Almost there

Wow, I turn thirty tomorrow. How do I plan to spend the last night of my
twenties? In bed early - my cold is making a comeback. So much for
glamour :)

I'm starting to get really excited about going to Ireland and England with
my dad - I think I need a break from Italy, which I never thought I'd say.
When I first started reading books in Italian I would read a chapter and
then have to take a break; after two months of immersion I think I need
the same in order to let everything sink in. It's starting to feel like
I'm getting worse instead of better!

Not to say that I'm miserable, just a little down at the moment. But some
really interesting things have happened lately. Like misinterpreting
"boyfriend" as "fiance" (which, for the record, my dictionary did as
well), and scaring the hell out of a young couple when I asked when the
wedding was! And then there was a cool "local" moment when I was
wandering around with only a vague idea of where I was, saw Roman ruins,
and said "what's Roman around here? The Baths of Diocletion; this must be
the back of the Piazza della Repubblica". And it was. Then there was the
"pebble star" (like a rock star but smaller - thanks Marrus) moment of
meeting people at the hostel who were really impressed with having seen me
play Piazza Navona. They gave me a nice excuse to play a small hostel
concert last night, which is always fun.

So it goes along, and I'm looking forward to seeing my grandmother's home
area on Monday as I head to Perugia. My hostel there has an absurdly long
time during the day when you have to leave, but I'm going to take the
opportunity to play tourist in all the neighboring towns. Can't wait!