Assisi

On Saturday our group took a trip to Assisi which is about 2.5 hours away from Florence by bus.  Assisi is located up on a hill and even though it was almost 60 degrees back in Florence, Assisi was much more chilly and there was even snow on the mountaintops a little higher up.  To say the least, I did not dress warmly enough (more on that later).  Regardless of the cold weather, Assisi was beautiful! Like most other towns, it is surrounded by walls all the way around.  This city, however, has 3 layers of walls, sort of like belts.  As the city grew, they had to build new walls to surround the growing town (like you have to buy a new belt to surround your growing body).  As we walked around, you could tell when you were passing through one of the walls and getting closer and closer to the oldest part of town in the middle.  While in Assisi we visited two basilicas--Basilica di Santa Chiara and Basilica di San Francesco.  We learned a lot about the saints that these basilicas were dedicated to--St. Clare of Assisi and St. Francis of Assisi.  There was also a ton of beautiful art by artists such as Giotto and Cimabue.  We also learned that while the main stone in Florence and Siena is marble, the main stone in Assisi is limestone and that is shown by the white and pink colors of the town.  Like everywhere in Europe, Assisi has a very deep and rich history, and these are just some of the things I learned while I was there!

As I said before, I did not dress warmly enough for the mountain-air of Assisi, and I now regret that.  A couple of days before the trip, I had started to feel a cold coming on, and now it's a full-blown cold.  I have been sneezing, coughing, and just about everything else.  On Sunday I just rested, did homework, and relaxed.  I have also been loading up on cough medicine in hopes to get better by Thursday when I leave for London! I will be in London for the weekend visiting some family and I am very excited.  I have heard that London is absolutely wonderful, and I can't wait!

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers this week as I attempt to feel better, travel to London, and prepare for my midterm exams which I have next week (I can't believe it's almost halfway through the semester already!). I hope you are all doing well back home! Miss you all!!!