Cheryl spoke
to us from her hotel in Florence, Italy where she and her classmates were spending the evening. Her class was on the fifth day of their overseas European trip when they made a stop at the historic Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy. “My friend Elisa had just posed in front of the Leaning Tower and then it was my turn. As I put my hand up, I, you know, felt a like a weird sensation. Elisa said, ‘Oh my gawd’ and I turned to look at the tower was straight! At first I thought it had to be some kind of a binding, metaphysical and ubiquitous power.” What Cheryl actually felt was a very strong aftershock that rocked the western coast of Italy. This 4.6 magnitude earthquake tipped the Leaning Tower back up and perpendicular to the ground. “At first, my classmates were like, ‘You have the Force!’ Then they were pissed ‘cause I had straightened the tower. They were like, ‘Push it back over!’” Cheryl attempted to use the Force to push the tower back over, but failed. “I tried, but my friend said there is no try.”
Back at the hotel, Cheryl was relieved to hear that it was an earthquake that had caused the tower to straighten. She was even more relieved to hear that, due to another aftershock, the tower was back into its leaning position. “I’d hate to have it re-named ‘The Not Leaning Tower of Cheryl.'”
