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!