Welcome to Lucca

One week in Lucca and I'm settling in.  I've unpacked my one little suitcase in my little space and spent the last week in Italian class coming to realize that being around people speaking Italian does not magically infuse you with the language.   Language osmosis is a big fallacy started by someone whose pants were on fire.  

A lot of people ask me how I came to choose Lucca of all places in Italy.  Truthfully, it was pretty much based on a single day spent here a few years ago.  It's small enough for small town feel, not too touristy (though it seems to be more touristy than I remember) and central enough to have pretty good access to public transportation.  Lucca's language school also gets excellent reviews and after just a week, I can see why.  The school itself really is total immersion--I've gone on two city tours/walks with the them outside of classroom hours in which they spoke Italian only.  I have no idea what they are saying about 80-85% of the time but I can hear the word differentiation in the sentences now.  That's the first step right?  

I've yet to visit an Italian city that is less than gorgeous so I'll let that go unsaid about Lucca.  While I've yet to really get to know the city, I'm already more in love with its charm.   

Lucca's center is completely encircled within its perfectly preserved 16th century walls.  Gotta love walled towns. 

And will cobblestone streets and Italian architecture ever get old?

Or piazza's where kids really do play soccer in the afternoons?

Lucca's Piazza dell'Anfiteatro's roots date back to b.c. and sits on the site of the original Roman amphitheater.  I'll stop with the history stuff soon--but seriously how cool is anything b.c.?  Julius Caesar visited Lucca.  Yeah, there's a pretty good chance I won't quit with the history all that soon--it still blows me away. 

I think I can spend a couple of very relaxed and comfortable months here in Lucca. 

Things I learned in my first week:

1.  Italian REALLY does have similarities to French and Spanish.  While there's a bit of confusion to overcome between pronunciation and spelling, it's encouraging to see how many words can be guessed at based on knowing the french or spanish equivalent.   

2. Lucca's fully intact Renaissance walls never needed to be used in warfare. 

3.  Italy is not quite ready for the musical genius of Pitbull.  Sad.