Free Travel #1

Everyone arrived back to Citerna safely from the hotel by Sunday night. There were students who stayed in Italy, some who went to Spain, some to France, some to Germany, some to Switzerland, and some to Austria. A few even went to Liechtenstein. There were some inevitable snags in the travel plans of some groups. One group of six had to take a long detour in order to get back here from Munich because all the trains to Italy from there were booked solid because of Oktoberfest. Another group got locked out of their hostel because they arrived in town too late. These sorts of things are certainly annoying, but part of the maturing experience offered by this kind of program is the opportunity to learn how to deal with unexpected situations. No one got hurt or lost, and so we all considered the weekend a great success!

My family spent almost the entire travel period in Tuscany, specifically the area around Lucca, a walled city in northern Tuscany that dates to the Roman period. We spent three nights in Lucca and used it as a base to explore the area. Wednesday, on our way there, we stopped in Collodi to visit the Parco di Pinocchio, a small theme park dedicated the wooden boy whose creator hailed from that town. Collodi is also home to the Villa Garzoni Gardens (pictured), which are quite impressive and include a butterfly house, which the kids enjoyed.

On arrival in Lucca, we had to park outside the city walls despite our hotel's being inside; only residents are allowed to park within the city. Lucca's walls are its most distinctive feature; they were built in the 16^th and 17^th centuries and are completely intact. They were converted into a public park in the early 19^th century and now attract joggers, bikers, and others who simply want to enjoy the view. We spent all day Thursday in Lucca, walked on the walls, visited a couple of villas that are now museums, and climbed the city's highest tower, which actually has trees growing on top of it. We even found a playground that the kids were able to play on for a while.

Friday morning we drove to Pisa and spent a couple of hours in the Piazza of Miracles. This was the only experience during the travel period that was not new to me. The Leaning Tower now costs 15 euros and a couple of hours' wait to enter. Furthermore, they do not allow children under the age of eight inside, so we passed on that. We paid to go into the cathedral and spent the rest of the time relaxing in the piazza. Then we returned to Lucca, checked into our new hotel outside the walls—we were unable to get reservations for all three nights in the same place—and walked back into town to rent bicycles. We found a rental shop and hired two tandem bikes that allowed us to tow the kids behind us, and then we took the bikes up on the walls for a ride around the city. It was quite fun, and Edward and William really enjoyed it (Richard fussed a lot.) Afterwards we returned to the hotel and relaxed the rest of the evening. The only wrinkle was that I got a call from Ed Hicks back at Faulkner informing me that the administration wanted us to produce a video of the Study Abroad students for Faulkner's Benefit Dinner on October 2. I had no idea how to do this, but said we'd figure something out.

On Saturday, we left our hotel and headed west to Torre del Lago Puccini near the coast. Lucca was Giacomo Puccini's birthplace, and the town boasts several sites associated with him, including a café where we got charged nearly five euros for a couple of coffees. However, Torre del Lago Puccini is where Puccini lived for most of his adult life and where he composed several of his most famous operas. His home there is still owned by the Puccini family and operated as a museum. The place is not big, but it is nearly perfectly preserved; his son left everything there the way it was when his father died and made it into a museum the following year (1925). After leaving there, we took a driving tour into the Apuan Alps and saw some fantastic scenery, including some apparently abandoned marble quarries. We made it back to Citerna around 7:30 p.m., tired but happy.

On Sunday, we breakfasted at the hotel before setting off for Perugia, about an hour south of Citerna by car. The historic center of Perugia is actually very nice. A series of escalators takes you from the public parking areas up into the remains of the 16^th-century papal fortress and from there out into the streets. We did a walking tour of the town's most historic streets, sat in on part of a Mass in the cathedral, ate lunch in the town square for about half of what it would have cost us in Florence, and got free admission to the city's major art museum. To top it off, we found a nice painting on canvas in an open-air market that we decided to buy for our wall at home. All in all, I'd have to say it was a very successful trip. We got back to Citerna in the mid-afternoon, and I tried to catch up on some schoolwork. At 7:00 p.m. we held a worship service for everyone who had returned to the campus by that point; we had about a dozen people there to participate. The rest of the groups trickled in over the next four hours.

Monday and Tuesday (yesterday and today) were class days and a time of recuperation from the free travel. It was also a time for Kevin Cline and me to try to put this Benefit Dinner video together. We have come up with something that I hope will meet with everyone's approval; we hope to email it to Dr. Hicks tonight. We are also recharging our batteries for our trip to Greece, for which we depart at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. I don't know what the availability of internet connections will be in our hotels, so I may not be able to post another update until October 10. Please pray for our continued safety on these travels.

Four Days of Classes

Today is our fourth consecutive day of classes since returning from Rome and Pompeii. The energy devoted to getting coursework done while we are here at the Hotel Sobaria overshadows the other things that are going on (or is that just a professor's wishful thinking?). There have been a couple of more afternoon trips down the hill to play soccer or volleyball. Jonathan has set up the first intramural events; I've been told that I am supposed to play in a ping-pong tournament for which I did not volunteer, and that I am a team captain for some other sport (volleyball?—I can't remember).

On Sunday and Monday nights, Jenny Towns (the English instructor from Freed) and I screened the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries for extra credit to our students in English Literature and Western Cultural Heritage. Some of the students came early on and found it not to their taste, but we had at least a dozen who stuck it out through the whole six hours over the two nights.

The only excursion I have made since Pompeii is a trip to Sansepolcro, a small town north of Citerna, on Saturday. Sansepolcro is known primarily as the birthplace of Piero della Francesca, a prominent Renaissance painter. His Resurrection fresco in the Civic Museum is one of the best known works of the 15^th century. I had wanted to see it for a long time, and it did not disappoint. The rest of the town is charming, too; most of the historic center's architecture dates from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Unfortunately, we inadvertently left our camera at the hotel, so a return trip will be necessary to acquire some photographs.

The looming event for everyone here is the free travel period which begins tomorrow afternoon after classes end and lasts until Sunday. Each group of students traveling together has been required to provide an itinerary as well as contact information and arrival/departure trains from Arezzo. There are groups going to Spain, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as some students who are staying in Italy. I think the smallest group has six people in it, so there should be adequate safety in numbers. Still, all prayers will be appreciated.

My family is headed for northern and western Tuscany, and I will be posting more information about our trip in the coming days.

Pompeii

On Friday morning we were all supposed to be on the chartered bus at 7:00 to depart for Pompeii, but one roomful of students failed to appear on time. Jonathan had to go roust them from their room; they claimed they had never gotten the message about the early departure. So it was about 7:15 before we actually pulled away from the hotel. It was a three-hour drive to Pompeii, and by the time we arrived, it was raining lightly. Edward and William were transfixed by the knowledge that they were looking at a real volcano, and the resemblance to smoke of the cloud bunched around the top of Vesuvius only added to their excitement.

This was our first experience with a tour where the guide spoke to us through radio headsets. We had often seen groups using this technology in Florence and Rome, and I think on the whole it worked fairly well. It certainly would have been nice to have in the Vatican Museums when there was no way the people on the fringes of our group could possibly have heard Dr. Gardner or me. Jonathan told us that his father was considering investing in a set for the program to use on a permanent basis. Our Italian guide took us to most of the significant sites in the ruins, with the amphitheater being an obvious exception. There were a number of other tour groups there that day, so the going was slow at points, particularly in the public baths. The entire tour lasted about two hours. Unfortunately, we had no opportunity for independent exploring; as this was my fourth visit to the ruins, it was no tremendous loss to me, but I'm sure some of the students would have enjoyed looking around on their own.

We ate lunch at a cafeteria-style restaurant outside the ruins and had some time to shop for souvenirs. I bought a little book for Edward that had imaginative overlays of shots of the ruins to show what the city may have looked like in the first century. The price was a hefty 14 euros because it included a DVD that covered not only Pompeii, but also Herculaneum and the Villa Jovis on Capri. Edward looked at the book for much of the six-hour journey back to Citerna.

The tedium of our return trip was ameliorated by a couple of movies Jonathan played for us on the bus's system. We arrived just after dark, a little before 8:00, and had supper waiting for us. It felt great to be "home" again!

Rome Day #3

Thursday was a completely free day in Rome for the students (and faculty). From what I heard afterwards, different groups went to a variety of places: the Borghese Gardens, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain, St. Peter-in-Chains, etc. Everyone made it back to the hotel at the end of the day, so I suppose we can count the time as a success.

My family went to the Testaccio neighborhood, an area I had never visited on my four prior trips to Rome. We saw the Pyramid of Gaius Cestius, built by an ancient Roman nobleman as his burial chamber; it was smaller than its Egyptian counterparts but with the same proportions. Next was the Protestant Cemetery, begun in the eighteenth century and containing several notables, including John Keats, Percy Shelley, Richard Henry Dana, the son of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Antonio Gramsci. After the circus of the previous two days, the cemetery was blessedly uncrowded and peaceful. We spent more than an hour there before walking down the road to look at "Mount Testaccio," which looks like an ordinary hill or ridge, but is actually an ancient trash dump for earthenware pots that piled up for 500 years. Returning to the pyramid, we visited the small museum in the gate of the ancient city wall adjacent to it; it contained a number of artifacts discovered at Ostia Antica, Rome's ancient port.

After exhausting the sights in the immediate area of the pyramid, we walked south along the Via Ostiense a little more than half a mile to the Museo Montemartini, which is a branch of the Capitoline Museum. It was certainly one of the most unusual museums I had ever visited: hundreds of pieces of ancient statuary and mosaics were displayed in the city's first power plant, which still contained all of the original machinery from the 1920s. The juxtaposition of the statues and machinery looked strange, to say the least. However, there were no crowds, and the kids were able to run around to an extent.

After leaving the museum, we lunched in a nearby cafeteria and then proceeded farther south to the church of St. Paul's-Outside-the-Walls, which contains the tomb of the Apostle Paul according to Church tradition. I had forgotten how big the place was; it's one of the largest churches in Europe. We enjoyed walking around the place and even paid to enter the cloister and attached museum, which contained a number of interesting documents (papal bulls and the like) and reliquaries. Again, the crowds were light, so this was by far the most enjoyable day for me in Rome.

We took the subway back to our hotel's neighborhood and did some grocery shopping at a supermarket for another picnic supper. The kids had not been eating the hotel's breakfast food, so we bought some yogurt and other things we figured they would consent to eat the following morning. I think we got back to the hotel well before any of the students (around 6:00) and retired early because we had to be up early the next day for the bus to Pompeii . . .

Rome Day #2

Wednesday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and set out around 8:00 for the subway. We managed to keep the group together without incident, traveling four stops to the station closest to St. Peter's. We arrived in the colonnaded square around 9:00 or so; Dr. Gardner and I explained the history and context of the church before we took everyone inside, past metal detectors and other such things that were not present on my last visit in 1998. We spent the better part of an hour inside the church, letting the students mill around before regrouping outside and walking around the walls of the Vatican to the entrance of the Vatican Museums. Dr. Gardner and I got copies of the official guidebook and shepherded the group through the galleries, stopping at several points to discuss specific works such as the Laocoön, the frescoes in the Raphael Rooms, and of course Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel. After exiting the chapel we made our way to the museum's cafeteria and had our lunch about noon. Then we turned the students loose for free time for the rest of the day.

I think nearly everyone went back to the Colosseum at some point that afternoon because our Forum tickets from the previous day included admission to the Colosseum through Wednesday. Since it was Vickie's first time to Rome, my family also went there, but we arrived later than most because we stayed in the Vatican to see the gallery of paintings we had not seen as a group. When we arrived at the Colosseum, about a dozen people from our group were lounging on the grass outside, having already been into the place. We went through the security check and found half a dozen of our people unnecessarily waiting in the lengthy ticket line; I pulled them out and took them through the "fast lane" for people who are in groups or who already have their tickets. The Colosseum has definitely changed since my last visit; it looks as though there is an ongoing attempt to reconstruct a section of the floor and seats, which ought to turn out interestingly. They have even installed toilets in the outer section.

After we had finished looking around, we left the students gawking and made our way outside, walking past the Forum and, since I felt an obligation to take Vickie to some iconic Roman sites, all the way to the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. We made the kids happy by stopping for gelato; I think at least ten Italian ladies stopped to coo at Richard with chocolate all over his face. To be honest, though, the crush of tourists in both places sapped a lot of the enjoyment for me. I think Rome in December is more my speed.

We hiked back to the subway and rode back to the neighborhood of our hotel, picnicking in our room for supper. On the way we stopped in a bookshop to buy an English version of the original Pinocchio stories, which we had never read. This was an essential purchase because we are planning to visit a Pinocchio theme park in northern Tuscany this week on our first free travel period. We read several chapters of the book both before and after supper, and Edward and William nearly laughed their heads off. I think for the first time ever, I was so tired that I fell asleep before the kids did that night; I vaguely remember hearing William say, "Night, night, Daddy, I go bed," while I was lying nearly comatose.

Rome Day #1

Tuesday morning we hit the road early, loading up a 55-passenger bus and driving to Arezzo to catch a 7:46 train to Rome. Everyone got his luggage onto the train without incident, and although the train was crowded, we all found seats. In fact, my family was able to lay claim to a compartment in the mostly day-coach train after the first forty-five minutes or so, having to share it with just one other person for most of the journey. The train arrived in Rome around 10:30, and after taking a bathroom and snack break, we loaded our hired bus for the day.

Roman traffic is horrendous, at least in the center of town. Nearly every road was under construction, and it took us nearly thirty minutes to go the mile between the train station and the Capitoline Hill. When we reached Piazza Venezia, I pointed out the "Mussolini balcony" and the monument to the united Italy's first king, Victor Emmanuel. However, the bus was unable to stop there for pictures; it dropped us off down the street from the Capitoline, and we hiked back to walk up Michelangelo's ramp to the Campidoglio. After an orientation atop the hill, we descended the other side to the Mamertine Prison, which the students found fascinating. We spend the next hour or so walking through the ancient Forum and ascending the Palatine Hill. It was only the second time I had actually gone inside the ruins and my first time on the Palatine, so I particularly enjoyed that.

We exited the Forum around 1:45 and had about 30 minutes for a lunch break by the Colosseum. Dr. Gardner took the opportunity to walk over to St. Peter-in-Chains and found it locked up tight, so we were unable to peek in there that day. Also during that time, the group suffered its first successful pickpocket attempt. (There had been an unsuccessful attempt in Siena; the intended victim was our adult student who was former military, and the would-be pickpocket found himself on the ground with a crushed hand in short order.) One of our girls had removed her money belt and put it in her bag temporarily, and the thief had removed it without her knowledge. We did not discover the theft until we were back at the bus a few blocks away, and Jonathan went back to the Colosseum to retrieve it; somehow he had gotten word from the authorities that a passport had been recovered. The group went on without him for the time being.

I had asked the bus driver to take us by St. John Lateran so I could point it and the Holy Steps out to the students. We weren't able to stop there, unfortunately. We then went to the Catacombs of St. Calixtus, where Christians buried their dead from the late second century to the fifth century, for a guided tour. Because our group was so large, we had to wait longer than usual for a guide—Jonathan rejoined us before we went in, having taken a taxi from the Colosseum—and then the tour went slowly. The 30-minute tour took nearly an hour, but most of the students were in awe of the place. We were able to sing and pray briefly in the last chamber.

By this time it was nearly 5:00, and our driver took us to our hotel, which lay a few miles west of the Vatican, about a 10-15 minute walk from a subway stop. Jonathan took most of the students back into Rome on the subway that evening to show them the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona, but my family and a few tired students remained in the neighborhood of the hotel. We found a quiet restaurant and ate pizza there for supper before going back to the hotel to collapse. It was a fulfilling but tiring day.

Off to Rome

We are leaving in twenty minutes on a bus to take us to the Arezzo train station, where we will get on a train for Rome. We return Friday evening, so there may not be any blog posts between now and then. I don't know what the availability of internet service will be.

Sunday we had a worship service downstairs in the classroom and then started classes at 11:15. Monday was a normal class day. So there is not a lot to report other than that there was another soccer excursion yesterday afternoon. The students and Jonathan are organizing some sort of "Olympics" with all kinds of different events such as ordering cappuccino; I don't really have a good grasp of that process . . .

At any rate we should see the Forum, Colosseum, and several other sights today and the Vatican tomorrow. Thursday is scheduled as a free day in Rome, and Friday we go to Pompeii before returning to Citerna.

THE STUDENT SIDE OF THINGS: A report and review of the week

Greetings from Citerna,

I have been trying to add more pics to the site but the internet being so slow makes it virtually impossible to do. I apologize and will continue to try. I also apologize for not writing sooner. The life of a student here is a bit crazy. So I will try to give you a quick synopsis of what has gone on for the past week.

WELCOME TO A BRAND NEW GAME: SOCCER
Now, for those of you who know me well, you know I am a huge American Football fan. I played it since I was in middle school and I love to watch and play whenever I can. I honestly would love to strap on some pads and play again but I am so out of shape it would be embarrassing.

Also, if you know me well, you know I am not a fan of soccer. I used to play it when I was a kid but I have not played since. Before I came to Italy, I thought soccer (or calcio in Italian) was one of the most ridiculous sports in the world. I am just being completely honest when I say I thought it was a bunch of people that couldn’t cut it in a real sport. Yes, I was close minded but I plead ignorance. Since we came to Italy, we have been surrounded by Calcio and I am thankful.

Every few days, we drive down the hill to the town of Monterchi and play Italy’s favorite game after class. During our first trip to Florence, Jonathan bought us jersey's in the three colors of the Florence team. Each person was given a jersey and the colored teams (Red, White, and Purple) would play against each other in a 7 vs. 7 game. I am on the white team. First to score would stay and the losing team would trade out with the waiting team. Sometimes we would play for 4 or 5 hours and not get back until dinner time. Since we started this tradition, I have gained so much more respect for the game. It is so much more than people kicking a ball around. It even gets rough (which, being a football player, I like) and can get you in shape if you play long enough.

One of my favorite memories is after we played the second time, a local guy (sorry, I did not catch his name) came to watch us play. Jonathan talked to him for a bit and then told us that the guy’s team wanted to challenge us American’s to a game later that night. I was up for anything. So we went and played against this team. The field in Monterchi is dirt with a bit of grass. The field they told us to go to was turf and fenced in. This change in field was new for us but it really did not phase us too much. We played the Italian team from Citerna. These 7 guys have been playing together since they were 6 years old. They grew up together and know how each other play. They even play on the local club team together. I thought we were going to get stomped by this team. After loosing 3 soccer balls to the darkness surrounding the field and the rough and tumble game we played against the Italians, 2 and a half hours later, we came out of the cage VICTORIOUS!!! 12-11. The game was a great game and we all got in to play.

This past Friday, we went down to Monterchi and played against each other again after class. We came out of Hotel Sobaria to the porch to get ready to leave. We looked out over the mountain and saw that a storm was building and coming our way. I thought they would cancel the game but Jonathan is one of those people that would not allow anything but God to come between him and playing the game. So we made the journey down the hill. We knew that the storm was about to hit but, not being from the area, we had no clue that the weather was going to be so bi-polar. We got to the field and White and Purple started to play until suddenly, the bottom fell out. We continued to play in the rain anyway and was having fun slipping and sliding until I started to get hit by something hard falling from the sky. IT WAS HAIL!!!!! Pea size hail had begun to fall and began pelting us on the field. When the hail size began to grow larger, Jonathan told us to get into the bus. We all climbed in and waited out the storm.

All of the sudden, a weird figure began to come towards the van and knock on the door. We couldn’t see that it was Andrea Kelly through the fogged up windows of the van. We had forgotten her at the Hotel and she walked all the way down from Citerna. She was soaked from head to toe and looked a bit like a drowned rat. It was quite amusing to tell the truth. After the rain went away, we resumed the game. By the end, everyone was muddied up but no one had anything on Nick (Warren) O’neal (Another Faulkner Crew Member). He played his position of Keeper hardcore for the Purple team. Both the goals had a huge batch of fresh mud on in front of it so whenever he would save the ball, he would dive into the mud. He was quite the spectacle to see him after we finished playing.

I'll keep you updated as we continue to play. Injury reports, trades, and contract signings will be in my next update. So stay tuned.

THE “STUDY” PORTION OF STUDY ABROAD: NOT THE MOST FUN WORD IN THE DICTIONARY

So, to tell the truth, we did not know how rough the whole “STUDY” portion of “STUDY ABROAD” was going to be. Honestly, the program should come with a warning label or something telling people if you do not know how to buckle down and focus on studying, you might not want to do this trip. It is so hard to be in class here because there are so many new things to discover. You want to go out and explore the city and see the sites. However, classes everyday make it hard to make trips outside of Citerna. Also, the fact of studying for each class makes it harder too. Now, I do admit we do get breaks from classes more then people back at home. Whenever we go on class trips, we usually have either an abbreviated schedule or just cancel classes all together. Those days are nice but when you do not get back until late at night, it is hard to study for your 7 am class the next morning or your online classes as well.

Most of us have found remedies for this dilemma through going into town and studying or studying out on the porch of Sobaria. The scenery is beautiful and the locals walking by make you feel like you were on campus studying outside. Others have banded together to study and have made success that way. As for me, I do both. Currently I am helping teach Leah Introduction to New Testament Greek while she is here. I am sort of her T.A. (TEACHERS ASSISTANT) for the class since I was the only one to survive intro last year. We usually go study on the porch. So do not worry parents. We are studying and turning in our work. We are doing fine with school. It is just a bit rough.

INTERNET: THE BATTLE FOR THE BEST CONNECTION

Ok, if you want to see the war of the century, you need to look no further than the halls of Hotel Sobaria. Since we Americans come from a land where internet is fast and stable, a lot of us have been trying to get the best connection to the wireless network here in Sobaria. Why? Because the internet is slow. VERY SLOW (that is if you compare it to what we are used to back in the states). Imagine having the capabilities of wireless with the speed of dial-up. (YOU SEE THE PROBLEM????) This slow connection makes it hard to download pictures/videos to the net/ blog/ Facebook/ MySpace, makes it hard to Skype back home so we can talk to our families, hard to download the files that are due for our online classes, buy plane tickets for free travel etc. It is especially slow when the porch of Sobaria turns into a Facebook Fiesta/ Internet Café every night.

There is a lot of complaining about the connection to the internet here in the hotel. However, I find myself grateful that we even have the internet. This summer, I worked at a church that had no wireless or dial-up connections (SHOCKING, HUH???) Whenever I had to look something up, I had to use the internet on my blackberry. NO FUN!!!! Jonathan was telling us that we are the stars of the internet world here in Citerna because we are the only ones with a Wireless Network with in miles of here. Some people in town would come to the hotel just to use the connection for a bit. So whenever people complain, I just remind them of the fact that we could have no Internet. Parents, thank Jonathan when you get a chance that we can even communicate on the internet. He set it up so we can use it and that it is SEMI- fast. Be thankful.


THE FUN PART OF “STUDY ABROAD”: OUR TRAVELS

Over the time I have not written, we have done some traveling.

Wednesday the Tenth, we made and all day trip to Siena and San Gimignano. Siena is a town right outside of Florence. Back in the times of the Renaissance, towns acted like their own countries. They had their kings and leaders and battled other towns to try to take more land. Siena and Florence have been rival cities ever since then. Even though Florence took them over in 1555, the rivalry still remains between the cities in sports and other events. The city itself is made up of Seventeen Contrades, or Burrows. Each Contrade has its own flag and colors and the people that make them up show a lot of pride for their individual contrade. The Contrade pride truly comes out on July 2nd and August 16 the dates when the Palio di Siena is held. The Palio is a traditional medieval horse race that is run around the Piazza del Campo each year. This event is attended by large crowds, and is widely televised. The Seventeen Contrade vie for the trophy: a painted flag, or Palio bearing an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ten of the seventeen run in each Palio: seven run by right (having not run in the previous year's corresponding Palio) and three drawn by lot from the remaining ten. A horse is assigned to each by lot. Though often a brutal and dangerous competition for horse and rider alike, the city thrives on the pride this competition brings. The city is Beautiful. I have some pictures of the city from the Torre del Mangia. I'll try to post them.

Later that day, we went to a smaller town called San Gimignano. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance era, it was a stopping point for Catholic pilgrims on their way to Rome and the Vatican, as it sits on the medieval Via Francigena. The city's development also was improved by the trade of agricultural products from the fertile neighboring hills. The city flourished until 1348, when the plague that affected all of Europe, compelled it to submit to Florence. The Plague stunted the growth and today it is said that San Gimignano is a Renaissance Town “stuck in time”. The town has many towers that were used as defensive measure. They were great for people to hide in and to make their enemies have to fight up the tower to get them. They were also great for pouring hot tar on to enemies as well. Each tower was owned by a wealthy family and the families would battle each other for the tallest towers, making a statement of the power they had over the town. San Gimignano is also home to arguably the worlds best Gelato (Ice Cream). They local Gelatoria has won the Gelato World Championships 3 years running and is a crowd favorite.

This past Saturday, we made another visit to Florence. The group had much more free time to explore the city. However, rain did put a damper on things for a bit. A group of us went to the Duomo, one of the most Beautiful and largest cathedrals in the world. We went inside to explore. After we met with the group and went to Galleria dell'Accademia to see the works of the great Michelangelo, including the world famous THE DAVID. This statue is considered one of the greatest sculptures ever conceived by man. After this stop, our group made our way to a view point that’s name escapes me at the moment, but I think it is called Michelangelo Square. It is on top of a hill and gives you one of the most incredible views of the city. We also enjoyed what Jonathan thinks is the best Gelato in the world up there as well.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Either Tomorrow or Wednesday, we will be leaving for Rome and spending three nights there. I will update you as soon as possible about our trip. Also, the 24th - 28th is our first free travel days. I am going with a group to Sevelle, Cordoba, Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. I'll update you as soon as I can on our trip and will try to get other students to write a synopsis of their trips.

Conclusion:
This is all I have for now. I hope all is well where you are. Continue to pray for our continued safety. The week has been crazy but we are still going strong. Love y'all and PRAY HARD!!!!


In and because of Him,
Your brother in Christ
KC
Συνέκδημος υμων
(THE FELLOW TRAVELER OF YOU)

Florence Visit #2

On Saturday we made our second trip to Florence. The students rode the city bus into Arezzo from Monterchi and made it to the train station about five minutes before our train was supposed to leave. However, unbeknownst to us, our group was about to have its first encounter with the dreaded and all-too-frequent European train strike. The strike had been scheduled for several weeks, apparently, but we had no knowledge of it. Trains were running, but there were many delays. Our train finally arrived about 45-50 minutes late. So instead of arriving in Florence at 10:30, as we had planned, we didn't pull into the Santa Maria Novella station until nearly 11:30. Plus, it was raining, so the stars seemed to be aligned against us.

We had reservations for the Galleria d'Accademia at 2:00, so we dispersed from the train station to do our own thing and eat lunch for a couple of hours. My family took three students into the Santa Maria Novella church, which now charges 2.5 euros for admission. (It really is a shame that nearly all the significant churches are charging admission these days. It certainly seems to be dissuading many of the students from going into any of them.) After spending some time in there with the Masaccio and Ghirlandaio frescoes, we ate lunch at a snack bar with tables in the piazza in front of the church. Then we went to rendezvous with the group at the Duomo at 1:30.

We met at the cathedral because most of the group didn't know how to get to the museum. It took us about 5-10 minutes to walk there, and we were able to go in immediately, unlike the people without reservations, who were forming a long line stretching all the way down the street from the museum. I pulled the students into a group in the first room and gave a very brief history of the "David" and tried to explain its place in Florentine life. I also briefly described the other Michelangelo statues they were about to see in the gallery, but nearly all of them were so overwhelmed by the "David" that when they saw it down at the end, they headed straight for it and ignored the six other works along the way.

After leaving the museum, the group split up again. We went into a supermarket across the street, bought some picnic fare, and then went into the Piazza San Marco nearby to snack. Since it was so handy, we decided to go into the church and museum at San Marco to see the Fra Angelico frescoes and Savonarola's cell. Then we gradually made our way back toward the strain station, stopping at the San Lorenzo market for some postcards. We also went into the San Lorenzo church to see Cosimo de' Medici's and Donatello's tombs and a Brunelleschi chapel.

We reconvened at the train station at 6:00. The train we were hoping to catch at 6:09 actually left more or less on time. Because of the uncertainty of our return time to Citerna, Jonathan canceled dinner at the hotel and gave everyone a second meal allowance for the day. When we got back to Arezzo, the students walked into the town to find supper. Our parking allotment was about to expire, so my family went ahead and drove back to Monterchi to eat at a restaurant there. It was a nice place, and it's a good thing there was a cheap pizza menu, because that was about all we could afford. It was very good, though.

Unfortunately, the battery on our camera died Saturday morning, so we have no pictures from this Florence trip. It did stop raining on us about 1:00, but it remained very cloudy, so we would not have gotten very good photographs in any event. The churches and museums are all forbidding photos these days . . .

More Classes

Thursday and Friday were class days here at the hotel. On Friday afternoon there was another soccer excursion to Monterchi, but otherwise the students stayed in Citerna and (hopefully) attended to their studies. On Thursday evening we had a movie night down in the classroom with the help of an LCD projector and some speakers Jonathan bought last week. We watched Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights," which I had brought with me from home. Most of the students had never seen a silent film before—some of them even confessed to having never seen a black-and-white film!—but its selection as the #1 romantic comedy of all time by the American Film Institute earlier this year whetted the appetites of many. I think at least half the students showed up for the screening, and the overall response to it was very positive.

On Thursday afternoon my family went to Città di Castello for some sightseeing and grocery shopping. We wandered in the historic center of town for a couple of hours, visiting the main art museum (containing a badly damaged Raphael and some Sienese school paintings, but not much else of interest) and the duomo (pictured). Edward got a bit of a scare when he tried to go down an up escalator and was ordered off by a disembodied voice belonging to someone who was monitoring the escalator via closed-circuit television. We found our way back to the centro commerciale we had visited the previous week and got snack food for the kids, who are finding the 5-1/2 hour space between meals during the day a little trying.

On Friday afternoon my family made its first sightseeing excursion into Arezzo. We parked the car (in the rain) at the train station, which is just south of the medieval walls, and made our way up to the northwestern part of the old city. We visited the art museum, which boasted a number of works by Luca Signorelli and Giorgio Vasari (the famous art historian who also painted). Most of our visits of this sort are completely lost on the kids, but the redeeming feature of this museum in their eyes was an outdoor garden containing a fountain with fish. One of the fish had black and white blotches on it, and William kept calling it a "cow fish." After that stop, we walked a couple of blocks to Vasari's house, every ceiling and some of the walls of which he had decorated with frescoes. There are a number of other significant sights in Arezzo we hope to visit later, but that was all we had time for that day.

Siena and San Gimignano

Our second full-day excursion as a group took place yesterday when we went to the Tuscan hill towns of Siena and San Gimignano. Our bus departed shortly after 8:00 a.m., and it took us about ninety minutes to reach Siena, which was a major rival of Florence in the Middle Ages. Its ultimate defeat and oppression by the Florentines in the 16^th century led to a ban on development, and the city is very well preserved. I spent about 10-15 minutes orienting the group to the city in the main square (Piazza del Campo) and then turned them loose for about 2-1/2 hours of free time. Many of the students, along with my wife and oldest son, decided they wanted to climb the 505 steps of the tower attached to the city hall (Palazzo Pubblico, pictured here). Unfortunately, only twenty-five people are allowed in the tower at a time, so our climbers spent the majority of our time in Siena waiting in line at the tower and going up and down.

While they were thus engaged, I went into the museum housed in the Palazzo and enjoyed the many frescoes of both a religious and secular nature that covered nearly every wall. The Sienese school of art peaked in the 14^th century prior to the Black Death's hitting the city in 1348, and most of the art dated from that period. However, there was one room dedicated to the Risorgimento (the movement for Italian unification in the 19^th century) with some striking frescoes of Italian troops in action.

When Vickie and Edward finally descended from the tower, we raced to the church of San Domenico to see the head and finger of St. Catherine of Siena. Then we had to race back to the bus drop-off point, past the cathedral (with only time for a brief picture), to find that we had to wait for the bus for about half an hour. When it finally arrived, we loaded up and made a forty-five-minute trip to San Gimignano, a hill town between Florence and Siena which has one of Italy's most famous skylines.

San Gimignano was another prosperous city devastated by the Black Death in 1348, losing roughly 70% of its population. It never recovered and, like Siena, ultimately fell under the control of Florence. Fourteen of its original seventy towers still stand, and the entire town is the main sight. The downside is that it is always swamped with tourists during the day. I can't imagine what it is like in July and August. We had about two hours to walk around and soak up the atmosphere. Most of the students simply wandered. My family paid to go into the town's Duomo, which isn't much to look at from the outside, but has some intense fresco cycles inside.

We returned to Citerna around 7:30 and had dinner here at the hotel. I had a bit of a sunburn and was exhausted from carrying the kids around, but it was well worth it.

Did I mention that the food here is fantastic?

We Lost the Internet!

There have been no updates over the last day or two because there was a problem with our satellite internet connection. It was restored last night, and hopefully there will be no repetition of the problem.

Monday and Tuesday were class days here at the hotel. The dust has begun to settle from all of the dropping and adding of classes, but I had students making their first appearance in my classes Tuesday, so there will be a period of catching up for them.

Monday afternoon, many of the students went into Monterchi to play soccer with Jonathan in the afternoon. They came back with jerseys and everything; I have no idea where they got them! They had such a good time that they went back again after supper in the evening to play a group of Italians. We heard later that the Americans won the match, 12-11. Some of the students had never played soccer before, so I don't know exactly how this outcome was possible . . .

On Tuesday, many of the students made their first trip into Arezzo in the afternoon. Jonathan took them to the bottom of the hill in the van, and they caught the bus into town. I think it is about a 25-minute ride. Jonathan gave each student three round-trip tickets at the beginning of the term so they could go independently on days like this. They are required to stay in groups of at least two whenever they leave Citerna.

I took the family to Anghiari (where this photo was taken) Tuesday afternoon. It is about seven miles from Citerna and was the site of a major battle between Florence and Milan in the 1440s—the Florentines won. I'd estimate the population of the town at between 10,000 and 20,000 based on the suburbs we drove through, but the medieval section is small and traffic-free. We encountered no English speakers there and had a great time wandering the sloping streets. We had called ahead to reserve a time to see the Museo della Misericordia, which is open only by appointment; it is a museum run by the organization of nuns that started Tuscany's ambulance service. It was small but quite interesting. There were 19^th-century horse-drawn ambulances and the like. Edward kept saying it was "very interesting."

We also went into the Palazzo Tedeschi, which is now a free museum containing art donated by one of the town's most influential citizens. It had everything from Roman columns to an Andrea della Robbia "Adoration" to 19^th- and 20^th-century dolls, along with many artifacts of early modern life. Finally, we were able to enter three churches of varying size with artwork from different periods. We managed to do all this in less than two hours and made it back to Citerna with plenty of time to spare before dinner.

On Wednesday we made a group excursion to the hill towns of Siena and San Gimignano. I hope to post some information about that trip later today.

Florence Visit #1

Our group spent Sunday in Florence. The students loaded the bus at 7:15 a.m. to make it into Arezzo for an 8:06 train that got us into Florence about 9:30 (obviously not an express). We had a moment of consternation when we discovered the bus routes had been changed; we had to walk a few blocks more than we had counted on, but finally found the bus that would take us to the neighborhood of the church of Christ in Florence. We got there shortly after 10:00; the service did not start until after 10:30, and it went longer than usual because of all the translating and bilingual singing. Several students commented on how much they enjoyed the experience. It was probably 12:30 before we left to get the bus back to the train station.

Once we made it back to the station, Jonathan led the way to the Uffizi Gallery, where we had group reservations for 1:45 and 2:15. Unfortunately, we lost Vickie and the baby on the way; Vickie had thought we were eating lunch in the station, and she started looking at some merchants' wares while everyone else left. When I realized she was missing, I retraced our route looking for her, but she asked for directions and got to the museum via another route, so I never found her, but I got a lot of exercise.

I have never seen Florence so crowded . . .

We had to go through the museum in two groups; I led the second group, so we had a bit of time to get lunch in the Piazza della Signoria before going in. I had not been in the Uffizi since 1998, but I suppose I fumbled my way through pointing out masterpieces adequately. Our group dispersed after we left the museum. Sarah Chowning and Leah Moss accompanied my family to Santa Croce, which now costs 5 euros to enter! However, seeing Giotto frescoes, Donatello paintings, a Brunelleschi chapel, and the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli were worth the cost.

Our group reassembled at the train station to catch a 6:08 train back to Arezzo, and no one got left behind. It took a couple of trips to shuttle everyone back to the hotel in Citerna, but by 9:00 we were all eating pizza from the local pizzeria.

THE STUDENT SIDE OF THINGS: A report and review of the week

Greetings from Citerna, Italy: one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Once again, I apologize for not writing sooner. As soon as we hit the ground in Rome, we have been on the run. It has been a crazy week since we left America and it has been INCREDIBLE!!!! Allow me to tell you of our travels so far.

Day 1 and 2: The Beginning of a Beautiful Journey (Tuesday, September 2^nd – Wednesday, September 3^rd, 2008)

At 12:00 pm, I left my home and headed to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta to catch my flight to Rome later that afternoon. My father drove me to the airport and my mother met up with us on the concourse a bit later. We sat in the airport concourse gently talking about nothing while waiting patiently on my flight taking off in a few hours. You could tell that my parents were excited for me but wanted to selfishly keep me home. I felt loved as we talked about my plans for free travel and about what I needed to do when I got to Rome. Finally, the time came for me to board. It was a time of fear for me because I didn’t know what would await me on my journey. I almost felt like Odysseus in the Odyssey, beginning my journey that would be told for generations (not by the world but by my family). Exciting, yes, however still very scary.

Getting on the plane almost became a tragedy for me. I said good bye to my family and I got on the airplane when my zone loaded. When I got past the Gate agent at the top of the jet way, I showed him my passport and my ticket and got on the plane like I have always done on my international travels. I got to my seat near the front of the plane and I began to get situated. I put my bags down and having a window seat, I had to cross over a gentleman already sitting. I put my computer in my seat and my HUGE hiking Kelty ® backpack in the overhead compartment. I began to unpack things I would need for the flight (Books, I-Pod, etc.) when the realization hit that I COULD NOT FIND MY PASSPORT. A feeling of sheer terror at the thought of my trip that I worked so hard for ending before it ever began fell over me. I searched franticly through all my bags for my passport and probably walked up and down the jet way three or four times looking for my passport. I knew I had to have it to get on the plane so I knew it had to be near me somewhere. The airline workers noticed my distress and asked me what was wrong. When I told them I couldn’t find my passport, they had everyone searching for it frantically. The gentleman to my side started checking around himself to make sure he did not have it either. It was one of the scariest times of my life. I began praying to God that I could find my passport. That my trip would be successful and that some how, some way, I would be able to find one of the most important documents I could ever have for international travel.

A few minutes later, the gentleman sitting in front of me found my passport in his seat and held it up. I WAS SO RELIEVED!!!!! I thanked him with every fiber of my being and thanked all of those who searched for it for their help. I remember sitting down in my seat, slightly embarrassed, soaked in sweat, my heart beating 1000 beats per second, thanking God that I found my key to Europe. I could finally relax and know that this point is where God wants me.

The flight took off about an hour late, but I did not care. I was on the plane. I was on my way, with my passport, for the journey of a lifetime. My mom continually reminded me that I might never get to see these places again in my lifetime so make it count. I prayed that I would make this trip count and that I would get to see things that I could tell my children about and that I would be blessed to be apart of this program.

The flight to Rome was very smooth and very sleepless. Even being under the influence of Benadryl, I only got a few hours of sleep. The flight was about ten hours long and I just remember staying up and watching movies whenever I wasn’t eating or sleeping.

At about 8:30 AM (2:30 EST) on Wednesday, September 3rd, I arrived at Leonardo Di’Vinci Airport in Rome Italy. I got off the plane and finally got my luggage and met up with the Faulkner Group at the airport. We met up with Jonathan Edwards, the leader of our group and he directed us to the buses so we could get to our new home CITERNA!!! The city of Citerna is a little town nestled in the mountains right on the border line between the provinces of Umbria and Tuscany. It took forever to get to but when we arrived, we were greeted by Freed-Hardeman Professor, Jim Gardner. We unpacked in our rooms and rested until the Freed group arrived. We ate dinner as a family and began to meet each other.

Day 3: Orientation and Welcome!!!! (September 4^th, 2008)

The day started out with waking up to the local rooster crowing at day break. WAY TOO EARLY FOR US!!! The group met for breakfast and went to our orientation class for the semester. The professors introduced themselves and talked to us about making this trip count. We also held our first classes of our semester.

Allow me to explain how our classes work. Classes are an hour and twenty min long unless specified. Each student has odd day and even day classes. On the overall schedule, all the class days are numbered 1-40. Whenever a class day is odd numbered, students will attend odd classes and whenever a class day is even numbered … You get the idea. Anyway, we has odd day classes throughout the late morning and afternoon.

After dinner, we had our Benvenuti party. We met downstairs in the classroom and played games to get used to the idea of living with each other for the next few months. If you think that Faulkner is small, try living with the same 50 people twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You see the same people every day. It can get real interesting. We played guess who, a game in which each person writes an interesting fact about themselves and everyone guesses who it is. We also played musical chairs and then we broke up for the night.

Day 4: Meeting the Town: Even Class Days and Citerna Fun!!! (September 5^th, 2008)

Nothing really exciting happened today. The only real exciting thing that happened was our meeting some of the local teenagers of Citerna. We have gained many friends within the city. People in Italy are INCREDIBLE to strangers that they see are trying to learn the language and culture of their country. I have never met more accepting people in my life. While we were exploring the town, we met a girl named Linda. She lives in Citerna and is fifteen. She speaks almost perfect English and has acted as a translator between us and the people of Citerna. She has introduced us to most of the teenagers in Citerna and has helped us form relationships with them. We have found that Italians listen to a lot of American music and this connection has acted like a bridge to close the translation gap.

Day 5: OUR FIRST TRIP: CORTONA!!!! (September 7, 2008)

After our classes ended at about 3:00 on Saturday, we took our first trip out of Citerna as a group to the town of Cortona. This name may look familiar to you readers out there. The city of Cortona is the setting for the movie and book Under the Tuscan Sun. The group was given time to explorer the town and marketplaces and take in the beauty of this Tuscan Paradise. Below are some pictures of our trip:

Day 6: SUNDAY: FLORENCE AND THE UFFIZI MUSEUM

Sunday started EXTREMELY early for all of us this past Lord’s Day. The whole group had to be on a bus at 6:30 AM to go to the town of ARREZO. From Arrezo, we took the train to Santa Maria Novela Station in the great city of FLORENCE. From the station, we took another bus and a strenuous walk to the Locali Di Riunione della Chiesa di Cristo (the Local Congregation of Florence). Jonathan and some members of the church that spoke English and Italian lead the services for the morning and we enjoyed great fellowship with our Italian brothers and sisters in Christ.

After the worship service, we changed clothes and made a mad dash to a bus stop so we could get to the other side of the city where the Uffizi Museum awaited us. The museum holds some of the most famous paintings known to man: La Primavera, The Birth of Venus, etc. We spent a few hours looking at the wonderful art in the museum and then departed to enjoy the rest of our time in the city of Florence. Below is a few pictures and videos of the sights and sounds of one of Italy’s most Exquisite cities. Enjoy:

Conclusion:

Our first week has been exciting. We have a long way to go but we are doing well. We are tired, but doing well. I will try to update the blog once a week. Love y'all and PRAY HARD.

In and because of Him,
Your brother in Christ
KC
Συνέκδημος υμων
(THE FELLOW TRAVELER OF YOU)

Cortona

We have been out of the hotel for most of the last couple of days, so I have not been able to keep the blog updated. I hope to get caught up over the next day or two, before we make another excursion on Wednesday.

Saturday afternoon our group visited Cortona, a hill town of about 2,500 on the southernmost tip of Tuscany. The Medici family purchased it in the 16^th century and constructed a fortress atop the hill. The town itself dates to the Etruscan era; according to a 17^th-century guidebook, a descendant of Noah named Crano founded the city 273 years after the Flood. (!) There are a number of significant sights in the town, including a Franciscan monastery founded by Brother Elias, the man who assumed the leadership of the Franciscan order after St. Francis's death in the 1220s. There is also the Etruscan Academy, the center of Etruscan studies in Italy, founded in the 18^th century. The Academy sponsors a museum containing the greatest concentration of Etruscan artifacts anywhere. The Diocesan Museum, across from the cathedral (technically no longer a cathedral because Cortona lost its bishop years ago), contains a number of paintings by Renaissance masters and a frescoed chapel vaguely reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel on a much smaller scale.

Unfortunately, the students did not have much opportunity to see most of these things because the bus did not get to Cortona until after 5:00 p.m., having left Citerna at 4:00 p.m. They had to get back on the bus at 7:45, so they had roughly 2-1/2 hours to explore and eat supper. Some went to the top of the hill and saw one or two of the churches; others simply spent their time shopping. Each student was given a 10-euro allowance for supper.

Foreseeing that there would not be much time for sightseeing, especially while hauling small children, I took the family to Cortona earlier; we left around 2:45 p.m., shortly after lunch. We arrived in Cortona between 3:30 and 3:45, and had time to get into two or three sights, most of which closed around 6:00 or 7:00. I went into the Diocesan Museum, and we peeked into the cathedral, in which a wedding was taking place. We hiked up to the Church of St. Francis, which contained several of his artifacts, and then continued all the way up to the Medici fortress. It was an exhausting climb, but the Church of St. Margaret and the fortress were rewarding sights, even though the latter had closed before we got there. We came back down the hill, arriving at the center of town around 7:15, and ate in a pizzeria; it was the family's first taste of Italian pizza, and everyone liked it. We got back to our car about 8:30 for the drive back. I was a bit nervous about finding our way to Citerna in the dark, but everything turned out all right.

Having the rental car is a real blessing!

Shopping and Exploring

Jonathan took many of the students into the closest town, Città di Castello, on Thursday and Friday for shopping. There is a Centro Commerciale (essentially a small mall) there containing a grocery store and an electronics shop. The two most popular items among the students were snack foods and alarm clocks. We also went to a store in a different location specializing in baby stuff, where we got a car seat for Richard and a booster seat for William. I followed Jonathan in one of the program's rented cars, and although it was my first time to drive in Italy, everyone escaped unscathed.

The students have enjoyed getting to know the Citerna residents. At the very top of the hill is an open area that was once part of the city's fortress; it is a popular hangout for the town's teenagers. From the first evening we arrived, the students went up there with their Italian phrasebooks and started trying to communicate. Everyone seems to be having a lot of fun with it. Yesterday I chatted with Linda, who is 15, and discovered she went to school in Sansepolcro, a town across the valley from Citerna. Citerna is too small to have its own school, but I was a bit surprised to find she goes to Sansepolcro, which is in Tuscany, when Citerna is in Umbria, a different district.

Yesterday, I took the family out for the first time in the station wagon that has been rented for our use this semester. We went to Monterchi, another small town on a little hill in the valley south of Citerna. There are some great views from there as well; this photo is a view of Citerna looking up from the church at the top of Monterchi. We also visited a small museum housing the "Madonna del Parto," a fresco by Piero della Francesca, the region's most famous Renaissance artist.

Today we have a shortened class schedule because we leave at 4:00 p.m. to visit Cortona, another hill town in the region. I hope to post some pictures from there after our return this evening.

Into the Grind

We are now in our second day of classes. A number of students (and faculty) are confused about which classes they are taking, and I have a feeling there will be some significant drop/add activity after today.

Our semester schedule includes 42 class days, with each class designated as meeting on "odd" or "even" days. With one or two exceptions, every day we are here at the Hotel Sobaria is a class day, including Saturdays and Sundays. On odd days, classes run from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or thereabouts. On even days, the school day is over by 3:30 p.m. My classes are all before lunch (1:30 p.m.), but I also teach at 7:00 a.m. every day, so there is a definite tradeoff. Yesterday was an exception; we had our orientation from 9:00 to 10:30, and classes ran from 11:00 until after 5:00.

Chapel meets every class day at 10:00 a.m. I did the devotional yesterday and spoke about the importance of being a representative for our schools, our country, and God while we are in Europe.

Somehow I can't seem to get away from problems back in Montgomery. I have had to deal with two or three miniature crises ranging from problems with my bank to university accreditation issues since I arrived two days ago. Hopefully, everything will settle down soon so I can concentrate on teaching here.

Moving In

The students and faculty who departed from Montgomery yesterday morning are now in Citerna after a grueling journey. Also with us is Faulkner student Sarah Chowning, who met us in Detroit yesterday afternoon after flying from Indianapolis.

Our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was nearly eight hours long, and most of us did not get much sleep. We arrived around 6:00 a.m. local time (late), and fourteen of us (the Montgomery departures plus Sarah) had to make a 7:05 connection to Rome. We almost missed the flight because of the long delay at immigration and customs. Then we had a scare at the gate when the KLM staff nearly refused to let Richard, our 11-month-old son, onto the plane with us! Apparently we were missing some important document for him that the travel agent did not provide us. However, we were finally waved through the gate and allowed to travel to Rome with our family intact.

Providentially, all our luggage made to Rome. Jonathan Edwards met us outside the baggage claim area and took us to the bus that was to take us to Citerna. Our driver spoke no English, and Jonathan remained at the airport to meet the next group that was scheduled to arrive around 1:20 p.m. (mostly the Memphis departures), so we were left in the care of a man with whom the only possible communication was my pidgin Italian. For some reason the three-hour trip took almost four hours, but we finally arrived at the Hotel Sobaria between 2:00 and 2:30. About twenty minutes later we were served our first lunch, which was wonderful. Then everyone dispersed to unpack, explore Citerna, and/or recover from jet lag.

We expect the next group to arrive in the next hour or so. A final group of four should arrive later this evening. Tomorrow the real fun begins! I hope to get our first group photo posted in the next couple of days.

Two Down, Two to Go

The eight students and one faculty family departing from Montgomery made their flight to Memphis without any real difficulties. (We did have one student, who shall remain nameless, oversleep and get to the airport around 6:00 a.m. for our 6:35 flight.)

In Memphis we joined most of the rest of our group: three more Faulkner students, a couple of dozen Freed-Hardeman students, and Professor Jenny Towns of Freed-Hardeman. Many introductions were made, and names are already being forgotten, but we will relearn them as many times as needed in the coming weeks!

We had a 9:40 a.m. flight to Detroit and a short walk (thank goodness!) to our departure gate for the next leg of our journey. Our flight to Amsterdam is scheduled to depart at 4:05 p.m. EDT. For now we are taking shifts finding lunch and cooling our heels at the gate. We should be joined by a couple more students here before our departure; for now, all is well.

Last-Minute Items

Gustav went west, and Montgomery may not have gotten a drop of rain from it. We had a bit of a stiff breeze this morning, but that was all.

Faulkner students leaving from campus will meet at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow in the gym parking lot. It's not that I don't think highly of the Faulkner community, but something tells me there will not be a big crowd of well-wishers there to see us off. Kudos to the Drs. Hicks for agreeing to come out so early and drive us to the airport!

Others departing from Montgomery should be at the airport by no later than 5:30 a.m.

All Faulkner students should have activated their International Student ID Cards online today.

We are hoping that the Memphis airport will not have too much congestion from Gustav-displaced travellers. If possible, I will update the blog during our numerous layovers tomorrow . . .