magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

got on a train going the wrong way. was stragely unconcerned. i'll be late for dinner, but that means i'll avoid the inevitable uncomfortable period afterward where i'm town between a feeling of obligation to sit in the living room and try to make small talk in italian and a competing desire to flee for my own room and read. or that period will be shorter in any case.

the train was leaving assisi. we were supposed to be headed to feligno and from the to fossato, but found ourselves instead travelling towards perugia. so backtracking and an hour and a half wait in feligno. it's supposed to be a nice town, but the train station is a little drab. there's an old drunkyelling something indecipherable though, so it feel like home (or 438, anyway).

assisi by train allowed more time to explore, to draw. and got me out of ponte calcara for another day (only two more, i think i'll survive). i struck out on my own and headed up--all these medeaval cities are built on hillsides. at the top i found the rocca maggiore, the old castle that overlooks the city. it was under renovations, and mostly off-limits, but the octagonal tower was open (down a hall thre feet wide by six and a half feet high and 138 of my paces long) which offered amazing panoramic views of the city and umbrian valley beyond.

the leonardo da vinci museum, which was a waste of money. and pizza for lunch, which wasn't.

down to the basilica of saint francis for a bit, then back onto the hill and winding streets and sitting in the shade on a stone wall. when who should happen by but justin, on a street he had never been on, only there to try a new path.

we talked. he smoked a cigarette. (i had remarked upon arriving in rome, or soon after, how odd it was that out of thirty risd students there was not a smoker among us. it seems a few may have started up, or re-started, during this homestay.) i mentioned the internet and he said that he thought there was a place in town. we searched it out, and when i was giving up (i'll be back in rome in three days) we found it.

email to stef (i miss you, i miss you, i miss you). email to aaron (happy belated birthday).

the bus. the big church in santa maria di angeli. (there's a little church inside the big church. too cute.) and the wrong train.