Day #96 in Orvieto

May 29, 2013 – Wednesday

This morning we had to get ready for the Gordon College president, Dr. Michael Lindsay, and 26 guests (either people on the Board of Trustees, donors, friends of the college, etc) because they were coming for a tour of Orvieto and our monastery today. They came to our class to see what we were up to and Professor Stevick asked me to read my poem out loud to them. I wasn’t nervous at first but as I waited for Professor Stevick to talk about our poetry class and explain the assignment, I suddenly got really nervous and I was worried my voice would shake as I read my poem! Thankfully it seemed to go okay and a few of the guests came up to me after to say that they enjoyed my poem, so that was good, but I was happy that it was over.

We continued class for a while as everyone left to visit the art class, Text & Image, but then we also joined them in the studio to watch a short video on the monastery. Over the winter, the completely renovated the monastery for the Gordon-IN-Orvieto program (the program that I’m on…) so it was so cool to see the “before and after” pictures of our home here. There were also a few pictures/videos of our first day here when everything was revealed to us. It was a really nice video and there were a few tears (okay, maybe I’m the only one that was tearing up a bit, I don’t know).

We didn’t have chapter meeting today (crazy, right?) but we had to go to lunch at 1 with all of the donors at Locanda. A few of us students were spread out at different tables so we could talk to the different guests at lunch. I sat with Dr. Lindsey’s assistant who works at Gordon and then a couple who lives in Texas. It was a really enjoyable lunch (with like 5 courses) and it lasted from 1-3:30! It felt like Thanksgiving dinner or something. We said goodbye to them and they left to continue their tour of Italy (seriously, they’re going all over Italy) while we went back to the monastery to do our work for the day. For poetry homework we were each assigned a panel on the door of the duomo, so we had to write a poem about our assigned panel. So I took a trip up to the duomo to write for a while!

Even cats love the duomo

Day #95 in Orvieto

May 28, 2013 – Tuesday

Today in class we continued to talk about our duomo poems, then we began to critique our Rome poems. We only had time to critique mine in class today so we spent about twenty minutes talking about my small poem, which was strange! I wasn’t allowed to talk while everyone else talked about my poem (the one about Michelangelo’s Risen Christ) and guessed what was going on – so that was frustrating because I wanted to explain myself! So after that I had a whole list of things to change about my poem, but I don’t think I’ll change everything because I like certain parts of it.

At chapter meeting we had cake for Laura’s birthday even though it was last Thursday. We keep joking that she has the never-ending birthday because we’ve celebrated her birthday almost everyday since last Wednesday before we went to Rome. Also at chapter meeting, Ariel had her introduction and it was good to learn more about her! Lunch was great, as usual. We had a new pasta today – some sort of cheesy onion pasta that looked weird at first but it was obviously delicious.

Italian was cancelled today so it felt like we had a lot of free time this afternoon! I went for a run and then stretched on the soccer field that is behind our church. It was beautiful over there so I decided that I have to go to the field more often! I wish I had my field hockey stick, though. Here’s a picture from the turf field of the church that our monastery is attached to:

Day #94 in Orvieto

May 27, 2013 - Monday

Last night, Sara came back from her weekend in Venice and Verona so we stayed up late talking about her trip because she had been gone from Wednesday to Sunday! So It was pretty hard to get up this morning because I was so tired from being up late... but that's my own fault because I could've gone to bed. In class, we talked about our poems that we wrote in Rome. I wrote a poem about Michelangelo's "Risen Christ" sculpture from Santa Maria sopra Minerva, but we didn't have much time to talk about mine in class because we were also still working on our poems about the duomo from last week. For homework tonight, we have to revise the duomo poems and then peer edit two of our classmates Rome poems.

We went to lunch and had some great pasta with mushrooms. I didn't even like mushrooms before I came here but everything takes good in a cheesy pasta sauce so I've learned to love them. After lunch, Ariel and I went to Caffe del Corso to work on our poems and use the Internet. I'm trying to plan out a few things for the summer and figure out my schedule for next fall, so I had to send a few emails, etc.

It was so sunny today which was great because it's been really cold and windy. After sending emails, I went for a walk around Orvieto and read a book (FOR FUN!) outside in the courtyard. Soon the afternoon was over and it was time for dinner. Laura, Jenna, and I didn't go to Locanda because Sara invited us to go out to dinner with her and her boyfriend, Ed, who's visiting from California. So it was nice to eat somewhere else for dinner because we don't often go out for meals in Orvieto! We went to La Palombra (not sure if that's how you spell it) but it was so fun and we even surprised Laura with a piece of chocolate cake. :)

Cake!

The usual view from Caffe del Corso

Day #93 in Orvieto

May 26, 2013 - Sunday

Laura and I woke up early this morning, packed our backpacks, and went on a day trip to Cortona. Last night around midnight, Laura told me that she wanted to go to Cortona and asked me if I wanted to go with her for the day instead of doing our normal Sunday routine (sit around the monastery and/or craft in the studio). After this weekend, we only have two full weekends left so that's why we went today! So we went down the funicular and saw that our train was 35 minutes late which was annoying. So we waited there forever and then finally the train came. It was about an hour long ride to Cortona. Once we got off at our stop, we needed to either take a bus, walk, or take a taxi. We saw that the buses weren't running on Sunday and we knew it would take about an hour to walk, so we took the taxi ad thankfully there were two other people that needed to go up to Cortona too so it wasn't too expensive. The taxi driver was really friendly and seemed to act like a tour guide because he was telling us all about Cortona and the churches there. So he dropped us off at the top and we bought sandwiches for lunch before heading off to find the trail we wanted to take. A few people in our Orvieto group had been on different weekends, so they told us to take this trail to Chiesa di San Francesco and the monastery there. They told us that it was really easy but of course Laura and I quickly became lost (not sure why Laura and I have the biggest travel struggles whenever we try to do something). After walking for about an hour, we made our way through the trails and reached the monastery. It was so peaceful and quiet except for the birds chirping. It sounds like I'm exaggerating but you could seriously only hear the birds. So we spent a few hours there before we began the journey back to town. We only got lost once on the way back. It was around 5pm then so we walked through the antique show that was apparently happening, got gelato from 'the best gelato place' according to our friends. It was definitely the best even though it had a weird name like "Snoopy's" or something.

Eventually it was time to head down to the train station again for our 6:30 train. We didn't want to pay for a taxi and we thought it was be fun/easy to walk. Once again, we got a little bit lost but the weather was good and we ended up at the station 30 minutes before the train so we had plenty of time. On the train we did our homework for Poetry tomorrow and then made it back to Orvieto just before dinner. :) 

The beginning of the day was pretty cloudy

On the trail!

Day #92 in Orvieto

May 25, 2013 - Saturday

Today was a rainy Saturday in Orvieto but it was okay because everyone was so tired from the past few days! I woke up around 11, and then quickly got ready to go to the market because I had a few things that I wanted to buy. It started to pour so I went into the kitchen store where I bought my little pink espresso maker last weekend. A few minutes later, I left the store and it was sunny again, but windy! So the weather was pretty crazy for a while but I continued to walk around into a lot of shops. Since I only have three weeks left, I'm trying not to leave a ton of shopping until that last minute. Not that I really have a ton of shopping to do... there are just a few things that I want to buy but I haven't bought yet because I thought I had so much time! Soon it was lunchtime and lunch was a little bit awkward because there was only enough seats for like 8 people but there were 15 people at lunch today - so something was wrong with the numbers and we thought there wasn't going to be enough food but there was. Anyways, after lunch, I went to Caffe del Corso to check the Internet and type up my posts about Rome, went back to the monastery to clean my room, and then Elizabeth popped in to see if I wanted to go shopping with her because she thought I was the "best shopper" (Maybe this isn't a good title to have? It definitely wasn't a good thing as I was trying to make it through the Vatican gift shops on Thursday without buying anything). So we went to a few different stores and she bought some sandals and I bought a few more gifts for my family. We went back to the monastery and I went a little bit crazy with the crafts again which was fun but suddenly it was 8pm and the whole day was pretty much over! Well, we still had dinner, Internet time, and then I worked in the studio for a bit more.

Another picture from the Vatican!

Day #91 (Field trip to Rome)

May 24, 2013 – Friday

On Friday morning we woke up around nine, checked out of the hostel, and then the three of us (Laura, Jenna, and I) started walking to the Holy Stairs or the Scala Sancta. These are the stairs that, according to Christian tradition, led up to the praetorium of Pontius Polate in Jerusalem, which Jesus Christ stood on, on the way to his trial. But then according to the story, they were brought to Rome by St. Helena in the 4^th Century and Christian pilgrims come to see them. Another girl in our group, Katherine, went to the Holy Steps last weekend so she told us how to get there and said that we definitely had to go because it was great. So we were super pumped about it and walked all the way across town to San Giovanni, a basilica that pretty much looks like a mini St. Peter’s on the inside because it’s so big. We asked the woman in the gift shop where the steps were and she told us, then we were still confused to we asked a police officer and he pointed us in another direction but he said that the steps were open, so we walked over to the steps but there was a locked gate in front of them. So we just assumed that these were the Holy Steps and sat there for a while, did some writing, took a few pictures, and then left. But later, I Googled the Holy Steps and those were definitely not them. I was pretty annoyed because apparently we were like twenty feet away from the real steps so I could’ve seen them. Katherine took Laura to see them later that day so at least Laura got to see them. But I’m just going to pretend that I saw the real Holy Steps.

We made our way to another church, San Clemente, and then walked to the Colosseum. There were so many people and so much traffic! I waited by the Colosseum for a few minutes before Heather soon picked me up in her car. We then went out to lunch at a restaurant near where she lives and we both got cacio e pepe (I don’t think I could get sick of it!) and then meatballs. It was delicious and I was stuffed because we also got gelato after which was great too. Soon it was time for her to drop me off at the Trastevere train station so I could get to Termini to take the train back to Orvieto with the rest of my group. But I was about 1 minute late to the train but it was okay because I took the train to Roma Tiburtina instead, and then got on the the train that my group was on from Roma Tiburtina to Orvieto. A few people in my group were confused though as their train rolled up to the Tiburtina station and they saw me standing at the platform – not on the train yet. It was a little frustrating because there weren’t any seats for the first hour that I was on the train, so I was a little bit carsick (or I guess… train sick) from standing up for the first hour. But then I got a seat in the same section as a few of my friends and I fell asleep right away. Then I woke up to someone trying to shake me awake and it was a man coming to check my train ticket. So that was a little bit startling/embarrassing because I could tell that he was trying to get me to wake up for a while because I was in a deep sleep. So I opened my eyes and saw Tyler laughing so hard because apparently the guy didn’t know what to do when I wasn’t waking up. Anyways, Orvieto was the next stop so thankfully the train ride was over, we took the funicular up, and then arrived at the monastery to relax and get ready before dinner. :)

This is the cacio e pepe from Thursday night - so good!

Another picture from Thursday night - birthday desserts for Laura

This is Laura's picture from when she was at the Keyhole yesterday! I saw the Keyhole last time I was in Rome...

Day #90 (Field trip to Rome)

May 23, 2013 - Thursday

On Thursday morning we woke up at 5:30 (or at least I woke up at 5:30 because I had to take my laundry out of the washing machine) to go down the funicular at 6:30 and then take a train to Rome at 7! So we arrived in Rome around 8:20 and at the train station we were given our instructions for the day. For four hours in the morning, we were supposed to do some work for class. Each class had a list of places/sites that they needed to see. My class had to write about a few different places while the art class had to draw stuff (not exactly sure what they had to do but it was something like that). So Jenna, Laura, Christabel and I checked into our hostel, which was near the train station, and then set off to find the different churches. First, we went to St. Pietro in Vicoli (St. Peter in Chains), which was the last church that we went to on our last visit to Rome. That time, I didn’t even realize that the church was called that because St. Peter’s chains are on display in the church, I thought we were just there to see Michelangelo’s Moses. So this time I knew what was going on and I spent time looking at both Moses and the chains, and then wrote about Moses for a while. We then moved on to our next stop, which was Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Outside that church was Bernini’s sculpture of an elephant holding up an Egyptian obelisk on it’s back. I tried to write about that one but it was a struggle so I just moved inside the church to see Michelangelo’s Risen Christ sculpture. We spent a good amount of time inside that church and wrote about the sculpture for a while. We passed by Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona on our way to the meeting place, but didn’t have much time to write because we had to meet the rest of the group at 12:30.

After reuniting, the whole group started walking to the Vatican and we had to wait in line forever because there were so many people there! And Prof Doll said it was lunchtime and usually that’s a good time to go to the Vatican. But even then… it was packed and people were pretty aggressive/rude. But anyways, finally made it to the actual entrance, Prof Doll gave us some more directions about what to spend time on and what we should definitely see before he let us loose in the museum. So from around 1:45-6 (closing time), we were in the Vatican Museum! Prof Doll also mentioned that if we knew how far away from the Sistine Chapel we were, we would probably just give up and walk out. Because the signs for the chapel started at the entrance, but we didn’t even reach the Sistine Chapel until 5:30 because there are so many rooms ot go through before then. By that time, I didn’t even know if I was going to make it there because my eyes were about to fall out and my feet were going to fall off from all the walking and looking and writing and picture-taking. Well, I actually didn’t take too many pictures because it was so overwhelming but I did try to take a few pictures in the Sistine Chapel even though there were so many guards there and they were all very strict about where you could stand, where you couldn’t stand, no pictures, no talking, etc.

Anyways, we saw so many cool things in the Vatican Museum but we spent a lot of time in the Modern Art Collection, the Egyptian Museum, the Etruscan Museum, the Pinacoteca (Da Vinci, Rafael, Caravaggio’s Deposition of Christ, etc), Rafael’s School of Athens, and finally the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Finally, it was time to leave the chapel a little before 6, and Laura and I had to walk through four different gift shops to get out of the Vatican. So pretty much she had to drag me out because I had four different chances to look at the same stuff. I made it out without buying anything, but it was difficult because I always get sucked into those things. We hung out outside for a while before we started Laura’s birthday extravaganza of an evening. We made our way to La Fraschetta in Trastevere (where Heather brought me during Easter weekend and where I had my favorite pasta). So I got that pasta again, cacio e pepe, and it was so so so so good. Everyone seemed to enjoy the restaurant too which was a relief because I had totally be talking it up for like two months and that can sometimes be a bad thing. We wandered around Trastevere for a while, went to one of the bridges and hung out there for a while because it was a beautiful night, and then walked to St. Peter’s Basilica. Soon it was time to walk back to our hostel which was by the Roma Termini, the train station. It took us about 45 minutes to walk from St. Peter’s to our hostel which seemed like an okay idea when we started but it was actually exhausting and I was a little grumpy by the end of it. But soon we were settled in bed and didn’t even have to set an alarm for Friday morning!

This picture is so blurry because you aren't supposed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel! So was being frantic/sneaky 

St. Peter's chains 

Bernini's elephant - I had to write a poem about this one

View of Rome from the Vatican!

A slightly burry/distorted picture of us after our day in the Vatican

Walking around Rome, Laura's birthday dinner, St. Peter's at night, and the usual morning cappuccino

Day #89 in Orvieto

May 23, 2013 – Wednesday

Today was our last day of class for the week because we’re going to Rome tomorrow! In class today, we talked about our poems from last night. For our homework we had to go to the duomo and write a poem from the perspective of one of the statues on the duomo. So that was once again, challenging, but fun to walk up to the duomo and write there for a while. Anyways, after class we had chapter meeting and Genevieve shared her life story. Then it was lunchtime and Professor Stevick asked if anyone wanted to babysit after lunch, so naturally I was aggressively like “I WILL DO IT.” So he said that if they kids liked me, then I could babysit them because they’re pretty picky. After lunch I played with them in the courtyard and them seemed to like me enough, so I babysat them until 5:30ish. There aren’t really many toys at the monastery (obviously) so I had to come up with a few games and I told them so stories too. Then when Prof Stevick and his wife returned, his daughter was like “I love you bye!” so I think she liked me at least a little bit. It was fun to babysit them instead of do my homework or take a nap (I definitely would’ve napped all afternoon if I didn’t babysit). 

After babysitting, I went for a run because it was perfect running weather and it wasn’t too hot out. It was raining a little bit, off and on, but still good weather for running. I also packed for Rome tomorrow, which was a challenge because I’m trying to fit everything I need (notebook, water bottle, iPhone, toy phone, toothbrush, camera, etc) in my small bag that Federico made. I don’t want to pack too much because whatever we bring, we have to carry around all day and walk around the Vatican with our stuff. So I’m trying to pack as little as possible! We’ve leaving at 6:20am tomorrow morning so I’ll also try to go to bed early tonight… hmm. Anyways, w have some free time tomorrow morning to walk around Rome and do our homework (write some poems about different sculptures or artwork), then we’ll go to the Vatican as a class for Thursday afternoon, hang out in Rome for Laura’s birthday that night. Then we have a few more things to see on Friday morning and then I think I’ll do something with Heather. I’ll be back in Orvieto on Friday night for dinner!

The statue on the duomo that I wrote about

Day #88 in Orvieto

May 21, 2013 – Tuesday

We had our second poetry class today. Last night our homework assignment was to write a paragraph about what the horse might be feeling in this certain painting. From that paragraph, we then had to count every seventh word and take those words (word 7, 14, 21, etc) and put them at the beginning and end of each line in a new poem. So pretty much we had to write a poem where the first and last word of each line are permanent and we can’t move them around. So it was a challenge to write them poem so that it makes sense (but it doesn’t really have to make too much sense – note all my CandyLand references), and make the poem from the horse’s point of view. I’m not sure if I want to share all of my poems on here… but I thought this was a fun exercise so here’s what I came up with for the assignment along with the painting that it comes from. It's pretty wacky.

“Forward,” he urges, while I retreat

and think, “why

certainly, I would like a snack!” For

an illogical lollipop makes me itch.

Forests have candy canes, or so they tell.

Going on a maiden-rescue mission – what?

Up, up, and away with

pair teams and being together –

women love giant lizards and

go silly for dinosaurs. And

once Princess Lolly leaves her castle (although,

big, it’s not the typical lean-to

or shack, as an unconventional princess might hope),

she’s here for good, I’d say, and her hat (why so golden?)

stays too. She,

if I’m correct, might want

barriers from you, Lord Licorice, that

fall after we leave. Oh, a treat? Don’t mind if I do.

Day #87 in Orvieto

May 20, 2013 – Monday

Today was our first day of our last class! So our last, first day I guess. For the last month, I’m taking Poetry and Ekphrasis which is pretty much writing poetry about pieces of art. I had Professor Stevick for Intro to Creative Writing when I was a freshman, so it’s weird that he’s teaching this class because I’m having flashbacks to my freshman self but it’s also nice because he already knows me and acknowledges that I’ve studied a few of the poems already. I think I’m really going to enjoy this class and it’s going to be a good conclusion to the entire semester since it’s about combined both art and literature. And that’s been a major theme throughout the past three classes that I’ve taken here. The three-hour class seemed to speed by and suddenly it was already noon and time for chapter meeting. We had lunch and Professor Stevick’s wife and two kids will come to lunch now so it’s fun to sit by them because we don’t really see Prof Doll’s kids that often. After lunch, we had the usually Monday afternoon routine with cleaning the monastery and having Italian class. I then went for a run around Orvieto and it was beautiful, as usual. So I had to stop and take some pictures (and maybe I was also stopping to catch my breath after running up all the hills). Here are a few more pictures! I promise I also run when I go for runs… I don’t just take pictures. 

Day #86 in Orvieto

May 19, 2013 – Sunday

On Sunday morning, we made our way to the duomo for mass because on Pentecost, everyone goes to the duomo instead of all other other churches. On our way, Sara randomly stopped this man that we passed and she was like "HI! I'm Sara! I'm a big fan!!" and we had no idea who she was talking to until she mentioned his name, Rick Steves. I'd never heard of Rick Steves until I came here, but apparently he's on TV a lot and we always read his travel books. So we took a picture with him and apparently he is working on his book for 2014. Anyways, after that encounter we made our way into the duomo and were there for like 2 hours before it ended and then the parade began outside! The duomo piazza was packed but someone I managed to get right up front so I got a few good pictures and a video of the main attraction. So on the duomo steps, there put up this tabernacle thing with cutouts of the 12 disciples on top. Attached to the top of the tabernacle is a zip line that is connected to the building that's across from the duomo, probably 100m away. So after the medieval procession happens (a bunch of men in tights, playing trumpets and drums and twirling flags), the bishop stands up in the balcony and waves a little white flag. Then everyone turns to the beginning of the zipline (although it's so far away that you can't really see when it starts). But you can tell that it's started because the thing thats shooting down the zipline is a little dove in a clear canister with flaming firecrackers on the outside of the canister. So it sounds like a plane is coming down the zipline because it's so loud and it's flaming/smoking. Everyone cheers as the canister comes down and then it hits the tabernacle and lights the disciples on fire, because the dove is supposed to be like the Holy Spirit that comes to the disciples. Anyways, there are more firecrackers hanging from the tabernacle and those light up too. 

I was about to cry though because the canister was smoking and I thought they killed the dove after they tortured it by sending it down the zipline, but then things just kept getting weirder. A construction worker appears and he puts a ladder against the tabernacle and begins to climb up. He takes the canister and climbs down, then the dove is suddenly chilling in a clear box. So a few of us thought that it looked like a white towel in the canister that flew down the zipline, and then they did a sort of magic trick and revealed the dove after. Because the dove looked pretty content and happy - not like it just rocketed through the sky with a bunch of firecrackers. Anyways, the parade continued and the dove was then presented to the bishop. We saw Rick Steves again in the crowd and he was taking pictures just like we were.

Hanging out with Rick Steves

The flaming dove canister going down the zipline

Day #85 in Orvieto

The whole group

On the way to Castiglione del Lago!

Gnocchi with crab meat and scallops... I think. It was so good even though it looks strange and green here!

View of Castiglione del Lago from the hilltop

Photoshoot under the tree with Sara

With Jenna in the fortress 

Me and Karen :)

Sara being her sunny Californian self

The lake!

May 18, 2013 - Saturday

On Saturday morning, we woke up at 9 to catch the funiculare at 10. From there, we took train to Montepulciano from 10:15 to 11ish (apparently, the second Twilight movie was filmed here? Or at least a part of it). So we got off the train but we couldn't figure out how to get up to the town! Some people told us that a bus would come in an hour to bring us to the real town so we waited, but then the bus never came. We would've walked there but they told us that it was a 12 kilometer walk, so we didn't do that. So we made our way back to the train station to go back to the train station we stitched at, Chiusi. In Chiusi we decided that we would just go to Castiglione del Lago (we’ve always seen it through the train window since it's on the way back to Orvieto but never knew what it was!). We walked to the town and the shopkeepers were so friendly and wanted to know where we were from. They didn’t seem to get a lot of tourists there and gave us lots of free samples of cheese, meat, honey, etc. We were super hungry by that time so we went to a place for lunch but it was 3pm, so we were worried that they would be closed. We walked into the restaurant and saw that they were closed but the owner said that he would ask his wife if they could serve us and then he told us to come on in! We were the only ones in the restaurant and we all got a different seafood pasta dish. Karen is using shells for her tempera painting so she tentatively asked them if she could have some shells. They brought her a huge bag and brought us ten huge scallop shells to keep. So pretty much they were extremely nice there because they opened the restaurant for us and they gave her a ton of shells for painting!

After lunch, we made our way in and out of the different shops where saw a bunch of cinghiale (wild boar) souvenirs and considered buying some (only to find out later that Christabel got to play with a BABY CINGHIALE in Cortona today). 

This is a picture from Google of a baby cinghiale

We also went to the castle/fortress and there was a little coffee stand in the middle of the fortress! We hung out in the castle and then walked to the lake (stopped to get gelato along the way, of course). Laura and Sara swam in the lake but I just put my feet in – it was really warm and the rocks at the bottom were pretty slimy but the water was clear. There was a beautiful sunset as we sat in the grass.

After spending about an hour or so at the lake, we walked back to the train station at 8, took a train to Orvieto at 9, then arrived back to the monastery at 10!

Tomorrow is Pentacost and apparently there is some strange tradition that involved a dove in a little shuttle that flies down to the duomo – sounds weird and scary for the dove. Actually I don’t even know if it’s a real dove or not but I’ll check it out tomorrow.

Day #84 in Orvieto

May 17, 2013 – Friday

After a long night of crafting and painting (until 3am), we all slept in on Friday morning until 11:30! So by the time we got ready for the day, it was pretty much lunchtime at noon. There were only eight of us at lunch (the four of us, Karen, Hannah, and the two professors), which was fun because we all got to sit at one small table instead of two larger tables. After lunch, we made our way to two different shops that had espresso makers and other cute kitchen things. After much deliberation, Laura and I each bought an espresso maker and we’re still on the hunt for little milk foamers to go with them for making cappuccinos. After kitchen shopping, Jenna, Laura, and I went to get a banana split from La Musa because we’ve been thinking about it for a while but the weather was perfect on Friday and there were three of us (which is the perfect number for a La Musa banana split). 

This is the beginning of the festival called “Orvieto in Fiore” which means Orvieto in Flowers. But no one seems to know that that means, exactly – but there are a ton of flowers every year! Orvieto is made up into four quarters and each quarter puts up their own special flags and banners and there should be a parade soon. Anyways, after our banana split, we went to help with our quarter’s banner. By the time we got there, there wasn’t much left to do but they were pretty much making designs with the dirt and then filling in the dirt designs with flowers. It looked pretty cool by the end! We aren’t really sure what they’re going to do with this banner because it’s on the ground now and can’t really be moved because its covered in dirt and flowers… but who knows. 

After the flowers, I came back to the monastery by myself and it was really weird to be all alone here! I had to work on my essay for a little while though (still haven’t finished it…) before dinnertime. At dinner we had to say bye to Dr. Foster because he’s leaving to go back home, but we also greeted our new professor, Professor Stevick at dinner (I had him for a class freshman year at Gordon) but everyone else was introduced to him. He brought his wife and his two kids with him for the month, and I think the art professor will be bringing his kids too. So there will be lots of children around!

We had a crazy Friday night at the monastery again – we crafted in the studio and ate brownies. This time we only stayed up until 2am although we wanted to keep going but we had plans to do a day trip on Saturday! So it was time to go to bed. It was really fun to have the whole monastery to ourselves because we could do whatever we wanted! So that means doing crafts and eating brownies, naturally.

Found a four-leaf clover!

Just cruisin' through town...

Outside of La Musa