An Entry from Italy

Ok, bits and pieces as they occur to me. This all has been one big buzzing confusion for a few days and I am only just settling down to a routine.

I am in Lucca, in Italy, staying with a lady about my age called Milena and her 33 year old daughter, Laura. They are both very nice. Milena speaks a little English and Laura speaks well. I don’t see much of Laura because she goes out to work early. Milena and I have breakfast together and then I walk to the school which is {almost literally} round the corner. The street where I live is Via Diversi and the school is on Via A. Mordini

I am in the “We-know-just-a-little-bit-of-Italian” group. There are two Americans (a man and his wife,}a Norwegian man who is almost my age, an Irish woman who actually lives in Lucca with her husband and three children, an Australian woman whom I eat lunch with a lot,  three constantly chattering German college-age girls and me! Our teacher is called Lorenza and is excellent. We laugh a lot and talk a lot {in a sort of mixture of Italian and English at the moment} and are encouraged to help each other.

Lucca is a medieval city with narrow cobbled streets. I am glad I packed the sturdy metal cane and don’t have to rely on the cute collapsible one I bought for the plane! There are areas designated for pedestrians only but cars and especially bicycles make their way through the narrow streets impeded by the people who walk where they can!

Lucca is called the citty of 100 churches. I  think someone said there are really only 99 but that is a lot of churches for a city which has walls that are about two-and-a-half miles in length. This is the old city, of course. The city has moved outside its walls. Anyway, each church has an open area in front  of it called a piazza. This afternoon I found the Piazza di San Frediano! The church has a painting above the door but I didn’t have my camera with me.

I took my Mac Book computer with me and I am able to use the school’s network. Every morning we have a 30 minute break from class and everyone rushes out. I stay there, boot up the Mac Book and check my email. I have been trying to get to OD with no luck. Anyway, I am writing this in the word processor and if I can ever get to OD, through the magic of cut and paste, I will post it.

This is how my days have been going so far. I eat breakfast with Milena, go to class from 9 am to 1 p.m. and then find a bar, a pizzeria or a trattoria to eat lunch. I eat a big lunch (which I order in Italian}  then buy fresh fruit at the market near the house to eat in the evening. This has worked very well. I already have a favorite trattoria where I can eat outside and the weather has been beautiful–cool and sunny.

I managed to find a shop in downtown Lucca to get the proper adaptor for my computer to be able to be plugged into the Italian electric supply. Unfortunately, that same night, I carelessly left it on the floor and stepped on it shattering the plastic bits! Since I now knew where the store was, it was no problem to walk there and get another! And this time I remembered the store closed for the two-hour lunch and didn’t open until 4 p.m.. A very few stores stay open all day but most of them close for about two hours for lunch. They are also open half a day on Saturday , and closed all day Sunday and Monday!

This weekend will be soent walking and taking photos AND eating gelato. Italian ice cream is fantastic and I am trying a different flavor every day. My favorite so far is mora {blackberry}

More later…

QUOTATIONS:

"Step by step. I can’t think of any other way of accomplishing anything."

Michael Jordan

If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.

— David Viscott