AWOL

Wow, I had no idea that it’s been a week since I lasted posted! It must seem like I’ve been AWOL! I’ve done pretty much nothing except apartment/house hunt all day, every day. Well on Saturday it finally paid off. I went to look at an apartment in an old stone house in a town called Poppi. It’s in the countryside about 3 km from the town. It is a ground floor apartment and has 2 bedrooms, a bath, and an open living/dining/kitchen area that takes up one whole side of the apartment. There is a fireplace in a corner of the living room and a pellet burner in a corner of the kitchen area. The house is at the top of a hill that overlooks the pastures/farmland in the area. The view around the house is really pretty, and the landlord had no problem with the dogs. Poppi is about 40 Kim’s west/northwest of Florence so pretty close to where I wanted to be. Arezzo, which is the capital of the province I’ll be living in, is also only 40 km away, and has a high speed train to Rome that takes just 1 hour. There are also buses running all the time. Travel is so much easier over here, and not particularly expensive. The high speed train is nonstop and only €30. Slower trains are less. Buses take longer but start at €11!

The other reason I haven’t been posting is because I’ve been sick. Stress will kill you!! Stuffy head, runny nose, sore throat, no voice, coughing like crazy. Now that I have an address I can start applying for health insurance. Also I need to buy a car pretty quickly. I don’t think I’d do well walking with bags of groceries 3 kms from town and UP A STEEP HILL!

it’s been unbearably hot here, like everywhere. I’m so glad I bought that air conditioning unit when we were still in Bolnuevo. It’s been a lifesaver.

I’m looking forward to my next adventures of living in Italy and learning the language. For anyone who reads this blog, PLEASE let me know if I should stop writing now or continue on with what I’m doing, learning and seeing in Italy. Thanks!