On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

This weekend was our long awaited program excursion. Our trip started Thursday morning, not before a test in Italian though. Margarita packed all who were going on the trip a bagged lunch and sent us on our way. Our first stop was Montepulciano. I was fooled at first by its small town appearance. I thought that we were visiting another local town that does not see too many tourists and is full of the Tuscan charm that we are used to seeing in Sansepolcro. This illusion was quickly thrown out the window when after walking up the first big hill in the town all the local signs were in English. The realization that we had not come to a quiet local town was a bit disappointing. I personally enjoy going to towns where the locals are not used to seeing Americans walking around their streets. It is in those times that I feel as if I am experiencing the true Italian culture. However, after seeing a sign I remembered that Montepulciano is the city where much of the wine that we drink comes from. This thought was in the forefront of my mind because Lauren and I had just eaten with our host family a couple nights before and they served us wine and pointed out the Montepulciano label on the bottle. As if being a leading city in the wine industry was not enough to make this town seem not so quaint and unknown after walking up to the Piazza Grande I was informed that part of the new Twilight movie, “New Moon”, was filmed in this piazza. Now I know that many who are reading my blog may not know what Twilight is so I will quickly explain. Twilight started off as a book series (4 books) and the first of the books was made into a movie last November. This movie swept across America and created a huge fan base for itself. Now, I myself am not a huge Twilight fan but I have seen the movie and am more than happy to share with any of my jealous friends, who are big fans of the books and the movies, the pictures of me standing in the same square that Edward Cullen was in. (Edward Cullen is one of the main characters of the movie and the new heartthrob of many teenage girls.) I’m not sure if the locals know it yet, but Montepulciano has now been changed forever. I will bet money on the fact that many people will go to visit the town now just because Twilight was filmed there.

La Foce was the next stop. We went to visit La Foce because those who are in Dr. Webb’s class, this does not include me, have read about a woman who lived on this property with her Italian husband and they hid people during the Second World War. La Foce is still owned by the same family but is now rented out as villas. The property of La Foce was gorgeous. There were a couple gardens on the property full of boxed hedges, rosemary, thyme, and many flowers that overlooked Val d’Orcia. The view from this property was breathtaking. You could see the Tuscan mountains and the smooth hills with winding roads within them. If I could ever afford it, La Foce would be a beautiful place to have a wedding!

From the gardens we walked about one kilometer to the cemetery. The man and woman who helped house people during the war are buried here. This cemetery was unlike anything I had ever seen. Each tombstone was full of bright colored flowers along with a picture of each person. I loved the idea of having a picture of the person on their grave because it makes the person’s life seem real and truly remembered. All of these components made this burial ground a place to enjoy remembering lost loved ones instead of feeling like death.

Soon after leaving the cemetery came: the ride to the place where we would spend the night, dinner and bed. Of course there were many laughs, memories made, and girl talk between all of these activities. The next morning brought 9 girls, 4 professors, and a driver packed in a bus for more hours than I would care to remember. Our destination was Matera in the south of Italy. The ride was not a boring one, at least when it came to scenery. Even though we were riding along a highway there were mountains along side either side of the road for the majority of the trip. We even passed Mt. Vesuvius, an active volcano to the east of Naples. I could see steam or smoke coming from the sides of the mountain. I knew that Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius were places that I wanted to go and see at some point, but after just passing by the volcano I want to be able to climb it and say that I’ve been there before the next eruption. Towards the end of our journey Lauren, Chelsea, Amanda and I broke out into song, kid’s songs that is. We recollected our favorite songs that we sang when we were children and taught them to one another and sang along with each other. I could not remember one of my favorite songs so I went with “Herman the Worm.” Herman is a worm who gradually gets bigger and bigger from eating ridiculous things until the very end when he burps and shrinks down to his normal size. I use to sing this song in the car with my aunt all the time when I was younger. Luckily, by the time we began to run out of songs we reached Matera.

When we arrived it was about 8:00pm and a bit chillier than I had expected. The first view that we had of the city of Matera after getting off of the bus was breathtaking. We walked over to a nearby wall and looked out over a city that was completely lit up. The way the houses were designed and set up were unlike anything I had ever seen. It reminded me of what I would imagine Greece to look like. “The Passion of the Christ” was filmed in Matera so it must in some ways resemble Jerusalem. After finding and settling into our hostel Bekah, Amanda, Lauren, Hannah, and I went out to dinner. We had a true southern Italy dinner: go to dinner at 9:00pm, wait over an hour for our meal, and go home around 11:30pm. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait for dinner to be over so we could go to sleep!

On Saturday we traveled to many smaller towns around the area. We went to see the town that was near and dear to Carlo Levi’s heart, Aliano. In this town there was a Carlo Levi museum and we also went to visit the house that Levi was confined to during the Second World War. It was interesting to see pieces of history and places that are studied, but once again, this part of the trip truly benefited those in Dr. Webb’s class who have read about Levi. Even though I did not know as much about the history of Aliano as those in the English class it was still interesting to see places where history took place.

Our next stop was Craco, Italy. Craco is a town that was abandoned many years ago due to a mudslide. Craco is on the edge of a mountain that looks like it is made up of many individual rocks instead of many solid pieces of rock. The city looked as if an earthquake had taken place and not a mudslide. Houses were still standing but near destroyed. What is left of the mountain is extremely cracked and according to Dr. Swabb it will only take one heavy rain for another mudslide to take place.

The last night that we spent in Matera was a little bit like the first except we went to a museum to see some of Carlo Levi’s works. After this Bekah, Hannah, Lauren and I walked around Matera trying to kill time before dinner even though we were already starving. To hold us over until the restaurants opened we went for gelato. Yes, we ate gelato in November! While walking around with our ice cream in hand we found a small Osteria that looked promising. Apparently we had good instincts because the restaurant was amazing and very reasonably priced. I ate pasta and a whole pizza! Why do I have the feeling that when I go back to the States I am going to be hungry most of the time?

8:30am was our departure time on Sunday morning. Once again we all piled onto the bus and tried our best to get comfortable. Our arrival time in Sansepolcro was 7:45pm. This included a two hour break in Paestum. Paestum is a city near Salerno. It is known its ancient ruins that were not rediscovered until the 18th century. We had two hours to visit the museum, see the ruins, and eat lunch. Therefore, trying to grasp the history of the town and its ruins was a bit difficult to do in such a condensed amount of time but I plan on doing more research about it in the near future. Though antsy, the last couple of hours on the bus were made bearable with gummy bears, a Coco-Cola, and Christmas carols that were sung by all on the bus! As I’ve said in my past entries, our weekend was amazing, but it is nice to be home!

Home Sweet Home

This past week has luckily been a calm week. After seven days of constantly being on the go for our travel break, I was grateful for a slower paced week. Just because things around the palazzo were slow does not mean that the week was uneventful. During the week the girls and I had one movie night and a game night. Hannah, Vi, Lauren and I watched Life is Beautiful during the beginning of the week. This particular movie is actually an Italian movie titled La vita è bella and is set in the city of Arezzo which is only a short distance from Sansepolcro. Unfortunately, we cheated and watched the movie in English instead of watching it in Italian with English subtitles. However, the story behind this movie was amazing. The movie shows Guido Orefice, the main character of the movie, along with his wife, son, and uncle being taken into a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. The movie was wonderful and heart breaking. I don’t want to say anything else about it because I suggest that all who have not seen this movie watch it. It was especially nice to watch the movie while here in Italy because every time the main character was in Arezzo all of the girls and I would say, “Hey! We’ve been there! I know where that is!” Already seeing and knowing the places that were shown in the movie made the movie watching experience that much more enjoyable.

On a lighter note, Thursday night was our very first game night. Sadly, we have had many attempts at organizing a game night in the past and all until this one have been unsuccessful. I am positive that all the girls would agree with me when I say that this night was a huge success. We played Catch Phrase. In Catch Phrase you are given a word: a person, place, thing, or a phrase. You then have to describe the word or phrase that you are given to your teammates without saying any part of your given word. There is also a timer involved so it is easy for this game to become intense. Everyone, including myself, had a wonderful time playing and shared many laughs and memories. It is hilarious what people will say or do in a quick attempt to get their point across.

The game night and movie night were a great way for everyone to relax and take a deep breath. We all enjoyed our travel breaks but we were all exhausted. This past week was a time to sit down and breathe easy for a moment and enjoy each other’s company. Needless to say, it was nice to just spend time at home. I am extremely grateful to live in a house with such wonderful women.

On Saturday morning it was back to traveling. Everyone, including our professors, went to Gubbio for the day. Gubbio is the archenemy of Sansepolcro during the Balestra, but rest assured Sansepolcro did beat Gubbio this past year! Jokingly, all of us had a funny feeling about going to Gubbio. We all knew that we were not allowed to like it. Unfortunately for us, Gubbio is a beautiful place. We started the day off by visiting a mausoleum. This place is to remember and honor 40 innocent people who were dragged and shot against a wall by German soldiers in 1944. The wall that these people were lined up against before they were shot is still standing today and is untouched. You can still see the bullet holes in it. This experience was a unique one. I love that while here in Italy we are not just taught history but we get to go see it for ourselves. Hannah said it perfectly earlier in the semester when she was referring to our art history class where we were actually seeing the pieces of art that were learning about, “This is so much better than slides!” I couldn’t agree more!

After seeing the mausoleum we decided to see the High City. The High City is up at the top of a mountain and you must take the finicular to get to the top. I didn’t think twice about going up to the top until my roommate, Lauren, pointed out to me what the finicular really looked like. In my mind I was picturing the Mini Metro that is in Perugia. It’s a nice closed in cable car, with seats, that takes you safely up to the center of the city. The finicular, however, is not the Mini Metro. I would more appropriately call it a metal contraption. It is basically a ski lift that you stand on instead of sitting. Literally, you must hop onto a metal circle while the men running it close the door for you. Heights make me nervous and the idea of a standing ski lift was a fear that I overcame after arriving at the top of the mountain with my entire body still intact and a little moral support from my co-rider Bekah!

The view of the city from the finicular was stunning. The lower part of Gubbio was very much larger than Sansepolcro. Inside the walls, Sansepolcro is a very compact town. Gubbio is much more spread out. Sadly, there was a lot of fog and most of the pictures of the view did not turn out great. What’s new in though? As I’ve said before none of my pictures do the actual view any justice.

After a calmer and still safe ride back down the mountain it was time for lunch. Bekah, Hannah, and I split up from the rest of the group and found a pizzeria. Bekah began talking to the owner of the restaurant and he told her that we were the first Americans to come into his restaurant since before Italy switched from the Lira to the Euro. All the other Americans don’t know what they are missing. The food was delicious! I got my signature margarita pizza and burnt my tongue in the process of eating it, but it was so good that it didn’t even matter.

There was about an hour of time left after lunch before we had to be back on the bus. Us three girls wandered around Gubbio and took lots of fun pictures. We found a place that had very modern looking houses and was much different than what we are used to seeing. In this same place the sun was just right for taking fun shadow pictures of ourselves. These turned out great and will be added to my collection of unforgettable Italy moments!

The last stop in Gubbio before heading home was to see one of the most scientifically “cool” places in the world. We went to a rock where iridium was found. Iridium is not found in its purest form and usually comes from meteorites. After finding iridium in this rock scientists and geologists began looking in other places around the world for iridium and have been able to find a few other places containing it. What was the most interesting to me was you could see holes everywhere in the rock. These holes are a result of people coming and taking rock samples to study. This may not seem all that interesting but when you stop and think how many people have come all the way to Gubbio, Italy to see this rock and study it, it’s amazing. Seeing the different layers of rock also caught my attention. It was fairly easy to distinguish between the different layers because they were different colors. Also with this rock you could see how plate tectonics have shifted the rocks not just up but upwards and diagonally over the centuries.

The trip to Gubbio was a good mix of instructional time and leisure. I truly enjoy the opportunities I have to see science and history for myself. It is always nice to see and experience a new city. Gubbio is a beautiful town and I left with great memories of it. Just don’t tell all my Sansepolcro friends! :)

Back to something that feels normal

This past Friday all of the girls in the palazzo started their service learning. Our service learning is a component of our Italy Today class that we take with Sara Andrini. All our service learning takes place in the local schools in Sansepolcro. The idea of helping out in the schools was formulated as a way for our Meredith community to give back to the community of Sansepolcro. I was told that my service learning would take place at a nearby elementary school. I had specifically asked to be at an elementary school given that I am working towards my K-6 licensure back home, and I felt as if I could truly benefit from experience in as many different types of schools as I can possibly work in. I was excited to see what similarities and differences there are between American and Italian schools and how significant these differences would be.

During a semester at Meredith I usually have two to three internships a semester in local schools and more times than not I have a job either Nanning or working at a daycare. Therefore, I am accustomed to working with children on a regular basis. Not working with children for almost 3 months now I have felt like a piece of me has been missing. I have loved observing the children here and even the parent-child relationships, but I have felt myself longing to be able to have the opportunity to work with the children not only in the US but while in Italy as well. Needless to say, the opportunity to work in a school while living in Italy brought much excitement as well as a subtle feeling on uneasiness. A first day interning in a new class always brings a small amount of anxiety but this time there would also be a language barrier. I was nervous that I would not understand the students or that I would not know enough Italian to effectively communicate or that the students would not understand me. The thought of the language barrier that would be present in the classroom made me nervous but I knew that it was nothing that I could control so I decided not to let it cause too much anxiety.

From the moment my first day of service learning started, the differences between American and Italian schools were apparent. To begin, the school that I go to is located on the roof of the local shopping mall. As someone who worked at the front desk of school walked me down to the classroom where my teacher, Ms. Casa, was teaching I found myself quickly scanning the building. There were classrooms full of students and coat racks full with children’s coat racks in the hallways; so far nothing on the inside separated an Italian school from an American school. When I arrived to Ms. Casa’s classroom I was warmly greeted by both Ms. Casa and many smiling facing. I immediately felt welcomed and all my anxieties ceased. I was greeted with a very loud, “Hello!” by all the students.

After becoming reacquainted with Ms. Casa, she explained to me that the students, who were around the age of 7, were working on English prepositions. The students were given sentences in English such as, “The dog is under the chair.” They then had to draw a dog under a chair. Ms. Casa asked me to walk around and see if any of the students had any questions. Let me just say that every single one of those students can draw much better than I ever could. Once all the children were done drawing and coloring the pictures of their prepositions, I was told to go around and put a mark on each one of their papers. The marks were to be short comments such as “Great Job! Excellent! Good Work!” I felt extremely uncomfortable putting a mark on the children’s work because I felt like I did not have the authority to do so.

After finishing in their workbooks, Ms. Casa split the class up into two groups to play a game. She asked me to explain the game to the children but I had no idea myself what the game she wanted them to play was. The game turned out to be a variation of tic-tac-toe. One team was the lions and one team was the tigers. Ms. Casa drew a tic-tac-toe board on the chalkboard and the lions were X’s and the tiger’s were O’s. My job was to hold an eraser and a book in my hands. I had to but the eraser either on the book, in front of the book, behind the book, under the book, in the book, or near the book. The students, one student from each team, then had to tell me where the eraser was in proximity to the book. Whichever student got the entire sentence right (i.e. “The eraser is under the book.”) got to put their letter (either and X or an O) on the tic-tac-toe board. I had never seen tic-tac-toe used in this way before and thought that it was a great idea that I could use one day when I am in the schools back home. This game went on for about 15 minutes and the students stayed intensely involved the entire time. Before I knew the class time was over.

The entire day went by extremely fast. The language barrier ended up not being a huge issue, which I was truly grateful for. I was amazed at how much English these 7 year olds knew. There were only a few times throughout the day that the students and I hit a couple bumps where we were not understanding each other. However, if there were no bumps in the road or obstacles to conquer it wouldn’t truly be a learning experience. I am very excited about what the next 4 weeks of service learning will hold.

Rain boots in Venice...A wetsuit may be better

This weekend started off in the lovely nearby city of Perugia. All of us girls got up early and caught the 8:00am train to Perugia to tour the Perugina factory with our Italian teacher. Luckily, I had already had my first Baci experience earlier this week and had fallen in love with the delicious chocolate hazelnut candy, so needless to say I was excited to tour the factory. Chiara, our Italian teacher, met us at the train station in Perugia and we all took a bus down to the factory. I quickly learned on the bus ride that there is no graceful way to ride on a bus in Perugia especially when you have luggage. I have toured the Hershey chocolate factory in the past in Hershey, Pennsylvania so I had a small idea of what to expect. I had told my roommate before going to the Perugina factory about my experience at the Hershey factory and how after touring the factory and seeing nothing but pure chocolate for an hour I was given one tiny Hershey kiss at the end of the tour. I was thoroughly disappointed at the end of the Hershey factory tour. My experience at the Perugina factory was nothing like my previous chocolate factory experience. Upon entering the factory, before the tour had even begun, there was a table full of free chocolate! At this point, the Perugina factory had already surpassed all my expectations and I knew that I was going to have a great time! I learned that the Perugina factory that we were touring is where all the Baci in the world are made. 1,500 Baci are made every minute! After touring the factory, and of course buying Baci of my own, many of the girls began to go their separate ways and started their travel breaks. For all the rest of us who had later trains we went to lunch with Chiara. It was nice to spend time with Chiara outside of class especially since we have a new Italian teacher taking over on Monday. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing Chiara at our Thanksgiving dinner in November!

After saying goodbye to Chiara, Hannah, Vi and I made our way down to the train station to catch our train from Perugia to Arezzo. We had a scenic train ride where we passed Trasimeno lake. (Thank goodness for text messages to Italian friends who are more than willing to answer all of my questions such as: “Do you know what beautiful lake I am currently passing on my way to Arezzo?”) After arriving in Arezzo we waited for our friend to get off work and then all proceeded to Ferrara together. I didn’t have too many first impressions about Ferrara because I was tired and hungry and was more focused on what was for dinner than looking around the city. However, after eating a delicious pasta dinner I was ready to see a little bit of Ferrara. Nicole studied in Ferrara last fall and was already in Ferrara when we arrived. She was excited to us around the city that she refers to as home. I could understand her excitement and eagerness to show us all of her favorite places because I know that I will feel the same way when I bring my family and/or friends to Sansepolcro. Nicole showed us the city center, her favorite gelateria, and her favorite bar. By the time we all made it to the bar I was ready to go to bed. It had been a fun and eventful day but the morning was going to come all too soon and we had an early train to catch.

The alarm clock went off entirely way too soon on Saturday morning. I had originally planned to wake up around 7:00am so that I could take a quick shower and get ready before us girls headed out around 7:45am for our two mile walk to the train station. The first two times the alarm clock went off I could not for the life of me open my eyes. Finally at 7:30am I rolled out a bed, showered and got dressed and ready in less than 20 minutes. Around 8:00am Vi, Hannah, and myself jogged to the train station, split up in two lines to see who could get through the ticket line the fastest, ran to validate our train tickets and then sprinted to make it to our train. The train ride from Ferrara to Venice was not bad but not as enjoyable as our ride from Perugia to Arezzo. There was not much to look at, it was foggy and rainy outside, the train was crowded and hot. Despite all those seemingly negative aspects of our train ride I was still able to get in a good nap.

When we arrived in Venice it had been raining and was still slightly raining. I thought to myself, “I can live with this weather, it’s not too bad.” Stepping out of the train station and onto the streets of Venice I felt as if I were in a movie. (This may have been due to the fact that I have watched Casanova twice since I’ve been in Italy and it is set in Venice.) Venice is gorgeous. Within five minutes of our wandering around it began to pour! Everyone walking around Venice was immediately soaked even if they were using an umbrella at the time. A friend of mine had warned me that it was probably going to rain on Saturday in Venice and I told him that I would just take some rain boots and all would be fine. He responded that a wetsuit may be better than rain boots for Venice. After being in the pouring rain for 10 minutes with my raincoat and umbrella and yet still somehow I was soaking wet it became crystal clear to me what he meant when he said that rain boots wouldn’t be enough to tackle Venice in the rain. Later, I jokingly told him that a wetsuit and flippers should have been required attire for enter the city in the rain and maybe even a snorkel.

I have always heard that everyone gets lost in Venice. I never understood how everyone in who visits Venice gets confused and turned around until now. The girls and I had decided that we wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Café for lunch. Since we had ran to the train earlier that morning and missed breakfast we decided to head to lunch pretty early on in the day. The Hard Rock Café is located in Saint Mark’s square, how hard can that be to find? Three hours later, I think it is safe to say that it is hard to find! I now understand why people get lost so easily in Venice. To begin, it was pouring down rain. We were wet and cold and nothing is simple when you are wet and cold venturing around a new city. We decided to follow to signs to Saint Mark’s square, S. Marco piazza. How can you go wrong when you just follow the arrows? Well, the arrows most often pointed to both the left and the right. When we stopped to ask for directions to the restaurant someone would say, “Oh, it’s to the left.” Little did we know that what they meant was, “Oh, it’s in the general direction to your left two miles away.” After asking at least 10 people, “Dove é Hard Rock Café?” Someone finally answered, “Alla destra, il a sinistra, alla destra.” (To the right, to the left, to the right.) These directions were our saving grace as we finally arrived to the Hard Rock Café.
Lunch was amazing and memorable for many reasons. Most importantly, lunch offered us a chance to dry off. Secondly, they served American food. I know that sounds like such an awful thing to say while in Italy but after a couple months in Italy it was a nice taste of home. Of course, the food in Italy is far better than anything I’ve ever had before there are a few things from home that I miss. With this in mind, Hannah and I decided that this would be the one and only time that we would ever do anything like this while in Italy, therefore, we went all out. We ordered the most expensive nachos known to man, and they were delicious! I loved them so much I even ate the tomatoes (normally I pick off the tomatoes on my food). I then ordered a Pepsi and the Legendary 10 oz. Bacon Burger and French fries. They even served Heinz ketchup! After drinking about half of my Pepsi our waiter comes over to our table and says, “Would you like some more Pepsi? We have free refills.” I immediately looked at him and told him that was the most glorious thing I had heard all day. The concept of free refills is something that I miss.

While at lunch us girls began talking about how fast this semester is flying by and how we couldn’t believe that we were already well into October. I came to the realization that we were already in the midst of October and asked Hannah what the date was. Hannah responded and told me that it was the tenth. Hearing “the tenth” hit me like a ton of bricks. October 10 is my cousin Amy’s birthday. Amy passed away in April and on October 10 she would be six years old. I don’t think that I will ever forget staring out the window of the Hard Rock Café at a bridge in Venice and realizing for the first time how far away from home I really am. It’s not that I became homesick or wanted to go home by any means but I realized how far away my family was from me. Sitting next to us at the restaurant was a group of American girls that we had met on the train earlier that morning. It was one of the girl’s birthdays and the staff in the restaurant turned off the music that was playing and everyone in the restaurant began singing happy birthday to this girl. This was a tough moment for me because I wanted with all my heart for Amy to be sitting at the table and all of us surrounding her and singing her happy birthday, but at the same time it was a nice moment for me to not only remember Amy’s birthday but to know in my hear that at that moment I was singing to her!

The rest of the day in Venice was nice. The weather finally began to clear up and we took a waterbus to Murano. Despite my heavy heart, I still had an enjoyable day. That night in Ferrara, we were all going to go out together to see more of the town. However, given the situation I decided that I would rather spend some time by myself and remember the wonderful times that were spent with Amy and how much she impacted those around her in her precious five years of life without ever speaking a word. Staying home and thinking about the blessing that Amy was and still is was the perfect way to spend my night and end my weekend!

A Weekend Getaway

I have been lucky enough to see and experience a lot of Italy in my three weeks here. I have been to Angihari, Arezzo twice, Perugia, Monterchi, and Caprese Michelangelo. However, all of those trips have been in a group of people who had already planned the trip for me and knew what they were doing and where they were going. This weekend was the first time that I was able to make my own travel plans. During our first week in Italy, a couple joined us for lunch in the palazzo. The woman is a Meredith Alum who moved to Italy with her husband in 2007. This couple, Martha and Ben, live outside of Siena and made us students an offer that we couldn’t resist. The offer was that they would pick us up from the bus station in Arezzo and while driving us back to their house we would stop and see a couple small towns on the way. We would stay in their guesthouse and the next morning they would serve us a small breakfast and drive us to Siena. The next morning they would serve us an American breakfast and drive us back to Sansepolcro. Hannah, Lauren, and I decided that a weekend in Siena sounded like a great idea and a weekend in Siena that included transportation, a place to stay, and an American breakfast sounded even better!
Friday afternoon after class and lunch (we couldn’t miss Margarita’s lunch) we headed to the bus station. Our bus ride to Arezzo was the most interesting bus ride yet. About twenty minutes into our trip the bus driver pulls the bus over on the side of the road and gets out. As we look out the window we see him smoking a cigarette. After a few minutes another bus, which is empty pulls up, and the two bus drivers talk for a few minutes before getting back into their buses and continuing their routes. I now know one of the many reasons why Dr. Webb always tells us not to plan our bus rides and train rides too close together. Just because your bus ride from Sansepolcro to Arezzo is only supposed to take an hour does not mean that you will get there within an hour.
We arrived in Arezzo and found Martha and Ben already waiting for us. After a few minutes of quick hellos and reintroductions we were ready to head out to see a couple of small towns on the way to Ben and Martha’s house. We stopped in Chianti, Gargonza, and Monte San Savino. Chianti had a gorgeous view of the Tuscan mountains. Gargonza was like stepping out of the car and onto the grounds of a castle and Monte San Savino felt a lot like Sansepolcro. The next stop after Monte San Savino was Ben and Martha’s house. Ben and Martha live on a lovely farm that overlooks the Tuscan mountains. After settling into the guest house, which was also very lovely, the girls and I met Martha and Ben on their back deck to enjoy snacks and wine while waiting for the sun to set. Once the sun began to set the scenery that surrounds their house suddenly became even more picturesque than it already was. I tried to take as many pictures as I could of the unbelievable background that was in front of me but none of the pictures were able to do that moment any justice. The next couple of hours of that night were filled with eating, great conversation, and lots of laughing.
The next morning the girls and I woke up and had a quick breakfast before heading out to Siena for the day. We arrived in Siena around 10:30am and had seven hours before Martha and Ben would be back to pick us up. We were a little unsure about the weather because the weather forecast was calling for a possibility of rain but the day ended up being perfect for walking around all day. Lauren, Hannah and I decided that since we had plenty of time to see everything that we would begin the day walking around without a set destination. There were a couple of places that we wanted to see but we knew that if we walked around we would eventually get to all of those places anyhow. The only downfall of making the decision to start off by walking around was that we immediately found places where we wanted to shop. Since we did not want to carry bags around all day and knew that there were plenty of other stores that may have better prices we decided that maybe it was time to head to the Piazza del Campo. After locating the Piazza and walking around for a bit we spotted a stripped tower in the distance. I thought to myself “Oh, what a cool tower.” I took a picture of it and then continued on my way. Our next goal was to find the duomo. After walking up what seemed like a never ending up hill journey we reached a huge stripped building with a stripped tower attached to it. This was the duomo. After admiring its outward beauty and attempting to capture its greatness through pictures we walked into the bookstore across from the duomo. It was in this store that I picked up a children’s guide to Siena and read about the duomo and about Saint Cathrine of Siena. This guide book offered many quick and simple facts such as the duomo that we see today was only supposed to be a small arm of what the cathedral was supposed to be.
Following our trip to the bookstore Hannah, Lauren and I decided that seeing the inside of the duomo was something that we would be willing to pay for. We quickly hopped in line before the line could get any longer and in no time we were standing in the most beautiful church that I have ever seen. Everything about the duomo was breathtaking: the stripped interior, the marble floor, the choir chairs, and the dome! After walking around the church for quite some time, the girls and I sat down in the pews and tried to continue to take in every little detail of the duomo that we possibly could. When we finally decided that there was no way that any of us could ever walk out of the duomo completely satisfied because it was that beautiful and mind blowing, we all walked back out onto the streets of Siena completely silent. There were no words to describe the experience we had just had besides, “Wow!” but that was just not enough. The word “wow” was all that came to mind but it was too simple of a word to describe such a powerful experience. I have heard from others that the duomo in Siena was their favorite and most memorable duomo experience. As excited as I am that I got the opportunity to see the duomo in Siena when I did, part of me wonders if it would have been better to see this particular duomo later on in my trip. Now, when I see duomos in other places such as Florence will I hold them all to the standards of the duomo that I fell in love with in Siena or will I learn to appreciate each structure on its own? We are travelling to Florence next weekend so I guess I will find my answer after visiting the famous duomo in Florence.

1, 2, BOOM!

We all have rough days every once in awhile even if you are living in Italy. Who knew? This morning we woke up, luckily not too bright and early, and headed off to Perugia for the afternoon. We used the local train station in Sansepolcro and in about an hour and a half we were in Perugia. The weather was beautiful. It was a pretty perfect day for walking around the city: sunny, warm and breezy. We stepped off the train and began our walk up the many hills to the center of the city. Being that it was Sunday most of the shops around the city were closed but the city was still busy none the less. There was a market along the main street. They were selling everything from jewelry to framed drawings of Perugia. After visiting the tourist office and getting maps of the city the 10 of us, 6 girls plus Dr. Webb and John Rose, split up into smaller groups. Lauren and I spent no time beginning our search for food. We walked through a food market where many vendors were selling meats and cheeses. It was very interesting to observe how the food market operated, however, it was not the kind of food we were looking to eat for lunch so we continued our search. We did not want our search for food to consume the majority of our afternoon so we quickly found ourselves in a small shop that served pizza, burgers and falafels. The place did not seem as if its quality of food was all that promising so pizza seemed like the safest option. Of course after all of our searching for a quick and inexpensive lunch, the lady behind the counter explained that they would not be serving pizza for another 30 minutes. Surprisingly not frustrated we decided to continue admiring Perugia and if we eventually found something to eat then that would be great but seeing the city was more important to us. While walking up and down the main street of Perugia I spotted a chocolate shop out of the corner of my eye and immediately thought, “I have to go in there!” Perugia is known for their chocolate so as far as I’m concerned a trip to Perugia without trying their chocolate is an incomplete trip. After chocolate, Lauren and I decided to get off the main street and began walking up and down the side streets. Taking the side streets in Perugia was the best thing that we could have done because we soon found an absolutely breathtaking view of Perugia. It was in this moment that the fact that I was having a rough day and all of the thoughts of how much homework I had waiting for me back in Sansepolcro disappeared completely. All I could think about was how God’s beauty is truly everywhere. Lauren and I sat down and admired the view for about 20 minutes before we started making our way back to the train station. We decided to take one of the earlier trains back home so we could finish our homework. As we were walking back to the train station I realized that I am better with directions that I thought I was. I remembered exactly how to get back to the train station from where we were. Granted, we went back to the train station the exact same way that we had come but we made it to where we were going on time and without getting lost.
Along with realizing that you are going to have rough days no matter where you are, realizing that God’s beauty is everywhere, and that I am pretty good with directions, I learned that there is just something about trains and train rides that put me to sleep. I have yet to be on a train and not fall asleep at some point during the ride. The views that you are able to see while on the trains are gorgeous! Every time that I take a train or a bus ride anywhere within Tuscany I am beyond amazed at how beautiful it is. I still can’t believe that I am living here!

Il profondo mistero di ciò che stai dicendo mi infuoca il cuore

This past week has been full of classes, homework, and more classes. The semester is in full swing, but I will not complain because I am in ITALY! Since I’ve been here I’ve really surprised myself. I am such a family oriented person and my friends mean the absolute world to me. I was a little nervous before I left about how I would feel about leaving my family and friends for almost 4 months. Since I’ve been here I’ve been so content and excited about this adventure that I haven’t had time to let myself sit down get homesick. I do miss my family and friends and wish that they could experience part of this adventure with me but I refuse to waste this opportunity wishing that I was back in North Carolina. North Carolina will be just where I left it in December. However, I was super excited when I got to skype with my best friend this week! It’s so strange and a little frustrating at times that my best friend is not here to share these memories with me but the one thing that some of the girls here keep saying is that everyone they love is in their hearts and therefore they are here with them. What a great way to look at things.

I think it is absolutely amazing how fast all of us girls got to know each other and how close we have become. Within the first week of our being here I realized how hard it was going to be not only to leave Italy but to leave these girls. Living with 9 other girls has been fun and not nearly as challenging as I thought it might be; granted we do live in a palace and there is plenty of room for us all to spread out. I feel like the Palazzo Alberti and these girls have become my home away from home. I can’t imagine what it will feel like when I first get home and sit down for lunch at a table that sits four people instead of twenty or what it will be like to not all be in the kitchen making dinner together. I have a feeling that life is going to be quiet.

While out for drinks the other night us girls were sitting at the table discussing how we wanted to go somewhere this next weekend. After a day of classes and an afternoon of homework here we are, four girls, at a dinner table deciding on a whim that next weekend we will go to Rome. Never would I have ever imagined that I could sit down at a table and realistically say, “Let’s spend next weekend in Rome.” What an awesome and humbling experience. It was in that moment that the reality of how fortunate I am hit me!

I hope everyone at home is doing wonderful! Hugs and Kisses to you all!