More on Life Lately

I realize that my tales of everyday Firenze life have been suffering from lack of coverage lately, as I’ve mostly posted about exciting things such as trips to Spain and visits from the parents. So I am taking some time now to share various tidbits of things that have been on my mind.

1. School: I really like that this semester I’m going to school more in the center of Florence, at the faculty of Lettere e Filosofia, and in fact mostly doing history classes. Though my professor for “Storia della Chiesa/History of the Church” managed to scare away a few students with the fact that her class is meant to follow two other half-semesters of History of the Church, I stuck out the first class and decided that I’d really like to do it. The structure reminds me more of Georgetown than any other Italy class I have encountered. She handed out such novel documents as syllabi, and sheets of paper with the structure of the course and the books we’ll need written down on them. Incredible. During our first lesson (after she summed up the required background knowledge quickly) we read and analyzed a document to get our feet wet on the subject. It was all very familiar academic territory for me. After class, she seemed pretty open to helping me and my friend Eva out with a few extra things since we are foreigners.

Speaking of Eva – I just met her on Monday and she’s German. We were both trying to find Professor Ciuffoletti’s class, and she is also doing History of the Church. On Tuesday, we went through the adventure of finding the student cafeteria for Lettere e Filosofia, and ate there both Tuesday and Wednesday. (Sidenote: I ate at the cafeteria at Scienze Politiche once. Yup. Once. It’s a great deal for all the food you get but I never got over my apprehension of navigating those crowded socializing waters alone more than the one time.) I’ve showed her Bibioteca delle Oblate, where I enjoy studying, using the internet, and just generally chilling. Okay let’s be honest, I use the internet more than anything else there. And rent DVDs. Generally American ones. I keep meaning to make myself get some Italian ones… So right, Eva – we’ve also had some very cool conversations on the US, Germany, and how Italy as a country strikes us. Even though she falls into the “European” category with Italy, a lot of our impressions our similar. Aside from what I already knew or thought I knew about Germany, I can now definitely say that we are more similar to each other (as countries) to each other than either of us are to Italy/southern Europe.

But yes, in general, I like being so close to everything and not needing as much time to get to class or get home when the day is through. According to Google Maps (one of the loves of my life aside from my fiancé) it takes only 20 minutes to walk from my apartment to the building where I have class, so starting Monday I think I will substitute a morning walk instead of waiting for the bus. Also, then I can reliably leave at 8:40 to arrive at 9:00, instead of playing the “when exactly will the bus come” game.

My schedule is nice. I purposely gravitated toward classes that met only Monday through Wednesday, since they existed and I enjoy the idea of 4-day weekends for freeing up time to travel, above all. This is the reason why I can go to Zurich and London in the next few weeks, and to Naples and the Amalfi Coast with my future in-laws in April. Though by then, it will be second module, and my class for that half of the semester is as-yet undetermined. But there are a few Mon-Wed choices. Anyway, I feel good about academics so far – especially since the experience of doing them is enhanced by Eva, my new class and lunch buddy/friend in general.

2. Thoughts on where I am in my year abroad: Lately, I guess maybe since my parents left and even a bit before they got here, I feel myself thinking more and more about the fact that the time is coming to go back to the US. I can feel/see the horizon of mid-June arriving. Mostly, I am incredibly happy and excited when I think about it. While I am blessed in so many ways to be here, there are just some things about being away from your home country for so long that are mentally/spiritually draining. I feel like draining is the wrong word though, because it’s not like I am over here suffering all the time. But nonetheless, the US is my home, most of the people I love live there, and I’ve been existing in a different culture for a while now.

So yes, I am really excited, especially since I have so many wonderful experiences and reunions awaiting upon my return. However, when I get excited I then get a little guilty because I don’t want to live out my time here just awaiting the time to go home. I have so many wonderful and exciting experiences left here, and I can never get this year back once it’s over. So I usually end up making myself re-focus on all the cool things I get to do in the immediate future, but I suppose I can allow myself to be excited about coming home in moderation.

Since I just started class again, I’ve been thinking of myself as halfway through my time here, but today I realized that since two months have passed since the end of the calendar year, I’m actually a bit further along than that. I have 3.5 months left here, and I’ve been here 6 months, which actually puts me closer to the 2/3 mark. That really puts things in perspective, especially since I anticipate time flying more and more as June gets closer and closer. Sometimes I find myself telling myself (yes, lots of dialogue in my head) how quickly it will fly by – trips in March, Dave’s parents visiting in April, my grandparents in May – and then I realize that maybe I shouldn’t be convincing myself how fast it will go by and just enjoy/live it and know that it will come sooner than I think and I want to be ready.

So to sum all that up – my life is a mix of very different blessings right now and I am trying to appreciate each in its own time. However, as most of you know, it’s hard for me to remain focused only on the present – I tend to think ahead as part of how my personality is. So I just find myself getting really excited about really starting wedding plans, shopping for “the dress”, going to Oregon, going to Samoa for Josie’s wedding, spending time with Dave again, being at home where I don’t have to pay for internet by the hour, and last but definitely not least, going back to Georgetown in August. So my challenge lately is just knowing that those things are there and will happen soon, but remembering that where I am now is not a situation that I will ever get to be in again, and that I have to appreciate the joys and pleasures of it all. And one thing I KNOW I will miss about Florence is my Italian family. I truly have no qualms calling them family at this point, and from talking to other people about host family situations, I know I truly lucked out to get placed with this one. And, spending so much time here has really allowed for some strong bonds to form. It’s uncertain whether I’ll get to see them ever again really, and they have been my daily companions for 6 months and will be for the next 3.

So that’s where my head is right now – very content but also starting to get a bit antsy about rediscovering the pleasures of home and moving to the next exciting phases in life. Sorry of this post ended up a bit scattered – I don’t generally go on and on about my feelings here but it seems somehow appropriate at the moment.