Fantastic Weekend (Part 1: Dinnery Party and Orvieto)

Friday: Dinner Party



This Friday, I had a few friends come over for dinner. It was pretty low key - I just made a pasta dish - but the company was fantastic. While I finished making the pasta with zucchini, eggplant, tomato sauce, and sausage, we listened to music and talked about the week of school and everything Rome had show us so far.



I was a little stressed about cooking for more than me (especially since I wasn't using a recipe), but the final product turned out great! Everyone loved the meal, and for such wonderful taste, it was so cost effective! I definitely can see myself hosting this sort of thing again. And the absolute best part?...



...



My friends brought over dessert! They bought four sweets (one for each of us) from a Sicilian bakery on their way to our house. We all tried each of them, and every single one was AMAZING! My personal favorite was the one in the far right corner of the picture. The creamy-stuff on top wasn't something we had ever encountered before, but it was sooooo good.

All in all, I really enjoyed our dinner night, and it was great to do something like that instead of go out and party. We said our goodbyes by 10pm, and then I got to get some quality sleep for my early morning.

Saturday: Orvieto Cathedral and Underground City



We had to meet for the charter bus at 8am. This meant waking up at 6:20 - not so fun. As you can see from our meeting point, it's still semi-dark in Rome at 7:30/8, so we all made sure to caffeinate with some cappuccino before we left.



Once we finished our 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Orvieto, we had to take a tram up the mountainside. The town of Orvieto is located on a volcanic tufa (basically a flat, mountainy thing), so our steep tram ride felt like the beginning of a rollercoaster.



The view at the top was amazing though, and believe it or not the view got even better. This is a panorama of the new city of Orvieto, but from a different side of the tufa, you can see vineyards and ancient castle-like buildings (just wait for these amazing pictures later).



After the tram, we had a short bus ride to the town, and this grand cathedral was the first sight I saw once we got off the bus. Being awe-struck is an emotion I'm just going to have to get used to in Rome, because so many things here are amazingly beautiful.



This church sparked my interest right away, because the outside looked so different than anything I'd seen before. It was striped! I can't say I found it very visually pleasing, but it certainly was a sight to see. And the front of the church was beyond beautiful...





Every little nook and crany was filled with decoration of such a grand scale, I don't think it would be possible to notice everything on the church's face in one sitting.



After everyone made if safely off the bus, we headed inside the cathedral (or "Duomo" as it's called). We hastily made our way, because it was very, VERY cold in Orvieto - I think the high for the day was 35 F. The inside was very plain, so at first I was a little disappointed. Sure the stripes were kind of cool, but I had paid fees, so I was expecting something a little more grand. But the more I looked around, the more I realized what a cool duomo this was.



Amidst the plain stripes were absolutely breath-taking stained glass windows. This one was above the alter, and it depicts scenes from Mary's life (the cathedral is dedicated to her, so there is a lot of art about her.



To exemplify this last point, here is a statue near the front of the church showing Mary, Jesus, and the dude that took Jesus down from the cross. It was a very detailed statue, and the most fascinating part was that it was carved from one block of marble! All of those holes and crevasses were carefully added, and I felt nervous for the ancient artists just thinking about that.

The coolest part of the church by far was the only part we couldn't take pictures of, which is a shame because the art was really wonderful. Seeing as such, I've gratefully turned to Google, where I found some images of the chapel.

Cappella di San Brizio (Chapel to San Brizio) was painted from head to toe in some of the most gorgeous artwork I've seen in Rome so far. It was primarily painted by Luca Signorelli, and our tour guides extensively talked us through all of the paintings and what they meant. Hearing the backstories for the artist's interpretation of the Last Judgment was very insightful, and I felt like I was being read a picture book in elementary school, except the art was all around me.

This scene is rather grotesque, and it represents Hell as it would be after the Last Judgment. Signorelli used a great technique to highlight the acts of the minions by painting them green, purple, blue, or red, because otherwise all of the bodies would have appeared melded together to the viewer. It is interesting to think that these images were used to teach/scare people, because when you view this in person it is larger than life. I certainly wouldn't want to be sent to a place like this after death, so having this horrific image be so prominent and terror-inducing to the viewer really adds to the urgency of repenting sins and making sure that Hell is NOT in the picture.

This image, despite having skeletons, is actually depicting a hopeful scene for its viewers. It is one of the more creative and powerful projections of the resurrection (for people who get to go to Heaven). It shows people being reborn and called on by the angels, slowly regaining their human form and becoming perfected (the bodies in this scene are a lot more athletic and muscular than the bodies from the Hell scene).

What is interesting (especially since I viewed the Sistine Chapel the following day) is that this chapel was painted before Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, and it is thought that he took a lot of his inspiration from Signorelli's work. It was very clear to me, at least, that there were several similar elements between the two.

The Cappella di San Brizio was simply amazing, and even though we spend over an hour listening and viewing the paintings in the 20x20' room, I feel like I could have spent twice as long just trying to soak up all of the details. I've definitely given an abridged version of what we learned, but without seeing it in person, I feel that it's impossible to convey all of the proper emotions felt when seeing something so intricate and provoking.

After the Cappella di San Brizio, we went to the opposite side of the church and I saw my first relic:



This is supposedly the cloth that covered the altar when a non-believing priest broke the daily bread and it spurted blood. Yeah, you read that correctly. Apparently this priest was starting to doubt the existence of God and was telling everyone so, and then when he went to do the bread/wine thing, Jesus' actual blood started pouring from the bread and onto the cloth. It was said to be a miracle, and now that cloth is on display. Even though I'm not a religious person, it was somewhat cool to see an object that has so much reverence behind it and is held to such a degree as being put on a pedestal behind glass.



After we finished inside, we went outside to explore. Let me tell you: it was COLD. Cold, cold, COLD. Everyone was shivering, and although we were happy to be in Orvieto, I think everyone was wishing for more clothing and a nice cup of hot chocolate by the fire. You can see a better shot of the front of the church, as well as a freezing-me in the corner. I wish I had brought a hat.



While we were waiting for lunch, our tour guides took us on a little tour of the town. It was SO cute. This is a picture of the clocktower in the distance, but also of a cool architectural feature. The yellowish building has diagonally placed metal bars (towards the middle). These were used to prevent the building from leaning or collapsing - they help distribute some of the weight.





We also saw a typical Orvieto building. It is made out of tufa, a stone specific to the region (because it is made out of volcanic ash, I believe), which gives it its reddish/warm color. The windows are also region-specific. No other place in the world has the same cool, checkerboard pattern around its windows. I thought that was such a cool design, and I could not for the life of me figure out how they made the indentations!



So many things about this town were beyond adorable, and this piazza (plaza) with a little church and a tower really seemed picturesque of typical "Italy" to me.



The tower also had some interesting trivia. Apparently, there are two kinds of crenelations in Italy: straight, squared blocks, and more pointed ones. The ones in the picture signify a town that is faithful to the Pope (as opposed to the Emperor). In older times in Italy, this division was cause for a huge conflict, and Orvieto was one of the only towns that forever remained faithful to the Pope.



Next came lunch. You know that when you're given FOUR forks, it's going to be good. Over the next hour and a half, I ate tons, met new people, and defrosted my nose in the presence of interesting company.



Our meal started with sparkling water and Fanta (guess which one I reached for), and I was totally stoked to see the size of the Fanta bottle. I'm happy that Europeans appreciate Fanta as much as I do.





The meal (as is traditional) started with an antipasto. I don't know what anything that I ate was, but it was all quite delicious. Afterwards, someone said that one of the toasts had liver. I guess that means I've tried liver now, haha.





Next came our primi: two pasta dishes. One was mushroom, and the other was ragu. Both were great, but the ragu was especially wonderful because the pasta noodles were very fresh and evidently handmade. The difference in taste compared to boxed noodles was phenomenal.



Our main course (secondo) was some sort of meat and potatoes. Man oh man, Italian potatoes ROCK. Coated in olive oil, and tossed with rosemary, I haven't met a potato here that I didn't like. The meat was also great, and it was served with some sort of really great pesto/pepper sauce. I wish I knew what it was, so I could make it myself.



And even though all of us were stuffed to the gills by this point (have I mentioned that it' rude to leave food on your plate in Italy? All that food has to go somewhere - I can only think of one option!), there's always ALWAYS room for Italian dessert. This was some sort of yellow-cake tiramisu, and it was quite good. We were all sort of disappointed that we didn't get traditional tiramisu, but this was definitely an acceptable alternative.



After lunch, we were given a little while to walk around and let all of our food settle. My time was spent wandering along side streets that were so picturesque I couldn't get over the fact that I was in a small Italian town like this. It was the time for the Italian siesta (which, unlike Rome, is actually practiced in small places like Orvieto) so we had the streets all to ourselves. It was so peaceful and beautiful, I almost didn't want to stop what I was doing to do the next thing.



I'm glad I did, though, because otherwise I never would have seen this view. On the way to the underground city tour, we had to pass by this amazing view that overlooked grape fields and an old monastery. (You can't fool me, though, I know it was really Hogwarts.) It helped me make up my mind: I definitely want to move to the Italian countryside after school so that I can inhale views like that all the time. (Just kidding, Mom... unless you want to move there with me?)



The underground city was VERY cool. Basically, the Etruscans carved an entire series of caves and tunnels under their city to serve different purposes. The stone was very easy to carve, which is really a blessing and a curse. The blessing, of course, was that it preserved a lot of history for us to discover, but the curse is that it's fragility is making it cave in often and many things in the modern town cannot be developed (they limit the number of cars in town so that their weight doesn't cause a collapse).



This picture is from an ancient Etruscan oil press. The would grind the olives on a mortar and then stack them in layers on cylindrical disks to squeeze out the oil. Our guide said that it's remarkable - the technique is the same today, and the size of the disks used is exactly the same. I guess it exemplifies the saying "Don't fix what ain't broke."



We also saw a well shaft. Originally, it was over 100 meters deep, and even today scientists don't know how they did this because oxygen that deep isn't breathable by humans. In the picture, you can kind of see small indentations inside the hole - these were used a foot holes for people who dug the well.



This picture shows what used to be an entrance to an Etruscan house. Many houses had these backrooms where they would... keep pigeons. All of those holes in the wall were for pigeon breeding - they would keep them and eat the babies (the the eggs) for protein.



The tour was great, and afterward, we had a little more time to explore the town. We were all so enamored with the view that we wanted to go in search of more scenic places. What we found was such a typical view of Italy that I felt a pang of nostalgia for the old country - simple times with laundry drying from the windows, dogs in the yard and old men planting flowers, smells of delicious Italian meals and neighborhood gossip. Everything was so potent in this one moment of scenic beauty that I am beginning to understand the appeal to living simply, as generations of people have done in places like Orvieto.

Videos of my Walk Home From St. Peter's

So I've posted three videos of what I see everyday when I walk to and from school. This first video is a short clip of what my friend and I saw when we exited the Vatican Museum today (we pass by St. Peter's everyday). It was Sunday, so there was a huge line in the afternoon of people waiting to go to evening mass (I think). The museum was also free today (as you can read about in my other post), so there was a lot of people from that, too.

The second video is of the main street that I walk down on my way home from school. It's a pretty busy street, and I turned the camera off for a little while while I navigated the street vendors.

The third video is pretty long, so don't feel obligated to watch the whole thing. I have some commentary, but I won't be offended if you stop it early/skip around. It's the last ten minutes or so of my walk home from school, and you get to see some of the typical Prati (my neighborhood) things such as clothing store displays and even Italian dumpsters!

(To come soon - uploading it is taking a while...)

Circa le mie chiavi... (Or, in other words: About my keys...)

So I had every intention of coming home and going for a run, I really did. I even wore my running shoes to school to inspire me.

Unfortunately the one thing I did NOT bring to school was my keys. It was the first time since living on my own that I've locked myself out, but I can't say that the experience was entirely negative.

When I realized I didn't have my keys, I went next door to the coffee shop and bought an espresso. I told the clerks of my situation (using awkward Italian, but the point got across eventually), and hoped that I could stay in their coffee shop until my roommate got home. I was a little scared that they would be angry, because sitting in coffee shops isn't really a thing here, but they were SO nice about it. It made me smile to see how hospitable they were about my situation.

After 20 minutes or so, my apartment's doorman saw me sitting inside, and offered to let me in (he asked in Italian if I didn't have my keys, to which I said yes). I accepted, but then found out he didn't have access to my actual apartment lock, only the door to the building. Oh well - I sat next to my door studying Italian for an hour or so, va bene.

I was pretty proud of how well I was able to communicate my situation to others though, and even happier that I could actually understand their responses. Learning Italian goes so quickly here, it's pretty amazing.

Anyway, by the time I got into my apartment, it was 4pm, and I had no motivation to go running. Tomorrow is going to be pretty busy (I have a group trip to Orvieto), but perhaps I will try once again to go for a run on Sunday.

Hi, my name is Anna and...

...I've been addicted to gelato for 14 days.

But really: is there a 12 step program for gelato? I need to find one.

I've told myself that I'll only eat one gelato per week, so I guess today was my day. Honestly, I thought it was ridiculous when past participants from our program said they missed the gelato the most, but I totally get it now. NOTHING in America can compare to the flavor, texture, and creaminess of Roman gelato.

Flavors I've tried?
Chocolate, Tiramisu, Rice Milk Cinnamon, Raspberry, and my all time favorite of Black Cherry. (I always get Black Cherry for one of my choices, and then experiment with the other.)

While my consumption of gelato could be considered unhealthy, the biggest point of worry is that it's really hard to exercise in Rome. Cars and pedestrians alike are all extremely CRAZY, which makes running (especially in my district, which is park-less) very difficult and stressful. Even though I'm scared to try running, I really should just put on my shoes and sweats (far too cold to wear shorts) and get going. My jeans will thank me for my preemptive anti-gelato attack.

Okay okay, so my goal:
Despite the ridiculous sunrise/sunset hours (7:28am/5:18pm tomorrow), I'll try to go running in the morning before class. I'll find a route tonight using my map, wear my work out clothes to bed and get everything for school ready to go tonight, and then get going at 7:15. Wish me luck - if I'm obligated to update about this tomorrow, I'll have more incentive to do it, right? :)

In other news...
I had my first conversation class today. A student intern from the Roman university (La Sapienza) who is a native Italian speaker runs an hour long class where we get to practice listening and speaking. It was very challenging, because our intern (Francesco) spoke much faster than our regular Italian teacher does, but it was really good practice for the real world. We talked about jobs, Italian music, and our opinions on shopping (Francesco, to break all Italian sterotypes, doesn't understand why shopping is so popular. He was asking all of the girls who like shopping why they enjoy it so he could try to figure it out).

It was a lot of fun, because he would joke with us and and has a great sense of humor. Although it was a little nerve-wracking to speak in front of more advanced Italian students from our program, I spoke a little and I really do feel that listening to the language in such a concentrated setting for an hour was really valuable. It was also a nice insight to see what Italian culture is like for people my age, and I hope that in the future I'll be able to talk with more Italian students and learn their perspectives.

Alright, time to go studio italiano e faccio mi compiti (study Italian and do my homework), so ciao for now!

The Largest Hurdle

I should only write a quick post today, since I have my first Italian exam tomorrow. So many grammatical rules to review/memorize! A, In, Con, Di, Da, Per, Su, Tra/Fra... Ugh.

But I just finished making dinner: an egg scramble with caramelized onions, tomatoes, fresh basil, and grated Parmesan. It was sooo good, and made with very simple ingredients.

While I stirred the caramelizing onions, however, my mind began to wander and I began to contemplate. "In my two weeks in Rome so far," I thought, "I think that the hardest part has been adjusting to grocery stores and differing food patterns."

I absolutely love Italian food and the way that Italians approach food in general, but I'm still finding it really stressful in many regards. Prices on so many things are backwards - eggs and milk cost more than mozzarella and parmesan (2 euros for 6 eggs, 1.5 for a quart of milk, 2 for a pound of mozzarella and Parmesan). Stores are laid out differently (sugar is placed next to eggs rather than flour). There are many things that are nearly impossible to find here (read: anything canned) and some things are so expensive that it would be silly to buy them, such as tortillas - a staple of my diet in California.

This isn't even considering the language barrier. Yesterday, there were not one but TWO awkward language gaps to fill during my shopping trip. The first: I asked a lady in the store where she had found the rosemary. I guess my question wasn't very clear, because it took a good 2 minutes to get the response I was looking for (a finger pointed towards the produce, it turns out). The second was when I was checking out. The clerk asked me for 47. I balked. There was no WAY that my small bundle of the groceries was that much! But wait... I had given her 50! It should have been fine. Turns out she was asking for 47 cents so that she could make change more easily. Whoops.

All of my grocery-purchasing adventures thus far have been pretty stressful, but I think I just have to keep in mind a few things:
1) As I get more and more used to things here, shopping will become easier. I'll know where things are, I'll know what's available, and I will also (perhaps) have more inspiration for cooking after seeing more Italian dishes.
2) I should appreciate the things that are fresh here, because when I return home, I won't have that same luxury. Right now, an enormous bundle of fresh basil is under a euro, spices are cheap, and cheese is amazing. Too bad I can't smuggle some back with me to San Diego.
3) I will inevitably miss things. At the moment I'm wishing I could have chile, bean and cheese burritos (always, actually), and orange chicken. Cheddar cheese in general, too. You'd think with all of the cheese here that there would be some. No such luck.
4) It's REALLY hard to bake here. We currently don't have measuring cups, butter, vanilla extract, baking powder/soda... the list could go on. And everything here is metric, which gets rid of any possibility of making comforting favorite baked good recipes. I may experiment, but it might just be something to anticipate for when I return to the States.

Food is one of the biggest reasons I decided to study in Italy, and because I care so much about cooking and baking, it's a really great way to experience a new culture - both the good and the bad/scary things that that entails. As I have more grocery store and cooking adventures, I'll evaluate after my experiences, and hopefully notice positively shifting feelings about the subject. I'll keep you posted!

Now time to study... Wish me luck!

Ostia: The Playground of Ruins

This Sunday, some friends and I took a day trip to Ostia - an ancient seaport, the largest archeological site in Rome, and ever so conveniently located just a 1 Euro train-ride away from my apartment. I think that one of the best things about Italy is that while there is a deep respect for art and ancient culture, there is none of the American security measures in place. While we were at first hesitant to leave the pathway at Ostia and enter the actual ruin buildings, it turns out our worry was for naught. As you'll see, Ostia turned into our ancient playground, and despite some drizzly weather, it was a fantastic way to spend a day.





Even in ruins, Ostia was amazingly beautiful. Most buildings were eye-level or less (with few notable exceptions), but every now and then, there would be a hidden piece of art-treasure. Such as this decorative checked wall pattern. The use of stone was so creative and there was many many variations on how to manipulate black and white patterns to make pretty designs.





I took lots of pictures at Ostia, and even though I don't know the significance of a lot of the things I saw, they're still really pretty! And I'm just amazed at how well-preserved some things were. Ostia was built around 100 BC, so the things we were walking in, around, and on had seen more than 2000 years of history!





My friend, Kailyn, said that part of Ostia was a large-scale burial ground, and this is a picture of where they would put some of the deceased remains. Later on during our wanderings, we saw many things that we couldn't figure out: we thought they were either water troughs, bathtubs, or coffins. Turns out the last was correct - some of them were so tiny though! I think I would have only fit in one or two that we saw...





An amazingly preserved statue of Athena (her Greek name - I don't know Roman gods as well as Greek). They also had a museum full of statues that were beautiful. There must have been hundreds on display, and each was in near perfect condition (minus chipped-off noses, of course - those never manage to make it). Unfortunately, we weren't able to take pictures in the museum. It was pretty much the only rule they had in place for us at Ostia.





Okay okay, I'm a ham. But I am trying to demonstrate something important here. My friend read that these white corner stones were used so that carts driving at night wouldn't crash into buildings. (I'm driving a cart - I guess I didn't see the white stone in time.)

This is where we ate lunch. There were ancient stairs up to this little platform overlooking a bath house. It was pure bliss to eat lunch on a rooftop that may have been used for the very purpose of eating meals 2,000 years ago. Below are two pictures of what we could see from our lunch vantage-point:





The mosaics were SO amazing. (A more detailed picture later.) This was probably the largest one that was uncovered. Some of the biggest were covered by tarps and sand bags to prevent decay, which was a shame, but we still got to see some really great ones.



Of course, no city from Rome is complete without a theatre! We had a lot of fun climbing up the steps, acting out scenes on the stage foundations, and goofing around. You can see our antics below:

The second image was taken on the stairs of the amphitheater, and we are posing for a 90's girl band album cover. Our band name? The Romanettes.



This was the view from the top of the amphitheater. You can see the forum: what remains of a temple, statues, and columns from the back of the stage. You can also see the boy and girl scouts that were having a day trip at Ostia. Once we saw a group of boys kicking a marble tombstone, we knew that climbing on things at Ostia was a-okay (I love Italy).



We saw a carving that depicted Romuls and Remus, the two brothers of Rome, with their wolf mommy. It was a cool carving to look at, because I knew the story and could understand all of the pictures.




These are pictures of the mosaics that lined the forum. They were apparently rooms for athletes and performers from Ostia, and each little room had a mosaic for its floor. Some of them were SO intricate and so well preserved. Even though I've seen pictures of Roman mosaics before, when you see them in person it makes it much more apparent as to how much work went into each one. Every single stone was designed, cut, and places specifically to the mosaic was going going into. I feel like city art like that doesn't exist anymore, which makes it allthemore special that I get to see things like it everyday.



This is a shot that shows a little glimpse of what Ostia looks like. It was literally so huge that we didn't have time to explore it all. Literally a city of ruins, Ostia was incredible. Even though visitors are able to wander anywhere they'd like, I was touched by how honest people were. There was a crumbling mosaic with loose stones on the ground. I know that in America, those stones would have been taken for souvenirs faster than you could say Caesar.



I think it's because of this honesty and integrity that the ruins of Ostia have lasted so long. There's this inherent respect for something so old and majestic, and when buildings taller than my home in San Diego have remained standing for thousands of years, it's inspiring.