What I've learned about myself in Italy

1. I can learn a language if I invest 3 hours a day.  A few weeks ago, I really felt like I was thinking in Italian and was happy with how quickly my language skills were progressing.  However, this past week has been much worse!  Before, I started my day with a 90 minute lesson and my brain started running in Italian.  I ended my day with (typically) 90 minutes or more of homework.  Now, the 10 minutes of review is nowhere enough!  It is like a part of my brain is no longer functioning.  At least I know what it takes for me to really get to a place where I can speak a language!
2. I'm a good scientist!  My graduate school experience was a bit unusual, and then I skipped the whole "post doc" step.  While it is no surprise that I have a bit of "imposter syndrome", I've lacked a certain confidence or exuberance for my research over the past few years.  The past 3 months have shown me that I have a strong skillset and I have good ideas.  I have read papers on a variety of new topics and even thought "well, since no one else has predicted/measured/calculated this value, perhaps I can calculate it from first principles".
3. I will never have free time.  This is my first attempt at "leave", and while I did the "go away" part correctly, I didn't quite nail my time management.  In particular, I really thought I would get much more done than I actually could!  On the bright side, I've been sleeping like a real human being.  One day I did the calculation, and my work schedule and Italian lessons (with homework) was justifiably taking up my entire day.  It isn't my fault my "side projects" weren't getting done, there are just not enough hours in the day.  
4. When I buy pastries for breakfast the next day, I eat them as soon as I get home.  Oops.

(I've leaving off the things I learned in the past, like my love of bitter Italian drinks, my love of Italian food, and my love of trashy Italian music)