Bracciano/Bagnaia..again

This week I got to go on field trips for a couple different classes. On Tuesday we went to Bagnaia to see the Villa Lante gardens. We had to draw one of the fountains, but I cheated and just chose a section of the fountain…since my skills are anything but great.
The next day we went to an archeological dig just a short bus ride from Viterbo It was at one time a Roman city, and then during the middle ages they built over the city. The archeologists have found the ancient road and tiles under the medieval ruins. The old baths are still in tact. It was cool to see something with so much history, but pretty much everything I see has a lot of history. I have never seen an archeological dig before, so that was pretty cool too. I can mark that off my bucket list.
I also started my Italian conversation class this week. I love the teacher. It is intimidating, but it’s fun practicing the little skill I have, and learning more vocabulary. It contradicts my composition class though, since she doesn’t want us to focus on being grammatically correct.
My long weekend (It’s pretty ridiculous, I have longer weekends than weekdays) most of us decided to save some money and stay around Viterbo. On Friday Jordan, Luca, Ryan, and I decided to return to Villa Lante to explore more. A giant park with beautiful tree-lined pathways and fountains surrounds the gardens, so we were there for quite a while. It’s fun exploring such beautiful areas. I feel like I am living in a dream.
We watched the sixth Harry Potter that night because we kept talking about it all day. I think I may be the only person in the world who has not read the series, and I regret it every time I hear everyone talk about how much better the books are in comparison to the movies. I decided I want to read the seventh book before we go to the next movie premiere (we are all determined to see it in England, somewhere).
On Saturday a bunch of us went to Bracciano, Bracciano has a giant castle, Castello Odescalchi, and a huge lake. It was such a cute town. We got there in the middle of parso pranzo and the town seemed dead. We explored the streets for a little while and then got lunch. We got a tour of the Castle. I had never been in an old castle before. This castle was AMAZING. It looked out onto the lake. Tom Cruise and Katy Holmes were married at the castle, and we all had a new respect for them after we saw it. There was going to be a wedding reception held there that night and when we walked into the room that it was being held, we noticed that all the tables had Harry Potter names. We decided that whoever the groom was, was the perfect man.
Afterwards we walked down to the lake and sat for a little while, Gaby, my brave roommie, jumped in with her clothes on! She is crazy! The walk back up to the train station was pretty ridiculous. It was pretty, but nothing is fun when I’m hungry and weak. We made it back to Viterbo by 6:30 and we made dinner and watched Friends. Everything was within a 45-minute ride from Viterbo. I decided that Italy has everything I need. I am in love, and I just don’t want to come home. It has already been a month, and I cannot believe how fast everything is going.

Villa Lante, Bagnaia

This is where we went for art class today...
If only I was good at art...

Amalfi Coast

I am sorry, everyone, because you should all be very jealous of my weekend. I didn’t really plan to see the Amalfi Coast before I came to Italy, and I didn’t know very much about it, but when some of my friends said they were headed there I told them to count me in. I was not disappointed. NOT AT ALL.
I wish my camera charger didn’t burn (silly me), because I didn’t get to take any of my own pictures. I hope to steal some from the other people who went.

On Friday morning we met at the train station, for our journey. We took a train to Rome, and then a train to Naples, and then a train to Sorrento, and then a bus to our Hostel. After seven hours we made it to Marina del Contone(?) where we would be staying for the weekend. The trip there went way smoother than I expected, and we didn’t get stranded anywhere. We sat by some serious creepers on the train, but we all made it alive and untouched. It was unreal, and when we took the windy road to our hostel, I could not believe how beautiful it was. It was something I have always seen in pictures but never really thought I would see up close. The roads were very narrow, yet still two way, and the bus had to honk its horn every time we went around curves to warn cars coming from the other direction. We even had to back up once because we almost got into a head on collision with another bus. Good thing those bus drivers are SKILLED.

Our hostel was right along the beach. Needless to say we could not hold in our excitement. It was my first hostel experience, and I was not disappointed. We stayed in an 8-person bungalow. (We had bunks, like we were at camp!) We had two bathrooms and a kitchen and it was up the road from the beautiful sea. We went straight to the beach and went swimming in the warm Mediterranean water. It was salty, but amazing. We hung out there for a few hours and then we headed up to wash off and eat. We went to bed early (after some pillow talk, because we had bunks).
We woke up at eight the next morning and again, went straight to the beach. We sat around for a couple hours and then we went and bought croissants with my favorite, nutella (seriously I am in love with the stuff). After we ate breakfast, we went back to the beach. We literally hung out at the beach all day. I swam a bunch because it was nice to swim in a body of water that wasn’t freezing. It was probably the most relaxing day I have had in a really long time. I did not have a single worry. Most of the group decided to go snorkeling, but I decided not to since I get seasick and I don’t care for sea creatures. So Jordan, Cara, and I just sat at the beach and waited. The group that went snorkeling had a great time, even though a jellyfish stung Jessica.
We stayed at the beach until about 7 or 8 and then we went and had dinner and returned to bed fairly early. We returned home on less creepy trains, and we even got to ride those trains with cabins, like in Harry Potter! Viterbo was much colder than down south, and I was freezing when I walked home in my shorts and t-shirt, but I was glad to be back. It feels like home!
While we were there, I kept wishing that everyone I knew could come and see the Amalfi coast at some point because it is so beautiful. They have lemon trees and olive trees, huge cliffs with medieval lookouts at the top. GREEN EVERYWHERE. I just vacationed at the Amalfi Coast. No big deal.

ROME ROME ROME

Today I went to Rome for the first time. I could barely sleep last night because I was so excited to go to ROME. A group of about 12 of us took the train from Viterbo to Rome. It takes a little more than an hour. It was the first time I had ever been on a TRAIN like that, so I was pretty excited. It was very scenic ride. We arrived at Termini, which is the central station in Rome, and waited for some people to check into the hostel they are staying in tonight. We then hopped on the metro, and went to the Spanish Steps!
It is weird being somewhere so famous, and that I have seen in pictures so many times. It is really hard for me to grasp. I still think NONE of this has hit me yet. I am still in lala land.
So I proceeded to eat a Pannini on the Spanish Steps. My new friend, Wessley, and I wondered how many people sitting on the steps actually knew the significance of the Spanish Steps. I know I sure don’t.
THEN we went back on to the metro and headed to ANCIENT ROME. Right when you come out of the metro station at Colleseo the first thing you see is the Coliseum. I was so excited! We decided to go inside and see. It was amazing. There is so much history and there were SO many people brutally killed there. It is quite the sight. It is amazing that something so old is in tact still. I kept thinking “this was a tourist site in the 1700’s, GEORGE WASHINGTON probably vacationed in Rome.” I was just trying to understand how old it really was. I need to go back to 6th grade.
We then headed to the Roman Forum. I am really in love with this area. I am planning on going back again to see it before I go home. GOOD THING I HAVE 4 MONTHS TO DO SO. My favorite building was the oversized Victor Emmanuel Monument. There were weddings, EVERYWHERE. It’s nicknamed the wedding cake topper, or something like that. It was beautiful though. After walking around all of that, and waiting and finding each other, (Big groups are really hard to do), those of us who were going to back to Viterbo decided to head back. Unfortunately we got lost and missed the train…but then we found the train again at another train station. It was all quite the adventure. Now I am back in my bed, exhausted from going to ROME.
I have become quite the relaxed traveler. Usually I have to know where I am and exactly what is going on. But this trip, so far, I just go with the flow.

Italian Laundry

I did laundry for the first time today. It took Kim and I fifteen minutes just to figure out what setting to use. The worst part is hanging my clothes on the clothesline. Since it keeps raining I have to keep my eye out to make sure I pull my clothes in before it rains. This morning we went to go meet our landlady and to pay rent. The land lady and her husband had a long negotiating conversation with one of the program directors, while we waited. Both of us listened to the conversation, and both of us actually understood most of it! I was so excited. It is very interesting to watch them discuss, they have absolutely no problem interrupting or even talking at the same time. I wish I could speak it as well as I could understand it. Understanding it takes a lot of focus still.
We went grocery shopping also, and I have noticed some differences about the people who work around here. When they are helping you, it is not rude to answer the phone in the middle of the conversation, even if it is a call on your cell phone. Cashiers sit in chairs while they ring you up, which is something I really wish I could have had when I worked back home. We shop at the Despar, which is a small grocery store a few blocks from us. One day I went in and the cashier was just drinking a beer and hanging out. (This was during the Santa Rosa festival, but still I thought this was different). You also bag your own groceries. It is very relaxed here, which is emphasized with the parso pranza (the 3 hour break they take every day).
Everyone smokes here. I have seen parents smoking around their children, or even into their children’s faces. If anyone saw this in America, these parents would be JUDGED, but here it is just no big deal.
This morning we stopped in a café for a pastry. The lady knew we spoke English and she asked me where I was from. I told her I was American, she looked surprised but very excited. We all stick out with our backpacks, and the workers at the Pizzerias and Istanbul Kebab are very interested in our program. They are excited to hear “studio Italiano” When we make the effort to communicate in their language they are usually considerate enough to communicate back with the little English they know.
What makes me happy is when I walk ANYWHERE, and I see the little old ladies arm in arm walking slowly and talking quietly to each other, or shop owners standing outside of their shops hanging out with their neighbors. I love smelling the homemade dinners, watching everyone eat gelato every day, and seeing the laundry hanging out the window (except my laundry, I miss having a dryer).

SANTA ROSA

There is a very important festival going on right now in Viterbo. La macchina di Santa Rosa. All week there have been parades every night. Last night was the main event. 100 men carry a statue/monument that is about 35,000 pounds. It is taller than all of the building in Viterbo, and they carry it around the narrow streets. A bunch of us waited in la piazza de Leone, which is my favorite piazza because it is right by my house, and we waited for about 5 hours. It was well worth the wait though. When they actually came by all the lights go out. It was so exciting.

After they passed all of us went to my house where you can see the Santa Rosa church from my rooftop. It was beautiful. The last stretch to the church is a hill so they ran up the hill with this giant monument; it was by far one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It was a good welcome to Italy.




The video is not working. I am sorry. Look at the pics on Facebook.

New Apartment.

So another USAC girl asked me if I wanted to switch apartments with her. She lived with Kim and Gaby, who are my friends, and I lived with one of her friends. She wanted to switch because she HATED her apartment. She was kind of a princess. I said yes, because it will save me 30 euro a month. I don’t care where I live, as long as it is in Italy. So yesterday I packed all of my stuff back up, (which took all of 5 minutes) and moved to my new apartment. If you ever want a lot of attention around Viterbo, haul a 50 pound suitcase through the cobblestone streets. The apartment is smaller, but nicer inside. I am more comfortable with my new roommates and we will probably cook together and share secrets and what not. OH, and I have way less creepy bathroom, which makes me happy. Now I don’t walk around on my tip toes and feel like I am in a teeny teeny port-o-potty that is about to swallow me.

I also started some of my classes this week. My Italian composition class is taught in Italian, so I get bonus points for focusing for two hours on every single thing the profesoressa says. She is really nice though, and doesn’t punish me when I don’t know what a pronomi indiretti is. I also had painting and drawing. You learn something new everyday; yesterday I learned that I am not good at drawing. I thought it was going to be a bunch of people learning to draw. Everyone was like Picasso in there. My work resembled something you might see in a 1st grade classroom. Actually I am positive that Alaina could do better than me.

This coming semester has a lot of promising events. I signed up to volunteer in a kindergarten class each week. Apparently the kid’s families invite you to dinner eventually, and you get to see Italian culture from a the inside. I also signed up for a language partner, so hopefully that will help me speak more. I haven’t been good with speaking it this week. I keep speaking English, which is stupid. I should speak Italian. It is prettier.
Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to play CALCIO (soccer) I am excited to show off my skills. Or lack of them. Oh Italy, you are so humbling.

Much Love.

Ciao a tutti!

I am writing this blog ahead of time, because my Internet access is quite limited. I am just going to write my blogs and then copy and paste them when I am have internet alla scuola. My first week away has been much easier than I expected. I am surprised because I expected to be extremely homesick. Fortunately, my transition to Italy has been quite easy. I may still be in my “honeymoon phase” but I can’t picture myself ever hating Viterbo. There is a lot to update on, and I am going to give the whole SHPEEL, so if you are soooo not interested in reading this, just look at the pictures and enjoy. Va bene? Va bene
My flight here was not bad. I arrived at LAX and ran into a couple girls who were going to Viterbo. I was relieved to have found people right off the bat. As we were heading to check in I found out that they were on a completely different flight, on a different airline. I thought I was alone. I wanted to cry, and go home. I told myself that I could do it, and everything would be fine. The entire 10 hour plane ride, I was stressed out. I kept reviewing what I was going to do over and over again. I got about two hours of sleep. I did, though, overly enjoy the British accents everyone had on the flight. It was the only thing I could laugh about for ten hours. Right as we landed in London for our layover, I was walking off the plane and I looked over and saw a girl named Kim, who I had met before and knew was going. In that instant I relaxed, every worry I had just vanished. We then found about 8 more people going with us.From that point on it was kind of a blur. I was really out of it. I passed out (mouth open, drool, everything) on the flight from London to Rome. Jet lag is the weirdest feeling ever. When we got to Rome, I was ecstatic but SO ready to not fly again. Our luggage took about an hour to get here. We actually got in before the other flight and had to wait at the Fiumicino Airport for 2 hours. We took a bus to Viterbo, I passed out again ( mouth open, drool).
When we arrived in Viterbo, I was surprised because it looked much bigger and modern than I expected. I then realized that we were outside the city walls. Outside the city walls it is much more modern ( like with Mcdonalds and stuff). We checked into the Hotel Balletti. We had actual keys to our room that you leave at the front desk everytime you leave. Our room key literally made my hand reek of garlic ( this was one of my first realizations that I was in Italy). We headed into the city walls for dinner, by then it was about 10:30 pm Tuesday. I thought it was still Monday. Right when we walked into the actual Citta, I instantly fell in love. It was exactly how I would want it to be. Old buildings, with terraces and clothes lines, and rooftop gardens. Families and friends out walking and gathering in I piazzi. We ate at a really nice outdoor ristorante, I had the best bruschetta and Pizza I have had. The pizza crust is very thin, and everything is so fresh. I am in love with Pomodori (tomatoes). We walked around Viterbo a little bit and I was very excited to be there. I slept until 4 am.
The next day I met everyone else. We got our apartment assignments. I live on Via Mazzini. It is a block up from Il Corso, which is a popular shopping/walking street. There was room mate drama the first day ( I wont go into detail), but everything worked out, and now I love my house. (it is pretty much a house).
I had pizza for lunch, I am in love with pizza. Then we got a tour of the campus. It looks like hogwartz. That evening Kim and I walked around and asked questions to random shop owners, we went into an electronic store and were successful in communicating that we needed a converter. We asked for directions and what time it was. When you ask Italians (or at least in Viterbo) questions, they are eager to help. Especially the older folk. They talk very fast, and are hard to understand. I love that they are so willing to help. We ate at a really good ristorante. I chose a pasta dish that I had never head of, I think it was called pastecherri? It was DELICIOUS. Dining here is very different, and I will explain that another time.
The next day we went to Orientation, and then we went shopping at the IPERCOOP, not ICCERPOOP. It is outside the city walls, it has a walmart type store, and a mall inside. We took the bus back, which was another interesting experience. I walked for days with the heaviest bag in the world. Stand out much? Si.
I ate at a Spaghetteria, which was amazing. It was in the Guinness World Records for the most spaghetti Sauces. There are over 300 to choose from. I asked the waitress to pick one for me that was good, and had pomodori. Mine was very good. Today I had my first Kebab. Which was also an amazing experience. This will end up being a food blog, because I am in love with the food here.