"faccio con calma"

It's Thursday at 10am, and I'm done with classes for the week. Our landlord is taking us all to dinner tonight. My roommates, Nathan and I are taking the train to Rome tomorrow for the weekend. Life in Florence is rough.

I'm learning a lot in my classes, and I'm finally figuring out how to navigate through the city without a map. In my Renaissance Art History class, our professor, who is training to be a tour guide, took us on a walking tour of Florence, including a tour of a 500+ year old Florentine palace. I still can't quite grasp the fact that I'm actually seeing the things that I've read about in textbooks for some many years. This whole hands on learning experience is a beautiful thing.

My days here are long, but my nights go by quickly. I go to class, sip espresso, shop and eat amazing food. I am also on a mission to find the best geloto in Florence. I usually get back to my flat around 7pm, spend about an hour trying to write an email (my Internet connection is horrible), make dinner... and then somehow it's already 11pm?

I was the only person in my Italian class this morning. There are usually three of us, but my two classmates were at a mandatory meeting. I love having a small class, though. My professor is wonderful, and my Italian is improving quickly. We don't spend hours repeating vocabulary or memorizing verb conjugations. Instead, we converse with each other for the first half of the class (in Italian, obviously) and then learn useful phrases and vocabulary. It's a much more practical way of learning, and I absolutely love it.

This morning, my professor and I spoke in Italian, just the two of us, for about 45 minutes. Don't get my wrong-- it was definitely broken Italian on my part, but Italian nonetheless. I explained to her how I am not a morning person at home, but I don't really mind mornings here. Sara and I usually leave about an hour before class begins (today that was at 7:30am), go to a cafe near our flat for espresso and a morning pastry and then arrive at school about 10-15 minute before class to check our email/Facebook/etc. After I explained our daily routine, she exclaimed: "Faccio con calma!" Literal translation: I go with calmness. I am not rushed or stressed or scrambling to find something; I am relaxed and calm and go with ease. And I love it. Maybe it has something to do with the warmer weather? Or that I'm in one of the most beautiful cities in the world? Probably. Nevertheless, I am thoroughly enjoying this new, calmer lifestyle. Va bene!

I did manage to upload my pictures onto my laptop, so I will post pictures soon. And I will update on Sunday about my weekend in Rome. Weekend in Rome?!?! Ahhh, I am a lucky girl.