San Gimignano

Today we traveled to San Gimignano; our last bus trip together as a school and it was by far the best! San Gimignano is a small medieval hill town in Tuscany not to far from Siena. It is mostly known for its large medieval towers and it's famous white wine; Vernaccia di San Gimignano; grown locally! We visited the church Sant'Agostino which holds very famous pieces of art representing hell and heaven. We then toured the main church of the city called Collegiata. It amazes me that even though we see many churches; each one if different and represents different times in history and stories. One being more beautiful then the next reminds me of the history and spirituality each one has! The town is surrounded by medieval towers and defensive walls which makes the view from them breathtaking! For lunch Betsy, Ashley, Allyson and myself had a picnic at the top of one of the towers where the most beautiful gardens are. We bought bread, bore ( slices of it from the meat market in town) bree ( cheese ) pesto, wine, and broke bread around the ground and had a very traditional European lunch. We drank wine and nibbled on bore and cheese and it was the best lunch I have had in Italy. It reminded me so much of Provence France with my family when Babcia ( my beautiful grandmother ) used to slice pieces of fresh baquet and fresh jam and that was breakfast!! :) I believe it's the little moments of this trip that make it what it is. It's the view from the tower overlooking all of San Gimignano. It's the little children speaking different languages and it's the cheese and wine you share with your friends at lunch! In Europe you learn to slow down and that life needs to be appreciated at the one moment we have because in all true thought the present moment is all we really have. I enjoy sitting at dinner with everyone for hours and celebrate each other with conversations that make friendships what they really are. It's all in the way we communicate with each other and spare stories of laughter, love, but experience tears and pain together.

This trip has been like nothing I have experienced before. I have been looking for the answer to happiness and here I have found that the answer lies within myself. Everything I want for myself is here already, I just need to believe and find it. I can be happy! Anybody can be happy. Happiness is in the present moment and once you understand that the pieces of the puzzle will put themselves together. The moment I figured that out was when I was running down in the valley on a jog and I came across the corner and the view was unbelievable and the sun shined on the valley and all the grass seemed to be hugged by it with warmth. I stood there in awh and let the sun hit my face and at that moment I felt complete happiness.

I don't have the answers to a lot of my questions but I feel as though I am learning and figuring more out about myself and life as I experience history, culture, and life at it's best. What the next two months have to in store for me, I have no idea, but I know for a fact I will follow my heart and out of this experience my heart will grow and somewhere down the road the pieces in my puzzle will come together!

After all, the purpose of life is to live a life of purpose!

Season of Love!

Ciao!

It has been far to long since I have written on my blog! Oh boy today is February 15th already! Where is all the time going? The days seem to be going by faster and faster. Our program is done on April 3rd already and there is already a million things I still want to see and do! It has been a crazy few weeks in Italy. I had midterms already and they were surprisingly hard; I was expecting it to be easier but the work was worth it! I have learned so much since the first day of class about Italy, business, and politics here in Europe.



Since the last time I wrote I traveled to Siena in the rain. Although it was not the best day it was a lot of fun to learn about the history and see the beautiful Siena! It was a fun and spunky town to be in. We visited Church of San Domenico first and that is where St. Catherine's skull and thumb remains are. The church was very open and spiritual but simple at the same time. We continued to Palazzo Salimbeni which is the building of the two very famous families in Italy and then visited the Cathedral of Siena. We then had lunch around the famous Piazza Del Campo which is the location for the famous Palio di Siena happens. The Palio di Siena is the most famous palio in Italy, is a horse race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16 in Siena, in which ten horses and riders, dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen Contrade, or city wards. The Palazzo Salimbeni is also famous for it's huge scene in the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. It was a great spot to see since the movie was filed there!



Yesterday a few girlfriends and I decided to go to Pisa for Valentine's day we woke up to roses from our program director who treated us to great meal at LaReggia the night before. We got to Pisa and walked around till we found the famous leaning tower. We toured around and walked inside the Duomo and noticed the U.S. Congressmen and women were there having a private tour accompanied by more than 15 security and police officers. It was quite thrilling to see and we tried to talk to them seeing as we were from America but they were not interested in teenagers!

We then went to see Santa Maria della Spina Church; which I have to say is the smallest church I have ever seen. It is said that "Spina" means "Thorn" and that one of Jesus's thorns from his crucifixion was brought to this church. It is very tiny church but quite famous. We had a lovely lunch and headed back to watch a movie and settle down from the long week. Oh and we were bombarded by Italian men giving us chocolates for Valentine's Day.. quite amusing!

Ti Amo & Happy San Valentino's Day!

Assisi & Lucca

This weekend we finally got to travel around Italy. The weather was p-e-r-f-e-c-t and I couldn't have been happier.. We hoped on a bus at the crack of down Friday and drove two and a half hours to Assisi. The first site of Assisi is like nothing I had ever seen before. The city sits on the top of the biggest hill and you can see the creme colored historical buildings from miles away. We arrived in Assisi to be welcomed by this man who worked where the public restrooms were. He asked us if we were from American and proceeded to shout in the very little English he knew "Obama" Obama"!! With two thumbs way up high he was a happy camper to see Americans! It was quite entertaining and he continued to say, " Obama, bambino" which in Italian means pregnant.. he was excited to and had to take pictures with us.

After that warm welcome we met up with Bob's good friend who lived in Assisi and spoke perfect English, which I was more than happy about. He brought us around Assisi telling us facts and history points. The city sits on a hill because it used to be covered with water and the future up you went the older the buildings got because the top was built first and after the water was drained they were able to make more life downwards. We then continued to tour the Basilica di San Franceso. Before we toured around the tour guide told us some great history about the Basilica and San Franceso.The church is rather incongruous memorial to a man who preached and lived a simple life of poverty, abstinence, and renunciation of worldly goods in search of greater spirituality.It is an extremely powerful place for people who are believers and have a passion for arts.

San Franceso died in 1226 and in 1818, the tomb of St. Francis was rediscovered beneath the high altar, after lying hidden for almost 600 years. When the coffin was opened, Francis' skeleton was found fully intact. This is very rare for such a popular medieval saint. He was than buried and later the church was built around the Francis's tomb and is split into two levels and Francis's tomb is located in the lower level of the church and you are able to go see it and pray to Francis but not able to see his body only the tomb. It is one of the most life changing experiences in a spiritual level too. Pope John Paul 2nd had visited this church 6 times in his life because this church was actually made for the Pope NOT for St. Francis but his memorial is there now. We continued to enjoy the rest of the day with a beautiful walk, stopping for lunch, enjoying a good glass of wine and Italy has the most amazing juice ever. We asked for juice before we left and they made it fresh.. they cut up about 6 oranges and squeeze them and serve it only like that with the pulp in it.. it is great!!

We continued to Lucca the next day early in the morning. Lucca is absolutely beautiful and is surrounded by a very historical wall. The city is very family-orianted and has a lot of kind people and lots of dogs everywhere. We visited Saint Martin and Saint Zita which you are able to go and view her body which is 700 years old. She is looking good for her age! Lucca was beautiful but small; I would go visit it again anytime!

This was a great weekend to start traveling and learning about different parts of Italy! Cortona and Bologna is next! Can't wait!

Ti Amo! xo