so weird not having her around the house…I mean, she’s in the house, but not out and about. Andrea made us a wonderful dinner, filled with comfort food, perfect for a chilly Sunday night (waiting for the bus was so cold). We started with linguini with pesto that was absolutely delicious and I had so much of it! For our main course, we had omelets, which was perfect because, for whatever reason, Franzi and I were talking about omelets on the bus ride home and I began to really crave one…and then Andrea made them for dinner! We also had bread, oil and beans with our main dish. We finished off with clementines, which were sweet and delicious as always :)

Now I am all bundled up in my room, finishing up this blog and hoping my fingers don’t freeze off :P I have so many layers of clothing on and I am still cold. Apparently, in Italy, it is against the law to turn on your heat before November 1, so all of the houses are absolutely freezing right now. We are so looking forward to Tuesday and could not think of a better reward for finishing our midterm :) I think Daniela and Andrea are looking forward to it as well because they are always bundled up in four or five layers. I understand that it saves energy but, when people are freezing, I think they should just let people turn it on, at least for a few hours per day. I mean, I wore my “texting gloves” while I was on the computer a few nights ago…yes, our house is that cold at times. Anyway, once I post this, I am going to stretch and then head right to bed. Not only am I really tired, but also I am ready to be all warm and snuggled in my bed! I hope you have all had wonderful weekends and have a lovely start to your week! Oh, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN tomorrow!

All my love,

Kari