*<8-)

The minute I walked out of the apartment today, I knew that it was a good day. I didn't know why, but I knew that it was good. The sun was shining, it was warm, and I had a smile on my face. I bike to class, thinking that maybe all this biking actually is having a positive impact on my health, and get to class on time. An Italian that we call "the Fonz", because he has a certain swagger and audacity that falls gloriously short of our American icon, was in class today for the first time in what seems like a month. He's flirting with the French girl, and when it's time to get things started, he saunters back towards his seat by the open windows. Which he didn't notice were open, resulting in a sharp thwack as his forehead hits the glass in front of him. He shakes it off jokingly and Professor Cherchi starts the lesson, explaining various aspects of the syntax that Boccaccio uses. He's talking about pronouns, and how their position in the time of Boccaccio was much more variable than today. Boccaccio could write "lui me lo disse", "lui lo mi disse", and various other structures. -Ma oggi, 10 maggio, 2007 - he writes the date on the board - sapete che cos'è oggi? Oggi è il mio settantesimo compleanno! - ...wait, really? Yes, really. Today, our professor turned seventy. And he brought us pastries, potato chips, coke and juice to celebrate! I didn't believe it as I watched it happening: this grand old man pulling out bags and baskets of food and drink from under the desk, then all of us students timidly going up to get a slice of cake and a glass of ace. We eat, drink, and are quite merry. We sing "tanti auguri a Lei". After a while, things settle down, and Cherchi says that he's clearly not going to be continuing the lesson where he broke off. But he does go off into another one of his usual orations, where it sounds scholastic, so I take notes, but it's really nothing more than Cherchi musing on what it means to study the history of the Italian language. I love listening to him. He jokes - chi vorebbe mai avere settant'anni? Chi ne ha già sessantanove. - Quite the class to remember.