Entry 9: 11/16/11

This past weekend I got the chance to visit Cortona, where “Under the Tuscan Sun” was filmed. Cortona is about two hours from Sansepolcro by train and bus transportation. When we got to Cortona, we walked through the museum that was free. It was full of tree sculptures. After looking around, we decided to have a late lunch at a nice, small café. We sat at a table in the middle of a wine cellar and ordered glasses of wine with our lasagna. It was quite an experience to eat lunch in the middle of a wine cellar in Italy, but it reminded me of the Angus Barn back home in Raleigh! After eating, it was dark and it was hard to find anything on the map, so we decided just to explore the town and go shopping. There were many ceramic stores in Cortona. It seemed as if every street we walked down was filled with stores that had wine and ceramics. I did a lot of shopping in Cortona for friends and family back home. I also got the famous t-shirt that John Rose once introduced to us with a big boar on the front with writing that says, “Io vivo in Tuscana.” Cortona is a lovely town and I am a lucky girl to have been able to see where “Under the Tuscan Sun” was shot.

Other than going to Cortona and getting some work done for my classes, most of the weekend was relaxing. Although I want to see many more places in Italy and all over Europe, I think it’s also important to spend my last few weekends in Sansepolcro with the locals. I’ve gotten to know so many people here! It’s hard to imagine what my life is going to be like without them around me. Sara, our Italy Today teacher, is someone I will never forget. She gives us advice on where to go on our travel breaks, calms us down when we are stressed, and  rushes to our side is we’re sick. Dr. Bailey, my Color Theory teacher and Advisor, has also been very influential in my time in Sansepolcro. She has been like a second mother to us all and has cooked us numerous home cooked meals. We’ve already discussed that when we get home, we are all getting together and going out to eat or going to Dr. Bailey’s house for her to cook for us. Not only have my teachers made an impact in my experience here, but so have the Italian students I teach every Monday.

This Monday I brought in Thanksgiving worksheets for the kids to color and work on. My first class went around the room telling what they were thankful for in Italian, and although some of what they were saying was hard for me to understand, the teacher translated for me. Most of the kids were thankful for their families, and their lives, and one child said he was thankful for the beautiful creations God put on the Earth. It brightened my day to know that although Italians don’t celebrate Thanksgiving and don’t know much about it, they still have so much to be thankful for and are grateful for the people and the things in their lives. I have also started to use my elementary Italian to have conversations with the kids. I only have one more Monday with the kids, but I know I will keep the memories with me when I return to America.

Lastly, the eleven other girls are people who have impacted my time here tremendously. Over the past few weeks we have all become best friends. We’ve heard multiple comments about how we are the closest group to have yet come to Sansepolcro and we are lucky for that. The end of the semester is getting tougher, having to write multiple papers all due in the same week, on top of exams. It’s nice to have comfort in knowing that if I’m having a bad day or something’s going on back home in America, I can go up to any one of these girls and they would make me feel better in a matter of seconds. Each of them has their own unique personality and I don’t know what I am going to do when I get back to America and I can’t walk down the hall into one of their rooms just to say, “Good morning!”. It’s going to be tough, but I know that we will always remain friends forever. I’m not sure what the next three weeks has in store for all of us, but I know I am going to try and spend as much time seeing Italy as I can.

Entry 8: 11/9/11

This past weekend I went to the happiest city on earth, Amsterdam. Not only did everyone seem joyful, but the landscapes were beautiful. Although it was an amazing weekend, the traveling part was not so great. We left Wednesday night, where we traveled on a four hour train to Milan. When we arrived in Milan at around seven, we decided to tour the town, since we had time before going to the airport. Milan reminded me of New York City, although I have never been, it fits the stereotype of expensive clothes and food. In every window there was something selling for at least five-hundred euro. Allison, Indrit, Sara, and I walked to the city center looking for food, but even pizza was thirteen euro. I was surprised we could not find any food cheaper than that, and sadly, we settled for McDonald’s. McDonald’s in Europe are very different than in the United States. Every McDonald’s I have been to in Europe is nicely decorated, a lot bigger, and fancier. All of the workers in Milan had on chef hats and outfits. It made me feel as if I was not eating as badly as I was. Next, we met up with the rest of the group that took a later train and headed to the airport for a long, long, LONG night.

Unfortunately, we had to sleep in the airport that night because our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:30 on Thursday morning. We decided it was unreasonable to stay in a hostel for one night when we would only be there for a couple of hours. When planning this trip, I did not think a few hours sleeping in the airport would be too bad, but when I actually got there it was a different story. There were no seats empty, so all eight of us had to find a nice, comfortable place on the floor, although it was not comfortable at all. It was hard and dirty to say the least. We all took turns sleeping and when 4:30 AM rolled around, a woman with a floor cleaner came a couple inches away from our heads blowing the horn. It was not the best way to wake up, but the thing that made me the most upset was she blew her horn for everyone to wake up and get out of the way and then she did not even clean the floors. After a short, but dreadful night at the airport, we finally got on the plane and headed towards Amsterdam. When we made it there, we took a bus and a tram to the city. When we arrived we found our hostel, where we greeted by ecstatic workers at the front desk. We got our room, set down our bags, and headed into town to explore.

Since we got there in the late afternoon, we did not do much on the first day except tour and find out where everything is located. Amsterdam has some of the most confusing streets I have ever seen! I highly suggest anyone visiting should get a very good map! After having a relaxing day and eating some delicious pancakes, eggs, and bacon, we headed to the hostel to catch up on our sleep. The next day we went to the Van Gogh Museum, which is one of my favorite museums in Europe thus far. There were two stories full of Van Gogh’s paintings. It was interesting to read about his life and the reasons behind his work. Although Van Gogh was brought up religiously and his father was a pastor, throughout his lifetime he lacked self-confidence and was a very depressed man. Most of his paintings were done to explain his emotions and feelings. On the third floor they had other artists’ works, but I desperately wanted to see the Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” before I left the museum. After looking everywhere, I eventually asked someone that worked at the museum where the painting was located and surprisingly they told me that it was in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. After reliving Van Gogh’s eventful life, we then headed to dinner where we ate Dutch food that was beyond delicious. I had roast beef, potatoes, and carrots; food that has been very unfamiliar to me the past two months. After getting stuffed we headed to the hostel for another night of rest.

On Saturday we decided to go to the Anne Frank house, which I was most excited about. Ever since I started learning about the Holocaust as a child I have always been interested in it. All throughout the house there were quotes from Anne’s family members and quotes from her diary. What interested me most about the house was seeing decorations on the wall of where Anne had tried to enliven the hiding spot. A quote beside of it stated, “Our little room looked very bare at first with nothing on the walls; but thanks to Daddy who had brought my film-star collection and picture postcards on beforehand, and with the aid of a paste pot and brush, I have transformed the walls into one gigantic picture. This makes it look much more cheerful…” (The Diary of Anne Frank, July 11, 1942). We got to see the hiding spot and all the different rooms. Most of them were very small and the kitchen was even used as some people’s bedrooms. I couldn’t imagine hiding in such a small space for so long. When we reached the end of the museum there was a glass box where Anne’s diary was placed. I wasn’t expecting to see her real diary in the museum. There were also pages laid out from different days she had written about that were in detail describing her feelings and everything that was going on at the time. I truly enjoyed looking at all the artifacts from that time period and it was one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever experienced.

After seeing the depressing remnants of the Anne Frank house, we decided to do something a little more lively and headed to the red light district to take a walking tour. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but right as I turned a corner into the red light district I saw multiple glass windows with prostitutes standing inside. It was certainly a shock, since prostitution is illegal in the United States. There wasn’t much in the red light district except a lot of sex houses and coffee shops, but it was an experience worth seeing.

On Sunday morning we headed back to Sansepolcro, which was bittersweet. I love coming back to the Palazzo, but not to work on homework for the next week. My time here is dwindling and there are so many other things I would like to do before I leave. I can’t believe I only have twenty five more days here and they are flying by. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to study abroad for an entire year, but nonetheless, I have learned a lot from these two months and I still have one more to go!

Entry 7: 11/2/11

This past week was probably the busiest week during my time in Sansepolcro thus far. On Friday we took a trip to Anghiari as one of our excursions. Anghiari is famous for the Battle of Anghiari between Florence and Milan that occurred in the 1400’s. There are many places to shop in Anghiari, but since we went during the afternoon, it was a disappointment to find that everything was closed. Because we couldn’t go into any stores, we explored the beautiful sights and did what we do best: took numerous amounts of pictures. Allison and I explored a highpoint of the city where you could see homes overlooked my mountains that were miles away. We sat there for a long amount of time just gazing at the incredible view.

After exploring the town, we caught the early bus back to Sansepolcro to get ready for the family dinner we had that night. For our Italian conversation class we were given an assignment for each of us to eat dinner with a chosen Italian family and we were told to speak Italian the entire time. Before our family came to pick us up, I vigorously looked over my Italian notes multiple times trying to get phrases stuck in my head that I could say. When the time came, Erin and I left with our Italian family and headed to their house. Thankfully, on the way there we found out that the mother of the family spoke English very well. This made our nerves let up a little bit. When we arrived at their house we were greeted by the father, and two children; a boy around 15 years old and a girl that was 18 years old. Throughout the dinner, Erin and I did our best to use the Italian language, and although we succeeded, I was disappointed that I couldn’t remember some of the words I learned towards the beginning of the semester. I realized I needed to look back over recent chapters to refresh my grasp on everything we’ve learned. Overall, the dinner went well and the three course meal was delicious.

On Saturday, Allison and I decided to travel to Rome for the day. Before we went we asked all the girls if they thought we could see everything in one day and they all told us it would be impossible. Instead of listening to the girls, we decided to take the challenge and conquer Rome in eight hours. Waking up at five in the morning was probably the hardest part of the day. After getting to Rome, we first visited the Pantheon. The Pantheon is a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome and the most preserved of all Roman buildings. Next we rushed to the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. Although we only anticipated spending an hour and half there, we ended up staying three hours. The Sistine Chapel was my favorite, and even though I don’t have any pictures from it, it’s something I will always remember. It was not only huge, but the artwork was so breathtaking it literally brought tears to my eyes. After admiring the amazing artwork, we then headed to the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain is the largest Baroque fountain in the city of Rome and one of the most famous fountains in the world. It is said that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you are assured a trip back to Rome.

Allison and I both participated in the coin tossing and then went to our next destination, the famous Coliseum. The line seemed a mile long, so we didn’t get to go in, but we did admire the outside of the Coliseum and take pictures. After doing all that, surprisingly, we still had another hour, so we decided to see Moses. Moses is a sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti that was created from 1513-1515. While on our way back to the train, we stopped to see the Spanish Steps, which weren’t as important as I thought. We found out that it is the biggest staircase in Europe and that’s all there was to it! After seeing Rome in eight hours, we headed back to the train station and slept the entire way home. After having a jam-packed weekend, it was nice to have no classes on Tuesday for All Saints’ Day. I am beyond excited for my next adventure to Holland, where we will be visiting Anne Frank’s house and the Van Gogh Museum. Until next time, Ciao!

Entry 6: 10/26/11

This weekend was another relaxing weekend in Sansepolcro. Instead of going to Perugia on Friday and spending money getting a train there and a train back, we had an offer to go to the Chocolate Festival on Wednesday by some of our Italian friends. Indrit, an Italian gentleman, has been hanging out with us ever since we arrived here in September. He travels to Perugia throughout the week to attend school, and he and his sister, Arnita, asked us if we wanted to go to the chocolate festival Wednesday, and of course we were ecstatic. Perugia is about an hour away by car and although it rained the entire way there, we arrived just as it stopped. When we got there we had to walk up what seemed like a million steps. It was interesting because on the way up to the festival, Arnita pointed out Amanda Knox’s house. I also noticed some of the scenery in Perugia that was in the Amanda Knox movie. It’s crazy to think that a murder actually happened in a place I have been in Italy. After getting to the top of the stairs, we turned a few corners and saw a huge chocolate bear right in front of us, with multiple chocolate tents all around. We spent the day going into different tents, playing games and entering contests trying to win free chocolate. The great thing was that even if we lost the games, we still won a little piece of chocolate. They were even giving out free samples of chocolate liquor, which wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be. I received so much free chocolate that I didn’t buy anything except a chocolate bar for my dog. The exciting thing is that if we win some of the contests we entered, in a few weeks we will receive huge pieces of chocolate!

The Eurochocolate festival was definitely the highlight of my week. On Friday all of us girls decided to go to the Pam and get munchies for a night in to watch “Pretty Little Liars”, our new favorite show. I brought the first season DVD’s thinking I would watch it every now and then, but surprisingly, everyone has gotten into the show and we already finished all of the DVD’s and are now watching the second season online. Although this is the only show I watch on television in America, it made me realize how much we rely on technology.

Saturday was the first day I have gotten to sleep in in a while. After waking up and getting ready for the day, Landis, Elizabeth, and I went to the park to get some reading done and take pictures. We sat on a bench in the park looking straight ahead at buildings and mountains overlooking them. It was an incredible view and something I will always remember. We discussed how when we get back we want to explore Raleigh, because we may not have views as beautiful as Italy does, but we know there is more than just the downtown craziness. Saturday was also the first night we decided to attend the new Sansepolcro club, Lo Scorpione. Arnita invited us and informed us that Lo Scorpione was not like clubs in the US and you actually have to dress up nicely. Despite the little American music they played, I still had a great time.

Monday was the second time I visited the Elementary school where a few weeks we were assigned to help students learn English. I chose Elementary students because I used to be a babysitter of a 5 and 7 year old, and I love interacting with kids. I’ve only visited the school twice, but I enjoy my visits every time. My first class is second graders and there’s one child in the class who English very well, with others, I speak a little Italian. I usually bring in worksheets for the kids to color and trace English words. They have been excited lately about getting Halloween worksheets. My second class is third graders and, although the teacher isn’t as in control of the class, they are always happy for me to come in the class. I think it’s a great opportunity for me to better my Italian and for the students to practice their English. I’m looking forward to another busy week, and getting ready to go to Holland next weekend.

Entry 5: 10/19/2011
This past weekend I traveled to Venice, the most beautiful place I have seen thus far in Italy. Right as we walked out of the train station we were staring straight ahead at the Grand Canal and the Ponte Di Realto, the oldest bridge overlooking the Canal. It was such a beautiful sight, especially after a long train ride.

There aren’t any cars on the island; everyone travels by boat. After gazing at the view and taking our first session of pictures, we purchased Venice passes which allowed us to travel by water taxis all weekend. After the first ride on the water taxi, we realized how many people cram on them. Since we were packed in, we stood up almost the whole way to our hostel, which wasn’t very far away from the train station. We stayed at a place called the Venice Museum Hostel, which was referred to us by Andie’s brother, who had stayed there about a week before us. We were also interested to find out that the famous Casanova stayed in our hostel as well. The hostel was one of the best things experiences I had during my time in Venice. Throughout our weekend, the owner of the hostel showed us the best cafes, paid for our drinks, and cooked us dinner for 5 euro. Not only were the people that worked there friendly, but everyone that stayed the weekend there acted as a conjoined group. We met people from all over the world, including Australia and England and hung out together both nights. It was such a good experience to communicate with people that are traveling and get tips about where to stay and where not to go. It was also fun to learn about their cultures, find out new information, and hear different accents. One of the Australians that we met said that it is common for students to take off a year before college and travel around the world. He additionally informed us that money wasn’t an issue because Australia’s minimum wage is $13.

The first day in Venice we didn’t have long because our train got in in the afternoon, so we only got a chance to visit the Doge’s Palace, which was amazing. The Doge’s Palace included bedrooms for the Doge and his family, courtrooms, and a jail. Mostly everything that dealt with the government happened in the Doge’s Palace. Most of the rooms were huge and were decorated in detail with limestone and marble. There were numerous balconies outside of the Palace overlooking the Grand Canal. It was definitely a sight to see.

The next day we got to experience a little more in Venice including the Peggy Guggenheim Museum and the city of Murano. The Guggenheim Museum was full of artwork from the 20th century that Peggy had collected. It was a beautiful place and outside of the museum there was a wishing tree where all of the girls made wishes.

After exploring the museum we headed to Murano, which was a beautiful place. Murano is known for its handmade glass. That is where we spent most of our time shopping for gifts such as earrings, bracelets, and wine glass stoppers. Meredith and I got the chance to sit by the water while we waited for everyone, which was relaxing after a long day of walking.

The last day on our way home to Sansepolcro, we stopped in Verona for a few hours. Although we didn’t get to experience everything, I got to see Juliet’s house which was the most important to me. The scenery was a lot different than the movie “Letters to Juliet”. I was disappointed that I couldn’t write my name on the wall because of the fine of 1 million euro, but I did get to send Juliet a letter.

It was amazing to see Romeo and Juliet’s actual outfits that they wore during that time. It seemed surrealistic that at one point in time Romeo and Juliet stood in that exact same house.
Overall, I enjoyed my second travel break and am so thankful I chose to experience Venice. I not only learned more about Italian culture and life hundreds of years ago, but also other cultures as well. I can’t believe it’s already been half of a semester and I haven’t seen nearly everything that I want to see while I’m here. I just finished out my first Italian class with a B and am moving on to Italian 102, along with a conversation class that takes up a lot of time. Even though we only have about 6 short weeks left, we still have a lot to learn and fit into our schedule. Despite the fact that my bank account isn’t as excited as I am, I am looking forward to the remaining time I have in Italy before heading home to America.

Entry 4: 10/12/11

I can’t believe it has already been over a month since I’ve lived in my new home, Sansepolcro, Italy. Time seems to fly when you’re having the time of your life. This past weekend while a few of the girls traveled to Rome, I decided to stay at the Palazzo and get some work done. I haven’t spent a weekend in Sansepolcro in a while, and it was nice to sleep in and go to the market on Saturday morning.

These past couple of weeks have been non-stop go, go, go. During the week we are swamped with Italian orals, tests, and papers and on the weekends we are traveling, so it’s hard to fit in time for sleep. This semester is more challenging than previous study abroad semesters because the new curriculum is made to fit three Italian semesters in one. Trust me, it is as hard as it sounds! I spent most of this past weekend studying for my Italian final that was on Tuesday. Although we spend a majority of our time here studying and planning travel breaks, it is nice to be surrounded by girls who are in the same classes, so we can work together.

Being in Italy has allowed me to step outside of my boundaries and into the Italian culture. Now when we go out to eat, I order in Italian compared to the first week when I ordered in English and got weird looks. I’ve found that it is okay to sound stupid, as long as you try a new language. I’ve not only learned how to travel inside of Italy on my own, but also to other countries including Germany. The last thing I’ve learned about my trip so far is how for granted I take the American culture. I didn’t realize how much I enjoy fast food and ice, although Italian is food is something I will miss when I arrive home.

I have enjoyed my time in Sansepolcro thus far. Getting to know the eleven other girls has been the best thing to happen to me during my time at Meredith. As a freshman I didn’t make as many friends as I anticipated because of my shy personality. This experience has allowed me to venture out of my shell and become friends with people I would have never spoken to if it weren’t for this trip. Studying abroad is about finding yourself and experiencing new cultures. I have not only experienced those things, but I’m also learning to become more independent. I’ve never been away from home more than a few weeks at a time, and it’s already been over a month. Although I do miss my family and friends back home, I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.

Travel Journal #3
10/4/11

This past weekend I decided to go extreme and travel to Germany for my first travel break. I attended Oktoberfest in Munich. I got to experience the feeling of planning a trip on my own along with two other girls, Katy and Liz.  I never realized how much thought it took in planning a trip, especially in a different country. You have to take into consideration plane schedules, train schedules, bus schedules, and not to mention expenses. Katy and I spent long hours staying up to plan the trip, which still didn’t go as we expected.

The night before our long journey to Germany, we got on the Trenitalia website to try and change our train because we didn’t think we would have enough time to make it to the airport. Whenever we tried changing it online to an earlier time, it didn’t work. We ended up deciding that since it wouldn’t change online, we would go to the train station early the day we left and change our ticket time. When we arrived at the train station on Thursday afternoon, we went to the information desk and the man that worked there told us that our train tickets had already been changed to an earlier time and the train had left two hours earlier. We had just stepped off the bus after an hour of traveling and something had already gone wrong. I wasn’t sure what the rest of the weekend had in store, but the man informed us not to use the Treinitalia website anymore because it wasn’t reliable and that he couldn’t do anything for us except sell us another train ticket. We ended up having to pay 50 euro each and then got on the train somewhat unsure of the rest of our journey.

When we landed in Frankfurt, Germany, we took what we thought was an hour long bus ride to our hostel that ended up being three hours. On the bus we met a nice Italian man that we talked with for most of the ride and he explained to us that our hostel was in an unsafe part of town and that he would take us there. He bought a taxi for us and walked us inside, thankfully since there was a sex shop across the street. It was great to meet a nice Italian outside of Italy. The hostel was very interesting. Although the staff was very nice and there was wifi, I felt very uncomfortable, especially after the reviews saying the hostel was in a red-light district. The main reason we stayed there was because it was in walking distance of the train station and it was cheap. Delightedly, we only had to stay one night.

After getting about four hours of sleep, we woke up and headed on the train to Munich where our hotel was about a half hour away from Oktoberfest. This was another down fall, since we had to take multiple taxis that cost 70 euro each time. I was beginning to come to the conclusion that we didn’t do as much research as we should have and some of the research that we did do wasn’t accurate. It is important to make sure you check several different sources before you book hotels and trains to see how far away it is from the city center.

After arriving at Oktoberfest, I realized it was a lot like our North Carolina State Fair except more rides and a countless number of people. It was nice to have a little piece of home with all the fried food. I ate corn, cotton candy, chocolate covered strawberries, and a footlong hotdog which was about twice as long as usual.

One of the rides we went on were swings that went up about 200 feet high and you could see the whole entire festival. The view at night time was amazing!

After spending two full days at Oktoberfest, I was very exhausted. Throughout my time there I realized it is very important to recognize your plans and where you have to go and how you’re getting there. It’s always important to have a map and pepper spray. After the long, yet exciting weekend that I will always remember, I was glad to be back at my safe home in Sansepolcro.

2: September 26, 2011

This weekend was definitely an adventure to say the least. We took our first excursion out of Sansepolcro to Firenze (Florence). After Italian class Friday morning, we went to the bus station to make our way to Firenze. After an hour long, VERY BUMPY bus ride (Italians are the worst drivers) we made it to the train station in Arezzo. After another hour of travel on the train, we finally stepped off the train into the beautiful city of Firenze. I was so unbelievably excited to not only see some of the most incredible artwork and sculptures, but also to go shopping! Unfortunately before we did anything, we had to hike an hour to our hotel with 25 pounds of luggage on our backs, hundreds of tourists everywhere, and 85 degree weather! This was probably the least favorite part of my trip. The next day my back was extremely sore along with the multiple blisters that had appeared on my feet. On the way to our hotel we stopped briefly to see the famous Duomo construction began in 1296 and wasn’t finished until 1443. I didn’t get a chance to see inside, but the exterior architecture included marble panels with different shades of green and pink which were nonetheless breathtaking.

After finally making it to the hotel, after what seemed like hours, we unpacked in a matter of 15 minutes, grabbed our wallets, and headed for the market. The San Lorenzo market in Firenze seemed never-ending. I bartered for the first time and wasn’t very successful, so just stuck with souvenirs that I thought were reasonable in price. Although most salespeople in Firenze spoke English because of the tourists, I used my Italian that I had learned and they seemed very pleased. After spending all evening at the market, my friend, Landis, and I met up with the other girls and we had dinner at a pizzeria right in the city. Although the pizza was delicious, the service was highly unpleasant. I had to ask for a drink four times before the waitress actually brought it out to me. Then, whenever we were paying she called us stupid Americans who were taking too long to split up the check. Because we were both, Americans and tourists, we were treated with disrespect. Thankfully we rushed out of the restaurant and made our way back to our hotel where we had a girls’ night on the patio sipping wine. Our hotel was beautiful, with an opening in the middle where the moon and stars could shine through.

It was an early night, because the next morning we had to be up at eight for breakfast and to get ready to go to the Pitti palace, one of Firenze’s most famous museums. Unfortunately, our alarm didn’t go off and I woke up when my hand hit the bedside table and a book fell off. To my surprise, we had just enough time for breakfast and even though the girls in my room and I were late, we were the first ones to meet Dr. Bailey. We soon realized that no one else’s alarm had gone off either. One of the girls ran upstairs to wake everyone up while we started the thirty minute walk to the museum. It was amazing to see all the famous artwork and to realize that people had actually lived in such a huge, beautiful, decorated palace. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures, so they are just visual memories I will keep with me. After walking through the museum for two hours and even getting to see some of the bedrooms that the Medicis lived in, four other girls and I went to the back of the museum and saw the gardens.
 

Although there weren’t any flowers, the view was amazing. Whenever you got to the end of the garden path, you came to a ledge that overlooked so many different plants and trees, and the entire city. It was such an incredible view!

August 29-September 14

What an eventful two weeks it has been at my new home, Palazzo Alberti, in Sansepolcro. The first night I had trouble ordering a pizza and soon realized in Italy pepperoni means hot pepper and salami means pepperoni. Two weeks later I have completed my first Italian test, learned how to give my name, say where I live and what nationality I am, along with many other numerous Italian vocabulary words. It took a while to get settled in, but now I am fully rested and getting adjusted into the school routine, although it is not easy I must say. One downfall of the past couple of days is that my computer crashed and the internet hasn’t been working. This has not only been stressful and frustrating, but has caused me to realize how much we rely on technology, not only for school work, but to stay in touch with friends and family. Although I have a loaner computer at the moment, I am more than grateful that the internet is working again. 

Even though it has only been three weeks I have already learned many things in my new home; lessons that I will carry with me the rest of my life. Although some people have stereotyped us since we’ve been here we have also made many new Italian friends who hopefully we will stay close with our entire time here. I have already had my first post office experience where I had to get a translator to tell me what the lady was saying. Thankfully the translator helped me communicate to her that the postcards were being sent to America and in a couple of days my friends and family will be receiving them all the way from Italy. Not only have I experienced many different restaurants where I had to order in Italian, but I have also visited the grocery store numerous times, which is more stressful than you think. Most of the items have Italian handwriting on them, but the pictures do help. One interesting thing that I have learned so far is that not many people wear deodorant in this culture. To my surprise, I couldn't find any in the grocery store in town. To get deodorant, I would have to go outside of the city walls to a larger grocery store about 3 miles away. In spite of how far away it is, I soon realized after I arrived here that 3 miles is nothing because we go everywhere on foot, which may be a good thing with all the pasta I have been eating.

Another thing that caught my attention is that you not only have to pay for your plastic bags at the grocery store, but everyone, I mean everyone recycles here. Sansepolcro is a very green place.

After getting rest the first couple of days we were here, we experienced our first full weekend where we attended the Balestra. The Balestra happens twice every year and has been a tradition in Sansepolcro for many years now. Everyone all over town, including us 12 girls, were dressed up in Renaissance clothes. There were flag twirlers, a cross-bow tournament, jugglers, a man on stilts, drummers, and even snakes. The purpose of the Balestra was to reminisce on how things used to be; it's more of a tourist event now. I am also already starting to realize that I am becoming more independent and my own person. Twelve girls, clueless in a foreign country...what other choice do we have besides to grow up? God has been beside me every step of the way and I know he will guide and direct me when I am lost and feared. 

         

This upcoming weekend we will be traveling to Florence and also be visiting many museums. Since I have been here, I have taken an interest in art and am thinking about minoring in interior design, so I am very excited to see all of the beautiful artwork. Not only is living in Sansepolcro a blessing, but getting to travel around Italy is a once in a lifetime experience, and I am so thankful for this opportunity, even if I do have to come back after a long weekend to study for my Italian test on Monday. Until next time, Ciao!