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.