Scusi, é questo treno per Firenze?

So much to tell. I’ll start with one of my favorite things we have done this past week- cook. We have pre-session Italian for two weeks and during this time LDM offers us fun little programs to do after school. Some are kinda lame, but this Wednesday they offered a cooking class. Most of us went expecting a short lesson on Italian cooking and maybe a free pastry. Italians like to cook and eat- they are my kind of people. We were split into two groups and given jobs. Hil and I were in charge of the homemade dough for these little veggie wrap/pasta things. We had to knead it, roll it out, and make it into the pasta strips! The other group was working on pesto and spinach ravioli, some kind of yummy spinach “torta”, and apple tarts. After cooking for around an hour we all sat down and had one of the best meals I have had in Italy! It was sooo great, and made me SUPER pumped for my cooking class that starts in February. The man teaching us is also a teacher for many of LDM’s cooking classes, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed I get him (he was great)!

This past week has been a lot of Italian. A LOT! Although I would LOVE to know Italian, I just really have a hard time with foreign language. Not one of my many gifts. We went to the University of Firenze on Friday with our class, don’t worry Hil and I maybe said 5 words. Our class is made up of kids who have taken all different levels of Italian, and we are def. at the very bottom. Some of them are basically fluent. It’s rough, but the more I hear the more I understand. I just need some confidence in my speaking ability. On a happier note, I got mistaken for a legitimate Italian yesterday. A woman asked ME for directions in Italian- HA. After class on Friday the girls went to go explore Boboli gardens but I was napping so I stayed back. After waking up I decided to explore by myself for a bit. It felt so weird being alone for the first time in a week. I have literally had someone with me 24/7, and while I have loved every minute of it, being alone made me realize how much I depend on others to lead me. I explored the Ponte Vecchio with all its cool jewelry, and then poked around the Uffizi museum. I enjoyed the Uffizi and am excited to go back once I know a little bit more about what I’m looking at. On the way home I managed to follow the map to “the best” gelato shop but lo’ it was closed. But I found it, and will find it again. I really like the area around Santa Croce which is extremely close to our apartment. Next week I will explore further.

Today (Saturday) we went on our first train trip. First of many. All the kids in our program day tripped to Pisa and Lucca. The trip was about an hour from Florence and extremely easy (well at least getting there). We got to Pisa around 11 and explored. Pisa is a neat town but really the only thing it is known for is….the leaning tower! The area around the leaning tower was beautiful and it was extremely odd to actually be looking at “the leaning tower of Pisa”. We had a yummy sandwich for lunch and took about 1000 pictures with the leaning tower. We left for Lucca around 2:30. I LOVED Lucca! Everything about Lucca was quaint and fun. From the streets filled with shops and people, to the yummy pastries we ate, Lucca is defiantly worth retuning to! My favorite part of Lucca was biking! My handy dandy Italy book told us that Lucca was known for its biking. It advised us to rent cheap bikes and ride around the outer walls that surround the city. I’m so glad we listened to the Italy book! We rode around the walls in the late afternoon and I felt like we were in a movie. Our bikes even had little bells! We had such a good time riding around and laughing at Melissa and Monique on the tandem. Can’t wait to go back and ride bikes in the spring!


Ok now for the truly funny story of the day. We (the 7 girls that went biking) made it back to the train station. We got our return ticket for Firenze and waited for our 6:25 train home. Long story short we accidently got on the wrong train. We got on the train that was at our platform but it was too early, so we ended up going towards the mountains. We would NEVER have realized this unless another random American girl heard us talking and asked me if we were going to Florence. She informed us that we had all gotten on the wrong train (her group had gotten confused too). Thank goodness for nice Americans. I’m not joking we would still be on some sketchy train in the Italian hills, listening to our ipods and asleep. We almost got off at a deserted train station, jumped back on, and then got off at another sketchy train station with our new friends from Michigan. Thank you Michigan friends. We finally made it back to Lucca, sprinted to the next platform and barely caught the next train to Florence! It was quite the adventure, but hey we made new friends and learned a lesson! Our first day traveling was wonderful and I don’t think I would even change us getting lost on the train, it just added to the day! Next weekend = Sienna.

All my love from “the cage” in Italia,
Bec

*Make sure you always validate your train ticket at the yellow boxes before getting on the train.
*PDA is very common in Italy. We still don't know how we feel about that...

“My eyes are small but they have seen the beauty of enormous things…”

Ciao man

Tonight I write from the comfort of my twin/ queen bed. Our apartment gets very chilly at night, so I either hide out in the cage or under my newly clean covers! Since I last blogged I have seen a lot more of Florence and started classes! I’ll start with the basics of Florence…

First off everywhere we go I see something that makes me stop and stare. And it’s even better if I see it at night because then when I pass by it in day light it’s like seeing a whole new beauty. Take the Ponte Vecchio for example; we have seen it twice at night so far but today was the first time I saw it in the light. Unbelievable. We walked up to the top of Pizzale di Michelangelo to see over the top of Florence at sunset and I have never seen anything quite like it. All I kept thinking was “how in the world did people build this city?” I really do love Florence.




Hil and I are starting to get into the routine of day to day living. Classes start and 9 so we start trekking over to LDM around 8:40. I never mind the walk because there is always something to gawk at. Italian class was not so horrible today. Most of you reading this know how much I looove foreign language, but I guess learning Italian in Italy has its perks. I can defiantly apply what I learn, even if the man at the gelato place still looks at me like I’m crazy and immediately starts to speak English  Hey, at least I’m trying. We ventured to the market today. I loved the market. Dad you would appreciate the market. Tons of little men at stands selling fresh produce and weird parts of animals. Our favorite thing was the dried fruit. I especially loved the Kiwi. I just might have to swing by tomorrow and get some more! Hil and I cooked chicken and veggie stir fry tonight. It was really good, and I was very happy to finally get some fresh veggies after eating lots of carbs for the past few days. Italy truly is the home of pizza and pasta. Everyday there is something new. Something new to see, to eat, talk about, and most importantly learn!



One of the coolest things that has happened so far is our adventure on Sunday night. We rested and explored most of Sunday but wanted to try and find some kind of church service. I had researched online and the only thing I found in English was a service located at Pepperdine University’s study abroad location. We found it on the map and even though it was far, and we had no idea where in the heck we were going, five of us set out to find “chiesa”. I shouldn’t be left in charge because smart me forget the address to where we were going (we didn’t realize this until we are half way there). All we had was a map I had highlighted and name of the street we were supposed to end up on. We managed to follow the map to the street, and then began the aimless walk up and down the Via, praying that we would somehow know where this church was located. I was feeling very dumb at this point and kind of bad for making the girls walk 2 miles to a dead end. But like always, God showed up and a gold plated Pepperdine sign and Hilary’s good eyes led us to the door. After ringing the door bell 7 times and begging God again to open the door, a really nice girl came to the door. We found out worship didn’t start until 9:00 and the internet site was way outdated so it was normally only Pepperdine kids at worship, but he invited us to come anyway! It was so great. The worship reminded me a lot of a thing I do back in Chapel Hill called Tuesday Night Worship, and the speaker talked about not knowing what you wanted to do in the future (quite applicable to my life). God is good and he looked after us. Little things like that remind me of how truly taken care of I am, and how faithful God is. After worship we met some really sweet girls, so now we have a few more friends in Firenze. It’s cool to think about how big the body of Christ is and that even in Florence, Italy, we can worship together with complete strangers because we serve the same God! Pretty neat.
It has been an awesome couple of days, but I am still very tired. Hopefully I will nap a little more in the coming week. Continue to pray for my Italian accent and our time here. Love you all and miss you more.
All my love from Italia,
Bec
Just a few fun things:
*Last night Hilary about got ran over by a car while taking out the trash. Like, legit, almost got killed. Also Italians do not approve of putting your feet on bus seats.
*When in doubt of where to go, follow local Italians. We followed a woman with a rug to the IKEA bus. We had to run through about 5 lanes of crazy traffic but we caught the bus! Thank you IKEA rug lady.

Is this real life?

Where to begin? Well I guess I could start by saying we successfully made it to Florence! The trip was quite possibly one of the easiest I have ever taken, minus the fact that my carry on weighed 50lbs, not joking. Lugging it up steps, on buses, and into overhead compartments was not fun, but gave Hil some good laughs. We went to DC, Frankfurt, and then FLORENCE! Not one delay or even turbulence on planes. Thanks for all the prayers.

I was worried about getting our 4 bag which weighed 49.99 lbs a piece to the LDM check in and then finding our apartment, but once again everything went SOO smoothly. I told Hil “first on the list find a cart” and automatically we saw a cart for the bags, no kidding, it was almost scary how perfect everything was taken care of. Thank you Jesus. Got a Taxi and as soon as we got to check in we saw all the other girls and they helped us with our bags. After check in we went to the apartment. Words that describe our apartment: quaint, chilly, pink, character, PERFECT FOR BECCA AND HILARY! I’m still surprised with how awesome our apartment is! One of my favorite things about it is the “cage”. Italy does not believe in central heat so we have two little heaters in our apartment, and one of them is located in the “cage”. The “cage” or “God corner” is randomly located in our little living area beside the heater. It has a little chair in it and it is the perfect place to sit, read, skype, etc. I’m in love with little Bella Rosa (our apartment), and it even has a pull-out coach (perfect for visitors- cough cough)! Our first night ended with us unpacking, eating pizza and drinking wine (more like tasting don’t worry mom)! Even though our room was quite chilly, I was so happy to finally go to bed!

Today we had LDM orientation. Basic stuff- what not to do, make sure you go to class, not dressing too “naked” says the Italian police man, etc. I am really excited for the classes but not so excited for the first two intense weeks of Italian. The school is about a 15 minute walk from our apartment, but don’t worry we walk past the Duomo everyday! Unreal. We still kind of feel like we are in Disneyland. I just keep the Nikon around my neck and don’t care if every person clearly knows I’m a tourist- O’ wait I’m actually LIVING in Florence for 4 months  I have to remind myself that I have time and don’t need to rush around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to see all Florence has to offer. Tonight we finally got time to venture around the city. We walked to the Ponte Vecchio and the Central area. Melissa and I almost cried. Everything is beautiful, historical, and BIG! It’s only been one full day but I’m already in love with Florence (and I haven’t even had Gelato yet)!
All my love from Italia,
Bec


--> the "cage"

*Hil and I are doing picture of the day. Keep up with our days through our FB album.


Quote of the day: “WOW… David has some really big toes” – HEC

“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:20

Today

"Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere"

"It's alright, it's okay
And I won't worry about tomorrow
For it brings me one more day
Closer than I was to you"

"I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more"

" Seek the Kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today" - Matthew 6: 33-34


ITALY= 1 WEEK

2010 is HERE!

WOW I CANNOT BELIEVE IT IS 2010! Where does time go? This is officially my first blog post ever. I never thought I would blog but I guess January 1st is a good day to start new things huh? I wrote down in my journal today all I could remember from 2009. All the good things, all the things I'd rather not recall. Looking back over 2009 I really couldn't believe how many awesome things I had done and how much I had grown. God is good, and He has richly blessed each day. A few 2009 memories for your enjoyment:

- UNC winning the National Championship/ Franklin St. and fire
- Road trips with my favorite girls to Florida and Nashville. Missing exits, getting pulled twice, "excuse me officer is that what you had said".
- Making it through my first year of college
- All the many lake trips
- Summer Project in Acadia Natl. Park. Seeing more of God's beautiful creation and learning a tremendous amount about Truth and Grace in relationships.
-Sophomore year at UNC. Winston 206 and Cobb 255. Great friends. Prayer Team. NYC sister trip.Miss Universe girls Halloween.Fall Break trip.
-Al and Steven getting engaged!
-praying in the New Year at Winter Conference!

I know that 2010 will bring many more unforgettable memories and lessons. Maybe my new found blogging will help me keep track of the year, especially my time in Italy.

Countdown to Florence: 12 Days

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:6
--> Who knows what 2010 will hold, what Italy will be like, if Hil and I will get bedbugs; But what hope in knowing that the way I see circumstances are completely different than the purpose God has in them. God's knowledge and ideas are so much greater and bigger than mine, and He knows exactly where I fit into His plan. Knowing that I couldn't be more excited for Him to lead me into 2010! HAPPY NEW YEAR!