My third week here…. I can’t believe it! This is my final week of Italian school. I’ve really learned a lot and am so happy the situation presented itself so perfectly for me to take advantage of the room in Emily’s apartment and the time together in Florence. Taking Italian in Italy has always been a dream of mine and I’m glad that things aligned so I could be here. I speak in Italian with everyone I can, but it tends to be that shop owners, waiters, etc always reply in English. I sometimes say that I am learning Italian and I’d like to converse in Italian but often, just saying that I’m studying the language elicits a response on Italian. I’m worried that I won’t have as much practice once I leave class but perhaps I just need to strike up conversations more!

I’ve met some very interesting and lovely people here in school. I have been going out for dinner and wine tasting with my friend from Norway and she has met and included another woman from Australia who now lives in Copenhagen. The students in my class are from all over the globe… Finland, Australia, England, Portugal, Brazil, and of course, the US. We often have coffee or lunch after class so it’s really fun to learn about the places they live. We share photos on our phones and I’m always so proud to show how pretty Bend is.

One of the highlights of this week was having a wine tasting with a few of the ladies from the school. We had a private wine tasting at a local restaurant paired with small bites of food. It was really interesting to learn more about Italian wines and try the non-stereotypical ones that don’t make it to the US. I tried a Franciacorta which is basically an Italian champagne. It’s light and bubbly and delicious. Of course, I lean towards the reds – specifically the Sangioveses and the ones we tried were very good.

On Saturday, I headed to Rome to set up the apartment and wait for Lance to arrive on Tuesday! Non Vedo l’ora!!

I took the train again from Santa Maria Novella station in Florence. It takes about 1hr 30mins and it’s a lovely trip. I got a panini in the train station before I left that had turkey, cheese and white beans on it and it was delicious. I arrived in Rome and made my way to the hotel I had to stay in for one night until the VRBO in Trastevere was ready for me. It was up on Quirinal hill so I walked around a bit by the Presidential Palace. I met a lovely golden up there too, named Lilly! I found my way down towards the colisueum and stumbled upon a breathtaking sunset view of the Vittorio Emmanuel II monument, the Trajan Market and the Vatican in the distance. I had a nice plate of carbonara for dinner, stopped for some biscotti for dessert and headed back to the hotel for the night.