Back in Chicago

The return:
I awoke at 4:40 Italian time on Wednesday, which was 10:40pm on tuesday in Chicago. We left at 5:15, and headed to the airport in Rome. Once there, we said a bitter goodbye to Matt, Garrett, and Annie. The rest of us went on our way, heading to Washington Dulles. As luck would have it, Carissa and I ended up sitting together on the plane, which was so nice. On the ride over to Italy I was sitting between two old men, and it was much less enjoyable.
After 10 hours in the plane, we arrived in DC. We made our way through customs (which went remarkably smoothly) before parting ways and making connections to our home cities. There were a good many tears shed (though not on my part) as we said goodbye to the people we had spent nearly every waking moment with over the last 4 months.
After a 2 hour layover, I hopped on my second flight to Chicago. On that plane ride, I sat next to a nice young man on his way home after 6 months of missions work in S. Africa. We had a nice chat, and before I knew it the plane had landed in Chicago. My dad met me at the airport, and we drove 30 minutes back home. Tara and my mom met me, and as much as I really miss everyone from the program, it was good to be home.
Unfortunately, the jet lag has been a pain. Wednesday night and last night both I woke up at 3am more or less ready to start my day. And by 3 in the afternoon I was ready for bed again. But the adjustment has been getting easier, and I'm slowly getting used to being back in the United States.
The last few months have been some of the best of my life, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. But I'm looking forward to Christmas and meeting up with Gordon in Virginia next week!
Buone Feste, and arrivederci!

Finito

Today is my last full day in Italy. The last three and a half months have been wonderful, unforgettable, and perhaps life changing. While I'm excited to go home, I'm so sad to be leaving this place. I'm leaving with wonderful memories and fantastic friendships, and I couldn't ask for anything else.
Tomorrow we leave at 5:15am, which I'm not looking forward to, and I should arrive in Chicago approximately 22 hours later. Once I get back and settled in I'll add one more update. For now, Italy-it's been a privilege. And now it's time to return.

pictures from the weekend

View of Orvieto from the top of the hill we were on



The ice rink next to the duomo

the final weekend

Our last weekend in Orvieto and things couldn't be better. Megan and I finished working on our group project friday morning, and therefore had the rest of the weekend free. Thursday night Carissa and I started watching the mini series Dinotopia (made about 10 years ago...) and Garrett later joined us. The whole thing is like 6 hours long, so we didn't finish it until today. It's completely cheesy and ridiculous but it was fun anyway.
Last week they set up an ice skating rink next to the duomo, and this weekend it finally opened. So last night most everyone went out ice skating before dinner. We took the Doll kids too (though coming from Israel, they weren't very good at skating). It was a wonderful time, followed by gelato afterward (because it's never too cold for gelato).
Morning came early today, as Carissa, Kate, Garrett, Lexi and I woke up at 6 to watch the sunrise. Now, the sun doesn't rise until after 7, but we were on a mission of epic proportions. We set off at 6:30 and trekked across town, down an elevator to Scalo, and walked (or hiked...) for an hour before arriving at the Cappuccini Monastery across the valley. It was quite the hike up a very steep hill/mountain. But, despite my having an asthma attack and nearly dying, it was beautiful. Nothing could compare to watching the sun come up over an olive grove at the top of a mountain. After an hour of hanging out, we set off back down to Orvieto, stopping for a nutella cornetto at a cafe first.
This afternoon was spent watching Christmas movies and eating macaroni and cheese. Overall, a near perfect day.
I took pictures of both the ice skating and the sunrise this morning, but haven't uploaded them yet, so if you check back tomorrow I should have them posted.

Twosday

Today is Two Times Tuesday. Instead of the usual three hours of class in the morning, we had 6 hours of class. Yes, that's right. The equivalent of 2 weeks of class crammed into one painfully long day. 6 hours of discussing the characters in EM Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread. It was awful.
But it's done, and the rest of the week will be normal class hours.
This is my last full week here, and it's getting crazy. There's so much I'd like to do, but hardly any time to do it.
Last night a few of us went out after dinner, because the Christmas lights were finally turned on and it was absolutely beautiful. Nearly every street is lined with Christmas lights. The whole city was lit up, and there was live music and the shops were open late. It was so much fun.

Thirteen Days.

That's what I've got left. Thirteen days of espresso, 13 days of breakfast cookies and frutti di bosco jam. 13 days of studying literature, 13 days of waking up to fog in the valley. 13 days of Loconda del Lupo, 13 days of cuddle puddles.
Out nearly four months, only 13 days remain.
In the last 94 days, I've grown accustomed to certain things that will be very strange to leave. Like living in a cold 800 year old monastery, and having the heat turned on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening (except for when it breaks and doesn't come on at all...). I've gotten used to living in an Ikea catalog and looking out my window to see a mountain. 3 day weekend are the norm, and reading 3 books a week is not unusual.
As we wind down and begin preparations for the end of the semester, we are all faced with conflicted feelings. While I'm excited to go home and see everyone and spend Christmas with my family, I'm terribly sad to leave everyone and what has become home in the last 3 months. As much as it's nearly impossible, I'm trying not to think about leaving, and concentrate on making the most out of these last days in Italy.
I'm halfway through this last class, and it's been pretty good so far. Very challenging, having as much as 150 pages of reading in one night, but it's interesting. So far we've read Daisy Miller and the Aspern Papers by Henry James, The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and we are currently reading Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster.

Yesterday, a few of us experienced something great: Italian Cinema. Or more precisely...American cinema dubbed in Italian. Laugh all you want, but we went to see Twilight in the theater here. The second in a ridiculously stupid series about vampires, New Moon was just as funny as we had hoped. 7 of us went, and we were the only ones in the theater. It was a good thing, too, since we talked throughout the entire movie. Since we don't speak much Italian, we had knew very little of what was going on in the film, so we just made up what we thought they were saying. It was pretty fun, and let us make use of the little Italian we did know.
Speaking of Italian, our final was yesterday. The class is pass/fail, and it all depends on the final exam. Unfortunately for me (and several others) it was harder than i had imagined. So whether or not I passed is still up in the air...we'll see what happens.

pictures from thanksgiving

The desert served to us: fruit salad in orange baskets

The enormous turkey that served somewhere around 40 people

In Everything I Will Give Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving, and while I'm in Italy, a place where this holiday isn't a holiday at all, I've a few things I'd like to say thanks for.
I am thankful for the circumstances which have brought me to this place. I'm thankful for the bad relationships, I'm thankful for the misery. I'm thankful for the uncertainty, the bad grades, the sickness, the bouts of loneliness, the struggles I went through.
I'm thankful, because without the negative aspects of my life, I would not be able to appreciate the positive ones. Without the bad, there is no good.

Today I am thankful for a positive attitude. I'm thankful for my health, I'm thankful for my family. Today, I thank God for where He's brought me. For surrounding me with people I admire, for allowing me to know them. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here, and for the impact it's had on my life. I'm thankful for my mom, who is always there for me, even when I'm 4,000 miles away. For my dad, who has the uncanny ability to make me laugh. For Tara, whose brilliance and selflessness inspires me, and for Gordon, who shows me that I don't need to have my life planned out to enjoy it. There's of course many more people I thank God for, but I'd need a full length book to name them all.
I thank God that regardless of where I am in my life, I can still thank God.

Today's routine is not much different from any other day here, with the exception of the fact that the restaurant will be serving us their version of an American thanksgiving. I'm not exactly sure what that will entail, but i'm sure it will be good.
Carissa's parents arrived today, and tomorrow we'll be going to Rome with them to hang out and see the Coliseum and whatnot. So that should be fun.

Also, yesterday John scared me and I fell down the stairs a bit and hurt my back. Moral of that story: don't jump out and surprise people. that's how people get hurt.

British and American Writers in Italy

Three days into the new class, and things are looking up. As of yesterday, the majority of the people in the class were stressed to the point of having breakdowns, and no one felt confident that they could do the assigned work on time.
It is a 3 week class, and in that time, we were assigned an average of 150 pages of reading a night (6 novels and a few short stories), 2 essays, a group project, student led discussion days and a final exam essay. On top of that, we have to prepare to leave, while doing our last trips and things before we leave. Confident that I could in no way handle that amount of stress, I talked to our professor yesterday and told her my concerns. She said I would be able to audit the class (take it for no credit) if I wanted to, and I felt good with that decision.
Last night, she reduced the reading by 100 pages, in lieu of the choir rehearsal, concert, and reception that happened last evening. Everyone was grateful, and I was actually able to get all of the reading accomplished. Then this morning in class, we were met with a surprise. Dr. Frankwitz announced in class that she was removing the book Indian Summer from our reading list. While we were all busy thanking God and her for their grace, we were shocked once again, when she continued by saying she would also eliminate the first paper. I glanced around the room in that moment and was met by 11 faces with the same expression I wore on mine: total disbelief, followed by incomparable relief. As it turns out, Dr. Frankwitz realized that the amount of work she had assigned was perfect for a 4 month class, but when compressed into 3 weeks, it was simply impossible.
So now the workload is both doable and enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to a good end to the semester.
Tomorrow is thanksgiving, and we are all anxious to see what meal Mauro will have prepared for us. He'll do his best to put on a Thanksgiving feast, though it will no doubt be quite different than we Americans are used to. Carissa's parents arrive tomorrow, which will be a nice treat, and I'll be going with them to Rome on Friday.

Inferno, Purgatory...finally, Paradise!

It's been a long week (or month...) but it's finally over. The Dante class finished yesterday, and there are still 3 days before the next class starts. It's finally time to relax. Now, it is true that we in the english class were assigned homework for monday, but I'm not thinking about that yet. Clearly the incoming professor is not aware that the weekends in between classes are supposed to be free.
Because I've memorized it, I'd like to share with you what we had to recite for class. It's not that long, but you try reading it, let alone memorizing it. It's not so easy.

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
che la diritta via era smarrita.

Ahi quanto a dir qual era e cosa dura
esta selva selvaggio e aspra e forte
che nel pensier rinova la paura!

Tant'e amara che poco e piu morte;
ma per trattar del ben ch'i'vi trovai,
diro de l'altre cose ch'iv'ho scorte.

Io non so ben ridir com' i' v'intrai,
tant' era pien di sonno a quel punto
che la verace via abbandonai.

Ma poi ch'i' fui al pie d'un colle giunto,
la dove terminava quella valle
che m'avea di paura il cor compunto,

guardai in alto e vidi le sue spalle
vestite gia de' raggi del pianeta
che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle.

Now you may be wondering what relevance there is in knowing 18 lines of classical Italian. I'll tell you a secret...THERE IS NONE. I know virtually no Italian, so it's comparable to someone who knows no modern English memorizing Shakespeare or Chaucer. Completely useless.
But if ever, in the middle of your life's journey, you find yourself lost in the middle of a dark wood and care to express that in classical Italian, i can help you out.

Today was a much needed day of relaxation. I stayed up pretty late hanging out with Kate and Garrett and then slept in later than usual. Megan and I had some breakfast and then watched Studio 60 for a bit before talking a walk before lunch. After lunch it was a couple more episodes of Studio 60 and then a two hour nap (which was completely accidental). I'm incredibly thankful for the chance to rest.
The new art teacher arrived today, but I haven't met her yet, and the new english teacher will come in tomorrow.

Tuesday

Yesterday morning I woke up at 7, and Becky, Annie, Kate and I worked out until 7:45. After a quick shower and a breakfast of french toast, we tidied up. Today the monastery had to be extra clean and presentable because the bishop and mayor were coming to visit. They arrived at 9, when class started, so we began our class without our teacher, since Dr Skillen was giving them a tour. At 9:30, they came into the classroom, and after a brief discourse on the goings on of our class, the bishop blessed us, praying that we would use our intellect to the glory of God (or something along those lines). Skillen of course had us recite the opening lines of the Inferno in Italian for them just to show off.
A bit after that both classes got to go down to the Refectory and talk a bit with the bishop and mayor over some refreshments.
Yesterday was a beautiful day, but unfortunately, almost all of it was spent inside studying. Our exam was today, and since Skillen has a habit of going on tangential rants during class, none of us had any idea what we were supposed to be studying.
At 6:45, we presented our group project, which was a combination of mini lectures and a game show/skit and discussion. While the preparation for it was a lot of work, the actual presentation was pretty fun. The game show was called "Judgment Day" and had 3 mini games within it called Where in the hell is Dante?, in which contestants had to guess which circle of hell Dante was in, based on what was acted out. The second round was called Damn Right, a game in which a damned soul's sins were presented and contestants had to send them to the right circle of hell. The last game was Fit the Crime, and contestants had to label the appropriate sin and give sinners the correct punishment, according to Dante's Divine Comedy.
That went over well though, and everyone was pretty happy since we got to have cake and wine.
Dinner was pizza night, and while I love pizza, it was unfortunate because pizza night always runs long. Last night especially so, since it was Eli's birthday and they served cake and Mauro sang to him. Finally, at around 9:30 we headed back to the monastery, but before we could study, we had a quick choir practice. It was after 10 before I started my studying, and it was the start of a long night.
I don't know what relevance it will hold in the future, but if you ever want to know what happens in the first 11 cantos of the Inferno, Purgatorio, or Paradiso, I'd be happy to inform you.
Tomorrow we will recite the first 18 lines of The Inferno in Italian, and after that this class will finally be done. The new teachers arrive this weekend, and no one will be sad to see the end of Skillen's Dante class. Monday begins British and American Writers in Italy, taught by the chair of the Gordon English department.

Olive Harvest!

Today we got up, and after a hearty breakfast of cocoa puffs, we crammed 13 people into a 10 person vehicle, and took off to the country. We went to the farm of a nice old man named Sergio and his wife to help them harvest their olive trees. It was a ton of fun. We set up nets underneath the trees and then started picking. Unlike the vendemia where we had to taste the grapes and only cut the good ones, today we picked all the olives without tasting them. If you didn't know, olives straight from the tree are disgusting. We climbed on very tall, very old ladders to get the olives at the very top. If you know me, you know I'm afraid of heights..but I managed just fine on the ladders (or in Italian, scala).


John was kind enough to bring his guitar along and play for us while we picked. Sergio and his wife prepared lunch for us, which was delicious. We had penne pasta and bread with white wine for the first course, followed by wild boar, cheese, potatoes, and sausage with red wine for the second course. Then came salad, finished off with biscuits. After the harvest, we were served more wine, with the option to have grappa or brandy as well (none of which I had any of).
By 5pm we were tuckered out and ready to go, but I think everyone had a wonderful time.

Also, yesterday I talked to Dr Skillen and convinced him to cut the last 12 lines that we had to memorize. Now we only have to memorize the first 18 lines of the Inferno! Grazie mille, professori!

Tuesday

Last week we had to write a paper on Dante in conversation with Virgil. This week, we have to write a paper on Dante in conversation with Signorelli as seen in the San Brizio chapel. We also have to work on our group project, while studying for our test and memorizing 30 lines of the Inferno. The fun just never stops...



As promised, here is the picture of the Purgatory cake we made for John's birthday. The flags label each of the 7 layers, with the earthly paradise on top. A masterpiece, to say the least. And yes, I look extremely excited to be in this picture

Remember, Remember

Remember, remember the fifth of November
The gunpowder, treason, and plot
I know of no reason
why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!
Today is also known as paper writing day...and it's not incredibly fun. For the Dante class, we have to write a 5 page paper on Virgil as Guide for Dante's Divine Comedy. It's rather complicated and I don't really understand it, but with any luck, it'll get written soon.

Kate and I have started a workout routine in the evenings, and have gathered a bit of a following. While we all look like idiots doing "Turbo Jams," a group of us have been getting fit. With all the pasta we eat here, it's a wonder we aren't all rolly-polly by now.

Nothing much eventful has happened here recently. The other night at dinner they gave us two desserts, which was the highlight of the week. For the most part, life is pretty calm. The weather's been decent but very rainy. The heat was turned on this week for the first time, which has been lovely. With a monastery this huge, warmth is rare and we usually have to bundle in layers just to sit at a desk and do homework.
Tonight we'll be watching V for Vendetta on the big screen in honor of Guy Fawkes' Day, which should be fun. Only one person on the program had any idea who Guy Fawkes was, so today was a learning experience. It's my third favourite holiday, after Christmas and St. Patrick's Day.

happy birthday and halloween

Friday morning a few of us spent the morning making a cake. It took 4 times the normal amount of cake, but in a few short hours we had created a Mt. of Purgatory cake for John. We gave it to him on his birthday Saturday and he was overjoyed.
There's a story behind it, don't worry. We don't just make cakes on random subjects involving purgation... In the first class in September, John was my partner for our group projects. Our project was on purgatory, and in order to help us remember what happened in each canto, John wrote a little ditty. It caught on and by the end of the month, everyone knew the Dante song. So in light of that, John's birthday cake was a 7 layer cake, each level holding a little flag, one for each of the 7 deadly sins. There were also two little pirate-looking figures for Dante and Virgil and a tree on top. It was pretty awesome. I'll post a picture when I have one.

Halloween was yesterday, and of course, we all dressed up. Carissa and I originally thought about bringing back our 80s costumes, but Kate gave us a much better idea. We decided to dress up as Sergiy and Angela (a couple in our group). I was Sergiy and Carissa was Angela. We may or may not have snuck into their rooms and stolen some of their clothes for that costume.... Carissa even fashioned a small hoop earring for Angie's nose ring. It was pretty impressive.
We went to dinner dressed in our costumes, and of course got a lot of inquisitive looks. Halloween isn't really big in Italy. Hannah dressed as Leonardo, the waiter at the restaurant, which of course he loved.
After dinner, we had a little party. We got mulled apple cider, raisin bread, and apple pie, had a dance party and enjoyed a showing of Carissa's and my music video that we made at the beginning of the semester (on the big screen of course). Carissa, Garrett and I finished the evening off with a viewing of Vampire Diaries (appropriate for the holiday).
I do believe I consumed more sugar yesterday than I had during the entire two months previous. But it was a lot of fun.

A Trip to the Doctor's

Sunday when I got up, my foot was a little sore. I ignored it and went on with my day. That night it was very much sore, and I didn't know why. When I woke up yesterday morning, it was swollen, red and quite painful. Laura (the RA) gave me some anti-inflammatory cream for it and I went to bed that night hoping it would be better by morning. However, when I woke up this morning, the pain was so bad I could hardly walk. So Laura came and picked me up this afternoon and we went to the Doctor's office. After over an hour of waiting in a little room packed with old Italians, I finally got my 5 minutes. After examining my foot, he asked me if I wore flip flops, and I said yes. Turns out that's what caused all this pain. So I was instructed to wear my birkenstocks this week and put ice on my foot a couple times a day.
So that was today's adventure. Not all that exciting really.

(not your average) Venetian Adventure

Friday the 23rd
Everyone in the monastery, with the exception of Hannah, Carissa, and myself, had left before 8am on Friday. One group went to Florence, one to Cinque Terre, and another to Perugia. Our train didn't leave til 11:50, so we had a nice morning here getting things ready. When we left, it was pouring, but luckily we were on a train so it didn't affect us much. On the train, Hannah and her excellent Italian befriended Maria, an older Italian woman. The picture here is of Hannah reading The Little Prince in Italian and Maria helping her with pronunciation.
We arrived in Venice at around 5pm. Rene Seindal, my contact there, met us at the station. Because of the Vaporetto (waterbus) strike, we had to walk through the town to San Marco Square, where we were able to board a Vaporetto to The Lido where Rene lives. That evening we went out with Rene for drinks and then for dinner, which was nice. At dinner, he ordered us two appetizer plates of "antipasto pesce" which was basically a seafood taster dish.
I would like everyone to know that I ate squid, smoked salmon, sardines, and prawns. If you know me at all, you know that's not something I'd normally do. It was certainly interesting.

Saturday the 24th
Kayaking! In the morning, we got some pastries for breakfast and then walked down to the beach. It was beautiful. At 1, we left with Rene, got a gelato, and headed down to the other end of The Lido where the kayaks were. We were on the water by about 2pm. We got to take a roundabout route to Venice, through marshlands and such. When we finally got to the city, we were met by three british travel writers/photographers. They were writing for an airline magazine, doing a big article on Venice and were including Venice Kayak in it.
We paddled through canals for a few hours (which was just gorgeous) until it got dark. At one point, we stopped in the Grand Canal and were able to listen to an old man on a gondola singing Volare, accompanied by an accordian.
We stopped at around 7 for dinner at a local restaurant, where Hannah and Rene both got spaghetti with squid and black ink sauce...which was interesting.
After that, we headed back into the kayaks, geared up with paddling jackets, headlamps, and glowsticks. Which was awesome. We got to paddle down the Grand Canal at night which was beautiful.
By the time we made it back to The Lido and got the boats out of the water, it was midnight. By the end of the day we were absolutely exhausted and sore, but very happy. It was a wonderful day of paddling and a terrific experience.
Sunday we took our time getting ready, and wandered around the city before heading back to Orvieto. Where, of course, Hannah befriended another old Italian woman, who gave her her number so Hannah could come visit.
When we got back, we met Michelle Arnold, the new painting teacher.

Dante with John Skillen started this morning...and I'd just like to say, I miss Julia Kasdorf. The poetry class was vacation compared to this:
2 papers, a group presentation, a test, and 30 lines of text to be memorized IN ITALIAN. It's gonna be a long couple of weeks. Ah well. They don't call it Inferno for nothing.

The End of Poetry and a Lack of Sleep

The second course has ended. Poetry and Ekphrasis with our dear Julia Kasdorf is no more. In the course of 4 weeks, we read ekphrastic works from Homer to Browning, and created 8 poems of our own. From those 8, we chose 5 to revise, and 3 of those revisions will be put in an anthology. Tonight we're having a poetry reading for the other students and staff. It's been a good class, and we had a lot of fun in it.
And then there's the saga of the art students... The students in Matt's drawing class are all either sleeping, or wishing they were. Their final project wasn't assigned til a few days ago, and it was a big undertaking. They were supposed to draw a scene from Orvieto, and it had to be big. Several of them are taller than I am, and much wider. Because of the size and detail of their work, 7 out of 12 of the students were up all night working on them. I woke up at 7 to find that Annie wasn't in her bed. I wandered downstairs to see if I could find her, and I discovered a whole slew of people who hadn't slept yet. Their drawings are beautiful, but needless to say they are all exhausted.

Tomorrow morning, Carissa, Hannah and I will leave for Venice. We'll be met by Rene Seindal, a kayaking contact of mine, who will be putting us up for the weekend. He'll be taking us kayaking, which will be wonderful (though probably cold) and showing us around the city. I'd say there's not much better than a virtually free weekend in Venice. If we're lucky, we might also get to take part in a Venetian rowing session. We'll see how it goes.
When we return, Dr. Skillen will be here again, preparing to commence the third class of the semester: Dante. It'll be a big change from writing poetry, but hopefully a good one.

ROMA take two

Friday morning, 6:15am: The 10 of us left the monastery, boarded a bus, and headed down to the station. Matteo met us at the station in Rome and we boarded another bus. Our first stop was cathedral that I can't remember the name of. It was pretty incredible though. The roof was painted in such a way so that the perspective was perfect as long as you were average height standing from a certain view. The figures looked like they were coming out of the ceiling, and it was hard to distinguish the painting from the actual architecture of the building. It was pretty magnificent.
From there, we visited two more churches before ending up in what Matt calls "the most beautiful piazza in the world" (the picture above). At 11:30 we met up with the art students for lunch, before heading over to the Vatican Museum. It was a joyous reunion, having been without them for far too long.
Vatican City was nice, but I didn't see the pope, which was really sad. I found a fresco with a picture of a chubby little pope guy, that was the closest I got. see:The sistine chapel was impressive, but not as awesome as I'd imagined. I preferred the church we were in earlier that day. But regardless, it was still pretty great.
After the sistine chapel, the poetry students split off from the art class and began our journey back home. We walked to the center of the city to the gelateria we went to the first time we went to Rome. I got limoncello, orange, and grapefruit and it was delicious. Our train back to Orvieto left around 7pm. It was pretty full, so the group didn't sit together. Kate, Becky, John and I rode together in one of the glassed in sections. along with some random old guy. We spent most of the ride talking about our favourite books and movies, which was lovely.
After a busy day walking around the city, we were all pretty tired. I went to bed around 10, and spent the next 6 hours mostly not sleeping. I'm not sure why but I felt deathly ill and spent a good portion of the night on the bathroom floor. I woke up around 7...so today I was pretty tired.
The art students came back at around 12:30, and it's good to have them back. It was getting a little too quiet around here without Carissa.

October's not warm

The art class left this morning at 6 for Rome, where they'll be til Saturday. It's pretty weird not having them here...it's so quiet. While they're spending 4 days drawing in Rome, we're still writing poems. Tonight we will welcome the arrival of Wallis Wilde-Menozzi, a poet and author who lives in Parma. She'll be sitting in on our workshop tomorrow, giving her expert opinion on our poems. It'll be interesting to hear from an American writer who's lived in Italy for nearly 30 years.
Two nights ago we were all given down comforters, and it would seem they arrived just in time. The October air is not as warm as it has been, and at nights it gets downright freezing. I have no right to complain (not that I want to) seeing that GC in Wenham has already had their fair share of snow. The weather here is pleasantly brisk..but definitely cold enough to require slippers and sweatshirts when walking around the convent. From what I'm told, I understand it will be getting a lot colder in the upcoming weeks and months. Coming from Michigan/Massachusetts will make it considerably easier. I have pity for the Californians who think 50 degrees is cold. They're certainly in for a shock.

Pisa

By thursday night around 11pm, Garrett had still not decided if he was going to accompany us to Pisa, due to his illness. The matter took forever to resolve, but eventually he decided that it would be wiser if he stayed behind. We were ok with that, except for the fact that our hostel had 5 beds, and with him not coming, it was going to be more expensive. Sometime before midnight, we found a perfect solution. Marcela and Maria Raquel were also going to Pisa, and hadn't booked a place to stay yet, so they came with us.
Friday morning we left the convent at 7:45, along with Erika, who was going to Florence. We got to Florence by 11, and we in Pisa by 12:30. After some issues finding the bus stop, we arrived at our "camping village" around 1:30. Our hostel turned out to be not a hostel, but a "maxi-caravan," also known as a trailer. We were pretty much in an Italian trailer park, but it was awesome. Our little camper had a full kitchen, a bathroom and shower, and 2 bedrooms...into which they crammed 4 beds. It's a good thing Garrett didn't come since one of the beds was a full bed (Marcela and Raquel stayed in that one). Kate, Carissa, and I stayed in the other room and I have never in my life seen such tiny beds. Also, like most things in Pisa, my bunk was leaning. It was a little scary, but not bad.
After we got settled, we set out in search of food. We found a cafe in town, and I got a ham and cheese pita type sandwich and a 20 oz bottle of coke, trying not to spend too much money. However, when I paid for it, I discovered that the coke was 6 euros, and my meal cost me 12. Life lesson right there...always check prices before buying.
We moseyed on down to the tower, and hung out there for a couple hours. We didn't climb it though, opting to save those 15 euros for something better. We got some gelato down by the river, and to our dismay, as we started walking back it began to rain. By the time we walked back by the tower it was raining so hard that it was nearly impossible to walk. We tried waiting it out under an awning, but it didn't appear as though it would let up any time soon. So we made a run for it..and got completely soaked.
On the way back to our little home, we stopped at PAM, which is pretty much Pisa's second biggest attraction. It's a normal sized grocery store. Italy has something against supermarkets, and almost all grocery stores are tiny little markets. This one was the size of a Shaw's, or any normal supermarket back home. There were road signs for Pam...that's how big a deal it was.
When we got back, we made some dinner and spent the evening watching Psych, while the thunderstorm continued outside.
This morning it was still raining so we decided to cut our trip short and leave as soon as we were ready. Our train from Florence to Orvieto was scheduled for 6pm, but when we got there at 1 we just hopped on the next train heading to Orvieto. We knew we had the wrong tickets, so we were a little nervous when the ticket checker came through our cabin. However, luck was on our side and the ticketman was a good looking fella in his 20s, and we were 3 pretty american girls. Needless to say, he let us stay on the train.
Clear skies greeted us in Orvieto a couple hours later, and it felt good to be back.

heyo epidemic

The hives continue, but become more bearable. That was the least of our worries in the monastery today. Yesterday, a couple of people were feeling a little sick, but no one really thought much of it. Last night, Garrett and Sergiy threw up, but were supposedly feeling better when they went to bed. I went to sleep around 11, thinking nothing more of the matter. However, I woke to discover that during the night, 4 people had gotten sick. 3 had thrown up, and poor Garrett was up half the night puking. This morning he had a fever of 104, and while Sergiy was not quite as bad, they both spent most of the day in bed. Megan left class after about 10 minutes due to sickness and Becky missed part of it for the same reason as well. It was beginning to look like a case of the flu had hit San Paolo. However, by 4 this afternoon, most everyone was feeling better. Becky and Danielle are off to London, and things are starting to look up around here.
Tomorrow morning we'll board the 8:16 train and head to Pisa til Saturday night. After the stress of writing sonnets (ugh) this week, I'm ready for a nice break, free from class. I have a newfound respect for writers of sonnets...I never before realized just how hard writing 14 lines of iambic pentameter was. It's very difficult. So, 3 cheers for a sonnet-free weekend!

Beans, beans, the wonderful fruit...

...The more you eat them, the more you break out in hives....
Yes, that’s right folks. I have developed a severe allergy to beans. I thought that I got hives because of the red wine, but it would seem that is not the case. That night at dinner we had some sort of lasagna type dish with beans, and last night we had a soup with beans in it. Last night was the third time and the restaurant has now been warned not to serve beans to me again. It would also seem that I have adverse reactions to benadryl, since 14 hours after i took it, I was still completely out of it and unable to sit up. Also my arms and legs went sorta numb. so...not doing that again

Anyway
Julia is stepping up our homework load in lieu of the fact that the art students have mountains of homework each day. I think she was feeling a little guilty for giving us little homework. So now we have to write a poem a day and do 20 minutes of freewriting a day on top of whatever else we had. Which is still not a huge amount of homework, so it's ok.

Would you like to know what has been filling our free time lately? Well, let me tell you.
VAMPIRES!
It started with our viewing of Twilight, which for those of you who don't know, is a terrible vampire movie that is grossly popular. We watched it, made fun of it, and then watched it again. It was great. Then Carissa stumbled upon a terrific new show called The Vampire Diaries...which makes Twilight look like an Oscar winner for best picture. It's terrible, but also slightly addicting...so we've been watching it.
Other than that, nothing much is new around here. Yesterday Kate, Carissa, Garrett and I went to the travel agent and booked our tickets to Pisa, where we'll be spending the weekend. Going there was a pretty random decision, and honestly I don't think there's anything there except the leaning tower...but if anyone knows of other attractions, let me know. At any rate, we'll see the tower, ride some mopeds, eat some pizza and have a good time.

VENDEMIA and allergies

Vendemia: the grape harvest
In chapter meeting on thursday, Matt informed us that we would be leaving for the vineyard around 9am, so we were all prepared for that. But friday night, we discovered that our train left at 8:30, so we had to leave the monastery at 7:45. Needless to say, there was disgruntlement surrounding this discovery. But by 7:50, our entire group was on its way to the Foniculare and by 9am we were at the vineyard.
The winery is owned by an older couple, probably in their early 70s, who are originally from Holland. They lived in other countries before moving to Italy, and the woman speaks 5 different languages--impressive. She and her husband showed us how to properly pick the grapes, weeding out the bad ones. We spent the morning picking (and tasting) the grapes, with a break around 11, and lunch at 1. The process of selecting the good grapes involves cutting out moldy, shriveled, or unripe grapes from the bunch, tasting one from each bunch to ensure it has a good taste, and putting them in a bucket. The bad ones get thrown on the ground. Or at people.
We had about an hour break for lunch, and then continued picking til about 4. Then we went through the process of destemming the grapes before they went into the vat to ferment. After that was done and the machine had been cleaned, it was time for the tasting. We had three types of wine (all red)-a lower end one, a medium, and premium wine. I disliked them all equally and had some fizzy grapefruit juice to wash them down. We took the train home around 7, went to dinner, and then retired for the night.
And that's when I discovered something:
HIVES.
I was allergic to either something I ate at dinner or the wine/grapes and I broke out in hives. I took some benadryl and went to sleep, and thought that would be the end of it. However, when I woke up this morning, it was worse. So my sunday went much like this: hives, benadryl, chaos, sleepy nonsense, hives, benadryl, sleep, hives....
It was interesting. Hopefully that will be done now, and just in case, I think I'll avoid eating that many grapes for a while.

I'll upload more pictures later--the internet is very slow today and won't allow me to upload them now.

Dove Ammna??

Yesterday for our poetry class, Julia had us go up to the Duomo and write for a while. The assignment was to write a poem on the facade of the building, incorporating something overheard while we were writing (a phrase from a tour guide, perhaps). All was going well as Becky and I sat on a bench looking at the Duomo, and we saw a young man talking to Eli on the steps. After a while, we watched as this man walked over and began talking to Hannah on the other side of the steps. He was talking to her for quite a while and when it was time to leave, I went over to give her her bag and head back to the monastery. As I walked up, this gentleman turns to me, says "nice to meet you!" and gives me a handshake. He then tells me that his name is Francesco, and he would like my facebook and/or messenger information. After a lot of polite rejection and impolite perseverance on his part, we finally managed to leave. Those Italian men sure are persistent.
Well, we forgot about him and went on with our lives. Today, after lunch we had Italian class, and before it got started, Matteo addressed the group with this statement: "this will be your last Italian class." We were a little confused, when he continued, "your Italian is getting a little too good. because now we are getting boys coming to the monastery wanting to see you and hang out with you..."
He goes on to tell a little story about how while we were at lunch today, someone buzzed at the door. Matt answered the intercom and asked if there was a package, and a man answered "yes, I have package for...Ammna." So of course, Matt goes downstairs to open the door. But what he is met with is not a man delivering a package...no no...It is dear Francesco, here to see Ammna, with the blonde hair and the big glasses, "she very smile." Poor Hannah had been a little too friendly while talking to him yesterday and had told him where we lived, so he had come to call on her. BAD DECISION. Matt had to tell him he wasn't allowed to hang out in the monastery and had sent him away.
We didn't realize just how persistent the men here are. Lesson learned.
In other news, classes are going well, as is life in general here. Last night after dinner, Matt played the movie Heima for us on the big screen downstairs (with a superb sound system). If you haven't heard of the film, you should move that to the top of your to-do list. It's a documentary on the band Sigur Ros, and it's beautiful.
I CAN'T WAIT TIL SATURDAY
I will certainly devote a post and several pictures to this on sunday, but this saturday we are going to be harvesting grapes all day. An older couple, friends of the program, own a vineyard nearby and will be harvesting the crops this week and we get to help. We'll pick and eat a ton of grapes, we'll learn how to tell which ones are good and the correct way of harvesting them, we'll work the de-stemming machine, and then clean it, and be served some great Italian food by the couple who runs the vineyard. A true Italian experience...it should be fun.

Day 26: Relaxation

September 27th
I awoke this morning at 9:30, which is really late for me, and made some eggs. After I took my time getting ready for the day, I spent the morning leisurely reading. Around noon, Carissa, Annie and I prepared lunch. We went to the grocery store yesterday and got bread, cheese, tomatoes, wine and fruit. The three of us, along with Christine and John, had a picnic in a park down the street overlooking the countryside below. Apart from the bees (John's allergic) it was a very pleasant picnic. One thing to mention about eating here is the amount of olive oil we consume is just ridiculous. I'm not entirely sure if it's healthy or not...but it sure tastes good. Anyway, after we enjoyed our delicious food and wonderful conversation, we moseyed on back to the monastery and began an afternoon of Mao: the most ridiculous card game to ever be played. After a few hours of yelling "thank you, you beautiful man," naming beatles, jumping for jacks and making up lies about our personal history...we had laughed so much our throats hurt. For any who haven't played that game before...put it on the top of your to-do list. It's a lot of fun.
A little over half our group was gone this weekend. Since we had no homework, it was a good opportunity to travel. Some of them are back now, others will trickle in at various times this evening. But all will be welcomed tonight by a wonderful rarity here in Italy: chocolate chip cookies. Christine, with the help of a few students, took it upon herself to provide delicious baked goods for us--for which we are eternally grateful.
Tomorrow morning begins poetry. Although we're all a little sad the weekend is over, the prospect of a month of a new subject is exciting. Hopefully it'll live up to expectations

Day 24: Pirates

Friday was Ronan's (Matt's son) birthday party and it was pirate themed and it was awesome. I woke up early in the morning to finish my paper and by 10am I was free from all homework. I helped Matt's wife, Shirona, with birthday preparations and the party started at 4:30. It was a most joyous occasion. Carissa painted tattoos on everybody, Shirona made the coolest cake ever and it was fun all around. The party, though technically for a 4 year old's birthday, was also a celebration of the end of our renaissance studies class. After dinner a few of us went out for a celebratory glass of wine (of which i did not partake). it's seems like a sin to be in italy and not enjoy wine..but i don't. a nice cone of gelato however...i'm all over that.
Julia Kasdorf arrived today with her 7 year old daughter. She will be teaching the next class, poetry and ekphrasis. I haven't actually met her yet, so I have no idea what she's like. her class starts on monday, so we'll see then.

Day 22: The Insanity Sets In

This week has been crazy. We have now finished our first class, Renaissance Studies. Wednesday was our test. We had to memorize 80 paintings, but were only testing on 50, which was nice. Today we had our presentations, which went pretty well but took up almost 4 hours. The only thing left is the paper, which will hopefully be finished soon, then on to an entire weekend of blessed sweet FREEDOM.
The above picture is a fairly accurate example of what happens when we are forced to study for hours and hours and hours and our brains can't handle it so we just kind of freak out. It's a pretty common occurrence.
Other insanity lately has included La Cena: dinner. Last night we had pizza for dinner. The process of bringing out 5 pizzas to us took over an hour and a half. After 4 pizzas, we thought for sure dinner was over. We were completely stuffed, so we stacked our plates and prepared to leave. but then! MORE PIZZA. everyone looked at the plate doubtfully, knowing there was very little chance any of that pizza would fit into our extremely full tummies.
Being the adventurous one that I am, I grabbed a slice, said "No challenge is to great for me!" and took a bite. The others followed suit, and 5 minutes later we had so much food inside us we didn't know what to do.
and then
CAKE! yes. after eating that much pizza, i proceeded to eat a piece of chocolate cake. It's a crazy miracle I'm not an enormous person...but by some sweet blessing, I am not.
Carissa also had a bit of a water drinking contest and chugged 6 glasses of water in succession...
We're in desperate need of a break.
Speaking of, this weekend's activities will consist of:
watching movies
sleeping
eating
reading
sleeping
watching movies
eating
writing
walking
reading
sleeping
IT WILL BE AMAZING. but first: the paper.
andiamo.

Day 21: crunch time.

As September begins to end, so does our Renaissance Studies class. And with it, comes the pressure every student knows well: finals. While most college students are a mere quarter of the way through their semester, we've had the equivalent of 4 months of this class, compressed into 3 weeks. Tensions are not as high as one might think, considering that 22 students must memorize 80 paintings and over 50 terms, write a paper on a piece of art from the renaissance, and prepare and give a group presentation on elements from the Orvieto Duomo...all in 3 days.
My paper is on Donatello's Mary Magdalene statue, and while it's challenging, I've enjoyed researching it, so it really hasn't been that stressful (of course, I haven't finished it yet). I'm paired with John for my presentation, and we must research the presence of Dante's purgatory in the frescoes in the San Brizio chapel in town. This would have been much less enjoyable were John not such a gifted musician and entertainer. While studying in the Sala last evening, John whipped out his ukelele and began his narration of Purgatorio in musical form. The tune caught on, and every now and then you might hear the sounds of "Dante......Dante......" drifting through the corridors.
On the whole, finals week is not that bad here. And even if it were, I feel that the fact that I'm surrounded by the Italian countryside would make it enjoyable. Nothing seems quite so bad when you can look out your window past the tufa cliffs and see the mountains rising in the distance. This place is magical, and I adore it more with every day I spend here.

Days 17-19: Florence

Last Friday morning we left our beloved San Paolo at 7:45am, hopped on the Foniculare and rode down the mountain to the train station, where we were thrilled to discover that our train had been delayed by 35 minutes. After a quick jaunt over to the cafe for cappuccinos, our train eventually came and we set out for Florence. 3 merry hours later, we stepped out onto the smelly streets of Firenze, as it is so lovingly called here in Italy. Within a minute we were hit with a barrage of street vendors, trying to sell us everything from runoffs of paintings that weren't even good the first time, to scarves and remote control cars. Florence is a tourist town, and the local vendors take full advantage of it. We walked down the street, over the river (through the woods) and eventually ended up at our hostel. A set of bolted wooden doors, a hallway, and another bolted door led us to our destination: The Gould Institute. (where you can check out any time you want...but never leave?)
The name was a little sketchy, but the hostel was actually pretty nice. We were there for 2 nights, and our 3 days there were jam packed full of activity.
Friday afternoon, we had a nice stroll around the town, visiting Or San Michele, Palazzo Vecchio, the Baptistery and the Duomo. The evening was spent walking from the center of the city all the way up to San Miniato, where this picture was taken from.

The walk was a little bit insane, but meeting Fra Bernardo at the top and getting a tour of the cathedral was wonderful. Bernardo is a monk there, and we had the privilege of listening to him sing a little monk song which was great. (Just to clarify, it wasn't a song about a monk...just the monk singing a song).

Saturday was spent at the bargello museum, the medici palazzo chapel, santa maria novella, the brancacci chapel, and santa trinita. I'd go into what all those places are, but it'd take too long. Let's just say it was a very busy day.
Sunday we set out in the morning to see the Museo San Marco, but it was closed, so that idea went out the window. We then went to the museo dell'opera del duomo, which was fascinating, then had lunch in town before heading back to the train station. An hour ride took us to Arezzo, where the movie Life Is Beautiful was filmed, and we saw Piero della Francesca's frescoes. We were then caught in a thunderstorm, and arrived back in Orvieto tired, damp, and exhausted.
Overall it was an enjoyable weekend.
Carissa and I found awesome star trek glasses in one of the markets..pretty cool.

Rain, Bonnie Tyler, and Tiramisu

September 17
After 4 days of rain, the sun is finally out. And as beneficial as rain is, I'm sure glad the storms have stopped. The past few days have been fairly uneventful, with the exception of a few events. The first occurred this past sunday. After awaking, disheartened, to a lack of syrup for my french toast, I needed something to brighten my day. And after a boring breakfast and a walk through town, my day was certainly made bright. For what did I find? not syrup..no...it was something far greater. Something that brings joy to the ears of all who hear it...happiness to the hearts of all its listeners. That's right folks. Total Eclipse of the Heart. Carissa and I spent all of sunday morning making a music video to that song, and spent the evening editing it to perfection. It began as a birthday present for my friend Liz back at school, but we had so much fun making it that we couldn't help but share it with the other students at San Paolo. And for all you wonderful people out there, he's the link so you too can share in the wondrous joy that is Bonnie Tyler. <- click that ok.
Anyway. That was sunday afternoon. Sunday night we had a birthday party for our dear sweet Hannah, who turned 22 on Saturday. And I've never been to heaven...but I'm fairly certain heaven tastes something like the tiramisu we had after dinner that night. It was simply divine. Laura, the Italian RA here, is going to teach us all how to make it so we can bring the heavenly happiness back to the states with us.
Other than that, it's just been class, homework, food, and more food. Which is just fine by me. Tomorrow we leave for Florence for 3 days, which will no doubt be 3 full days of insanity. I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Community Life: Puzzles and Karaoke

Today's post will focus on our life as a tight-knit community in San Paolo, and in Orvieto. For example, I'm sure many of you are wondering what exactly it is we do with our free time. The answer? KARAOKE.
Here, we see Eli, Becky, and Erika singing the YMCA on the street by Laconda del Lupa (our restaurant). I believe the person we don't see back there is Annie, but who knows.
Most of the group joined in, at the very least from the sidelines, for this merry time of singing and embarrassment. The Italians seemed to like our enthusiasm, and it provided great entertainment for all.
Karaoke, believe it or not, is not an every day occurrence for us. This particular night was the "shopping under the stars" event. Stores stayed open in town until 1am, with live music in different locations all over the city. The town was buzzing with people, and the music varied from unbearable hits of the 80s to Italian instrumental tunes.
Todi, Hannah, and Carissa listened to a nice guitar duet until the Axl Rose wannabe started staring at us. Then we promptly left.
Hanging out in the town is a leisure activity frequently enjoyed here. However, an equally popular time-killer is the Sala. And in the sala: puzzles.

The first puzzle to be completed was the controversial "kitten" puzzle. The amount of puzzle-doing time was about equal to the amount of complaining-about-how-awful-the-puzzle-is time. Apparently, the kitten was not up to par for these puzzle professionals. So, once that was completed, "the philosophers" began. A 1000 piece puzzle that apparently, was far superior to the last one. By the second day, about 60% of it was done. Above is a picture of the puzzlers hard at work on the philosophers puzzle. I feel like I've used the word puzzle far too many times in the last few minutes, but there really are no synonyms for puzzle, as far as I know. Anyway, those are the fun shenanigans that go on around here. It's a great group of people and we spend most of our time together, which is fun. The community we have here is very unlike a normal college setting, in that whether we are in class, in the library, in our rooms, the kitchen, the sala, or pretty much anywhere...we're never more than 50 feet apart. It gives us a good chance to really get to know one another.

Day 10: Siena

September 11
Thursday night we were served some very interesting, and somewhat unidentifiable, food for dinner. And it would seem that one of these unknown dishes gave me an allergic reaction. I'd hazard a guess and say it was the strange fishy orange stuff on toast that did it... Anyway, whatever it was, it caused me to be up almost all night, so when I got up at 6 on Friday morning, I was a little less than chipper. We drove about an hour to some monastery by a hill somewhere...I wasn't really paying attention to where we were. We picnicked there before heading to Siena. I was barely conscious for the first half of the day. Dr. Skillen brought us to the town hall in Siena and talked for half an hour about Lorenzetti's Allegory of Good Government painting. Interesting though it was, I could not for the life of me focus. I was having trouble not falling asleep on the bench.
In Siena we saw the town hall, the duomo, and a few other buildings. The duomo was magnificent, but a little too ornate for my taste. Also, it is now solely a museum, which makes the experience less satisfying. The duomo in Orvieto still has mass every sunday, which gives it a more traditional and genuine feel.
On the ride back Matteo let us listen to the radio, and we were amazed by Italian radio's fascination with american 80s music. Overall it was a fun day, though exhausting. The rest of my weekend will be spent studying. In about a week and a half, I must have the details of 80 paintings memorized, as well as about 50 other terms, a paper written, and 2 projects completed. With each day that goes by, the stress level raises a bit. It'll be interesting to see how everyone does in the next couple weeks.

Day 8: The Studious Life

September 9
Classes began on Tuesday, with a slide show on the uses of art and a lot of the basics of our course, which is taught by Dr. Skillen. For the next three weeks he'll be teaching us all about art and architecture in the renaissance period. On Wednesday we had class in the morning, and a mix of homework, napping, talking, and wandering around town filled up the afternoon. The afternoons are typically dedicated to homework and studying, though they are most often spent doing completely unproductive activities...like sleeping.
I spent the evening hanging out in the sala with a few others, discussing deep philosophical matters that affect college students today. The discussion began intellectually with a comment about The Taming of the Shrew...and the ever-so-popular adaption 10 Things I Hate About You. Which of course led to a conversation on how hot Heath Ledger is and how sad it is that he died. A tangent from that conversation led to a shared hatred of the TV adaption of that movie, and once that topic had been thoroughly covered, we discussed Heath Ledger's hair in the movie and the disconcerting memories of the styles of the late '90s. When we had all agreed that, although Heath's hair was indeed stringy and distasteful in that film, he was still gorgeous overall. Our conversation then wavered from hairstyles of 10 years ago to the MaryKate and Ashley phenomenon that every middle school girl adored, to Harriet the Spy.
Anyway.
That's the sort of thing that goes on around here. Real productive and all that.
Our schedule is becoming more lax, and the routine of class in the morning is starting to be routine. Of course, that will all be thrown for a loop when we take off for Siena this weekend, and a full weekend in Florence next weekend.
So that's what's new...not much. However, after Siena, I'll update the world on Lorenzetti's frescoes and all other such exciting events.
Ciao.

Days 6 and 7: Assisi and FruityBits

The Adventure That Was Assisi.

9am: meet outside to depart for assisi.

9:20: we start wondering where the cars are

9:30: cars arrive, we pile into them. Carissa drove our little fiat with me, hannah, katy and anna

9:45: we depart

10:15: problem #1. The van Christine was driving started smoking, so we pulled over and hung out for a while. It sucked that we couldn't do anything, but luckily we were stranded next to a gorgeous lake.

Jodi (whom we affectionately call Todi) and Becky chillin out by the lake

11:15: we determine that the car is safe enough to drive, and off to assisi we go

11:20: the car has trouble accelerating, so we pull over by the side of the road.

11:22: we discover that this particular spot at the side of the road is the operation center for one unhappy little prostitute, who didn't like us interurpting her business.

11:30: off we go again

During the next hour, the dramamine i took begain to kick in. Unfortunately, I didn't have the non drowsy formula, so i was zonked. i apparently fell asleep with my head out the window. that was comfy.

1:15: ASSISI! we finally made it. and we were all starving, but Matteo didn't want to let us eat right away, so we wandered around the chapel where St Francis apparently did great things

2:10: Lunchtime. hallelujah. we had a delicious meal of bread, cheese, salad, salami, tomatoes, olives, and juice.

We wandered around the town for a while, saw the tomb of Francis in the Basilica and other such sights.

That's where my friend francis is buried.

At 6 we left, and drove for a good 2 hours back to Orvieto. On the way back, we discovered several wonderful Italian radio stations that provided us great entertainment. If you were wondering, Italians love Green Day. 121 Guns played 6 different times while we were driving. We also discovered this special little gem by Laurent Wolf, whom i'm sure will not be winning any grammys anytime soon... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJDgEl2x9Ys

That led to some dancing and whatnot.

When we returned, John Skillen was there to greet us

DAY 7: The tragedy of the fruitybits

After lunch today, Carissa and I ventured off for our daily ritual of afternoon gelato. We made it our goal on the first night to try all the flavours, to accurately judge which ones are best. Today we got 3 flavours, one of which I can't pronounce or spell, but it was white with fruit and things on top. IT WAS THE WORST TASTING THING ON THE PLANET. it tasted like a piece of christmas fruitcake that someone threw away and then picked it up a year later and put it in gelato. it broke my little heart to taste it. Needless to say, we threw that away and got a new cone full of nutella hazelnut gelato, which was much more satisfactory.

San Paolo

Here are a few pictures of the monastery. I'll probably post more later...the place is huge and i don't want to spend a whole bunch of time photographing every inch of it. here's just a bit to give you an idea of where i live.
The ceiling in one of the hallways


A fresco at the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor


This is the hallway on the 2nd floor, the Dolls' apartment at the end


The classroom/computer room--2nd floor


3rd floor where our rooms are, the Sala is on the left


The back courtyard, overlooking the cliffs


The view from the back courtyard


The student sala, used for studying, lounging, eating, watching tv, whatever


The breakfast room. to the left is the kitchen


The bathroom in my room. notice the location of the shower...real convenient

The view out my window


My room. my bed is on the right.