An Adventurous Day

If you are my mom, dad, aunt, cousin, or anyone who cares about my safety and well being, do not read this post. If not, enjoy a good story:

Today my roommates and I decided to go to Cortona with the rest of the group. This is where a series of (un)fortunate events occurred. 1^st- we were busy doing other stuff and couldn’t get ready in time to make the first bus with everyone else. 2^nd- we had never been on a bus before and did not know where to even buy a bus ticket, where the bus stop was, or where we would end up in Cortona. 3^rd- all of the RC’s left with the first group and the office was closed, so there was no one to ask for help. We ended up finding out from a fellow student that you have to buy bus tickets at the Tobacchi. However, there are a few of them here and we didn’t know which one to go to. We decided to ask the lady that cleans the center for help, even though she didn’t know much English. We just said “dov’e tobacchi?” and she pointed us out to the nearest one. When we got there we found out that it was not the right store to get bus tickets so we had to rush to the next one. We finally got our tickets, and thankfully, the man knew English and could also point us out to the bus stop. When we got on the bus there were a lot of Italian school kids on it as well, and we figured they were also going to Cortona.

On the ride we noticed that the kids pressed buttons to signal the driver that they needed to stop. We then realized that we didn’t know what our stop looked like and were nervous that we would miss it. I decided to watch out the window for signs saying whether or not we were in Cortona.  I saw a sign that looked liked it said we were in Cortona and told Tyne and Courtney about it (mistake number 1).  I also noticed that there were lots of restaurants and hotels. At the next stop, most of the kids stood up and started to get out of the bus. I take the blame here because I just figured we had to be in Cortona if they were all getting off, and told Tyne and Courtney that we better get off too so we wouldn’t miss our stop (mistake number 2). As soon as we got off and the bus left we remembered that the city of Cortona is on top of a hill, and we were definitely not on a hill. We then looked up and saw a sign pointing to Cortona, so we obviously weren’t there. We had no idea what to do. Our first thought was to eat lunch then wait for the bus, but we weren’t sure if the bus would pick back up there or if it took another route back. Our next thought was to walk to Cortona. As soon as we followed the sign and turned towards Cortona we saw the city on top of a giant hill still pretty far away. I was still all for hiking, but knew it would have been an extremely long and steep walk. Plus, all three of us are sick with pretty bad colds so hiking just wasn’t the right idea. Obviously, the only option is to hitch hike. And we did. For the record, I was against it the whole time, and kept walking. It only took three cars until one stopped for us. All we could say was “Cortona?” and were pleased to hear the middle aged man say “si”. We piled into the back and we could not stop laughing, mostly nervous laughter.

Tyne said she prayed the whole time that we would get there safely. I was watching the man carefully and convinced myself that if he called someone or took one wrong turn I would convince Tyne and Courtney to jump out of the car. Also, I told myself he couldn’t try anything because there was one of him and three of us. Still, I was so incredibly thankful that we made it to Cortona safely and that he was just a very nice man. 

Today was just a super adventurous day, and probably one of my favorite days since we’ve been here. We decided to go on a whim, had no map, no idea how to get there or what the city looked like. We were lucky that everything worked in our favor, and were really glad that we had a good story to tell. We also only had time to eat lunch and walk to a park before we had to get on a bus to come back in time for dinner. Hopefully we’ll be going again soon, and we definitely won’t make that mistake again.

Here are some pictures of Cortona:

 

This week we went to a modern church and this next picture is of my favorite piece of art that I’ve seen so far. 

 

Tyne and I take these everywhere because we think they’re funny-

At the modern church:

At a gas station:

On a merry go 'round in Cortona:

Until next time..

A Small Update

Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. There’s a sign up in the computer room that says they’re working on the internet, so hopefully I will be able to blog more often once it’s fixed. 

I haven’t been up to too much recently. We had our first trip to Florence last week, and I officially saw my first real-life Gypsy. What a monumental event, I know. I really enjoyed the city and the beautiful churches we went to. I am in a history of science class here, and my class meets in the History of Science Museum whenever we go to Florence. Last week we went on a tour of the museum, but we are going back to Florence tomorrow, and this time we’re supposed to do an experiment using one of Galileo’s telescopes. I am pretty excited about that.

 

The first week we were here it was pretty cold outside, especially with the wind. I forgot to bring a hat or anything to keep my head or ears warm, so I had to borrow from my roommate, Tyne. Well, on Fridays there is a market in Castiglion Fiorentino, so I decided to be smart and buy a hat for the cold.  I am a firm believer that my decision to buy the hat brought in the warmer weather.  You’re welcome, Italians. It has been absolutely beautiful since that Friday, and I haven’t had the opportunity to wear my hat yet, but I have had the opportunity to have picnics in the courtyard with the most beautiful view.

This last Saturday, I went to the antique fair in Arezzo with a group of people. The fair took up so much more of the town and was much larger than I thought it would be. They had a bunch of cool stuff, but it was all rather pricy. I was walking around with Tyne, when we heard drums and saw a parade of Medieval looking people. It was really strange, and I still have no idea what was going on, but I took a few pictures.

Also, last week when we were in Florence we had lunch a nice little restaurant. Below is THE best tortellini I have ever had in my life. It was my favorite thing I’ve eaten in Italy so far.

And just to remind you that I’m still really cool..

 Until next time..