Submitted by David Deming on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…
Week number three had its own different format since it was the first week we had total freedom during the whole time outside of class. After class, on multiple days, a couple of friends and I would just walk around and sightsee around our homestay town, Siena. Overlooking the Tuscan mountains and valleys from a small side street is amazing because that is such a new experience to me. Not having any mountains in Delaware, viewing a whole range of them from a small street far away from any tourist location meant viewing them was very exciting for me. The most memorable thing that happened to me during the third week was the free weekend when we went to Pisa and climbed the famous Leaning Tower. Being afraid of heights, climbing the fifty-eight meter high (around one-hundred-and-ninety feet) tower was definitely an exciting experience. Exciting both historically and blood pressure wise, because once we reached the top it was amazing. I looked over the edge that was leaning down and kind of froze a little, but then got better as I continued looking out over the city and piazza. It was one of those times when you feel like it isn’t real because you have only seen these things in pictures or on TV and then you are living it and it feels like a dream. It is probably one of my favorite towers that I have ever climbed.
