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Internet is a luxury therefore blogs will be scarce until my landlord fixes our wireless connection…

Tomorrow we head to Ravenna for our art history class. It is about three hours northeast of Arezzo. It is right on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and it is well known for its mosaics. We are all really excited to see a new place and some of us, myself included, will head to Venice from there for the weekend. We are going to spend 3 nights there and I am so so excited. We will have plenty of time to see all the tourist attractions as well as go exploring into the unknown. One day we will take a boat to Murano Island which is known for its glass. We will also take a guided tour that allows us to see how its made. I have been most eager to see Venice and I can't wait to stand on the Bridge of Sighs and watch the gondalas go by. Oh and how could I forget chasing the pigeons in Piazza San Marco!

Homesickness has not yet struck me though there are several things I am starting to miss from the States…

All the doors here going into restaurants, stores, etc must be pushed in, not pulled open. That was hard to get used to and I still find myself making that same mistake.

People here do not smile at you when they make eye contact on the street. You keep your eyes forward and don't acknowledge anyone you do not know.Its strange how cold people can seem to be but the mentality here just doesn't include friendly gestures.

Although when someone is interested in you at a bar or something they will not take their eyes off of you unless you continuously ignore their stares.

People do not have a sense of personal space here. When walking around town people hardly move out of the way to let you pass, cars included get dangerously close when driving by.

Since Italy is such a popular vacation spot, vendors swarm from Eastern Europe and North Africa to sell ridiculous stuff. They will come to your table at dinner and try to sell you roses and when it rains they sell umbrellas like crazy. It is not illegal for them to come into restaurants while you're enjoying a nice meal and it DRIVES ME CRAZY.

Italy is very different but I love it immensely. There is so much beauty and history and flavor to absolutely everything. Just yesterday I went to the cemetery in Arezzo and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It is an above ground cemetery which means people aren't actually buried underground. Their coffins are basically placed in a marble box. Everyone has pictures on their tombstones and candles burn indefinitely. I wish you all could see it for yourself. It will make your jaw drop.

I've been eating well and drinking better. Everyday is different and I'm learning something new all the time. I've started my advanced Italian class with Monica at the University. We meet for 2 hours a day until the end of March. My class, Storia di Cristianismo e della Chiese starts in March and will be completely taught in Italian. I am excited for that.

There should be plenty more time for traveling on the weekends. We are currently working on a trip to Dublin, keep your fingers crossed. My goal is to get to Ireland and Poland at some point. For spring break we are thinking about either going to an island in Greece or heading to Spain for the Festival of Fire. Whichever is cheaper I am sure will be the winner though both would be fine with me!

One fun fact I just learned this week is that the Pope has certified 7 priests in the world to be exorcists and one of them is here in Arezzo...not that I'm looking to get exorcised or anything, just thought that was pretty sweet.

I promise to post pictures soon, its just a matter of getting internet. I will be gone until Sunday so hopefully within the next week I can post pics from Rome AND Venice. I hope all is well with you back home. I miss you all!

Ciao for now