My time in Sansepolcro is drawing to a close. Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees and classes are beginning to come to an end. Signs of winter are setting in, with the colder winds blowing in, and Christmas decoration are already hung up in the town. The group is busy planning our big Thanksgiving feast for all our friends and our newly made “family.” We have all grown close as a group! I have gotten to know all these girls on a new level and each one has something amazing and unique to offer. This semester has certainly been unlike any other that I have had. Although I have experienced many new things during my stay in Europe, I still have a few more weeks and a few more blank pages in my diary to fill.
It was time to celebrate on Friday after a semester’s worth of work that paid off in Color Theory! We presented our final projects and portfolios to our friends and faculty and a few other guests. Molly decorated a beautiful analogous color scheme chair that matches the green lounge perfectly! Laurin, Emily, and I each did a project that required us to mix the colors of two famous paintings and incorporate them into our own design or a design chosen from one of the two paintings. It was interesting to learn the process of color mixing throughout the course. I learned exactly how many colors can be create from the three pigment primaries. The many hours of sitting down in the studio late at night (with music blaring to keep us awake) equaled success! We all will miss Dr. Banker a lot! She taught each one of us an infinite amount about color, Italy, art, and other things! I have never had a teacher like Dr. Banker. I would describe her as an eclectic, cultured, interesting, and obviously well educated woman in everything that she does! No other professor I have ever had made her own clothes and jewelry!
With one class over and only a few more to go, we were ready to kick back and relax! On Friday evening, we were all given the opportunity to have dinner with a host family. Brianna and I were picked up by Daniela, a lovely young Italian woman who spoke very good English. She took us to her parent’s house on the outskirts of Sansepolcro, where we ate dinner with them. Upon arriving we were greeted warmly by her mother, a very Italian looking woman with a beautiful smile! We were later joined by her father, a very friendly man who spoke no English. This experience was one of my favorites since coming to Sansepolcro: it was nice to observe Italian family life and be part of it for a night. I was able to use my Italian during my visit because Daniela’s parents did not speak English. I surprised myself with how much Italian I remembered from class; I was actually able to carry on conversations with them and they understood me! Daniela’s mother outdid herself with the amount of food that she provided! There was of course pasta as well as pork, salad, and smaller side dishes. During dinner we talked about America and Italy. Daniela and her family want to come to the U.S., so naturally I suggested that they come to Ocean Isle Beach! They liked the idea very much! We surprisingly talked about politics, which is normally an off-limits subject in America, but my family was insistent that we had a much better president than Italy’s Berlusconi. We talked about our families, interests, and hobbies. I was very interested to learn that Daniela and her father like to ride horses! That was definitely one thing we all had in common! During dinner we watched an Italian game show. I did my best to understand what the rules of the game were and what they were saying; I wasn’t very successful in my pursuit. After dinner Margo, the families German Shepherd dog found her way into the kitchen. She was an older dog but she was obviously the princess of the household and her daddy’s girl! Daniela’s dad tried to show us all the tricks that he had taught Margo, but in spoiled dog fashion she ended up getting the treats anyway after many failed attempts to get her attention. After Daniela took us home, we spent the latter part of our evening at Gerasmo’s playing Scopa, Spades, and Shanghai (Italian version of pick-up sticks). The café was hopping by 11:30 and the crowds started to pour into the streets and into all the bars! It was just another Friday night in Sansepolcro.
On Saturday morning, we took our bus to Gubbio. In the morning we went to the Mausoleum of the 40 innocent martyrs who were shot by Nazi soldiers in 1944. Two Nazis were killed in a public bar in Italy during WWII. Hitler had given a general policy that for every Nazi killed that 10 Italians had to be killed. He had the Nazi troops round up 120 Italian citizens in Gubbio and held them captive in a school nearby. Forty people were chosen to be killed and other people were chosen to dig a grave. The victims were bound and lined up against a wall to be slaughtered one by one. The bodies were left behind disrespectfully, only covered by a covering of soil. Later the Mausoleum was erected to pay homage to the innocent victims who were murdered. This site was very chilling, especially the wall where the victims were shot. Bullet holes from 1944 are still visible in it. During the early afternoon, we took a chairlift up to the top of a mountain in Gubbio. Riding up and down on it enabled us to see gorgeous views of the valley and the city of Gubbio. On the way back from Gubbio we stopped on the side of the road to look at an ancient rock that dated back to prehistoric times. The rock contained the rare element of iridium. Before going back to the palazzo we went up a mountain on the outskirts of Sansepolcro to a monastery that was given to St. Francis when he retired. The monastery still functions today. Three monks live and work in the serenity of the monastery. We were given a tour of the monastery by Sara’s father Luigi Andreini. I got to see the bed (which was really a stone) on which St. Francis slept. Luigi explained that St. Francis was very short in stature, as most monks were during that time, which explains why all the doors looked as if they were for hobbits instead of people.
We had yet another cooking lesson with a lovely elderly Italian couple. They taught us how to make onion soup and tiramisu from scratch. I have not ever had much experience with cooking but I cannot wait to go home and try out these new recipes. I am particularly excited about cooking for the Thanksgiving feast that we are going to have at the end of this month. We are inviting nearly one hundred people to a huge feast to show the Italians how we celebrate Thanksgiving. It will be my first time away from home on Thanksgiving but I hope it will be just as special shared with my new family and new friends!
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