Guests in Firenze

Mom and Kelly and I are struggling to balance jet lag, my school, getting caught up, and seeing the sites. I had my 3rd test today and before I went in, I had decided to repeat this part of the course. I have felt insecure at every test time, but this time, after six weeks, my head is spinning!

In six weeks, I have come such a long way, and learned so many vocabulary words, and 4 verb conjugations, with about 6 to go! My head is spinning, and I think feeling secure here on the front end of learning the language is important. Before I went to bed, last night before the test, I had decided, I was going in and tell them that I wanted to repeat the course.

I studied for the test, but still managed to have lunch with Mom and Kelly, and take a long walk at night with Kelly around town. Making that decision really took the pressure off of the test, and I ended up making an 82. My lowest score, still respectable, but I am glad to be repeating next week! As it turns out, I will be back in class with the Japanese folks, who repeated level 2. Seems to be a common theme that folks learn different things at different rates of speed, and I am thankful the school has the flexibility to accommodate those needs!

Mom and Kelly have seen "Il David" and they thought he was magnificent, which he is. Kelly visited San Lorenzo for some "preliminary shopping" and they also visited Santa Croce. Today, I got a new haircut, and we rode the bus to San Marco, and then went up to Piazzele Michelangelo. Tonight, we are dining at "the duck" restaurant.

Here is a photo of us at dinner the first evening. Bear in mind that Mom and Kelly left on Tuesday, on a 7:00 a.m. flight (at the airport at 6:00) and arrived on Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m. (Florence time, which was 12:30 p.m. CST). After 17 ½ hours of travel, I think we all look great!