My day so far

Well, I am officially convinced that something called "bus karma" exists. Sometimes I love bus karma, other times I hate it. I love it when it means that buses show up just as I arrive at stops, that they are on time, and that there isn't tons of traffic slowing them down. In such instances, I often end up ahead of schedule and in a lovely mood.

I hate bus karma when it means I just miss one bus and have to wait 15 minutes or more for the next. I hate bus karma when it means that the buses seem to be always on time EXCEPT when I really need to be somewhere. Bus karma is incredible because it can shift the time it takes you to get places 15-30 minutes in either direction.

Here is today's story. First of all, I realized this morning that my umbrella (ella ella) is broken. This is Italy umbrella #2, after #1 was stolen (I think) while I was shopping in September. #2, the red one, was given to me by Cindy because she found it somewhere and already had one. So at least I didn't pay for #2. However now it seems that I will have to go procure #3, as it has rained more days than not for about a solid month now. The Arno is pretty high, but Florence hasn't had the flooding issues that Venice, Rome, and other cities have had. Since the umbrella was broken, I decided to wear my rain jacket instead of my winter coat this morning (it also hasn't been VERY cold, at least compared to places like Connecticut).

I left the house at the same time today as I did yesterday, 9 am. I had to be at Scienze Politiche at the same time both days, 10 am. Yesterday it worked out perfectly, even though the second bus I take (all the way to Scienze Politiche) took longer than usual in the rain. Today things happened differently. First off, there are two buses that leave from my "home" stop, let's call them A and B. A buses are more frequent but follow the same route as B buses in the center of town. However from past experience I swore I would never take B buses in the morning when it was raining, since they take a slightly different route and get slowed by traffic. Since I had made this promise to myself, I decided to pass up a B bus this morning and wait for the A bus which was scheduled to arrive soon. Well, the A bus was late. Late enough to get me to Piazza San Marco RIGHT when the next bus was leaving... I saw it driving away and uttered some choice words out loud and in my head. Oh well, I said to myself eventually. There will be another in 15 minutes and I can still get to school right at 10 am. Plus, the bus often pulls up early and has to wait a few minutes, so I will be out of the rain soon enough.

Wrong. I stood at this bus stop, in the rain, being cold and wet and late, for 25 minutes. I did not do such a good job of staying calm this time - I was cursing the gods of bus karma as the minutes ticked by, one after the other. When it finally did come (10 minutes late) I did manage to do some good breathing on the bus. I had no idea if being late to the exam would be a problem or not, but I was comforted by the fact that my professor likes me and seems understanding. When I got to school, I went to my professor's office only to find a sticky note saying another room for the exams. I finally made it to that room, and the exams had already started but it wasn't a huge deal. Basically in Italian exams, a whole group of students shows up at a certain time on a certain day and the professor does their oral exams one by one. The rest of the students sit in class studying and/or listening until it is their turn. Just an entirely different system from the way things go in the US. There were two students from another course who went before me, then the two Italian guys who were also in my class. In addition to that, there were two other girls doing written exams (much like the one I did in November).

I wasn't sure how much of the book I had to study for the exam, but I hoped it wasn't much. I could tell that my professor was basically having conversations with each student, so the exams didn't seem to be too much pressure. I went last, mostly to have a chance to see how the exams were going, and really just had a conversation with my professor about the short paper I had written on American diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference (post-WWI). At one point I was worried because he kept asking if I had found certain documents, and my answers were, not really... I had been so pleased to find something I could use on one site that I was satisfied with that (and hadn't found much before). I just hoped that wouldn't hurt me too much. In the end, it didn't, because I did really well though who knows how. He also said my Italian writing skills were very good, so maybe that impressed him...

Anyway now I am feeling relieved because the academic pressure is off until January. I was also feeling sort of ill last night and that has almost gone entirely away. As yesterday afternoon wore on, I got a headache which got worse and worse, and my stomach felt weird as well. By the time I was headed home, I was sort of miserable and just wanted to be horizontal on my bed. When it was time for dinner, I tried to eat but food wasn't really agreeing with me. In fact after a little bit, my body got rid of the food and I felt a bit better (not sure how much is TMI there, sorry). Cristina was really sweet and made me some tea with lemon, and then I went to bed nice and early. Cristina and Federico both thought that it was something to do with my digestion, and I certainly have no reason to disagree with them. It's interesting, I definitely had this idea that Italians have all sorts of superstitions about food (what goes together, what doesn't, what you should eat and when), and that is true. But you know, maybe they just know more as well. I will see if I can pick up anymore wisdom in the future...

Also regarding food, I told Lucia on Saturday that 6 pm is a very normal dinner time for American families and she was SHOCKED. She said that for her 6 pm is a time for a snack if anything, not dinner. I have definitely felt recently how the difference in eating time is very present, and very real. I was talking to Dave until dinner time last night, which ended up being almost 9 pm, and he said there would have been outrage at his house if dinner was that late... and I think that would be true in a lot of American homes. Just another Italy/Europe quirk! It is fun to live in a different way and do all the comparing and contrasting...

Anyway, I should be off to get some things done and get lunch. As I found out last week, my best girlfriend from home, Anne, is visiting me starting tomorrow for a few days! She is flying into Pisa late tonight and I am going to pick her up there tomorrow. She spent this semester in Madagascar and is now in Paris til she heads back to the US. However apparently she really wanted to see me so she booked a spur of the moment trip here! How fun! It should be really great, spending the next few days with her. I imagine we'll do some shopping and I am going to try to take her to the Uffizi since she is such an art lover!

Alright, stopping for real now. I hope you are all enjoying the season and feeling the holiday spirit!