Italia

Well, mostly this is for Dan. Because you encouraged me daily to write a blog for my time in Italy. Although I do agree that it is a good idea. So I’ll start from the beginning. The plane was pretty empty so I had my own row. Flying is one of the few times that I am thankful for my short legs. I was very comfortable and slept most of the way. We arrived in Rome at 8:00 am. Talk about some jetlag. We got to the hotel and they fed us snacks like fried artichokes, olives, pastries and other little tasty things. Then we settled into our rooms and rested. The group all wanted to walk around Arriccia and so I didn’t want to miss out. As beautiful and exciting as it was, I realized I was just too tired. So I went back to our room to rest some more before dinner. Dinner was at a Pizzeria. At all of the restaurants we have been to so far, they bring out plates of antipasta first. So it’s the plate of fried olives, a fried crab claw, a fried potato (similar to a tater tot but better), proscuitto and salami. And of course, there is bread. And wine is brought to the table just as water is. And yes, it is delicious. My pizza was great, I ordered the Diavola- sort of like margherita pizza with pepperoni. Mary Lou and Marco, an older couple on staff ate dinner with us. They could not be cuter or more full of life. Several of the group took their leftover pizza to go and Marco was like “oh, to eat later in bed?... that’s new… bed pizza.” Hear it in your head in an Italian accent.
I had the best caffe latte this morning. Then it was off to the palace to meet the staff. The Chigi palace is where we have class and also where Auburn is building its apartment style living, which we will move into after spring break. We met Francesco Petrucci, director of the Chigi palace. He is an architect and art historian with the best sense of humor. Maurizio Antonini is our resident director. He held our class today. He makes us feel very at home and also has a great sense of humor. We also met Roberta, Suzanna and Jessica, some of our other staff. After a walk around Arriccia we had lunch at a traditional “freschata.” Appetizers. like porchetta (which arriccia is famous for), proschuitto, salami, buffalo mozzarella, other cheeses, and some sort of cooked spinach. Wine. Pasta. Expresso. Then Cinzia, our Italian supermodel looking “program facilitator” took us on a tour of Albano, the bigger city nearby. Cinzia takes care of us. We walked around Albano and figured out where to go for the supermarket, for dinner, the dollar store, a good Chinese restaurant, and other useful things.
My roommates are great. I have had to have patience with a few of the girls. I mean seriously, how can you already be complaining? You are not starving nor are you freezing. It’s our first day in Italy, get it together. Ha.
I still don’t really feel like I am here. Except that no one speaks English.
We have a full tour of the palace tomorrow with Francesco. Then our first class with Mary Lou, a little conversational Italian. A meeting with the Mayor. Then lunch. Then more class with Cinzia, learning how to get around Rome and the Castelli area. Then a walk around Genzano.

I’ll write again as soon as time permits. The internet here is not exactly dependable. So we’ll see! Wish most of you could be here with me.