After flying over snow-capped mountains just north of Tuscany, we landed in Florence this afternoon where the skies were clear and the sun was shining high above. The second I got off the plane, I took in a deep breath and felt my body relax a little bit. It was a joy to sense the warm air brush against my face. I’m finally home, I thought to myself.

A strange thing happens when I’m a few days from my return to Florence: I suddenly begin inserting Italian words into my vocabulary and my beloved city begins to surface more in my mind. It’s almost as if my brain is preparing itself for the switch. Tomorrow I’m returning to Florence after a six-week stay in France. While I’ve been in France, I haven’t longed much for my beloved city, but I admit that I have missed it dearly.

What I have found interesting about speaking a foreign language is how sensitive I have become to everything around the words that a person says. A person can say something to me and I find myself processing the conversation on multiple levels: the actual words, the person’s tone of voice, his/her facial expressions and my own emotional reaction to the conversation. I think this sensitivity came about when I initially didn’t understand the words in a foreign language: I had to expand my ability to understand a conversation while I caught up with learning the language.

What a difference a year makes. I read the post I wrote last year when I was in Florence. When the year began, I had no idea what changes were in store for me. Looking back now, it’s as if my entire life changed in the blink of an eye even though it felt strenuous at times. This year I stayed in with my beau after having spent a few days in Saint-Malo (Brittany). I loved seeing the water, running along the beach, enjoying the local delicacies, taking in the fresh air, and recharging my batteries before 2013 began.