The Routine

It's really funny, my roommates and I have developed this great routine. Every evening we all trickle in from our days back to the apartment. Michelle starts cooking (she likes it and everything she cooks is better than the last thing, it's great.) Linda helps Michelle cook because she wants to learn how. Danielle and I sit at our little kitchen table and play cards. We call it "Airborne cocktail hour" because we sit and have a glass of Airborne (the vitamin drink that helps your immune system- everyone here is sick). So, we sit in our cozy kitchen, laugh, and play cards. Cara usually wanders in a little later, and we all hang out and joke around. We can see the sun going down over Florence outside of our kitchen window that has view of the rooftops. When dinner is ready we all go into the dining room, which is a really odd room. It's HUGE and has incredibly high ceilings, but just one dim overhead light that is hideous. The walls have these gigantic ugly paintings on them (they cover almost the entire wall), we're still debating about how they got them through the door. I still think they were built and painted in the apartment... : )
Anyway, we have done this almost every night since we got here and it occurred to us last night how much we love this little routine. We all find ourselves leaving that window of time open so we will be home for the routine. It has only been three weeks and I can already tell that when I go home I will be homesick for the routine. Such an odd feeling....