Did you know it’s possible to visit a whole country in a day and still get back in time for dinner? Well it is! Small city-states qualify as their own countries and are easy to get to. When it comes to Italy, the most well-known city-state would be Vatican City, home of the Pope, Roman Catholicism, and all that jazz. But how many of you know about La Reppublica di San Marino? It’s a small city-state that’s only about an hour’s drive from Urbino, yet it’s its own country- it even has its own euro coins! It was pretty cool to add a new country to the “Where I’ve Been” application on Facebook when I got home later 😉
San Marino is stunning. It’s located on top of this mountain with spectacular views. I’m sure that on a sunny day you could see for miles, but as luck would have it, when we went it was cloudy. Inside the city, we saw a lot of beautiful places like the Basilica di San Marino and this cute little park at the top of the mountain.
On the way up, we passed hundreds of vendors, and you wouldn’t believe it, but some of the main items they sell are swords and guns. Granted the swords were beautiful, but still! I was surprised and yet so intrigued.
Despite our cloudy conditions in San Marino, the next several days were surprisingly sunny and warm. My friends and I spent a lot of time outdoors and sunbathing, and have the sunburns to prove it. One day, Laura and I went up to the Fortezza after running some errands in town. We played Frisbee and had lunch before laying down for a nap. Unfortunately our nap lasted a bit too long and we woke up burned.
On another particular day, I found Monika at my window, dressed in purple with a bouquet of lilacs in her hand. It was the cutest thing you’d ever seen. Between the warm weather, fresh flowers, and clear skies, finding the motivation to study for finals has been hard. Yet the semester must go on! I was further reminded of this when it came time to register for fall classes at New Paltz. It was a little strange registering while abroad because I’m currently associating school with Italy, not New York. Not to mention that the Italian way of things wouldn’t even dream of registering for the fall until at least October, after there has been a one-month class trial-period.
Anyway, between the studying that’s now making up for lack of classes and the sunbathing I’ve been up to, I’ve also gotten started on a radio show and program for the Erasmus students/ International students. Our show is called Independent Carrots; the name is taken from a band name idea we had on our trip to Sicily when Judith ate carrots everyday. Working with one of the US liaisons here in Urbino and a fellow classmate and friend of mine, Ryan, we have set up a radio program that is for foreign students. We had our first show on April 20th, and it is being set up to stay and work for future semesters, maybe even turning into an credit-earning program for communication and media majors who choose to study in Urbino! It’s a lot of fun and reminds me of my radio show back in New Paltz on WFNP. The one I have here is a bit different, but you can see all of this here.
Other random events have happened since San Marino. On one particular day, while having gelato, the strangest conversation came up about the possibilities and experiences of what it would be like to be defecated on by a pigeon. And, as misfortune and uncanny coincidences happen, Laura was then pooped on by a bird. And if this day wasn’t unlucky for her enough, that night, while showing us her favorite pair of elephant pajamas, we pointed out to Laura that the elephants were actually polar bears, and, after some minutes of nonstop laughter and shock of years of believing them to be elephants, her whole world changed…. just like her pajamas.
Meanwhile, while all this random joy has been happening, there has been an active volcano in Iceland causing havoc to planes all over Europe. This sucked for a lot of my friends who were making brief trips home and either had their flights canceled, rescheduled, or had to book train tickets. For me, Monika, and Laura, we had a trip to Paris planned in the upcoming days, and damn Eyjafjallajökull wouldn’t stop threatening our plans. If the spelling of it’s name wasn’t enough (which by the way I learned to pronounce thanks to the clip on Wikipedia), why’d it have to go and threaten our Paris plans, huh?
Oh well, I can’t complain to much because in the end our flight didn’t change at all. We were going to Paris, and no Icelandic volcano was going to stop us!