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Dear Friends and Family, Today I plan to make my last day in Florence. Although I have come to like this city, I'm comfortable here, and so I know it is time to travel again. My two weeks of intensive Italian language school went well. We studied 6 hours/day for 10 days total. I added it up, and realized that in most college courses one doesn't get this much training. My head is jammed full, although it takes me a while to process things. I know that I will be able to communicate enough in Italian for most situations, and hope to continue studying when I get back home. I haven't been places or done anything extremely strange (to me) in the last couple weeks. School and staying alive have taken all my time and energy. The school works on the immersion principle, and from the first day every word is in Italian. Needless to say, my head has been spinning. The weather was almost unbearably hot here when I arrived. A few days after my last e-mail, however, a storm moved in. It suprised me, and although the tent was pegged down since I planned to stay, it wasn't tight. Thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and my tent snapped in the gusts. The rain pounded down, using the tent as a sounding board. I was sure it was coming in. I was very glad when I awoke in the morning to find a blue sky and everything in the tent still dry. The next few days went well, but for the last week we've had nothing but storms coming though. I endured one, although after 3 days of constant rain the water made it's way into my tent and began to dampen my sleeping bag. Luckily, it's still warm when damp, and not a lot of water got in. I've had a couple days to dry, and now it's raining again. I looked at the weather satellite pictures today... there's nothing to be done. I plan to go south, but I won't be escaping the rain there, as the jetstream and the present weather system are blowing storms straight down Italy's boot from Norway. I've made an important purchase here in Firenze... I bought a small european camp-stove. It's one tiny burner that runs on the brand Campingaz. It's worked quite well, and I've had pasta and pesto and lentils and tea to go with my wine. Wine is quite inexpensive here, the cheapest table wine costing the equivalent of $1 American, and the very nice wines being no more that $15. My watch quit here in Firenze. It got a couple very jarring knocks here and there, and the mechanism is in need of tweaking. I thought it might be just the battery, although I had gotten the battery replaced just before I left for Oregon. But a new battery ran down in only two hours, proving the mechanism to be at fault. I don't have time to have it sent in for repair, so I will finish my travels with no watch. I would love to describe Florence to you... but how can you know unless you have been here? The world-famous Duomo towers above the city, framed one one side by the tall tower of the Medicis Palazzio Vecchio and on the other by the steeple of Chiesa di San Lorenzo. The cobbled streets and squares below are full of people night and day. During the day toursists flow in rivers through the streets. The ancient buildings have seen many pass, and still don't change. Next to a green United Colors of Bennetton store stands a thousand-year-old stone building, its rusting torch brackets empty, its ancient iron window-bars still protecting it from the world outside. At night it is easy to imagine Michealangelo storming out of the doors of the Palazzio Vecchio, angry about Florentine politics. I can see him grimacing toward the awkward Neptune sculpture as he passes his just-finished David and the recently moved Jude. He storms across the cobblestones of the square, kicking at the pigeons and wandering into the torch-lit streets of the already-ancient city. I made a few friends here... Molly, a friend-of-a-friend from Seattle, Irena, in my class, from Norway, and Julie, from Belgium, as well as Paul from Canada. It's been nice to have friends close by once again. I am reminded how much I miss you all. I bought an umbrella the other day. I was watching the tourists flow throught the grand square in front of the Duomo and the Baptristry (with the famous "gates of Pardise") and staying under an awning out of the rain and having a nice warm smoke of my pipe with some Belgian tobacco. What could be more improbable or strange than life? I was standing in front of some Italian name brand shoes which were frighteningly ugly and sold for a frightening price. The fellow was obviously a foreigner, but being able to bargain with him in Italian was worth the extra 1000 lira that he finegled out of me after we had agreed on 8000. He ended up with 9000, but I ended up with a cheap umbrella and a priceless smile. I don't know where I'll be next. I hope to go today, but I might not go till tomorrow. I thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. After Italy I'm now planning on going to Turkey, as I've gotten very good reports from travellers from there, but that will be in 3 weeks or so. I hope to see the Mediterranean again soon. Arrividerci! (sp?) -Dustin |