Oh Hey, I'm in Assisi, Italy!

May 17, 2010

Wow! I am finally in Assisi! There was quite a lot of travel to get here, but it was well worth it. The landscape from the plane was breath-taking and so different from America. On the bus that we took from Rome to Assisi, we saw all these beautiful hills and a few fields of sheep! It was incredible to see all the sweeping slopes of Italy. The houses on the way over looked a lot like the homes I saw in Arizona last summer, which was strange to me, and unexpected. Nonetheless, they are still molto bella!

Upon our arrival, we were greeted with, literally, a city on a hill. Assisi had all these levels and you can work your way up or down, depending on where you want to go. We had to take a bus to get to the top of the city so that we could take our luggage down the slopes instead of up them. And when we got to CEFID, the monastery we are staying at, I was welcomed to my room by a beautiful view of Assisi and the surrounding area. During the day you can see all of the activity down below and at night you can see all the tiny lights. This view is really something.

We got pranzo, (lunch), at a tiny restaurant in the piazza, (main square), and most of us got pizza. Italian pizza is definitely much better than American. (There is so much less grease!) And after pranzo, I got a cioccolato, which was like a hot chocolate... but not at all. It was more like hot pudding and it was great! I couldn't get over how different it was from American hot chocolate! But, regardless, it was good and some of my new friends had a taste of it as well. They enjoyed it too.

As we walked through the city, we were able to see some ancient buildings, such as buildings that were around at the time of Christ! There was even a building from before Christ! (Don't worry, I got pictures.) The buildings that Wendy showed us are from Francis' time, and many were buildings that he had preached in front of or lived in, or were just around during that time period. Many of the buildings, however, look as though they've been around for a while.

After pranzo, we had some free time to get to know the town. A big group of us did some wandering and we got to go up to an old tower. We walked through the back-roads of Assisi and saw some dogs that we barking at us from on top of a roof. At the end of the night we went to a cafe/bar in the main piazza and shared wine. I still don't know if I can get used to that taste, but I will appreciate the cultural aspect of it.

Well, that is all for tonight! Tomorrow we are hitting the ground running with our projects and interviews of the local townspeople. So until, tomorrow, arrevaderci! (sp?)