Buddhist Institution

I had an extremely interesting day. I was exhausted this morning and decided to take the bus to school (something I rarely do). So I got on the bus and tried to reach the machine to pay for the ride but it was just out of reach and the bus was really crowded. So another NYU student - a girl I sort of recognize but have no idea what her name - offered to swipe it for me. I have a 10 pass card so she kept swiping it thinking that it didn't go through but she ended up swiping me 3 times. So it was so frustrating because even though it's only 2 euro wasted it's still just annoying because it's 2 bus rides to school that i could have taken instead of walking... So I was sort of grumpy on the bus but before we got off she came up to me and apologized profusely and insisted on reimbursing me. I said that it was fine and it wasn't really her fault she just didn't know how to work the 10 pass cards. We then started talking for a bit and I felt a lot better. Knowing that she cared and felt bad made me less upset because it makes me feel better knowing that people actually care about other people. I then got off the bus and headed to my Art Market class. I have it in a huge room that never has good lighting so I always get really sleepy in that class. It also doesn't help that it's a 9am Thursday class. After class I ran into Abe. I never see Abe anymore so it was nice talking to him for like 15 minutes. I then studied for my Italian quiz for a bit. I think it went well. But we'll see on Monday... After class I looked up online how to visit my Villa. It's really cool that maps.google.com will give you public transportation directions. I looked up which buses to take and surprisingly made it to my villa without getting lost at all. I then spent the next hour walking around the land and taking tons of pictures. I tried to buzz into my villa but unfortunately noone answered the door. I was majorly disappointed but didn't really think there was anything else I could do. After I walked around the majority of my land I was about to head back but decided to return to one section that I hadn't visited. As it turns out this is the enterance to my villa - Villa Bellagio. Because i've been looking at maps from the late 19th century I went to the wrong door. They recently changed the entrance to the villa to the completely opposite side. I am so happy that I didn't head straight home. I walked up to the guards and asked them if I could just walk in. They then asked me if I was Buddhist and I said no but that I wanted to visit for a University class. The guard then shrugged and let me in. I then spent the next 30 minutes walking around by myself and taking notes on what I saw. I then ran into a Japanese group and we hung out for like an hour and a half. The tour guide spoke English and Italian and the Japanese spoke a little English so we were all able to commnicate. They're 22 years old and visiting as a graduation present. They were also Buddhist - hence why they were visiting. I then hung out with people who worked at the Buddhist center and tried having conversations with them in Italian because most of them didn't speak any English. They asked to take a picture with me. They counted down from ten and at the last second shot their hands up and made the peace sign. I started cracking up and knew I had to take a picture for Zandi who is obsessed with when they do that.
The tour guide then showed me a book about Villa Bellagio. I had looked in the library for this book but of course our tiny Villa La Pietra library doesn't have it. I spent the next 30 minutes reading the book and taking notes on the history of the land. I then said goodbye to the Japanese group and waiting for the tour guide to return to photocopy pictures in the book. He said he would only be 5 minutes (he was just putting the Japanese group in a cab) but 30 minutes later he was no where to be found. Another tour guide arrived and she tried to call the first tour guide but eventually he returned. He brought me up into the tour (the initial building of the villa) and showed me around parts of the villa that I wouldn't have been able to visit without him. Then as we were going upstairs to photo copy he remembered that the machine was broken. It was really frustrating but I appreciated all his effort in showing me around. I then rushed to catch a bus and made it to the bus stop just as the bus was arriving. It was a different number bus than the one I took to the villa so I had to ask the driver which bus I needed to transfer to in order to get to "il Duomo". I managed to get on all the right buses and made it back to my apartment in time for dinner with Alana. Alana and I had another date tonight and watched Lost together. I made steamed vegetables - cauliflower and broccoli, salad, quinoa (of course:-P) and a fish steak.
I really enjoyed having a real meal again and had a lot of fun hanging out with Alana. I really miss having her as my roommate.

old roomie dinner!

our yummy dinner

Laura and Nicole then stopped by for a bit. Nicole has been promising to visit me for the past 3 weeks and finally got around to it.
until next time!
-arrivederci