Morning strolls and more

Today was my second full day in Sansepolcro and began equally as early as the first ... but felt much earlier because of our delayed bedtime the night before! Joy, Hillary, Meredith, and I had finished our homework and needed something to eat, so we dove into our Italian crackers and delicious Nutella (which is sort of like chocolate spread with the consistency of peanut butter). It was just what the doctor ordered. We laughed so hard we cried - and by the time we decided to turn in almost all of the Nutella was gone :)


When the alarm went off at 6:30 it took a deliberate effort to get my eyelids open, and I rolled out of the top bunk with a sigh. However within 5 minutes I was wide awake and ready for the walk ahead. Today the group was considerably smaller - I was one of three students - but it was nice to have the professors to ourselves. I was able to ask lots of questions and take plenty of pictures, and the walk was far more like a stroll than the hike we experienced yesterday. Dr. Oatsvall led us through the streets of Sansepolcro, pointing out parks, landmarks, and other points of interest. Tomorrow she said we could walk to the cemetary; I saw it on the way in and it reminded me of the cemetary in the new Phantom of the Opera movie.

Most of the day was spent in class - after all, it is called STUDY abroad - but a lot of our art class time was spent outdoors and the weather was gorgeous. Dr. Oatsvall's Italian class on Italian culture was so interesting; the most surprising thing I learned was how similar the differences between north and south Italy are to those in the U.S. Northerners are marked by their industry, efficiency, and education, whereas the southern Italians are known for agriculture, family values, and hospitality. How funny is that? Italian class was my favorite part. Our instructor, Sarah, was friendly and patient, making the initial rules and phrases easy to learn through games that involved everyone in the room - even our own professors. Since I have already had two semesters of Italian is was mostly review for me, but I appreciated the opportunity to refresh myself on the basics. I am certainly improving through the flood of questions from my fellow students!

That night we went out to get dinner for ourselves and bought pizza at a local pizzeria. Then we high-tailed it back to the gelato shop (they recognize us as regulars now) before heading back home to start planning for our first travel break. I will be traveling with four other girls - Joy Strickland, Meredith Beeman, Hillary Morgan, and Stacie Whitley - and we are planning to spend the three available days in Rome rather than trying to hit Pompei or Capri too. We figured it would be better to take in all we could in one place instead of hopping from one to another without stopping to really experience the site. And Rome, of course, was the obvious choice - although I am pretty disappointed about missing Capri. I guess I'll have to save that for the next time I come to Italy ...


Today we went to mass at S. Giovanni Evangelista Cathedral, which was built sometime in the early 1300s! I had never attended a mass before and had no clue what was going on, so the fact that it was all in Italian complicated matters a bit. However the beauty of the cathedral itself was absolutely captivating. I think I stared at the ceiling for more than half of the service! I couldn't take pictures during the service, so I resolved to go back and take pictures at the next opportunity.

I am going to do my best to get to the Internet point sometime tomorrow afternoon so I can post pictures, but we have a pretty full day. For the first time in the history of this program we have internet access in our Italian home (which I will post pictures of eventually), but the computer is pretty old and has no USB port. Thus, no pictures.

That's all I have time for now! It's almost 1am and I'm getting up at 6:30 to walk with Dr. O again. Thanks for the emails! Please forgive me for taking a while to reply - one computer between all these girls hasn't been easy, but we're managing!

Much love! Hopefully I'll have time for another update tomorrow ...

Buona notte!