For the love of books

Today I went into Florence once again. This time I went with Ashley, Ania, Bailey, and Jill so we could book a weekend trip to Interlaken, Switzerland for the end of February. We are going through a business called Florence for Fun, which specializes in travel and cultural experiences for English speaking students in Florence. So I am really excited for that weekend. I am going to ski, and I think everyone else is going to sky dive. Skydiving would be really awesome, but it's really expensive, plus I've always wanted to ski in the Swiss Alps. Actually I've always wanted to do this for my honeymoon, but this way I will know how things work, right?

After we booked the trip we all went our separate ways, and I chose to check out the library. It was a lot different than libraries in the U.S., but I really liked it. I don't think you can actually check out books there; it seems to be more of a place to study. But their were lots of students around my same age there, and it was a nice atmosphere for studying. I sat up on an open terrace in a sunny spot, and besides being distracted by the Italian couple across from me that kept making out, it was a great place to get some studying for midterms done. I think I will go back there again, as I tend to get very distracted when I try to study in the hotel. Plus their was a plenitude of very nice looking, studious Italian men who looked to be about my age, so perhaps I will get a chance to practice my Italian speaking skills ;-)

After the library I stopped at a cafe to get some cappuccino and use the toilet, which was more of just a hole in the floor...gross. Then I went to find the American English Academy in Florence. I had emailed them to see about volunteering as a conversational partner for Italians who are learning English. I figured it would be a good way to meet some Italians, feel somewhat productive during my time here, and get a jump start on my goal of becoming an ESL teacher. Unfortunately, the lady who I was emailing was not there when I stopped by, so I have to go back tomorrow. I am really excited about this if it actually works out, and I hope I can start soon.

Next I went to Edison, a large bookstore, kind of like Barnes and Noble, that has a large English book section. I browsed around for a while and became very disheartened to see the Twilight series printed in several languages. I just can't believe that book series is an international bestseller. The writing is just plain bad, and the female protagonist has no positive defining characteristics. I see it as a book that works against the ideals of good literature and feminism, so I would never support it, but I digress. At the bookstore I found a book of 501 Italian verbs and I bought it. I am hoping to be able to use it to learn some Italian on my own. My goal is to be able to be comfortable starting a conversation in Italian before I leave here. Right now I feel like if I start a conversation, I will just embarrass myself, because I know so little of the language.

So it's been a day of books, and now I am going to hit the books again because midterms are this week, and half of our grade is determined by how we do on midterms. Wish me luck!