Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun...

Monday, February 9, 2009

My lamplight fills the room with a kind of pallid splendor. So much has passed since my arrival in Italia, yet it has been just barely two weeks since I’ve arrived. This morning I awoke in a bleary state at 8am to hit the snooze button on my alarm clock. When I actually woke up, at 8:15am, I readied myself for my 9am Italian class.

As my roommate had left early, I walked to class with my flat-mate, Emily. The morning was sunny – it was the first clear day we have had in some time. Not one drop of precipitation darkened my day today. It was lovely. When the sunlight happened to make its way through the gaps of Firenze’s beautiful buildings it warmed and wakened my body as if from a deep hibernation. I had missed the sun. The sunshine cleared my head and senses, and the walk to class seemed too short.

My Italian class, on Via Faenza, is in a first-floor room with two windows, only one of which is ever opened – and rarely. As Emily and I were the first to arrive in the room, and I was not wanting to miss the sunshine for one minute, I set down my things and went directly to the window to open the shutters and let in the morning. The class went by as quickly as the walk preceding it, and Emily and I parted ways as I ventured once again outside in search of my required reading.

I walked through the stone streets of Firenze, hopping onto the narrow sidewalks only when automobile traffic found its path aligned with mine. The sunshine continued to play upon my head and shoulders from time to time. I felt as if I was in a continuous hide-and-seek game with the sun. If I were to pick one bad thing about city life, it is that there is never enough sunshine. City buildings, while each beautiful and architecturally intricate in its own way, make a sun worshipper’s life quite difficult. But I am living in Firenze, and nothing can dampen my spirits. The name of this city alone is enough to stifle any complaint.

Again, the walk was far too short. I gingerly opened the door to the International Bookstore in which I was to find my first textbook, priced by my teacher at E30. Upon finding the book in the corner table of an upstairs room, I found that it was actually priced at E17,50. Excellent. I bounced on my toes as I descended the stairs to the main floor to pay. I made ready to hand the cashier lady a E20 bill, but was again surprised when she told me that, because I am a Lorenzo de’ Medici student, I get an additional discount. I ended up paying only E14,50 for what I thought would be a E30 book. ‘Grazie, ciao!’ I called, as I once again made my way onto the narrow stone sidewalk of Via Cavour, my home stretch here in beloved Firenze.

For the next book, or rather, a series of excerpts copied and bound, I had to travel a bit further down my street and to take a right onto Via Guelfa, which turns into Via degli Alfani. It was there, in number 103R, that I found my bound copies.

This shoppe was more difficult to find because of its R (Red) address number. The Red addresses here in Firenze tend to be higher up on the walls of buildings and more faded compared to the Blue residential addresses. To add to that, the outside of the establishment was mostly advertising for Wi-Fi, not photocopies (although, maybe there was something about photocopies and I just didn’t understand it). The two people working, a guy a bit older than myself who spoke broken English and an older woman who spoke none at all, were both very nice and helpful. The packet, which I had been told would be sixteen Euro, was exactly that. I left with my good mood and sunshine filled day still firmly in place, bolstered by a backpack with a few added pounds in the form of knowledge-seeping pages bound together into books. Sunshine and literature in Firenze: who wouldn’t be happy?!

At this point in my day it was about 10.45am, so I walked back to Via Cavour and took a right towards my apartment. Walking in my door I realized that nobody was home, so I unloaded things that I knew I would not need, and reloaded others that I knew I might. My bag, in the end, was a bit fuller; the opposite of my intent.

I left my apartment in all of its tranquil and empty silence and walked back to the area of town in which Lorenzo de’ Medici’s buildings were located. I met Courtney and Jaimee for lunch in the Cafeteria at 11:30. Jaimee was a bit late, so she and Courtney wound up having to wait a bit longer than I did for food (I had gotten there early). I had a panini and an iced café latte. The Cafeteria is the only place in all of Italy that actually has any sort of iced coffee drink on the menu. It is obvious that they cater to an international crowd. When I was in Rome this past weekend at a Bar, the two people working had no idea why I wanted ice in my café latte. If only I had known.

The girls and I chatted, and they left five minutes before their classes started. I stayed put at our usual table. One of eight, it is the only one conveniently located in front of the only window in the Cafeteria. The place was busy as studenti e insegnanti (students and teachers) alike were taking their lunch break. Two girls approached me and asked to sit at my table, so I made like I was just leaving and let them have it to themselves. I had been finished eating and drinking for a good venticinque minuti (25 minutes) by then, so I gathered my things and relocated down the smaller flight of stairs and to the right hallway where there are benches with desks lined up against the wall. It was much more peaceful there. I sat down and finished the Italian homework I had been working on while the girl next to me chatted away with her friend who had met her there. Just as the noise started getting to me they packed up to go, and let me in on the Internet password for the building before they departed. The gesture mended my irritation towards them for their loudness.

I sat there for a while longer, completing my homework assignments, responding to the flood of emails, and, inevitably, writing in my blog.