im one lucky girl... who loves the mountains!

Let me begin my blog from the weekend by pointing out I have officially been here over a month. It’s hard to believe I have already been here so long, but when I think about all I have seen it seems it has been forever. I still get two months of this before I come home! How amazing it is to be in the place you know you are meant to be.

This weekend was the first of a few long weekends we get while we’re in Italy. I decided to spend mine conveniently by staying in Sansepolcro Thursday and Friday night and then in Balze on Saturday, which turned out to be a bargain. Although my budget stayed low for the weekend, all that I got to see and do was priceless. On Friday I rode to Cortona, about 45 minutes from Sansepolcro. The roads were windy but the trip was worth it because of the views we got once we were in the city. Nicole, Vi, Sam, and I, along with our friend Giacamo took a simple walk up the hills and around the town to see the beauty this city had to offer. We walked up enough hills to work up an appetite and chose a restaurant, which would come to be more formal than we imagined. Once inside we came across some other American students, who were studying art in Cortona for the semester. I started up conversation with one of the guys whose name was Nathan and he told me his brother graduated from St. Andrews. I thought “you’ve got to be joking.” I knew that he couldn’t have made this up because no one has heard of St. Andrews unless they live in Laurinburg or graduated from the school. I realized once again, it really is a small WORLD; making a Laurinburg connection in Italy, how strange. After talking with some of the students we realized that there was a girl from Meredith studying with them. Erin Campbell is studying with this group in Cortona, and we got the chance to talk to her and invite her to lunch here in Sansepolcro. I think she appreciates studying in a small town, just as all of us girls do. It makes coming home from a weekend or day trip a little more comforting. Small cities seem to have a charming way of being more welcoming. After finishing our dinner, which the waiter retrieved from the elevator to serve us, it was off to Arezzo. In Arezzo we just ended up taking a small passegata before decided to come back to Sansepolcro for the evening.

While in Arezzo, and on the return home from our trip we saw many prostitutes. I only feel I should write about this because it disturbed me enough to leave a permanent imprint on my heart. These African women lined the streets in and around Arezzo, and do so in the larger cities of Italy, such as Milan. Nicole and I learned from Giacamo that these women are often times not standing on the streets by choice, but because their lives are in danger unless they do this kind of work. I assume that pimps take these women from what they know and send them to the streets. Because police aren’t concerned about the problems of prostitution, they have come to ignore these women and they continue to do this forced work (which IS illegal in Italy.) I can’t fathom how these women must feel to be used for sex or how lonely and hurt they must feel standing on the streets of Italy each night. It is my hope that these women can escape this horrible world of prostitution, and that the people forcing them to do this work will be punished.

Turning subjects onto something more light and happy is my adventure Saturday. It was time to do some hiking, and for me missing the mountains I lived in this summer. We went to a town called Balze about 45 minutes away from Sansepolcro and tried to find some good places to hike. We first ventured down to the paths which lead us to where the Tiber River begins. It was cool to think that I was at the starting point of a river so beautiful and popular to Italy. The weather was much colder since we were in the mountains but because we were hiking we managed to be ok with the temperature. The next place we went hiking didn’t have a destination but we found a quant resort with a horse and some very cute dogs. There was beauty in a 360 degree range and I no longer felt like I was in Italy or even America, I felt like I had to be in some kind of dream. The mountains are my retreat, and I keep being reminded of that, even in a foreign country. Taking the random trail and finding all kinds of beautiful views was so peaceful for me. We returned into the town where our hotel was and after walking from the top of the town to the bottom of the town in less than 15 minutes, came to what seemed like the town’s only open restaurant. I enjoyed my fizzy white wine and pizza, and some company from friends Nicole, Vi, Giacamo and Giacamo. It was a great evening which ended sharing different Italian desserts with friends and good conversation with my friend Vi on culture and life in general. It was nice for us to talk about the cultural differences we have seen in our own communities at home, the differences between racial groups in America, and all of the differences between our culture and the American culture.

Another week of class is going to begin tomorrow, after going to Arezzo (if you haven’t learned I must go there to get to most places, or in this case to get most anything done) for our Permesso disagiorno <-couldn’t have spelled that correctly (permits to stay here as students.) I must work hard to get my term paper started before Meredith faculty and friends arrive for the opening this weekend! It’s a busy time of the semester! Ciao until next time :)