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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