Mercoledi 5-26

My classes seem like they are going to be great. I had my classics class first. We had a lecture about the Urnfields, the Villanovans and the Etruscans. My professor is Dr. Soren. I had him before, and he is very nice and funny (lots of jokes). He is also the director of the program. We are going to take some fieldtrips to local museums for this class. I did the introduction reading for this course, about Roman art. My second class is creative writing- travel narratives. We will read relevant books and write about our experiences. I started reading Traveleràs Tales Italy. It is very enjoyable. My professoràs name is DR. She is a nice little lady who is very passionate about Europe and culture. We are going to have readings of our journals in this class, which should be fun to hear other peopleàs stories.

Moira and I accidentally went on a hike on Lunedi. We were exploring different areas of Orvieto and found many public parks. We ventured down a spiral staircase and found a path that apperently goes all the way around Orvieto. Very beautiful!

Today we took another, more formal tour of Orvieto. First, I visited the Duomo. I had seen it before, but this time I actually got to go inside. The main part is ok, it is definately impressive with its size. But the Signorelli chapel is absolutely stunning. The entire room is covered in frescoes, mostly about the apocalypse. Our tour guide, Claudioàs mom, knew a lot about the paintings, architecture and mostly everything about the church.

Second, we toured the Orvieto Teatro Manicinelli. It is average size. The curtain has a painting of a battle that occured in Orvieto- they showed us the hi-tech way they roll it up to protect the painting. There is also a magnificent room upstairs where weddings and other events are held. It is beautiful. With this guide, we also climbed the town clock tower. We were there at 1230, when the bell rings 12 times, then 2 more to indicate 30 minutes. (The 2nd highest amount of rings it makes- only to 1245). I got some great pictures and the view was absolutely incredible!

Third, we toured the Orvieto underground. I was excited to see this, because Katia and I had seen a documentary on the History Channel about underground cities. It was fascinating. There were perfectly rectangular wells, pigeon holes (raised pigeons for high-class people, esp for times of need), creepy little passageways, equipment for making Olive Oil (I learned that evoo made in freddo is the best). The caves network throughout the entire city, but many are private now.

Overall, still having a wonderful time. I had some delicious chocolates today- hazelnuts, orange flavoring and cappucino (my fave of the three yumm!).

...Tomorrow I have classes. I need to study for a quiz and write a journal. Friday, we tour Rome. There are two groups- one tourgroups the Vatican museums and the other takes a walking tour. A few weeks later, we will switch tours. I might miss the walking tour, because Dr. Soren is taking his students on a special tour of ruins and archaelogy stuff, related to class. Not sure which tour I go on first. A few of us (Myself, Moira, Nallely and Julia- who was in my Italian class) are staying for the rest of the weekend. I will likely be leading the group, because of the research I did talking with Mimi. Thanks again! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!