Someday remind me to tell you how they cut round cakes in Italy.

I’m discovering that Mondays are hello days and Fridays are goodbye days at language school. Today before class it was time to eat goodbye cake for Maria, one of our dearest teachers. After class it was time to sing goodbye karaoke for Maria. Before dinner it was time to drink goodbye apperitivi for Maria. However, some students are finishing their classes and leaving as well, so in between goodbyes to Maria we shared a lunchtime goodbye with Thomas, a dinner goodbye with Martino and a digestivo goodbye with Flavia.

Back at my Perugia home, in between goodbyes to people I said goodbye to my room and hello to Thomas’ former room. Though my old room was just fine, Thomas’ has an extraordinary view and a bathroom of its own. Now I can set out my toothbrush and toothpaste just how I please.

I also had time for a walking exploration of Perugia, and I headed to one side of the mountain on which Perugia is located, walking downhill to a section of churches and smaller apartment buildings. As I say hello to Perugia I’m starting to realize that what makes Perugia unique is the relatively large size of its Centro Historic in proportion to the relatively small size of its population. Wikipedia lists Perugia as having a population of just 168,000, which puts it on par with Vancouver, Washington or Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Perugia is infinitely more charming and complex than either American city, I suspect due to the fact that its population has been fairly large over a many centuries, unlike our American towns that sprout and grow overnight. I’m sure it has its sad and seedy areas, too, but so far there is none of that sprawling American car-desert with vast parking lots and superhighways. Thank you, Italy.

After a day of saying goodbye I said goodbye to the final goodbye party at about midnight and headed to my new room. Monday is Italian Independence Day, so that means a three day weekend, followed by some new people to greet when we’re back in school on Tuesday.

Now is the time