That Saturday we took a lovely trip to Arezzo to get acquainted with various transportation methods and to explore the town for a little while. Before we departed, we learned how to read and use a bus schedule. At first it looked extremely complicated because there are four different schedules in four different colors and three of the schedules involve Sansepolcro. After further studying the schedule, you notice that there is only one schedule that includes Arezzo and Sansepolcro. Another important note is that not every bus stops in Sansepolcro and not every bus stops in Arezzo. If that was not confusing enough, there is a special schedule for a work day, feriale, and a special schedule for Sunday, festivo. Putting all that aside, it was not too unbearable to understand. For safety issues, we have all memorized that the last bus from Arezzo to Sansepolcro leaves at 8:35, so we can at least get home safely!
On our way to Arezzo, we first learned where to buy our bus tickets and how to buy them. To buy a bus ticket, you go to the little bar next to the bus stop, walk up to the counter, and ask for
“un quattro corse” a Arezzo. The shop owner will then give you a ticket that costs about twelve euro and can be used four times. Buying four tickets at once is slightly cheaper than buying four tickets individually. Once aboard the bus we learned how to stamp our ticket and take a seat before the bus speed off into the distance. It was a glorious bus rider. Even though I am an incredible car sleeper, I was able to keep awake to enjoy the lovely white countryside covered in snow.
After arriving to Arezzo, we crossed the street to the stazione ferroviaria, train station. Once inside the station we learned which signs showed us when trains were arriving and departing. We also learned where to buy train tickets and how to get to the various lanes to our train we might need in the future. After our brief lesson on trains, we headed to the tourist office which we now recognize by the universal symbol of a letter “i ” found on maps. Once we were at the tourist center, we each took a map and then it was off to explore the city.
We first entered the city walls and headed straight for the edge of the city to the main cathedral. The whole town is set on a decent sized hill, and on the top of the hill lies the duomo. On our way we passed through Piazza Grande, the main square in town. It was exciting to see everything sprinkled with a hint of snow. 
We then continued our way back up to the cathedral. Once we were there, we admired its most prized possession, the Madonna Del Conforto. She is a small bust of a saint’s head who was believed by the citizens to have saved their city. They occasionally bring her out for special events, and parade her through the town. Our next stop would have been San Francesco Church; however, it is closed until March. Inside this church you will find beautiful frescos by Piero della Francesca, who was born in Sansepolcro. Fortunately, I do not leave Italy until May, so there will be many opportunities to go back! After admiring the cathedral, we went for a walk around the Passeggio del Parto, a beautiful park right next to the church. It was fun to see the park full of children of all ages playing in the snow, so we had no choice but to have a snow fight of our own.
After we had enough of getting hit by snow balls, we searched for a nice place to eat. We came across a small restaurant off the beaten path called the Osteria delle Poste. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves so it was perfect. I ordered these amazing mushroom raviolis and I also had a piece of the restaurant’s homemade tiramisu. After lunch, we decided to head back to Sansepolcro to try and get some work done.
On Sunday, we were surprised by wonderful Valentine treats from Bekah, Dr. Webb, John Rose, and Sara. We were delighted to find wonderful candies, cookies, mini cakes, and a beautiful card. We returned the spirit by giving a rose to Bekah and Dr. Webb. We also bought John Rose a planted plant because he enjoys them thoroughly. I also was lucky enough to have a beautiful card to open from my own valentine that was a lot of fun to read and share with the rest of the girls.
My biggest challenge with school so far has been waking up in time for class. There is no skipping class when your classes are a floor below your room. If you are not in your seat on time, the professors will send a student to come find you, or in my experience, come wake you up. Fortunately, all of the fellow students are now under agreement to make sure everyone is stirring in the morning before classes. Not wanting to depend on other people, I have been experimenting with different combinations of alarms to wake me up in the mornings. I have tried using my travel alarm, which I normally just sleep through. I have also tried using both my travel alarm and my cell phone; however, the cell phone usually ends up in the bed somehow, so I do not hear that alarm either. To overcome this dilemma, I decided to invest in a new alarm. I bought an old fashioned alarm with the two bells on top that ring back and forth to wake me up, and it is very effective. On the first trial run with the alarm, my roommate decided it would be a good idea to place the alarm on top of our bookshelf. This would require us to get completely out of bed to shut off the annoying sound. It seemed a wise idea to me so we gave it a try. Once the morning came, the alarmed sound and I jumped out of bed knocking all of the blankets and sheets on the floor. I then slammed into the wall because it was pitch dark and I could not see where I was going. Then with a throbbing head, I searched for the tall bookshelf and shut the alarm off. I must say, this is probably the first time in my life I have never gone back to bed without pressing the snooze button. The only casualty was a decent scrape on the side of my face and a good size knot on my forehead. The plus side is that we know the alarm is sufficient and extremely effective. For future reference, we just might place it in a less dangerous spot next time.
The next week of school was busy as usual. There were many late nights of studying Italian vocabulary and developing a presentation for Art History. For my presentation I studied the typical life of a noble during the medieval times. I really enjoyed this topic because I was able to compare their life style to ours, especially the lifestyle of a woman. I could not imagine not having a say over who I married or having many of children knowing many would die from a range of diseases. Another interesting thing about this topic is that I learned about typical clothing. This has been helpful because I can now recognize it in various artworks we have come across in churches or museums.
Our next big excursion will be to Florence and we spent the majority of the week planning for this trip. The plan is to leave right after our class on Friday to catch our one hour bus to Arezzo. Once we arrive to Arezzo, we will then catch a one and a half hour train to our final destination, Florence. Once in Florence, we will then head to our hotel and get settled in. My biggest challenge so far will be narrowing all the amazing sights in Florence down into two jammed packed days. So far on agenda is visiting the Duomo, Uffici, Santa Croce, and Santa Maria Novella. More to come on how the trip to Florence went!!!
Ci vediamo la settimana prossima! (See you next week!)
Kayley
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