I made it to Cortona today and climbed the legendary hill. I’m glad people have hyped it up for me, because when I saw it, I had had such horrible visions of hills in my mind that I realized that it was do-able. It takes about 6 minutes to get all the way up, and by the grace of God we had some local Cortonese load up vans and drive our luggage up for us. But the climb up and down each day to dinner, and perhaps multiple times a day since I have to go down to the town for lunch, is going to be a good variable in my summer plan to get back in shape. I’ve yet to explore the hilly running trails since it’s raining, but I think that the hill + all the runners we have on this trip + Mei Lin, my personal health trainer as far as food choices, stretches and all-things health, is going to whippppp me in shape! (Basically, Brumby butt x2.) I’ve also labeled this summer as my beauty DETOX, so I can have full hair, nail and body restoration by the time I get back to Athens. My therapeutic summer begins now, as we are FINALLY settled in!
When our vans pulled up mid-day today, we were all exhausted from this past week of traveling, with plenty of blisters to show, but for the first time we all woke up and cheered so loudly. We finally made it. No more museums, cobble stones of Rome, subway and bus transit, or late nights of taking an hour to get back into Rome. Time for “me time”. Time to journal, read, unpack and put our clothes into drawers, to own our new homes for the next 2 months, to learn the streets of the city we’ll come to love and identify with. Time to start making art! Time for classes, and Tonnino’s restaurante, time for routine. And time for rest! For me, time for sleeping in (no class till 1pm)! We all cheered so loudly as we pulled into the town, but don’t let me leave out the 30 minutes prior to that. Once we got off the main highway, we drove through about 20 minutes of plains, before we even hit the foothill of the mountain where cortona is wedged. We drove through 400 year old country-side homes, fresh fruit trees, and sheep in pastures with the mountain range outlined behind them. Once we hit the foot hills, we started winding along tiny cobblestone roads, up to the Etruscan town of Cortona, passing many small hill towns with their walls surrounding them on our way.
The Kehoe Center, where I'll be living for 2 months!-->
our little back yard and olive trees :)
In our first meeting at the Kehoe center, we found out that our UGA campus buildings are newly restored, but they’re actually 700 years old! We have to be very conscientious of the energy we used, because oil here is around $9 a gallon. The directors and RA’s of our program encouraged us to really focus on getting to know the Cortonese people during our stay here. This program has been here for 40+ years, and the relationships that have been formed have spanned generations of the Cortonese and thousands of UGA alumnae. Think about it… we have ~100 students/faculty each fall, winter, maymester and summer. That’s around 400 people per year for over 40 years! We bring life to their city and they have the wisdom and history of this Italian town and its craft and to teach us. I hope to cultivate relationships this summer that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I hope that when I leave I will feel like I’m leaving a little of me in Cortona, and taking a little piece of Cortona back with me. I’ve heard from Frances, Kerrie and Stacy that they were so sad to leave and want to come back, so from day one, I’m going to get down to town and start meeting the locals in this working etruscan village.
CONTACTING ME!
From here on out, you can call me here at the campus in Cortona: 0575 630 275. I can talk for 15 minutes at a time and it’s free for me, but I’m not sure about for you… J Let me know when you’re going to call so I can be by the phone, and keep in mind we’re 6 hours ahead of eastern time and 7 hours ahead for all you Missourians.
As far as laundry, I found out that I do have to hand wash everything. Oh joy! Actually, I’m pretty excited about living ruggedly for these next few months. I’m already appreciating how comfortably we live in the US, how available drinking water is, how cheap food is, and how good coffee is. Although the girls really do seem to enjoy Coke Lite (Diet Coke), I’ve made a decision to drink nothing other than water and wine.
We got our roommates, and I’m living in room 3 with Kellie Gutterman, a girl from Louisianna, Mei Lin Ng, who I met in my painting class at UGA, and Rachel Nielson, an ADPi who’s going to be on SGA with me this next year! We live right next to room 2, which has Mary Rabun, Caroline Lemoine, and their friend Sarah Ann! It worked out pretty perfect if you ask me. We each get our own bathrooms and our window opens up to the court yard outside, but Caroline’s room has this shabby chic little door that opens out. We get our own bathrooms in exchange for the amazing view that the girls across the hall have, but they have 8 to a bathroom, so I’m happy with what we’ve got!
We settled in, unpacked, and headed down the mountain for our first group dinner at Tonnio’s where we celebrated our 5th birthday of the trip, Ansley’s 21st. We’ve also celebrated Jonathan’s, Taylor’s, Christina’s, Holly’s, and Ashley’s too! Peter and Hayley’s birthdays will be the weekend in July when we’re in Florence! We’re planning on going early and staying in a hostel, which is on my bucket list, so I’m pretty excited about it! Tonnino’s has wine for 1 Euro per glass, so everyone enjoyed that and afterward we went to Lion’s Well for our first time. I met Christian and Michele (Michael), who already knew who I was thanks to Stacy! They showed me a picture of all my friends during maymester that’s hanging up in the pub. They also have a UGA flag hanging in the bar, which is pretty cool! They call me “breet-ta-ny.” I’m about to conk out, now, but I’d say I’m already loving this little town and can’t wait to explore it tomorrow!
The view from the John D. Kehoe (JDK) Center!
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