San Valentino ♥

Okay, so Valentines Day! 

Valentines Day we started out with classes. Then we had an INCREDIBLE chapel, with the message presented by Jordan. It was so good. I recorded it and I am so glad that I did. Jordan is one incredible young man, I'm really glad to be getting to know him. He's been a great friend so far!! And his message was heartwarming. In fact, it brought Robbie to tears. Jordan is just so very genuine! 

After chapel it was time for lunch. We were instructed to dress nice for San Valentino, so the guys were looking spiffy and the girls pretty classy. (or at least we weren't in t-shirts). The ladies went in and were seated (there were name tags), and then the guys were announced by Kyle piccolo. (That's how we distinguish between Kyle who works here {piccolo} and Kyle the student {grande}). They walked in with roses for each of the girls, and serenaded us with HUF Girls (My Girl) before presenting each of us with a rose. After lunch we had some free time, where we did some homework and hung out. 

For dinner William took me out to a cute little ristorante near the Duomo. As we were walking in he bought me a couple of roses from a street vender. We had some good pizza for dinner and then walked around Fiorenze for a while. We stopped and got some gelato on our way back in. Overall, it was a very nice night. :) 

When we got back, it was bed time! I think.. it's been so long I don't really remember. But I know nothing more eventful happened after that. 

And that's what happened on Valentines Day in Italy! 

I'm about to run into town (well, walk into town) to get some groceries. I'll try and get on soon, but the rest of the week is super packed and starting Saturday I'll be gone on my first FREE TRAVEL!!! SO excited. But I do have to tell you all about Rome and about the Opera and everything else that's happened in the last two weeks. I'M SO BEHIND!!! 

Until next time... 

Ciao!

Kortney Alacyn

"I'm Behind, Rewind"

WHOA WHOA WHOA....

Welll. So much for staying on top of this whole blogging thing. It's definitely been over a week now. And, of course, so much has happened in that small amount of time! Let's see... where did I leave off.

Okay, Thursday.
Thursday I woke up early(ish) because we had to be out of our rooms by 9 o'clock. I got up and got ready and took my bags to the room where we were storing them. Then I went downstairs and got some breakfast. The rest of the day I spent eating, taking pictures, and relaxing. Katie, Maggie, Amanda and I took a nice walk and had a snow ball fight which was fun. After that we spent some time in the TeaRoom just talking and relaxing. When it was time to head home, we all piled on the bus. I sat up close to the front, and let me just say, that was a terrifying experience!!! I do not know how we got home without hitting anything because it was close just about every single turn we came within inches of a wall or a car or the edge of a cliff. Eventually I had to just close my eyes, and turn on my music. I sat by William on the way home, and he slept most of the ride too. (though he had a bit more of an excuse since he'd actually been skiing all three days, and took a pretty rough fall on the second day).
When we got home we had dinner and unpacked. The rest of the night... I honestly don't remember. But I know I was exhausted for some reason.

..Friday..
Friday morning I had my first class at 9, and finished up with classes by lunch time. After lunch I got ready and then my group was shuttled down to the bus stop where we took Bus 6 into Florence. We waited in a piazza for our onsite teacher to join us, and then we headed to an artisan's shop. The artist that we visited works with metal and has some big clients in the US. He makes logos for clothing companies and designers, makes jewelry, and SO much more. It was really neat to see his shop where he has worked since he was between fifteen and seventeen years old. He was the sweetest man, too! I loved looking around his shop, and I loved listening to him talk about his work. He didn't speak English, the passion with which he spoke made it obvious that he loves what he does. After we were done at the shop we went to get a cappuccino while we waited for our next onsite teacher to meet us. When she arrived we finished our drinks and then headed to the shop to make our Carnevale masks. The young lady who was the master at the shop had already prepared the masks for us to decorate. She showed us the steps in creating them, and it took me back to making the plaster balloon when I was five. Decorating the mask was a lot of fun. I wish I were more artistic because some of the designs people made were so cool, but overall I was pretty happy with how mine turned out. :) After we were finished with our masks, about 7:30 if I remember correctly, we were free to go get dinner in Florence. Me, Kyle, Katie, and Maggie headed back to Scandicci where we had pizza at one of our favorite little pizzarias. We went back to Scandicci because I was supposed to meet up with William, but I couldn't get my Italian phone to work. We ended up running into him and Jenna at one of the bus stops on the way back to the Villa, so it all worked out.

Saturday...
What happened Saturday. I can't remember.. THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!! I know we had classes until lunch, but after that I have no idea what happened. Hmmm. It's possible that I went and got groceries with Amanda and William Saturday afternoon and made it back in time for dinner. After that... I don't know.

Sunday!
Sunday we were going to go to Florence for worship, but we ended up staying in because of the snow. We had our own church service at the Villa and then Bible. At six thirty we had a song night with some members from the Florence church and the mayor and his family. Then we had dinner with a ton of people, and then we had a concert. A band called Metamorphosis came to the villa and played for us. They were wonderful!! They played jazz and some traditional Italian songs for us. Afterwards we had snacks and just socialized for a while.

Mondayyy
Monday morning we headed out to one of the local high schools in Scandicci. We had a "language exchange" with them. They helped us with our italian homework, and we helped them with some english homework. We also taught them a song. Lean On Me. haha. It was an interesting experience. I got paired up with a young man named Mirko.  He was nice, but shy. His English was good, but he seemed a little hesitant to use it. As the class went on he seemed to get a little more comfortable with it, and he definitely helped me with my Italian homework. After that we headed back to the Villa for the rest of our classes and lunch. After lunch we had a few "free" hours before we had dinner. Dinner was basically a party! The kids from the high school came and had dinner and played games with us. It was a lot of fun. I met some friends, and even got invited to go to a pub with some of them. I played soccer with one of the guys for a little bit and found out that apparently girls don't really play soccer in Italy. It's a guy sport. SO he was impressed ;) haha. Another thing that I've noticed is that EVERYONE in Italy smokes. We walked out of class while everyone was on break and probably between 70-80% of the kids there were smoking. Some even took smoke breaks during class. It seems to crazy to me. Anyway, Monday was a good day.

TUESDAY - SAN VALENTINO
Actually, I have to go get ready, so I'll tell you about Valentines Day next time!!! :)

Abetone Adventures

Italy 2012

HUF Spring 2012

Tuesday, 8th February – Abetone

5:15 am

Well, I woke up this morning around five fifteen, because I had set my alarm in order to wake up and shower before we left for our three day ski trip in the Italian Alps. I woke up, shut off my alarm, went back to sleep, luckily woke up fifteen minutes later, showered, and then went back to bed.

6:45 am

About six fortyish I got back out of bed, (we were supposed to leave at 7) and finished packing, ate breakfast, and got ready to leave (brushed my teeth and went to the bathroom).  A couple minutes after seven I ran out to try and get my bag on the shuttle down to the bus, but it was full. I ended up riding with Lynn, Jordan and Kyle down in Kyle’s car and it worked out just fine. I was going to ride with William on the way up, but Lynn sat with him instead. So I sat in the back seat and slept most of the way. We stopped for the bathroom and to get cappuccinos and pastries about half way from Florence to Abetone. I went to the bathroom (twice), had two sips of Will’s hot chocolate and a bite of Kyle’s pastry. Then we loaded back up the bus and started up the mountain. The roads were pretty bad and there were a few times when I wasn’t sure the bus was going to be able to make it up. But we did finally make it to our hotel. The quick run from the bus to the hotel is the only time I’ve spent outside so far. The cold here is painful; it’s a bitter cold that pierces right through me and starts freezing me from the inside out. My fingers are always cold and white. Not much fun. So I’m hanging out inside the hotel as much as possible on this little excursion. 

10:00 am

We arrived to the hotel, Excelsior, grabbed our bags off the bus and piled in to the lobby. There we got our keys, room assignments, and found out who we would be living with the next couple days. Luckily, I get to be with one of my good friends (and roommates from the Villa) Katie. Our room is little, with one full-sized bed, an ancient chair, two tiny night stands, and a closet thing. Our bathroom is about the size of our bedroom, it’s got a table and a chair, the toilet, the little poop cleaner-toilet-looking-thing, a sink with a mirror above it, and a bathtub. Although we’re inside and there is a small heater in our room, it’s still about 60 degrees. Apparently they turn the radiators off throughout the day and on at night. (However, it’s night and it’s still pretty chilly in here.)  

10:30 am

Everyone who was skiing met and headed out to get their equipment. Those who were not staying headed out to check out the shops, bars, and cafés. I, however, decided to sit it out. I didn’t bring any waterproof boots or anything. Plus, the cold is just awful. I miss Colorado cold. So I read some of the notebook, and then just as I was falling asleep the girls who had gone out were back. We grabbed our sack lunches and went down to the TeaRoom where we hung out for the next three plus hours. We ate and talked and just relaxed while we watched the snow fall - I will give them that, the snow is very pretty. But the wind has been howling all day long!!! And the drifts are HUGE. 

3:15 pm

About three we headed back to our rooms to take naps. Which we did. I slept for about forty minutes but I didn’t want to sleep too much. So I woke up and read some more and then worked on my computer. Maggie left the room about five, and about five-thirty I got up and went downstairs to see if there was anyone hanging out in the TeaRoom or the other lounge. Found a group that I sat and talked with for an hour or so. About 6:30 I went upstairs to get ready for dinner. 

7:30 pm

For dinner we had lasagna, and then some kind of pork with melted cheese on top. After that we had some french fries, and then we had a fruity, pastry, cake thing for dessert.  Afterwards we brought in the chefs to thank them, and after we applauded them, they wanted us to sing for them. So we sang a song for them, and at least one of them cried. It was touching.

8:30 pm  

About 8:30 we met for a devotional. We talked briefly, and sang quite a few songs. It was a lot of fun. After that people broke off and played games. A few girls went out to get some drinks, but pretty much everyone else played games. I watched Kyle and Jim play Kyle and William in dominos. Then I played some nertz with a few of the girls and Possey. 

12:00 

About curfew I headed up to my room where I hung out with Katie and Jenna for a while. Then I went to sleep and slept very well. 

Wednesday, 9th February  

9:15 am

Katie woke me up at 9:15 so we could go down and get breakfast before they put it up. We had pastries and fruit. 

10:00 am

I took a bubble bath. It was an interesting experience.  My first European bubble bath.. our hotel is a little old, but the heat was still pretty good. However, as the water was filling up in the tub I noticed a rather green/brown tint to it. I put in some bubble to try and hide the color so I could relax and enjoy it. I did enjoy it. I played some music and I read my book, The Notebook, it was just what I needed. 

11:00 am 

After my bath I got ready and Katie and I went out in search of boots for me. I ended up finding some cute, warm, waterproof boots for 35 euro, and then an adorable hat for 5 euro. I was happy about it :)

12:30 pm

We met up with a group of girls, and Jordan, for lunch. We went to get pizza at a café. It was a little place that Brooke had found and thought was the greatest thing. They ran out of cheese pizza and apparently weren’t making more, so I got margarita pizza. It wasn’t very good though, and I was kind of disappointed because I spent about 7 dollars on that and a sprite. I ate as much of it as I could, but it wasn’t very filling. After we were done eating we walked around and looked at the little shops, then headed back to the hotel to warm up.

2:00 pm

At two we met with (most of) the group for a group picture. I found out that William had taken quite a spill, and broke his stick and his goggles and injured his nose. He was okay, but had a pretty bad headache. We took pictures and hung out for a little bit, then headed back to the hotel. 

3:00 pm

From about three until five we hung out in the TeaRoom. We talked and relaxed, I edited some pictures and ate crackers, while William and Katie watched. Amanda and Maggie were in there with us too. At five we went to get ready to go find something for a snack. 

5:00 pm

We went to a little “dance” bar. There was music playing quietly in the background, but no one was dancing. I got some chocolate cake which also wasn’t really that great, but it was kind of tasty. We stayed there until almost 7 o’clock. We basically just sat there and talked; it was Kyle, Katie, Maggie, Amanda, William, and me. It was a pretty good group. 

7:22 pm

Dinner time. Tonight we had spaghetti, turkey, beef with lemon dressing (which I actually kind of enjoyed, shocking), salad, bread, and for dessert... GELATO! It was funny, I was talking to Maggie and saying how I really wanted some Gelato, and out they come with trays of Gelato. AND I got chocolate which was spectacular because at first all they had was vanilla and peach.  

9:00 pm  

After dinner we headed to the lounge where the internet is supposed to be. Well, unfortunately they had decided to shut it off. Which meant no talking to my mommy :( I seriously wanted to cry. It was working earlier today so why they turned it off is beyond me. But I edited pictures and watched the guys play dominos. 

11:45 

Bed time. :)

Gelato ♥

Hello again =)

Let me tell you about my "weekend" so far. Friday morning dawned cloudy and frigid. I woke earlyish for classes, and instantly realized I was absolutely exhausted. After my adventures of Thursday, everything had finally caught up with me. The long days of walking mile after mile, and the nights of squeezing in just a few hours of sleep finally said "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" and my body screamed "LET ME SLEEP!" I tried to wake up as I went downstairs for a quick breakfast and Bible, my first class. Unfortunately, we were using the projector which meant, lights were off. Long story short, it was a struggle to keep my eyes open. As soon as class was done I got up and walked around, trying to get myself to wake up. Sadly, my next class we spent most of it with the lights off too. It was the hardest thing to stay awake, but eventually we finished Humanities too. We had two guest speakers who were giving us a lecture about artists and artisans, and about how many skills and "guilds" are becoming extinct, if you will. (hehe, I just said, if you will) Anyway, they had interesting things to say, but it was hard to listen to them talk for two hours straight with the lights off when I was exhausted and feeling a little sick. Finally classes were over and I went and took a two+ hour nap. After that I was feeling a little better, but I stayed in bed and did some homework for most of the afternoon. Not the most exciting thing, but it needed to be done and I think it definitely helped. Once I was feeling better, it was time for dinner, so I went and had some dinner. Half of the group was gone on a tour, and a good chunk of the other half of the group was at the library in Scandicci reading with the local kids. Did some dishes (I've totally got the kitchen cleaning/dishes doing thing down to an art hehe), and then went to do some studying.
Got up this morning and went to aerobics class. We worked on legs/butt for the entire class and may I just say, I AM SORE. Already. Next, I took my Humanities quiz, and went over the Scavenger Hunt in IES. Next we were going to have Italian, but because of the weather and car issues our teacher wasn't able to make it. So, it was free time until chapel. We had split chapel today, and in the ladies class we're going to talk about the women's role, about how we can be supportive and encouraging and do God's work without being in leadership positions in the church - that kind of thing. I think it'll be good.
Then it was time for lunch, and then I got ready to head in to town. I went in to Scandicci with Katie, William, and David. We went to the Scandicci market and Katie got a dress and a scarf. Then we went and got some gelato, in the freezing cold (like the American's we are). After gelato we went to the coop (grocery store) so I could pick up some snacky-foods for between meals. While we were browsing this cute little, old Italian lady walked over and asked William (who is 6'3) if he could get something off the top shelf. It was SO adorable :) We also ran in to Peter (who is an American who lives/works here in Florence - he helped us get to church last Sunday). and talked to him for a little bit. Kind of cool seeing someone we recognized at the store.  After groceries we were walking past a pizza store and I had to get a slice.. Then we caught the bus and headed back to the villa.
We got back just a little before dinner, so then I had dinner! hehe..
After dinner I played some ping pong, watched Hercules for THE FIRST TIME, played some basketball, and some soccer.. and THEN I took some pictures. I have also skyped, and now I'm blogging. I should really go to sleep... because I have to get up for church in the morning. SO, I'm going to bid you all a fond farewell.
Arrivederci!!

Kortney Alacyn

An Eventful Three Days

Well hello there!

Okay, here's a quick recap on the past few days:

Tuesday: Classes from 9-1 and then our first "free" afternoon! However, after four hours of classes there was about 12-14 hours of homework. (They class load goes heavy at the beginning of the semester and then lighter towards the end, supposedly.) So after class I did about ten minutes of homework, hehe :), and then I headed in to Scandicci with four friends. It was Jordan, Kyle, William, Amanda, and me, and we took the bus to the train station which took us to the Coop, the grocery store. I got some shampoo and conditioner I was needing, and Kyle got some things he needed. Then we headed into town and I exchanged some money, finally. After that, I had to stop and get some Gelato (of course), and Jordan tried some, too. It was absolutely delicious!! From the Gelato shop we headed back to the restaurant we ate at the first night in town. Kyle, William, and Amanda got crepes. We walked all the way back to the villa from there, up hill, in the snow/rain. By the time we were half way back my shoes were completely soaked through, but it was a good time anyway. When I got back, I got cosy, had dinner, and then did some reading, played some Nertz, and then went to bed. (more or less haha - didn't get much homework done!)

The rain/snow quickly turned to SNOW, and we got quite a few inches. (or so I'm told, I never ventured out to check for myself).
Wednesday: We were supposed to go in to Florence to do a scavenger hunt, and then tour a church or something. However, when my alarm went off and I looked out the window, I shut my alarm off and went back to sleep. About an hour later someone came in to let us know that the trip had been cancelled for the day. We had breakfast at 9 and then we started class at 10. Robbie and Mona couldn't make it down from their house until about 1:30; I guess they got about a foot or more of snow. There was no one on kitchen duty for that day because we were supposed to be out in Florence, so I did lunch dishes with Weston, Emily, and Barret. That took me until almost three and then I had Italian class at three fifteen. Mona made a big pot of hot chocolate for us all to have with our Italian class, it was yummy! About four thirty we finished up with class.  I made my way upstairs and did a little more of my reading I needed too. Dinner was at 6:30 and then I had dinner dishes after that. So about 8 I went upstairs to try and work on some homework. However, there was chocolate cake served with our dinner and I maybe had like two pieces. So I didn't have much luck with focusing right away. I eventually got my Italian homework and my Bible homework finished up (I'd started it on Tuesday night). Then it was Tea Time (or for me, another piece of cake time and a cup of water!). It was a lot of fun, and everyone enjoyed it. After tea, I went back upstairs with a group of friends to work on Humanities homework, but my three pieces of cake REALLY hit and I was on a sugar high. I could NOT focus at all... I did eventually get that assignment done though. Turns out, down stairs a full blown dance party was breaking out. Eventually it was sounding crazy enough that I had to go down and check it our for myself. Sure enough. EVERYONE was dancing! It was crazy :) Even our sponsor was dancing haha!! From the electric slide to the Cupid Shuffle, to a couple of the guys perfecting lifts (with other guys, lol), dance skills were breaking out left and right. David was acting as DJ and everyone was having a good time. I took some pictures and a video or two, which I'm really glad I did. About 12:30 it was time to wind things down, so Reid played guitar and everyone else sang Wagon Wheel. After that I stayed up until about 1:30 talking with my roommates, and we made some crazy connections by people we know. Crazy how small the world is, right?

Thursday: Woke up bright and early, 7 o'clock that is, for some yoga with Kyle. It was a great way to start the morning. After yoga, got some breakfast and then put on as many layers of clothes as possible. Once I was all bundled up I headed into Florence with my group (Katie, Amanda, David, Jordan, Brandi, Kelsey, Paige and Jenna!) to start the scavenger hunt! We left about 9:20/9:30ish and didn't get back to the villa until after 4!! We took the bus, then the train, and then walked. And walked. AND WALKED. Oh, then we walked some more. About halfway through we stopped for lunch and had some pizza (FINALLY! it's crazy that I eat pizza more in America than I do in Italy). We actually ended up eating at the little pizza place where Jersey Shore is/was filmed. Not that any of us knew that at first. It was a nice little meal, and it felt so great to sit down and warm up!! After that we headed out again for the next half of our journey. Once we finally found as many as we could, we headed back to the train station to go back to the Villa. We stopped at a little gelato shop on the way there and got some gelato to eat in the snow. (Yes, the Italians did stare and make fun of us - apparently they don't eat ice cream in the snow. crazies.) There are two stops you can get off to catch the bus to get to the villa. For some reason, certain members of my group decided to get off at the stop furthest from the villa via the bus. And of course, we missed the bus. So we ended up walking from that stop and it was another good walk. (And I needed to go to the bathroom the whole time, all the way through town, up the little hill and then up THE BIG HILL, but I made it!) Got home, took a nice, long, hot shower (no one else was back yet), and then skyped with my Mom and Drake. Then had dinner. NOW it's time for some homework.

Funny sayings from today:

Jordan (passing hundreds of Asian tourists): Wow. Are there any people left in China?

Jenna (Standing in the street with her hands in her pockets, not moving as the car came at her): Ahh! Don't hit me! (luckily, it did not hit her, hahaha)

Random things I forgot mention:
First night we were here we were having a meeting with Robbie. He was calling people out by name as he was saying things about them and some how forgot that Jordan's name was Jordan. Instead, he called him Randy, and people still call Jordan Randy at times. Kind of funny.

Today, while we were walking along the sidewalk, some random snow ball hits me in the arm/chest. I look around but no one has snow, and behind me Jordan is laughing. Turns out, either snow on the car or someone from inside the car through a snowball at me. lol.

WELL. I have to do homework now.. because I'm pretty sure I have two quizzes tomorrow. OOPS.

Until next time!

LOTS OF LOVE FROM FLORENCE,

Kortney Alacyn