I just looked at a calendar and realized that in three weeks from today I will be boarding a plane and heading off to la bell’Italia! Actually I will be making a 4 day stopover in the UK to visit my wonderful friend B. in her charming town in Kent. We haven’t seen each other in almost 3 years so needless to say, this is also incrdeibly exciting for me and the perfect way to start my Italian adventure!

I have a huge “to do” list in preparation for my travels and every day I try to cross something off. I’ve booked flights to the UK and then on to Italy, arranged transporation from the airport in Florence to Arezzo, planned a two week vacation in Italy at the end of my studies, booked hotels, car, travel for J. to join me in Arezzo, got an international driver’s license, made arrangemnts with the school for classes and an apartment, investigated train schedules for some side trips when I’m not in class, bought a new suitcase and still need to get a phone that I can use in Italy! Of course there’s a variety of things that I need to do on the home front before leaving for 6 weeks and I’m still taking an Italian class here and trying to keep up with studying. Just when I think I’m finished with all the details for the trip, I think of something to add to the list. This is really happening and I can hardly believe it…buildings.jpg