Five days left. It’s an incredibly surreal feeling, to be honest. I feel so settled here that it feels like it’s been longer than 4 months. Looking back on my pictures, I’m amazed that I did ALL of that in what is really such a short time. I just counted, and I have taken 6,311 pictures since I’ve been in Italy. And yes, I typed that number correctly. What can I say? I take a lot of pictures.

This has been an amazing semester. It certainly had its share of downs with the ups, but even—especially—in the “downs” God has been so faithful. The last four weeks have been fantastic—easily my best this semester.

About three weeks ago, I went on a school trip down to Pompei, Sorrento and Capri. Sorrento was more of a stop-over (where we spent the night), than anything else, though it was beautiful. Pompei and Capri were incredible, though. I honestly didn’t think I was going to like Pompei as much as I did. Pompei, FYI, is the largest archeological site in the world. By now, when I hear “ruins,” I know that typically means not a whole lot is left. In Pompei, though, the city is remarkably intact, ironically because of the volcano that devastated the town.

Quick history/geology lesson: In 79 AD, the citizens of Pompei didn’t know that the mountain near their city was actually a volcano. So, when Vesuvius erupted, it took them completely by surprise. The first disaster to hit the city was a hail of pumice stone that covered the city in 12-15 feet of tiny rocks. The weight of the stone collapsed many of the roofs and filled up the buildings. Though some people died by suffocation, only about 30 bodies have been discovered in the pumice stone—most people died in what came next. After the pumice stone came layer after layer of surge and flow of volcanic ash that swept over the city, destroying everything in its path. However, the pumice stone protected everything it covered. The pumice and ash froze the city in time, leaving an almost perfectly intact 1^st century Roman city.

I really don’t know how to describe Pompei, except as eerie. The city is so well preserved you feel as if a 1^st century Roman is about to come around the next corner. When the surge and flow came through, it immediately sealed the bodies of the citizens of Pompeii. As their bodies decayed, they left a cavity exactly the shape of the person—sometimes even including clothing details. When excavations began on the city, the archeologists filled the cavities with plaster, thus creating a perfect cast of the victim. Some of these casts are on display in the city (the rest are in a museum in Naples). Because the people were killed and encased instantly, they are in the exact positions of when they died. Once again, eerie. The casts of children were especially heartbreaking to see. While yes, I recognize that these people would have died anyway almost 2,000 years ago, it’s still sad that they died filled with such terror.

We spent the next day on the island of Capri (CAH-pri)—seriously one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The island’s cliffs rise straight out of the intensely turquoise blue sea; the towns of Capri and Anacapri sit on top. In the morning, we took a boat trip around the entire island, then spent the rest of the day exploring.

Pompei/Capri was my last weekend trip of the semester. Since then, I’ve actually had *gasp* school work. It’s crazy—I know. It was pretty much the first time all semester. I have taken several exploratory hikes around Florence—particularly in the hills south of the city. Since I live in a stone and concrete labyrinth, I find it absolutely necessary to leave and find nature.

I’ve gotten to spend quite a bit more time with Andrea (from church) and his wife Susanna. They invited me over for dinner the week that Mary’s parents were in Florence visiting. And I must say, my life is complete now that I have had homemade lasagna cooked by an Italian mom. It was incredible. Be jealous you weren’t there. I also got to meet their 20-year-old daughter, Lisa (I’d already met their younger daughter, Gemma). Lisa took me out with her friends that night—I had so much fun and it was so exciting to actually meet Italians my own age (almost my entire school is American, except for the occasional Swede or Russian).

That same week, I locked myself out of my apartment—in the rain—because I left my jacket—with my keys—at church. While that part was no fun, Andrea rescued me and I spent the rest of the day with his family. Once again, Susanna is an amazing cook. On the way home from collecting my jacket and keys, they took me the loooonnnng way—through gorgeous Tuscan countryside. It was amazing.

Two weeks ago, when Mary was out of town again, Andrea and Susanna kidnapped me again for another drive through the countryside. This one was even more incredible. They took me all through the hills and mountains north of Florence. We went to one point in particular that was absolutely breathtaking—a hill overlooking a gorgeous valley. I’ve decided that I’m moving there. They also took me to a monastery with a great view of Tuscany and Florence. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera…so you’ll just have to take my word on the fact that it was absolutely incredible. I have all the pictures stored in my head, and believe me, they’re amazing. Andrea and Susanna have blessed me so much this semester—I’ve really enjoyed all the fun places and good food, but what I’ve really loved is just getting to spend time with them. They are so much fun—and adventurous. They are as curious as I am—I love it!

As if they hadn’t done enough for Mary and me, Andrea invited us to go hiking in the Tuscan Apennines with him last weekend. I think if I had to pick my favorite day from the entire semester, that would be it. I have never been to a place that incredible before. It was absolutely—over and over, with each bend in the trail—breathtaking. I DO have pictures for this one, though they can’t possibly do it justice.

We hiked up to a lodge in the middle of nowhere for lunch. I had the best cioccolata calda (hot chocolate) yet, along with an amazing spinach and ricotta rotelli with a butter and rosemary sauce, almond pie, blackberry pie and an excellent cappuccino. It was wonderful. I also taught Mary and Andrea how to play Dutch Blitz (think Solitaire on crack, where no one takes turns). They didn’t really love it the first round, but by the third or fourth, they were hooked. They were both talking to themselves—I had Mary on my left making tiny screams and Andrea across from me, “dieci, tre, otto, tre…” It was SO funny. I honestly could not have come up with a better way to spend our last fully free weekend in Italy.

So, (not even) one week left. Mary and I fly out EARLY Monday morning and get into Atlanta late Monday afternoon (though it’ll feel like night to us). Leaving is very bittersweet. I’m excited about seeing my friends and family, but I am so sad that I have to leave this place that has become another home to me. People often ask me what I miss most, or what I’m most excited about returning to. To be perfectly honest, besides people, obviously, I really don’t know. I joke about missing things like a clothes dryer or a microwave. But really, that doesn’t feel so weird. In fact, it feels completely normal that it takes 3 days—from start to finish—to do a load of laundry because it all has to dry. And it also feels completely normal that I haven’t driven a car in 4 months, because here I have no need to. And while I really do enjoy goldfish crackers and IBC rootbeer, over here I’ve got foccacia bread and cappuccino, so really, it’s all relative.

During one of the “down” moments this semester, I challenged myself to think of all the things I love about Italy. And I came up with a pretty decent list:

I love:

• Gelato and how you can get more than one flavor
• Mercato Centrale
• How my bread guy remembers me
• The way my fruit guy, Antonio, greets me
• Picking up a pizza or bread from a Forno for a snack
• How exciting the architecture is
• The way the sun lights up the hills beyond Fiesole
• The view from Piazzale Michelangelo
• 
• Successfully communicating in Italian
• Andrea and his family
• The accordion player on my street
• Beautiful wildflowers
• The thousands of daisies in Boboli gardens
• The long way down from P. Michelangelo
• The cemetery behind San Miniato
• Seeing a masterpiece in person
• The stone streets
• The pigeons—and how they make me laugh
• 
• How the rain storms rarely last all day and then leave puddles
• Buying my groceries in the market
• Real parmesan and mozzarella
• Susanna’s lasagna and apple pie
• Biscotti with almonds
• Croissants
• Visiting hill towns
• The history
• Adventures—IKEA, the Secret Bakery, random explorations
• My sewing class
• Jack, the terrier who barks outside my window
• Nutella
• Cappuccino
• Pubs/cafés
• The view out my window
• How bright with sunlight my apartment is
• My hand-painted bidet
• 
• The cat I met in Fiesole
• Contradicting negative American stereotypes
• Pizza and pasta
• Chocolate (especially with hazelnut)
• Wisteria
• 
• Vineyards
• How every time I go out exploring, I always find something new and amazing
• The way the sky gets so blue I know God picked that color just for me
• Cyprus trees
• The road that runs through Boboli that is lined with great climbing trees.

This really has been an incredible semester—and easily one of the best things I’ve done in my life so far. Only 5 days left—I’ll be making them count.

“Amazing” doesn’t quite do my spring break justice. I visited 7 cities in 4 countries in 9 days. It was crazy hectic, exhausting, frustrating and the most fun I’ve had this semester. I’ve been especially excited about Ireland and Scotland for months—I’ve always wanted to see my home countries.

Saturday morning, Mary and I took the train to Pisa to check out the city—that took about an hour. Literally. We saw the Field of Miracles and the tower that has issues…and that’s pretty much all there is to Pisa.

So, we headed to the Pisa airport to catch our flight to Dublin at about 2:30, only to realize that our flight was at 14:30, not 4:30. Silly military time. So, basically, we missed our flight out of Pisa and had to catch another one (a costly mistake that we made sure not to do again).

We spent the night in Dublin at this really awesome hostel (that we nicknamed “The Ritz”). Sunday was Easter, so we went to St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral for Easter mass. That was certainly an experience. I realized even more that I am—and never will be—Catholic. It’s just not for me.

After mass, we took a 4 hour bus ride to Cork (southeast of Dublin). The ride alone was breathtaking—I fell in love with Ireland.

That night, we stayed in a hostel that Mary nicknamed, not so lovingly, “prison hostel.” It was gross and sketchy and blech. But, I figure it’s all part of the experience and now I now what a bad hostel is. At least Cork itself was beautiful.

We got up EARLY Monday morning (I thought we were getting up at 6:30, but I’d forgotten my watch was still on Italy time, so we really got up at 5:30. Yeah, I know, times weren’t really my thing on this trip). It was worth it, though. We would never have accomplished all that we did that day if it weren’t for that hour.

In the morning, we took the bus to Blarney and saw Blarney Castle (Home of the Blarney Stone, which they won’t let you forget). The castle was so much fun to explore—there isn’t any furniture or anything like that because it’s all open. We even got to explore UNDER the castle in the cave that I think was the dungeon.

I did kiss the Blarney Stone at the top. You have to hang upside down with only open air beneath you (a castle staff member holds on to you so you won’t fall to your death. Hopefully.) I’m not going to lie, it was slightly scary. I loved every minute. For those of you unfamiliar with that particular piece of Irish lore, legend has it that if you kiss the Stone, you will be granted eloquence for the rest of your life. Winston Churchill kissed the Stone. Think about it. Anyway, don’t worry—I kind of sucked my lips in so that I wouldn’t get too many germs and washed my face/mouth right afterwards.

The view from the top was incredible—plenty of beautiful Irish countryside. We explored the grounds, as well—lots of green, lots of trees. It was wonderful.

After taking the bus back to Cork, we took another bus to Kinsale, a small fishing village on the coast. We walked along a ridge for about 2 miles to Fort Charles.

For the last I don’t even know how many years of my life, I’ve made fun of my Dad for his obsession with Ireland. I thought he was a tad bit crazy—and overreacting. And know I feel like I need to eat all of my teasing words. Ireland got a hold on me, too. It was like going home, but to a home that I’ve never been to before. It lit up my soul in a way no other landscape has before. I better understand now the deep connection the Irish have to the land. I’m laughing at myself as I write this, because I sound as crazy as my dad. I really don’t care, though. There is something about Ireland that buries itself in your heart.

We took the bus back to Cork with 30 minutes to spare before the last bus to Dublin left (this was definitely a day of buses). Tuesday morning, we did a bit of retail therapy at the department stores in Dublin. It was ridiculously exciting to find clothes that weren’t crazy expensive (our favorite stores in Florence would even be out of my price range if the symbol before the number was dollars instead of euros). After that, we headed to the airport and (successfully) caught our plane to Edinburgh, Scotland. I was unbelievably sad to leave Ireland. I could move there in a heartbeat.

Fortunately, Edinburgh is absolutely breathtaking. I think it’s the one city that I’ve ever been to that I think I could actually live in. The architecture is amazing—and it is a lot of stone and concrete. However, the city is surrounded by nature. From many parts of the city, you can see all the way down to the ocean and all the way up towards the Highlands. Edinburgh isn’t a city that is taking over the countryside—instead, it feels as if it is fluid, growing with the land.

In Edinburgh, we met up with Taylor (from Berry and LDM) for the rest of the trip. Tuesday night we went out to Mexican. It was amazing. And not Italian (we gave ourselves a break from Italian for the week. In Dublin, we ate Thai. So good.). Don’t get me wrong, I love Italian, it was just fun to have something else for a change.

Wednesday, we hiked up Arthur’s Seat, a mini-mountain literally right outside of the city—reason number 384 that I love Edinburgh. The city pretty much just…ends and there’s the countryside. Wonderful. We thought that we were taking the easy way up the mountain…until we reached the summit and saw the easy side. Still, it was an adventure and fed my need for hiking. Mary and I sat on the top and listened to the Braveheart soundtrack as we looked off towards the Highlands. The view was incredible.

That night, while in a grocery store, we met a really cool Canadian named Jane. She had moved to Edinburgh about 30 minutes before running into us. So, we invited her along on our adventures for the next day. We ended up spending pretty much all of Thursday with Jane. She’s real great.

Thursday morning, we went on a free tour of the city. It’s a pretty cool concept—the guide works for tips, so their aim is to give you the best tour possible. You contribute whatever you can—even if it’s just a new perspective or culture. A very cool concept/company that is now in about 10 different European cities. Our tour guide was an Australian guy named Lindsay. He was very funny and entertaining and taught me a lot about the city—including stories about the real Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, the most loyal dog in Edinburgh, trip stairs, torture and the real William Wallace. I would have loved to go out to Stirling and the William Wallace monument, but we just weren’t there long enough. We finished off Thursday with an excellent hamburger in a pub, where we got to listen to live music. I love Scotland.

Friday, Mary and I had to leave our hostel by 5 am to catch our plane down to London. That wasn’t a whole lot of fun. Still, we got to see a very empty Edinburgh, so that was interesting.

We hung out in the London airport for a couple hours waiting for Taylor (she was smart and took a flight 2 hours later than ours). Still, I didn’t mind—I enjoyed a nice pot of tea in the café. We spent the rest of the morning doing a bit of wandering around Notting Hill (where our hostel was located). We also swung by Buckingham Palace.

For dinner, I had the ever classic English fish and chips. It really wasn’t bad, considering I generally don’t like seafood. Then, Taylor, Mary and I went to Wicked! For those of you who are unfamiliar with this wonderful example of theatrical goodness, Wicked is the untold story of the witches of Oz. It’ll make you rethink the whole story of the Wizard of Oz. The show was absolutely spectacular—everything I’ve heard about it and more. I already loved the music before seeing it, and now I just love it even more.

Saturday was unfortunately cold and rainy, so Mary and I took full advantage of the opportunity to check out the National Gallery—a museum FULL of masterpieces. Degas, Renoir, Monet, Giotto, Gauguin, Alfred Sisley (my favorite, an Impressionist), Van Gogh… It was amazing. The Gallery is located on Trafalger Square (pretty famous), complete with a statue of Admiral Nelson and a view of Big Ben’s clock tower. We also went to Kensington Gardens when it wasn’t raining and saw the statue of Peter Pan (my all-time favorite book/play/story). To make the whole thing just about perfect, there was an absolutely adorable little girl playing with her ball and the base of the statue. Oh my goodness.

We also spent the day becoming VERY acquainted with the London Tube. By the end of the weekend, I didn’t even really need a map.

Sunday, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We went to the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I wasn’t terribly impressed. Still, I’m glad I can check that off my list of things to do in my life. Sadly, there weren’t any guards stationed outside the gates, so we didn’t get to try to make them smile (which I’m sure they really really hate anyway).

We walked through St. James’ Park and saw a black swan attack a dog. That was entertaining. We also walked past the Houses of Parliament, saw Big Ben’s clock tower and the outside of Westminster Abbey.

Mary and I then headed across the River Thames to the London Eye—the world’s largest observation wheel. The views were incredible—everything looks so tiny. Mary wins points for the fastest ever ice cream run—she left the line, ran to the stand and was back within about a minute. The line had moved so fast, though, that we didn’t have time to finish our cones before reaching security, so we had to eat fast. It was very worth it, though.

After the Eye, we went to the Tate Modern—another museum filled with masterpieces. Monet (again), Warhol, Picasso, Matisse… It was a nice change after the last 2 months of all Renaissance art.

London was a fun city to visit—there really is a lot to see. I was ready to go home by that point, though. Sunday evening we flew back to Pisa, and, after a 2 hour wait in the airport because all the buses were full, we finally got into Florence at about 1:30 am. I can’t remember the last time I was that tired. Still, it was very very worth it.

Rome was amazing–loved it. Ridiculous amounts of art and history.

Friday:

The National Museum– Discobolos (the Disk Thrower), lots of Roman statues and mosaics and the world’s largest coin collection

Piazza del Popolo–absolutely beautiful, especially at night

Spanish Steps–beautiful view of the city and sunset

Emmanuel Vittore Monument–once again, beautiful at night

Saturday:

Vatican Museum– Laocoon and His Sons, the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, Raphael, paintings, sculptures, mosaics, sarcophagi….

St. Peter’s Basilica–more Michelangelo (the Pieta), climbed the dome, more statues, lots of gold

The Pantheon–very awesome, amazing feat of architecture

Trevi Fountain–super awesome at night

Hard Rock Cafe!–cheeseburger with CHEDDAR cheese and Heinz ketchup!

Sunday:

the Roman Forum (ruins)–very….ruined. Amazing how much is still standing, though, considering it’s thousands of years old

a crazy street performer–reminded me of Johnny Depp in Benny and Joon

the Colosseum–the outside anyway, real big, real round

the Catacombs–AMAZING (no pictures, sorry, not allowed)

I know that’s all VERY concise, but I’m headed out for spring break tomorrow and wanted to get this up before I leave.

I’ll be in Ireland (Dublin and Cork), Scotland (Edinburgh) and England (London) for the next week. I’m pretty excited.

I recognize I am very behind on keeping up with the blog. I am so sorry. I’ve had a very busy—and exciting—month. February 22-24 (3 weekends ago) I went to Venice and Verona with the other girls from Berry.

I liked Venice—it’s definitely a unique experience. It honestly wasn’t my favorite, though. The city is very compact and labyrinth-like. It can get pretty claustrophobic. Still, I had a great time. We met some absolutely amazing people there—in fact, everyone we met was overly nice and helpful. It was great. We mostly stayed away from the super-touristy spots, though we did at least visit Piazza San Marco and the glass factory island of Murano (where all Venetian glass is made). Our first night there, Friday, we met a very nice Italian in a glass shop and he gave us great tips on where to go (and not go) in Venice.

Following his advice, we went to a great enotecca (wine bar) and had their fragola bianca (white strawberry wine). It was by far the best wine I’ve had yet. After the enotecca, we went to one of the restaurants the man had recommended. Once again, it was absolutely amazing and the best meal I’ve had yet. I got ham ravioli with a gorgonzola cheese sauce. My mouth is watering just remembering it.

We also went into a basilica that night. We went into a side room to look at the paintings, but it had a box that required a “donation” of 50 cents to turn the lights on. I put the money in, but apparently it needed exact change—which I didn’t have. So….I found a light switch and flipped it. The switch worked…it just wasn’t to the room we were in. It was to the nave (the main sanctuary of the church). I flipped it right back, obviously, but an old Italian man came into the room (he had been praying in the nave), walked up to me, and smacked my hand. He then smiled and inserted a 50 cent piece, turning on the lights. I felt bad, but the girls and I laughed for quite a while after that one.

Saturday we explored more and went to Murano. Unfortunately, we got there too late in the day and all of the demonstrations were already done. Still, it was a very interesting, quirky little town (with great gelato). We continued to explore the city that evening. After a while, it all starts to look the same. Still, we found a many fun shops to browse. We also floated down the Grand Canal on a water bus—a fun experience and less than half the price of a gondola.

Sunday we took the train to Verona—that’s right, the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene

I did, actually visit the supposed “House of Juliet,” or at least her courtyard and famous balcony. The entrance to the courtyard was a long arch covered with lovey-dovey graffiti—hearts and “so-and-so forevers.” Inside is a statue of Juliet—rubbing the statue is considered good luck in love.

We also went inside a Roman arena (the third largest in the Roman world). It was by far my favorite site in Verona. The fact that it is still standing—and in such good condition—absolutely astounds me. Overall, I loved Verona. It is a charming town and reminded me of a less touristy Florence.

The next weekend, we stayed in Florence to recuperate after traveling every weekend for 5 weeks. Sunday, after church, we went to the Boboli Gardens, a huge nature lover’s haven built by the Medici family. It is by far my favorite place in Florence—I heard birds for the first real time since we’ve been here. The weather was absolutely beautiful as well. I couldn’t have asked for better.

Classes are going well. It’s hard to believe mid-terms are next week and I’m already starting to choose my classes for the fall. Crazy.

Last weekend Mary and I went to Rome. It was absolutely amazing, but I’m going to have to get back to you on that one later. I’ve barely begun going through my pictures. My goal is to have it done in the next week, though, because March 22 Mary and I head to the UK (Dublin, Edinburgh, London) for spring break!

Italian word of the post: Io sonno andata a Roma. (ee-oh so-no ahn-dah-tah ah Roh-mah.): I went to Rome.

I have officially been here for a month (five weeks, actually). It feels like longer, I guess because so much has happened in the space of the last month. Also, I am settled here—I’m beginning to learn the language enough to understand people, I know my way around… I think that being comfortable here makes all the difference. I went through a bit of culture shock my third and fourth week here.

After my first two weeks, it became more real that I was not on vacation, but rather actually living here for another 3 ½ months. I missed my family and friends. I went through peanut butter and cheddar cheese withdrawal (still working on that one, actually). I just wanted a clothes dryer or central heating or a microwave.

And then God convicted me about being here—mentally and emotionally, not just physically. He’s got me here for a reason. So, Mary and I have a new motto to add to our previous one (We’re not lost, we’re just exploring): Be here. So, I am here. In Italy. With only three more months, so I’ve got to make it count.

Classes are good. I’m settling into somewhat of a rhythm. Honestly, I forget that I’m in school sometimes, though. I think Mary said it best when she said that she feels like she’s on vacation and just occasionally goes to these meetings. School here is such a different format than I’m used to. All of my classes meet only once or twice a week. I have very little homework, and instead we do almost all our work in class. I’ll have a few papers and projects throughout the semester, but nothing like what I’m used to. I’m also taking less hours than I normally take and have a 3 ½ day weekend each week. It’s strange, especially for the over-achiever that I am. I have large amounts of free time for the first time since middle school. It’s so strange.

As a product of my free time (and the lack of a microwave and Kraft mac-n-cheese), I have discovered that I really love to cook. (Careful Mom, don’t get any ideas.) I think that cooking appeals to my creativity—I have a very deep drive in me to create things. With cooking, I get to make edible art every night. It’s quite fun. I’m finally being forced to learn all those things my mother tried to teach me.

We (the Berry kids: Mary, Melanie, Taylor and Matt) went to Siena two weekends ago. It was pretty…but similar to some of the other cities we’ve been to. My favorite part was experiencing the origin of Crayola’s Burnt Sienna crayon color–Il Campo, the main square.

We did go to the Church of San Domenico, which houses the head and left thumb of St. Catherine, Europe’s patron saint. Melanie, the Catholic of the group, got very excited while the rest of us were….um, fascinated. Mel compared it to seeing a celebrity since she’s heard about these people her whole life—which makes sense to me. And yet I still find it slightly strange.

We also went to a beautiful church, La Basilica dei Servi di Siena. I love the majesty of churches here. No one really builds them like that any more. Instead, churches so often are criticized for lavish and beautiful buildings. While I agree that it is possible to go overboard—state-of-the-art everything isn’t necessary, I do think it’s important to make God’s house beautiful. I love how Gothic cathedrals draw your eye upward and surround you with beauty and light.

That same weekend, we also hiked up to Piazzale Michelangelo, which has another copy of David and an absolutely breathtaking view of the city.

We continued up the hill to the Church of San Miniato, which has a massive cemetery full of thousands of graves. There were at least a hundred huge, intricately decorated mausoleums filling the space like a labyrinth.

This past weekend, Mary, Taylor, Melanie and I took the train to Livorno, a small port town on the west coast. We spent the whole day wandering around through the town and along the coast. We wandered along the docks for a while, and then spent some time at a small stretch of sand along the water. This was my first view of the Mediterranean—and it was absolutely gorgeous. And cold—yet surprisingly, warmer than I thought it would be. I can’t say that I waded in the water—stepped in it for a minute would be more accurate.

After the “beach,” we found a huge walkway that wrapped around a section of the coast that provided a stunning view of the sea, a couple lighthouses and many many sailboats. The rocks below the walkway at the water’s edge were my absolute favorite spot of the day. We stayed until dusk and watched the sun set over the sea.

This weekend is Venice. I am incredibly excited about this one!

Italian-word-of-the-day: Piacere (Pee-ah-cheh-reh): Nice to meet you.

The small town of San Gimignano sits on a hill, about an hour outside Florence. Surrounding the town are modern buildings, vineyards and rolling hills, but inside the walls, the medieval architecture is frozen in time with sixteen of its original towers still standing. I went in the middle of the week, so the streets were quiet and fairly empty. The stillness was soothing after the noisy and crowds of Florence. It wasn’t until we reached a garden at the top of the city’s hill, however, that San Gimignano rooted itself in my heart.

I’d heard about a tower in the garden that you could climb for free (a much better alternative to the almost $20 to climb the 200 ft tower in the center of town), but didn’t see any signs. Finally, I found a stone staircase that led up the small tower. The walls of the city had prevented me from seeing the surrounding countryside, so I was not prepared for the view. It was absolutely breathtaking. I took a 360 degree panorama, but pictures can not even begin to do it justice.

Mary and I went back to Chiesa Cristiana Biblica on Sunday. Our English-speaking friend Andrea preached this time. Once again, everything was in Italian, but we were able to more or less follow along for at least the music. I learned that our Italian friend who helped us find the verses last week is named Pino, short for Gesepepe (or something like that—basically, the Italian equivalent of Joseph).

I had my first class yesterday: Basic Sewing Techniques. Even though I do have a decent amount of experience on a sewing machine, I’ve never actually been taught anything. So, I’ll be learning various stitches and when to use them, fabric types, etc. I’m especially excited about this class because it is something I really love to do, and it’s a nice break from electronic equipment. It’s almost entirely hands-on, which is by far my favorite kind of class.

Today I had Introduction to Italian Philosophy. This is going to be my only “real” class this semester (meaning, all of my other classes will be easy to forget that I’m doing them for college credit). I don’t know that “excited” is the right word, but I do think it will be very useful and enlightening to learn more about Italy’s philosophers and history.

Beginning Italian is going to be very helpful for my time here. Italian is very similar to Spanish, since they are both Romance languages—which is helpful and confusing at the same time. Many times, rather than translating from English to Italian and vice versa, I found myself just translating between Spanish and Italian. Pronunciation is still throwing me off, but I’m getting better at that.

Art history is going to be more lecture than I’d been hoping for, but about 40 % is going to be museum visits, so I’m excited about that. We’ll hit the biggies in Florence—the Uffizi, Academia (Michelangelo’s David), and the Duomo museum, along with a day trip to Prato and a couple smaller museums. There’s nothing quite like taking art history where it happened and actually getting to see the work, not just slides.

Italian-phrase-of-the-blog:

Come si dice . . .? (Co-may see dee-chay) : How do you say . . .?

More exploring. More market shopping.

Three of the other Berry students (Taylor, Melanie and Matt) arrived this week. Mary and I have enjoyed hanging out with them and sharing our favorite parts of the city with each other.

Saturday we decided to go to IKEA (a Swiss furniture warehouse-type store, found all over Europe and the US) because Mary and Taylor had never been. It was quite an adventure finding it, though. We finally go there. . .after almost 5 hours. Still, we had fun finding our way there and celebrated the small victories–such as finding the street (which turned out to be the right street…just in the wrong city). We also learned that while we call it eye-key-ah in the States, here they call it ee-kay-ah. That helped a lot once we figured it out. We also learned (as we were leaving) that there is a free IKEA bus that runs between the store and the main train station (one of the many stops on our adventure). Needless to say, it was a learning experience–and a fun one at that.

Before I left the States, my uncle Paul (the missionary) got me in contact with an English-speaking Italian at a church his mission was connected with. Mary and I went to Chiesa Cristiana Biblica (Christian Bible Church) this Sunday and absolutely fell in love with the people there. We were actually one of the first ones there (and very proud of ourselves for that, considering our previous adventures finding places), and our contact, Andrea, didn’t get there until right as the service was starting. So, we were on our own to try and communicate with everyone. One precious woman, Maria, spoke a tiny bit of English, and quite a bit of Spanish, so we were able to talk to each other. The man sitting in front of us turned around all throughout the service any time a new bible verse was mentioned to help us figure out the translation. He was wonderful and spoke enough English to have us laughing with him.

After the service, we met several other members of the church who spoke English (and many who didn’t, but were so excited to welcome us and love on us anyway). The pastor is a dual citizen of America and Italy. I didn’t have a chance to ask him how long he lived in the States, but judging by his accent when he speaks English it was obviously for a while.

It was so amazing to see how much love and compassion the church had for each other. It’s small–about 50 members, I’d say. The whole sermon was in Italian, so I didn’t understand most of it. We were able (or at least try) to sing along. I was able to understand most of the songs since they were written out (Spanish and Italian are very similar, but not in pronunciation, so it can be confusing). It was such a blessing to find other people here who love Jesus! While we do want to go to other churches for the experience, I think we’ve definitely found our home church for while we’re here. I’m so excited about next Sunday and that’s still 5 days away.

Andrea gave us a ride back to our apartment after church (which was wonderful as it saved us $3 each in bus fare), so we got to talk to him quite a bit. He is great–and so funny. The whole way home, we told us about what was going on in Italian politics right now (basically, their government collapsed), how they’ve had 62 governments in the last 63 years, about their sausage-faced ex-prime minister and his obsession with coalitions. . . It gave us real insight to how the Italians feel about politicians. It also explained a t-shirt I saw in the market that said Hell would be organized by the Italians.

Classes start Monday, so we’re hoping to get a few day trips and maybe even an over-night in. We’ll see if that happens.

Italian-word-of-the-post:

Gesù Cristo (Jesus Christ)

Today was absolutely wonderful. Mary and I got an early(ish) start and headed to the small town of Fiesole that sits on a hill overlooking Florence. Finding the right bus stop was certainly an adventure. Which leads me to the Italian Phrase of the Day:

Dov’e autobus sette? (Where’s bus seven?)

We never did find the bus stop we were looking for and instead walked around until we found the next place the bus would stop at (only a few blocks away, so not a big deal). On the way home, we rode the same route back the other way and went all the way to the end in order to find the bus stop we’d been looking for. It’s a good thing we did, too, because we also found the train station (and realized what we’d thought was the train station really wasn’t). So, as far as the bus system went, it was a very productive day.

We finally made it up to Fiesole around noon and spent all afternoon exploring. It was absolutely beautiful. The view from the terrace in front of the Church of San Francesco was absolutely breathtaking–all of Florence. We were even able to see Florence’s Duomo, San Lorenzo, and therefore an approximate location of our apartment! My absolute favorite, though, were the trees. We found beautiful public gardens with tall, beautiful trees–my very favorite of God’s creations that don’t exist very often in the heart of Florence. They brought such peace and joy to my heart. I don’t think I realized how much I’d missed the woods until I was surrounded by trees again. I love Florence and am thrilled to spend the next 4 months here, but God didn’t make me to live in a city permanently. Luckily, Fiesole is an easy 20-minute bus-ride away, so I will definitely be back.

Today was a short day. I had every intention of waking up at a decent time and getting a good start on the day. However, when construction workers started jackhammering my sidewalk early this morning, those plans went out the window. It shook my entire building and was even louder than the street sounds I’ve started to become accostomed to. I ended up staying in bed extra long to make up for the missed sleep. To exit my door, I now have to walk across a plank spanning the gaping hole where my sidewalk used to be. I think they’re doing some plumbing work, but I’m really not sure. I plan on wearing earplugs to bed tonight.

Mary and I decided to visit the Duomo today. It was absolutely beautiful, especially the hand-painted inside of the dome. The floor is also very beautiful with many changing patterns. You can climb to the top of the dome, but we’re going to wait for a nicer day because it costs money. That’s one great thing about being here for 4 months instead of just a couple days–we have the luxury of choosing an activity based on the weather.

We also did a little bit of shopping and went back down to the Arno. Tomorrow, we’re planning on going to Fiesole–a small town about a 30-minute bus-ride away.

It was suggested that I provide a new Italian word/phrase with each of my posts. So, the first tidbit is “frutti di bosco,” which means “berries.” It is the (somewhat simple) name of the jam that Mary and I have already become addicted to. I’m thinking I’m probably going to need to bring some back with me, as I’m pretty sure I could get it through customs as it’s in a jar. Which reminds me, I discovered that I accidentally smuggled a banana through the Italian customs. I assure you that it was entirely a mistake, as it had been in one of my bags since. . . I honestly don’t know. At least 5 weeks. And yes, it was pretty gross.

Biggest news of the day: we got wireless in our apartment! We found out today that it was possible and decided it would be far less stress and probably less money than using the internet cafe down the street. I’m going to do my best to limit my time on it, however. There are far more interesting things to explore around here than the web.

Biggest adventure of the day: Shopping at the San Lorenzo market. I mean, who doesn’t love a good whole chicken (including the head), octopus and some kind of animal brain? Mary and I just might be brave enough to try one of those before we leave…but maybe not. Still, it’s fun that it’s there–we definitely aren’t in the States any more. We did stock up on plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables–with a splurge on cashews. I even got some black olives–so good. Mom, you should be proud–I bought a pepper and an onion to add flavor to our meat sauce tonight. I’ll try to remember to bring my camera next time we go to the market, it’s a very fun place. I’m definitely going to have a hard time going back to Kroger.

Other grown-up things we did today include paying our first months rent.

I think I’m finally getting used to the time zone–I woke up at 8:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I’m excited about that. Mary and I are thinking we’ll stay in town a few more days and then travel some before school starts.