One Week and Counting

Hey guys!!! I'm sorry I haven't been able to post lately, you wouldn't believe the demand for one computer in a house of 23 girls... Plus we've been busy as sin with school work. It's a little ridiculous. I'm taking Teresa's advice to a certain point and not letting my schoolwork get in the way of my education. :) So far, we've been out of Sansepolcro three times. I've been to the neighboring towns Anghiari and Arezzo twice and Florence once. We had to be on high alert in Florence because the crime there is out of sight. Happily, no one got robbed and I got some incredible pictures of the most beautiful Cathedral I've ever seen. Alot of girls did some bartering in the market there, and one girl got a leather jacket for ridiculously cheap.
Anghiari and Arezzo are really really beautiful in the quaint little town sort of way. We went into a cathedral in Arezzo and they were conducting a wedding right there for everybody to come in and see. So we did. We also saw frescos painted by Francesco, you may have heard of it, Legends of the True Cross. BEAUTIFUL. The preservation and beauty is just incredible. We're not allowed to take pictures, but I have a brochure to show you when I get home. We went to the park after wards, and just sat on this mountain and looked across the valley. Dr. Winterhoff's wife got it pretty much in one phrase. She just said "God is talking." It was an indescribable sight, so I took alot of pictures.
Y'ALL. The Public Displays of Affection here are CRAZY. We're trying to take pictures of as many as we can. Don't worry either, cause there's no way they see us. Girls sitting on guys laps, completely like eating each others faces. I wish I had a picture of the couple we saw at the park. Cathy called them Brave Blind Dentists. Hilarious.
If you know anything about the materials we had to read to prep for the trip, you've heard about the different stages that most people go through when studying abroad. Supposedly, you go through a euphoria stage where you're super excited to be in a new place, then a irritation stage where the differences get on your nerves and seeing the same people everyday gets stressful, then you acclimate and find a happy medium to finish your trip. I am here to tell you that this euphoria stage skipped right over me and I'm vaccillating between acclimation and annoyance at seeing the same people every single day. I love the girls that I'm with, but close quarters get a little stressful sometimes. The only complaint I have with the country is that they don't eat enough chicken. I miss ketchup and chicken. However, I think I will come back in the greatest shape of my life.