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.