On a "Schedule"

I guess I can say that the itinerary has been a bit open. It literally reads: “We’ll be doing a little sightseeing, but mostly time will be spent getting to know each other and talking about the semester.” And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. While I’m enjoying the time to relax and get to know each other, it makes me realize how used I am to American “busy-ness.” I have caught myself four or five times over the past two days saying that I need something to do. That makes me a bit frustrated with myself, but I’m sure it’s just going to take some time to adjust. Not to mention that I’m still a bit jet lagged, so I’ll just blame that for now.

Today we went to Lucca which ended up being kind of miserable. I imagine that it’s normally a beautiful place, but there were a handful of things that weren’t so great: 1) it was cold; 2) it was raining…torrentially; 3) we were walking around lost in the down pour for about 45 minutes; 4) the bus driver was a speed-demon and talking on the phone while playing chicken with tiny Italian cars. Some of us really felt like we were flying while others got used to the feeling of our stomachs in our throats. Bonus: I learned the Italian word for roller coaster (le montagne russe, aka the Russian mountains).

But we going back to our time in Lucca, I really enjoyed sitting al bar drinking tea and coffee with everyone and simply talking. I also found it very entertaining to watch people watching us. Not only are we a sizable group of Americans, but by chance we are all women. You can just imagine the range of looks from confusion to awe. After the bar, we went to the Duomo in Lucca and Lucia, a really awesome woman who works at the school, gave us a lecture about the Church, numbers, and self-development. It was mind-boggling to me to hear her speak about how an individual has to find balance between the good and the bad of life, much like the theories I’ve learned about in Buddhism and traditional Chinese religions. It just goes to show you how people are people no matter where they are. Below are a few pictures from the church. The one on the bottom is a labyrinth showing that one must start “in the hearth” and move outward in personal growth and that sometimes you have to change your path. Truly inspiring.

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