Well we've completed our first week of classes today! I'm feeling much more settled, mostly over my jet lag, and finally understanding the rhythm of living in a place like Orvieto.
Yesterday in place of both classes we took two different tours of the town. The first class is the one that focuses on Catholicism and Protestantism, so we saw different historical buildings and sites tied to the earlier history of Italy (back to papal states and the introduction of Italy as an actual country). My favorite part of the tour was getting to see monasteries and cathedrals in Orvieto that hold a lot of religious, political, historical and social importance. During our break, we tried a new cafe where I had my first espresso shot ever (you order it by saying "Vorrei un cafe'"). After lunch, our Italian teacher Laura took us on a more practical tour of places that we will certainly be needing as American college students living here (pharmacy, post office, grocery store) and places where we can practice our Italian (coffee and pastry shops, shoe and clothing stores with less expensive but good options, internet cafe's, etc.). You may know that people in Italy don't really wear flip flops. Well, you can also tell the Americans by our other shoe choices as well, generall speaking. People dress up here on a very regular basis with their nicest shoes (mostly leather, boots for the ladies, stylish dress shoes for the men), coats and purses. Another favorite option is that all of the older ladies wear fur coats down to almost their knees! You see them around town but mostly in the churches (which are all so big that they're hard to heat)...so people wear coats all the way through the service.
Speaking of church services, we observed Ash Wednesday yesterday in the Duomo. The service was in Italian entirely again, but it was breathtaking to be inside partaking in church with this group of people. I found myself thinking about how this church body was unique and different from my home church/school church, simply for the fact that they do not speak my language and have had such different backgrounds/lifestories from my own in Italy. Yet the church body holds similarities more than I can even see in way of dress or talk because we are still gathering together under the same God and for the same purposes.
After class today everyone went to the open outdoor market in the Piazza del Popolo (a town square a few minute walk from the restaurant where we take our meals). It felt a little bit like a flea market in America, but one could also smell exquisite fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses, nuts, meat and dried fruit. I bought a beautiful teal scarf for 3 euros (only about $5!) and some dried fruit to snack on. This market is held every Thursday and Saturday morning. After a lunch of lasagna, kebabs and fresh salad at Locanda del Lupo (did I mention yet that most meals are served in 2 courses?), my new friends Emily, Kelsey, Lauren and I walked around town. We spent the afternoon relieved to be done classes for the week, talking in the "sala" (the living room the group shares), and eating more food (we got gelato!). I'm going to look like a different person when I get home with the way that life here tends to revolve around food so much!
In the afternoons here, the whole town takes "reposa" which is an afternoon rest. Since lunch is the biggest meal, the next 3-4 hours are spent napping or relaxing. Every store in town seems to shut down (other than the cafes and gelaterias). They open back up again at about 5 pm except on Wednesdays, when the stores all close at 1 pm for the day (not opening up again til the next morning). It's so interesting and sooo different from what we are all used to! It's not very convenient sounding, but I actually like it!
Tonight we are going to hear live music at a cafe and then some of the girls are going to watch Roman Holiday together to prep us for our trip on Saturday to Roma! Arrivederci!
P.S. We only get an hour or so of internet a day, and it doesn't have the strongest signal so it takes very long to load websites/upload pictures. I'm working on getting some visuals up for everyone!
2.26.2009
2.24.2009
What a fat Tuesday
Ciao friends! Pretty uneventful day thus far. Except for a funny story from the morning. I was being really silly last night with some friends (I know surprising), and my pocket sized alarm clock fell out of my pocket. The time still worked so I thought it'd be fine. However, it didn't go off this morning. I awoke to my sweet roommate Alicia moving around at about 8:00. I jumped in the shower and got ready for my 9:00 class. With wet hair and both of us still barely mobile in a morning grog, a classmate rushed into our room saying that our professor had already prayed and we were 15 minutes late to class. Apparently Alicia's alarm clock was set to the wrong time an hour behind. We rushed to class embarrassed, but it was fine. You don't have to guess that the first thing I did after lunch was buy a new alarm clock for about 15 euros. What a start to the day ;)
After lunch, a small group of us bought gelato (my first time in the few days we've been here). Mine was multo bene (very good)! It was a flavor that tasted like hazelnut and nutella. Mmm.
About to head out into the town for Carnival (Fat Tuesday? Marti Gras? Sound familiar?). It's the day before Ash Wednesday, and a huge celebration before the beginning of Lent. We learned today that it is called Carnival because when you look at the root of the word you find "carne" (meat)... everyone celebrates and has tons of meat to make up for the tradition of no meat for the next 40 days. Everyone dresses up in fun costumes and throws confetti and listens to live music supposedly. We'll find out soon, as we're about to head out for "pasagata" (a walk around the town before our 8 pm dinner). I'll tell you all about it later!
P.S. I know some people have asked for my address here so you can find it below! Grazie!
Monastery San Paolo
Via Postierla, 20
05018 Orvieto (TR)
After lunch, a small group of us bought gelato (my first time in the few days we've been here). Mine was multo bene (very good)! It was a flavor that tasted like hazelnut and nutella. Mmm.
About to head out into the town for Carnival (Fat Tuesday? Marti Gras? Sound familiar?). It's the day before Ash Wednesday, and a huge celebration before the beginning of Lent. We learned today that it is called Carnival because when you look at the root of the word you find "carne" (meat)... everyone celebrates and has tons of meat to make up for the tradition of no meat for the next 40 days. Everyone dresses up in fun costumes and throws confetti and listens to live music supposedly. We'll find out soon, as we're about to head out for "pasagata" (a walk around the town before our 8 pm dinner). I'll tell you all about it later!
P.S. I know some people have asked for my address here so you can find it below! Grazie!
Monastery San Paolo
Via Postierla, 20
05018 Orvieto (TR)
2.23.2009
A little red, a little white
After dinner on our first evening, a small group of us decided to celebrate our entry to Orvieto by sharing a bottle of red wine at "Caffe Cavour" over conversation and toasts to the semester. The next morning, we woke up early and took a walking tour of some parts of town led by a young man named Alessandro who helps out with our program. The air smelled so fresh, and the overlook of the hills, crops and houses below the cliff were still covered in a misty fog. Older men were sitting on steps reading their Italian papers, but mostly the town was very quiet. My favorite part was when we climbed the clock tower (many, many flights of stairs) at the center of town and got to look out at the expanse of the layout of our town and the natural landscapes that are also very important to where we live. Our program director Matt prefaced our tour by a challenge that I loved, and will try to hold true to beyond that first tour. He said that we have a tendency to try to "possess" what we see for the first time by capturing it with photography, giving it a two-dimensional quality that can never truly grasp the essence of a place. He challenged us to put the cameras away for the first day, and experience Orvieto through all five senses (not through a camera lens). It was wonderful, and really did make a great difference.
We ended the tour at San Giovenale, the oldest cathedral in Orvieto, where we experienced our first Italian Catholic mass. The whole service was in a language that I don't yet understand, but the music, the building itself, and the general tone of the service were things I could enjoy and embrace without knowing Italian. And guess what?! The choir director has extended an invitation to our group. Starting next Sunday, a few of us will be attending choir practice after mass so that we will be able to sing in Italian in this beautiful context for the Easter Sunday service. What a once in a lifetime experience!
Afterwards, we walked around through fresh markets, open shops, and had a delicious Sunday lunch. We found a little restaurant on a side street called "da Carlo" that we promised to check out again later that day. Okay. So the food here? I can't even tell you that it's more exquisite than we all expected, because I know that will just make you all jealous ;) We are so spoiled.. Everything tastes deliciously fresh; the pasta, the salads, the bread, the water... everything. I think I will officially be cured of my diet coke obsession because a) it's not readily available, b) it's expensive here, c) the water is amazing (that sound weird but it tastes different), and d) people drink water here all the time. You don't order iced tea, soda, lemonade, etc. at the restaurants really. Just natural or sparkling water, or of course wine.
Sunday evening, a welcome program was hosted for us in the monastery, and we were able to meet some of the local families! Homemade pastries, sandwiches and appetizers were cooked in our honor, and a band played Italian, jazz, and some American music for us to enjoy/dance to! We had a blast :)
After this dinner on Sunday, about 2/3 of our group went out together and stopped back at da Carlo. (Apparently Orvieto is really well known for their white wine, the Duomo and ceramics.) Our table shared a bottle of the Orvieto Classico Bianco, as appetizers were brought to the table without our even asking. We couldn't complain because the bruschetta, prosciutto, and "pate" (pe-tay; goose liver, yes) were all phenomenal. In Italy, sometimes at restaurants the waitstaff bring you samples of appetizers to try to get you to order more. Sometimes they charge you (like last night), but sometimes it's on the house. We had great conversation, and know that we won't be doing this EVERY evening, but the occasional outing with wine is definitely part of experiencing the culture here.
This morning (Monday) we began our first section of classes. For those who don't know, we will have class every morning 9-12, Monday through Thursday. We take one class at a time, to alleviate the cumulative stress of finals at the end of the semester, and so that we can really dive in to the material at hand. Everyone starts off together in a history course (more to come) and Italian lessons. After this first month, we split off into two tracts; history/humanities or art. I'm taking a combination of these. So today, we began a class that is really a history of theology course with a concentration on Catholicism and Protestantism. Before I came, I was having a lot of questions about religion and how it is experienced by different individuals (in America and globally), so I feel that this course will really open my eyes to things I didn't know before about why people believe what they do within the general realm of Christianity. Through this class we will be watching several films, doing a LOT of reading and also taking some field trips. One includes a trip to the Vatican to be part of the "papal audience" (we'll get to hear the current Pope address the people in attendance). Italian class was in the afternoon, with very beginning grammatical rules and vocabulary/helpful expressions that we must know. I'm actually surprised! One girl in my group (Riel) knows her Italian (as her mother speaks it), and another student named Chris is pretty well-versed in the words and phrases he studied, but I am amidst the majority who really have no clue what is going on or how to interact with the Orvietani (other than "Ciao" and "Come sta?"> How are you). I'm excited to soak in as much as I can of the language so that within a couple of weeks I can have basic conversations, and no longer need a translator to do something simple like buy stamps (embarassing today).
Well, we already have a lot of reading and homework for class, so I better get going. But for now, thanks for reading, and I promise to get pictures on here soon. Arrivederci!
We ended the tour at San Giovenale, the oldest cathedral in Orvieto, where we experienced our first Italian Catholic mass. The whole service was in a language that I don't yet understand, but the music, the building itself, and the general tone of the service were things I could enjoy and embrace without knowing Italian. And guess what?! The choir director has extended an invitation to our group. Starting next Sunday, a few of us will be attending choir practice after mass so that we will be able to sing in Italian in this beautiful context for the Easter Sunday service. What a once in a lifetime experience!
Afterwards, we walked around through fresh markets, open shops, and had a delicious Sunday lunch. We found a little restaurant on a side street called "da Carlo" that we promised to check out again later that day. Okay. So the food here? I can't even tell you that it's more exquisite than we all expected, because I know that will just make you all jealous ;) We are so spoiled.. Everything tastes deliciously fresh; the pasta, the salads, the bread, the water... everything. I think I will officially be cured of my diet coke obsession because a) it's not readily available, b) it's expensive here, c) the water is amazing (that sound weird but it tastes different), and d) people drink water here all the time. You don't order iced tea, soda, lemonade, etc. at the restaurants really. Just natural or sparkling water, or of course wine.
Sunday evening, a welcome program was hosted for us in the monastery, and we were able to meet some of the local families! Homemade pastries, sandwiches and appetizers were cooked in our honor, and a band played Italian, jazz, and some American music for us to enjoy/dance to! We had a blast :)
After this dinner on Sunday, about 2/3 of our group went out together and stopped back at da Carlo. (Apparently Orvieto is really well known for their white wine, the Duomo and ceramics.) Our table shared a bottle of the Orvieto Classico Bianco, as appetizers were brought to the table without our even asking. We couldn't complain because the bruschetta, prosciutto, and "pate" (pe-tay; goose liver, yes) were all phenomenal. In Italy, sometimes at restaurants the waitstaff bring you samples of appetizers to try to get you to order more. Sometimes they charge you (like last night), but sometimes it's on the house. We had great conversation, and know that we won't be doing this EVERY evening, but the occasional outing with wine is definitely part of experiencing the culture here.
This morning (Monday) we began our first section of classes. For those who don't know, we will have class every morning 9-12, Monday through Thursday. We take one class at a time, to alleviate the cumulative stress of finals at the end of the semester, and so that we can really dive in to the material at hand. Everyone starts off together in a history course (more to come) and Italian lessons. After this first month, we split off into two tracts; history/humanities or art. I'm taking a combination of these. So today, we began a class that is really a history of theology course with a concentration on Catholicism and Protestantism. Before I came, I was having a lot of questions about religion and how it is experienced by different individuals (in America and globally), so I feel that this course will really open my eyes to things I didn't know before about why people believe what they do within the general realm of Christianity. Through this class we will be watching several films, doing a LOT of reading and also taking some field trips. One includes a trip to the Vatican to be part of the "papal audience" (we'll get to hear the current Pope address the people in attendance). Italian class was in the afternoon, with very beginning grammatical rules and vocabulary/helpful expressions that we must know. I'm actually surprised! One girl in my group (Riel) knows her Italian (as her mother speaks it), and another student named Chris is pretty well-versed in the words and phrases he studied, but I am amidst the majority who really have no clue what is going on or how to interact with the Orvietani (other than "Ciao" and "Come sta?"> How are you). I'm excited to soak in as much as I can of the language so that within a couple of weeks I can have basic conversations, and no longer need a translator to do something simple like buy stamps (embarassing today).
Well, we already have a lot of reading and homework for class, so I better get going. But for now, thanks for reading, and I promise to get pictures on here soon. Arrivederci!
2.21.2009
Welcome to Orvieto
I'm here!!! After much anticipation, I'm sitting in the monastery with 23 other students who are all furiously typing during "internet hour" to let loved ones know we have safely arrived. Don't quite know where to start other than the fact that it's even more unbelievable here than I could imagine :)
Top five things about the morning I left the states:
1. Mom made my favorite breakfast (pumpkin bread) and brought a slice upstairs with a huge mug of coffee. She knows me so well.
2. My brother and I got ready next to each other in the bathroom. As I brushed my hair and he brushed his teeth, my younger brother actually asked me questions (along the lines of "Are you excited?"). It was thrilling!
3. As I got ready in the morning, the classical radio station played the theme music from Carousel. If you know me at all, you know why I considered this a very, very good omen.
4. Dad and I had our ritual final Wawa stop. He knows that I miss these greatly when I leave the tri-state region.
5. Met up at the Philadelphia airport with the three other students I'd be flying to D.C. with. I squealed. I danced. I made a fool of myself. I don't think I've ever used the term, "I'm a theatre major" so much in such a short amount of time as in the course of introductions that would follow throughout the day to my fellow Orvieto-ans. I used it more as an excuse than an actual explanation of who I am to make sure everyone understood why I was being so dramatically and vocally excited :)
So from there...
Flew on a tiny plane from Philly to D.C. and all of 4 us felt rather discomforted, but we had a 5-hour layover to rest our bodies again before the long direct flight to Rome. Once there, my Uncle Dave drove in and bought me lunch at a restaurant at the airport which helped calm my nerves through laughter (he always reminds me a bit of Jim Carrey and he was "peppering" me with hilarious questions about this upcoming journey and life in general).
One by one, students from our program began to arrive at gate D11, and introductions ensued. The flight was long. I barely slept (I got in a 2 hour nap, watched a movie, and saw the sun rise just as we were flying into Italy). I squealed again by accident for my excitement at seeing where we were landing, and almost everyone in our section of the plane laughed at me. And at 7:20 a.m., in my new time zone, I breathed my first Italian air. I couldn't look at anything long enough! A wise person who recently took this trip to Orvieto told me that no matter how tired I was, I would probably remember every second of this first day. So far, this has proven to be true.
We took a bus to Orvieto, and the pictures that I took can't even grasp the beauty of this place. It doesn't feel real because it's beyond what I've ever been able to picture for myself, but at the same time very tangible at last. The monastery is on top of a hill, and the winding roads that brought us up gave us a breath-taking view of the Italian land all around. We all kept looking at each other and saying, "Guys, we live here!" We had time to unpack before lunch, and had our first delicious Italian meal at "Laconda del Lupo," the restaurant right nearby that will be providing our lunches and dinners for the next four months. My uncle joked with me yesterday at the airport, that I luckily survived not gaining the "Freshmen 15" but I'm sure to get the "Jumbo Junior" while eating the way I will here in Orvieto. We took a long walk after lunch and got to see the Duomo. It's indescribeable to see it in person. I can tell that I'll be spending many a sunny afternoon looking at the grand front view of the Duomo and people-watching the vibrant lives of those in my new home.
My friend Riel from Gordon and I shared cappucino at an afternoon break. It was only one euro for a cappucino (which is equivalent to like $1.50 in American money), and we're planning to take in our first gelato after dinner this evening.
I'm feeling the jet lag (and the fact that I probably only slept for 45 minutes the night before I left out of excitement), so I'm going to take a nap before dinner. Much more to come. Hope you can all feel the love flowing your way from the wide-eyed and squealing me over here in Orvieto. Ciao for now!
**Disclaimer- for now I just put in pictures from Google images, and promise to replace them with my own later. Just wanted you to get some visuals for now!**
2.14.2009
The Checklist Queen
6 days until I fly into Rome.
I have spent the last few days back in NJ cooking (not lying!), unpacking from my time up in Massachusetts (doing Our Town), buying a few necessities (raincoat, textbooks, toiletries), and resting like crazy (... I slept in until 2:15 one day...). I received my Visa/Passport in the mail, and also found out my roommate's name a few days ago. These things make it all so much more real! I also have made several checklists. For those who know me well, I'm a little obsessed with that type of organization and can hardly go anywhere without a checklist to guide my footsteps. Hopefully I'll be able to live more freely and spontaneously once I get to Italy.
But for now, I have a running count of four checklists.
And a lot of anticipation and excitement bubbling up inside of me. I can feel it in my bones that this experience is so needed and that I'm ready for it.
I have spent the last few days back in NJ cooking (not lying!), unpacking from my time up in Massachusetts (doing Our Town), buying a few necessities (raincoat, textbooks, toiletries), and resting like crazy (... I slept in until 2:15 one day...). I received my Visa/Passport in the mail, and also found out my roommate's name a few days ago. These things make it all so much more real! I also have made several checklists. For those who know me well, I'm a little obsessed with that type of organization and can hardly go anywhere without a checklist to guide my footsteps. Hopefully I'll be able to live more freely and spontaneously once I get to Italy.
But for now, I have a running count of four checklists.
And a lot of anticipation and excitement bubbling up inside of me. I can feel it in my bones that this experience is so needed and that I'm ready for it.
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