La prossima volta che andrò in Italia...

The title of this post is in the future tense because I had every good intention of publishing it before returning to Italy, but I didn't quite get it done. So, eccomi in Italia. What am I doing here? The Italian language school La Lingua, La Vita in Todi, Umbria, made me an offerta invernale I couldn't refuse. Their winter special, good until the end of February 2010, offers four weeks of Italian instruction (mornings 5 days a week) plus lodging for only €1200. Not per week, for the whole four weeks. As I've told friends, if it weren't for the pesky mortgage payment, it would be less expensive to be here than to stay home. At the Euro to Dollar exchange rate when I paid my tuition, that was about $1800. The Euro has been dropping since, so now it would be even less. That's the bad news, but the good news is: I will eat (and do touristy things) on the reduced Euro.

The same day I saw that offer, I got an email from US Airways that I would lose my 90,000 frequent flyer miles if I didn't do something by the end of February. As my friend Deb would say, the planets aligned. I was able to cash in 70,000 miles on a round-trip Envoy (First) Class ticket to Rome.

There are several other factors that contibuted to my taking this adventure, and I'll post about them at some point. In the meantime, the occasion of this blog is my return to Italy for the 6th (or seventh, if you count the infant steps on San Marco) time. The purpose of the blog is for me to have a place to record thoughts, recollections, photos, etc., from all those trips, and a diary of this trip, and to explore why I am so madly in love with Italy (other than the obvious). If you care to join me, I'd love to have you along for the trip. If not, no hard feelings. This is primarily an exercise in self-indulgence.