We arrived mid morning Monday from the States and I could not wait to be back to the villa, unfortunately we barely made it in the door way before we crashed.  We had not planned on anyone being in the villa until next week, but mid afternoon I heard a voice whispering hello outside the door.  Silvia had returned early to catch up on some work.  That evening Nick had his first PT appointment which was much needed.  While we were home the beginning of the trip he was doing real well walking without his crutches, but I believe that he might have done too much as has been experiencing a lot of pain lately and the crutches are needed. Unfortunately this time around the jet lag has effected us, I do not remember it being this bad the first time around, but not being able to go to sleep until 4 am and waking up at 1 pm has got to go!  Luckily on Thursday Nick had an earlier PT appointment so we were forced to get up earlier then we had been.  I am sure once the students arrive next week and there is more of a routine to our day it will get easier.

Over the past couple of days the villa staff has been around preparing for the students arrival next week. They all have Monday off as it is an Italian Holiday – Le Befana – so therefore this semester the students will arrive on Tuesday and Wednesday and start classes on Thursday.  It is amazing how much noisier it is within the villa when the staff is here.  Lucia and Cristina giggling and singing in the kitchen and the phone rings off the hook when Silvia is in her office, often times it rings after hours as well.  I feel so bad for the poor people on the other end of the phone while I am trying to explain to them that she is not here and will not be back until the next day or even next week.

Over the past week I have kept myself busy by trying to plan some travel for the semester as well as working in the villa library.  When we arrived the poor library was a bit of a mess.  There were stacks of books everywhere.  Instead of listening to the constant complaining that we did last semester I decided to tackle the library – I guess in a way my thank you to Clemson for this amazing opportunity.  While not perfect, it is a whole lot better than it was.  There were piles of books on the floor, covering the light table, as well as the desk where the computers are located.  I have a couple more hours in the library tomorrow to do some shifting, but otherwise I have completed my project.  Nick even commented today that he was not aware that there was a third computer within the library, it was surrounded by books.  Nick assisted me a little bit as there were a ton that needed to be given numbers in the very odd system that the library has.  It is amazing how many items are housed within the library and even more amazing how old some of it is – which a lot had to go.  Not sure why we are keeping travel books from the 1990s…

With Nick working on school stuff and no students yet things have been pretty quiet around here, which is much welcomed after our whirlwind trip to the States for the holiday.  We had a nice time, and so thankful that we were able to spend quality times with our families.  We got to meet our new niece Violet, we got to celebrated her and Zane’s first Christmases with them.  We also celebrated Blake and Zane’s birthdays and witnessed Violet’s baptism.  We sure were on the run, I kept saying that I needed a vacation from my vacation 🙂