That monkey thinks he's a kangaroo!

When I think of leisure the first thing that comes to mind is fun. Then I take into account what exactly constitutes fun? It's different for everyone right? To some people walking around a botanical garden for hours is fun, but for me very few things excite me as much as going to the zoo. =) In America fun amost always takes up time and usually a lot of it. On top of taking up time, we always feel like we don't have enough time in the day to do all the things we want to do or even feel we need to do. Next comes the stress and so on and so forth which completely counteracts the point of fun or leisure. Sports are considered leisure to us, yet games are always scheduled and highly competetive. My senior year of high school I went to school from 7 am to 1, went to work from 1-2:30 setting things up for later, then soccer from about 3-5, then back to work until about 9:30 and home to do whatever else I needed to do. Luckily for me I loved my job, but for most people that would be absolutely ridiculous. Our whole lives are scheduled out including time for leisure which isn't even really leisure anymore.

In Italy the pace is much, much slower and relaxed. There are always people talking and relaxing because they allow time for it. Instead of scheduling everything out and having a set time to do this and do that, they leave their day a little more open so they can enjoy it instead of rushing through it. Instead of working our standard 8 hrs or more consecutively during the day they work for a while, close around noon, enjoy this thing we call leisure and a huge, delicious meal, then return to work around 3 or 4 or 5. The focus more on their family as well. When I am relaxing or having the most fun it seems my friends come to mind. I don't spend much time with my family because we re al lso spread out and not as close knit as Italian families. It also seems like they know their family so much better than we know ours. I couldn't tell you anything about my grandma or grandpa's brothers or sisters. I feel like here they keep in close contact with all their family basically coining the idea of the 'big italian family'. Comparing the two persepectives it seems to me that Italians have a better appreciation for family for sure and maybe even each day than Americans tend to. They value their family enough to take whole chunks out of each day to be with them. I went from Christmas to spring break this passed year without seeing my Mom or Dean even once. They also take each day as it comes and enjoy it while it's here. Maybe we could learn something from them and take time to "stop and smell the roses" or if you're in Florence you can smell the leather, which ever you prefer. ha