Much Better Day!

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Geo: 44.4944, 11.3492

Sorry for being a downer yesterday, but that was the place I was in.... After blogging, I was getting ready for bed and the strap that you pull to bring the outside metal shutter down broke! That was the icing on the cake yesterday! So glad I had asked the manager to bring an extra sheet, he had brought two so I used one for some privacy.

Prayed and read my Bible, and know that God is with me, so why feel lonely, overwhelmed, and scared sometimes? Because I'm human and struggle with all of those emotions... But am glad when I work through it, and come out on the other side closer to the Lord, when He assures me He is right here in Italy with me, not just when I go to church in Richland! How great is that?

Tried out the sofa bed and even with the metal rod running across the middle, it was more comfortable than the ottoman single bed so I actually slept last night. I did wake up at 3:30, laid there till 4:30 when I heard my phone vibrate, so decided I might as well check out the emails. Had some work ones, emailed back and forth with people and took care of a couple of things, fell back asleep at 5:30 for about an half hour and felt pretty refreshed.

The usual morning routine then headed out for the bus. Got on the number 13, counted my 5 stops and got off right in front of the school, arriving 1/2 an hour early. Not sure when the bus comes next so don't know if I'll try for a later arrival tomorrow.... Unsure what, if any schedule there is for the buses as what is on the timetable doesn't seem to correspond to when they pick you up.... But that definitely could be "user error".

Classes were good, it's nice to have an American in there as we understand each other, his wife is in another class learning Italian so she can read the classics in the original language, she's getting her Ph.D. In Medieval/Renaissance Lit I believe. Plus they're from Montana so right around the corner from us! Very nice young couple. Again had a snack with a few other students between our morning classes and the afternoon extra class. I am signing up for all the extra free classes they offer, today it was an extra hour of grammar.

The brain was not "fried" today, I actually like grammar, it's much easier as it's "concrete" whereas conversation has so many nuances and words that can mean several things. You take it for granted when it's your own language but when you think about it we have things that don't make literal sense when you say them. Can't think of any examples right now, feel free to post below, could be a fun examination of our English language!

Another student I met is from Madrid, no inglese, so have to communicate wth him in Italian, he is an architect and is in Italy for a little while touring around, but not sure I got the whole gist of what he was communicating! The young lady from Palestine is wanting to learn Italian so she can go to university here, her first language is Arabic, second Hebrew, third English, fourth Korean, and now Italian.... I don't think we are expecting enough of our students in the US.... She speaks excellent English and it's her 3rd language..... She's maybe 20? I do know from being here several times that she is not that unusual, most people around the world seem to have at least 2 languages if not 3-5 of them. They usually start in grade school too, so that definitely helps.

Did some investigating of the bus routes back to the apt and think I found the correct stop! Will try it out tomorrow. Took a nice hour long walk this evening after dinner and took photos of things and places on my street. I walked into and out of lots of little and medium sized stores. Found where the real locals shop, a few variety stores with stuff that is reasonably priced, not priced for la touristica, will be going back to those no doubt. Bought as large of a mug I could find, now I can have my large cup of tea in the morning and evening, it was less than 2 euros, nice, you can see it in my dinner photo.

A domani!
Ciao,
Wendy

Steps: 9,080 at 10:16. Miles: 3.91. Flights: 9

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Photos

Interesting
Saw this store in France, it's a whole store with only frozen foods..

Ugo Bassi, will have to find out who he was...
He's on the street named after him too.

Dinner!
Bought as large of a mug as I could find, finally a BIG cup of tea for me in the morning and evening, happy day!