Feb 8, 2008
Long time no post, or Cortona has Internet
I’m in Cortona! I can’t believe that this is my new home for the next three months! I have a beautiful view from my room; I can probably see 50+ miles of Tuscan hillside from my window. Currently there are 17 students in the common area using the Internet. We’ve been missing it.
Here is a post that I wrote yesterday, thinking I would pop into an Internet cafe and post it. I did not.
I am currently in Florence, it is a beautiful city. Large, yet surprisingly quaint. Sadly, we leave tomorrow. I’m glad I’ll only be an hour away. Cortona awaits us; we’ve been told that the town will be coming out to welcome us and Nutella will be involved.
It’s so strange for me not having ready access to the Internet. I feel like I have lost my connection to the world; at the same time, I am experiencing the world. There is so much to process and digest that I have trouble putting it into words. There’s so much to see and experience that there isn’t time for the Internet.
Rome is a city of opposites. Many streets are incredibly small with the surrounding view obstructed by tall buildings. They’re typically one way with a line of parked cars, a sidewalk, and motor traffic whizzing through showing mild disregard for pedestrians. You feel surrounded. Yet, with out warning, the entire scene explodes in front of you.
The Spanish Steps, the Tourini fountain, the Pantheon, the Vadican, the Coliseum all appear after turning a corner. You feel overwhelmed by history and scale. Sculpted works of art seem to permeate every corner. It is a city that has existed for hundreds of years. Life ticks along. The city will exist for years after those who inhabit it now.
We arrive in Cortona tomorrow. It will be nice to be in a small town, find a grove, really start classes, have steady internet, and post some pictures. I feel like this past week has been a crash course in Italy. Cortona will be so much quiet, beauty, and familiarity. Even in large cities people in the program run into each other. In Cortona the town awaits our arrival. It will be like we’re ready to become Italians.
Finally! Some pictures! This is Rome.
More very soon! For realz this time.
-Jason
