I am very well but exhausted with much still on my desk to complete before Monday morning. I am not quite sure where I am, but am trying to adapt to the idea that I find myself once again in Rome.

On Monday, I basically closed myself in my hotel room, for I had to go through ump-teen art research books and personal statements written by the candidates that I was about to examine. My only excursions out that day were a quick outing for lunch and dinner at a nearby family run trattoria which I had discovered on my last trip. They didn't disappoint me.

Tuesday morning I went off to examine the first school, The American School of Milan. It is a great little school on the outskirts of Milano with an incredibly large campus and a new and actively excited art teacher who is doing a great job with the IB and her students. It was interesting driving out to the school for we passed field upon field of freshly planted rice patties. A friend, later, explained to me that that is why Milano has so many mosquito's!

I finished the exams in the early afternoon on Tuesday and went straight back to the hotel and collapsed. That evening I met Fabrizia, the niece of one of Italy's most important contemporary painters, Fabrizio Clerici, for dinner. She lives in the center of the city, just two passes from the Duomo, and we had a lovely dinner at a Tuscan restaurant which is almost under her apartment. A beefsteak alla Fiorentina for two and sautéed artichokes and fennel (the best that I have ever had in my life) and later a scrumptious chocolate cake with two forks for desert. It is always great to "touch base" with Fabrizia. We talked away the evening and at an ungodly late hour I sped back to the hotel knowing that I had to be "bright and bushy tailed" for the next morning.

Bright and bushy tailed or not, Wednesday was gruelling. I had many more candidates to examine at the International School of Milan with a very tight time schedule. I was able to close things up by around three that afternoon, after which, I escaped to the Brera Art Museum.

I had previously promised myself that I was somehow going to get back to this incredible museum on this trip to Milan. The last time I was there was perhaps twenty years ago. Unfortunately, I was quite tired by the time I arrived there but it was "now or never"! I snuck past things which really didn't interest me and went directly to my old friends, Mantegna, Bronzino and Caravaggio. They were still as glorious as I had remembered them! What a banquet for the eyes!

Returning late to my hotel, I collapsed for an hour or two, then showered and decided to try a Chinese restaurant that was just behind the hotel which I had walked past the day before. I was intrigued by the menu which they had posted in the window - Tex-Mex and/or Chinese. Now that is quite a combination! It got my curiosity. On a scale of one to ten I would give it a four. Never trust a Tex-Mex Chinese restaurant! Am sure that almost everything was frozen! The hardest spring rolls I have ever had in my life, the fried won-ton were uneatable, but, the onion rings were quite something!

The flight back this morning was relatively painless. Nazareno, my driver, was at the airport to greet me. It is always great to come back to Rome! The apartment was immaculate, as Sanmarasena, my houseboy, had been here the day before to tidy things up. His wife, Nerosha, had even left a chicken curry for me in the fridge. I thanked the Gods that I was home again!