Italy

So I haven’t posted in a while and it’s about time.

Italy was incredible. We spent a while in Florence and then went to Assisi .

Florence is a great place. We mostly studied Renaissance Art. It was quite a change after being in the UK and learning about Celtic Christianity and how they value nature so much—the cliffs are their walls and the heavens are the dome of their cathedral. Then we see Jesus after Jesus after Jesus in elaborate display after display after display. Much of it was beautiful—don’t get me, as a former art major, wrong—I truly and thoroughly was touched by seeing David by Michelangelo and mesmerized especially by Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci; it’s just interesting how many different ways the stories in the Bible can be represented—each one more elaborate than the next.

There are lots of tourists/foreigners in Florence , which is kinda annoying but fun at the same time. Some guys in our group randomly met on the street a friend of one of the girls in our group who’s studying there. The first restaurant we went to I heard Americans from 4 different tables. I bought Mexican earrings from an Ecuadorian man in a plaza and got to speak Spanish with him (he didn’t know any English—and Leigh, you would be proud; I found out he’s lived in Italy for two years and loves it and I told him we were studying, where, and how many of us there are and more). Tara, who is becoming one of my closest friends on the trip, bought a cd from a band of Romanian gypsies. There are quite a few Africans that sell fake designer bags on the street.

We did experience Italy , though.

Italians are loud and say what they think. There is great food and we had gelato every day. Cobblestone streets are filled with pedestrians who instinctively move onto the sidewalk if there’s a car coming—I’d hate to drive in Italy . The men are very forward—that’s all I’m gonna say about that. Customer service to the Italian means that the customer serves the retailer. Wine. Ancient stone buildings. Music and street performers everywhere.

Assisi was a little different. It wasn’t quite as touristy and had quite a different aura about it. We learned a lot about Saint Francis. I was inspired by his sold out response to Christ and how on purpose he was. He truly was a living sacrifice. Though we were in this place that he lived, dwelled, and served, I was touched as much by the places as I was the story of his life. Many of the spots are held to SUCH a sacred standard that’s it’s near blasphemy. This man spent his life trying to stress the importance of humility and the unimportance of THINGS and they build him a massive cathedral and a fancy tomb that thousands of people visit and some pray to. You cannot go into one store without there being something that has to do with Saint Francis.

I did like Assisi better than Florence , though. It is older and more beautiful. The entire city is like an enormous castle on a hill. The streets are tiny and everything is connected. My favorite spot was a walkway on one of the highest parts of the city where on one side there is a very small, enclosed vineyard, and on the other there’s a place in the side wall that turns to fence that allows one to see for miles and miles and miles.

Italy was great.