sorry i have been slow to keep you updated. the past few weeks have been perfectly busy. last weekend i stayed in florence again b/c the sailing trip was canceled b/c of the weather. since i havent been to any of the tourist spots in florence since i have been here and i wanted to go to the bargello museam to see donetello's david so i did. and the week before this one i went to the biboli gardens and to fiesole. but last saturday a friend of a friend of calais' (livio) came to florence. he is from genova and was in town for a concert. so we met up w/ him and had coffee then he taught us an italian card game called scopa (broom). that night we met up w/ two more of his friends (ceasare and davide) and went to the interpol/spoon concert and then to this italian house party like 30 min outside of florence into tuscan country. it was amazing. me and calais were the only americans there. it was in this little italian cottage and i could touch the ceiling if i stood on my tip toes. there were two rooms packed of ppl. one w/ a dj and ppl dancin and then the other w/ tables of food and wine. we were in that one. afterwards we drove back to calais' and played cards all night until we walked to piazza michaelangelo to watch the sunrise. it was my first one b/c all my previous attempt were shafted by the cloads and bad weather. we went to bed at 730a and then got up at 12 for brunch at ary's diner. which is like americans 50's style diner. monday night i went to bologna b/c livio goes to school there and he gave me the grand tour. tuesday night was the blonde redhead concert in this tiny venue like alley katz. friday morn me and 3 friends caught a train to cinque terre and hiked the hardest trail out of the 4. you can hike between each town. saturday calais and allie met up and we hiked the other 3 and then went to geneva that night and stayed w/ livio and his parents at their place. it was a gorgeous apartment. livio and ceasare gave us the tour. sunday was livio's bday so we made pancakes and a special L shaped one for him. it was his first time havin pancakes! the next day we went to the aquarium. one of the biggest in europe i think. and i got to ride on ceasare's vespa scooter! so yea long story short for sure on my fun times. but just so you can get an idea of whats been goin on. the main thing i wanted to share was that i read this book called 'love' by leo buscaglia. it is the kind of book ill read every year. along w/ the prophet. but here is a quote:

'man can learn, relearn, or unlearn to the point of death. there is always more to discover. no matter how much knowledge he has, man can never know everything about anything. change is the end result of all true learning.'

i cant believe i have less than a month left here. and only 12 days left of school. as soon as i get comfortable i have to leave. we are all passing moments in eachothers changing lives. its almost like this is a mirage of unity before being rescattered into the world. the inevitability of it all is so uncomfortable as of now.