Lunedi!

Sheesh.. if these days get any longer, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself! It's incredible how much we've crammed in to each of these days so far!
Today was Monday, the first day of classes, the first day of work for me, and the first day of official on-sight class.
Monday started off bright and early, had a quick breakfast and then classes started. Bible was first with Dr. Miller. I'm really looking forward to my first class with him, he seems like an awesome teacher. I also think the material is going to be a lot of fun. We'll be studying the life of Paul. :) in Italy. ((so cool.))
Next we had our first humanities class which will normally be with Robbie but he had to be at a meeting today, so we watched a movie on the Medici family and the construction of the Duomo. It was SUPER cheesey, but it had a lot of interesting information that came in handy when we actually went to the Duomo later in the afternoon. It helped me to appreciate it even that much more, so all in all, it was a good humanities class.
After humanities we had our first Italian class with Mona. Learned the alphabet, we learned to count (to 49), we worked on our pronunciation of many different words. It was a lot of fun. We also learned another song... and it was hilarious. It was similar to Old McDonald had a farm.. but it was about Uncle Tony or something like that and we listened to this high childlike voice singing it and then we had to sing along. Good times :)
So this is completely random, but I'm sitting at the cute little table in my room looking out one of my windows at the city lights and it is just breathtaking. It distracts me, and I end up just staring out the window trying to wrap my head around the idea that I'm living in Italy. THe city looks awesome at night, and the twinkling lights makes it seem even more like a fantasy.
Back on track now! When we were finished with Italian we had an abbreviated chapel and then it was lunch time. It was a four cheese pasta today, with roast beef and bread and fruit and green beans.
I was on clean up duty for lunch, and so I got my first day at working in the kitchen. It is pretty simple work, the process they have for washing dishes is an interesting one. They fill up the sink with soapy water. You wash the dirty dishes in the water (which quickly becomes disgusting because there is only one sink so you can't rinse them before you wash them, it all goes into the water), and then you put them in little trays. Once the tray is full you put it into a steam cleaner similar to a dish washer, which takes somewhere between 3 and 5 minutes. Once that is done you take the tray out and let the dishes air dry. The you put them away. There are always plenty of dishes so one person usually washes and puts them on the tray and the other person puts the trays in and takes them out of the steam cleaner and puts them away when they're dry. You also take out the trash when you're done with the dishes.
I didn't get to finish because we had to leave for the duomo but it was a good first day. :)
I ran and grabbed my stuff and then headed out to the first van down to the train station. Dr. Miller was driving us, and he is still getting used to driving the vans. He's doing good, he just doesn't go crazy fast like Robbie and Kyle. He had to run inside, so he parked the van and just as he got back in and sat down, Kyle was behind us and feeling impatient. He was driving the other van, and about a minute later while Dr. Miller was getting situated he gave us a little bumper bump. Okay, he ran into us, but it wasn't a hard hit. It was a love tap. Or a GET GOING tap. lol. Dr. Miller turned around with a funny look on his face and asked us all, "Did he really just hit me??!" It was pretty funny, crazy Kyle.
We took the train in to the last stop and walked to the Duomo. OH. And may I just say, the wind here is like nothing I have ever experienced. And that is saying a lot considering I lived in Wyoming and played soccer at PPCS in Colorado Springs. (if you've ever been to a game up there, you know how wicked the wind can be.) It is bitter and comes in HUGE gusts that knock the breath out of you and blow the hood of your coat off and threaten to blow you off in a direction. Not my favorite part of the day, ha!
We waited for the rest of the group to join us outside the baptistry, and attempted not to freeze. We took a group picture, which I think this is the third group picture where you can't see me and honestly, it's okay haha. Then we met with our guide, Cindy, who was actually a HUF student herself before she decided to move to Italy and is now a tour guide. I learned a lot and it was INCREDIBLE.
Today, I got to see the works of Donatello and Michelangelo. I also got to stand in the exact place where Michelangelo commissioned the original David. The thought gave me chills when she told us that fun fact. It's crazy, being here. I've learned about these artists and now I'm walked the streets they walked and seeing the work that they created and left for us so many years ago.
We saw the baptistry and the inside of the Duomo and the museum of the works of the Duomo. It was incredible. If you can, check out some of the pictures I posted on Facebook. Unbelievable..

Just a thought, but the dome of the Duomo (which doesn't mean dome, it means cathedral I believe) is huge, freestanding, and 250 to 300+ feet off the ground; can you imagine being one of the artists hanging by a rope painting the fresco on that? You were literally risking your life to paint. Or the men who built the dome? With the bricks? If you get a chance to research how the ended up completing the Duomo, do it. It's incredible.. especially considering when they were finishing it, and the lack of modern technology.

Anyway, we finished up the tour at the museum and then headed to a restaurant for dinner. And guess what... WE HAD HAMBURGERS!!! hahaha :) oh cooked meat on a bun, how wonderful thou art. lol. :) just kidding, not that dramatic, but it was nice to mix it up. (it's a good thing I love italian food!)
After that, we had the choice of hanging out in the freezing cold Florence or head home to the nice, warm Villa. After a long day, and considering the fact that I'd just downed a glass of water and a full can of sprite {if you know me well, you understand how important this small detail is in my decision making} I decided to head home to the Villa. And I still haven't got any dollars changed to euros and it was so incredibly cold and I was exhausted (excuses, I know). Anyway, Jordan and I decided to head to the train station and try and catch Kyle or Robbie with one of the vans before they headed to the villa. So we took a nice (freezing cold) walk to the train station and then up to the vans. We met up with Kyle and Britt on the train (as we were walking off, haha) and headed up to the villa.
I've been relaxing and uploading pictures (and playing ping pong & piano with Grant and Laura (the Miller kids) since I got home. Now, it's got to be close to bed time. 11:30 is a reasonable time to go to bed when you get up at 6ish and have a day like this, right?

Welllllll.. I suppose it is about that time. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my day!!

Buona notte!

Kortney Alacyn

First Day in Florence

Buona sera!

OH magracious!!! What another incredible day. Today, being Sunday, was our first day of church. We went into Florence (the Villa is in Scandicci) to worship with a small congregation. So, I woke up this morning, got ready for church, had a quick breakfast, and then got shuttled down to the train station. There we waited for all of our group and the correct train to arrive. After our train, we walked about a half mile to a mile and then took a bus to the church. The church was located in the renovated remains of a 16th century wealthy home. The room was dome shaped and the acoustics were incredible. We arrived about 20 minutes before the service started, and so we sang some hymns in English. It was awesome. The service was held mainly in Italian, but Robby also spoke and he did both languages for us. We sang a bunch of Italian songs, but the first one was the Italian version of Holy, Holy, Holy. So we sang one verse in English, and then three in Italian. Sometimes we just listened, sometimes we attempted to join in, but regardless it was incredible to listen to. It was one of those moments when you go, "Wow, Lord. So nice of You to join us here!" because His presence is literally tangible. After church we walked a ways to a nice restaurant for lunch. Our first course consisted of two pastas, our second course was some kind of meet (can't think of what it is at the moment), then we had fries, and salad. It was a great meal! The bathroom was interesting. You walked in and there was two sinks, and two single-toilet rooms. One for the boys, one for the girls. So you kind of share the main area of the bathroom. Oh, and there are not seats on the toilets. So you have to squat over it. (I'm going to be in SUCH good shape at the end of this adventure!) 

Okay, you're going to have to bear with me because I can not remember the names of anything yet, sorry!!

We took a bus ride after lunch and went to the look out, which is the most photographer area of Florence. It is INCREDIBLE. Robby is a fast walker, and for a photographer that's bad news. However, here, he had to tell just about everyone to stop taking pictures so he could talk to us and then he gave us time to take pictures. I took 415 pictures today. Needless to say, I got some pictures at this spot. Then we walked us to a church/chapel thing that was over 2000 years old. Walking in was like walking into a different era. It was escaping everything of todays world to just be still. Though it was a Sunday and there were some people inside, we walked down underneath to the tomb/burial area of a Christian who was beheaded because of his faith is. There we sat down, and we started to sing. We sang three songs. Three incredible songs that gave us all goosebumps and brought some of us close to tears. It the dark, cool area we drew a crowd. It was one of the neatest experiences I've ever had. 

After that we kept walking. (We walked SO much today!!) We walked all over Florence. Over two bridges that were destroyed during wars that have been rebuilt. There is so much history everywhere we go here!! 

After walking for like two hours it was starting to get really chilly, mostly because of the wind. We headed in towards the center of town, to one of the squares, (wherever the original David was) and saw the many statues that are there now. We went to a little bar that was located there, and got cappuccinos or gelato. I, of course, got some gelato. FINALLY!! :) haha. We sat outside but they had some heaters out there so it was nice. After gelato we went to the Pig and rubbed his nose so we would have to come back some day :) (Kreg, this made me think of you!) After that we continued our walk and saw the Duomo (ha! a name!!) and one other cathedral on our way to the train station. Robby talked to us about how to navigate the train station and then we headed to the shuttles to go home! When we got back to the Villa we had some dinner, and then everyone has just been hanging out since then. We've played cards, ping pong, a bunch of the girls have been dancing and singing (LOUDLY! haha), and then I played sardines with a few of the other students. It's been a great day, but I am exhausted! Tomorrow I've got classes from 8 until 12 or 1 and then we're heading back to the Duomo for some on-sight schooling. 

The school here I think is going to be very challenging, but I'm looking forward to it! 

It is still a little surreal that I'm actually here. That this is my home for the next three months. How crazy is that? I think it will.. eventually! 

Well, thanks for tagging along with me. Hope these blogs aren't too dull, and I hope my thoughts aren't too jumbled. There is so much to take in, sometimes it's hard to remember it all and even harder to get it all down on paper or a blog. But I'll do my best!

Ciao!

Kortney Alacyn

Greetings from Italy

Ciao!

That's right, I am in Italy!!! How insane is that? Completely. Incredibly. Amazingly. I'll try to tell you all about my journey, but I don't know how frequently I'll be on blogging! I plan on at least journaling everyday to keep track of what I've done! (otherwise, I know I will forget things. )

So I set out on this incredible adventure early Thursday morning. I woke up at 6 o'clock (after getting about three hours of sleep) and was on my way out of Colorado Springs by 8! My plane left (a little late, thanks Delta) at 10:55 and I arrived in Atlanta around 3. At the airport I met up with the other members of my HUF group, grabbed some lupper, and then boarded the plane for Paris around 5:30. The plane left somewhere around 6:40 pm and we arrived in Paris about 8:30 am on Friday. Boy was that a fun ride. ;) I sat next to one of the girls in my group that I still don't really know, she was on my right, and a frenchman was on my left. On the far right (we were in a row of four) was another frenchman who apparently had a very bad cough. The frenchy on my left was a nice man, and a VERY heavy sleeper. We talked once, briefly, and smiled at each other. When it was time to try and sleep on the plane, I had very little luck. However, my little friend did not. He fell asleep, because he got very comfortable. How did he get so comfortable, you ask? Well, he put his feet where my feet were supposed to go, and then curled over into a little ball on my side. Wellllll. Needless to say I wasn't very comfortable. I pulled my feet up onto my seat with me and tried to sleep, ha! Then, the inevitable time came when I had to go to the bathroom. So I gently shook my little friend's shoulder so I could get out. Well. He didn't wake up. So I tried again with a little more force. Yeah, still nothing. So I coughed AND shook his shoulder. He sat up a little straighter and continued to sleep. The two people to my right were also sleeping, and I really didn't want to have to wake up both of them. So, I just stood up on my seat and jumped over. Got an applause from my fellow HUF buddies David and William, cause they are awesome and were laughing at my misfortune. Had to jump back into my seat, too. Got maybe 30 minutes of sleep total on that plane ride, but it wasn't too bad.
My next flight was about an hour and a half from Paris to Florence, and that one I got a half hour to an hour of sleep on. It was splendid.
Once we arrived in Florence we sat at the airport for another hour and a half, we had to wait for some people's luggage to arrive and for two of the boys because they missed their second flight due to delays of their first flight.
Next we took a bus to Scandicci, and then walked up the hill to our home away from home. Let me just say, living in a villa that was made in 1492 is basically awesome. It's so cool!!! My room is the best of the girls room, (I may or may not be biased), because there are only four girls in it instead of six, and we have two awesome windows with incredible views.
When we first arrived we had a quick little meet-and-greet with the staff at the Villa and then we got our room assignments. We got some... well, interesting instructions from the lovely Mona :) haha two of the first things she told us were: After you shower, clean out your own hair with a Kleenex or something, AND if you have to do a number 2, "line the runway" with some toilet paper, or make sure you use the brush afterwards. hehe. After that we took our stuff up to our rooms and started unpacking and getting settled in. Then we had dinner, (I think, sadly I can't remember much from yesterday!) and it was delicious spaghetti and bread and fruit and meats and vegetables. It was wonderful!
Then we cleaned up the tables, and got ready for our meeting. We learned a lot, I'm sure, I just don't remember it all ;) We learned about some student work positions available, and learned what we were going to do today. Besides that... I couldn't tell you much. ha! (Keep it mind I'd been up for 28+ hours at this time on about 4 hours of sleep total).
I got on facebook, put up some pictures, and tried to stay awake a while longer.
Today we got up. Got ready. Had some breakfast. Then started orientation.
Orientation lasted for a long time. Like.. five hours. But we went through a lot of information about a lot of different things. I have so far learned how to sing two songs in Italian! I still don't really know much about my classes or anything, but hopefully I'll get that figured out before Monday. We had lunch here at the villa, then got ready for the Scandicci Walk. We walked from the villa into town and then all around town. We looked at shops and saw the library, went to a bar to order a cappuccino in Italian, and then walked around some more and saw town hall and a bunch of other stuff. Including a castle. Pretty awesome.
Then we had an hour to shop. I went to the market with Amanda, Jenna, Kyle, William, and Jordan, but it was closing up for the evening so we didn't stay for very long. We met for dinner at 6 and had these sandwich taco things... The place was packed and there was only one person working when we got there, so Kyle (from HUF, the worker, not the student) hopped behind the counter and started helping her out. We ate our food, and some of the Italians (either in high school or college) who were in there put on one of their iPods and were playing all of their American music (like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and a bunch more) All the guys (both Italian and American) were singing along. It was a good time :)
Since I was in group 1, I was one of the first people done eating, so I was one of the first four people home. (me, Amanda, Jordan and Kyle). So I checked/updated Facebook and this little blog. Then it was time for our PARTY!!
It was a WELCOME TO ITALY/GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER party and it was SO much fun! hahaha.. Mona did her "little bunny foo foo" and it was so funny. We played a bunch of games, including The Name Game. In this game it started with four people in the middle, and a bunch of people sitting in a circle. Each of the four people had to run over to someone, yell at them "WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!" to which the person would scream their name at them, then the one who asked would dance around in a circle while chanting their name eight times. Then, the one who told them their name would stand in front of that person (you made a train) and run over to someone else and ask (yelling, of course) what their name was. With four teams going, it was a mess and a lot of fun!
I had a great time, and I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone in my group more!!

Until next time my blog followers! (hehe)
Ciao!

Kortney Alacyn

CIAO!!