Day #113 in Orvieto (Rome-Dublin-Boston)

June 15, 2013 – Saturday

I don’t even know how to explain today because I think I’m felt every emotion today but then I still don’t even know what I’m feeling. The day began at 5:20 when I got up and then went to wake up Sara and Laura for the sunrise. We made our way down to the lookout by funicular park and even though we were a few minutes late, we watched the sunrise together and it was so beautiful even though it was kind of a dark/cloudy morning. Laura and Sara went back to the monastery to start making coffee while I ran up to the duomo (it took me like 10 minutes to get there). I’ve never seen the duomo before without thousands of tourists in the piazza, all taking pictures. It was so strange to be the only one standing there, looking up at the huge duomo. I didn’t have much time though so I ran back to the monastery by running down the main street in Orvieto. I was also the only one out on the street, too. Then I realized that I was really leaving Orvieto that morning which brought about a few tears (which would be the first of many this morning…). Anyways, made it back to the monastery, had some coffee and an apple, grabbed my bags and walked to the funicular parking lot with everyone. We loaded our bags onto the bus and then walked over to the cliff to listen to Prof Doll road a few things and to say our goodbyes to the Hannah, Karen, and the 6 people that were staying behind to travel with family or by themselves. Laura and I had to say goodbye to Jenna and Sara here and I couldn’t look at any of them without bawling. It was the hardest to say bye to Sara because she lives in California and I probably won’t see her for a while. The good thing about going to Gordon is that there were ten people (out of the twenty) on this program that I’ll see again at Gordon in the fall. But still, Jenna and I couldn’t even say anything to each other, we were just crying. I thought I got myself together and stopped crying for a few minutes, but then Alessandro came up to hug me and I totally lost it! Seriously, so many tears. He was so sweet and I’m definitely going to miss him. Alessandro and Prof Doll always say that they think of themselves as older brothers to us, and Alessandro was definitely that! And he still liked me (I think) even though I was awful in his Italian class. So that shows how great he is. So we finally had to get on the bus and wave goodbye to our friends that were staying. I sat with Laura on the bus and cried the whole way down from upper Orvieto to the airport. Once again, I thought the sobfest was over but then we arrived at the airport and finally we had to say bye to Prof Doll, but it was a hurried goodbye because something was weird with Becky’s flight so he had to rush off with her to figure out where she needed to be. So we quickly said bye to Becky and Prof Doll and then I was so sad because I realized he wasn’t going to come with us. I mean I knew he wasn’t going to get on the plane with us but ideally, we wouldn’t have to say bye to him.

Anyways, the tears ended there for the morning. Said a few more goodbyes to people going to different terminals, but Laura, Christabel, Katie, Tim, Elizabeth, and I checked in and then went through security together. Tim and Elizabeth went to their gate while the four of us went to ours, grabbing lunch and some last minute things on the way to the gate. Not sure what was happening with our flight but we were supposed to board at 11:20 but we didn’t even board until 11:50 and then our plane was supposed to leave at noon but it didn’t leave until one. So we were a bit worried because we didn’t have a HUGE layover in Dublin, but we tried not to think about it too much.

We arrived in Dublin an hour before our next plane was departing. Christabel, Katie, and I rushed off the plane to go to the Boston Aer Lingus connection, but then we realized that Laura was stuck in the back of the plane, waiting to get her bag, and she had to make her New York connection which was pretty much 20 minutes from when our plane landed. So the three of us were waiting to say bye to her by the New York sign, but she didn’t show up for a few minutes! They were calling her name because the plane was about to leave, and then all of a sudden she starts running up the ramp with her huge suitcase and backpack. The Aer Lingus people were really nice though and they told her to give us a quick goodbye because her plane needed to leave. So we quickly hugged and I barely had time to tear up before she was taken away (which was probably for the best, considering that I’ve been crying all morning). So the three of us continued on through security and then we arrived at our gate just as everyone was boarding. This plane was bigger, they served us a meal, and the seats were pretty comfy compared to those in the first plane. But still, it was a 7 hour flight and it felt like FOREVER. I watched the sixth Harry Potter movie on my laptop, walked around the plane for a while, listened to music, pretended to sleep, looked at all of the pictures that I took during this semester, made an extensive to-do list for when I return home, thought about what kind of iced coffee I would get in the airport, etc. Important stuff. Also I was wondering if my parents would be there to pick me up because the last time I texted my dad, I told him that we didn’t have much time to get to our next plane and that we might miss it and he was like “Nice. See you soon” or something like that… and then I never responded to say we DID make it. Anyways, I wasn’t 100% sure if they would be there when I arrived in Boston. 

The good news is that they were there and had an iced coffee ready for me! We loaded up my suitcases in the car, went out to eat seafood, then drove home! I started to fall asleep in the car and suddenly I was so tired since it was around 4am Italy time. I stumbled into the house, hugged Rocket for a while (he looks even bigger than when I left him four months ago), gave Emily and Michael their gifts, then tried to unpack in my new room! Michael and I switched rooms so it was strange but good to come back to a totally different room. I still can't believe that I was in Orvieto this morning watching the sunrise. I'll eventually write a blog post on my semester reflections... but now I'm finally going to bed!

I'm going to miss them!

Day #112 in Orvieto (the last day)

June 14, 2013 – Friday

A few people woke up early this morning to see the sunrise but I just woke up early at 5:30 to do my laundry – I’ll see the sunrise tomorrow morning before we go to the airport! Most of the morning was spent packing, eating leftover food, cleaning, returning things to the studio/classrooms/Prof Doll. By noon I had my bags packed except for a few clothes that still needed to go in before Saturday morning. It was SO hot today! But I was inside for most of the morning doing all of that stuff. We also had a huge music swap where we made playlists on each other’s computers and then shared all the music. So my laptop has 3000 more songs right now, which seems a little excessive, but at least I’ll have lots of music to listen to tomorrow on the plane!

After a busy morning, Naomi and I went to the clock tower around 3 to take a break from packing/cleaning. The clock tower was just as good the second time – it was a beautiful day to be up there but unfortunately we couldn’t stay long because we had to get back to the monastery to finish cleaning before room checks. We got gelato on the way back (for the last time!) and then everyone had to go to a quick meeting in the sala because Prof Doll needed to tell us a few things, hand out course evaluations, give out grades, etc. We then finished cleaning and packing up our rooms before the art show at 7. Even though all of our art from the entire semester was set up around the monastery, everyone stayed outside in the courtyard because that’s where the band and the snacks were. There were a million kids running around, playing soccer, and then a lot of people were dancing. The party/show lasted until 11:30pm and it was a little bit sad at the end because we had to say goodbye to Alessandro’s family and Prof Doll’s family.

We cleaned up our artwork from the studio, packed it up into our suitcases, and brought the suitcases down to the lobby at midnight. Then Karen gave me a haircut until 1 in the morning because my hair was so long and I couldn’t stand it! And Karen is so great at cutting hair. So it was fun to talk to her while she cut my hair. I finally went to bed around 2am and had my alarm set for 5:20 the next morning because I wanted to see the sunrise!

Here are a few pictures from tonight:

Day #111 in Orvieto

June 13, 2013 – Thursday

Thursday was our last day of class and our final presentation! We didn’t really have a real class though, we just went down to the studio to see the final art projects and read our poems next to the art that was made for our poem. Sara made her final project about my pigeon poem so it was fun to see what she had been working on for the past week and to see it next to my poem. We only had the final critique for 2 hours so then we had an hour before chapter meeting to start cleaning the monastery. I ran to the market quickly to buy a few more things, then came back to the monastery to clean the academic room. In chapter meeting, we heard Prof Doll’s life story, which was so interesting because we don’t really know much about his life. After his story, he read us a “farewell letter” and there were a few tears. We had sandwiches at the monastery for lunch so we all sat in the courtyard to eat them in the sun. I packed for a little while, then we went to Prof Doll’s house at 3:30 so his wife, Sharona, could teach us how to bake the cakes that she always makes for us whenever someone has a birthday. While the cake was baking, Prof Doll showed us some of his art and that was great because we had never seen any of his paintings before! 

We stayed at their house until 6pm, went back to the monastery to get ready for the final Locanda dinner, then left for Locanda around 8. There were forty people between the two tables! Twenty students, Prof Doll’s family, Alessandro’s family, and the professors’ families. Locanda served us a huge five course meal and then Mauro (the owner of Locanda) did some karaoke for us and he moved the tables away so we could have a dance party. It was the strangest thing that’s even happened here (except for the dove parade for Corpus Christi) but it was so wonderful and sad to leave Locanda! We left Locanda at 1am, came back to continue packing, and then went to bed pretty late/early. Tomorrow is our last day in Orvieto!

One of Tim's photos!

Day #110 in Orvieto

June 12, 2013 – Wednesday

Wednesday was a pretty average day except Alessandro came over for breakfast! :) He brought a HUGE espresso maker that probably serves like 20 people. Maybe not 20 people but there was so much of it. Katie had pancake mix and Alessandro loves pancakes so we invited him over for breakfast. 

Our last day of class was spent just wrapping up different poems that we didn’t go over in class yet. We talked about what the final presentation would look like on Friday, we went out to talk about our poems in the courtyard (and it was so hot out there), etc. It was such a good class and it definitely felt like the end of school/almost summertime when we were sitting in the courtyard, picking flowers instead of concentrating on our work (but we did eventually do the work of course… it was just so nice out!)

At chapter meeting, Hannah and Karen shared their life stories and we had lunch a little bit later, around 2. After lunch at Locanda, I went to babysit for the Stevick’s from until 6! I went to the palazzo to pick them up, we played Star Wars and I made up piglet stories for them, then we walked to the park. I dropped them back off at the palazzo and then went back to the monastery to work on my books (everyone thinks I’m crazy for making so many books – I can’t stop!). We had dinner at the monastery tonight, which was soooo good because it was pesto pasta and bruschetta. 

One of Tim's photos by Sunset Park

Day #109 in Orvieto

June 11, 2013 - Tuesday

Today in class we went down to the studio to meet with the art students. For our final projects, we are pairing up with the art students and they're illustrating one of our poems. It's challenging because we have to work together but it's also fun because I'm working with Sara. So we both had to spend time at a same spot in Orvieto, come up with ideas on our own, and then work together to come up with a poem and visual representation of the spot. At the spot, I did my free-write paragraph about the poems there, and then I turned it into the poem. Here is a rough draft of the poem (I'm stilling working on the syllable count and lots of other things...)

Pigeons race around tufa edge –

pretending they have an ancient

obligation to guard invisible

fences, shooing feathered neighbors.

They cling to the beam with prideful

waddles. Little legs grasp onto

weeds growing from rock growing from

fortress. Hundredth generation

pigeons in Orvieto. They

defend and demand a small square

footage of stone – just because their

Etruscan ancestors built this place

with their bare claws. 

Anyways, tomorrow is our last class with Prof Stevick before he heads back to the States on Thursday. After class, we had chapter meeting (Becky and Tyler did their introductions), we had pasta for lunch as usual, then I went to a museum during the afternoon because I'm trying to check things off of my key to the city. It was nice to go to the museum but it was freaky because I was the only one in there and it was dark and there was strange instrumental music coming from the stereo. I started to freak myself out because the noise of my sandals was loudly echoing through the dark halls and it was just too creepy. So I didn't spend a long time in the museum. 

In the afternoon, I made a few more books and started to pack! After dinner, a few of us (Sara, Laura, Jenna, Becky, and Kristine) went to the carnival across the street, Luna Park. There isn't usual a carnival there but we think it's because school ended last week so it's some sort of celebration thing. So we rode on the bumper cars (I'd never been on bumper cars - except for the ones at Funspot...) and it was really fun but pretty dangerous and I have a few bruises I think. We also went on the swings - also fun, but made me so dizzy. Here are a few pictures from the day!

From the sarcophagus room in the museum

Creeping on the duomo from the museum window

The swings!

Day #108 in Orvieto

June 11, 2013 - Monday

Even though this was the last Monday morning here in Orvieto and I thought it would be a special Monday, it was still just a regular Monday. We had class, chapter meeting, lunch, and then the ITALIAN EXAM. So of course everyone was going crazy at lunch, frantically reading flashcards and yelling out verb conjugations. Instead of joining in, I just decided to sit there and sulk during the whole lunch because cray studying like that just stresses me out! So for a few minutes before the exam, I just went back to my room and studied a little bit. They exam would've been easy if I was good at Italian, but unfortunately it was a slight struggle because I couldn't remember a few things. I'm pretty sure I did alright though. If I had to re-do my study abroad semester in Italy, I'd probably study Italian more because it would've been useful to know a bit more! But anyways... So the Italian exam was a little painful but it felt so good to be done with the exam and work in the studio for the afternoon. Then at 5pm, four of us went to Prof Stevick's apartment at the palazzo to go over some of our poems. Our class was signed up for different days so I just happened to be in the Monday slot. There was tea and lots of snacks. We sat outside in the palazzo courtyard area and talked about our poems from the past month. It was really helpful because we have to revise all of our poems this week. But we ended up staying there for two hours! So suddenly it was almost dinnertime. We had salad for dinner and then Laura, Sara, and I had our usual Monday teatime back at the monastery. We brought our tea out in the courtyard and tried to look at the stars but we only saw a bunch of bats. Then at 11pm, we all went into the sala because sometimes Karen will read from her favorite book, Einstein's Dreams. So that always puts everyone to sleep (in a good way).

Hannah brought our suitcases out of storage today so the whole packing thing is getting real! I'm trying not to pack yet though because it will only take me like an hour to pack my suitcase so I probably shouldn't pack away all my clothes yet...

This is another picture that I stole/borrowed from Laura. These trees are in lower Orvieto:

Day #107 in Orvieto

June 10, 2013 - Sunday

Today we had a normal Sunday except we FINALLY went to Prof Doll's house! He lives right near the monastery and we always try to invite ourselves over but it never works. But today he had us all over for dinner and it was so good! Mostly Mediterranean food. There was so much food and we got to hang out for a few hours at his house. The professors and their families were there, Alessandro showed up near the end, Prof Doll's kids were running around and being crazy. It was so nice to be in a house for a few hours instead of being in the monastery. Although the monastery is great, it's still a building with mostly white walls and the same Ikea furniture everywhere. It's nice though. Anyways, we were at Prof Doll's house for most of the evening and that was the most exciting part of the day. Laura and I got falafel for lunch but it was pretty mediocre here in Orvieto. They were like little chicken (but not really chicken) nuggets in a wrap. Not as good as when we got falafel four times in Edinburgh, but it was still a decent lunch. 

This is a picture of Orvieto from Friday night (coming back from the vineyard):

Day #106 in Orvieto

June 9, 2013 - Saturday

On Saturday morning, I went to the market with Becky and Tyler. We bought some honey to bring home and then walked around Orvieto for a while. The streets are always packed on Saturdays so we eventually just sat on the steps in Piazza della Repubblica and waited until lunchtime at 1pm. We walked to the palazzo where the professors lived and Prof Stevick asked if I wanted to babysit that afternoon. So after lunch at Locanda, I babysat his kids for three hours in the afternoon. We played in the monastery, in the bamboo forest, and the courtyard. We went to the parade for a while but mostly played Star Wars for the majority of the afternoon. They always wanted to put on a play but I was a bad actress so they soon changed their minds about that game. After babysitting, I worked in the studio for a while and then everyone returned to the monastery to have dinner. After dinner, I went out with Sara, Laura, Jenna, Rebekah, and Becky on a "triple roommate date" and we walked around Orvieto for a while. We heard singing to we followed the street where it was coming from, only to find an acapella group singing Lion King songs. I almost fell down of excitement and I took a few videos on my iPhone. So that was the highlight of the night and I was signing Lion King songs for the next 24 hours after that. So strange... but it was great. 

These parade pictures are from a few days ago but this is exactly what the parade today looked like:

Marching by the duomo

Day #105 in Orvieto

June 7, 2013 - Friday

Today was probably the best day in Orvieto (even though we weren't really in Orvieto for most of the day). Earlier this week, Prof Doll surprised us with a trip to Lake Bolsena and Bagnoregio in addition to our vineyard tour Friday night. So on Friday morning, we all met by the funicular and got on the big bus that they rented for us. We drove to Lake Bolsena and spent the entire morning on the beach. It was so relaxing and the weather was perfect (although possibly a little too hot - I can't believe I'm saying that though). Anyways, it was a great morning to just sit on the beach and swim for a few hours. Then at 1:30, we met back at the bus and drove to Bagnoregio. Here, Prof Doll gave us a mini lesson on the town and I remembered all the facts for a few minutes but thankfully Wikipedia just refreshed my memory: It was founded by Etruscans over twenty-five hundred years ago but has seen its population dwindle to just fifteen residents over the course of the 20th century. Cività was the birthplace of Saint Bonaventure. In the 19th century, Civita's location was turning into an island and the pace of the erosion quickened as the layer of clay below the stone was reached in the area where today's bridge is located. Bagnoregio continues as a small but prosperous town, while Civita became known as il paese che muore (in Italian: "the dying town"). Civita has only recently been experiencing a tourist revival.

So that's Bagnoregio according to Wikipedia and Prof Doll. It was so cool and you had to walk up this long skinny road to get to the little town. We spent about two hours exploring and sitting in the shade (because by this point it was overwhelmingly hot). We got some gelato and then took a shuttle back to our big bus. Prof Doll bought us all pizza and then we drove to a vineyard in Orvieto! The vineyard wasn't on the top of Orvieto (where we live) because there isn't room for anything on this hilltop of Orvieto - especially not a vineyard. So we went to this vineyard in lower Orvieto, owned by friends of the Gordon-IN-Orvieto program. They were really generous and gave us a long tour of the vineyard, taking us into the caves. Some of the caves were from 600 BC (WHAT?!). It was awesome. So we spent another few hours at the vineyard before returning up to Orvieto during the sunset, which of course looked beautiful. We had pasta for dinner at Locanda which was unexpected because we only have pasta at lunch. Then we went back to the monastery to watch a movie that Prof Doll has wanted us to see for a while - Tree of Life. It was intense and crazy and confusing but a good movie. Although I did fall asleep during a few parts because I was exhausted from the day! Anyways... best day in Orvieto. 

With Laura, Sara, and Jenna

The whole group at the beach!

Me... obviously

Bagnoregio!

Walking up the road 

It felt like a long walk...

The vineyard!

Wicked old wine

In the caves!

The whole group at the vineyard - we took so many pictures but something went wrong in each one

Day #104 in Orvieto

June 6, 2013 - Thursday

Today was our last day of class for the week! We still have one more week of class though. For the weekend assignment we got into groups of 2-4 people and then we paired up with 2-3 people from the art class. Together we chose a spot in Orvieto and we all have to either write/draw about it without talking to each other. So we aren't really sure where that assignment is going to go but we chose a spot and we'll be working on that project this weekend and into next week. So that's what happened in class. At chapter meeting, Kristine did her introduction and then Prof Doll told us a rough schedule of the next week. There is seriously so much to do. We are going to his house on Sunday for dinner, Italian exam on Monday, then learning how to make cake (the cake that his wife makes us whenever there's a birthday) on Wednesday, final Locanda meal on Thursday, final exhibition on Friday, cleaning the entire monastery on Friday also. Then our bags have to be packed and down in the lobby by midnight on Friday! It was a stressful chapter meeting and then final week schedule isn't completely set yet because there are a few other things to do in terms of classes

The rest of the day was spent preparing for Hannah's surprise bridal shower that night. We ran around buying cake and presents during the afternoon. Prof Doll told everyone at chapter meeting that we were having a movie in the sala at 9:30 (so Hannah would know to be there) and then we successfully surprised her when she walked in and there wasn't a movie... Anyways, we ate cake and heard the story of how she met Federico again, played some games, ate some more cake, danced a lot, and then soon it was 2am and we had to get up early on Friday morning for a day trip!

Okay, I know this is a super random picture but Becky just gave it to me - it's from our first trip to Rome! Throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain:

Pretending to be Lizzie McGuire

Day #103 in Orvieto

June 5, 2013 - Wednesday

Wednesday was a pretty normal day here - we had class, chapter meeting, lunch, then a sunny afternoon to just hang out in the courtyard and do some homework. I finished making a few books today which was exciting because I started them like... a few months ago. Today we had another Italian class because we have our final exam on Monday which should be a little bit challenging... but we'll see how it goes. Anyways, Italian class went as well as it could have gone and then soon it was 5:30 and we (me, Genevieve, Ariel, Sara, and Laura) were off to the paper store, Il Papiro, because the owner of the store met us the other day and since we are art students, he said he was going to give us a free marble paper demonstration! So we were in his studio for about and hour and we learned how to make marble paper. He pretty much gave us a history lesson on paper and showed us some parchment that was a few hundred years old, a book from the 1400s, and something else really old but it was so old I don't even remember the date. Anyways, that was really fun and we went back monastery and I worked in the studio for the rest of the night (although I took a break for dinner of course). Here's a picture from our Italian class on Monday when we went to get gelato and sit at the duomo. :)

Day #102 in Orvieto

June 4, 2013 - Tuesday

Today was one of the best days in Orvieto because Sara and I went to the clock tower and it was SO COOL! When we first got here in Orvieto, we each bought a "Key to the City" and it has a bunch of stuff that you can do for "free." But not really free because you had to buy the key. Anyways, it's a good deal and I've done a few things on the key (St. Patrick's well, the necropolis, etc) but it was a beautiful day today so we decided to do the Torre del Moro, the clock tower, today! It was so hot during the day but we decided to go around 6:30pm so we would have some time up there before dinner. We climbed the stairs to the top of the tower (barely - it was a struggle) and it was seriously breathtaking. It was so interesting to see the ENTIRE town that we've been living in - that's how small Orvieto is - you can see the whole thing from the clock tower! We could see the monastery where we live, the little side streets that we use as shortcuts. The most interesting thing for me was seeing all of the rooftop patios that people have on their houses (I'm creepy, I know). It started to rain by our monastery and it was cool because we watched the rain come in and get closer to us! The coulds were pretty dark so I have some good pictures of the duomo and the clouds. It costs about $2 to go again without the key and I think I'm definitely going to go once or twice more before I leave next week! Also we totally forgot that the clock tower bell rings every fifteen minutes and we were standing right next to it when it started ringing. It was shocking, to say the least. Here are a few pictures from the top of the tower:

Inside the clock tower!

The main corso - our monastery is the little tower sticking up 

duomo! 

Sara sitting under the bell

We took way too many pictures...

Day #101 in Orvieto

June 3, 2013 – Monday

I arrived back at the monastery just before midnight last night, then I had a little bit of homework to do before I finally went to bed! Today in class we talked about our “duomo door” poems. We talked about my poem for a while today which was good but I have a lot of things to work on… anyways, class went by quickly and we heard Jenna’s life story today in chapter meeting. I’m sharing my life story/introduction tomorrow so I’m trying to find some pictures and figure out what I want to say during my turn.

We had pastas for lunch again, then we went to get gelato for Italian class. So we walked all the way to the duomo, took turns ordering gelato, then sat on the duomo steps while Alessandro gave us a quick Italian lesson. After gelato/Italian class, we went back to the monastery and I worked on my new poem for a while. For this poem, we had a write a rhyming poem about any sculpture or artwork that we’ve seen over the past three months here in Italy. I chose a painting that I saw in the Scottish National Gallery (which is weird because I didn’t choose one from Italy) but it’s by Rafael and I think it’s called “Madonna del Passeggio.” I think the painting is a little bit creepy but it’s interesting and I took a few pictures of it in the gallery even though the guard was not happy with me. I thought it was a cool painting!

Here are two pictures from one of the Corpus Christi events this weekend. On Saturday night, Tyler and I went to see what events were going on when we stumbled across this relay race. Pretty much you would be walking down the street, two police morocycles would come speeding up in the middle of the street and honk their horns, then everyone would make way for the four relay runners (carrying battons). So apparently the four quarters of Orvieto have a relay race through town at 10:30pm on the Saturday of Corpus Christi. The race ended in the duomo piazza where there was a makeshift stadium and everyone would cheer and yell for their quarter.

Day #100 in Orvieto (Rome day trip)

June 2, 2013 - Sunday 

This morning I woke up around eight, called Heather to see if it was still good weather to come to Rome, and then got ready for the day. It was so hot out! I was going to save money and walk down to the train station this morning instead of taking the funicular, but it raining last night so I thought I might slip and break an ankle by walking down the path through the woods that can take you to the train station. And also I didn't know if I would have enough time. And I'm lazy. Anyways, paid that extra Euro and took the funicular and then a train to Rome at 9am. I arrived in Roma Tiburtina at 10:20, then took the train to Trastevere from 10:30 to 10:50! I walked to Heather's from the train station, then we made our way to Nemi by car for the strawberry festival (me, Heather, Jon, Bri, and Kilo). I'd never been to a strawberry festival before but it met my expectations because there were a million strawberries and a million people! They had strawberry tarts, strawberry pizza, strawberry rice, and strawberries and cream cups (had two of these). After lunch, we got back in the car and went to find Castel Gandolfo, the place where the pope has a summer home. That town was really cute too so we walked around for a while there, saw the lake, and then made our way back to Rome! I liked being in the car even though cars always put me to sleep. 

We got back to Heather's, ate some strawberry cake and strawberry tart, then we eventually made our way to dinner but there weren't a lot of places open because it was too early at 7pm! At 7:30 we went to a place for dinner that had pizza/steaks/etc and it was so good! It wasn't as big as the steak I got last time with heather but it was pretty close - and it came with French fries and veggies. It was really great and I think they might try to visit me next Sunday (MY LAST SUNDAY) in Orvieto. 

Heather dropped me off at the metro and I bought my ticket and figured our where to go (even though there were only two options). So simple... But I realized that I've never taken the metro by myself before! Anyways, made it to the train station successfully so of course I felt like the world's best traveller or something, even though all I did was sit on the metro for like four stops. Whatever. 

I had a little extra time in the station so I bought a Roma t-shirt for either Michael or myself - haven't decided yet. It was a good deal so not only was I being an awesome traveller, but I was also I bargain hunter. Seriously, things were going well for me. On the train, I asked the American couple next to me if this was the train to Chiusi and they were like "Yes! Wow you have great English!" Apparently this was my night because not only could I ride the metro for four stops and buy a four Euro t-shirt, but I can also speak my own language! By this time it was 10pm and I'd say things were going well for me.

Strawberry festival in Nemi!

Strawberry decoration

Seven cats on a wall!

View from the back of the funicular (the beginning of my day)

Day #99 in Orvieto

June 1, 2013 – Saturday

This morning after waking up late, I grabbed an apple for breakfast and then went to the market! I was worried that this might be my last Saturday market trip because we might not be around next Saturday morning (might go on a hike) and the Saturday after that, I’ll be on the plane! So this morning I bought some dried strawberries and a little milk frother thing to go with my espresso maker. It was raining off and on all morning but Laura and I slowly made our way through the market twice, went into a few other stores, and then made our way back to the monastery. There weren’t very many people at lunch today because everyone went farming for the day – it’s always nice to have less people at lunch because it’s hard to talk to everyone when there’s twenty of us at a long table.

After lunch, it was kind of cold and rainy so we went back to the monastery to hang out, do some work, etc. It was a quiet afternoon in the monastery. Everyone got back from farming and then almost everyone (except for me and three other people) went to Bolsena to hike from Bolsena to Orvieto from midnight to the wee hours of the morning. I thought about going but I think I’m getting up early to go to Rome tomorrow morning.

There were a few events going on today in town for Corpus Christi, the huge event that seems to last for a while month here. So Orvieto is all decorated and each “quarter” of Orvieto has their special quarter flag colors and decorations and flowers up. Tomorrow is day #100 in Orvieto and the kick-off of Corpus Christi with the big parade! I’ll be in Rome though with Heather (depending on the weather), but still – day #100! When did that happen??? I feel like a just typed “Day #50 in Orvieto” and it felt like a big deal, but that was… 50 days ago now. 

View from my run today

Corpus Christi parade!

Right by our monastery

Also found a cat during my run

Day #98 in Orvieto

May 31, 2013 - Friday

On Friday morning I woke up to the sound of doors slamming in the hallway. Our hallway is super echo-y and even if someone is trying to whisper in the hallway, you can usually hear what they’re saying if you’re in the room with your door shut. So I woke up to the doors slamming and I was pretty grumpy about it – it reminded me of when Michael likes to practice the piano at home and the piano is pretty much right over my head because my bedroom is in the basement. So I was angry that loud noises were waking me up so early… but then I looked at my clock and it was 11:30am. Probably time to get up.

I went to lunch, had some pasta, and then came back to babysit Prof Stevick’s kids at the monastery for a few hours. Once again, it was kind of strange (but good) to babysit and play with the kids without any toys. They kept asking me to “read” them a story so I had to make up Piglet stories on the spot for most of the afternoon. We spent a lot of time in the bamboo forest in the backyard of the monastery which was pretty fun until Prof Stevick’s son wanted to use bamboo sticks as light sabers and then things were too dangerous. But still, it was really fun and way better than my normal Friday routine (sleep late, go to lunch, nap).

After babysitting, I went to Montanucci’s with a few people and we each order a “shakerato” which is pretty much just frozen coffee with a little bit of chocolate in it. So of course those were delicious! Then we sat on the steps in Piazza della Repubblica for a while in the sun. Soon it was time to go back to the monastery and then dinner. We had pasta again for dinner, which was good but slightly overwhelming because we already had pasta at lunch. I usually enjoy pasta (except for angel hair pasta – ew) but I don’t think I’m going to have it for a very long time once I return home!

Chillin on the steps

Day #97 in Orvieto

May 30, 2013 - Thursday

I can’t believe I’m halfway through my second class! In class we talked about our duomo door poems and then did a scaffolding poem (when you read a poem and then for each line of that poem, you write down the first thing you think of, and then those random thoughts that you wrote down make up your new poem). Once again, it’s pretty random and the poem doesn’t make much sense but it’s fun to do.

Thursday afternoon was pretty relaxing and we wandered around Orvieto for a while, I got gelato with Naomi by the duomo, did some work, went for a run, played with Prof Stevick’s kids in the courtyard for a while. I also worked on the books/journals that I'm making but pretty much I'm just cutting stacks of paper but I haven't actually assembled the journals yet. So I'm sure in the last few days here I'm going to have to quickly put together all my books! Or I could just bring them home and work on them... although I'd rather just do them here before I got home and forget about them. 

Anyways, today was an average day in Orvieto. Mostly because we ate pasta, gelato, and sat outside in the courtyard.