It is 5 p.m. on a beautiful warm Wednesday afternoon. My verbs and adjectives have been wrestled with so have slipped down to a little bar which overlooks the ocean for a café latte and to gaze at the beautiful people. To be very honest, they are no different looking than a group of New Zealanders – some slim, some a little curvy but all seem to have slipped into the Italian way of life, regardless of when they arrived as tourists. Walking slowly along the Umberto Costa, eating gelatos and seemingly enjoying their time in Sicily.

There is street music always. In the afternoon it may be a duo playing a piano accordion and singing in one of the piazzas. The evening tends to bring out larger groups up to five, who play as I eat dinner. Very skilled break dancing is also part of the entertainment, with the hat being passed around. I am also sung to sleep in my apartment by a singer from the downstairs restaurant.

Life continues to be wonderful. I am struggling with the immersion part of the course but am finding the vocabulary really fun. The poor little waiters are so patient as I place my order, often correcting my pronunciation which I am so grateful for. Today in class we had very simple pictures of retailers and had to put names to them and then say in Italian what they sold. The only one I knew was L enoteca, the wine seller and then proceeded to identify white wine, red wine, procsecca and Lemoncello all in beautiful Italian!!

We have made visits to Siracusa a large outdoor museum, and Noto, the finest Baroque town in Sicily. We also visited Mt Etna. At present the summit is closed due to some rumblings so we walked to one of the volcanoes which gave a stunning view as far as the eye could see. Lava flows formed much of the rugged path we walked on.

Taormina, the city I am in, is very close to the beach. Often go down when my head is foggy with study. The main streets are paved but the side streets, which are usually steps are all cobblestoned. In fact, there are many stairs around. My apartment which is on the first floor, has 18steps which I climb at least 4 times a day. The beach has about 200 so by the time you have returned to the top another swim would be really nice. However, they do give a great excuse to eat gelatos each day.

Tonight a group of us are going to an Irish pub to watch football! Ireland vs Italy I think then Friday I am going to the ballet Bolero. Don’t know much about it but remember Torville and Deane used the music to skate to. It doesn’t start until 9 p.m. as it is in a beautiful outdoor arena so they must wait until it is dark.

Unfortunately, Saturday at some terrible time in the morning, I fly to Geneva. I want to say I don’t want to leave this wonderful city, but think I have said that each time I have had to move. I think I must have been an Italian in another life.