One Month Down & Three To Go.

Time for another update.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to get to see the Giostra del Saracino, the Saracen Joust, here in Arezzo. It happens twice a year, once in June and again in September. The Quartieri, the four neighborhoods in Arezzo, compete by having two jousters per quartieri try to hit the center of a target while riding their horse towards the wooden Saracen. The neighborhood with the most points at the end wins and is awarded a Golden Lance made by a local carpenter in Arezzo. The four neighborhoods are, Porta del Foro, Porta Crucifera, Porta Sant'Andrea, and Porta Santo Spirito. I live in Porta Crucifera. I had no idea how serious they are about the competition. It reminded me of an OU v. OSU game or even OU v. Texas but with a much smaller audience. The members of each neighborhood cheer on their riders and do everything in their power to distract the opposing neighborhoods horses. Although my neighborhood Porta Crucifera has had the most wins, Porta Sant'Andrea was favored to win and in the end Santo Spirito won the tournament.

I have been in Italy for almost a month now. It will be one month this Friday. The time has just been flying by. It doesn't seem like I have been gone that long yet it also feels like ages since I was in the U.S. I have found myself occasionally forgetting that I am in Italy because I'm finally comfortable with my surroundings. It feels like home; a new home at least. Nothing like my actual home. I miss my cats Kiwi and (soon to be mine) Voodoo. My friends at home keep sending me pictures of Voodoo and it's the worst kind of torture. I love getting pictures of her but I also miss her and my cat Kiwi. Also it doesn't help that everywhere you go in Arezzo, someone has their dog with them. Literally anywhere. Restaurants, the grocery store, a bar. You name it. There will be a dog there.

There have been ups and downs, homesickness and great adventures and I still have three months left here. I talk to friends back in the states regularly and it's hard to describe but when people ask, "Oh my gosh how is Italy?! It must be so amazing," I normally just tell them it's awesome and that I love it. Don't get me wrong I do love being here and it has been incredible so far, but people don't realize that it's just another place where people live. Sure it is more historic than most of America and it's easier to travel to various European countries, but in reality, I am living my life as I normally would, just a few thousand miles away from home. I wake up, go to class, go to my internship, nearly get hit by the stupid cars that drive down the narrow streets, hang out with some friends, then go back to my apartment and prepare myself for the next day. I have gotten over the crazy realization that I am living in Italy. It's normal to me now. There is still a language barrier and I definitely miss some things about being in America, but I have adapted to the lifestyle here.

I am looking forward to the winery visit this Friday and the hike on Saturday that I will be going on with other OU in Arezzo students. It should be a lot of fun and a nice relaxing weekend.

More updates to come later!

Ciao!

Wow. This Place.

Alright friends and family time for another blog post.

I have spent the past two weeks in Arezzo, Italy and I am getting to know the town much better now. I can walk around without constantly having my map out which is a big step forward. There is a big tournament happening next weekend and my neighborhood is decorated in green and red flags and streamers. It's so much fun to see the citizens of Arezzo coming together and getting ready for the joust this weekend. I'm really looking forward to attending the celebration and getting to experience some true Arezzo history.

This weekend I went to Cinque Terre and Turin with my friends Ayanna, Pablo, and Evan. The trip was so much fun. We went and saw all 5 cities of Cinque Terre in three days and spent one day walking around seeing Turin. For those who don't know, Cinque Terre is a collection of five cities along the Northern coast of Italy. They are beautiful and you can actually walk to all five cities. We didn't have enough time to walk between them all so we took the train but is was still an incredible experience.

We also went to the church that the Shroud of Turin is in and we saw the Egyptian Museum. The Museum blew my mind. There were so many artifacts and they had a few mummies on display that they are working on conserving. When I went into the room with all the Egyptian statues I just wanted to stay there forever. It felt like I had traveled back in time to the Egyptian period. I LOVED that museum. There is so much to do in Turin and I wish we had more time to see the sights but we had a lot of fun.

Now I am back in Arezzo and I'm entering my third week of being here in Italy. I am finally settling into a regular schedule. I have class in the morning and I just started my internship today. It is the neatest little place. Arezzo Factory houses some rooms for people to take classes and they also have music rooms.  They offer Japanese and Nursing classes and you can rent rooms to practice music like guitar, piano, drums, and so on. It's a new experience having to work with people who do not speak much English but it is going to be so rewarding in the end. The people who work there are so nice too. When I was waiting for my supervisor one of the guys who works in the caffe asked me who my favorite music artist was having trouble finding the music I said so he pulled up some Dave Matthews Band and played it over the speakers. I couldn't help but smile. This internship is going to be challenging and so much fun. They want me to plan an event so I will most likely be hosting an event in October. The pressure is on!

That's all for now. I hope to write again soon but who knows, life is about to start getting crazy!

Ciao!