Ciao! After 24 hours of traveling and nearly 6,330 miles of flying, I’m now in Orvieto, Italy. The plane ride from New York to Rome was uneventful, minus the “electric power issues” that occurred as we were sitting in our seats READY FOR TAKEOFF. Talk about freaking me out before flying over the ocean for the first time in my life. I thought about texting Mom and telling her I was scared but decided she was probably already nervous enough. I quickly made friends with the girl sitting next to me because I needed some comfort. I told her how scared I was and she said, “Stop freaking out. Read your book.” So I started reading my Ricks Steves’ Italy guide book and soon enough we were in the air.
After arriving in Rome, we took a bus to our new home for the next five weeks: Orvieto. Orvieto is a small town between Rome and Florence. If the town is known for anything, I think it’s the Duomo. Since I’ve had so many questions about where Orvieto is located, I provided you unkultured hooligans with a map.
The town sits on a hill, and the bus only took us to the bottom of the hill. The town is too small and quaint for the giant charter bus to drive through the cobblestone streets. We made a 15 minute walk from the bottom of the hill to the top where our hotel is. The program director, Professor Kathy Windrow (but we’ll call her Kathy), had given all the students a list of items not to forget to bring on the trip. On that list was rain gear. Of course it was raining when we got off the bus, and I had nothing to keep me or my laptop dry. So as we’re briskly walking to the top of the hill, winding through the narrow alleys filled with shops, I spot umbrellas. I bought one and gave the lady whatever money she wanted for it. I figured any price was worth not losing my laptop to the downpour. A wise 5 euro investment.
The hotel where we’re staying is cozy and cute, right in the middle of the town. We moved our stuff into our rooms, attended a quick orientation with the professors, then had a guided walk around town. There are three professors on the trip and I think they are all going to be excellent. One of them is an Italian native. He has friends that own shops in Orvieto (that’s how native he is). One of them is the creator of this SMU-in-Italy program, which began in 1984. The other is Kathy. As director, she’s running the show for the next five weeks.
Me and Caroline's beds.
After the tour, a group of us went to dinner and enjoyed great Italian food outside on the patio. Relying on my Rick Steves’ guidebook, we went straight to his recommended gelato shop near the Duomo after dinner. I’m not the only Rick Steves geek in Italy. Walking out of dinner, I saw an elderly couple, around the age of 75, sitting at their table waiting for their food. The woman had a book open in front of her, and I instantly recognized the Rick Steves hand drawn map she was studying. I leaned down, held out my guidebook and said, “Hey, I like your book.” She looked up, saw our matching books and responded, “Ah, you have good taste.”
First gelato in Italy.
