We would FINALLY be arriving in Cortona today. As much as I loved being in Rome and Florence, it was exhausting living out of a suitcase and being on the rode constantly, and more importantly, I had never been so curious about our destination. I craved to learn all about it. We still spent the beginning half of the day in Florence. In the morning our program raided the art store called Zecchi’s. The experience was way more overwhelming and stressful (and EXPENSIVE) than I imagined it to be. The store is quite small and not built to fit 46 art students searching for all their art supplies at the same time. And when we finally made it out of the store, we were all stuck lugging all our heaving bags of art supplies around with us for the rest of the afternoon. Oh well.
The bus ride from Florence to Cortona was less than an hour and a half. My heart started beating faster as soon as I could view Cortona in the mountains in the distance. And then we started driving up. And we never seemed to stop. I could not believe how high up Cortona was. And then we had to walk up the hill to our actual school. Now, this is not just any hill. This is a 45-degree hill about a half a mile long. We were all panting and sweating by the time we got to the top. My legs are still sore. (They also might be sore because I never stretched from my run the day before). I immediately noticed how friendly the local Cortonians are. Everyone would stop and smile and say “Ciao!” to us. Apparently, the locals here look forward to having us art students here to join the rest of the Cortona’s 1200 population. Our building is beautiful. The building is an old fifteenth century monastery. Within the building is our dormitory area, our breakfast eating area, and several classrooms and studios, including my painting studio for the semester which is held in the chapel of the monastery. Painting in this space will be SUCH a delightful change from the cockroach-infested Flagg Hall at U of I. There is also a small kitchen for us to cook in, a common area for lounging and hanging out, and a beautiful garden area outside. Overall, I can picture myself moving here permanently. Oh, and we have a maid service here that makes our beds every morning. They are known as the “angels.” Immediately after arriving we were able to unpack. The rooms we live in our very spacious. I have four other roommates that are divided two rooms connected together with a bathroom in the middle. I was thankful to be on the side of the building with the inspirational view of Cortona and the towns below outside our window. This is the view that we will wake up to everyday. I had to remind myself each moment that this was real, that Cortona actually exists, and that I am actually living here! Each night we eat together in a wonderful restaurant all the way down the hill called Totinos. We have our own eating room on the bottom level. The courses here at Totinos are more exciting, all because different dishes kept on coming. Being a vegetarian is by far more fun, because dinner is always an exciting surprise, whereas all the meat eaters more or less have the same meal each night. Our first dinner started with spinach ravioli with a creamy tomato sauce. Then came this weird celery side course. Then the waiter brought to our table a delicious cheese that you are supposed to eat with honey (which we did: a delicious all-natural thick honey). Then the waiter brought a cabbage dish. Then this other weird pizza thing. And then the best part of the dinner: an amazing lentil dish. Then came salad, and finally a crazy fancy dessert. I only ate the strawberry off the dessert because at the point I was so full. I would like to take note that little by little, I have been appreciating the wine here more and more. Just so you know.
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