Another week has disappeared in a whirl of art adventures. It's frightening how quickly times passes here.

I have a list of random observations to make about Florence that have no relation to each other and would make a horrible paragraph:

– Bathtubs (and refrigerators) here are long and narrow.

– Toilets and light switches all operate by pressing buttons.

– There are very few bums asking for money in the streets, but there are countless numbers of very pushy men attempting to sell you things (such as flowers, socks, hats, kleenex, sunglasses, umbrellas...)

– Many people here take their shopping cart home from the store with them, and then return it after dropping off their groceries.

– I'm not sure Italians know how a turn signal is supposed to be used, because my observation has been that they either don't turn it on at all, or they use it backwards (like signaling left before turning right.)

The laundry situation has become very annoying. Most apartments here have washing machines in each unit, but no dryer; everyone hangs their washing up to drip dry. While this is a perfectly acceptable way of doing laundry, it's gotten old pretty quickly. I didn't bring a ton of clothes with me, so if something needs to be washed it's unlikely that I can wait two days for it to dry. Also, it's the rainy season here so there will often be 3 or 4 day stretches where you can't hang the laundry up at all. Then, there is the issue of there being four girls living in my apartment – we make a lot of laundry, and there's only so much space to dry it!

I've settled into A Life here. It's so strange to think that I will be leaving it all behind soon... well, a month, but I know that will be here in the blink of an eye. I wonder if going back to Chicago will be a big adjustment or not? I feel a little frantic about the time I have left, I want to see and do as much as possible before I leave!!!

Side note; I haven't bought a single souvenir...

Ciao.