I have now spent 4 nights in my new home, and it has gotten increasingly easier to sleep. It’s ridiculously quiet where I live, which is a blessing in disguise I suppose. For me, it’s been too quiet. But that’s probably because I don’t have any friends, a TV in English, a phone, or Internet which tends to “noisy-up” our lives these days. I began to rectify this problem by watching 1-2 episodes of Friends on DVD every night. But when I started noticing technical errors that the crew was making, I figured I had watched that DVD one too many times.

So, imagine my joy last night when I heard firecrackers in the distance! Realizing I have no idea what holidays are celebrated here, I began to make up my own reasons why people would be shooting them off (Swiss Independence Day?, a small Swiss Disneyland resort?, a U2 concert?, George Clooney beckoning to me?). Despite my wandering mind (with a lot of “me” time these days, even I am annoyed by my psyche), I quite enjoyed sipping a glass of local Ticino wine on my porch with the beautiful view.

Today was supposed to be a day of hiking, until I realized at 7:15 a.m. that it looked like rain (it’s 3:00 now and still no rain in sight), plus I don’t exactly have “hiking” materials, such as a backpack to fit maps, money for buses, rain coats, water, and the like. So I opted instead to stay in and read and take several naps. That is the Hayley I was searching for!

One of my main goals in this adventure was to read for pleasure more. I have completed 2 pleasure-reading books this week (when during the school year it’s sometimes 2 a year, if I’m lucky!), and am already chomping at the bit to start the 3rd. Thank you, my sweet friends, for that book shower! **Sidenote: for those who care – The Glass Castle by Jeeannette Walls is a heart wrenching but excellent memoir of a child who grew up in poverty, but overcame great perils to become a successful (and talented) writer; and Shakespeare by Bill Bryson, one of my favorite writers these days, is a really great, succinct (as much as can be expected) historical account on the history of Shakespeare. It amazes me that as an English major (and one who took a whole course on Shakespeare), I could be so uneducated about the mysteries of his life.

Yesterday I walked (this Texas girl walked!) to the bottom of the mountain – a 45 minute excursion just to the edge of Lugano. I’m not sure I’ll do that again! But the weather was a perfect 82 degrees (see pictures!) and there were tons of tourists out. I walked alongside the lake for a while, taking pictures of all of the action on the lake. The sailboats remind me of being at the beach, so I was a happy girl. Then I popped in and out of stores (Lugano is quite possibly the most expensive place in Switzerland, thanks to the warm climate that attracts tourists), so buying my Prada purse today was out of the question. I stumbled upon an old Catholic church at the top of the hill, and lit a candle for my loved ones back home. From there I just wandered…in search for wine and wine glasses and other staple items (finally found at the Co-op – a MUCH smaller, Swiss version of Walmart). I had a pizza and beer in the main piazza and soaked in the European lifestyle. How lovely it is!

At dinner back at school, I met a bunch of the outgoing summer teachers at school who were very nice. Paul, the TASIS expert on hiking, rock-climbing, snowboarding, and anything else done outside, had prepared a map and a bus schedule for me (thank you, Paul!). He is originally from Britain, but has lived and worked here for more than 30 years, so he is definitely someone you want to be friends with. He very kindly explained to me which busses to take to the hike up San Salvatore Mountain, and even told me that there used to be a national weather center there. Apparently Lugano was once in the Guinness World Book for having the most thunderstorms! That scared me away from hiking today…although apparently meteorologists in Ticino are as good as Finfrock in Dallas, as the sun is brightly shining once again in Lugano!