First Day in Tuscania

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After sleeping for a full 10 hours we woke up to a breakfast of croissants, yogurt, granola, and fruit. Apparently for breakfast Italians usually only eat either a croissant or a pastry and a TINY cup of espresso. Luckily, the hotel provides us with American coffee or else we wouldn't even be able to find it in Tuscania! We arrived at the school at 9am for our first Italian lesson and found out that we were going on a tour of the town. Because the town is very old and not used to tourists, the local people stare at us everywhere we go. It could also be due to the fact that we are 30 students walking in a pack wearing shorts and tank tops (inappropriate) and taking pictures!

Tuscania was one of the main towns within the Etruscan empire, and there are still various Etruscan remains that can be seen around the town. Our Italian teacher Mario pointed out walls that date back to around the 7th century! He told us that they are currently archaeological sites and that the people excavating them find ancient artifacts and tombs pretty regularly. Tuscania is a beautiful town and looks as though it could be in a movie. However, we are here in late August and that means it's HOT. Within minutes everyone was dying for water. Our teachers told us that all of the water that comes out of the fountains is drinkable unless it says not to drink. I'm still not so sure about this so I've been sticking to bottled water.

After walking around town, our teacher pointed up to the top of a very large hill and said that that was our next destination. We surprisingly made it all the way up and arrived at the church of Saint Peter (Church of San Pietro). This church was built in the 8th century but was partially destroyed in a earthquake in 1971 that killed 31 people in the town. After the earthquake, many architectural students came from all over to help rebuild it. Unfortunately, I was not able to take pictures inside the church but it was very beautiful. After checking out the crypt, we continued our walk around town and finally arrived back at the school where we found out we had the rest of the afternoon off until 2 pm.

Me, Kelly, Kristy, and Alyssa went to the grocery store where we purchased cheese, bread, crackers, wine, and water. Everything is pretty inexpensive here, giant water bottles are about 30 cents and a bottle of wine is about 1 dollar, except Kelly has already prepared us and told us that things in Florence will most likely be more expensive. We then ate in our room and got ready for the night. All of the Bentley students went to the Cafe del Duomo, a very cute cafe/bar right next to a gorgeous water fountain. We were obviously the obnoxious Americans showing up in a group of 30 to a local bar but it was very fun! We met some Italians but went home pretty early because we had to wake up very early the next day.

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Photos

Water Fountain
The water fountain right next to the Caffe Del Duomo. The tables seen behind it are where we sat.