La vita è bella!

We have been in Florence officially for, well, close to ten days. It's incredible how quickly it all goes. We are still in orientation mode at Palazzo Capponi, but I believe we have hit our stride and are good to go between now and the end of the semester.

Parte della città: The arrow indicates our terraza

I have one class to teach, and I won't tell you how many students are in it because I do not know yet. Students are permitted to try them all, shopping style; that is, students are investigating which courses they want to take by attending any number of them. My course competes with Italian Gastronomy and Italian Wines (which are both probably very full), so I have a feeling the numbers will remain "decent." I have no guilt about it; I have been teaching in overload for a while so this comes as a breath of fresh air. (Renaissance Art and Dante also call the more artistic side of everyone.) Wish I could take the classes but it's against the rules.

Picture Credit: Vanessa Love/Lindsay Payne

Speaking of fresh air: one way to recognize Americans in the streets aside from clothing and shoes, is their nose burying when they see smokers pass them by. The wave-the-smoke away and that stating albeit discreetly of "yuck" are fairly sure indicators that we have imports from America.(Urie is one of them. His hoodie-cum-gas mask serves him well.)

Ponte Vecchio (Again)

I have a fantastic group of students. Of course, I'm not privy to their personal affairs but they all seem to get along well and have a great attitude for studying abroad. I love to watch them cook upstairs in the common kitchen, where they share three stoves and sometimes their meals with each other. One student was sick but is on the mend, and one professor has also been sick but we hope to see him soon.

There's a concert of car horns going on right now outside my window. Wish you could hear it. Who knew you could honk for more than a minute without stopping? And that's not the time limit on the strident noise. It makes me smile; not so much when it's at 3:00 a.m. Last night the dogs in the neighborhood were barking incessantly. I thought about my neighbor in Harrisonburg who'd be calling the carabinieri if he were here,)

I dragged Urie to the art gallery (Palazzo Pitti, which is basically in our back yard). The palazzo was the former residence of the Duke of Tuscany and is beautifully arranged. The art collection comprises sculptures and paintings, mostly from unknown Italians--at least not well known outside of the country, and a display of costumes I have yet to see. (They closed before we could make it back to that hallway, Good news: I have a free-access card to several museums which lasts a year. I am good to go until 2016. Urie may not like it but he will see his fair share of art in the next three months. Actually, he always finds a piece of interest to comment and talk about with me later on.)

Urie in an Area of the Garden at Palazzo Pitti

He, in the meantime, is taking Italian with the students. I am in the process of registering him through JMU, Knock on wood that they will let him. He is doing well (hello French!), and as of today as joined the FiorentinaNuoto Squadra, thanks to a kind staff member who found the pool for us.  He will swim two hours a day, M-F. The kids are both intrigued by his jammers--he was the only one rocking them but may be using his speedo tomorrow to blend in. That's a half hour jog to the pool or a 50-minute walk, two hours of swimming, half hour jog back to our place. If he keeps it up he will be in optimal shape for summer league, and so will I.

We are going to Siena on Saturday. I am looking forward to it. (Toni, remember that series of books you got me hooked on about the medieval doctor? Didn't it start in Siena? Too bad the author died. I really liked it,) More pics to come!