MOVING DAY

I have only casually mentioned going to language school in Florence.  And I will only briefly mention it here.  I had a great experience there and was very fortunate to have an excellent instructor for grammar.  We covered some of the same material I had already learned in Sorrento, but the instruction methods were much superior, and I think I actually understand some of the usage patterns of prepositions (although it’s doubtful that I’ll remember them in conversation), and I have a better handle on irregular verbs and indirect pronouns.  I’ll be looking for a school in Perugia, but I’m a bit handicapped, because I don’t have Wifi in my apartment here, and I can’t seem to get my Internet key to work.  So I need to locate the store of my telephone/Internet carrier.  This will be difficult without Internet and with a landlady that speaks little English.  At least I get a chance to practice my Italian with her.  However, I haven’t learned the language of washing machines, and thermostats, and TV remote controls.  The TV remote won’t matter, because I have NO English channels here. 

My friend Bernadette decided to come to Perugia with me for the weekend, and we took a train from Florence.  Fortunately for me, there was a very nice young man who helped me get my heavy luggage down one set of steps and up another at the Perugia train station.  Every month, there are adjustments for me to make, as I move from one place to another.  The appliances are different in every apartment, I have different kinds of cookware and dishes, and the beds and pillows all feel foreign at first.  When I entered the building, I discovered my apartment was downstairs, and I thought I would be in a basement apartment with little light (and maybe be cold again!).  But when I walked in and opened the shutters of the one huge window in the apartment, I found myself with the view from the second floor.  How could that be, you ask?  Because I’m in a city built on hills.  

So I’m pretty happy with the view I have of a beautiful tree across the street, but not so happy with the fact that the street is a very busy one with traffic 24/7, although there’s not much in the middle of the night. 

 And I was absolutely daunted by the 183 steps we had to climb to get to the city center.  I was on flat land in southeast Asia and Florence was also, for the most part, so now I have to get my mountain goat muscles back into condition. 

Oh, I cannot forget to share my delight that this apartment is WARM!  It may not be as artistically decorated as the apartment in Florence, but I won’t be shivering under blankets here.