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