I would wake each morning in Venice to the “laughing” sound of seagulls. Today I heard geese and I knew I was home!
Page and I were thrilled with the gift of breakfast foods at our home Sunday night from two couples! Such a relaxing breakfast on Monday morning! But we needed to go out and stock up for the rest of the week and then go get our mail at the post office. Since it was dark (around 8:00pm) when we got to Winston-Salem on Sunday, I couldn’t see what delighted me this afternoon. Daffodils all over including flowering Bradford Pear and Cherry trees, plus forsythia!
First feeling….we made it! Second feeling…the two bottles of olive oil and bottle of wine in my suitcase…made it! Third feeling….we were the Von Trapp family that escaped out of Austria in the middle of the night AND we got off the Titanic into a life boat (water taxi) before Casa Artom sank and we all went down with the ship. Oh wait! That was a bad dream mixed in with my jet lag!
We took this photo on Friday night after we got the word we were all going home. It is hard to tear apart a family and this group really bonded. Some of the students asked if we could still get together in Winston-Salem for our “Family Dinners” on Wednesday nights. I volunteered my kitchen! On the flight home Sunday morning Page and I started to brainstorm how to make the remaining semester interesting. We have a list of Italian companies in North Carolina that he will look into and create field trips.
The students are unsettled, but after two weeks at home including Spring Break, they will return on March 15th to the main campus. Page and I will spend a week at our beach house. We will all rejuvenate, feel fortunate that the first half of this semester was in Venice, and feel glad that we “escaped” the big coronavirus! An adventure we will never forget!!
2020 Vision of Venice 