Yes, this is as wonderful as it sounds. See, my friend Allison's dad has a friend who owns a villa in a region of Italy called Umbria. He let us stay there for free. It was pretty amazing. We took three trains and a taxi to get there. It is really in the country. The villa sits high on a hill, surrounded by olive groves and vineyards.
Four of us went this past weekend to get away and crank out some homework. As the taxi drove us from the train station to the house, we winded up and around little farms until he pointed to what looked like a castle on a hill and said, "I think that is it." We gasped in unbelief! Once we arrived, we explored the place and found that it was equipped with everything we could possibly need or want. We got right to work making ourselves at home. With the fireplace crackling, fresh sheets on the beds, popcorn made, hot tea in cups on saucers, we all took a deep breath and sank into the couches and chairs to watch the movie October Sky. Oh how wonderful!
The next day we slept in and made french toast. We explored the surrounding area and made friends with an old man whose marbles weren't all together. He asked us if we had boyfriends and when we said no, he said, "Aaayyy, Italia." As if it was the fault of Italian men. He walked with us for a while and explained that he spoke Russian, American, and Japanese. His 'American' consisted of, "Athankayou avery maaacha." We were grateful for his company. Once we went our separate ways, we were accompanied by an adorable little dog. We named him Francesco. Here are some pictures of our adventure.
Much of the rest of the day was spend finishing homework. I got my fingers dirty with a charcoal drawing for painting class. We watched many more movies and finished the day with a lovely dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Baked apples were dessert!
In the morning, we all got up at 6:30 to watch the sunrise. Because of the thick clouds we couldn't see much so the girls went back to bed. I stayed up and waited patiently. Gradually the sun turned the sky a bright pink and then slowly faded back to gray, making my patience so worth it! I decided to enjoy the quietness of the morning. I started the fire, made a hot cup of espresso, and sat down to read. I think every day should start like this!
