Photographic Recap

Venice and Verona were the most beautiful, wonderful places and I loved every minute of them. However, I'm incredibly tired and way too lazy to write a post, SO Im going to post a few of the 444 pictures that I took.  Hopefully I'll have a good post for you all tomorrow :)

Oh thats right - Venice means millions of boats!

Some lovely travelling companions on the pier

View from a bridge over the main canal

This is a lovely English gent I took a picture of 

mmmmmm gelato

Gondola rides!

First thing I see in Verona - a parking lot of bikes!

A Preemptive Strike

So I often feel like I am rather lax when it comes to keeping up my blog and faithfully updating - at least in comparison to my peers. So I thought that since I am fully aware that I am going away for the weekend and probably won't post until Sunday or Monday at the earliest due to the fact that I have FINALLY learned that I won't die if I leave my computer behind when I travel (this is a big step for me), it might be a good idea to post before leaving.  To that effect, I was just going to put up a few random pictures that I've taken over the past month, in celebration of my time here and the fact that my first class ended this morning (HURRAAAAAAY).
But then, I got the best mail ever.
A few months ago I sent a letter to my Grandma in NY with a story and mini illustration of a funny event that happened in my life.  Long story short, I ripped my pants trying to climb in to Jase's truck.  Lovely I know.  So today, when I got a lovely fat envelope from everyone in the Tumbelston Family (EXCEPT MY PARENTS), I opened it to find these Little Lady Masterpieces.

Thats right.  2 pictures of me ripping my pants. If you look closely, you can see that the one in purple has Jase looking around the truck and laughing at me. 

Thanks guys.

Anyway, this was the most splendidly wonderful way to start and already fantastic weekend; my term paper is done, my final went well, I'm off to Venice, and I got lovely lovely letters from my family!! Thank you all :)

Anyway, as per the original plan, here are a few other snapshots of my trip so far: 

 There are Daffodils everywhere- these were in a cloister in Assisi

An awesome doorway in Siena.  Did you know the color was actually named after the hue of the buildings in the town?

Donuts and Wine

I realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but in all reality this has been a magnificently slow week.  I have been reveling in the uneventful nature of the past few days and thus neglected to post. This upcoming week marks the conclusion of our first class-

On a side note: apparently it has been a matter of some confusion, but the fact is that I do indeed attend classes whilst here and do other things of a scholarly nature.  Unfortunately it isn’t all trains and toblerone. (I don’t think toblerone is Italian…but the alliteration there just worked so magnificently and I have a rather sizable addiction to alliteration).  The way our schooling works is that from 9 am to noon we have class from Monday through Thursday.  In this case it has been renaissance art history.  Fridays are reserved for class trips/field trips to see the places we learn about. We also have Italian class from 3-5 pm on Mondays for the duration of our stay.  Anyway, Thursday brings a comprehensive exam of identifying all the frescos we’ve seen from photos of them on the screen (very Mona Lisa Smile if you’ve seen that) and the due date for an 8-12 page research paper that has been slowly encompassing all life up here on the 3^rd floor (another reason you haven’t heard from me).

But yesterday we all took a break from class work and general studies to celebrate the feast of San Giuseppe.  It was lovely! San Giuseppe is Joseph, husband of Mary, by the way.  In Orvieto there is a statue of him that is processed from the Duomo to it’s own church at roughly 5 pm on the festival day, followed by a service and then celebration.  We arrived promptly at 5:30 to find the square jam packed with people pushing and shoving, yelling to friends, pointing out their children in the band, etc.  On a stage in the center an eclectic band of students and middle aged citizens played festive tunes whilst every member of the crowd pushed toward the tents where one could obtain the fare of the holiday: wine and donuts. Once you pushed to the front of the throng you were immediately confronted with any number of short, round “church ladies” safe behind a barrier of bike racks with packing boxes filled with take-out boxes of freshly made donuts.  The stared at you warily until you put your euro or 2 euro coin into the “donations” box, at which point they lit up like you were their favorite grandchild and presented you with the number of boxes corresponding to your generosity.  Then, if you had managed to evade bodily harm thus far, you elbowed your way to the wine table where a very loud, red-cheeked, jolly couple were throwing about carafes of red wine and doling out overflowing plastic cups for free. 

“Ciao bella!! Vino? VINO!! San Giuseppe!! Ciaociaociaociao!!!!”

The ironic thing is that in America one would assume that the donuts would be the free end of the deal…

They were actually made of rice, as I later found out (they were very soft and moist), with a citrus element, lightly fried and covered in sugar.  Each box had 7 or 8 of these treats roughly the size of a Dunks Munchkin (heck yes that was a dunkin reference!!) The wine was also of pretty decent quality and the two made a surprisingly pleasant combo.  After the wine ran out/got packed up the party dispersed within a few minutes and Kat, Kelsey, Caitlin, and I took to the streets to stroll through ceramics shops, practice a little Italian and have a decent walk before dinner. 

All in all it was a lovely celebration, more about community and honoring a saint then it was about food and drink, and completely devoid of drunkenness.  I would suggest bringing such a holiday to the States if I thought it were even remotely possible to keep the celebration free of open drunkenness.  

You've Just Been Rick Steve'd!!!!

Well, Long story short - I just had the greatest weekend!!!

On friday, the class took a day trip to Florence, which in and of itself is perfectly lovely and artistic (although I must admit that my first impression of smoke-heavy air and dog crap on the streets was not favorable).  We took the train from Orvieto, and sat in little 6 person compartments that made us all feel like we were en route to Hogwarts.  However, at the end of the day, rather than returning to Monastery San Paolo, Stephanie, Caitlin, Andrew,  Me, Kelsey, Megan M, and Kelly took a shorter, commuter train to Pisa!! ( I know that's not quite proper grammar, but I listed us all in the order we appear in the picture below :) )

We arrived at our hostel in Pisa around 7 pm, and while I dont have much experience in these places (this was my first time staying in a hostel) I think it was a very nice place.  The 6 girls got a private room on the 3rd floor, each with our own bed and lockers, and a nice, clean bathroom tiled in purple.  At one end of the room were some double doors that opened onto our own private balcony, situated right above Pisa main piazza!! All night there were street musicians and people talking and drinking and hanging out right below our room.  We also were almost directly above the best gelataria in Pisa - which definitely deserved its reputation!!

Once we were all settled in we decided to go to the leaning tower to get some cool night pictures and have a chance to see it before all the tourists got there the next day.  We stopped at a small family restaurant on the way, where we shared a liter of wine and had what is in my opinion the best meal of the entire trip thus far: I had gnocci with walnut sauce. Incredible. I can't even begin to say - 

This was followed by an hour or so at the leaning tower, a walk through town, and some incredible gelato devoured on the balcony.
The next morning we checked out by 8:15 and headed over to the little farmer's market for a loaf of bread, a block of cheese, and a pot of honey which served as an inexpensive, delicious lunch that we devoured picnic-style on the field of miracles.  We also met Kyndal - a UCLA student spending the day solo in pisa who joined us for a few hours.  After lunch we took a half hour bus to Lucca, which I think is my favorite place in Italy thus far.  Lucca is a small town, similar to Orvieto that is famous for being surrounded by a wall, roughly one story high and the width of a 2-lane road.  We rented bicycles and rode the 2ish miles around the wall- it was stunning.

 All the houses were freshly painted with bright window boxes, iron-wrought balconies and lovely roof-top gardens.  We only had the bikes for an hour so we split up and some did a second loop while Caitlin, Kyndal and I biked through the town and saw the clock tower, duomo and corso shops.  After this the 7 Orvieto students hopped back on the bus for Pisa, where we spent maybe 2 hours before taking the train to Florence, and then home.  We were completely exhausted by the time we got there, and then found that the funicolare (a gondola-like contraption on a track that takes you from lower orvieto up the mountain to the top) was CLOSED.  Thus, we embarked on the 45 minute hike up the side of the plateau and fell completely exhausted into bed.  All- in- all, I have had the loveliest of weekends, and am very very grateful to be spending Sunday in a happy little cafe, sipping lemon tea surrounded by friends.

By the way, the title of this post is courtesy of Kelsey, who carried around her Rick Steve's Italy guide book (and referred to it just as "according to rick...") and would make outlandish travel statements followed by "YOUVE BEEN RICK STEVED").
Ciao tutti!!

p.s. There were 2 things incredibly abundant during our weekend trip: Couples making out, and asians taking pictures holding up the tower of Pisa.  I have been sneakily documenting all of them (Kelsey and I are surreptitiously snapping shots of all the amorous couples).
Here are a few favorites:

I had to have a picture of these earmuffs

Get Up Off'a That Thang....

SO in my last post I mentioned that we were all invited to Locanda for a karaoke party, and let me tell you - the Italians know how to deliver.  We were all asked to make and bring masks in honor of Mardi Gras, which spurred a crazy crafting session spread throughout the sala.  We used cereal boxes, old napkins, tin foil and even a deck of playing cards. Have no fear - there are pictures to come!! Our host, Mauro (the restaurant owner - his wife, Enya, does the cooking) spent the first 45 minutes while we were eating singing Italian songs, playing the accordion and doing everything from grunting to whistling into the microphone.  Then, horror of horrors, he came over to our table asking for us to sing, and when everyone else refused I felt his heavy hand fall on my shoulder and my peers, in need of a lamb to slaughter, started chanting my name.  Past the point of refusal, I had to rise and to my surprise (haha rhymes!!) he had a list of English songs ready and waiting such as:
sk8er boy - Avril Lavigne
Believe - Cher
My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion (who is apparently quite popular)
Oops I Did It Again - Britany Spears

You Get the Idea....
Luckily for me, Allison came to my rescue and together we sang "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet boys - with all of our peers and professors backing us up on the choruses.  It wasn't as painful as expected and I was succeeded by Lindsay singing "Obla di, obla da" and Prof. Skillen being bullied into treating us to the YMCA.  Then, Mauro started putting on dance music; salsa songs, zumba songs, and various party hits from the 90s - starting with the macarena - at which point the crazy american students all got up and started jamming.  We spent a good hour and a half dancing around the restaurant, doing the macarena, the limbo and a conga line snaking through all the tables.  Some italian women from the back table even started dancing with us and by the end of the night everyone in the restaurant was on their feet and jammin! It was a wonderful cacophony on flailing limbs and smiling faces.

Lovely People, Lovely Places, Happy Times and Smiling Faces

Last night, the Doll family invited us downstairs to their apartment for an open house, family style dinner. We all had a great time, talking to each other and playing with the kids but what really made the night for me was the family atmosphere.  The first thing that we saw was color - reds, blues, greens, evidence of life (We live comfortably ensconced in ikea-white) on the walls, shelves, furniture.  I was comfortably sandwiched with 4 other people on the red couch, covered in stuffed animals and pushed right up against the kids table, painted blue and covered in elephants (!!!) Giraffes and hippos.  It was completely wonderful in every way - and then we got a home cooked meal to boot! Red soup, salad, and a Mediterranean chick pea salad with red and white wines.  Everyone took their time, laughed, stayed for hours.  The kids all drew us pictures and paraded around in superhero capes and race car pajamas - it was the perfect pick-me-up.
Then we woke up to a very happy Fat Tuesday! (Happy Mardi Gras everyone!) Today is also International Women's day, which is celebrated in Italy by the men giving every woman in their lives mimosa flowers (not the drink - these are yellow and look kind of like pollen grass. they're the national flower of australia too). We had all made a few jokes to Andrew and Nick, that living with 22 girls was going to make this day a challenge, but each and every one of us woke up with letters and flowers waiting outside her door in the morning.  They dressed up, ties and all, too.  It was very sweet.
Also, in celebration of the holidays today, Locanda del Luca, the restaurant that feeds us 12 meals a week, has invited us all to stay for karaoke night and dancing.  Apparently they do this frequently, but are having an all out party, with drinks and masks and as many people as they can convince to come to spend the night listening to each other sing and celebrating Fat Tuesday.  I am actually really excited to go! Although none of us are really planning on singing, it should be very enjoyable.
All-in-all, the beginnings of the new week have been positively lovely, and can only get better with a trip to Sienna on Thursday and then Florence on Friday. I feel so blessed!
I hope you are all celebrating the coming of the Easter season in your own way, and that all is well!
Ciao!

A Few Introductory Photos

Here's Carly and my room, pre moving in.  I'm on the left- by the heater :)

This is the view of the Duomo from the top of the clock tower - you can't really tell but the sides are striped black and white stones while the front has gold all over

Here's my (in my opinion quite accurate) sketch of prof. Skillen

The whole town of Orvieto is on top of the hill/cliffs - this veiw was taken from a convent on the opposing hill

Finally, this is the cathedral in assisi - every square inch inside is covered in beautiful frescos and the ceiling is a brilliant blue.

I can finally upload pictures! I'm sitting in the cafe del corso, eating pizza, reveling in the free wifi, and watching the cher and spice girls music videos playing on the tv(I'm not kidding - i just had a jam session to "wannabe") so here you go!

Love At First Sight

(Since I missed my internet time yesterday you are all getting 2 posts put together here...gonna be a bit lengthy)

So Wednesday night was pizza night, the night we’ve all been waiting for.  We sat down at the restaurant with the whole Doll family and Alessandro’s wife and two sons and watched as they brought us pizza pie after pizza pie.  First plain (my favorite), then one with potato, ham, and bleu cheese on top; next was French fries and hotdog pizza (I’m still deciding if that was a jab at the Americans) and finally black olives.  It was incredible, and right as we thought we couldn’t eat any more, they brought us tiramisu. It was amazing, and our first 2+ hour meal.

Fun side note: Tiramisu can be literally translated as “pick me up.”

We’re starting to encounter a few locals as we return from these meals, and I’ve noticed it’s usually the same men standing in the same shop doorways, smoking with their same friends and saying the same things – “hey, HEY!! Ciao! Americani? Americani!! Ciao! Hey, Americani, Ciao! CIAO!!! CIAO AMERICANI! English? Americani! Ciao ciao ciao ciao!!!!!”  It’s actually kind of interesting. I think they just like yelling at us, getting attention, something like that.  Most of them are very good at letting us have our personal space though, they just lean up again their doorposts, yelling and smirking over their cigarettes.  By the way, everybody smokes here.  There is not a square foot of the street that doesn’t have at least 2 cigarette butts wedged between the cobblestones, but that is another matter.

On Thursday morning was the market and most of us decided to go since it was our first week here, although we will have plenty of opportunities because the market comes every Thursday and Saturday morning from 7:30 to 1 pm.  We went at about 7:45 since we had class at 9 and found most of the people still setting up.  There were probably 4 or 5 fresh fruit trucks, 2 or 3 meat trucks, complete with whole salted sides of fish and pork hanging from the awnings, cheese trucks and flower stands and one little old man selling dried fruits and nuts.  There were also many trucks of used clothing just piled on to tables with cardboard signs : 3 euro, 5 euro, 2 euro, 9 euro.  Used shoes, linens, kitchen goods, purses, etc, etc, etc,.  I bought a leather bag and a wallet, many people bought socks and gloves and other warm necessities that we have been dearly missing here.  My favorite trucks to walk past were always on the outskirts of the groups, and had mounds and mounds of bras and panties hanging from the awnings.  I thought it was hilarious – especially since almost all of them were run by very grumpy looking old men! Except for one truck, which looked almost deserted until I came around the corner and this little, wiry, old Italian woman jumped out from behind the counter and started singing pop songs and dancing.  It made my day. 

That afternoon, after classes, we learned all about our chores at the monastery.  There is a rotation of rooms to be cleaned and each set of roommates does a different room every Thursday.  Carly and I were assigned the vestibulo and refectario.  Let me just tell you, these stone rooms look a whole lot bigger when you’re carrying a mop.  The vestibulo is a room on the end of the first floor that leads to the courtyard, and which we use as a gallery space. Attached to it is the refectario, a long rectangular room that was originally the dining hall for the nuns of San Paolo.  The floors are outlined in swirling stone tiles of brown and black, the middles of it a marbled grey and black.  Then, when you look up to the end of the room, the whole wall is frescoed with a recreation of the last supper.  We learned that it was quite common for this to be the case because then the nuns could eat with the disciples and their Lord – a really neat practice. 

That night, we were all lent out in groups of 4 or 5 to various Italian families in the area.  They fed us very well and tried to talk to us in Italian as much as possible to help us pick up the language.  I went to the home of Lucca and Elicia and their 3 children, (6, 3, 1) who helped lighten the mood and make us all comfortable.  We were fed lasagna (J) and red wine for our first course, followed by salad and a mix of peas and chicken.  For dessert Elicia had made a chocolate cake, which they served with homemade lemoncello (I don’t know how to spell that).   Luckily for us, Elicia is practically fluent in English and was able to help when we stumbled on our Italian verbs.  They were very kind, and it was a really helpful experience to be put in a setting where we had to speak the language we came to learn.  

P.S.

I also realize that I have described Prof. Skillen to most of you as a "jolly combination of a skinny santa clause and a very talkative dumbledore" and you have accordingly asked for a photo.  Well, seeing as I would find it a bit uncomfortable to snap a shot of my Ren. Art professor I put the lecture hour to good use and drew what is in my opinion a very decent caricature of him.  Unfortunately I can't seem to upload it on the monastery internet so you will all have to wait to see my masterpiece :)

Of Bidets and Bicycles

I have learned to expect the unexpected when learning to live with a new group of people.  Each group naturally has its own kinks to work out based on personalities and location, which are often quickly and easily addressed in the first few days of co-habitation.  Of course living in a foreign country is no exception and each day at San Paolo we have "chapter meetings" to bring up all our questions and have practical discussions with Prof. Doll (R.D.), Julia (R.A.) and Prof. Skillen (Art History Prof and Program Director).  

Now Prof. Doll and Prof. Skillen really deserve some credit.  While it is they're job to orient us with our surroundings it cannot be easy for 2 men to address all the questions, spoken and unspoken, that 22 twenty-something girls have to ask.  So today, they decided to address the fact that each and every one of us has a bidet sitting in our bathroom.  Which also spurred conversations about plumbing, cleanliness, appropriate use of toilet paper (which is apparently never in Italy) and "feminine hygiene products."  It was a pretty impressive conversation that was luckily cut short by lunch.

After lunch I had the wonderful opportunity to walk up to Montenucci's, a local bakery and coffee shop, for pastries with some of the girls.  After looking at 2 full tables of various flavors of chocolate bars (which was also an experience in and of itself) we each picked a pastry out from behind the glass.  For a euro each we shared a chocolate one, 2 regular cream/custard creations, and (my personal favorite) a fluffy baked masterpiece filled with espresso flavored custard. Yum!! I took a picture, but unfortunately our internet doesn't allow me to upload them - so you will all have to be patient until I can trek to the library for some free wi-fi.  

Yes, Dad, I have taken pictures of things other than my pastry.

Finally, the whole group walked over to the public library.  It's a beautiful building; they renovated the old franciscan monastery into a huge huge masterpiece.  There is even a courtyard lined with lemon trees! All of which were bearing lemons!!

Anyway, we went because Prof. Doll likes to show us movies in Italian with English subtitles.  In my opinion he also wants to spur a philosophical discussion because of all the films he could have shown us he chose "bicycle thieves"- A black and white post-WW2 Italian piece about poverty and hopelessness.  By the way, the only Italian I could remember from it was "a demani" which means "see you tomorrow"

So it has definitely been a full day! 

I hope all is well with all of you,

Ciao!!