In my next life I'm going to be Christobel Kent

Today my inner nerd came out to play. This is my first time not technically being a student and though I enjoy not having to study and write papers, I really do miss going to class. To continue my efforts to meet new friends in Florence and explore the city, I attended a lecture at the British Institute by author Christobel Kent on Florence as a setting for fiction. As soon as I arrived I got super excited because the lecture is one of the beautiful rooms of the library, which looks more like a library in someone's home (like the beast had in Beauty and the Beast). Also, the room was filled with old British people, as well as trendy looking students, two of my favorite types of people. Since I am a total geek and really enjoy being an attentive student, I sat right up front for the lecture, next to this adorable old British couple. Ms. Kent gave an absolutely wonderful lecture on her writing process, why she chooses to set all of her novels in Florence instead of in England, how she chooses her setting before she dreams up characters, etc. She was wonderfully honest and open, not uppity or stuffy like a lot of lecturers are. She is also as cute as a button, a mother of five kids, and married to a professor at Cambridge. I pretty much decided right on the spot that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as Christobel Kent.
After the lecture, and since we are in Italy, the British Institute has free wine and refreshments to partake in while people chat about their thoughts on the lecture. I went up to a group of people with American accents and introduced myself. I ended up meeting a really cool girl named Yoko who is a PhD student in Art History at UVA, as well as her friend Monica, who just finished her PhD and is a writer now in Florence. I even got the chance to talk to Ms. Kent, who sympathized with me over the lack of interest study abroad students have in the culture of Italy, as well as all the "Wow, I can't believe this is where I live" moments an expat in Florence experiences (i.e. every time I walk by the duomo and just go "whoa"). Ms. Kent also reignited my wish to maybe write some day (I definitely have lots of stories to tell).
I loved the feeling of being in an academic environment again. I know, I'm a teacher and tutor who spends all day at school, but it's just not the same as attending class yourself and learning about subjects that really interest you. I will definitely be attending more lectures at the British Institute and will hopefully learn even more about Florence, Italy, and the culture that I so dearly love.