Italian Zac Efron and Friends.

Here I am wishing I had not skipped a day of journaling... The past few days we have taken trips to Arezzo and Siena. Our tour guide is a lovely Italian man named Giovanni. Not only does Giovanni have a vast knowledge of Italy and it's art, but he is very funny and LOVES makes jokes about Italy and Italian women. One thing American and Italian boys have in common, one of VERY few.

So Saturday morning we met to go the train for our first time. Before we left we had breakfast at Hermes, a local pastry/coffee/bar. The owner of Hermes is very nice-- you can see in his eyes that he really cares about us students and our having a good time. Not to mention he sells the only scrambled egg breakfast sandwhich probably in all of Italy. As our Italian teacher told us "Italians do not have uovo for breakfast!" Another thing he has is one of the most amazing views of Castiglion. Sitting at the top of the city, looking down over the countryside with the tower so close is unreal. I could sit there forever.

Our first train ride in Italy was successful. There seems to be a trend in European trains; they run through industrial not so pretty sides of town with a few glimpses of rural life in between. I can appreciate this, it makes me happy the train does not venture through every beautiful medieval city in Italy.

Arezzo was our first city outside of Castiglion, so we were all very excited. Giovanni took us to the top of town to visit the church of San Marcos, the second oldest church in Italy. He was particularly excited to show us the well preserved portrait of Mary Magdalene. Giovanni said it is probably the best preservation of color in all the public frescos in the Italian churches. The right side of Mary's cape was red to represent her as a prostitute and the white side to represent her after her conversion. Her face was the most impressive-- you could still make our the flush of her cheeks and the contour of her chin. Later that night I realized this exact portrait hangs in our room at the center. Once our tour was over we had some free time to roam and have lunch. We ventured away from the group in an attempt to blend into the Italian lifestyle. It's funny how being in Italy makes you feel more adventurous. The people in Arezzo didn't seem to notice us as much as those in Castiglion. We finally made our way to a small deli/grocery recommended by Giovanni. The walls were lined with wine from every corner of Tuscany and the sweetest cherry tomatoes you've ever had. The part part of the store was the vivacious store owner. He has a smile that reminded you of a loving grandfather and welcomed us right away. Still a little shy with our Italian we had, who we assumed to be his younger son help us order some sandwiches. Panino de pruiscutto e formaggio! He was so thrilled to serve us and offered us free produce. Despite my many attempts to tell him we didn't speak English he kept talking to us. We would smile and then giggle and just enjoyed his beautiful language. We did get one thing from our "conversation"-- we were not allowed to eat McDonald's while in Italy. Before we said goodbye we took a picture with him, I want to send it to him when I get back to America.

That night we made our way to the medieval festival in Castiglion Fiorentino. Similar to the Renaissance Festival, but with a touch of authenticity. Townspeople dress in medieval attire and parade to the top of the city for tap birra and vino (beer and wine). I got a handcrafted ring from a local artisan. Lana and I shared a bottle of the wine-- a smooth robust flavor. Of course I was craving a turkey leg... I mean hello, medieval festival! We found the food and after two attempts at pronouncing we ordered "arrostachini" which we discovered was lamb on a stick. What the eff. Good flavor, but kind of creepy.

I really wanted to practice my Italian so I tried talking to some of the locals and this was the beginning of our first Italian friendships-- meet Lucca, Italian Zac Efron, and Alessandro, no-English-speaker. They are both super nice, but bless their hearts, cannot speak any English. Alessandro barely got out "type of music? Oasis" and was ELATED to know I knew who they were and could sing Wonderwall. We then met many of their friends, a few who could speak English. They taught us some new words... WTF?= Que pale? We also made a really nice friend named Laura Regi, who we thought was 24 but was really 17. Italians look and act a lot older and start smoking at like 14. The Italians really enjoyed practicing their English and we really enjoy getting to know them. Overall it was a great night and we plan to meet back up with our new friends very soon.