March 22

The alarm went off at 7am. Kelsey, Maggie, and I started the day--like old times in the fall semester--with an Insanity workout video. Nothing says morning like buff Sean T yelling at you to "get lower!" or "drink your recovery formula." By 9am, we were showered, fed, and boarding a train to Lucca; a small town north of Florence, famous for its 4km walls surrounding it. The town was nothing like what I was expecting. There were as many modern, high-end boutiques as there were historic monuments. The city gracefully made the transition from Gothic town to hip tourist attraction, all while maintaining its charm. If it weren't raining, we would have rented bikes (3 euro an hour!) to ride around on the city walls. We got lunch at a fabulous local spot. A tell-tale sign a restaurant is going to be good: a handwritten menu-of-the-day written in only Italian. (You can deduce any restaurant with a menu in Comic Sans font written only in English is more Newark than Naples). I had an awesome winter bean soup, filled with vegetables and homemade croutons. We took a 3:30pm train back to Florence because we had planned a special treat for Maggie: an hour and a half Ashtanga yoga class at a studio across the river. I was n-e-r-v-o-u-s for the class. I had a traumatizing experience trying to "flip my dog" at a class in Chapel Hill. The studio, called It's Yoga, was beautiful and filled to the brim with fragrant candles, soft lighting, and wall-to-wall windows. We were greeted by the woman teaching the class where she explained it would be all in Italian. The room filled with about 16 yogis (interestingly, mostly shirtless men). The class was challenging and the teacher softly corrected many of my poses. But, the environment of the class couldn't be beat: 16 happy, calm, and able-bodied people completing the sequences of one of the most artistic exercises there are (yes, om-ming was involved). I left the class feeling energized. I really enjoyed it. We grabbed build-your-own-salads for dinner and I packed my bag for spring break. One bookbag. 6 days. 3 cities.