Mid-Week Update

On Tuesday we had our second Italian History class with Marco. It got pretty interesting when he started explaining all the naked statues. Apparently a man’s body is perfect at the age of 16 and should have a close relationship with his teacher. Close as in that’s where the word pedophile came from. Also, the Greeks usually modeled the bodies after Egyptian males because they thought they were more attractive.  Next, we had our first Italian language class. To say it was more difficult than our class with Myriam at kstate is an understatement. Our teacher speaks very little English and has a hard time understanding our accents and slang talk (Craig’s country twang). We’re all thinking we will learn a lot from this class! After class we hit the grocery store and found some ready-made chicken cordon bleu. It was nice to have a hot filling meal that wasn’t pasta. To make it more Italian Kate chopped some tomatoes and made bruschetta. We decided to just stay in that night and lounge around, megan even declared she would take a bath since we are on vacation and all. Then the baby chefs showed up at our door after work with tiramisu in hand!

Wednesday we had our studio class in the morning. Studio here is very different, very ‘Italian’ I suppose. Our teachers Jim and Rick are mainly coming up with our projects as we go so it doesn’t seem like much gets accomplished during class as 30 people try to come up with the guidelines. But we finally decided each group would make information cards of the hotspots in each neighborhood complete with sketches and restaurant reviews. Craig’s assignment is to find a way to make the cards double as a drinking game. After studio we came home to take naps. Italy shuts down in the afternoon for nap time, similar to preschool, and we’re all just trying to fit in. On that note the 5 of us were asked by an Italian couple how to get to the Duomo the other day! Best part about it was we actually pointed them in the correct direction. Score one for the Americans! We had our painting class and watched our professor Jim watercolor for most of class. Afterward we had the chance to skype with Cara, Kelsey, and Marissa at Santa Chiara, the other school in Italy where 30 more of my classmates are studying.  It was great to see them and they have a field trip to Orvieto next Wednesday! Next we headed home to check out our house after the cleaning lady had her way with it. It feels like I live in a hotel, she changed our sheets and left fresh linens. Best part – she left another cake! For dinner we finally made our way to Mezza Luna, an adorable little restaurant with American size proportions of food that everyone is crazy about. Since we don’t have an early class Thursday we stopped by the 5 guys apartment and had people over to our house. We’re slowly starting to see everyone elses apartments but ours is the only one with enough seating and room for our large gatherings so we mostly end up hanging at our house.

Today is now Thursday and my only class was the Italian language class and it got cancelled so free day for this girl!! We also realized we’ve been using fabric softener as detergent. Oops. Currently we’re all excited to visit Roma tomorrow and planning a way to watch the super bowl. Baby chefs are going to see if Zeppelin will open at 3am so we can cheer on the packers!

I’ll update next time with stories from Rome. Until then, th-th-that’s all folks!

Ciao,

Rachel

Weekend Update

First weekend here in Orvieto was sa-weeet!! I had my cooking class with a world renowned chef named Chef Lorenzo at his restaurant, Zeppelin. It was the BEST food I have ever tasted, and reasonably priced too, if you ever find yourself in Orvieto. A few things on our menu were: fried artichokes, pizza, pasta with a creamy mushroom sauce, and chicken in some kind of olive sauce. Then Saturday night everyone came over to our place to drink wine and shoot the breeze.

Sunday was also great because we slept in real late and had our first gelato! Our first studio assignment is to make a map and tour of our neighborhood so the girls and I walked around taking in the sights and doing some shopping. We came across a beautiful garden area that I posted pictures of on Facebook.  It has breathtaking views of the valley below. While out walking we caught our first glimpse of the Orvieto stalker! It’s some little old guy that walks around town talking really loud on his cell phone and looks to have relations with American women. Serena warned us about him so no worries, he’s not violent just annoying. I’m confident I could out run him and I remember everything I learned in those summer kickboxing classes.

Monday we had our first day of real classes. What a drag. Mondays and Wednesdays we have studio from 9:30-1 and our drawing and painting seminar from 3:30-5:30. Plenty of time for an afternoon nap, which is exactly what happened in our house. Most evenings I spend just chatting with the roomies and making or going for dinner before hanging out with more friends.

Currently we are all getting excited for our first Friday field trip with Marco. This week we are heading back down to Rome to see the sites! My roommates and I were planning to stay in Rome for the whole weekend until Chef Lorenzo asked us to come back for a wine tasting at 3pm on Saturday. We weren’t about to pass on chatting up Lorenzo and his interns, who are also American so we hang out with them most evenings as well. Kate’s affectionate nickname for them is ‘Baby Chefs’. Plus I heard we get a neat little certificate! Score! Therefore, we are only staying in Rome Friday night and heading back Saturday in time for some afternoon wine.

 Today is Tuesday and we just concluded our Italian History class with Marco, who is also our field trip tour guide. It’s really interesting stuff but a 3 hour history lecture first thing in the morning is not easy to handle. Not to mention it’s freezing in the building. I forgot to mention earlier that the radiators here only turn on 3 times per day. Right now is happy hour and Jordan and I are in studio with our laptops practically hugging the radiators. We have a short break then we’re back for our Italian language class. After class the girls and I plan to venture down to the valley in search of groceries and a hair straightener. Arrivederci curly afro!

Ciao!

Rachel

Exploring Orvieto

My roommates looking over the wall down to the valley surrounding Orvieto.

Orvieto!

The Americans have arrived! And we stick out like a sore thumb! realizing now how much I should have brushed up on my Italian before leaving because the grocery store ended up being quite the adventure. On a positive note, it is easier to find white kit-kat bars here than the US... way to step it up Italy! Anyway, here's a quick breakdown of what we've been up to our first fun-filled days in O-Town!

We left KCI around 8am (advice: not necessary to arrive 3 hours prior to departure. my entire checking bags and security check took, ohhhh about 15 min tops!) Then we boarded our flight to DC on a tiny plane! We even got to get off the plane outside, I felt like the president. Finally, we boarded a 767 to cross the pond! it was nice but i had an aisle seat and my overhead light kept turning on! Everytime I started to drift into sleep BOOM spotlight on Rachel! Movie selection wasnt too bad, I watched The Social Network twice so dad you can take that off the Netflix Q. We finally touched down in Rome at about 8am their time then had a bus take us to Orvieto. We finally had some space on the bus so everyone passed out within 5 min.

We arrived in Orvieto and the bus took us up to the top of the hill where we boarded another bus to go to our apartments. I live with jordan, kate, tori, and megan in a charming little place right next to the Duomo and Centro Studi where our classes will be held!

So far, we've been having a great time exploring the city! We had orientation at school and classes will start tomorrow after a field trip to the post office. Then Saturday I will be cooking with a world renowned chef, Lorenzo! Next Friday we have our first field trip, back to Rome to actually see the city and we may even stay for the weekend! Tonight we are meeting up with some of the interns from Chef Lorenzo's place and they are going to show us around town! Oh and last night was a lot of fun as well. We had a big lunch at this cool place that serves these wraps where they shave off some meat right from the bone! The girls and I were still to full from that to eat dinner with everyone so we invited everyone out to our place afterward and had a great time!

One thing i miss about Seaton Court is the tropical climate. I'd probably be wearing shorts and a tanktop in studio and here we are freezing!! 

I'll try and post pictures soon! Everything here is old and beautiful!

Ciao,
Rachel

The Night Before...

The day has finally come, I leave for Italy tomorrow morning! I've been counting down to this day since my first year of architecture school and it has been a long, tough 4 years to get here!

I will be residing in a small hilltop town north of Rome called Orvieto. I will live here for the next 4 months along with 27 other classmates. Surprisingly, I plan to attend a few classes while in Italy. The term "classes" is used very loosely. I have my basic studio class, along with classes about Italian art and culture, and watercoloring class! Every Friday we will take a day trip to another town in Italy like Florence, Hurculaneum, Pompeii, Tivoli, and Siena!

Highlights of the trip include: everyday. But more specifically, a cooking class with a local chef, a week traveling through Verona, Vincenza, and Venice. Following this week we have spring break where we will travel to either Spain or Greece. Finally, in April, we will be traveling to Milan for an international furniture design fair.

This is shaping up to be the trip of a lifetime... if I ever finish packing! And I promise to be safe, no trips to Joran van der Sloot-ville!

-Rachel