Primavera!

It's spring, finally, in Umbria. It's amazing what the simple factor of the sun can do. I spend two hours yesterday afternoon reading/sleeping out on my balcony, soaking up the warmth. The lack of school work this week has been reminding me to live slow...to take advantage of the sunshine and relax! I can hear the accordion player even now, wafting through the library windows. I am trying not to be too antsy; I reminded myself yesterday that soon enough I will be wishing for the peace of a city I know and an apartment to call home.

Speaking of apartments, Chen Li, my Chinese roommate moved out and we have two new members. Hannah from Korea (who also sings!) and Aliane from Japan. It feels much more lively and crowded, mostly I think because they are spending time at home and so we see a lot of each other. They are very friendly and our fridge is about explode (it's tiny!). Rumor has it that there might be a sixth moving in, but we are not sure yet. Should be interesting.

Orvieto was wonderful, the mosaics on the facade of the duomo were beautiful. Not often you see that much color on the outside of a building. We had some local white wine with lunch (I tried wild boar...tastes like meat, mostly) and wandered the underground caves.

Sunday was definitely one of my favorite days in Italy. We rode horses to a ruined castle/watchtower in the nearby hills. The woman who took us packed a hearty homemade picnic lunch and we sat amongst the ruins while the horses grazed on their favorite herbs. I made friends with Bella Luna, who didn't particularly like going uphill, and again, soaked up some spring rays. It was, as my friend Allan observed, all very romantic and idyllic.

We have to embrace those idyllic moments though, and make space for them in our lives. It's part of living slowly, and of appreciating the small things. There was a girl in the computer lab yesterday ranting about how Umbra requires us to do things that we need the internet for, yet it doesn't work half the time...and they should give it to us in our apartments...etc etc etc. Yes, I love the internet, and I use it a lot. I realize being here though, how dependent we are on it and I wish this were not so. It's part of the demand for constant stimulation, and perhaps we should wean ourselves away. Which is why I am going to finish here soon and go OUTSIDE to listen to my accordion player, and get some more wonderful vitamin D!

PS: My apologies to those of you who had trouble commenting. I forgot that I put the whole blog in Italian, I will try to change it!

M