Duomo
Ponte Vecchio
When I arrived in Italy, as tired as I was I felt on top of the world. That's a great thing about traveling, it makes you feel so confident, a little invincible and yet itty bitty and insignificant all at the same thime. I got to my hotel and found myself alone so I took a walk. I immediately loved Florence. But to be honest I have felt slightly homesick, something I have never felt in my life, and I absolutely loved the feeling. I am so restless with life and just do not know what to do with it. I see people living all kinds of ways in every corner of the earth and I am overwhelmed with thoughts, choices, possibilities. When I travel the world, I feel I know more and more that when the day is done I am glad I come home to Colorado, USA. That is big for me.
Any who the days have been full and since I feel every detail of my day (Then I had 3/4 of a sandwich with olives and..) would bore you, I will just tell you about yesterday and today.
Palio de Sienna!!- July 2nd
Imagine that grown men dress up in silly costumes, tens of thousands of people put down everything they have to do for the day to watch a 90 sec horse, imagine when they lose they fall to the ground with honest to god tears in their eyes. Now imagine that this is not silly at all, this is Palio de Siena the most exciting event that goes down in Sienna, and one of the largest medieval events that occurs in all of Europe. I loved it! They did parades before, and I just completely felt like I was in another time and another world. Our traditions include watching explosions and drinking. lol.
To give a short (none boring) history, Sienna has 17 Contradas, let's say regions. In the past people did not talk to people outside their own contrada and rarely married outside of them. Twice a year 10 are chosen to compete and get a horse and a jocky. Everyone dresses up, and gathers hours before to watch these horses run and these jockys beat each other for literally 90 sec. When the race is over they march the streets and party for days. All in all, this was a pretty neat thing to experience. They explained to us that it is on the level of Spain's bull run, but I had never heard of it so I don't know. lol.
To give a short (none boring) history, Sienna has 17 Contradas, let's say regions. In the past people did not talk to people outside their own contrada and rarely married outside of them. Twice a year 10 are chosen to compete and get a horse and a jocky. Everyone dresses up, and gathers hours before to watch these horses run and these jockys beat each other for literally 90 sec. When the race is over they march the streets and party for days. All in all, this was a pretty neat thing to experience. They explained to us that it is on the level of Spain's bull run, but I had never heard of it so I don't know. lol.
Forte dei Marmi- July 3rd
Today we decided that we wanted to experience an Italian beach. A nice relaxing easy day...Yeah Right! It's amazing how complicated things can be. Everything was a little more difficult than we planned. First we woke up 2 hours late, bad start. Then the trains were complicated, and when we got dropped off we realized we still had to walk 4 more miles to the beach, which of coarse is not miles, it's Kilometers, so that doesn't mean much to me yet until I get the conversion down. Of coarse we didn't realize how far it was until we attempted to walk there. Then we finally called a Taxi-Yikes talk about spending money left and right- and the Taxi took us to the wrong beach, well it would of been the right beach if we were rich, but we couldn't afford 50 euros a person to sit on the sand someone apparently owns. So we had to walk 2 miles to the free beach, and we realized why it was free real quick. Then after all that we only had a couple hours there. All in all it was a great day! Lesson- as long as you always see the journey as an adventure and keep a good attitude, you won't be mad even if you never make it to the correct destination- Oh Boy!
Other stuff: My apartment is cute and located in a great place! My roommates are awesome and all we do is laugh, like constantly. And I start class tomorrow, unfortunately. But I am having an amazing time, trying to believe I'm actually here, learn and experience everything I can, and enjoying every moment!
Thank you to everyone that supported me and help make all my dreams come true.
Love,
Care
Today we decided that we wanted to experience an Italian beach. A nice relaxing easy day...Yeah Right! It's amazing how complicated things can be. Everything was a little more difficult than we planned. First we woke up 2 hours late, bad start. Then the trains were complicated, and when we got dropped off we realized we still had to walk 4 more miles to the beach, which of coarse is not miles, it's Kilometers, so that doesn't mean much to me yet until I get the conversion down. Of coarse we didn't realize how far it was until we attempted to walk there. Then we finally called a Taxi-Yikes talk about spending money left and right- and the Taxi took us to the wrong beach, well it would of been the right beach if we were rich, but we couldn't afford 50 euros a person to sit on the sand someone apparently owns. So we had to walk 2 miles to the free beach, and we realized why it was free real quick. Then after all that we only had a couple hours there. All in all it was a great day! Lesson- as long as you always see the journey as an adventure and keep a good attitude, you won't be mad even if you never make it to the correct destination- Oh Boy!
Other stuff: My apartment is cute and located in a great place! My roommates are awesome and all we do is laugh, like constantly. And I start class tomorrow, unfortunately. But I am having an amazing time, trying to believe I'm actually here, learn and experience everything I can, and enjoying every moment!
Thank you to everyone that supported me and help make all my dreams come true.
Love,
Care
Man it hasnt even been a week yet and you have done so much! Im so proud of you for pushing your comfort zone and finding yourself! Crazy journey! What is even more amazing is that you wrote a whole blog and didnt even mention the food! I wanna hear about the food! lol im glad everything is going so well. Sry you have to go to school but it will jus tmake your free time even better! Have tons of fun! Take more pictures! And blog about the delicious food ;) I love you and miss you!
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