When in... Orvieto....

All plans are set.  We are leaving our room at quarter to 7 to make a train at quarter to 8 and go to Assisi.  I was so pumped I could hardly sleep last night.  I sat up on my computer and stared at the map of Assisi for the longest time.  I have notes in my little sketchbook of the titles of all the places I needed to see.  I knew all there was to know about our day trip and how to get there.

Then I saw the train to Assisi pull away in front of my eyes.

I was pissed, my puss face was on.  I had never been late like that in my life.  The next train to Assisi wasn’t until after 1 in the afternoon.  I asked the ticket guy for advice, but that was not his job, he was confused what I wanted, so I was ready to give up.  I just wanted to leave the train station and go do my homework.  My friends decided they still wanted to do something today so we went up to the info desk and asked if there is anywhere else in the near train distance that could make a fun day trip (and by “we,” I mean my 4 friends went up to the info desk, while I sulked in the back).  The lady suggested Orvieto.  She said it was pretty and only a little over an hour away.  What the heck, when in Rome, right?

I then went from puss mode, to my nerdier mode where all my mind was thinking was “I have never even heard of Orvieto?” “I have never researched Orvieto, what is IN Orvieto?” “what region is Orvieto even in?” “Is the info desk lady just tricking us into going to her village where her mafia family is just going kidnap us and sell us into slavery?”....any time I braved asking any of these questions out loud, Emily just kept saying “so what! we don’t know what’s there! thats why it’s an adventure!”

She was right, and after all, I’m it Italy for crying out loud.  Its going to be beautiful and fun no matter what.

Orvieto.  Up in the mountains of Umbria, you needed to take a small inclined tram-train thing to reach it from the train station. This village, now that I am researching it, has an economy based on its famous white wine (good thing thats what we picked to have with lunch today), but walking around, we noticed a lot of awesome artisans in many medians from woodwork to ceramics.  

The views of the Umbrian countryside were BREATHTAKING (figuratively, and literally, because there was a frozen mountain wind that my lungs didn’t enjoy).  I can even see snowcapped mountains in the distance.   The churches were also gorgeous,  though we kept on walking in on the middle of mass.  The streets also had a lot of kitties, one even tried to snuggle right into Brigid’s jacket.

*strangest bathroom experience: when the motion detecting light went off because it wasn’t detecting motion any more. but I wasn’t done...

At the end of the day, I am glad we went to this small gem of a city.  I even got myself something special to remember the day that went from excitement, to anger, to confusion, to pure happiness, all in a matter of the first 3 hours of my morning. I discovered something new that I can research more about.

And we already know we want to go back when the underground caves open up in the spring :)

The Pilgrimage of Marisa, Lisa and Speer

Allow me to explain my fun-filled, adventure today.

After my Italian class, it was time to begin my first Field study assignment.  Marisa Aschetino, Andrew Speer, and myself, had to metro to Piramide, only look at the map once, and then follow our senses the rest of the way home.  If this journey takes you any less than 3 hours, you did something wrong.

Piramide is, well, a pyramid, located a bit south of Circo Massimo. Though I havnt researched its significance yet, I can tell you that all three of us were hungry, and had to pee, right from the getgo.  We strolled through a fairly residential neighborhood until we finally stumbled on something to eat.  Just a simple pasta dish in what felt like the italian version of a diner.  After that, we stumbled upon an obylisk, and where there is an obylisk, there is a basilica.  We walked inside (what I now know was Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano) and entered from the transept entrance.  Kinda weird, but at least we were now had a beautiful basilica to admire.

We exited from the front basilica entrance and saw another (what looked like a) church just across the street.  Doors were open, lets go in.  The first thing i saw was a stairwell and i got confused.  Then Speer rushed in, he knew what it was.  It was the Scala Sancti (Holy Stairs).  Their significance: Pope Sixtus V had these stairs relocated to this location from Jerusalem because they are THE stairs Jesus walked up, was judged by Pontius Pilot, and then descended from, and was soon to be crucified.   Holy.  Crap.  The only way you can go up these stairs is if you pray your way up (there is a certain prayer i found online that you must say on each stair).  I have to say, the place had an erie presence.  Like, not like being in a church or a grand basilica, as much as those are silent holy spaces, this was like, beyond silence.  Most of the spaces, once you got up the stairs, were dark rooms.  I could hardly make out the series of pieces hanging on the wall, but i knew they were the stations of the cross.  It was a neat experience though, I’ve never been so close to a relic before, at least not of that grandure.

We blessed ourselves with holy water and made our way back into the sunlight.  Accidently stumbling upon Santa Maria Maggiore.  We saw this the other day, so we continued detouring, stopping in another small church and Speer stepping in 2 separate sets of dog poop within 3 minutes.  This is when we found the ruins, and then managed to get lost again, but then we found Sant’Ignatio, and stopped in there as well.  Finally, after 3.5 hours of straight walking, we found gelato.  The one thing i had to complain about this entire walk was finally corrected.  We sat on the fountain in front of the Pantheon, and enjoyed our gelati and discussed our epic journey. We knew how to get to our destination, so the game was almost over.

After a zillion flights of stairs, we made it to studio and shared our 4 hour trip with everyone else.  I just sat down on Photoshop and GoogleEarth and attempted to map out exactly what we did.  Boy do I wish we had a pedometer.

I just have to brag

This morning was our very first history class.  Todays topic was about the cradles of Roman history.  Oh yea, did I mention we WENT to these places?  We hit up the Jewish Quarter and learned some pretty interesting stuff I never knew about Roman Jews.  I also found out the origin to the Medical symbol (the snake around the sword) and why there is a Hospital on Tiber Island (which is the local hospital to where I live, so if something ever happens, thats where we would need to go).  I learned a little about Romulus and Remus and their myth and then our class ended at Circus Maximus.  There were more little stops along the way, so we pretty much had a fun packed class.  So much better then seeing these places in photos.

Had I known when I passed the Basilica Santa Maria in Cosmodin JUST the other day, that the Mouth of Truth is hanging on the wall in that vestibule, I probably would have stopped to take a look.  This morning on our way into this basilica, I was wondering why there was a line to get in.  Then I saw the edge of it, and my teacher, Eric, took out his camera.  omg.  There it is.  The experience took probably only 2 seconds, but it was one thing on my bucket list.

Don’t worry, I still have my hand >:)

Happy one week Anniversary

Here is what I learned my first week in Rome:

1.  It is absolutely ok that I am going 4 months without soda.  I tried a coke and afterwords I became sick.  Partly because the syrup concentrate was higher, partly because it was 2.5 Euro which is about $3.  Not worth it.

2.  I have felt 100% safer walking in a group of me and 3 other girls (all about my size) across the entire city of Rome, then I have walking with a large group of guys in Chinatown, DC.  Or even on my own campus in DC if you wanna go that far.

3.  The only pieces of Italian trends that I have noticed are boots (duh), hello kitty (strange, but cute), and extremely poofy and shiny jackets (typically in the darker color spectrum) that Italians wear no matter what the temperature is.

4.  It is always easier to handle the shower if you’ve had a glass of wine first...

5.  Speak Italian like you mean in, don’t just be satisfied that you know what it means.

6.  Use the zillions of stairs you take every day as a means of exercise.  These stairs have been here for 500 years, if they haven’t changed yet, they sure aren’t going to change now.

7.  Gelato does not effect my lactose intolerance.  win.

8.  Design cars around a city, not a city around cars.  Roman pedestrians and motorist, for the most part, share paths.  Surprisingly nobody ever gets hit.  Even when j-walking across main arteries, which is completely legal.  I bet Italians are really good at Frogger.

9.  Cobblestones.

10.  Don’t follow the kid(s) in your group that have been to Rome before.  They are just as likely to get you lost. 

11.  Nothing compares to a building like the Pantheon.  Nothing.