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Published: September 9th 2010
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Ciao Tutti,
I have been here for about 10 days and so far it is going great!
I flew out of LA on monday the 30th and and arrived in Rome on the 31st, they took us on a bus to Viterbo and then to our hotel to drop off our stuff. 10 minutes later, about 10 or 11pm italia time, we walked about 15 minutes to get pizza. I guess they wanted us to get used to late night meals straight away. I was exhausted but also very hungry. We had a wonderful meal at a beautiful restaurant outside, overlooking the town of Viterbo, our new home for four months.
They moved us into our housing the next day. I was brought to my apartment in an area called San Sisto. I was introduced to my roommates Ace and Danielle. Ace is about 10 years older than me, he is American and really into Opera. Danielle is 22, he is An italian student and he is hilarious, they are both great. I have another italian roommate but he is out of town and i havent met him. Within a week of knowing them i set up recycling and i am
on Danielle's case when he uses paper napkins. I am very sad about the trash here and the lack of environmental counsiousness. There are trash can overflowing everywhere into the streets, people buy plastic water bottles everyday because the water tastes bad, they always give you plastic bags at stores unless i say non vorrei and recycling is rare.
Anyway on to more happy matters. It is beautiful, Viterbo is a medieval town, the main part is surrounded by a wall, some parts of which are over 2,000 years old. Within the walls, where i live, all of the streets are cobble stone, there are typical narrow side streets with clotheslines and balconies. I have my own small balcony and we have a shares rooftop where we have a great view of the city, we eat meals up there often.
The people in my program are nice, most of them are American and some are Mexican. I dont like to hang out with them in large groups cuz i do not want to be just another obnoxious American girl disrupting the culture of a small Italian town; although i am sure i am on some level no matter what i
do. Katie is my only close American friend, she too doesn't like big groups and wants to immerse herself in the culture as much as possible.
It is weird being part of the minority for the first time in my life, although i am aware that Americans are not a marginalized group in any country. But still, it is definitely a different experience having everyone stare/judge us when we walk by. The girls especially. I try to be friendly and wave and say ciao to everyone i pass but i dont think thats common and the italian girls dont seem to want to talk to us at all. So i have been having a hard time about that, i just want to tell them i come in peace and i am not a threat. Manuela, a girl who used to live in my apartment is visiting and at first i thought she hated me but i thinks its just hard cuz she doesnt speak english and i dont speak italian, she has warmed up to me i think. Then last night, katie and i went to a gym (which we didnt think existed in italy) and we took a class
and we met a really nice italian girl who is our age. so my stereotypes of italian girls are already starting to be broken and i am happy for that!
Anyway, i have been having lots of fun. the first week we were here, there were so many people and activities. It was the macchina di Santa Rosa, the biggest holiday of the year. a huge statue is built in honor of Santa Rosa and 150 men carry it through the town. all the events during the week lead up to it and it takes place on friday night. it was strange and exciting. the whole town is into it although Danielle and his friend seemed too cool for it and were joking about spitting on it.
Although fashion is pretty big here for both men and women, Danielle and his friend Giovanni seem to dress like most Californians, Giovanni has dreads and wears Berkenstocks. But all and all people love shopping here and if you do not have nice shoes and sunglasses then you are not Italian and definitely stand out. I am pretty much screaming American when i wear my flip-flops and carry my signature green water bottle.
Katie and I managed to take a couple buses to get to La Mare on Saturday, the beach was not great but the water was perfecto! it was very nice and on the way back we took the wrong bus or something but we got to see the country side and a lake and we made a transfer with the kind help of the bus driver. Saturday night we went to the opera with Ace. it was outside and we could look up at the stars and to our right were the dimly lit medieval walls of San Pelagrino (the oldest part of the city). Sunday night we went out too and decided it was time to make friends. we ended up meeting 4 italian guys. It wasnt until 30 minutes after sitting next to eachother that i finally said ciao. the guys are not forward and creepy here, which is good but means that i have to be assertive. They were nice, 2 spoke english. then we went out last night and saw them again, we hung out with them for a while and as it got later so many people came out, just hanging out in the Piaza
outside. then we saw Danielle and Giovanni and hung out with them for a while.
Oh ya school, its great, i like my italian class the best, then art, italian culture seems like it will be cool and i cant wait for italian cuisine, and environmental science seems boring so far so we will see. my schedule is easy though, Italian 3 times a week and everything else is once a week. I can come home for lunch, lay in the sun, go to the gym and have 3 hour dinners! its wonderful
Ok sorry for writing an essay,
Love to all
ciao
lucia
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