The Grass is Always Greener?

Ciao!  

I don't know what the weather in Ohio was like today, but today in Firenze, it was lovely!  

Since the weather has turned nice, I have been spending the last few Sundays outside; I go out by myself and explore the city, often plunking somewhere to read, sketch and write.  Today I walked along the Arno and stopped in the Cascine park.  I ended up spending the whole afternoon there, reading, sketching and relaxing in the sun.  

Before making it to Cascine I stopped at the Duomo to do some reading on her steps, but ended up talking to an Italian student, who is a friend of one of my friends.  He asked what I was reading ('A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens), and we talked about books and movies.  Both of us like Tim Burton movies and are looking forward to 'Alice in Wonderland', whenever that is coming out.  Of course he asked me where I was from, and when I told him Ohio he got very excited.  He looked at me and said, "You live in the middle of America.  The largest university in the States is in the middle of Ohio!  That place is like a city!"  I found it quite astonishing that he not only knew where Ohio was, but he knew about OSU, and knew how large the campus was.  He remarked that he liked it there, and then went on to say "I love America!  Every few years I feel that I need to travel to America, and I go there."  He is a Florentine, and I had told him earlier how much I loved it here and how sad I'm going to be to go home.  He didn't seem to be excited about Florence at all, and talked about how much larger OSU was, and how much he loved America.  I wonder, if because we live somewhere, we become so accustomed to the beauty and 'coolness' of the place that we can no longer see it?  

Emily