Halfway through!

Well, at this point i'm halfway through my Italy trip! I finished my introductory course (but really intermediate) in Italian and I can finally put real sentences together. Awesome. Please excuse the fact that I can't think or speak/write in English very well anymore...

Over the last two weeks a few highlights come to mind. One is our trip to the Island of Giglio. It was honestly the most gorgeous water i've ever seen or swam in, clear blue water, amazing panoroma of the island and the sea...hopefully, you all saw the pictures I posted of it on Facebook. After we had explored the castle at the top of the island we went to the beach there. First, I forgot to put sunscreen on my back because when I left I was wearing a dress and forgot that i'd be getting into my bathing suit at some point that day. To fan the flames, no pun intended, I fell asleep on my stomach at the beach and BURNED everything from my shoulders all the way down to my heels. And let me just tell you, sitting down was hard for the next few days. I did buy a nice wine to take home from the island though, which I am quite excited about.

Over the past week I haven't been doing a whole lot besides eat, study, sleep, and read. And what else should I be doing? I figure that in Florence i'll be exploring more in the afternoon and that i'm getting in most of my "vacation" relaxation in Orbetello. Every day my host asks what I do and when I say read and sleep she always mutters how i'm 22 years old and that I should be out doing something. Love Italian mothers.

I do have to say that i've been quite creative in class. If I can't find the word in Italian i'm thinking of, and can't use my dictionary, I come up with the closest relevant phrase I can think of. So our teacher was asking us to tell a story of how we lost something. The only thing that came to mind was on my 21st birthday when I dropped (lost) a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet. Classic. Not knowing the word for toilet paper I preceeded to play pictionary on the whiteboard. I draw a terrible version of toilet paper and say that I lost a "page/paper for your butt" or (buttpaper if you will) in the toilet. It was obviously the wrong phrase because my teacher was crying laughing so hard at what I said. I soon came to find out the phrase is carta igenica. I personally prefer foglio per il culo. Or even bigliette per il culo (butt tickets).

So, tomorrow i'm off to Florence to start a new adventure, to meet new people, explore a new city, and somehow fill my brain with more Italian. Onwards!!!