Firenze Shore?

I knew season 4 of Jersey Shore was filming in Italy but I just learned that their filming in Florence which is about an hour and a half away from Orvieto! I've only watched the show about four times out of boredom, but the film and TV nerd/celebrity stalker in me really wants to go hunt them down in Florence. I also find it weird that this is the closest I have ever been to the filming of Jersey Shore and they have shot three seasons in the US...

Weekend in Orvieto

My weekend in Orvieto was pretty uneventful, but nice nonetheless. On Saturday morning, Michelle and I went to the farmer's market in Piazza del Popolo. In addition to all the fresh produce merchants also sold jewelry, clothes, accessories, and even household supplies such as dishes and cooking utensils. We ended up buying some fruit and an eggplant so we (Michelle) could make Eggplant Parmesan...which was DELICIOUS. 

We also went to Co-op which is the grocery store in the lower part of Orvieto. This part of Orvieto is quite different from life up on the cliff. For one, it is less touristy and not nearly as pretty. But it does have more shops and Co-op is the closest thing we have to "one stop shopping" here in Orvieto. Although it sold some American products such as Dannon yogurt, it is a different experience than going to Safeway. One major difference is prices. Noodles, wine, produce, and spices are all relatively inexpensive while a nail file is 8 euros and bag of peas is 3 (to put that in perspective you can get a meal in any restaurant in Orvieto for under 5 euros). Also, there is nutella EVERYWHERE. We also went to the bread shop where I bought a giant loaf of ciabatta for under a euro. For those that know me best, ciabatta is my absolute favorite bread so I was very excited. 

We also did our laundry this weekend (crazy times!) which was another adventure. The dial is all in Italian and the woman who showed us our apartment told us how to use it, but we had been traveling for over 48 hours so neither of us remembered what she said. The washer has a metal compartment inside that you put your clothes in, and when I reached inside it, it shocked me. I, of course, freaked out, but it didn't shock Michelle so we finished our laundry anyway. Later, we learned that the washer has to be completely turned off before you touch it...which seems kind of obvious now, but I played the "stupid American" card when our non-English speaking landlady came to check it out.

Sunday was a day full of homework. The one bad thing about doing a study abroad program is that sometimes you have to do schoolwork instead of enjoying the country. But at night we decided to go out to dinner at Pizzeria Charlie which we heard was good. This restaurant obviously caters to tourists as it is the only place I have seen so far that has an English menu in addition to the Italian. I was being stuffy and refused to look at English menu, but once I finally gave in I saw that they had very interesting types of pizza such as one that contains french fries. I ordered a spinach calzone that I have been craving and it was  very good, however halfway through I noticed something especially hard in the bite I took. I pulled it out and saw that it was a metal screw. I freaked out a little and showed the non-English speaking busboy who couldn't express his worry in words, but it was written all over his face. He simply said "again" and disappeared with my meal. A few minutes later, the charming, English speaking, "Customer Relations" waiter came over to our table and apologized profusely, assuring me that this has never happened at Pizzeria Charlie before. He said that our meal was free and asked if we wanted anything else. I was earlier regretting not ordering wine but this restaurant is a little more expensive than others in Orvieto. So we ordered two glasses of house wine, even though the waiter offered to bring a whole bottle (but then we'd have to drink the whole bottle...and we didn't want to stumble home). I'm still not at the point where I'm ok that I almost swallowed a screw, but it is nice that we got a free meal out of it. 

On a sketchier note, apparently there are British soldiers in town and they are causing some problems. Two kids in our group (both of whom I have classes with) got beat up the other night and vandalism has also occurred here. We received a few cryptic e-mails warning us to not stay out too late as the polizzia will start taking actions against the rabble rousers. Scary. 

Well that's all for today. Hopefully I will have more exciting stories to share another day. For now, it's back to finishing my two 1500 word essays due this week and a TON of reading. I know you all feel so bad for me.

When in Rome

Early Friday morning (7:30, way too early for a group of college kids) we all boarded two charter buses and headed off to the Ancient City! It was about a two hour drive from Orvieto including one stop. For as long as I can remember, I have heard how “Americanized” Europe is these days. Well, Orvieto is definitely not Americanized as the only American-type business we have here is Mail Boxes, Etc. But the first thing I noticed on the way to Rome was that Americanization was definitely way more prevalent in the cities. On the highway on the way, I saw several “On the Go” marts at gas stations and also a few McDonald’s. Once we got to Rome, I saw many more American-influenced industries such as Burger King. Another observation about Rome is that people do NOT know how to drive. This is true in Orvieto too, but in a busy city like Rome it is much more obvious. I witnessed a woman who was backing out of her parallel parking spot ram into the front of another vehicle not once, not twice, but three times. Rome is a beautiful city, it is crowded with tall apartment buildings with shops on the bottom, but it is still very cool and much different than any American city I have been to.

Our first stop in Rome was Cinecitta’ Studios. This is the major film studio in Rome (and Italy for that matter) and where big productions shoot in Italy. Gangs of New York, Cleopatra, La Dolce Vita, and Roman Holiday were shot there, just to name a few. Cinecitta’ covers 99 acres and has 25 sound stages, but we only saw part of that and I’m not entirely sure the rest exists as the studios sit smack dab in the middle of a busy area. Like many Hollywood studios, Cinecitta’ has a “college campus” feel and is a pretty place to walk around. We toured their back lots and also saw the outside of their main sound stage, Teatro 5. The studios overall look a lot different from Hollywood studios like Warner Bros. and Universal. They are a bit more worn down and unlike Hollywood studios that use the same streetscape (i.e., “New York Street” or “Midwest Street”), they build new sets for each production. The sets that they do preserve are for display and not for reuse. The New York set used for Gangs of New York still sits as it was used in the 1999 production, and the Cleopatra Egyptian set is still on display. The one exception is the “Ancient Rome” set that has been used for various productions over the years, most recently the HBO series Rome (Michelle was really excited about that).

Me in front of the Coliseum!

After Cinecitta’ our bus took us to The Coliseum/Roman Forum area where we had a break for lunch. A group of us found a nice little pizzeria where we were greeted by two exuberant, stereotypical Italians who were more or less pressuring us to eat at their restaurant. But since it advertised a “quick lunch” and looked relatively inexpensive, it seemed like a good place to go. Another thing you should know before I go on is that free water in restaurants, which is the norm in the US, is not custom in Italy. You have to order water and pay 1-2 euros for a bottle. At the restaurant in Rome, our waiter asked if we wanted anything to drink and all except me and Michelle passed (we were dying of thirst and didn’t care if we had to pay) after everyone else sadly refused a drink the waiter figured out what was going on and said, “Don’t worry, it’s free!” We were all very excited and enjoyed our first, and probably last, free drink of water in Italy.

Next up was a tour of the Roman Forum. This is where all the ruins from Ancient Rome exist and are on display. It was very cool to see and think about how long these structures have been around (thousands and thousands of years), but there’s really not much more I can say about it other than that it was cool and pretty. The classics professor that is teaching here in Orvieto gave the tour and he knew what every structure was and how it fit into Ancient Roman life. Our group somehow broke up halfway through and the part I was with got a tour by Claudio, who is an Italian somehow involved in our program. Claudio is very gruff and well, Italian but humorous in a subtle way. I think we got the cliff notes version of the Roman Forum tour but after walking around in the heat for six hours, I was very happy with that.

I was sad I didn’t get to go inside the Coliseum or see the Vatican or Trevi Fountain, but I will just have to go back someday to see the rest of Rome. The majority of our group stayed in Rome for the weekend to explore more (party), but I didn’t make those arrangements before leaving for Italy since I’m already spending a lot of (my parent’s) money. Plus the idea of doing extra traveling after the time we had getting here did not appeal to me at all. We headed back to Orvieto and I fell asleep as soon as our bus left Rome. Overall, it was a very fun day and I definitely want to go back and spend more time in Rome some day. 

Take Me Out Tonight/Touring Orvieto

Last night after our Chinese-Italian dinner and our allotted internet time, Michelle and I went out to the Bar Duomo with a bunch of people from our group. It was a lot of fun and just...weird to go out and order a drink, legally, at a bar! In addition to wine, we also got the opportunity to order cocktails! I tried to be all classy and Carrie Bradshaw-y and ordered a Cosmo...but the Italian bar tender didn't know how to make one (even though it was on the menu) so he made me a "Japanese Slipper" instead which was a green drink and very sweet, but very good. Italians don't drink to get drunk, so it was fun to just chill (although some other "patrons" did have a little bit too much...)

Today our "field trip" was a tour of Orvieto. First we toured the gorgeous Duomo at the center of town. There's lots of history about it, but I can't really remember all the details...basically, it's old, beautiful, and important.

We also toured Orvieto Underground which is a series of caves under the city. The steps in the cave were made of terracotta, I found it funny that the people who dug out these caves hundreds of years ago used the same stone for their cave steps that people in Arizona seek out for their pool decks.
Afterwards, Michelle and I met up (our group was divided up) and tried to find a Pizzeria we had heard was good. On the way, Michelle mentioned that she learned on her tour that a restaurant here makes the best Spaghetti alla Carbonara (spaghetti with bacon). I made an empty promise that I would break my vegetarianism someday and try it with her. However, we ran into the restaurant on the way, and I had to walk the walk and eat it. Getting enough protein here has been very difficult for all of us, Italians eat croissants only for breakfast and not all dishes contain a source of protein, so bacon actually sounded like a really good idea.

I wasn't a huge fan of it, but I'm glad I tried it.
After lunch was homework (nap) and then at 4 we resumed our touring. The last part of it was a tour of the Medieval Quarter and a walk up the clock tower. The clock tower is really tall, and the hike up it was exhausting. But the views from the top were absolutely beautiful and totally worth it.

This picture shows off just how huge and striking the Duomo is compared the the rest of the town.
Well, that's all for today! The internet in our apartment isn't working tonight, so I had to use the much slower connection at the Caffe del Corso up the street. Hopefully another day I'll have more time/patience to upload the rest of my Orvieto pictures to Facebook. But it's probably a good thing our internet doesn't work so we'll be forced to do homework.

Miss and love you all!

Putting the "study" in Study Abroad/Chinese in Italy

the top picture is a view of the Clock Tower from the main road at night, and below is my apartment living room.

Today was the first day of classes. It went pretty well, but I was rudely awakened to the reality that I'm also here to do school. That means one 1500 word paper each week for both of my classes as well as reading a Shakespeare play and a book a week. Ick. I'm not really sure when I'll have time for this between all my field tripping and socializing.

Tonight I went to a Chinese Restaurant here in Orvieto. Yes, Orvieto has a Chinese restaurant, and it's actually good! It was interesting to see a Chinese man speaking Italian, just not something you witness everyday.

Other than that, today was pretty uneventful, I'm still recovering from jet lag and slept until 2:30 pm. Ew. Tomorrow we are touring Orvieto, so hopefully I'll have more exciting stories and pictures.

Talk to you all soon! Ask questions if you have them.

Looks Like We Made It

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, mostly because I was so tired that I don't really remember it. Once we landed in Rome, both globalization and the major cultural differences were prevalent. For instance, the Italian version of customs is much different than the scary, secure USA customs. Basically, it's on the honor system, they quickly stamp your passport and if you have nothing to claim you walk through the green doors and Bonjourno, welcome to Italy. But as soon as we were on the train from the airport, I saw a Jeep billboard as well as a Marriott and Hilton Hotel.
We took two trains to get from Rome to Orvieto, and at this point Michelle and I were pretty confident we were pros at trains, but the Roma Termini station was crazy busy, and we had trouble navigating the station where signs were only in Italian (and people spoke mostly only Italian), but we found our train and made it here!
The town of Orvieto is absolutely gorgeous. The views, as you can see, are breathtaking. I had seen many pictures of it before, but they really don't do it justice. It's hard to believe that the view is real, as well as the gorgeous, huge Duomo (church) at the center of town.
Our apartment is at the edge of town and we must walk up a large hill to get to the school which is near the Duomo. This is a good thing considering the amount of gelato I plan on eating while here.
My first Italian meal was pizza, which I find fitting and topped off with gelato, which was the best thing I have ever tasted. It might just be the fact that I had been living on airport food, but it will be hard to go back to regular icecream, that much I know for sure. And this is my bad segue to a section I like call:
Things to Know About Italians (some stereotypes are true):
1. They have bad hygiene: ok this one doesn't apply to everyone, and probably not as much here in Orv, but I did notice a drastic difference between the scent of my mostly American United flight and my mostly Italian Alitalia flight. This musk was particularly noticable on the guy sitting next to me.
2. They drive like maniacs: I was clenching on for dear life on our short ride from the bottom of the Orvieto cliff to the top, and almost getting hit by a car is a common occurrence on our narrow streets.
3. They drive really nice cars: every car here in Orvieto is either one of those tiny, go-cart-esque cars or a luxury vehicle. I see more Mercedes, Porches, BMW, and Audi's than I do Fords and Chryslers.
4. They're fashionable: I knew this, but ohh my gosh, men in Armani suits and women in couture EVERYWHERE. I was excited when I packed my most stylish clothes, but it's just not enough, I feel inferior.
5. They speak English, kind of: I was told before I came here that most Italians spoke some English, but in some cases it's very limited. Orvieto is a popular tourist day-trip (hoards of them pile out of buses and into the Piazza Duomo), but usually it's just "cash" "water?" "bag?" Some definitely know more, but I have learned how to order by awkwardly saying the menu item and maybe throw in some more broken Italian words, while pointing and nodding at the menu. Also, signs are usually translated into English, but the English is never translated perfectly. This is true everywhere in Italy, and I just find it kind of funny that these sign makers couldn't find anyone who was 100% fluent in both languages to translate the signs.
6. They listen to music in English, kind of: Most of the music I hear is some sort of Italian Hip-hop with English rapping, but the English never really makes sense or means anything. The lyrics are like "I would like to go out and eat with you, yeah, yeah, I would like to go out and have dinner"


Well that's all for today. Michelle and I are currently enjoying a freshly cooked pasta dinner and a bottle of Rosse Umbria wine. I will try to keep updating this as much as I can and add more pictures. The wifi in my apartment is strange, and we only get it about 4 hours a day.

Please comment so I know that I'm not talking to myself! Ciao!

The City that Never Sleeps

Note: I wrote this the night we took off to Rome, just so you know!

Oh what a day! Or two days. I don’t really know how long it’s been since we left Phoenix, but it feels like a lifetime of adventure already. I woke up waaay too early in our posh Dulles Westin to take a cab to Reagan National Airport across town so we could catch a 10:55 flight to JFK Airport. All I wanted the day before was to see the Washington Monument from the air or airport, but Dulles is about 20 minutes outside of Washington, DC in Virginia. Luckily, the cab route gave us a nice view of the monument and a cab driver who slowed down so Michelle and I could snap quick pictures of this as well as Arlington National Cemetery and The Pentagon. Since I’m a huge landmark nerd I got super excited about this, since the last time I was in DC, these were the two major monuments I didn’t see, (By the way, my pictures don’t do it justice, seeing these from the air shows how MASSIVE they both are). The Reagan Airport was a much better experience than Dulles and I HIGLHLY recommend it if you have a choice between the two. It is smaller, nicer, and much more open—and you get a quick tour of the monuments from the runway and the gate if you’re lucky (Hi capitol and Jefferson memorial!).

The flight from DC to JFK was delayed, but quick, only about 45 minutes. I dozed off as soon as we took off and when I woke up I looked out my window and saw the Hamptons—which I because I have spent too much time on Google Earth. JFK airport is MASSIVE, once we got off the plane we had to walk through the sketchy tunnel to the terminal and then through the high-tech, state of the art terminal 3 (it has iPad bars, really) to a train that took us over to the international terminal. We tried checking into Alitalia for our next flight, but in true Italian fashion, they were not open yet and when they finally did we learned we could not check in until six. Not wanting to sit around for nine hours (which we would surely fall fast asleep somewhere in the terminal), we decided to venture to Manhattan, because hey, when was the next time we were going to be this close? (The technical answer is in about 5 ½ weeks when we fly into Newark from London, details).

JFK is located in the borough of Queens, and getting to Penn Station in Midtown was a lot easier than we expected. We just took the airport tram to a train station and one cheap, 20-30 minute train ride later we were wandering around Manhattan.

--Before I go on, I just have to brag about how awesome I was at navigating New York. I have been to NYC once before, when I was 14, but I credit my ability to successfully get us from Penn Station to Times Square and back to 19 years of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, oh and the hours I have spent in my life studying maps of Manhattan (seriously).

Like I said, I had been to New York before, but my family wasn’t nearly as excited about the city as I was. This was Michelle’s first time and I was thrilled to be there with someone who was marveling at everything with me. I decided the easiest and quickest way to see New York was to walk to Times Square. The people watching was just as interesting as the place itself. I learned that the way to tell the difference between a New Yorker and a tourist was the tourist hold their children close and keep them on leashes, etc. while New Yorkers let them freely follow behind, hoping they can keep up.

Herald Square was on our way so we got to see the giant, three-story, one square city block Macy’s as well as the Empire State Building (and the Flatiron building from a distance I’m almost sure). Once we got to Times Square we tried to take everything in, which is extremely difficult when you’re running on two days of traveling and 5 hours of sleep. But the energy of the city kept us going. We ate lunch at an restaurant called Connelly’s where I’m sure many Irish mob members have congregated. We also went inside the M&M Store, the Hershey’s Store, and saw the Naked Cowgirl (I was hoping to see the Naked Cowboy, but close enough). We also saw a plethora of people dressed as animated characters, which is creepy considering this is not Disneyland and I’m not certain anyone was paying them to be there (one set of Mickey and Minnie Mouse were collecting money in a stocking).

The absolute HIGHLIGHT of my whole time in New York happened when a tourist came up to me and asked, “Do you live here?” I almost said yes because I was so excited and flattered, but I remembered that I didn’t live there, and if she asked for directions there was no way I could help. But still, I was ecstatic because every moment up until this point I had been trying to look and act like a local, but I realized that I had my giant travel backpack on and that was next to impossible. But one person in a city of six million thought I was a local, that’s enough for me.

We soon headed back to the airport and checked into our flight which we will board in about an hour. Hopefully this one takes off and lands safely and happily in Roma! We have begun to recognize the other stranded travelers and have made a little community who are all pulling for this plane (and our vacations).

Until another day.

Xoxo,

Gossip Girl

Saying "Hi" to the Nation's Capital

After a nearly flawless journey from Phoenix to Washington DC, I knew something was going to go wrong. I just knew it.

I was right.

Michelle, my travel companion (that's more platonic than it sounds, I promise), and I were set to depart from Dulles International Airport at 5:51 pm and arrive in Rome at 8:30 am. Well, initially we were delayed 30 minutes, and then an hour before we were allowed to board. We were about to take off, when I noticed the plane was moving away from the runway and back to the gate. Sure enough, another problem had arisen and we were stuck for at least another half hour well the maintenance crew checked it out. For those of you who watch 30 Rock and are aware of "Sky Law," 30 minutes is a lie airlines tell you so passengers don't start freaking out. But I knew when the in-flight movies started and one of the Italian flight attendants started singing that things were not looking good.

Four hours later we were told our flight was canceled. F. Now I should point out that I purposely deprived myself of sleep last night in order to get on Rome time and be able to sleep on the plane, so I was extra cranky, hungry, and very, very sleepy at this point. Luckily, because of the largeness of the plane, they stopped sending passengers to Customer Service and instead sent a special few of us across the terminal on a tram and to another terminal to be helped by the United desk where we got on a new flight. Luckily again, Michelle and I are on the same flights for tomorrow and will arrive in Rome Sunday afternoon after a nice, long layover in New York (JFK). We also got a free night at the super nice Dulles Westin thanks to our lady who purposely defied her scary, stressed boss who was trying to send us to the Holiday Inn close to the Reagan airport (God forbid).

This is all nice but it doesn't change the fact that we waited way too long on the plane and will be arriving much later than we originally planned. So needless to say, United will be getting a friendly note from me in the near future (Mom taught me well!).

I will let you all know when/if we make it to Orvieto!

Preview of Exciting Blogs to Come

Since I always have a plethora of fun and interesting stories to tell from all my adventures, I decided to blog said stories instead of telling them accurately and excitingly the first time around, and then turning it into a short, nondescript summary by the 1239392840 time. Anyway, here are a few things you might want to know before I embark on my European journey!

Wait, where are you going again?
Orvieto, Umbria, Italy. It's a hilltop town halfway between Florence and Rome (about 90 miles from each).

Cool, how long are you staying there?
Orvieto for five weeks, then my own traveling to Paris for one night and London for two.

Do you get to travel around Italy and stuff?
Yes. We are taking weekly fieldtrips around Italy, more on that as they come.

Can I call or text you while you're there?
No! Well, technically, yes, but it will cost us both more money than we'd like. So just try to refrain if you can (I know, it's hard), but there are other ways to contact me and my phone will work if you need to reach me urgently. The best ways to contact me while I'm in Italy are:
Email: caitgee@gmail.com
Facebook
Skype: caitlingee91
I don't know my exact internet situation in Orvieto, but I will assess and let you all know. I also have an Italian mailing address so if you would like to send me "snail mail" I can get that to you (don't ask how much postage is needed because I have no idea). But seriously, feel free to contact me in the listed ways, I will miss you.

You're gonna post pictures on this blog, right?
Yes. Hopefully. I'm not technologically inclined, so if I can figure out how, I definitely will.

Great! Anything else?
Nope. Just that I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures and feel free to leave comments with questions or love professions.