This week in my Italian culture class on Tuesday we had Italian students come in to do a discussion on the differences between American and Italian cultures. That was fun and we’re going to do it again. It was interesting to hear the things they had to say about us, but at the same time we went over stereotypes we had about Italy and ones we had found that were true. Most of the Italians in our mini group had never been to America, and knew only things about it that they read in newspapers, magazines, or saw in TV and movies (we were like.. oh no!). so some of the things they came up with right away about America were George Bush, people getting shot all the time, rappers like 50 Cent (or 50 Cents as the Italians called him) being rich, or rappers and musicians in general being extremely wealthy and the fact that like anyone can be a singer, crazy girls (girls gone wild), etc. We were like, great this is what people think of us! I mean maybe ours towards them weren’t good either.. but it was just interesting to hear.
On Wednesday we decided to go to Napoli (Naples) for the weekend. This was after much debate about the location we should travel to and where or how long we should stay etc. But Napoli had a pretty short, cheap train ride and we found a really cheap, nicely rated hostel for 2 nights (Friday and Saturday). So we left on the 6:10 am train from Viterbo to Rome on Friday morning to catch the 8:25 train from Rome to Naples. We made sure to get to the train station early this time to get the correct tickets and had no problem. Then we arrived at the train station in Rome and again had no problem getting our connection tickets and getting on the next train. It actually sat there for like 30 minutes until we even moved. The trouble started when we got to Naples. We walked around the train station looking for a tourist information booth which was at the other side. Then we went looking for another booth that wasn’t really helpful. Finally we went and bought a ticket for the metro since the hostel was one or 2 stops away. Well the metro isn’t really the metro there, it’s like some sort of regional train and we could not figure it out. Our stop, which was shown on the map, was not on the maps at the stations or on the station lists. So we got on, went one stop, and got off and tried to follow signs to Museo, right near where we were staying. We thought it meant we would get on another train, but we actually ended up walking underground to that stop (I think the line is still under construction?). From there we found the hostel pretty easily and everything it turned out to be a nice place. The only bad part was that it was up 5 or 6 (huge!) flights of stairs and the elevator cost 10 cents so we always took the stairs. So we stayed in an 8 person room (4 sets of bunks). The only things that weren’t true about what it said on the website was that we paid for an all girls room and it was mixed and there were no locks on the cabinets in the room. There were lots of English speakers at the hostel from all over and we met some nice people from Sweden on their gap year (so jealous) just traveling around for the year. So we dropped our stuff off and decided to go to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale right near our hostel. This was a big museum that had a bunch of statues and artifacts excavated from Pompeii. We spent the majority of the afternoon there and when we went to leave it was pouring rain. So we ran back to the hostel to figure out where we wanted to eat dinner – we knew we had to try the famous Neapolitan pizza. We ended up going to a restaurant suggested by one of our guidebooks that, according to the sign, recently was in a Sofia Loren movie or something like that.. the sign said Sofia Loren, but I don’t think she makes movies anymore. The pizza was good, and slightly different than what we were used to (slightly thicker crust, buffalo mozzarella, basil leaves) but we were just so pizza’d-out, that it was difficult to really appreciate it. It was still pouring down rain (and cold) when we left and I’d conveniently left my umbrella at the hostel, so we couldn’t really walk around. Either way, we were tired so we just went back to the hostel and crashed. We got up the next morning to go do some of the Amalfi coast towns. We had to go to the train station and get on a different type of train (not the Trenitalia train, or the Metropolitana), the Circumvesuviana. That took us to Sorrento, where we spent a few hours walking around. It was a beautiful little town right on the cliffs next to the sea. It was such a nice day weather-wise, that day. It was beautiful! Then we took a bus from Sorrento to Positano, because most of us had seen the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” and that made it reason enough to want to go there. The bus ride was crazy though! It was the tiniest windiest roads I have ever been on, right on the cliffs over the coasts too. It’s really not that far from Sorrento but it took about an hour just because of how slow the bus had to go (not slow enough in my opinion because of the windy roads). Luckily the town of Positano was well worth it, and even prettier than any postcard, movie or picture could show. It was really touristy like Sorrento was, but it was still really nice. We walked all around the town and down to the ocean, which was clear and pretty warm. If I had to choose a beach to go back to in Italy, Positano would definitely be it! We all liked Positano so much that we decided to stay until dinner and then went and had dinner on the beach, where we saw 3 weddings going on! We got to see the sunset and then once we were finished dinner we took pictures of Positano at night, which is also beautiful. And you could see the stars! We took the last bus back to Sorrento, where we met a lot of other Americans studying abroad in Florence at the bus stop. Once we got back to Sorrento we took a train from there to Naples, and got back to Naples pretty late.
The next day we woke up really early to walk around Naples before heading off to Pompeii. We took a bus down to the water and saw a castle and the theater and the Galleria Umberto among other things. Of course, nothing was open since it was Sunday, but it was also nice because no one was out and we could take unobstructed pictures. We stopped at a café and got fancy coffee drinks, which they had a lot more of there than they do up where we are. While we were down in the Napoli region we tried many regional specialties – the pizza margherita, a sfogliatella (a flaky pastry with ricotta and pieces of orange inside), a granite (like a slushy, only with real fruit or espresso), gnocchi alla sorrentina (gnocchi with crushed tomatoes and mozzarella), and they also had more frozen coffee there, called caffe del nonno, which I love, and is hard to find up here in Viterbo, and good pastries and thicker bread and drinks to go! Like someone got a cappuccino to go, which is like an unheard of phenomenon here. We had such a good trip thus far and we were about to head back up to the hostel, check out and go to the train station to get on the Cirumvesuviana to Pompeii. So we got back on the bus to the hostel, but before we could even go one stop, the people who work for the bus came to check our tickets (which never happens). We had bought something called a weekend ticket on Saturday, and had multiple other tickets bought from the same company, so we thought we would be fine. But it turns out the weekend ticket is only good for one day (why is it called weekend then?!) so the person made us get off at the next stop (which was like 20 feet away) and fined us close to 40 euros! He knew we weren’t from there and we tried to explain in Italian/English that we thought our tickets would be fine and that we didn’t understand but they were like the meanest people ever. That’s when it started to be a bad day. So we paid the stupid fine with the last of our cash (and no where accepts credit cards in Italy, by the way) and then bought another bus ticket to get back to the hostel. We go our stuff, got on the train to Pompeii (later than planed of course) but made it none the less. Pompeii was bigger than I expected. I knew it was a whole city but I just couldn’t believe what it must have taken to build that entire thing (houses, stadium, schools, public areas/forum, etc) and everything out of stone. It was a really pretty location with Mt. Vesuvius in the background. It was also impressive to see that so much of the city was still intact, after the volcanic eruption and thousands of years later; with so much wear and tear it seemed impossible that anything could still be so sturdy. We tried to see the top sights listed in the guidebooks since we had to be back in Naples for the 4:38 train to Rome so we could catch the last train that night to Viterbo. Our train schedules (given to us by the information counter at the train station) were a little off, so we ended up only having 15 minutes between trains in Napoli Stazione Centrale. We got on the very crowded train right before it left. The train trip seemed long, but I guess it wasn’t. It was probably just because I didn’t really have anything to do, and couldn’t fit my school books into my bag. We got into Rome termini and got our tickets for the last train to Viterbo, which leaves from Roma Ostiense or Trastevere. We still could not figure out how we get to that other station in Rome (is the metro ticket included in the price, what is the C. Urbano train that it tells us to take? We still don’t know). So we ended up buying a ticket from Roma Termini to Roma Ostiense for 90 cents, which we almost missed because the binaro (platform) was really, really far away. Luckily we made it, got on the train to Viterbo at the next stop, got back to Viterbo around 10:45, back to the dorm around 11, and then I did all 16 exercises for my 9 am class until 2 am, got up at 6 to write my lettera ufficiale (also for the same composizione class) and then went to class. Overall a good, jam-packed weekend!
24 September 2008
17 September 2008
the second week...
07.09.08
Today we decided to walk around Viterbo to try and see some places we hadn’t as well as to take some pictures of the macchina outside of the Santa Rosa church. I love going down the little streets of the beaten path in Viterbo. This city never ceases to amaze me. It’s the little undiscovered streets that are sometimes even better than the big ones. Sunday here is like a ghost town, though. Sunday night is busy and even Monday night everyone is out, but Sunday during the day nothing is open and no one is out or in the streets. So we found the one place that was open on a Sunday (and until late, too!) -McDonald’s. It was just like home! And the girl who worked there even spoke some English.
08.09.08
Today was the real first day of classes (besides the placement test day last week). I had Italian composition and the professor spoke only in Italian and we were supposed to do the same. We jumped right into reading some texts. Today was pretty confusing but I think we (all 6 of us, myself included) are in the same boat, and it will probably get better as time goes on. I hope we do some speaking or something though, because I would hate to waste 6 credits on only learning how to write a letter to my bank in Italian when I could be learning things I could use for everyday conversations in Italy. After class we decided to go to an internet café we had seen in passing to get some actual high speed internet so we could skype/upload pictures, and guess who happened to be at the café? Like half of the usac people! I thought it was funny that we all had the same idea (and it makes sense since apartment people have no internet at all). It was cool because we were actually the only people in the whole café, which was a really cute place. In the end we ended up going back to school to use the usac wireless, where we found another dozen or so usac-ers. I don’t get to see everyone all the time, so it was nice!
09.09.08
Today was the first day of my Italian culture class. It sounds really interesting and is stuff I would probably look into on my own even if I wasn’t taking the class. Though the 3 hour class in the warm classroom was tough! Over the past few days more students have been arriving to the city. Its pretty funny how we can instantly tell who is American (or Anglophone) and how our ears have become fine tuned to the sounds of the English language. No one really speaks English here, so to here it makes us all excited! And we found a laundromat with a dryer today! That’s exciting because we are all already so over having crunchy towels.
11.09.09
Today we had a little impromptu conversation circle since the cinema class was cancelled. I love hearing Italian being spoken! It’s so pretty. I also really like living in the dorm with all the international students, it reminds me of l’auberge espagole!
Today was 9/11, but having limited internet, no tv, and almost never speaking to anyone from home on the phone made me feel kind of removed from the situation, which is how I feel most of the time actually, it was just weird since today is always a big deal in the US.
12.9.09
On Friday we have no classes so we used that opportunity to go to a little town only a few kilometers from Viterbo called Bagnaia. In Bagnaia there are these beautiful renaissance gardens called Villa Lante. Even though it was a little drizzly, it was still beautiful there. We all took way too many pictures, most of which have some random German tourists in them. We ate the same café like 3 times that day, and I got this amazing coffee drink that had chocolate gelato in it. We also got to learn how to use Viterbo public transportation that day, which is surprisingly on time, considering most things in Italy are not. When we got back to Viterbo we decided to go to the Coop. Though going to the Coop is not anything special, this particular trip was definitely memorable. We took the elevator up from the parking garage and there were some other Italian people in it. But when we get out, Caitlin goes to one store and we (me and Carla) start heading towards another when we realize that one of the guys from the elevator is like right behind us and we think he is following us. So we decide instead to make a bee line for the purse store across the mall, assuming that he won’t follow us in there. Wrong! He goes in and starts looking for purses too! We try calling Caitlin, but she didn’t have her phone. So we decide to go back to the other store and look for her so she wouldn’t have to walk alone with the possibility of this guy following her as well/instead. The guy of course follows us to the other store and into that one too. We try and go around the store and out a different way, but we got stuck back in a dead end corner! Now this guy is right behind us constantly trying to talk to us saying things like “scusi, ciao” over and over. We try to talk loudly in English and laugh to drown him out thinking that maybe he would get the picture that we are not from here or that maybe we don’t speak Italian. However that doesn’t work either (Italian guys are really persistent)! So we’re standing in this corner of a store looking at the only item on the one shelf and there’s no way out. So I turn around and say “ciao “and try to scoot past but he’s like introducing himself (si chiama Fabio) and asking if we are here on vacation and I was just like “si, si” and then he asked if I wanted to go get a drink with him. Luckily at this point I was pretty close to the door and I just said “no, grazie” and ran out! So that was pretty crazy, and really made me wonder who told Italian guys that girls like to be followed.. or yelled out on the street or stared at or one of the many other things that Italian men seem to all do (these have all happened to me and other girls so far). Needless to say, we were on the lookout for this guy the rest of the time we were at the mall and as we were about to leave the lights started flickering. Carla thought it was the creepy Italian coming for us (!), but really it was just a huge thunderstorm outside that knocked the power out. Of course we didn’t bring our umbrellas, but we decided to make a run for it as fast as we could home. But once we got outside we realizes it really wasn’t good weather, especially when a huge thunder clap sounded and then a bolt of lightning appeared right in front of us! Everyone screamed and some Italians laughed at us. It died down a little so we eventually left but still got soaked on the way home. The roads were flooded too so there was no way to avoid the water that day.
13.9.09
Saturday we went to Rome! The city was great, but the getting there part was not so great. We woke up early to catch the 8:25 train from Viterbo to Rome. We planned ahead, brought food, and tried to get to the train station a little early to buy tickets. The person who sells tickets is not there on the weekends, however there is a little machine which I thought would be easy enough to use since most of those types of machines are. Wrong! The machine (which was from like when computers were invented – it was so old!) had a bunch of buttons with no labels, wouldn’t take our cash, and had no directions anywhere! After pressing all the buttons randomly, I finally got a ticket to some train station in Rome, even though it wasn’t the one I wanted. It took so long for us to figure out what to do though that we ended up missing our train. On top of that Caitlin forgot her money but then had time to go back and get it. Finally we all go some sort of tickets but then we realized they all had different ending points in Rome. We decided to all get off on the same stop since we knew they wouldn’t care. So we had to wait until 10:55 for the next train and then it started pouring, which made us doubt our decision to even go. Finally, we got on an actual train and headed off to Rome. The train feels like it goes so slow, though, because there are so many stops! On top of that there were some mechanical issues so we had to stop and one stop for 30 minutes. And on top of that, we were sitting next to some people who were blaring Indian music and clicking pens the whole time. That was annoying. So we finally made it to Rome around noon (keep in mind that it’s only 60 miles away, so that was a long trip) and got on the metro to the coliseum. As soon as you exit the metro, the coliseum is right there! That was breathtaking and amazing. The other first thing I noticed was all the people; there were so many tourists, which I guess was because it was a Saturday and still not too late into fall. Rome was really different than Viterbo in that way though because there just aren’t too many tourists in Viterbo. Also, I heard so much English being spoken, probably more that I heard Italian being spoken, which was sad. It was also annoying when we would go into the shops and try to speak Italian to the people (like we do in Viterbo) only to have them instantly realize that we were American and switch to English. We wanted to practice, though! I loved the big city atmosphere of Rome, but all of these things made me really glad that I’m studying in Viterbo, because there is so little English and it just seems so authentically Italian and not touristy. So after walking around the Coliseum for a bit we decided to look for the entrance to the Palatine Hill since our guidebooks told us the line for the tickets for would be shorter there. We found that and decided to start with the Palatine Hill and work our way down to the Roman Forum. Then we got some really expensive crappy food from a cart and headed into the Coliseum. This sounds easy enough, but all of these things cover a large amount of space and take a long time to go through. After the Coliseum we headed back to the metro to go to the Spanish Steps, when we saw a bunch of other usac students right outside the Coliseum (I’m pretty sure everyone went to Rome that weekend for at least one day). We never saw any signs for la Notte Bianca, the all night festival in Rome that we thought was going to take place that weekend, so we decided to go back that night. First, though, we headed to the Spanish Steps, which we cool, but we didn’t really see any steps since every square inch of space there was covered with people. From there we walked to the Trevi Fountain which was really beautiful. There was a wedding going on in a church nearby and they were taking pictures at the fountain, which I am sure turned out great. We actually saw like 20 (no joke) weddings that day and even said that we must have missed the memo to wear our wedding dresses to Rome. We looked at a few souvenir stands while walking through some shopping streets (Via del Corso) but compared to Viterbo everything in Rome was expensive! Plus the majority of the stores where we were major designer labels (Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, etc). It was getting dark and we knew the last direct train for Viterbo left around 8:30 pm so we decided to head for the main train station, Termini, which was different from the one we arrived in, Ostiense. This train station was so much bigger than the other ones we had been in that day and it had several, modern machines to buy tickets from, that could even be switched into English. We got the tickets back no problem, and they said the train station that we got off in (Ostiense), which we thought just meant that we had to switch trains there. So we had like 45 minutes to do whatever so we wandered the train station and got some food. Closer to when the train left we tried locating our platform on the computer screens but we couldn’t find it. We ran all around the train station and finally decided that the reason the other station was written on our ticket was because we had to leave from there. The ticket machine never said that though. It said something about taking some sort of regional connection to the other station, but it never said anything like purchase a metro ticket and go there yourself. So we only had about 10 or so minutes until our train left, from the other train station! We hopped on the metro.. well actually we ran to the station just to wait for the train to come. Plus we had our metro passes, but Caitlin couldn’t find hers, so we kind of had to sneak her through the metro since we were in such a rush, and the alarms started going off and it was bad. The train came, we went like 4 stops and then we got off at the other station way and by that time it was way past when the train left. I wrote down when the last connecting train left (our only hope) so we got on that one to Cesano. When we arrived in Cesano we had an hour before our next train, which turns out wasn’t a train but a bus. So it’s like 11pm at night and we are in the middle of nowhere in Italy waiting for some bus. Finally 11:05 rolls around and the bus isn’t there. All that is there is this tiny little unmarked short bus that probably seats about 20 people. I was sure that couldn’t be it, but after asking, it sure enough was. There weren’t even enough seats for everyone and there wasn’t even a way to hold on for those who couldn’t sit. Then we started our hour and half or so ride though the smallest, narrowest and windiest roads in all of Italy. This driver also sped the whole way and almost hit 2 cars and a person! We met some cool tourists on the bus though, from Germany and the Netherlands, all of whom I’m pretty sure spoke English better than any of us. Once we had finally made it to Viterbo, the driver didn’t even know where the train station was so we had to tell him. We got off the stupid bus around 12:30 am, so that was about a 3 hour trip right there just from Rome. We all walked home and crashed, not to awake until late the next day. I loved Rome, and didn’t get to see everything (still want to go to the Pantheon and the Vatican, at least) and can’t wait to go back. Hopefully the next time we will know what we are doing though and will have better luck with the transportation!
Today we decided to walk around Viterbo to try and see some places we hadn’t as well as to take some pictures of the macchina outside of the Santa Rosa church. I love going down the little streets of the beaten path in Viterbo. This city never ceases to amaze me. It’s the little undiscovered streets that are sometimes even better than the big ones. Sunday here is like a ghost town, though. Sunday night is busy and even Monday night everyone is out, but Sunday during the day nothing is open and no one is out or in the streets. So we found the one place that was open on a Sunday (and until late, too!) -McDonald’s. It was just like home! And the girl who worked there even spoke some English.
08.09.08
Today was the real first day of classes (besides the placement test day last week). I had Italian composition and the professor spoke only in Italian and we were supposed to do the same. We jumped right into reading some texts. Today was pretty confusing but I think we (all 6 of us, myself included) are in the same boat, and it will probably get better as time goes on. I hope we do some speaking or something though, because I would hate to waste 6 credits on only learning how to write a letter to my bank in Italian when I could be learning things I could use for everyday conversations in Italy. After class we decided to go to an internet café we had seen in passing to get some actual high speed internet so we could skype/upload pictures, and guess who happened to be at the café? Like half of the usac people! I thought it was funny that we all had the same idea (and it makes sense since apartment people have no internet at all). It was cool because we were actually the only people in the whole café, which was a really cute place. In the end we ended up going back to school to use the usac wireless, where we found another dozen or so usac-ers. I don’t get to see everyone all the time, so it was nice!
09.09.08
Today was the first day of my Italian culture class. It sounds really interesting and is stuff I would probably look into on my own even if I wasn’t taking the class. Though the 3 hour class in the warm classroom was tough! Over the past few days more students have been arriving to the city. Its pretty funny how we can instantly tell who is American (or Anglophone) and how our ears have become fine tuned to the sounds of the English language. No one really speaks English here, so to here it makes us all excited! And we found a laundromat with a dryer today! That’s exciting because we are all already so over having crunchy towels.
11.09.09
Today we had a little impromptu conversation circle since the cinema class was cancelled. I love hearing Italian being spoken! It’s so pretty. I also really like living in the dorm with all the international students, it reminds me of l’auberge espagole!
Today was 9/11, but having limited internet, no tv, and almost never speaking to anyone from home on the phone made me feel kind of removed from the situation, which is how I feel most of the time actually, it was just weird since today is always a big deal in the US.
12.9.09
On Friday we have no classes so we used that opportunity to go to a little town only a few kilometers from Viterbo called Bagnaia. In Bagnaia there are these beautiful renaissance gardens called Villa Lante. Even though it was a little drizzly, it was still beautiful there. We all took way too many pictures, most of which have some random German tourists in them. We ate the same café like 3 times that day, and I got this amazing coffee drink that had chocolate gelato in it. We also got to learn how to use Viterbo public transportation that day, which is surprisingly on time, considering most things in Italy are not. When we got back to Viterbo we decided to go to the Coop. Though going to the Coop is not anything special, this particular trip was definitely memorable. We took the elevator up from the parking garage and there were some other Italian people in it. But when we get out, Caitlin goes to one store and we (me and Carla) start heading towards another when we realize that one of the guys from the elevator is like right behind us and we think he is following us. So we decide instead to make a bee line for the purse store across the mall, assuming that he won’t follow us in there. Wrong! He goes in and starts looking for purses too! We try calling Caitlin, but she didn’t have her phone. So we decide to go back to the other store and look for her so she wouldn’t have to walk alone with the possibility of this guy following her as well/instead. The guy of course follows us to the other store and into that one too. We try and go around the store and out a different way, but we got stuck back in a dead end corner! Now this guy is right behind us constantly trying to talk to us saying things like “scusi, ciao” over and over. We try to talk loudly in English and laugh to drown him out thinking that maybe he would get the picture that we are not from here or that maybe we don’t speak Italian. However that doesn’t work either (Italian guys are really persistent)! So we’re standing in this corner of a store looking at the only item on the one shelf and there’s no way out. So I turn around and say “ciao “and try to scoot past but he’s like introducing himself (si chiama Fabio) and asking if we are here on vacation and I was just like “si, si” and then he asked if I wanted to go get a drink with him. Luckily at this point I was pretty close to the door and I just said “no, grazie” and ran out! So that was pretty crazy, and really made me wonder who told Italian guys that girls like to be followed.. or yelled out on the street or stared at or one of the many other things that Italian men seem to all do (these have all happened to me and other girls so far). Needless to say, we were on the lookout for this guy the rest of the time we were at the mall and as we were about to leave the lights started flickering. Carla thought it was the creepy Italian coming for us (!), but really it was just a huge thunderstorm outside that knocked the power out. Of course we didn’t bring our umbrellas, but we decided to make a run for it as fast as we could home. But once we got outside we realizes it really wasn’t good weather, especially when a huge thunder clap sounded and then a bolt of lightning appeared right in front of us! Everyone screamed and some Italians laughed at us. It died down a little so we eventually left but still got soaked on the way home. The roads were flooded too so there was no way to avoid the water that day.
13.9.09
Saturday we went to Rome! The city was great, but the getting there part was not so great. We woke up early to catch the 8:25 train from Viterbo to Rome. We planned ahead, brought food, and tried to get to the train station a little early to buy tickets. The person who sells tickets is not there on the weekends, however there is a little machine which I thought would be easy enough to use since most of those types of machines are. Wrong! The machine (which was from like when computers were invented – it was so old!) had a bunch of buttons with no labels, wouldn’t take our cash, and had no directions anywhere! After pressing all the buttons randomly, I finally got a ticket to some train station in Rome, even though it wasn’t the one I wanted. It took so long for us to figure out what to do though that we ended up missing our train. On top of that Caitlin forgot her money but then had time to go back and get it. Finally we all go some sort of tickets but then we realized they all had different ending points in Rome. We decided to all get off on the same stop since we knew they wouldn’t care. So we had to wait until 10:55 for the next train and then it started pouring, which made us doubt our decision to even go. Finally, we got on an actual train and headed off to Rome. The train feels like it goes so slow, though, because there are so many stops! On top of that there were some mechanical issues so we had to stop and one stop for 30 minutes. And on top of that, we were sitting next to some people who were blaring Indian music and clicking pens the whole time. That was annoying. So we finally made it to Rome around noon (keep in mind that it’s only 60 miles away, so that was a long trip) and got on the metro to the coliseum. As soon as you exit the metro, the coliseum is right there! That was breathtaking and amazing. The other first thing I noticed was all the people; there were so many tourists, which I guess was because it was a Saturday and still not too late into fall. Rome was really different than Viterbo in that way though because there just aren’t too many tourists in Viterbo. Also, I heard so much English being spoken, probably more that I heard Italian being spoken, which was sad. It was also annoying when we would go into the shops and try to speak Italian to the people (like we do in Viterbo) only to have them instantly realize that we were American and switch to English. We wanted to practice, though! I loved the big city atmosphere of Rome, but all of these things made me really glad that I’m studying in Viterbo, because there is so little English and it just seems so authentically Italian and not touristy. So after walking around the Coliseum for a bit we decided to look for the entrance to the Palatine Hill since our guidebooks told us the line for the tickets for would be shorter there. We found that and decided to start with the Palatine Hill and work our way down to the Roman Forum. Then we got some really expensive crappy food from a cart and headed into the Coliseum. This sounds easy enough, but all of these things cover a large amount of space and take a long time to go through. After the Coliseum we headed back to the metro to go to the Spanish Steps, when we saw a bunch of other usac students right outside the Coliseum (I’m pretty sure everyone went to Rome that weekend for at least one day). We never saw any signs for la Notte Bianca, the all night festival in Rome that we thought was going to take place that weekend, so we decided to go back that night. First, though, we headed to the Spanish Steps, which we cool, but we didn’t really see any steps since every square inch of space there was covered with people. From there we walked to the Trevi Fountain which was really beautiful. There was a wedding going on in a church nearby and they were taking pictures at the fountain, which I am sure turned out great. We actually saw like 20 (no joke) weddings that day and even said that we must have missed the memo to wear our wedding dresses to Rome. We looked at a few souvenir stands while walking through some shopping streets (Via del Corso) but compared to Viterbo everything in Rome was expensive! Plus the majority of the stores where we were major designer labels (Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, etc). It was getting dark and we knew the last direct train for Viterbo left around 8:30 pm so we decided to head for the main train station, Termini, which was different from the one we arrived in, Ostiense. This train station was so much bigger than the other ones we had been in that day and it had several, modern machines to buy tickets from, that could even be switched into English. We got the tickets back no problem, and they said the train station that we got off in (Ostiense), which we thought just meant that we had to switch trains there. So we had like 45 minutes to do whatever so we wandered the train station and got some food. Closer to when the train left we tried locating our platform on the computer screens but we couldn’t find it. We ran all around the train station and finally decided that the reason the other station was written on our ticket was because we had to leave from there. The ticket machine never said that though. It said something about taking some sort of regional connection to the other station, but it never said anything like purchase a metro ticket and go there yourself. So we only had about 10 or so minutes until our train left, from the other train station! We hopped on the metro.. well actually we ran to the station just to wait for the train to come. Plus we had our metro passes, but Caitlin couldn’t find hers, so we kind of had to sneak her through the metro since we were in such a rush, and the alarms started going off and it was bad. The train came, we went like 4 stops and then we got off at the other station way and by that time it was way past when the train left. I wrote down when the last connecting train left (our only hope) so we got on that one to Cesano. When we arrived in Cesano we had an hour before our next train, which turns out wasn’t a train but a bus. So it’s like 11pm at night and we are in the middle of nowhere in Italy waiting for some bus. Finally 11:05 rolls around and the bus isn’t there. All that is there is this tiny little unmarked short bus that probably seats about 20 people. I was sure that couldn’t be it, but after asking, it sure enough was. There weren’t even enough seats for everyone and there wasn’t even a way to hold on for those who couldn’t sit. Then we started our hour and half or so ride though the smallest, narrowest and windiest roads in all of Italy. This driver also sped the whole way and almost hit 2 cars and a person! We met some cool tourists on the bus though, from Germany and the Netherlands, all of whom I’m pretty sure spoke English better than any of us. Once we had finally made it to Viterbo, the driver didn’t even know where the train station was so we had to tell him. We got off the stupid bus around 12:30 am, so that was about a 3 hour trip right there just from Rome. We all walked home and crashed, not to awake until late the next day. I loved Rome, and didn’t get to see everything (still want to go to the Pantheon and the Vatican, at least) and can’t wait to go back. Hopefully the next time we will know what we are doing though and will have better luck with the transportation!
10 September 2008
continua..
06 septembre 2008
No class for the intermediate/composition students today = sleep in for the first time since getting here! Well, kind of, before being awoken by the maid (that sounds like we are so spoiled…). So we were free until our field trip at 2 to the Cività di Bagnoregio, this amazing little hilltop town not to far away. I found out later that it is even on Rick Steve’s list of top Italian hilltop towns! Bagnoregio is even called the “la città che muore” or, the city that dies, because it is so high up on this hill all the other towns around it (as well as a large part of this town) have eroded off the hill by weather and other factors. So there are only like 7 people who even live up there anymore and the only stores or shops are purely for tourists. It was so, so beautiful though. I’m sure the pictures can’t even begin to show how pretty it was. And it was so quiet and everything was hundreds of years old; it was like a town that time forgot. I feel like I say everything here is so beautiful - because it is - but this was really exceptional. Also today I had my first coffee experience since being here. I don’t really like espresso unless it’s laden with other things, and they just drink it like a shot here. But I got a cappuccino freddo (cold) and even though it was strong, it wasn’t bitter, like espresso is in the US. Plus I added some chocolate flavored sugar and that made it great! Later on I had some sort of coffee that was blended with ice but it was served in a shot glass with coco powder on top. It was really good whatever it was.
06 Septembre 08
Today we woke up early and went to the beach! We’re really not to far from the ocean, which is actually a sea, and is not it Mediterranean, but the Tirreno (Tyrrhenian). The water was bluer than in the states, but it wasn’t clear, unfortunately. Also, the sand was black and coarse. The whole trip there was pretty confusing but everything also worked out pretty perfectly. We decided to get to the bus station at 9:30 am, and even though we only had a vague idea of where it was, we found it no problem. We asked inside how to get to Tarquinia and they told us to get on the bus to Civitavecchia and get off at Blera, then get off and switch bus for the one to Tarquina. As soon as we got off the one bus in Blera, the other bus was already there. The ride was kinda crazy; small windy roads, huge bridges over valleys between the mountains, and little towns where the entire population sits outside on the sidewalks and talks to each other or just watches the day go by. Tarquinia was a cute little hilltop town (like most towns around here) but seemed somewhat touristy because they had a necropoli etrusca (an Etruscan cemetery). We even heard English being spoken (a rarity)! Then we asked how to get to the beach (Tarquinia Lido) since we were about 6 km from the shore. The tourist info office directed us to a bus sitting right in front of us; we got on, and were at the beach not too long after. We ate a little café, then went in the water, which was really salty and had small waves. After getting out, the black sand stuck to us everywhere. Then we tanned on the beach where the sand blew around (it was really windy) and got everywhere, in my face, in my eyes, in my hair, etc. After a few hours we decided to go up and see the town we came into and then head back to Viterbo. I stayed at the beach with half the people while the other half went to wait at the fermata d’autobus. About an hour later we went to meet them and they were all still waiting there because no bus had come. We started walking towards the train station, since we knew the bus stopped there, and thought maybe we could take the train if need be. After walking down this random desolate road for a while we saw a bus pass and all started screaming and running after it. Luckily the bus driver stopped. One member of our group however decided not to walk with us and consequently missed the bus. Hopefully he made it back ok! After we got back to the town we found out that the last direct bus to Viterbo was coming in one minute, but the tourist info shop was closed and we didn’t know where to buy tickets. The bus showed up shortly thereafter and the driver told us that we couldn’t buy tickets on board. All 5 of us plus one other random guy ran around the town to all the places the driver told us sold the tickets only to find that none of them did (good practice of my Italian skills, however)! When we went back he let us buy them on board (though we had to pay for the most expensive ticket instead of what it actually cost because he didn’t have a way to calculate the fare or something like that. The bus ride home was quick (~40 mins) and then it was off to the Coop, which is really called the Ipercoop (pronounced ee-per-cop), an awesome grocery store/mini Wal-Mart.
07.09.08
Today we decided to walk around Viterbo to try and see some places we hadn’t as well as to take some pictures of the macchina outside of the Santa Rosa church. I love going down the little streets of the beaten path in Viterbo. This city never ceases to amaze me. It’s the little undiscovered streets that are sometimes even better than the big ones. Sunday here is like a ghost town, though. Sunday night is busy and even Monday night everyone is out, but Sunday during the day nothing is open and no one is out and in the streets. So we found the one place that was open on a Sunday (and until late, too!) -McDonald’s. It was just like home! And the girl who worked there even spoke some English.
No class for the intermediate/composition students today = sleep in for the first time since getting here! Well, kind of, before being awoken by the maid (that sounds like we are so spoiled…). So we were free until our field trip at 2 to the Cività di Bagnoregio, this amazing little hilltop town not to far away. I found out later that it is even on Rick Steve’s list of top Italian hilltop towns! Bagnoregio is even called the “la città che muore” or, the city that dies, because it is so high up on this hill all the other towns around it (as well as a large part of this town) have eroded off the hill by weather and other factors. So there are only like 7 people who even live up there anymore and the only stores or shops are purely for tourists. It was so, so beautiful though. I’m sure the pictures can’t even begin to show how pretty it was. And it was so quiet and everything was hundreds of years old; it was like a town that time forgot. I feel like I say everything here is so beautiful - because it is - but this was really exceptional. Also today I had my first coffee experience since being here. I don’t really like espresso unless it’s laden with other things, and they just drink it like a shot here. But I got a cappuccino freddo (cold) and even though it was strong, it wasn’t bitter, like espresso is in the US. Plus I added some chocolate flavored sugar and that made it great! Later on I had some sort of coffee that was blended with ice but it was served in a shot glass with coco powder on top. It was really good whatever it was.
06 Septembre 08
Today we woke up early and went to the beach! We’re really not to far from the ocean, which is actually a sea, and is not it Mediterranean, but the Tirreno (Tyrrhenian). The water was bluer than in the states, but it wasn’t clear, unfortunately. Also, the sand was black and coarse. The whole trip there was pretty confusing but everything also worked out pretty perfectly. We decided to get to the bus station at 9:30 am, and even though we only had a vague idea of where it was, we found it no problem. We asked inside how to get to Tarquinia and they told us to get on the bus to Civitavecchia and get off at Blera, then get off and switch bus for the one to Tarquina. As soon as we got off the one bus in Blera, the other bus was already there. The ride was kinda crazy; small windy roads, huge bridges over valleys between the mountains, and little towns where the entire population sits outside on the sidewalks and talks to each other or just watches the day go by. Tarquinia was a cute little hilltop town (like most towns around here) but seemed somewhat touristy because they had a necropoli etrusca (an Etruscan cemetery). We even heard English being spoken (a rarity)! Then we asked how to get to the beach (Tarquinia Lido) since we were about 6 km from the shore. The tourist info office directed us to a bus sitting right in front of us; we got on, and were at the beach not too long after. We ate a little café, then went in the water, which was really salty and had small waves. After getting out, the black sand stuck to us everywhere. Then we tanned on the beach where the sand blew around (it was really windy) and got everywhere, in my face, in my eyes, in my hair, etc. After a few hours we decided to go up and see the town we came into and then head back to Viterbo. I stayed at the beach with half the people while the other half went to wait at the fermata d’autobus. About an hour later we went to meet them and they were all still waiting there because no bus had come. We started walking towards the train station, since we knew the bus stopped there, and thought maybe we could take the train if need be. After walking down this random desolate road for a while we saw a bus pass and all started screaming and running after it. Luckily the bus driver stopped. One member of our group however decided not to walk with us and consequently missed the bus. Hopefully he made it back ok! After we got back to the town we found out that the last direct bus to Viterbo was coming in one minute, but the tourist info shop was closed and we didn’t know where to buy tickets. The bus showed up shortly thereafter and the driver told us that we couldn’t buy tickets on board. All 5 of us plus one other random guy ran around the town to all the places the driver told us sold the tickets only to find that none of them did (good practice of my Italian skills, however)! When we went back he let us buy them on board (though we had to pay for the most expensive ticket instead of what it actually cost because he didn’t have a way to calculate the fare or something like that. The bus ride home was quick (~40 mins) and then it was off to the Coop, which is really called the Ipercoop (pronounced ee-per-cop), an awesome grocery store/mini Wal-Mart.
07.09.08
Today we decided to walk around Viterbo to try and see some places we hadn’t as well as to take some pictures of the macchina outside of the Santa Rosa church. I love going down the little streets of the beaten path in Viterbo. This city never ceases to amaze me. It’s the little undiscovered streets that are sometimes even better than the big ones. Sunday here is like a ghost town, though. Sunday night is busy and even Monday night everyone is out, but Sunday during the day nothing is open and no one is out and in the streets. So we found the one place that was open on a Sunday (and until late, too!) -McDonald’s. It was just like home! And the girl who worked there even spoke some English.
08 September 2008
la mia prima settimana in italia
After the first day of walking around on our own, we ate in the hotel’s restaurant, le Grenier. We had some typical Italian foods in a few courses, which I’m not really a fan of (multiple courses, not the food – that was great!) since I can never eat that much.
The next day we woke up early and repacked everything so that we could move into the program housing. We had breakfast at the hotel. We found out where we were living and I got the residence hall! This was my first choice and lots of people requested it but didn’t get it, so I felt pretty lucky. We walked over there to check out the building and it looked nice from the outside and it wasn’t too far from the hotel, which wasn’t too far from the downtown area. Viterbo is a city with a medieval wall around it and the central “downtown” area is inside the walls. Most of the apartments are inside the walls but the dorms are outside. We took a walk around the center and our program director, Stefano, pointed out some of the sites of Viterbo. After that we got to go back to the hotel and actually move into the housing. Everyone in the apartment’s luggage was taken by a taxi for them, but because the dorms were “close” (closer, but not really close! Not with 2 suitcases, one at 50 pounds and one at 60, plus a backpack weighing about 30) we had to walk with everything. So that took awhile and we felt like we had just run a marathon afterwards, plus the dorms (or anything here) aren’t air conditioned so we just got there and continued to sweat and be really hot. The rooms are really nice though (even with no air-conditioning). We are on the seconda piana, which is really the third floor because they start at floor 0. All 8 of us living here have our own rooms with our own bathrooms and the furniture is newer and we have a desk, wardrobe, nightstand, phone (which has free incoming calls, if you want the number!) 2 chairs, etc. Plus a maid comes everyday and cleans it! The downsides are that it is outside the walls, and most other people live inside the walls, so they are close to restaurants, bars and just about anything.. though we are a bit closer to the Wal-Mart-like grocery store, and the Università Della Tuscia’s other campus (Agraria – Forestry), and we have a communal “kitchen”, which is really only a sink, 2 fridges and 4 hotplates. So cooking is going to be a little hard and I don’t really think I am planning on doing much of it. That night we went out for pizza which was so good. Pizza is EVERYWHERE, seriously everywhere. It’s like their version of fast food. Pizza, pasta and panini are so common. Oh and gelato! I have eaten a lot of pizza since I’ve gotten here and it’s all really, really good. And I have also eaten a lot of gelato, which is even better! Sometimes I have it twice a day. It’s so good though I doubt that I will ever get sick of it!
On the third day, we had school orientation. The campus is so pretty. The bad part was meeting there at like 9 and it being a half hour walk. The school is really old (like everything here) and so are the courtyards and we learned a little about how to get around, then broke for lunch for like 2 hours (a typical lunch break!) and then came back for our first day of class. Beginners had an actual class, but people signed up for intermediate and advanced ha a placement test! It wasn’t so bad though and it was multiple choice. After the test we went around and introduced ourselves. In the beginning I was kind of dreading class because I want to spend all my time traveling and exploring, but after getting our schedules and hearing a little about each class I was so excited! It sounds like they are really going to weave in the culture and the fact that we are in an Italian city into what they are teaching, so everything seems so practical. Plus we have fieldtrips! I can’t wait to start learning Italian again because it’s been awhile since my last class and once we start class up again I’m sure I will get into the flow of speaking Italian a bit more.
Day 4
We did permit of stay paperwork, which was complicated and none of us are really sure why we need it since we have a visa. After that there was a class, but I wasn’t in it, so I was free until later to go and apply for the permit at the post office. My card got stuck in the bancomat that day though, which totally freaked me out. Apparently I entered the wrong pin 3 times and so the ATM took it! I went into the bank to talk to someone and no one spoke English. The only good part about this day was that I was able to explain and have this conversation with the teller about how the ATM took my card. I felt pretty good about that but not about the fact that she said they would not give it back to me. Luckily after I explained that I would be studying here for 4 months and would need the card she said if I could come back with a director or professor that they would give it back. This night we also went to a place inside the San Pellegrino section of Viterbo, which is the oldest preserved medieval town in Europe! Apparently Viterbo is so well intact because of the fact that people don’t really know about it so much (and I think there was less bombing during the wars).
Day 5
We had some more orientation at the Università’s other campus, Agraria, and then had an American woman who lived here in Viterbo explain a little about this Santa Rosa festival that would be going on that night. Santa Rosa is the patron saint of Viterbo and ever since we have arrived that has been all anyone talks about! Thursday is the actual holiday when things are closed, but on Wednesday night is when the real festivities happen. Santa Rosa was apparently a young girl who wanted to be a nun but she was crippled and they said she was too stupid and didn't have enough money to be a nun. Later on she died and the pope had 3 dreams about her so they dug her body up a week after she died it hadn’t decomposed so they realized that she was a saint (or something like that, really I don’t get any of this). So when they realized that, they took her body and put it in the nunnery where she really wanted to be (her body is still in there for anyone to see anytime!) Now every year they parade her body through the streets during the day, and at night, a group of 100 men native of Viterbo in white called “facchini”, carry a huge statue that was built in her honor through the city. In between some Santa Rosa festivities we got to see the dress rehearsal of the only opera being shown in Viterbo this year, il Barbiere di Siviglia (Barber of Seville). I don’t even like opera, and I didn’t know what was going on, but it was amazing!! The singing and the orchestra - like seriously, we all just could not believe that we had just seen an Italian opera in a seriously old opera house in Italy! After that it was time to sit on the street to wait for the parade, which didn’t start until 9 pm, however, people begin lining up at 12 noon or even earlier! And it was so, so crowded! Everyone must have come from not only Viterbo, but the outside surrounding towns, and there were cameras and newspapers taking pictures, this was like bigger than a national holiday for us in the States. Afterwards there were fireworks too! During the parade, they turn off all the lights in the city and light the statue up with candles. It was quite a site.
Day 6
Thursday is the actual holiday for Santa Rosa. The entire area inside the walls (the downtown area) was filled with street venders selling anything you could ever imagine. They had housewares, clothing, bags, pets, vacuums, food, everything!
i'll post the rest later, ciao!
The next day we woke up early and repacked everything so that we could move into the program housing. We had breakfast at the hotel. We found out where we were living and I got the residence hall! This was my first choice and lots of people requested it but didn’t get it, so I felt pretty lucky. We walked over there to check out the building and it looked nice from the outside and it wasn’t too far from the hotel, which wasn’t too far from the downtown area. Viterbo is a city with a medieval wall around it and the central “downtown” area is inside the walls. Most of the apartments are inside the walls but the dorms are outside. We took a walk around the center and our program director, Stefano, pointed out some of the sites of Viterbo. After that we got to go back to the hotel and actually move into the housing. Everyone in the apartment’s luggage was taken by a taxi for them, but because the dorms were “close” (closer, but not really close! Not with 2 suitcases, one at 50 pounds and one at 60, plus a backpack weighing about 30) we had to walk with everything. So that took awhile and we felt like we had just run a marathon afterwards, plus the dorms (or anything here) aren’t air conditioned so we just got there and continued to sweat and be really hot. The rooms are really nice though (even with no air-conditioning). We are on the seconda piana, which is really the third floor because they start at floor 0. All 8 of us living here have our own rooms with our own bathrooms and the furniture is newer and we have a desk, wardrobe, nightstand, phone (which has free incoming calls, if you want the number!) 2 chairs, etc. Plus a maid comes everyday and cleans it! The downsides are that it is outside the walls, and most other people live inside the walls, so they are close to restaurants, bars and just about anything.. though we are a bit closer to the Wal-Mart-like grocery store, and the Università Della Tuscia’s other campus (Agraria – Forestry), and we have a communal “kitchen”, which is really only a sink, 2 fridges and 4 hotplates. So cooking is going to be a little hard and I don’t really think I am planning on doing much of it. That night we went out for pizza which was so good. Pizza is EVERYWHERE, seriously everywhere. It’s like their version of fast food. Pizza, pasta and panini are so common. Oh and gelato! I have eaten a lot of pizza since I’ve gotten here and it’s all really, really good. And I have also eaten a lot of gelato, which is even better! Sometimes I have it twice a day. It’s so good though I doubt that I will ever get sick of it!
On the third day, we had school orientation. The campus is so pretty. The bad part was meeting there at like 9 and it being a half hour walk. The school is really old (like everything here) and so are the courtyards and we learned a little about how to get around, then broke for lunch for like 2 hours (a typical lunch break!) and then came back for our first day of class. Beginners had an actual class, but people signed up for intermediate and advanced ha a placement test! It wasn’t so bad though and it was multiple choice. After the test we went around and introduced ourselves. In the beginning I was kind of dreading class because I want to spend all my time traveling and exploring, but after getting our schedules and hearing a little about each class I was so excited! It sounds like they are really going to weave in the culture and the fact that we are in an Italian city into what they are teaching, so everything seems so practical. Plus we have fieldtrips! I can’t wait to start learning Italian again because it’s been awhile since my last class and once we start class up again I’m sure I will get into the flow of speaking Italian a bit more.
Day 4
We did permit of stay paperwork, which was complicated and none of us are really sure why we need it since we have a visa. After that there was a class, but I wasn’t in it, so I was free until later to go and apply for the permit at the post office. My card got stuck in the bancomat that day though, which totally freaked me out. Apparently I entered the wrong pin 3 times and so the ATM took it! I went into the bank to talk to someone and no one spoke English. The only good part about this day was that I was able to explain and have this conversation with the teller about how the ATM took my card. I felt pretty good about that but not about the fact that she said they would not give it back to me. Luckily after I explained that I would be studying here for 4 months and would need the card she said if I could come back with a director or professor that they would give it back. This night we also went to a place inside the San Pellegrino section of Viterbo, which is the oldest preserved medieval town in Europe! Apparently Viterbo is so well intact because of the fact that people don’t really know about it so much (and I think there was less bombing during the wars).
Day 5
We had some more orientation at the Università’s other campus, Agraria, and then had an American woman who lived here in Viterbo explain a little about this Santa Rosa festival that would be going on that night. Santa Rosa is the patron saint of Viterbo and ever since we have arrived that has been all anyone talks about! Thursday is the actual holiday when things are closed, but on Wednesday night is when the real festivities happen. Santa Rosa was apparently a young girl who wanted to be a nun but she was crippled and they said she was too stupid and didn't have enough money to be a nun. Later on she died and the pope had 3 dreams about her so they dug her body up a week after she died it hadn’t decomposed so they realized that she was a saint (or something like that, really I don’t get any of this). So when they realized that, they took her body and put it in the nunnery where she really wanted to be (her body is still in there for anyone to see anytime!) Now every year they parade her body through the streets during the day, and at night, a group of 100 men native of Viterbo in white called “facchini”, carry a huge statue that was built in her honor through the city. In between some Santa Rosa festivities we got to see the dress rehearsal of the only opera being shown in Viterbo this year, il Barbiere di Siviglia (Barber of Seville). I don’t even like opera, and I didn’t know what was going on, but it was amazing!! The singing and the orchestra - like seriously, we all just could not believe that we had just seen an Italian opera in a seriously old opera house in Italy! After that it was time to sit on the street to wait for the parade, which didn’t start until 9 pm, however, people begin lining up at 12 noon or even earlier! And it was so, so crowded! Everyone must have come from not only Viterbo, but the outside surrounding towns, and there were cameras and newspapers taking pictures, this was like bigger than a national holiday for us in the States. Afterwards there were fireworks too! During the parade, they turn off all the lights in the city and light the statue up with candles. It was quite a site.
Day 6
Thursday is the actual holiday for Santa Rosa. The entire area inside the walls (the downtown area) was filled with street venders selling anything you could ever imagine. They had housewares, clothing, bags, pets, vacuums, food, everything!
i'll post the rest later, ciao!
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