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!!! :)
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
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. :)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
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
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
Thursday, February 2, 2012
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
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
Monday, January 30, 2012
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
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
Sunday, January 29, 2012
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
Saturday, January 28, 2012
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!!
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!!
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