Catching Up

This past week was pretty mellow, but I thought I should keep you up to date. 

Highlights:  I gave up Nutella for Lent which is going well so far because Jena and Rachel gave it up too so we don't have any in the house right now.  I'm now addicted to banana gelato from the place very close to studio.  I've tried it with pistachio and raspberry, both are perfect combinations.  We had another Wine Wednesday which was very plesant.  Our professors came for a bit whcih always leads to more quotes in our Coates Quotes list.  Thrusday morning I went to the market and got an eggplant, two delicious kiwis, and some mini clementines that I though would be sour and weird, but were too cute to pass up, turns out they were delicious!  I read in the park near our house and watched the sunset.  For dinner I attempted to make eggplent parmasean which just turned out ok.  We went out for a bit for Blake's bday.  Saturday I went to the market and finally got a rotisserie chicken from the chicken man that only comes to market on Saturday, a few more mini clementines, and two potatoes.   After that Katie, Ashley and I went up in the main clock tower to over look the city.  The bell rang while we were up there which was very loud!  Then we went down in St. Patrick's hand dug well which involved a lot of stairs again but was really neat.  After lunch we went to kick the soccer ball around but ended up being invited by a group of highschool aged boys to play with them.  I did ok, didn't completely embarass myself.  Sunday was a pretty lazy day topped off with dinner at Sfizio :) 

Lowlights:  Studio is a disaster.  The project we're working on could be really interesting but the past week has been a battle over the type/size/layout of the paper we are going to use on the final project.  It seems that the Profs aren't quite sure what they want and it's taking all of us to interprete.  oh and we're using facebook as a communicatiom tool as opposed to KSOL like a normal class, FB is easier, but I'm no longer excited about having notifications bc I'm worried they're all going to be about needing to do more work....; My project sucks right now because I'm not really sure what's going on, but I'm oppimistic?  Hopefully things will turn around this week. 

Florence:  Oh yea, we went to Florence again on Friday.  We went with Marco to the Uffizi for two hours.  He lead us through a few of the main rooms and then for some reason we had to leave because the bag check was only holding our bags till 1:30.  I would've loved to explore more of the museum, so that trip was kind of a waste.  After that we went to the hostel which was another disaster.  I guess the booking never went through so we were homeless.  This led to us walking around hungry for 3 hours trying to find another place to stay.  Eventually I gave up and went and found Ashley and Katie who I was planning to have Mexican with that night.  They were planning on catching the last train back to Orvieto after dinner so I figured I would just do that.  Finally, the day started to turn around.  We went to the oldest supermarket in the city (world?) and looked at the fancy chocolate, cookies, wine, soap, etc.  We also went to a famous art store that had a bunch of paints and such.  We went to Tijuana an hour before our reservation because we were tired of walking around.  Aaron J. was eating with us and showed up a few minutes later so we all just sat outside the restaurant and chatted.  I had another delicious chicken burrito and two amazing margaritas.  All that food and sugar made the walk back to the train station a little rough, but we made it.  We got back to Orvieto at midnight or so and the Corso was full of people at the bars which was nice.  Now that it's warming up, people are coming out of the woodwork.  Never knew there were this many people in the town!


Hope this one wasn't a total downer.  It was actually really nice to spend the weekend in Orvieto in the nice weather. 

Cliff hanger: Running the Rupe a few times this week since it's supposed to be so nice out; Studio :/ ;Assisi on Friday and hopefully Perugia.

Ciao!!  KATY

Pictures from Paestum and Pompei

Sorry these are all out of order, but I know how much y'all like seeing photos.  Hope you enjoy these ones!

PAESTUM 

Beautiful flower-filled amphitheater at Paestum

Artsy Fartsy Temple Pictures. 

I swear the sky is not photoshopped.  We lucked out with a beautiful day for walking around the ancient ruins.

Another amphitheater.

More themple pictures.  I cannot believe how nice it was to just wander around the ruins in the sunshine.

And to top it all off, we got see a beautiful sunset.

POMPEI

Amphitheater in Pompei.  We took a group photo here which someone will hopefully post on Facebook soon.  We're such a good looking group.

Kylie and I at Pompei

Me with Mt. Vesuvious ominously snowy in the background.

The bakery complete with giant oven and one of three grain grinders.

Roommates in Pompeii. Katie, Katy and Ashely.  These are the girls I'm spending Spring Break with!

Rooms that have yet to be excavated.  They are still full of ash.

I hope you enjoyed these photos and can figure out where they belong in the timeline of my trip haha.  Hope this hasn't been too confusing. 

Cliff hanger:  Studio this week; Hopefully a few walks on the Rupe to help my body recover from all hte hiking!; Florence on Friday to go to the Uffizi with Marco; Staying the night in Florence for round two of Mexican food and maybe a club!; 

OH yea, I'm giving up Nutella for Lent!!  Rachel and Jena are too so I'll at least have a support group haha.  Wish me luck!

Ciao, KATY

Pictures of Florence and Pisa

Sorry these are kind of late, Enjoy!

Fancy Door

Gooood Morning, what great morning to go to Florence 

Inside the dome at the Duomo in Florence

Santa Croce on Marco's walk

Michelangelo's tomb at Santa Croce.

2015 Todd goes to Florence.  The roomates on top of the dome in Florence.

Inside the dome of the Baptistery

Michelangelo's Pieta

PISA!

A tomb at the Camposanto

View of the interior of the Camposanto

Detail

The tower from the first museum we visited

BACK IN FLORENCE

Back in Florence at the chocolate festival!!  These are all made of chocolate!

MMM Burrito!! the picture does not do this justice but boy was it good.

A room in the Medici palace

Jena and I at the Medici Palace

Me at Ponte Vecchio

I bought some of that cremino from this guy.  It's the loaf looking stuff next to the pops.  It's like really smooth fudge with hazelnut layers. 

Hope you enjoyed the photos!



South trip Part 2--HIKING!!

As I said, Friday was the best day ever.  It started in Pompeii with an early bus ride to Sorrento.  We walked to our hostel, Diana City, which was at the end of the main drag through the city.  There were about 15 of us all staying there in different rooms so getting checked in was a tad confusing, but we managed.  I was in a room with Elise, Jena, and Kylie.  Jena has a Hiking Italy book and Rachel really wanted to go to Positano so we combined the two and decided to do a hike that left out of Positano and went a ways up the mountain behind the city.  We quick got changed into hiking clothes, I packed my purse and we headed to the public transit/bus station.  The trip to Positano was beautiful, but included a minor hiccup when another bus was coming towards us on a road that was about two busses + 2 inches wide.  After threading the needle, we got off at the café where the trail head was.  We got a quick piece of pizza and a celebrator beer for when we made it to the end of the hike. 

The hike began with some stairs (Dear God did we master stairs these during the two days in the South…)  Me, Elise, Blake, Josh, and Aaron took off and formed the ‘fast group’ while my roommates took their time behind us.  The hike was beautiful and just strenuous enough to make the final destination worth it.  We stopped a few times along the way for quick photos of the scenery, but the five of us were determined to get to the top (a moto that defined our entire experience).  We unexpectedly made it to a small town on top of the mountain where we walked around for a bit until the rest of the group caught up.  We continued the hike up a snow covered road to the most beautiful place ever.  It was a terraced field overlooking the city and bay of Positano.  We, of course, took some artistic photos (see facebook for the good ones Blake took), sipped our beers, sketched, and just took in the beauty.  After half an hour we decided to carry on.  The girls wanted to head back to the beach, but the ‘fast group’ now deemed the ‘adventurous group’ decided to go a little higher…We ended up hiking through a snow covered field, about 4 inches of snow, to the next high point.  By that time we could see Sorrento and figured we were closer to Sorrento than Positano and decided we should just hike down to Sorrento!!

We had seen some trail markers, red and white stripes, which is how we got to this high point and saw that they continued back down the mountain to Sorrento so we decided to follow them.  We eventually made it to another small town up the mountain from Sorrento where we managed to get lost a few times.  After asking for directions like 5 times we started walking on the main road to Sorrento.  It was a continuous downhill walk which my knees are still cursing at me for, but it was completely worth it.  Unfortunately we got to Sorrento on the total opposite end of town and that last part of the trip was brutal, but we made it back to the hostel exhausted but so incredibly happy. 

The whole experience was amazing: the people, the scenery, and the challenge.  I was with four awesome people who never made a dull moment and never quit no matter how bad our bodies ached.  We were the adventurous group, trusting our instincts that we could make it back to Sorrento on our own (we saved 3.60euro by walking and not taking the bus haha).

Saturday, believe it or not, was another day of hiking!  We woke up, sore feet and all, popped a few Advil, and headed to the Port.  The port was down like 8 flights of stairs which was painful.  We bought round trip tickets to the isle of Capri (this trip was not going to end with us deciding to get back to Sorrento on our own…I can walk back to Sorrento but I’m not swimming!)  It was nice to be out on a boat despite the rain and chilly weather.  Jena’s book described a hike to Villa Michelle in Anacapri which is what we, the adventurous group plus Jena and Kylie, chose to do.  The hike started with some stairs, continued with some stairs, and ended with some stairs.  It was BRUTAL!  I still refuse to look up how many stairs we actually went up.  It was ridiculous, but again, made the destination so much more worth it.  The Villa was beautiful.  It belonged to Axel Munthe who was a doctor and lover of nature.  Marco told us about how great Axel’s biography was and after visiting the villa and reading the signs throughout the small museum, I decided I wanted to read the biography so I bought it at the museum shop and will start it after I finish Michelangelo J. 

After the villa we went to the center of town where a chair lift takes you up to the top of the mountain.  Higher??  Oh boy!  The adventurous group knew they couldn’t pass this up so we bought a one way ticket up the mountain (Rick Steve’s book said there was a 40 minute hike down).  The ride was pleasant and the view from the top was beautiful even though it was pretty foggy/cloudy so I didn’t get too many great pictures :/  We found the trail head and started down…some stairs.  We made it to a fork in the road which Rick Steve’s suggested taking a 10 minute detour (haha) to see some ruins which we decided to do.  Turns out we spent another hour hiking up the hill near the ruins.  During this hike we kind of lost Josh who, after some shouting and backpack-whistling, we saw on the other side of the valley hahaha.  We finally made it back to Anacapri and took the bus to the marina.  We had a couple hours to spare so we got a snack at the grocery store and went and watched a half of a soccer game!  After the game we saw a beautiful rainbow over the sea and headed to the beach where we met up with a bunch of our friends who had the same idea. 

The ferry left at 6:45 and was just a 30 minute trip back to Sorrento (it was a great 30 minute nap haha).  We literally had to run back to the hostel to get our stuff and all the way back to our tour bus that was taking us back to Orvieto.  It was a long 5 hour trip which I spent the whole time trying to sleep in a variety of positions, trying to find one that was comfortable for my sore body.  We got back to Orvieto about 1am, I washed my feet and hit the hay.  I have not been that tired in a long time. 

All in all the south did not disappoint.  The weather was great, I had the best outfit for hiking, and I got to spend two days with some amazing people.  Thanks to Elise, Josh, Blake, and Aaron for a great adventure J 

If y’all aren’t too jealous, here are some photos of the hikes.  There are more that my friends have posted on facebook if you want.

Ohh stairs...

The map of the first part of our hike...I guess.

A view from the hike

The most well deserved beer ever! 

There were many crosses on the peaks of the mountains/hills.  Good thing because I needed to say a few prayers along the way haha

Who knew you could be hiking in short sleeves for the first part of a hike and be walking through 4 inches of snow all while looking out over the sea :)

Me and Elise, the girls who beasted the hike from Positano to Sorrento.

The boys with the red and white trail markers in the foreground.  We honestly had no idea where these were leading us but they were easy to spot and kept leading us towards Sorrento.

The hikin' ladies

CIAO, Katy

South Trip Part 1

This week we had our ‘South Trip’ to Paestum, Pompeii, Naples, Sorrento, and the Isle of Capri.  The trip started Wednesday (yay no school!)  This was by far the best week in Italy.  I got to see two of the most famous sites of ancient ruins, go on two amazing hikes, enjoy warmer weather/sunshine, and finally see the sea.

Our trip started with a bus trip from Orvieto to Paestum where we were free to walk around the site for 2.5 hours.  I was shocked by the freedom we had to just walk amongst the ruins without worrying about staying on the path and off the ruins.  The site was a lot bigger than I expected which was nice because I had time to just wander and not run into anyone.  What shocked me the most was the size of the temples that are still standing.  I cannot even imagine how the massive stones of the columns were stacked on top of each other (I’m still convinced the aliens helped!).  After wandering around the site a few of us went to the museum they had which was cool, we kind of zoomed through it because it was close to time to go.  The museum did have an amazing view of the mountains.  The best part of this visit was that the sun behaved and stayed out the whole time, weaving in and out of beautiful clouds and then setting on the horizon creating a beautiful sunset as we left on the bus. 

We drove to Pompeii to the hotel.  We split into rooms, I stayed with Katie Gallagher Ashley Simpson, the two girls I’m going on Spring Break with (I’ll tell you about that later!)  We got situated in the room and headed back to the lobby to wait for the group dinner that the hotel was putting on for us.  Because it’s the off season, we pretty much had the hotel to ourselves and most of the restaurants in town are closed.  We had pasta and veal (first time eating that).  After dinner we pretty much just crashed, it was a long day.

Thursday was our trip to Pompeii and the Archeological museum in Naples (which was supposed to be Friday but our trip to Vesuvius after Pompeii was cancelled because the park was closed.  This turned out to be a huge blessing!)  We walked from our hotel to the Pompeii ruins where we met Pasquale our guide.  He was a cute Italian from Pompeii who must have learned English from an Irishman because of his accent.  The tour was very good, it was interesting how similar the life of the Pompeian’s was to modern times.  They had storefront shops, roads with crosswalks (granted the cobble stones they used were the size of a large suitcase), and they had pipes for water and sewage.  What made the site so impressive was that we saw some places where excavation had just begun, where the rooms were still filled with 25 feet of ash.  Seeing the vastness of what is currently excavated makes me appreciate the delicate work of archeologists even more.  After the tour we had a quick lunch and then headed back to the hotel where we were going to get some hiking gear on to walk around Vesuvius.  Unfortunately the park was closed because of ice!  Ice on a volcano? Geez.

After some quick calls to the travel agent, Serena at Centro Studi, and the museum, we found out we could do our trip to the Archeological Museum in Naples instead.  The bus ride through Naples was all I needed to see of the city.  It was dirty, busy, and too fast for me.  I’m glad we didn’t have to spend any more time there than the museum.  I’m sure it has it’s good points, but none that I saw.  The museum was pretty interesting, but I’m glad we didn’t wait till Friday to go, it would have felt like a minor waste of time.  My favorite part of the museum was the room of mosaics.  There were many from Pompeii that had been transferred to the museum for preservation.  The tiles they used in even the large floor mosaics were the size of a pea.

When we got back to Pompeii Ashley, Katie, and I went to the grocery and bought a bottle of wine each, went to McDonalds for what turned out to be the best burger and fries ever, and then got some gelato before heading back to the hotel.  The rest of the night we just sat around with everyone, sipped wine and chatted about what we were planning for the entirely free day Friday after the bus dropped us off in Sorrento....

Cliff Hanger:  I’ve decided to dedicate an entire blog to Friday and Saturday because they were the best days ever!;  Studio project due this week?; Florence again on Friday;

Again, Pictures will come sometime tomorrow when I have the patience to upload them. 

CIAO :)

Florence Part 2!

Saturday started with a trip to the train station to get tickets for Pisa.  We had some issues getting the ticket but managed to figure it out.  We stopped by the McDonalds in the train station for a cheap, but delicious, lunch before we got on the train.  I love the train rides through the country to see how it compares to America. 

We bought a ticket for 8euro that would allow us into the two museums, the Camposanto, and the Baptistery.  The cathedral is free, and the tower is another ticket which I decided to save for when dad and I can climb it together.  Our first stop was the Camposanto which is a large square doughnut shaped loggia filled with tombs both inlaid in the floor and on the walls.  The best part of this was that we were the only people in there!  We managed to get some cute group photos with no tourists in the background which is almost impossible.  Next we went to the baptistery which was beautiful.  One of my favorite features in the churches and baptisteries we been to are the pulpits.  They are so intricately carved and frescoed.  The columns on the one in Pisa was held up by lion statues which was very unique.  I love the mosaics, and the great view from the second level.  We were also the only people in the baptistery at the time.  When we left we saw that there were a bunch of police, EMT, and old nuns outside the cathedral.  Turns out there was a mass of some sort and we were not allowed in :)(  Instead we went to take ‘tower pictures’  Mine turned out ok but I’ll post one that dad takes when we go.  As opposed to the baptistery, there were many people outside taking tower pictures…ohh tourists. 

We tackled both museums which were very interesting.  The first one had some color renditions of the frescoes that used to be in the Camposanto and the next one had the actual, huge frescoes.  I loved how the two museums worked together to provide as much information as possible with the help of visuals that were easy to link together. 

We left Pisa at about 5 pm to be back in Florence in time to get cleaned up and go to get Mexican food!!  The restaurant did not disappoint.  I have been craving non-stinky cheese and my chicken burrito had just that, lots of creamy, Mexican cheese with spicy chicken, beans, and rice.  The peach margarita I had with dinner was the cherry on top of the great, long awaited meal.  That night we went back to the hostel and had a STL Budweiser and played cards with my roommates.

Sunday was dedicated to more museums and churches.  We went to the Accademia museum and saw the real David in all his glory as well as some unfinished pieces by Michelangelo (I cannot wait to read about him working on David).  Next Jena and I went to the Medici palace, a trip inspired by my book because Michelangelo was invited by Lorenzo Medici to live in the palace.  Only a quarter of the palace is open to visitors, but it was definitely worth the 4euro.  Next we went to Ponte Vecchio, the bridge with all the jewelry shops which I of course enjoyed.  We grabbed a quick lunch, went back to the hostel to get our bags, went back to the chocolate festival, and headed to Santa Maria Novella.  The church was beautiful, I especially like the ceiling (not sure where this infatuation with ceilings came from, but side note, the ceiling in our room in the hostel had no corners haha).  The frescoes and mosaics in all the churches are mind-blowing as well.  They’re so large, and tell so many stories that it’s hard to imagine doing anything like that.   

The train trip home to Orvieto was semi-stressful because some of us had troubles getting our tickets validated and when we tried to get off the train some of the doors were frozen shut!  Turns out other groups had worse issues.  Josh ended up a the next stop and Cammie resorted to pulling the emergence stop after the train started to pull out of the Orvieto stop before they got off!

That night I skyped mom and dad and then crashed.  Traveling is amazing but exhausting!  We will go back to Florence in a couple weeks and go to the Uffizi Museum with Marco.

Ciao for now!  Katy

Pictures will come later.  The uploader is being slow :/

FLORENCE!!

It's Tuesday at Midnight and I am hoping to get a little ways through what was an amazing experience in Florence last weekend before I head for Sourthern Italy for a few days. 

Like the last field trip to Rome this one started with a tour of the city from Marco.  He took us into the Duomo and gave a tour of the interior for a bit because it was freezing cold outside!  He described the importance of the large clock on the opposite wall from the alter.  The circular form of the clock is a geometric representation of God and the clock represents God as the master of time.  I was surprised by the 'simplicity' of the interior and that there was hardly anything on the walls.  The dome, however, was spectacular, but that comes in later in the story ;).    Some of the other stops on our tour included Santa Croce which had an amazing roof structure and Michelangelo's tomb (I'm reading The Agony and The Ecstacy: A Biographical Novel of Michaelanglo which has turned out to be an awesome book eventhough I'm only 200/700 pages through it!).  We also saw the Pazzi Chapel which is a plain building but has a lot of architectural importance...

After the tour my roommates and I headed to our hostel.  It took us a few tries to find it because we only knew the street it was on not the number and it turned out the only sign on the building was the tiny plaque next to the doorbell.  We paid the woman at the desk and she proceeded to take us back out of the building, around the corner into the alley, and into our own little apartment!  There was another two person room with ours and we all shared a bathroom, living room, and small kitchen. 

After settling in we headed back to the duomo to climb the dome!!  We paid our 8euro and started up the 450+ stairs (my dad knows the exact number but I keep forgetting) to the top.  After climbing for a bit we made it to the first terrace inside the dome and walked halfway around and back up some stairs which led to the outside balcony? which was super windy and cold.  Fortunately we are some tough cookies and braved the agonizing heights and brutal wind and were awarded with some amazing views of the city.  There was a large tour group of americans, who we to Benedictine College in Kansas.  Many of them were from Kansas City...SMALL WORLD!  After we took our pics and such we headed back down.  But first we were led back inside the dome right at the base of the frescoes and led halfway back around the dome.  The way down consisted of three stories of spiral staircase around a 6" column...DIZZY.  After we all made it down ok we went to the Baptistry to recenter ourselves and see the amazing gilded mosaics on the ceiling. 

Our last stop was the Duomo Museum with many of the stauary that was once inside the duomo.  It was amazing to see the statues up close and see the detail and craftmanship in things that were never really meant to be seen up close. 

After a long day walking around in the cold we went back to the hostel for a few apertifs and some cards before heading to the infamous Mexican restaurant that all the kids from past years told us about.  When we got there, however, the students from Arizona State that are also studying at Centro Studi in Orvieto whom we are not too fond of were there and took up all the tables.  We were annoyed but made reservations for the next night.  We ended up eating at a really good italian restraunt a few blocks away that we just stumbled upon.  I had fried artichokes and  giant tortollini stuffed with mashed potatoes covered in a creamy beef sauce.  After that we headed home and went to bed!.

It's time for bed now, but I will try to finish the rest of Florence via my phone while I'm traveling.  I will post pictures sometime next week when I'm back home and have my computer.

Cliff Hanger:  Rest of Florence and our day trip to Pisa; South Trip to Paestum, Pompeii, Naples, Sorrento and the Isle of Capri on the Amlfi Coast!; Pictures of both trips; Spring Break plans are being finalized (I will clue you in when the are)

That's it for now, CIAO!
     Katy

P.S.  I applied for an internship today (it was at Stantec in Boston and just needed a resume and they will request more info later) and started looking at other ones and I'm actually motivated!  Hopefully that motivation will stay with me after this trip to the south where it's supposed to be like 50 degrees!  yay warmth :)

Me on the top of the dome of the Duomo...what a view :)

A Cold Week in Orvieto

Sunday night we were able to watch the Super Bowl at Bar Duomo!  It started at midnight, there were NO commercials, and we only stayed through the half time show because we were tired.  It was nice to have a dose of good ole 'Merica, but I missed the Done's basement with Reese's treats, Reese's brownies, and chili cheese dip. 

Monday we had studio and were introduced to our project...kind of.  We are studying A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander which is very interesting, but we are still not sure what the final project is going to be which annoys me.  The rest of the day was spent working on the project with a nice cup of coffee at home.   We managed to make Mac and Cheese for dinner.  It was good, but nothing beats Velvetta shells and Bread Co. Wisconson White Chedder Shells.  That night we went to Zeppelin for Ashely's birthday and just have some dessert.  We ended up drinking a lot of wine with that dessert...

Tuesday was Marco's class in the morning which was as interesting as always.  He is such a great lecturer even if he still uses a slide projector!  I was tired but he managed to keep me awake with his antecdotes about his family in Rome and his detailed descriptions of what he's talking about.  We had Italian with Marina where we learned body parts and played a couple games.  We taught her how to play Simon Says (Simone dice...).  Tuesday night I made mini pizzas which were delicious.  Probably one of my favorite solo dinners but I don't buy cheese often enough. 

Today, Wednesday, we went to studio for half and hour and then a group  of us had to go to the police station with Serena our liason to register as a temporary resident (staying more than 90 days) of Orvieto (or something like that).  I was the third of 12 people called in and everything was going fine until the guy plugged some stuff in the computer and then told us something was wrong with the papers and put my passport and stack of papers 'in time out'.  I didn't really want to spend time in Italian jail or go home, but Serena assured me it would be ok.  I went back and waited with the group.  Three other people had issues to so at least I wouldn't be alone in jail!  All and all it turned out ok, they never told me what was wrong though.  Instead of having seminar we met with the Director of CittaSlow (look it up).  He talked about the movement/organization and what it is doing to help small towns preserve their local cultures etc.  It was very interesting, and he looked like Einstein.  After the presentation he took us to the wine cellars under the building which was really neat.  Now we're waiting for the potato soup we made to be done!

The past couple of days the apartment has been really cold (hence the title) so we've been locking ourselves in the kitchen with the oven open on low.  The house is getting pretty small and we've all developed a bit of cabin fever, but hopefully it will get nicer soooon.  The snow has stopped but the slush is sticking around because it's so dang cold.  I've fallen on my butt twice and bruised my elbow.  I cannot wait for sunshine.  For now I'm going to keep bundling up and I'm going to buy a scarf at the market tomorrow :)

Cliff hanger:  Tomorrow is the first market in like a week and a half; Florence on Friday!; We're staying Friday and Saturday night with a trip to Pisa on Saturday :) 

Ciao! 

Only Week Two!

I cannot believe that I've only been here two and a half weeks.  I've already learned so much, started to settle into a routine, and I've started to feel like a resident of Orvieto, not a tourist.  This week we made a couple delicious meals (Chicken Spidini, Lasagna, and Cheese Burgers).  We also went back to Sfizio for the best pizza ever!  We also made friends with our waiter, Roberto. 

As you may have heard on the news, it's snowing here.  It's nice to see the town and the country side covered in a blanket of snow, but man is it putting a damper on things here.  The market was closed on Thrusday morning, our trip to Assisi on friday was postponed, and the Market on Saturday was closed too!  We've been experiencing a little bit of cabin fever because we had a three day weekend but it was too cold to go anywhere.  On Saturday we did manage to get dressed and out of the house by 11:30 and went to visit some of the museums here on the hill.  After a fancy lunch we came back home and watched a couple movies online and snuggled up on the couch with the oven on and the doors closed.  Saturday night we went out to celebrate a friends birthday and met some more locals. 

Today, Sunday, I went to church at the Duomo!  It was my first time in the cathedral which made the experience even more amazing.  I was able to follow along a little, but I mostly just listened.  My friend Elise came with.  It was her first time at a Catholic mass, I thought that was an appropriate place to attend your first mass.  After chuch I came home and cleaned the kitchen which was a disaster zone, made some noodles and now I'm blogging! 

Here are some snow pictures!

Snowing outside our favorite spot for a Cappuchino.

You know, just the view on the way to school.

Snow in the courtyard of Centro Studi.  Yes, that is a palm tree with snow on it!

First day of snow.

Second day of snow!

Me :)  This is about a block from our apartment.  At the base of the wall is one of the main roads up to the hill town.  It's where those statues above are the ornamentation of a large arch over the road.

Our cute blue door in the snow.  It leads to the tunnel into the courtyard we share with our neighbors.

Cliff Hanger:  Tonight we are going to try and watch the Super Bowl at midnight (live) at Bar Duomo

Ciao!