"Old places exist on sine waves of time and space that bend in some logarithmic motion I'm beginning to ride. "
- Under the Tuscan Sun
I have successfully recovered from jet lag! It felt so great to wake up this morning and feel refreshed. Ok, to elaborate on the last post I wrote about traveling, I forgot to add 2 important facts. Fact #1: I got off of the plane from atlanta to rome alive. Fact #2: the fact th
at I am alive is important. right before we took off, the stewardess ordered "Akmar" and "Akmed" to the front of the plane. I feared that the American government had "overlooked" another terrorist. I am racial profiling, i know but I'm sure Akmar and Akmed were completely harmeless. Even so, why the heck would an airline call them to the front of the plane after everyone is sitting happily in their seats awaiting the 8 hour flight ahead of them over the Atlantic Ocean?
On to yesterday: when we arrived, we had a whole day ahead of us to function on little to no sleep. It was interesting. We moved into our rooms
and walked around the quaint town of Ariccia,
and learned quickly how much trouble a language barrier can be. We met Cinzia, our beautiful Italian friend who works for the program and for the palace/museum we LIVE in. Last night, she took us on a walking tour of Ariccia and Albano, the neighboring town, and
we got our cell phones (which took FOREVER!) Italians are great- they take their time with everything. After that, we walked to dinner at the hotel in Ariccia. It was my first Italian meal and a great experience! The meal consisted of 4 courses. The first course was a plate of assort
ed meets, vegetables, bread, and cheese. ** The second course was lasagna, the third course was Al dente, and the fourth course was a great Tiramisu-type cake. All of the faculty members and people connected to the program that we have met so far are so beautiful and nice and I can tell that God selected our group of girls very carefully - we are all so different, but I love them all!
This morning, we had orientation then lunch anywhere of our choice within walking distance.
Most girls went to restaurants and ordered pizza or paninis but we decided to have a little adventure. First, we went to a little grocery store and got a big slice of pizza bread. Second, we went to the cheese store and got mozzarella, then to a fruteria and bought cherry tomatoes, then to a gelataria and got cafe and drinks.
Then, we sat on the steps of the palace and ate while we watched the town crazy named peter, who we had the pleasure of meeting earlier, stand across the street on the square while he unbuttoned his shirt, unzipped his pants, pointed at people, and yelled at every car that drove past. Meeting Peter was humorous. He obviously wanted to practice his English with us. He then decided that he loved us forever. All of the locals are so nice and try so hard to do their best at communicating with us. I am so blessed to be here. The scenery, language, and people are even more beautiful than I imagined!
WOW! This afternoon was amazing! After lunch, we went on a small tour of the palace museum and met the palace staff who work closely with us: Maurizio, Frencesco, Susanna,
Roberta, and Bruna. They are all so great, and anyone can see the passion they have for their country, town, and especially the Chigi Palace. I think they took a shine to our group because when they noticed how enthralled with we were with everything in the Palace, Maurizio and Francesco took us up to the tower of the palace, where no other group had been in the past. tower overlooks multiple different little towns, fields, Rome, and
the mediterranean sea. Yesterday was an overcast day, and Maurizio told us that this was his favorite spot to watch the sun set. when the sun gets low enough, it is seen between the cloud line and the horizon line and reflects off of the sea. The sight was beautiful, and the sunset accentuated the beauty of every ancient building around us with it's light.
After touring the palace, we all went to the supermercato to buy groceries, then I ate dinner with 4 other girls on the way back. The man who owned the restaurant spoke absolutely no english, but he and his mother we so nice and helpful because we had no clue what to order. We ended up getting awesome food and had a great time talking, eating, and drinking wine. This is a picture of the Carbonara I ate with my little cat (who came inside a chocolate egg I got at the supermercato) it was really good =)
No comments:
Post a Comment