Tuscany

This past summer, I traveled to Germany, Italy, and Switzerland with 13 other honors students through a program called Cultural Routes.  The trip is a study abroad option within the John V. Roach Honors College at TCU.  Though I could go on for hundreds of pages about the experiences I had while traveling, I will enlighten you with one special day of the trip. 

We were in our third country, Italy, and had the “travel thing” down pretty well.  As a way to reward us, Dr. Pitcock, one of our instructors, let us have an entire day free to explore whatever city or town we desired in Italy – being reasonable distance away.  My friends Brandon Somerhalder (holllla!), Blaire Butler, Sarah Rose, and myself knew we were not looking for another typical day in Italy.  We wanted adventure, thrill, and, of course, amazing scenery.

We hopped on a train early that morning without knowing exactly where we were going.  The night before we had looked up review online of “best kept secret - small towns of Italy”, decided to head toward Tuscany.  I fell asleep on the train and have no recollection of how long the ride was before we stopped, but next thing I knew, we were getting off in a small town called Cortona.  We hopped off the train, and our adventure began.

About an hour later, after a long bus ride, we found ourselves at the top of a large mountain overlooking the Tuscan land -- It looked right out of a movie.  The land was a luscious green filled with old Italian buildings.  Here’s actually the first picture I took right off the bus!

Throughout the day we simply explored.  We walked through the winding streets of the village, taking endless self-timer photos and eating gelato.  After an energizing lunch, however, we decided to amp up our experience.  Granted we had already discovered an old theater house and climbed on the wall surrounding the village, we wanted something that we would remember forever.

We were walking down a windy side road in the village when we came across two locals.  Actually, they approached us, and asked if we were studying abroad.  Little did we know, this was the start of a great friendship.  After seemingly five minutes of small talk, the couples took us under their wing and showed us around the city – the whole time talking with them about America, food, and the wonders of Cortona.  We started off by meeting their entire family in this small house built into the side of the mountain.  Everyone was so welcoming!  After all, it is italy!  We then went to a local art shop and admired the hand-sculpted bowls and beautiful paintings.  Walking into the city square, we noticed there was some sort of festival going on.  The couple explained to us that it was a ritual of the city and that most of the locals attended. 

A few hours had passed by and it was beginning to turn dark.  Since we had to be back by dinnertime, we, unfortunately, had to say goodbye.  We took a picture with the couple in the main square and headed toward the train station.  Our crazy adventure in Cortona was coming to a close.  At dinnertime with the rest of the group, we definitely had the best stories from the day.

No description of our day can truly justify the wonderful experience I had explore Cortona.  The food, the locals, and the overall atmosphere of the village were truly breathtaking. 

Here are a few photos from the day including the picture with or locals. :)