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! :)