Ciaowdy!
Today, Scott and Cristina are the bloggers. Our day started off with our typical continental breakfast followed by a short train ride to Arezzo. In Arezzo, we met our comedian of a tour guide, Giovanni. He once again led us through a city, never failing to point out the importance of art and architecture as well as getting a good laugh out of us. We explored the city and got a chance to look out into the nearby valley which was an amazing view. Giovanni took us to see frescos and churches as well as the city square and some statues. We even got a chance to watch an Italian grandmother make gnocchi outside her restaurant!
After parting with Giovanni, we had the opportunity to take an hour to explore Arezzo as much as we could. Some of us went back to the city square to take in the architecture and admire the various crests on the walls. Another group of us went back to the park with the beautiful views. It’s safe to say we all loved Arezzo but were disappointed at the lack of places that sold granitas, an Italian icee. At the end of our hour, we headed back to the train station to get back to Castiglion Fiorentino.
After a quick train ride back to Castiglion Fiorentino, we went straight to lunch at Il Drago, a pizzeria near our hotel. We were served a variety of delicious pizzas, fruit, and salad. Then, we walked back to the hotel for life mapping.
Throughout the trip, we have been working on a sheet of questions related to career and personal goals to get us thinking about what we plan to focus on during our time at Texas A&M. Today, we each had a brief life-mapping meeting with one of the trip leaders – Donna Lee, Erin, or Annabelle – to discuss our answers and make a general plan for our futures. We gathered valuable insight from the trip leaders that will certainly facilitate our success over the next four years and beyond.
After our life mapping sessions, we broke into two groups. The first group went to a pizza-making lesson at La Divina Bottega where we learned how to prepare toppings and paired up to put together our pizzas. While the pizza was in the oven, we learned how to knead dough and made flower-shaped bread. When the pizza was done cooking, we were able to taste our creations. The restaurant chef brought us Italian cheesecake for dessert. Then, we took our bread flowers da portare via to meet up with the second group.
The second group had the honor of being invited to meet the mayor of Catiglion Fiorentino. He met with us and we participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new museum. He asked us questions about how he could improve the city and what our favorite places were. Some of us were even interviewed for the Italian news! Luckily, the pizza making group was able to catch up to the second group and check out an art exhibit as well as meet the mayor. We tried our hand at some Italian with the mayor who was thankfully very patient with us.
We came back from the Italian art exhibit and had an art exhibit of our own in the hotel restaurant featuring the prints we made in Rick’s studio. It was amazing to see everyone’s creativity and to have the opportunity to speak with the artist right then and there. Once again, we had the chance to buy Rick’s art which truly blows our minds.
After a much awaited dinner for the second group, we continued our tradition of daily gelato at a local shop with delicious flavors. We’re all going to get a good night’s rest in preparation for our busy day in Florence tomorrow.
Arrivederci and Buona notte!
