My Free Day

So today they gave us a free day and some people went with Coach Burks to the Ferrari and Lamborghini factories today. They didn't think that they would be able to drive them, but it turns out they were able to for 100 Euro a piece! I think it would have been fun if Tyler had been here, but I didn't go. (Maybe if he brings me back someday...hint hint! Lol.)

My free day consisted of waking up pretty early and going into Florence to climb up the Duomo. It's 463 steps and gets pretty crowded, but it was totally worth it! You actually are climbing stairs between the inner and outer domes and end up being able to walk around 2 different areas to see the art on the inside of the dome very, very up close. I can definitely say that these artists' interpretations of Hell are totally creepy and demented, but Hell's scary so I guess it's a good thing??? You can't tell it from the ground, but they had to paint the figures sooooo huge so they'd look right from in the church below. I was standing next to a demon eating/torturing this dude in Hell and his foot was literally the length of my legs from the ground to my hip. Then the views from the top out over Florence were so breathtakingly beautiful. We could see everywhere we'd been - the different churches, train station, etc. It was a great view. Then we journeyed back down the stairs and then I needed to go to a modern art museum, so I chose to go to the Virtual Identity exhibit they have in the Strozzi Palace right now. It's all about technology and people using it. It was really legit. I expected to just go in and walk through and pick a couple of pieces to write about for my Humanities journal, but it was really cool. There was a mash up of youtube videos of people dancing that the artist had synchronized and put to music and it looked like choreography. Then there were these big white balls rolling around on the floor and talking to you. Apparently they're a type of packing material and each one is given a different voice or personality or motor that moves in unique ways. They're representative of the temporalness of human life. I thought that was really philosophical. Then there was a creepy, morbid one and it was about virtual suicide and I really didn't like it at all so I rushed through it because it was just disturbing. I liked the pictures of the faces lit up by different types of electronic devices - my favorite of that was this young girl who was under a blanket playing a Nintendo DS.

Then I got a pizza to go and they didn't cut it :( bummer so I had to wait til I got back to the villa to eat it. But I realized they had made it heart shaped for me so that was cute. Then I got back and cut it and nuked a few pieces of it and ate them while sitting in front of a fan (it was super hot today) then I took a shower bc I was disgusting and then took a nap for a couple hours since I woke up early and no one was here to wake me up :D Then I woke up and was getting ready and they rang the bell for supper - who knew they were making food for us? Def not me - I was just planning on eating the rest of my pizza, but now I have a midnight snack ;) So I had a sandwich that was delicious - they busted out the awesome bread and gave us pieces of pork with rosemary like they cook us to put on it. They also had pasta salad and bread salad too. I like the pasta salad they have here, but the bread salad was too onion-y for me to handle so I didn't try that.

Also I've discovered where they keep the ice here in the villa :D VICTORY!!!

I'm probably about to write my journal entries about the stuff I did today and then maybe read some or watch a movie. Who knows?

Love you guys!

Brancacci Chapel e Pitti Palace

So the chapel I couldn't remember the name of yesterday is called Brancacci Chapel and it's one of 2 chapels that didn't get demolished in the fire and it's on the right transcept of this church in Florence. We walked up to it and I literally said, "Wow this is hideous, it needs a facade. And I'm a church of Christ girl...that means it's pretty awful." So considering I've been CofC my whole life and our church buildings are notorious for being boring and not church-ish at all, this was seriously ugly on the outside. Obviously the facade was destroyed in the tragic fire. It has never been replaced. All the inside church stuff was replaced so it looks nothing like it originally did and it doesn't match the Brancacci chapel at all. 3 different dudes did stuff in the Bracacci chapel which is named after the Brancacci family bc they paid for it. The older one actually learned from the younger one Masachio because he was really legit at perspective and weighting his figures and definitely at emotion and character. There's a really cool contrast in between the two artists' work when you first walk in - you look to the right and Masavio's work is Adam and Eve in the garden and they're kinda floaty and it's a beautiful work, but they're kinda devoid of any humanistic characteristics, etc. Then you turn to the left and Masachio's work is them getting kicked out of the garden of Eden after they sinned and it's full of emotion - Adam's doubled over in anguish and pain and they're both covering themselves and they're faces are so full of pain and sorrow. They have shadows and look like they're on the ground and the perspective is beautiful. Then it was actually left unfinished for like 50-60ish years because the family got exiled by the Medici (whoops) and the artists died or took other jobs elsewhere. Then Fillippino Lippi (Filippo Lippi's son) was hired to finish it and actually had to take out and replace some of the faces from earlier and replace them with friends of the Medici's of that time. The rest of the scenes in that chapel were all about St. Peter.

Then we went over to the Pitti Palace. It was started by the Pitti family who were rivals of the Medici and it is HUGE!!! It was an old school battle of the Jones's - the house layout was created to out-do the Medici: the courtyard was to be exactly the dimensions of the Medici palace and the window were to be the size of their doors. Then the Pitti family went bancrupt and so it was unfinished for awhile until the Medici bought it...oh karma ;) Then they lived in it during their duke days and then the Lorraine family took it over when the Medici died out and then it went to the Cevoy family from Austria. There is so much artwork in there! It's not like a museum at all bc it's set up like the nobles wanted it arranged. So it's pretty overwhelming bc there's art everywhere! Then we got to walk through their living quarters and their personal chapel that they got ok'd by the church - Oh what being filthy rich will get you?!

Then we were free to do whatever so we got some dinner - we ended up getting these really delicious burgers because we're all sick of pizza and pasta 24/7. Then we got that awesome gelato and it was my fave! I got cookies and mint chocolate :D. Then we walked around some more and went to this really cool bookstore that we decided is like their version of Barnes and Noble because it kept on going forever! But I didn't find any books there :( sad day for me. But then we made our way back to the villa and I worked and then wrote this. I'm trying to figure out hostel stuff for Paris, but another girl might be coming with, which changes the hostel plans we need so I need to nail that down for sure so we can reserve that and then get the trains. Tomorrow's a free day!!! I'm planning on doing the Duomo climb and then visiting the Picasso exhibit and maybe visit the Uffizi again if I'm really feeling it and everyone else is too - if they go with me and I can navigate of course, lol.

Oh I almost forgot - I found my artwork that I wanted :D It's the Annunciation by Fra. Angelico! I'm very excited. I hope Tyler likes it, because I want it hanging up in the house...

Time to plug my actual laptop in and see if he's on to talk to me :) Love you all!

PS - I actually had Bible class this morning before we left for the onsites, but they were a lot more fun lol!

Bargello Onsite and Class

So today was pretty cool. Summer has definitely arrived, but that's ok...I'm choosing to look at it as prepping me for when I'm home lol! So I had Bible class this morning and we just went over this interview assignment we have to do before we go to Rome, so hopefully when my parents get back I can arrange something so that I can interview Gma and Gpa Daniels :) If skype fails then I can try to email or work something else out...we'll see. Also we had a Humanities quiz and that went pretty well. Then we went over our onsite classes for tomorrow - Pitti Palace and the chapel that I can't remember the name of right now...oops! I'll tell you all about it tomorrow ;) Then we got our writing assignments for our final in that class and it actually looks legit and not pointless which is cool. Then lunch and our onsite at the Bargello museum which was super legit (no pics of artwork though :( ). It features Donatello and Michelangelo primarily, but surprisingly isn't super visited by comparison to others in Florence. The building itself was really awesome. Then after that we got gelato and went to eat pizza at this place where Robbie knows the dude that actually makes the pizza. Quattro formaggio (four cheese) is def my new fave, but who would be surprised by that? They made us this special spicy pizza that had huge spicy pepperoni slices and cheese and french fries on top. It was cool. Then we came back to the villa and I started planning out second free travel at the end and got the trains lined up to and from Paris. Then I had vb class and now I'm trying to get skype to work so I can talk to Tyler.

Goodnight everyone! Peace and love :)

Italian Final and Drawing Class

So today was a good day even though it's lasted for-ev-er! LOL. It started at 830 am and is just now done. We had humanities class this morning to prep us for our onsite visit to the Bargello museum tomorrow. I'm pretty excited, but we'll see if it lives up to my expectations. So then after that we had a joint Speech and Bible class because Mrs. Jeanie was talking about communication styles, problems, etc. and that pertains to Christian Home so we took notes. She's really awesome. I love her to death. I don't have any of her classes, but she's very cool and blunt :) She kinda reminds me of a different version of mom ;) Don't worry mommy - you'll always be my fave and best friend!!! Then after Bible we had about an hour break to study for Italian so I studied a chapter, took a power nap, then studied another 2 chapters and then took my test :) I think I did fairly well. All that's left for Italian is for me to watch the video I missed and fill out the worksheet that goes with it. And all I have left for IES is to turn in my free travel group's videos and then eventually turn in my picture theme project (I have to pic my 7-8 fave pics of my decided theme and they get to guess what it was...mine will be super easy - I may or may not be a little obsessed with the giglio lol). That's 2 classes out of 5 down. And then we had a great chapel and then had lunch then I had a drawing class with Mike. We went to 3 different piazzas and drew stuff. I'm not too great, but it's cool to get his pointers and advice and encouragement that it's not as bad as I think lol. I like landscapes and objects rather than people, but I think that's just easier for my brain to grasp so I'll continue to work on it. Then we ate pizza at the Jersey Shore pizza place (they're long gone by now :D yay) and it was actually pretty good. Then we hurried back to the villa in time for kinseology classes and I looked up the answers to study for tomorrow's Humanities quiz and then got ready for volleyball class.

Random tangent - I'm really glad I'm taking this vb class even though it gets on my nerves or I go to hard and push my knee too much bc I honestly never thought I'd enjoy playing or even watching again. It's such an encouragement and source of empowerment for me that I still have something I'm good at and I didn't waste all that time and effort - I still have a game I honestly love to play and you can't take that away. So what if I have a nightmare tonight? My friends will do something dumb and I'll crack up in the middle of class and be awkward, but snap out of it. Life will go on. Nightmares aren't real life. :D

So back to now - I took some knee meds before volleyball bc I needed them and knew vb would do me in and I was right. I wanted kneepads soooo bad on this one play. I was playing middle back and I would've had it and it would have been beautiful, but oh well. (No mom, I didn't dive - I restrained myself :P). Then I worked and talked with Chancellor Ganus for about 15 minutes about Oklahoma and the schools in Africa - keep them in your prayers: recently they've had multiple deaths because of lightning and a few were elementary school students in class :(. They're going to raise more money to get more lightning rods for the schools and surrounding villages. Then we talked about OC and how he and Dr. Benson used to fly their plane in and land on the grassy strip on OC's "new", meaning they moved to Edmond, campus. Then we talked about how Tyler goes there and my grandparents went there back in the day and then we talked about Bear Valley and Quinton and he said he hasn't been there yet and I told him to go visit. He'd love talking with those professors - they'd get along fabulously! Anyway he's just a precious old man and he's cute as can be. I'm about to skype and then clean up for bed!

Love you all!

Sunday

Today I woke up and tried to start getting ready for church, and then my pain got worse, so Tiffany went and talked to Mrs. Jeanie for me and she came up and checked on me and stayed with me in case I needed anything. She came up and checked on me a few more times and talked with me a bit so she understood what was going on. Also, surprise surprise Molly's telling everyone it's cramps...false, while painful, that'd be a lot easier to deal with. I can actually handle pain, but thanks for trying hun. So I tried to correct her gently and she was like, I thought they didn't know that for sure and I said well, process of elimination - and the meds work once I'm adjusted so that's as good as it gets til I need to actually have the surgery for it. On a good note, I got okay after a while, not 100% by any means, but ok to hobble around and do my homework, etc. So I got my Bible and Humanities journals done and went to class - which Chancellor Ganus and his wife just talked to us and answered our questions about marriage and life. They've been married for 68 years! They're both about to turn 90...crazy. They are sooo cute. I want to grow up to be like them. They talked about how things get hard and to remember to communicate and be intentional with what you do and say. Also they talked about turning to the scriptures when things get tough and remembering the covenant vows you made to God, each other, and your family and friends on your wedding day. They were both just so cute and precious!!!

Then we had devo outside with the BAT (Bisons Athletes and Trainers) group. Dr. Ganus talked with us about the importance of salt and being salt to the world like in Matthew 5-7. It was a very powerful lesson. One application I haven't heard before was that salt makes you thirsty, so if we're being the salt to the world they will thirst for God's Word and Jesus :).

Then we all had supper together and then a concert by the Metamorphesis Quartet, but there were actually 5 of them...I don't know. They all just graduated from the conservatory here in Florence and are all very talented. We all were supposed to meet one of them and I met the clarinet player and he actually studies at the university and is going to be a psychologist! How cool is that?!

Pretty soon I'll finish up my work for the day, so basically I'll take out the trash and then clean up and hit the sack. Amazingly I'm still tired even though I've slept a ton the past 2 days...I dunno what's wrong lol oh well.

Mom, Dad, Trey, and Jess - have fun on the cruise without me :P hahaha
Love you everyone!

Issues...yep they followed me here lol

Ok so today started out pretty good. I didn't have any classes until 11 so I got to sleep in. Then I ate an apple and went to my humanities class. We had announcements and chapel first though and then our guest lecturer talked to us for about 2 hours with a 5 minute intermission. She taught us all about the history and technique of mosaics. It was actually pretty interesting. Then we had lunch and I had a nap. My stomach started to hurt this morning, but I tried to make it through. After I woke up from the nap there was no moving at all so I was basically bed-ridden the rest of the day. But on the good side, my friends took care of me and checked on me and brought me dinner and stuff :) Love you Tiffany and Susan! Anyway I have homework due tomorrow: 4 humanities journal entries and Bible questions. We worship in Florence in the morning and then have lunch at the villa and then have time to do that homework and then class at 5 then devo and then a concert! Also I forgot to tell you that Chancellor Ganus and his wife are visiting the villa right now - he and his family are like Harding royalty lol.

PS - I'm actually not teaching the Pantheon in Rome, I'll be doing St. Paul Outside the Wall. I don't know anything about it yet, but it should be interesting.

Love you all!

Wait...you mean we still have school?

Ok so today I woke up around 11 am and got up and around for lunch and worked on my Italian homework. Then we had a fabulous welcome home lunch - alfredo sauce with pasta and fried chicken! Then for dessert I had a few cherries. I think I ate too much legit food and too fast, because shortly after that I got sick to my stomach, but I think I'll take that trade lol. Then I got my Rome assignment. Since I'm a 6-hour student in my humanities class I have to be an on-site teacher on our Rome trip that we take next week. I picked to do research and talk about the Pantheon :). Then I had Bible class and then Italian - we turned in homework, sang 3 songs, and then started an open-book test over chapter 2 (but don't worry, it will be graded harshly). Then she gave us an extra credit assignment that we could do online, so I did that after dinner. Then it was time for me to go volunteer at the library again. This time I read a story about night and day, but it was in Italian. It was pretty rocky at first, but my pronunication got a little better after awhile lol! Good thing they were cute little kids! Then we all went to eat at La Bottega :D yum!!! Then I came back and picked up my clean laundry, finished my Italian test, did my extra credit work, and am figuring school stuff out for graduation from Harding and grad school stuff. I'm about to do my cleaning work here at the villa and then work on my Bible homework and humanities journal and then watch the firework show :). The fireworks are going on in Florence for the festival for St. Giovanni (John), but we can see them from the villa and it won't be so loud.

Oh yeah - there was this really awesome game going on that we saw on tv at La Bottega. It was a mix between: soccer, football, rugby, basketball, wrestling, and MMA. Basically you can do whatever you want and you score by getting the soccer-ish ball into the net at the other end. This was the championship game and my team won 2.5 to 1.5! I was kinda disappointed though that they didn't tell us about it earlier because it was happening in Florence.

Pace e amore!

Last day of free travel = train extravaganza

Ok so yesterday was the last day of free travel. We got up and left our hostel at 4 am to make it to the train station and get on our 1st train which left at 5. So then everything was going good until Munich, Germany where our train kept stopping in the middle of nowhere for no reason at all and so we were late arriving so we missed our other train, even though we were running with our packs on through the mobs of people...we wish we had a video of how ridiculous it was! So we missed our connecting train and had to remap our plan to get back to Florence, but the good news was that the Munich station is actually pretty legit and had lots of food options and a Starbucks! We got on the same path we were on, but just about an hour later. So we ended up getting back at 9:45 pm and then back to the villa around 11ish. So the only hiccup in our train plan was that the German trains didn't like us and then later they said we had to reserve a spot on this train, so we had to pay 18 euro :( They must have switched which train actually came to pick us up but it's all good. Then we finally got back to the villa and had to walk back from the tram to the villa bc the bus wasn't running...blah. So then we got back and had a snack and took warm showers for the first time in about 4 days lol and then crashed. We don't have anything til 1 pm the next day which is lunch. Then afternoon classes - Bible, Italian (homework due and apparently an open book test blah...), then Humanities stuff for Rome, and Library project then firework display tonight - it's a big holiday St. Giovanni I think.

Last Real Free Travel Day

So today's my last whole day in Prague, Wednesday June 22, 2o11. We woke up and got around and ate some breakfast. It started raining so we sought shelter for a bit, but that was ok. Then we went over to the Castle district and saw the Prague Castle and the St. Vitus Cathedral, which was soooo ridiculous and had so many stained glass windows. There is one special one inside, but I don't know for sure which one it was. There were also relics and graves in the church, which I find creepy, but I guess it's an ancient Catholic thing..."it's not wrong, it's just different..." lol. Anyway then we went to the Old Royal Palace and it had a jousting area inside...yeah crazy stuff. They even had a special stairway to get the horses and riders into the area lol! Then there was the defenstration window (the big church vs. state thing again and the people chunked the Catholic people out of this window and they died, all except 3 bc they landed in horse manure, but died a few days later bc they were tortured.) I forgot the name of the group that was fanatical and threw people out of the windows, but they still exist here today (roughly 300ish). And then we went to the St. George Basilica and it was deceiving because the outside seemed neo-gothic, but inside it was romanesque (my personal fave). The had redone the outside for whatever reason. But interestingly, the ceiling was not made out of curved stones because they didn't have that technology yet when they built this church, so it's made out of wood, which is verrrrrry rare :). Then I got a pic of some of the relics of a girl from a nearby town that were all in this little ornate case on the way out. I don't know why they were there or what importance they hold, but the skull was very intact and you could see the fissure lines and right up front was a beautiful fibula bone (sorry I'm a freak :/). Anyway then we left the castle and tried to mess with the guards again. We found a newby because when Anna leaned in and was pointing he flinched and straight up turned sideways which he shouldn't have done. HAHA! Then after that we walked down the hill and got some food - I had my first kabob and it was pretty good even though he put yogurt sauce on it even though I said no :(. Then we went to the Lennon wall and signed it and took tons of pics. I tried to go in the little museum/gift shop, but it wasn't open...bummer. Then we went back to watch the astronomical clock go off and see the rooster crow and all the little men going around and the skeleton pulling the chain and the man upstairs blowing the trumpet - very cool.

Oh I forgot to tell you that we saw the Dancing House last night. We didn't have our cameras ready though :( Plus it was too dark anyway. There's nothing to do there, but it's some crazy architecture.

Now we're taking a break because we've walked probably 5 miles and we're all gone so we got some water and are cooling off back at the hostel. I don't know if we'll go out to the Commy Museum or not, it depends on when everybody's feeling like they're not going to have a heat stroke :( and how far away it is. I would like to go, but on the tour we got soooo much info about the Communism and how it affected the country and revolts and the Jewish community and how the people here fought back and took back Prague from the Nazis all by themselves bc Russia was taking their sweet time coming to their aide and the Western world "wasn't responsible" for helping Czeckoslovakia. They fought them off for 5 days and cut off their water and then they made a truce and they let the Germans go across the bridge free and they could keep their city! How cool is that?!

I don't know what the rest of the day consists of besides more food and possibly more walking, but my knee is once again acting up so I'm probably about to take some medicine and a nap lol. Tomorrow our train back to Florence leaves at about 5 am. We either have 3 trains or 4, but we don't know for sure yet. Fun times!

Love you all - 37 days til I'm home! :D

Praha - 1st full day

So yesterday was fun, but I'm ready to see some of the sights and explore some more. This morning we're going on a walking tour because the rain has cleared up some. Our hostel takes us for free and we get to get our barings on where all the cool stuff is and the castle, museums, Jewish Quarter, Charles Bridge, Lennon wall - yep I'm doing it :). We're about to leave for that tour so I'll let you know how it goes later...

Ok so this was started yesterday and then my computer has become the communal computer lol. So yesterday morning we went on the walking tour. It's been a little rainy the past couple days, but nothing compared to what we've experienced before. So we met up with Simon, this British guy who was picking people up from hostels and hotels for the tour. Then we all joined the English group that met up in the Old Town Square. I expected the tour to be like ok - this is what street this is on, you should go here, it's this much to get in, then go visit this awesome sight...not how it was at all. The guide took us all around the Old Town, New Town, and Jewish Quarter! He told us all this history and we felt like it was an onsite class and we needed our moleskin notebooks! We didn't go across the Charles Bridge to the Castle District, but that's on tomorrow's (June 22) agenda. Then we got some food and checked out some souvenier shops and I found the last of my souveniers :D. No more shopping for me! If you can't tell I'm pretty excited about that...lol.

Tomorrow we're going to get up and go see the Charles Bridge (named after Charles IV, their fave king), the Prague Castle (with the St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George's Basilica, and the Old Royal Palace), the Lennon wall, and the Museum of Communism if we have the energy and can find all of it lol!

Love and miss you all!

Praha!

K so we woke up and caught our 6 am train, then we crashed for a little bit. Our next train switch was about 710, so not that long of a nap, but the train was verrrrry nice :). Then we got on the next train just fine and it was less nice, but it had cabin things and 5 of us got in one that had 8 seats so then we shut the door and closed the curtains and kicked up our feet and got comfy :) That was a good nap for about 2 hours. Then the third train was going to be our haul to get to it connection (we only had 8 minutes and had no clue what platform it was on etc.) but then we got there and it said "BUS" so then we went outside and there was a line of buses which was very unexpected. We got on the bus we were supposed to be on and it was super crowded - I sat in the aisle lol. It took us over to another train station where we hopped on our train there, no problem. That lasted about 2 1/2 hours total w/ bus and train. We didn't have to reserve seats on any of these trains so no money wasted :D Then about 12:40 we unloaded in Prague's main train station!!! Yep still not as nice as the station in Florence, but we're spoiled, what can I say?! Lol. From there we found the ATM because we needed Koruna (Czech currency) which is ridiculously confusing because it's worth almost nothing. Last night I paid 49 for dinner at KFC (which is very different than KFCs back home, no normal chicken and no normal sides, but still tasty when you're starving lol) which is less than $2-3! After the ATM we needed food so we left the station and found legit food with falafels (here you go Bubba!), gyros, pizzas, and lots of otther stuff too. It was super cheap and most of us shared stuff. Prague's pretty cheap like everyone said that had been free traveling here before. Then we made our way to our hostel - Yans' Residence. It is super nice, not really hostel-feeling at all. We have all 8 of us in one apartment loft type room. We all freaked at how nice it was :) and they said that I definitely found the most legit hostel for free travel ever lol. Then we walked around some and found Starbucks! They had the best mango drink ever :) We just chilled there and actually got some pointers from this Canadian dude who was super nice. Then later we got some dinner and explored some more.

Overnight train and Salzburg, Austria

Okay so overnight trains= fail, but it's free travel, a once in a lifetime opportunity, etc. We were in a cabin (think less cool Harry Potter train style) with 6 seats. We had 4 seats in the one I was in. They could lay down, but mine didn't work right. We kinda got a little sleep, but not really. We got off in Salzburg at 4 am this morning and it was freezing! Nothing was open so we tried to find somewhere not 40 degrees and rainy. We ended up underneath a part of the train station near a parking garage. There was another group of Americans - from UT ewww! under there too. Some of us got a little sleep down there but it was just too cold. Then at 630 we went up to check on the trains for tomorrow morning to Prague. We'll be leaving our really nice YOHO (Youth Hostel) at 5 am...blah. Then we went into this open caffe and got drinks and tried to be warmer. Then we went to an ATM and it ate Sam's card :( then we went to check on the Sound of Music tour. We all decided to do the bus tour instead of the bike bc it was cooooold and rainy and we didn't want to be miserable - such a good choice! No one regrets it :) We had the cutest little tour guide - a native Austrian man! He told us all the story and how the movie's a little different than real life and then we listened/sang the songs along the way and watched part of the anniversary version's interview with the actress who played Liesl. We drove all around to see the various places in the movie - the gazebo, the lake and back of the house where they fell in the water, the church where they were married, the "I have confidence" road/walkway/gate, and the mountains where they climbed away, among other stuff. Then when we were at the church we got to walk around that little town and eat famous apple streudal with ice cream and go to the famous adel vice shop. Such fun! Then after the tour we went to our hostel and checked in and some of us took a shower (we're all grody) and then we all crashed for a while...much needed sleep :) Then we got ready and went to this little healthy cool food place where I got chicken curry - so delicious and it was hot so it hit the spot. Now I don't know what we're doing lol...I'm just along for the ride.

Happy Father's Day out there and Happy Birthday Daddy - I love you and we'll have to have a father-daughter date when I get back :)

Last night's concert and today's plans

So the concert last night was actually really really interesting and they were obviously very talented artists. I was surprised because I'm not used to seeing the orchestra - usually I'm at the Nutcracker Ballet and they're hidden in the pit. It was really fun to see them and the emotion with which they play and how the conductor got after it and then would calm everyone down and then bring it back again. The place was packed too - Italian culture really is different in that they honestly just appreciate the arts more than we do overall back home.

Today I had Bible class at 8 - we turned in the last chapter's homework, went over our tests (I got a 41/40 - I missed one question, but got the bonus point and then since he didn't get them graded when he said he curved it up 1 point :D). Then we went over chapter 9 on the wedding planning. Once again, I'm very blessed to have the family I have and to be marrying the wonderful man I am and to be gaining awesome in-laws. God really loves me.

Then at 9 I had a final in IES and that went very well :) I still have a couple things left to do for that class, but it's all good...nothing too hard. Then we had Italian and we learned Mona's favorite song which was "caminando" or something like that. It's about walking, but it's also a love song lol. Then we had split chapel and sent the Burks off and had spaghetti for lunch! After that we started packing and then went and bought snacks at the COOP and then Paige and I had to go to the Superal in Scandicci for some other stuff and ended up taking a scenic detour getting back, but we got back and saw some pretty stuff. Also Bus 27 was working today lol...slackers.

So we got what we needed and came back and finished packing. Then I'm trying to see if anyone's up so I can talk to them before getting on a train, but who knows? Our train leaves at 6:30 and we switch to another train around 9 tonight and then get to Salzburg at 4 am tomorrow morning :) joy. We'll chill for a while in the train station there and then go over to our Sound of Music bike tour around 8/9 ish then we'll check into our hostel there and depending on how much sleep we get and the weather, we may go check some stuff out in town.

Then the next day our train for Prague leaves around 6 am, so we'll head on to the next stop :D! I'm so excited!!!

Love you everyone!

Last whole day at villa...before everything changes

So today I had IES class at 8, which turned into Dr. Burks and all your professors are making an epic surprise pancake, eggs, and bacon breakfast for you to eat instead of your IES class...awesome right? The president of my university made me pancakes and then sat next to me in worship...balling! Anyway then we had Bible class which was just finishing up chapter 8 from about a week ago lol so then we had a little time left over to study before Italian for the quiz. Then we learned about conjugating buono (good) and bello (handsome/pretty) as adjectives with masculine or feminine words and singular or plural words...confusing then we took a quiz, it wasn't horrible, but I tend to divert back to Spanish, whoops :/. Then we had chapel and Dr. Burks dismissed us...that's the last time I'll ever hear that which is kinda sad in a funny way. Then we had Humanities with this lady music teacher from the states but that works here now. She was prepping us for the concert we have tonight. It's the London Philharmonic playing a show here because our symphony is on tour elsewhere. The show sounds pretty cool, but the lady went off on a power trip in class and yelled at us about how cell phones and facebook weren't going to get us a job but knowing stuff about classical-type music and our experiences at HUF would. I just couldn't help but think about how they tell you to use networking tools as help to network to make connections and stay/get back in touch to get jobs (example - me and my FAA internship), but I felt bad that people were being disrespectful during her lecture. But it was supppper boring even for someone who loves music and even the "boring stuff" like Tchaikovsky. Then we had lunch which was good and I picked up my laundry :) yay for clean clothes! Then my knee was shot :( so I took 1/2 dose of my med so maybe it won't be so bad tonight lol. Then I did Bible homework studied bit for my final in IES tomorrow (btw I finished my assignment for the website for that class earlier today). Now it's dinner time and then I'll get ready and go to the concert. It starts at 8:30 and lasts forever (1 of the pieces she talked about lasts an hour...blah!) So I may not get to talk to everyone today, but I got to talk to Daddy already! I was excited because we didn't have time that matched up the past couple days :(

The dinner bell's calling my name, so I'm gonna go have some fabulous food. Ciao!

Uffizi

Today I really wanted to sleep in again, but I didn't because we needed to make sure to activate our Eurails and reserve spots on our trains, so we left at 10 and Kyle was nice enough to give us a ride down! So then it only took about 45 minutes or so after we got to the train station, which isn't that bad at all. Then we got some drinks and went to the bathroom lol. Bathrooms here aren't free unless you're a customer :( And then we stopped for me to have a good story - surprise...I got a piercing! Lol, no one needs to freak out it's nothing unprofessional or anything like that. Then we went in this little store in the underground mall and then walked around the San Lorenzo market for a bit. We all got these cute little sundresses! This Chinese lady gave us great deals on them. Then it was time to meet up with our group for lunch. So we ate a very good lunch at the place where Michelangelo used to come and hang out with his buddies and drink wine and eat cheese!!! Who can say they've sat in the same room that Michelangelo did?! I can :D Mkay so then we went to the Uffizi and it is this huge art museum that you're not allowed to take pics in because they want you to buy their prints of stuff...dumb. So I snuck a couple non- flash pics (so I wouldn't damage the art). But no harm done...and the pics for the most part were sooooo epic! Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Giotto, Artemisia ?, and sooo many more. Plus they had this terrace that had great views of the city and architecture! I have one pic that shows 3 centuries of architecture: 13oos, 1400s, and 1500s - 3 different buildings side by side! Then we walked around and got supper and then literally had the Jersey Shore people run into us on the sidewalk. Pauly D checked out my friends butt...no lie! This was the 3rd time today we'd seen them, so we'll probably show up in the show some time lol. Tomorrow we have classes and I need to study bc I have an Italian quiz :( blah!

Love you!

PS - yes there is drama going on here at the villa, yes I do hate it, yes I'm trying to be patient and keep my cool, so far I'm just venting and getting realllllly frustrated, but I probably will end up going off on a couple people if things continue to be like they have been the past few days bc they're being very 2-faced and just plain mean-spirited about other people and it's not necessary at all. (Trey sing the song for me! hahahahah)

PPS - Apparently there's a book by Freud about Leonardo da Vinci and how he has daddy issues and lots of other stuff...I have to find this book!!! Graduation present anyone? - Trey, didn't you want me to read a Freudian book since I like him? This would be perfect ;)

Sleep! Oh and classes...(1 day late lol)

Yesterday I got to sleep in and it was glorious!!! I woke up a couple times but just went back to sleep. I didn't get up to get ready until about 11:30. Then we had a great lunch and then had afternoon classes. We had an Italian test which actually went a lot better than I expected :) Then in Humanities we talked about the Uffizi (an art gallery made by the Medici family way back). Then in IES we learned about agriculture in Italy and what all goes into making cheese, wine, and olive oil. Then we took a "field trip" outside to look at our olive trees, rosemary bushes, and then a little ways down our hill to look at the grapevines of our neighbors that the fall groups get to help harvest. Then we watched youtube videos of how they clean them, etc. Very informative...I appreciate it all a lot more now, because it takes a lot of time and effort! Then we had dinner and went to Robbie and Marion's art show at the Club House in Florence. Robbie paints and so does Marion. Marion is a crippled man from church who is sooo precious. He paints by holding the paintbrush between his two misshapen, seemingly unusable hands. His determination and spirit are truly touching. It was a fun, but very crowded experience. The food was pretty good. Then some of us went walking around Florence and found a really cool Kabob place where the people are super fun and nice. Then we came back up to the villa and crashed!

Yesterday @ San Giminano and Siena

We woke up pretty early (I had a rough night, bummer) and then got on a bus to go to San Giminano. It's a little medieval town that shows us what Florence was like before it got bulked up and the flood of 1966, etc. It still had multiple towers and we climbed one to get a better look over the city. We went to a church and on one side there were many frescos of Old Testament scenes and on the other side of the church there were New Testament scenes. I found it very interesting that our guide (Donnatella who was sooo precious!) mentioned that the majority of people were illiterate up until quite recently so the preacher would be in the pulpit and would say I'm talking about that picture over there, this is what's happening and these are who the people are, etc. So that was very insightful. There we had 2 writing assignments: we had to choose one NT/OT scene to write about and respond to - I chose the betrayal of Jesus scene. There was a ton of emotion and Judas was kissing his cheek, Jesus was peaceful and looking heavenward as if asking God for strength, Peter was tackling the guy and cutting off his ear, some of the other disciples were fleeing, and the mob of soldiers were out for blood. It was just so full of everything. Then I had to choose from writing about the Last Judgement scene (either Heaven or Hell) at the front of the church or about the little chapel dedicated to this saint girl. It wasn't all that pretty and I thought her story about sainthood was stupid so I wrote about Hell. Heaven was very bland and angelic and happy. Hell was super scary - the demons were all grinning maliciously as they tortured people. They separated it into the 7 deadly sins and they were getting punished accordingly. It was super creepy... Gluttons were being forced to eat poop, people were getting stabbed in horrible places, I noticed that a couple of people were just in the middle of all the pain and chaos and were curled up in a ball with their head in their hands because of the anguish... It was all just very sad. Then we wandered around the town some more and it was pretty, but there wasn't really anything to do.

Then a short bus ride over to Siena (where they have the horse races on the 2nd!!! I'm going :D). There we went to another church, the world's oldest still operating bank, and then the square. Then we got some drinks and chilled in the square for a little bit and then walked around and looked in the shops. I finally found a bookstore that had English books, but they didn't have anything worthwhile :(. Then we chilled in the square some more and then more people met up with us and then finally we had dinner - which was the best food I've had yet... and it'll be hard to top. First there were appetizers with bread and different stuff on top. I had some bread lol. Then the pasta - homemade spaghetti-ish noodles that were super thick and awesome covered in tomato based sauce with epic spices. We got another helping at my table lol! Then they brought out a platter of meat and potatoes that were to die for. Then we had a traditional Sienese dessert- some kind of chocolate cake with white mousse stuff at the top and yellow cream stuff all over it. I tried it, but I was pretty full and was not too fond of the cream stuff. Then they brought out biscotti and coffee for those that wanted it. Then we got back on the bus and drove back. This was the most ghetto bus yet, sooo rickety. But we made it back in one piece! Then we crashed basically.

Author talk & University of Florence

Today we left the villa around 9 to get to the Piazza Strozzi. They gave us a 3 euro allowance to get a coffee or drink before going so I got a coke :). Then my stomach wasn't feeling too hot so I only drank about half of it, but the half I drank was good lol. The author has written about 8 books and is 35 years old! The book he talked the most about is called Tolkein and Bach comparing fantasy (mainly The Lord of the Rings trilogy) with classical literature and showing the similarities and common lessons to be learned, etc. He also translates books into many different languages! I think he's fluent in like 10 languages or something insane like that... He also went on a little rant about hollistic medicine and how flowers can cure anxiety but different ones work for different people and they test it by hovering your right hand over the piles and then watching the muscles respond in your left arm...I was a little skeptical about all of that, but if it works for you go for it. Still CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) + meds = best results according to all the empirical research, but whatev. I was really tired and he was pretty boring.

Then we had to rush to get over to the train station to meet up with Ermenita who works at the Bible school and goes to church with us in Florence. She went to school at the University of Florence so she took us to one of their campuses and we ate in their cafeteria and then peaked in on a student taking his final oral exams and then talked about how their schooling is different than ours. You pay 2000 euro per year (2 semesters) and can take as many classes as you want. You don't have to go to classes, just read the 3 or so books and then show up for the oral examinations at the end. Then to graduate you write a 250+ page thesis paper thing. A bachelor's is 180 credits (most classes are 6 credits) and a master's is 120 credits.

Then she took us to an artisan's workshop and it was amazing! He told us about how he does what he does and smushed a 1 euro coin into a giglio (Florentine fleur-de-lis) for me! I got a pic of him smushing it and then one with him afterwards. There were some really cool souvenier type things and some really gotty jewelry. I got a couple things for some people there, but you won't know til Xmas! Also he works for Sax 5th Avenue and other ritzy American places who really jack up his prices. They sought him out because he's been doing in for 50-something years now. They've been his clients for probably 20ish years now. For the smaller stuff he has to make a wax impression of each one he makes. For the pressed stuff he hand carves out the design and then makes it. He is crazy-talented!

Then there wasn't enough time left to reserve the Eurail stuff for free travel so we'll have to do that tomorrow (hopefully)! Tomorrow we go to Siena and San Giminiano for the day. It should be fun. I need to figure out when my stuff's due and when my tests are and what they're over, so I should probably check that stuff out LOL!

Synagogue Museum and Kosher Food

Today we had another onsite class, which was really just an experience. It was the synagogue, Jewish community, and Jewish museum in Florence. The architecture and building were stunning inside. Very different from other synagogues. There were beautiful, simple stained glass windows and really colorful frescos covering all the walls. Unlike the synagogue I got to visit in Chicago with my living world religions class, this was an Orthodox synagogue! Shoutout to Trey - yes the women have to sit upstairs separate and the only time they can read the Torah out loud is at their bat mitzfahs when they're 13. But personally I think the view is better from up top anyway and the seats are better because they are padded :P lol! They have about 1000 members now, but only like 10-30ish come regularly, but on the high holy days the place gets full. They meet 4 times a week and on Sabbath they do a church eat church style thing and it lasts about 8 hours! From this community they had about 300 people get deported into Aushwitz and only about 30 survived. About 500 of their members were able to hide in Florence. Then we watched this really depressing movie about the history of the Holocaust and how it really started with all the anti-semitism and that's why people didn't intervene or care about Hitler spewing hate all over all the time. It talked about some book that Henry Ford interpreted and then mass printed, but it didn't catch on in America - I don't remember what it was called, but I had never heard of it before. And they basically thought that made Hitler crazy and get brainwashed to believe that anything bad that happened was the Jews' fault.

Then we had lunch at a Kosher vegetarian restaurant next door and the antipasta (appetizer/first course) was hummus (I tried it :'( ) and then the main course was cous cous with mixed veggies in a broth - soooo good all mixed together! I know...who is this that took over Sara's blog right? It was so good I actually got seconds. Then the dessert was some kind of apple awesomeness. It reminded some people of apple crisp? I don't know anything except is was delicious! Then a few of us went to the markets and then went back to the villa.

I think except for a couple specific things, I have everyone's souveniers :D

PS - yesterday and today we haven't been allowed to take any pics :( I got pics of the outside of the synagogue today and yesterday I may have decided it risk getting yelled at and take a couple of Michelangelo's masterpiece, The David. 0:) [The guards didn't see me though...hehe]

Tomorrow is about an hour (so really 2 hours+) of onsite classes from this author who wrote about Bach and Tolkien and then I have an afternoon tour of the University of Florence. I also need to activate my Eurail and reserve my spot on the trains! We're getting all the details and stuff worked out for our free travel :D

4 onsites in one day?!

Today was not a very fun day for me because I was woken up before I was supposed to be up, I didn't feel good all day, and my plans didn't end up working out. But on the upside of things we went to really cool museums and churches and monasteries. I saw like 14 pieces of Michelangelo's work today. The David is soooo epic. I can't even describe it. Also I saw a clay cast of another piece of art that the original is behind scaffolding for something, probably renovation, etc. But I definitely want to go back to the Accademia to look at those some more and go to the exhibit that's there. I think it's Bottacelli, maybe? They also have a small ancient musical instruments room.
After the craziness of going from the Medici chapels, to San Lorenzo church, to San Marco monastery, to the Accademia...we were all ready for a nap or something lol. That's a lot to pack into one day - even according to our onsite teacher/tourguide! So then my friends and I went to some shops and then a market and then to the underground mall thing under the train station. There I decided I was too bad off to continue the rest of the evening with them and I didn't want to drag them down either, so I just came back to the villa. I stopped at the COOP in Florence on the way back though. It was pretty cool, nothing too spectacular though. Grocery stores in Italy are way different than back home that's for sure. I had to scan my receipt for the door to open to let me out! Anyway then I got back and layed down for a bit and did NOT take a nap since it was too late for that. LOL. Then I caught up on talking with everyone and uploaded/edited pics - check facebook maybe tomorrow? Then I did my work for the day here at the villa, not too hard lol.

I don't know tomorrow's schedule for sure yet, but I know that we go to a synagogue tomorrow morning (don't worry, not for worship - they do that on Sabbath). Then they're going to treat us to a kosher lunch. Then I think we have more onsite classes in Florence and then Dr. Burks (Coach Burks' dad and the president of Harding) is coming into town for a visit. We're supposed to get him to make us pancakes :) I think we may have some classes tomorrow, but I don't know for sure yet - I'm about to go check the schedule to see what the plan is.

Love you all!

PS - I got some more souveniers today! I really do hope you all like what I'm getting you...

Friday Classes at the Villa

Today I woke up pretty early bc Susan (my friend on the bunk under mine) had to leave to go to a conference back in Dallas at 5 am! So she had multiple alarms and had someone calling her to make sure about something and then she had to pack stuff so I was tossing for a while, but that's ancient history at this point.

I got up for IES class at 8 at 730 (my alarm did not go off today but I got up then anyway lol) and drank some juice and ate my snickers and had water. Then we discussed a book that we've read for that class, which I actually did all the work for! And then we did a writeup about it. Then we had Bible class and we didn't get all the way through chapter 8 so we don't have homework for that yet. Then I had a little nap time before Italian. We learned a new song in there today and it's awesome - it's a hippie song about flowers! So much fun :) Then we had a quiz in Humanities and then learned some background for our onsite classes tomorrow at San Lorenzo church. Then it was lunch time!

Most of the afternoon was split up in different groups: horseback riding, library project, University of Florence tour, and drawing class with Mike and then those of us who had nothing :). I was in the nothing part of the afternoon so I took a nice, much needed nap and then ate dinner and then worked and then planned free travel stuff in Prague and (finally) booked a hostel there. I'm getting excited about that. I think our group is going to be a blast to go with!

Then I got on here and updated yesterday's activities in a blog and did this one and then talked with some people :)

Love you all!

Last day in the Casentino - 09-06-2011

Today was actually a big bummer :( We went up a windy mountain road which was very scary and our bus driver almost killed all of us at least 4 times. (Coach Burks was planning on grading our tests on the way back, but he was too busy holding on for dear life...so it wasn't just me. Also one of my friends is like mom in that she gasps and throws her hand out to grab ahold of something when he would get too close to the edge of a cliff or almost hit another car and have to slam on the brakes.) I was looking forward to the Fransican monastery/church thing that we went to up on this mountain. It was pretty cool and there were some cool sights, but it was really bad rainy weather, so we couldn't really see any of the beautiful sights like the valley it overlooked, because it was all covered by pretty clouds. Also during the free time I went back to one of the chapels we had gone in and I just sat and prayed for a while, which was good and much needed. Apparently had I stayed in the main chapel, I would have been able to see some of mass, so I was kinda bummed I missed that. I met a few nuns and saw a priest who couldn't have been more than 18 years old. That part really struck me as true dedication because he would have had to go through a lot of preparation to have entered the brotherhood so young and that's now his whole life.

Then we went down the mountain and then jotted back up this other road to try to see a hermitage village thing in Camaldoli, but it was closed. But luckily this little building with pictures of what it was like inside was open and we went in there. There are 7 or 8 monks who live there permanently and some space for other people to come and go. We walked around outside here in the woods and sunshine. I got a little something for Grammie here :) I hope she'll like it. Then we traveled back to the villa and I was glad to be back and off that bus!

Then after dinner few of my friends wanted to go into Florence and invited me, so I decided to be social :/ but it ended up being very fun. We happened upon this band/drumline thing playing in the space around the Duomo. We think it was to promote people voting yes on something about water on June 12th and 13th. It was really cool. Then we found some really cool little inexpensive shops :) Then it was time to come back and get some studying done for our Hum quiz and read for IES.

Then I crashed bc it was a really long, weird day. Love you all!

Caught up!

So I'm finally caught up LOL. Today is Wednesday and we went to the wool museum this morning. Casentino has a special history with wool and the wool they are famous for today. We saw how weaving has evolved and how it's done today and then there was an optional weaving class, which I stayed for. I made a little pot holder square thing... lol. Then we had a sack lunch, and it was actually GOOD today! I know I was surprised too. (I think we're having them again tomorrow, so I'm kinda looking forward to it lol).

Brain skip - I just realized I forgot to tell you about the pizza marathon of last night! Best pizza yet, but that's because the main chef is from Napoli where pizza came from originally. We all went to this pizzeria in town and took up the entire restaurant...whoops! Robbie ordered ham, cheese, pepperoni, 4 cheese, and sausage. We all got one slice (supposedly 1/8th of the entire pizza, but think sbarro slice size) of each flavor. Example: first out was the ham so they kept bringing plate after plate of ham pizzas out for each of the 40ish of us to have a slice. Some of us halved slices just bc there was so much food. By the end, he ended up canceling the sausage bc we wouldn't have been able to eat it. The quattro formaggie was my fave - soooo good. It had mozzerella and sheep cheese and 2 other cheeses that I couldn't identify. I had an entire slice of that to myself :D PS - we also saw the mill and had a fab dinner there and got in the Arno River while it was still clean!

Back to today: sack lunches, short nap, then get on a train to go to Poppi to see the next castle! This one was sooo epic, very much what you'd think a castle would be like. I got some souveneirs here :) Also we had a sword fight. There was a little chapel room and some of the original fresco work on the walls were still here. Also there was a library that's usually closed. 2 of the 5 rooms were open. They held books as far back as 1330, but I couldn't get pictures bc of the damage :( The lady I talked to said the other rooms held books as far back as the 900s! As you can imagine it smelled sooo good in that room. Also in this Guidy castle they had a replica and stuff about the epic battle between the papal state and the other side (lol sorry). It was about who could appoint bishops etc. And it was pretty bloody and people got exiled and people were traitors and all kinds of cool stuff. I have some pics from this room that are pretty legit ;) Then I climbed the tower to see the bell at the top, but mostly for the view of the surrounding towns, etc. It was rainy today and yesterday so it had some pretty cool views of the clouds hovering low over mountains, etc. And naturally the bell rang as I was standing next to it and it nearly caused me to fall down the forever long stairs, but luckily I didn't fall 0:). Also it was kinda a bummer bc it didn't ring like bells used to by swingin side to side. It was held stationary and hit by a hammer-thing, but it's super old, so that's ok I guess.

Then we shuttled back to the Castle from yesterday - and we got to see the rest of it and how they irrigated it by rainwater on the roof and all sorts of cool stuff. Also we got to have supper here and it was so delicious. We had all kinds of medieval recipes and I actually liked it...I know shocker! Also we had a little devo upstairs before we left and sang happy bday to Kaden (the Burks' youngest) bc he turned 11 today. He was sooo excited :) Marta sells cookbooks of all kinds of super easy, but delicious Tuscan/medieval dishes, some of which we ate tonight and she signed them for us and wrote little notes in them. She's just so precious, I really do hope that her tests come back better than expected. Then we came back to the hotel.

Whoops I also forgot that the prison tower of that Romanesque castle is probably what inspired Dante's levels of hell which got worse as you got further down (as did the torture/punishment in this prison). Cool/creepy huh?

Tomorrow we visit a Fransican monastery and then, weather permitting hike in the woods a bit, and then travel back to the villa.

Tuesday - Casentino's My Fave

Okay...everyone needs to have a retreat week in the places I've seen today! We left the villa pretty early and took a 2 hour bus ride across the region of Tuscany to the other side = Casentino! It's not really touristy, or busy so I think that's part of what makes it so appealing. It also just has a simplistic, natural beauty to everything. We went to 2 Guidy castles today - one was a Romanesque castle with 3 towers: one was a prison/torture tower, one was the main tower, and the last was an escape tower in case of enemies overtaking their defenses. It could only be entered from the top and then the family would climb down the rope ladder and the soldiers would cut it after they were safely down and then fight off the enemies and probably die in service. At the bottom, there was a secret passageway to the neighboring monastery. In the courtyard here 4 of the guys in my group decided to joust each other chicken-fight style. So two got on the others' shoulders and they took off running/galloping at each other and the two on top simultaneously punched each other in the chest and the impact caused them all to tumble. It was absolutely hilarious! We got video footage of it... Some of the other guys were trotting around doing the Monty Python horse clop noise...goofy boys.

My absolute favorite part of today was the Romanesque church we went to where they do the rehabilitation for people who need rejuvinating or refocusing of their lives. The church wasn't over the top or super colorful - it actually was very plain and kind of dull if you like all the grandoise type of Catholic church styles. This is by far my favorite church I've ever seen or stepped foot in. It sounds weird, but just being here felt close to God. Singing in the church was such a moving and humbling and uplifting experience. If I could work all the details out and get everyone over here, Tyler and I would def be getting married in this place... The lady that works here and helps out with the rehab program was so kind and helpful. They had a little store with items handmade by the people as a part of their rehab. It was all just so beautiful. I may have bought a little peace dove wall decoration for my new house and told the lady to keep the change...but then again I'm a sucker for good causes and I honestly think that they are doing God's work up there.

The next castle we went to is run by a sweet little old lady named Marta, who is sick - so please keep her in your prayers! A few of us got to stay in the castle instead of the hotel (bc they didn't have enough room for us), but I wasn't one of those, but it's ok bc the hotel is nice and in the middle of old Stia - a town at the bottom of the hill. She told us the story of her parents - her dad was an American soldier in WWII and he fell madly in love with her mom, an Italian and told her he'd come back for her. All her friends told her that they'd heard that and it was a lie, but he came back for her and they married. They later realized that they were related to the Guidy counts and therefore inherited the castle she now runs and lives in. She is so precious! We get to come back here tomorrow for supper!

Makeup for Monday

So once again - sorry guys! Monday was a good day. It started verrrrry early for my IES class. We had to leave the villa at 5:45 am to go down to Scandicci and Florence and see who was up super early and what they were doing, because it's a very different experience than later on at a normal time lol. Surprisingly I managed to be awake. We saw a milkman, breadman, and cheeseman all making deliveries. We also saw parents taking a student to school, yes their schools here are a lot more legit in some ways than back home. We went to a couple coffee shops and got pastries and drinks. I got coke...boring I know. I just can't do coffee. (Sorry daddy :'( )Then we went back to the villa just in time for IES class at 8 then a Bible test at 9. Then I had about an hour break so I crashed for a bit. Then I had an Italian quiz, that I knew most of bc I actually studied it this time lol. Then we had a drawing/painting class with Mike, a former animation dude for Disney - he did Pegasus in Hercules and John Smith in Pocahontas and tons of other cool stuff. I was supposed to have an actual drawing class that afternoon with him in a piazza in Florence, but the weather wasn't right for drawing outside, so that's postponed for right now. Then I got my emergency/semi-cheapish phone that I can use in Italy to call home or other people in Italy if I needed to. It was free and I only pay for what I use so that's cool. The lady knows Harding so we get a special deal.

Then we had an amazing lunch and then I read some and then worked with my group on free travel plans and we have it basically worked out: Day 1 = get to Salzburg, Austria. Day 2 = go on a bike tour of Sound of Music and travel to Prague. Then for the next 3 days check out all the awesome stuff in Prague, Czech Republic. There's a communism museum and castles and jewish quarters and all kinds of legit stuff! I'm super excited. Then we just take a super long train back to Florence :)

Then it was time for dinner (which once again = amazing) and then I had a little time before volleyball class. It was pretty fun tonight. I haven't lost all of it yet! LOL. I actually can still serve and hit pretty well. I can definitely still pass, but that's my bread and butter ;) I kinda forget that my knee's bad when I'm playing so Coach Burks has to remind me to take it easy...whoops. Luckily we're playing outside on a cement court so I'm not diving at all which would totally screw up my knees. Then I did my cleaning work, packed for Casentino, and talked to a few people before crashing for bed.

Slacker...sorry

Sorry I missed my post yesterday! It was a super long, but good day. I'll update this more and give you specifics probably Thursday when I'm back at the villa and can charge my computer because it's about to die again...sorry. I'm in Casentino now and will return to the villa on Thursday evening. It's wonderful here - so far my favorite place :) Tell you more later. Love you!!!

Italian Potluck

Today we went to church in Florence again and it was a very good service about the Holy Spirit and how it has worked before and how it comforts us today and is always with us. The man who spoke lost his mom a few days ago :(. I met this very precious man who is physically disabled, but very sweet. There was also a druggie/drunk who came up and was talking to us while we were waiting outside for the potluck to be ready for us. I took him inside to Robbie who could tell him more about the church, which is what he was asking about. The lunch was delicious! We had pasta and chicken and Italian cornbread and green beans and desserts. We turned the auditorium space into the dining room area and then back again after we were done. Since I helped I got a ride back to the villa :D! Then it was time for Bible class, where we explained the current dating scene to our professor and then we reviewed for a test tomorrow. Then I had a break and then devo and dinner - pizza and ice cream! I took 1/2 a dose of my knee med tonight with dinner in some fanta, so it didn't taste as awful, so I'll probably knock out pretty soon lol. Then after that we had a little break until the concert of the Beatles cover band (which is Robbie and Mona's son and his friends). They could harmonize pretty well and play instruments well. I'm just too much of a Beatles fan - I can be critical of the Across the Universe movie which is brilliant, so I skyped and listened from upstairs while I studied for the Bible test and Italian quiz I have tomorrow. I also have a paper to read and need to be well rested bc I have to go people-watching at 5:45 in the morning for IES...Kyle will be the death of me :(

I love Hey Jude!!! But they def butchered it by putting it in a medley and starting it too high and then skipping around. Sad day, but that's what the originals on ipods are for, right? Lol...love it.

K I'm gonna go get cleaned up and study some before I crash (hopefully)

Love you all and hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

Clases and rainy afternoon

BTW - I forgot to tell you that I like cherries! I tried them yesterday and they're so legit.

This morning my alarm clock didn't go off so I woke up at 0804 and my first class had started at 0800. So I threw on clothes, threw my hair up and grabbed my glasses (first time since I've been here) and brushed my teeth and washed my face and ran downstairs. I hadn't really missed anything and Kyle wasn't upset, so it was all good. I got some orange juice before they put it up and had that, water, and a snickers for breakfast so I could take my medicine. Speaking of medicine, I got mine today- it's this nasty powder stuff that they tried to flavor but it didn't work out. I mix a packet with water and chug it. Then eat and drink something else. But it seems to help, I'm pretty sure it has some codeine in it bc I'm suuuuper tired and somewhat goofy, but I haven't crashed yet :).

In IES class, we went over how to use a time table book for the train system and helping to plan traveling stuff. I think I found my new first free travel group, I'm pretty sure we're going to Spain. I looked through the stuff and Barcelona and Madrid look really balling. Also I'm def hitting up Paris on my few days before I come home - awesome stuff! I'm working on that stuff tonight.

Then in Bible we went over the next chapter about dating and then instead of the chapter questions, he had made up his own so I just answered those and turned them in with the other 2 homework assignments.

Then I had some down time so I took a little nap and then had Italian class, which was fun except we didn't sing today :( Remind me when I get home and I'll sing you "Vorrei" lol! The ladies made us a snack so we could stay awake and didn't die waiting for lunch til 1330, how sweet are they? Then we had the guest speaker again and it was super interesting! We talked about how the prime minister's really messed up. Also we talked about their politics since 1940ish, but mainly about what's going on right now, etc. Next weekend they're voting on 4 reforendums ? about different stuff and he opposes all of them, but they'll probably pass. Italy has about 82% voter turn out consistently! Crazy, huh :) Then we had chapel and then lunch.

We had homemade ravioli YUM and then I started working on free travel stuff. Also I need to go check on my laundry bc it's my laundry day. I have a volleyball class at 1700, but seeing as it's crazy storming outside, I highly doubt class is going to happen. Then we have dinner and SOUND OF MUSIC later :D I'm probably going to sing along at parts, confession. Lol.

I've also got an Italian quiz tomorrow to study for. Monday I have a test in Bible, and for IES class we're leaving the villa at 5:45 in the morning to go see who's out and about at that time. We'll see how that goes - I already told Kyle it wouldn't be pretty lol. I also have homework due in Italian tomorrow and in IES on Monday. So I should probably get that knocked out of the way ;)

Scandicci Library project, Dr visit, Wrong class!

Apparently last night when I was planning my stuff for today I misread the schedule so I thought I had an 8 o'clock class and really didn't have anything til Bible at 9 so I got up and around and was in class and then realized I don't have this class :( bummer. So I got a little more sleep :). Then I had Bible - we covered picking a mate and then turned in 2 chapters' worth of homework and then had a few minutes to study for our Italian quiz. That quiz was pretty epic, but I think I did ok on it. I should probably study more, but I really can't muster the drive bc I'm not going to flunk, but I'll probably try more, so don't worry! Then we had a guest professor come in and talk to our Humanities and IES classes about the history of the nation of Italy. It's only been a unified nation for 150 years (I'm here the anniversary year!!!). So we went from ancient times to about 1940s today in 2 hours. Then we finally had lunch - pesto pasta! YUM and then I had a wonderful nap and then woke up to go to the library project and the doctor was almost here to check out my knee. She said it's fine, but she's giving me something stronger than ibuprofen for a few days to see if it works and then if not, she has something else to give me - I think a shot, maybe? Hopefully the first thing works and I don't have anymore issues, but that's probably unlikely lol. So then we went to the library to read to young Italian kids and work on their English. They were soooo cute and it was so much fun getting to talk to them and working n our Italian and helping them with English! Then Kyle took us to La Bottega for dinner and it was delish :) Then we came back and I got schooled in a ping pong tournament. Actually I held my own for a bit, I just need some more practice to get back in the swing of things - and a legit paddle wouldn't hurt either. I have more Bible homework to do and some IES stuff to work on tonight. Tomorrow is normal classes, maybe a drawing class?, and a surprise movie night :) I'm excited about that.

Love and miss you all!

Classes again?

We have "normal classes" again til next Tuesday, which is when we leave for our Casentino trip where I'll get to see castles :) be jealous! Today I had IES (intro to European studies) then Bible then a break then Humanities and then Italian. During my break I did the Bible homework chapters that are due tomorrow and then started working ahead in IES. We have this book that we have to read chapters out of and be prepared to reflect about what we've read, so I read a few chapters and wrote down responses. Then we had chapel and a delicious lunch - it was like an Italian version of rounds :D. So needless to say, I got seconds of that! Then I took a short nap and got ready for vb class where we covered under and overhand serving and played some. I surprisingly still have a pretty legit serve once I warm up. It kinda makes me happy that I haven't lost everything. On a downside the skills test in that class consists of 10 serves, 10 passes, and 5 sets = 25 points. So basically I'll just have a 20/25 bc I honestly still cannot set to save my life LOL! Then later tonight we'll be having dinner and a devo with the BAT group - Bison Athletes in Training, another Harding group that's in Italy right now. I still have some homework and studying to do so I think I'll get on that.

Pace & Amorè
(peace and love)

Traveling back to the villa & Rain fiasco

Since I've been asked more about yesterday, no I did not go to the island of Capri, but I don't regret it. It was essentially the same as what we've seen thus far, from what I heard from those that went, so I'm happy with my recuperation day plan.

Wednesday was pretty crazy to say the least. There was a forecast of rain, which I was not aware of, but that's ok. On the itinerary we were supposed to take a bus to the Almafi coast (which is beautiful), then take a boat ride to better appreciate the coast, and then ride the bus again. Then we were supposed to get on the Eurostar train in Naples and take it through Rome to Florence and from there it's normal get back to the villa :).

It was a fiasco because the coast drive is ridiculous. Super curvy, beautiful, but scary. And we were on it in a downpour and on this huge bus. I think I would have been freaked out even before my car wreck in scary rain, but now it's just bad. Eventually I'll get back to enjoying thunderstorms again...I'm determined lol. Then we walked down to the coast, 596 steps...yep my recuperation day plan died. The villa dr's coming to check out my knee though so it'll all work out. Then it started raining and we had to abandon the little cute shops and hide in a restaurant awning and then cram on this little boat to get to where our bus was. So we were out in the ocean while it was crazy stormy and scary and people had to get bags and take meds bc they were getting sick. Luckily no one puked though. We made it back and it was really great to be back at the villa. Surprisingly it does feel like a home away from home.

May 31: Sorrento Free Day

Today was a free day, so Susan and I slept in and let ourselves catch up from yesterday's ridiculous schedule. Then we got some pizza and walked around Sorrento. It was a really pretty little town. There was this epic view of the coast and islands just down the street and there was a really beautiful church around the bend too! Then for supper we got a feast of chips, fruits (epic strawberries and HUGE grapes), and drinks from this market thing we found. Then we watched the antimafia show in Italian - think Law and Order lol. Then we crashed again.

May 30: Pompei!!!

Today I was so tired and sick, it was a pretty awful morning, but by afternoon I was feeling less awful and curl-in-a-ball-ish, so that was good. Lots of stuff at Pompei was closed bc of structural damage - basically they're afraid of lawsuits bc of stuff falling on people. So that was a bummer, but the museum in the morning of all the statues and ruins was super cool and the stuff we did se at the ruins was cool - like the first beware of dog sign :) and the theater and crypts and remains of some people trying to escape and the bathhouses, and we just walked by the brothel (but I saw a history channel thing on that, so I've basically already seen it.) Then we took a tram thing to Sorrento. That tram was sooo ghetto and sketch, but it got us there in one piece. Then we checked into a really nice hotel and went to get pizza! YUM.