Catching Up

So! I did not go to the beach last weekend, but I will go this weekend. On Friday night, Sarah and I explored more of Florence and didn't get into bed until one am or so (not so bad) but we'd planned to get up at six am to make it for the 7:27 train to Piombino. I thought I am not a morning person! Apparently Sarah has the morning grouchies more than I....after we piddled around and ate breakfast, got dressed, and packed our beach bags, we attempted to find our way to the train station for the first time. We didn't get lost! But it was slower going than a well traversed path. By the time we bought our tickets for Piombino, the 7:27 train had departed. We luckily could catch a 7:57/8:00 train! So we asked the information worker which track the train departed from (the ticket is useless! It doesn't have the departure track nor the stops along the way). He explained our route to us and said that we should wait at track 18 (now let me inform you that track 18 is one of the two tracks not by the other 16 tracks - it is out in the boonies). So, Sarah and I hiked to track 18 and patiently passed our time telling each other funny stories. The train arrived and as we prepared to board, I happened to ask a fellow passenger "This train is headed to Piombino via Pisa right?" Well no. It wasn't! The train for Pisa/Piombino had departed at 7:57 from a track on the main line. Another train wouldn't leave for Piombino until 12. Fortunately for us, our tickets are good for 3 months. We were bummed not to go to the beach, but excited that there is a free trip to ViaReggio (a beach close to Florence) that we are signed up for (with a ten euro deposit) this Saturday. Woohoo beach! Another note....In telling this story to my Dante professor, he asked "The beach? In Piombino? There are ferries in Piambino... but I've never heard of Piambino being a popular beach destination." Ha! Sarah and I had researched beaches (haphazardly Friday night when we decided to go) and found that in looking at the pictures, ViaReggio (the beach that is close and has departing/arriving trains constantly/ cheaper to visit) was not as picturesque and more touristy than Piombino. But perhaps Piombino doesn't have a public beach. Oh well! We have tickets to Piambino!

This week is more difficult than the last - I have my first two tests in Italian. The are not necessarily graded - yet they make up a part of our entire grade- a percentage of 40%. So they are graded, really. Today's test was an oral presentation. For the first one, I guess I didn't do so bad, but it was difficult for me since I have not memorized as much vocabulary as I ought. It is much easier for me to write Italian, for the grammar is similar to Latin (and I didn't speak Latin, so therein is the crux of my problems!) And i found out that we will be having these oral presentations every week. Yuck. Hope I get good at them. Tomorrow is our grammatical test.

In the Dante class, I seem to have a different idea of Medieval literature than my professor, who thinks that Dante was the beginning of the Renaissance and heart of the Medieval era etc etc. My face must have shown my different ideas, for we seemed to disagree in class. I am eagerly awaiting an email from Dr. Hagen regarding my questions on this topic.

As for the rest of the week, I am hoping to do well on this test, eagerly anticipating the beach, and hoping my Italian University neighbor will help me find a great deal (20 Euro) on a bike!