class...pietrasanta...and GELATO

class started this week. our teacher is so much fun. she speaks really good english and i feel like i'm actually learning something. maybe i'll be fluent in italian by the time i return. who knows. we have class in the local public school building that's about a 20 minute walk from the hotel. it's hot. 4 hours long. but Nicla (our 26 year old teacher who is brilliant makes it especially fun). today we fought with a hornet for about10 minutes before returning to the lesson.

we travelled to pietrasanta yesterday (it was free...yay for free trips). it was a lovely old small city that used to be surrounded by walls. some of the old walls remain and the main square has a beautiful church. we rode a tiny little train there...like one you'd find at the fair for little kids. people honked at us. i thought it was fun :-D

we got free gelato too. and got to see mosaics in the making. one was as big as a room and was being shipped the next day to a church in New Mexico for 70,000 euro. it was beautiful.

i bought a children's book. it has basic words in it like hand (mano) and bathroom (bagno). it's for 2 year olds but i got it to get around with. the guy at the book store laughed at me when he found out who it was for. i think it's exceptionally grand and carry it with me everywhere.

we eat every night here at the hotel (breakfast is included as well in the AM) and the food is amazing! 3 course meals with tiramasu, cheesecake and rum cake. pasta that's delicious, and veal. i think i've hit the jackpot. i might weight 300 pounds by my return but it'll have been well worth it.

today i spent the whole day (after class of course) on the beach. i studied on the beach. i ate pizza on the beach. i did my homework on the beach. i walked on the beach. basically i enjoyed the beach (which is spiaggio in italian..in case you were wondering). this town is beautiful and the townsfolk are really friendly. they always try to practice their english with us and laugh at us with our attempts at italian.

i'm still trying more flavors of gelato (last night was melon...it was DELICIOUS!!!) and plan on some caffe flavors soon.

Sandy- so far i've had Lime, biscotti, raspberry, and melone. thought i'd let you know. :-D

Until next time- ti amo- ciao!