The Hills Are Alive :-)

If you were in my apartment you could see this amazing castle up on a hill, that every day we all admire. Today 5 of us set out on a quest to find it. We must have walked for about 30 minutes until we came across a park, we climed hundreds of steps and hills, until we realized we were on our way up to that castle! For almost an hour and a half we walked uphill towards what we knew was going to be an amazing and beautiful site. On the way we tried to ask people for directions (that was an epic fail), none spoke english. Finally we came to a clearing, not only could we see the castle only a few hundred feet in front of us but we turned around and saw the entire town of Brescia, thousands of rooftops and the most beautiful mountains surrounding them all. It left me truly breathless, I have never seen such beauty as I did at that very moment. Everyday I feel like I find so many beautiful things and the people here are so lucky to have this beauty at their fingertips. I hope they do not take the beauty they have surrounding them. I want to embrace all of these moments, capture them in memories and in photographs, and never take for granted the experiences I have here. Today was the first day it hit me, that i was truly in Italy, and honestly, I don't want to be anywhere else.

I am looking forward to tonight because the whole group is getting back together for a welcome dinner. It'll be my first true Italian pizza, I can't wait! ---Crystal