Day 6 5/25/10 “I’ve seen those nips before.”

The last day in Florence consisted of more preparations and lots of sightseeing.

Session 1

A speaker from Pisa named Scott came and spoke to us in the morning and afternoon. He started by explaining the Agape Italia in Pisa and that Pisa is famous for two things, the tower of Pisa and a prestigious university there. He then said, “It’s kind of like the Indiana University of Europe.” I immediately raised my hand and told him I was a boiler. He was shocked. I later found out he lived in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. We had a bible study with him and much to my bias already he was one of the best speakers yet. We discussed Exodus 34:29-35. [Moses, his shiny face, and the veil.] The veil can only be removed by believing in Christ. It was very interesting and definitely something to think about as well as true. He was very encouraging about our future endeavors in Milan.

Session 2

Scott continued talking about Italian culture and a little about their social networks. Italians have low outer walls and high inner walls in regards to their emotions and opinions. The other interesting thing about Italians is their group of friends. Their group of friends is their network. When you are friends with one of them you are friends with the whole group. The main difficulty here is, though you may talk to them for hours upon end and think you are friends, you are not friends with them until you are introduced to the group. There are common misconceptions regarding Italian students. They do not live life on campus. They come on campus for class then they leave. So much of our ministry to students will have to be off campus. The key to success is getting inside networks and bringing in the gospel as soon and as sensitively as possible.

After the sessions we went to lunch at another amazing restaurant. I had some fantastic pasta, again… I later talked to Scott and found out where he was from. I said how Italy really intrigued me and we would see where God leads me in the future. He said, “There’s a lot of staff from Purdue in Rome. A degree from Purdue would help you a lot there, who knows if it would help you in life, but definitely Rome.” Much to my dismay he turned on his heel and left, so no retort for me.

The rest of the day we spent walking around Florence, taking lots of pictures and visiting some sights. There are countless hilarious quotes from the day. Of course, we are in the city of art and culture so there are statues everywhere. We went to an area by the fake statue of David with many statues of the Greek Gods. There was a lot of nudity, mainly male nudity. So we finely came across the Greek Goddess Aphrodite and I made the racy comment of, “Finally some girl nips.” And Sarah replies, “I’ve seen those nips before.” She is such a quiet soft hearted girl so to hear that from her was ten times as funny as you can imagine. She of course meant that she’d seen Aphrodite before.

After going to see the bridge, dealing with loud street vendors, and more gypsies we had to meet at the bus station to go to Gary’s house for dinner. [The Florence Agape Italia Director.] We had split up earlier in the day because some wanted to sight see and some wanted to sleep. The plan was to meet at 6:00 at the bus station. Some of us got there a little early so we sat in the park and had a group prayer. It was pretty cool and we definitely got some people’s attention. At 6:00 the rest of the group showed up, except Cenia. She was nowhere to be found. We looked everywhere, but nothing. The girls stayed in the center of the bus station as the guys walked around looking for her. It’s amazing how difficult things are without cell phones. Finally at 6:30ish we decided to pray for her then get on the bus to head to Gary’s house. He took us to the top of the hill overlooking Florence, just if not more beautiful than the Duomo. We went to his Italian Villa where wife, two kids is and taffy awaited our arrival. His two kids Courtney, 15 and Davis, 12 had been to Italian schools for three years now and were not fluent. It was incredibly impressive. Taffy, their hilarious and sweet Golden Retriever helped me eat the Bruchetta that I dropped on the ground. No worries, the ground was stone. So we ate an amazing Pesto dinner and had excellent conversation with the Runn family. Cenia called eventually, she had gone to the train station instead of the bus station, miscommunication but thank God she was safe.

After a long evening we went back and crashed. We had to rest to go to Milan the next day! Andiamo! Arrivederci.

Britt