One Week of Pordenone

Okay. Leaving Florence wasn't so bad, after all. I was well practiced in the art of switching trains with Trenitalia and albiet the difficulty of lugging 2 huge suitcases, a duffelbag, and a bookbag with my laptop (and all of these things were stuffed to bursting) from train to train was at a nearly impossible level, I made it back to Pordenone in once piece. And now that I'm here I'm so happy to be out of Florence. I'm living the life. Seriously. I've never been so stress free, so completely relaxed, uninhibited by the toils of living. I've got an open schedule every day for the next 70 odd days-no school, no work, no obligations. What a fucking blessing. The best part about it all is that the time is passing ever so slowly. The slower time passes, the more I feel like I've got an eternity to do whatever the fuck I want.

I've spent this past week doing everything I've felt like doing but hadn't had the time for. I started by spending one day painting. I had an idea to paint an abstract musician but wasn't able to explore it in my Painting class. So I sat out on the deck at my Italian family's house, bathed by the sun and caressed by the breeze, and I painted. I could stop when I wanted, start when I wanted, and I've never had a more perfect day. The next day I spent writing. I wrote in my journal, wrote in this blog, and started jotting down ideas that have been boiling in my head for a while now. I'm going to spend some days working on developing those ideas: novels, artistic endeavors, books I want to read, things I want to study. I got to get work done. I sent e-mails to schools back home, worked on finances, and basically situated my life so that I can continue to be worry-free when I get home. I read books. I finished reading two books in one week. I read John Grisham's Playing For Pizza in one day. It was a shitty book and I was happy it was over. I finished reading The Idiot by Dostoyevsky and started reading the biography of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. It was the second most enjoyable biography I've ever read, the first being the biography of Hugh Hefner. I've got books lined up, too, because with all this free time I'm going to blaze through them. Next I'm reading The Dirt by Motley Crue, followed by Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Spending time with my Italian family has been the happiest part of this first week in Pordenone, though. Actually, its been the happiest part of this whole trip. It feels truly like home here, and I'm completed humbled by their unfailing kindness toward me. In this first week they've taken me around Pordenone. I've gotten to see their local winery and taste wine there with my Italian father. I thought perhaps my wine consumption would slow now that I'm away from Florence. Oh, how mistaken I was. I've gotten to make cannolis from scratch with my Italian mother. I went with them and my Italian sister and saw an incredible art exhibition in their local library. A local Pordenonian whose become a hugely successful artist in Italy set up two rooms here full of his works and I left there full of inspirtation. They also took me to my future Italian residence to meet the woman who my family and I are renting from in July. Ponte nelle Apli. Hands down the most gorgeous place I've been to in Italy so far. Next week I'll go with my Italian brother to his school in Trieste. Could I ask for a better life? Does one even exist?

Living here in Pordenone is going to be my favorite part about this trip, I'm sure. My Italian father is the nicest man in the world, my Italian mother the nicest woman (and best cook), and my Italian siblings are such beautiful and giving people. I couldn't possibly expect anything better of my life.
Arrivederci, for now.
Love, Gabby.