This morning, for some reason, was probably the hardest morning to wake up so far.  Day 4 without coffee, and I was really missing it.  Thank goodness, the techno coming from my iPhone (still charged enough even after not charging since Sunday) gave me some artificial energy that helped me make it to class on time at 8:30. Today, Nikos Vikalis, the greek restorer spoke about the geological formation of rocks.  It wasn’t just the standard “this is a cool rock lecture”, rather, a more complicated version of 7^th grade science class.  Did you know that Marble is just metamorphasized Limestone????  We learned about what caused decay in stone…. Did you know that not just the physical action of water running over stone breaks it apart, but actually, the dissolved salts in the water?  And then the water evaporates, leaving the salt crystals in the microfractures, slowly eroding the surface of the rock away.  This guy attended a prestigious school in Rome and had his own private restoration business for 20 years before he decided to begin teaching.  Somehow I am fortunate enough to sit under his tutelage, one of the best stone restoration people in the world….. at least so I’m told. 

Anyway, after 1 ½ hours of lecturing, he promptly gave us a half hour break.  Not only was he fascinating to listen to, but he gave us breaks!  He is the new favorite teacher of our class.  I snatched this opportunity to go to Bar Centrale and order a latte with the rest of the class.  Yes, my Italian is slowly improving.  I managed to get my desired coffee and paid correctly.  It was phenomenal…. Even though it was served, warm, in a water glass…. Go figure.  Back to class for another 1 ½ hours and then 3 hours for lunch.  Unfortunately, I left my computer and purse locked in the storage room, so I had to amuse myself otherwise… I took to scouring the stove and oven.  By the time I was finished with it, it almost sparkled.  Completely content, I traversed to Piazza Francesca, plopped down on a bench and began learning my Italian words for the day: 10-90 by tens (diece, venti, trenta, quaranta, cinquanta, sessanta, settanta, ottanta, novanta) and some other randomness: more or less (piu e meno), etc etc.  For me, this is a big deal, as I don’t learn languages fast.

Then it was back to Max and his lectures at 3 PM.  This is the guy that is “a lungo senza fiato”.  4:30 came and went.  5:30 came and went.  6 PM, and I had stopped paying any sort of attention 1 hour before.  A tour of the town, and we were finally finished.  It was like running in a tunnel and never seeing any kind of light.  Kinda like I feel like this entry right now.  Just going through the basics, waiting for the fun part, which happens to be our evening festivities.

First copy in four days

We made pasta …. What else is new…. Some sauce, real garlic butter, cut bread, opened 2 bottles of wine and waited for 3 fellow classmates to arrive with more wine and sausage.  They were 40 minutes late.  8:45 is really late for dinner, but whatevs.  We got started, ate a nice meal with good company, and played “The Great Dalmudi”, which to us Idahoans, is known as Pond Scum.  J  I am proud to say that I was the King 3 times…. Thank you to all my friends who have developed my card playing and strategy skills by playing with me! And then…. Back to school for internet, then wistfully longing for my bed….  But the classical music in this building is a spell, keeping me here despite my great wish to break away from technology and drift into bliss………… I’m fighting it…. Fighting…..