day 38: monday
- woke up around 10:30 and slowly got ready for class at noon
- class was more of the usual. i had a coughing fit in the middle that was so bad i had to step out and walk around the piazza outside for a few minutes and fill up my water bottle a couple times at the fountain. it felt like i couldn't catch my breath/fill my lungs all the way, which may be a sign that the summer has progressed to the point where my asthma starts to show up. the air is hanging so heavy outside and i could hear the cicadas in the trees... it feels like a less muggy version of august in michigan - i can't believe it's only june! i hung out with brandon during break for the first time really since we moved to florence, it was nice - i've missed our conversations
- walked back to the apartment with kari to put my stuff down and change purses before beginning a late afternoon of SHOPPING! we went to the market near san lorenzo and bought lots of souvenirs and gifts for our family and friends (which i won't describe because that would ruin the surprise!) i did also buy myself a real italian leather purse/satchel which, while fairly expensive, should last me for many years to come which is quite exciting. after destroying our bank accounts fairly decisively, we returned home. there are only two things left on my list to find tomorrow: a shotglass from florence and a white leather belt, both for myself (yes, i know... greedy elli is spoiling herself)
- the best part of our afternoon occurred on our walk from san lorenzo towards the leather shop near santa croce that kari had scoped out. we walked past a church and could hear organ music drifting out through the open doors and, since i'm a sucker for organs, we stopped to take a look. this little church has an open organ concert going pretty much all day with a really talented organist playing a beautiful pipe organ. as we were reluctantly moving away, he struck the opening chords of my favorite piece of music in the whole world: the bach toccatta and fugue in d minor... i was transfixed and forced kari to stand with me listening for the duration of the entire piece. i had goosebumps the entire time and realized that it was the first time i have ever heard it live in its entirety... i live in a magical place
- skyped greg and krista, which was nice since it's always difficult to negotiate the time zones to have a real conversation
- headed to kari's with sarah and breanne for dinner. kari made a chicken and vegetable stir fry that was delicious! there was pea pods, red peppers, eggplant, carrots, broccoli, and a few other things i'm probably forgetting... it was amazing to eat so many vegetables and we ate it with rice (of course). oh happy day :)
- got home around 9 and sat down to do some reading... which turned into facebook stalking, planning my trip with kari to siena to see the world's oldest horse race, blogging, and skyping greg some more
