Over a Sea of Clouds

(This is a long one, but I promise... it's worth it. It even has pictures! Read it on a break or something...)

Sunday, for me, seems to be the best day here. All good things happen on Sunday. This weekend, we stayed in Cortona... well, most of us did. Groups of people went elsewhere, but I stayed in Cortona. It was nice, but I was feeling rather depressed. It seems to happen a lot to me on Saturdays. I thought maybe it was because we were traveling on Saturdays and thus had no downtime, and so Sunday always seemed cooler, comparatively, because we could finally take a break. Apparently, not so.

But anyway, on Sunday, we went to La Celle. This is the monastery where St. Francis lived. Grace and I woke up at 5:30 AM. I was almost convinced by my body not to wake up and go. But Grace convinced me that it was a good idea. So I dragged myself up and grabbed my camera and headed out to meet our Art History professor in La Piazza della Repubblica (the main steps of Cortona that are in movies and pictures...). It was all dark as we left the city walls and Orion was high up in the sky. (I found that he only comes out here in the very early morning. The rest of the time, he is below the horizon.) We started on our hike.

Lexi, my walking partner...

I am a slow walker. I don't like walking very fast, and fortunately Lexi (one of the twins) doesn't either so she walked with me. It was nice, except that because it was so dark, we kept losing the rest of the group. The road was straight, so we couldn't really get lost. Unfortunately, Grace, who started with us, did. She likes to take pictures (and a lot of them) so she often falls behind. She told me she had a lovely adventure on her own, though.Cortona from a distance

This is the valley just after sunrise

Friends, I don't know what is wrong with me, but I seem incapable of wearing sensible shoes on hikes. Like any true native Southern Californian, I love my sandals. Do I love any particular sandals? No. I love my flip-flops. These brown flip-flops have been where no flip-flop has any right to be. They told me not to wear them on our trip to the Roman Forum. Did I listen? No. I wore them anyway. They told me not to wear them in Carrara. Did I listen? No. I wore them anyway. They told me it was a forty-five minute hike to La Celle. I should have known to wear some sensible shoes. Did I? Not at all. My feet were free and breezy all morning. Now you are expecting to hear some terrible story about how I fell and twisted my ankle because I failed to wear proper foot gear. Gottcha! Haven't hurt anything yet... (Knock on wood.)

It has been very rainy so the clouds and mist had settled into the Tuscan Valley. We were above the cloud line though, so while it was clear, we got to look out over the blanket of mist settling into the crevices, with bright flecks of gold where streetlights were still shining. Then we got to La Celle. La Celle is extremely scenic. It is not hard to imagine how St. Francis got so close with nature. There is a waterfall which goes right through La Celle. They have a rose garden there and bridges. It's exactly how one would imagine a monastery to be, only prettier.

This is a waterfall inside La Celle.

Naturally, there isn't any water right now, but I thought it was a cool pic.Pretty vines...

Some friends in the courtyard of La Celle

We went to Mass... that was a bit of a let down. Lea, my art history professor thought there was going to be chanting. Not much chanting. It was very... anti-climatic. But that's ok, because then we got to walk home.

We walked back with Lea, Devon (the other twin), Caitlin (a new friend) and Laura (the first person I met upon arrival in Italy). Fall definitely is in the air, and chestnuts have been falling off the trees. Chestnuts are weird. They fall off in spiky pods which break open to reveal the chestnut inside, which when you roast those, reveal the actual chestnut... nut. I get very antsy around chestnuts, though, because I'm allergic to them, but the other girls were excited to pick them up and play with the pods. We walked back much slower, and we were able to enjoy the Tuscan scenery. Looking down on the clouds was even better on the trip back. The sun was shining over the sea of clouds. It looked almost as if we were seeing the valley from an airplane, only there was foliage around us. It was breathtaking.


Later, Gino, our seventy-some year old gardener, took my roommate, Heather, who I roomed with in Rome and Florence, and myself to a festival in a town which is part of the brotherhood (?) of Cortona. (Towns are set up very differently here in Italy. They have regions, communes and then I think what they call 'brotherhoods.' Cortona is the capitol of this brotherhood, but part of the Arezzo commune, which is located in Tuscany.) Gino is an odd duck. He is kind of a mix between a creepy old man and a grandfather. He compliments all the ladies, sometimes a bit inappropriately (we chalk this up to Italian culture and very broken English), but at the same time, is always very helpful and kind. He owns a cat, named Bella, who he treats very affectionately. Bella loves Gino back and follows him everywhere. Bella also likes people in general and will often walk into the study room and fall asleep on the sofas, waiting for someone to pick her up and/or pet her. This makes me happy.

The festival was a lot of fun. It's harvest season, so there were a lot of people there. There were some people grape stomping, Grace and Heather bought a bottle of wine each (we all agreed it is pretty good, but then again, this wine is also practically just grape juice...) We bought bread and cheese and walked around. Gino insisted that I dance with him to one of the bands playing. He's a pretty good dancer, actually. He's the best leader I think I've had since the TA of my ballroom/swing class last fall. Gino also invited me to go dancing with him later this semester. I don't think I will... while he's a good dancer, it was kind of awkward.

Dancing with Gino...

It rained again today. It's been rainy and beautiful. I love rain. The wind has really picked up, making the windows fog and the clouds roll. Today, my drawing class took a field trip to a bar (cafe) where we drew one of my classmates. I drank cappuccino (becoming a serious addict) and we ate pizza, and listened to jazz. It was great. I feel like I did a very good job. It's nice to feel good about one's art.

(because I'm sure you all have just been DYING to see what I've been doing... here's a sample)

Our model and fellow student, Rory

I don't think I'll ever get over how beautiful God's creation is. Truly, He is the greatest artist of all.

Psalm 8

A psalm of David.

¹ O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.

² From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

³ When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

⁵ You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:

⁷ all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,

⁸ the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

(Sorry for the length... a lot happens in one day...)

As an added plus... this is my Boyfriend. He's on his side in this picture.
This was taken last week... he currently doesn't look like this anymore.
I'm not going to show you pictures of the plaster model because I want it to be a surprise,
but if you all ask very nicely, I might put up pictures of the runners up.
(AKA the clay models of the ones I didn't do AKA my little Frankenstein's Monsters.)