Deruta & Assisi

Soo very sorry I haven't written in a while! We really have had nothing but class so there's really nothing much to say but on Friday we woke up at 5:30 and left for Orvieto at 6:30. Either the roads in Italy need to be spruced up a bit or our bus needs new a new antilock break system because I think all of us can back with whiplash! Our driver also drives in the middle of two lanes and tends to cut people off so I've found a new home in the last row of the bus so I don't get anxiety watching his driving in the front row! We arrived at Deruta 2 hours ahead of schedule so we got there pretty early. Most of the shopkeepers knew we were coming though and opened there stores especially for us! Deruta is a tiny town in the region of Umbria that is known for their highly famous ceramics and pottery that ships out their pottery every year to William-Sonoma. The designs on the pottery is just absoloutely amazing and the owners of the shop make all the pottery and designs themselves. I think the best one I saw was a guitar that was ceramic & painted in the most beautiful designs. There's only 5 in the world and the man's son in the picture below designs them and sells them for a hefty amount (12,000 Euro's).

After shopping around on our own, we headed to the most famous factory in Deruta for ceramics and got a personal tour of every step of the ceramic making process. This company was the one that ships to William-Sonoma and we got to see them make the pottery all the way to the 12 people who paint various designs on them. Praises to them for having a steady hand because those designs are so intricate! We found out they go to a 5 year school to learn how to do all the areas of pottery & design. School definitely pays off because those designs were just the most amazing sights ever! I wanted to buy some pottery for our house but they came, once again, at a pretty hefty price, 300 Euros for something really simple as a bowl. So sorry mom, no Italian pottery is going to be arriving at our house this summer! (FYI...I'm going to add more pictures of it to my albums because it takes a long time to load pictures on here!)

So then we continuted on our journey and got back on the bus to head for Assisi. We had a lunch break once we got there and all of us girls who packed our own lunch sat in a litle ally way with the prettiest flowers & ivy

We walked around for about 2 hours and St. Francis must have blessed us because he lead us to the most AMAZING olive wood store! Just walking in, you could smell the aroma of olives and it was obvious this was the real thing! Who would've thought 6 girls in their 20's could spend over an hour in a wood store! I was very picky when it came to picking out if I wanted anything because I don't like when the wood has a lot of imperfections so I ended up picking out a wooden bangle, a olive oil wood ring, and olive oil chapstick all for under 10 euros! Finally, one shopping trip that was in my budget...Thanks St. Francis!! We then headed down to meet our group at the cathedral dedicated to St. Francis. He was a very intersting Saint who gave up his life of wealth and taking over the famiy business to rebuild the church after having a vision from Jesus. He brought back the basics of the church and compltely rebuilt the church by God's vision in just 20 years! It doesn't even look real and I have to admit I laughed the first time I saw my tour guide just because I've never seen a monk before and all over the town the men were dressed in their brown robes with the ropes tied around their waist...it just looked so much like a costume to me! Anyways, he described in details all the fresco's on the walls and lead us down to the tomb of St. Francis where people were all gathered around, saying rosaries and leaving pictures of their love ones who have died. It was all very touching, and I even got to dedicate a candle to my Uncle Charlie who died who's favorite saint was St. Francis. After the tomb, he lead us up to upper church, past the lower cathedral we were in before. The lower one symbolizes St. Francis's life on earth and the upper church with all it's bright colors and heavenly fresco's symbolzes St. Francis's holy characteristics and his life in heaven. The colors were just so beautiful with blues and greens and I'm so sad we didn't get to take any pictures, they were really strict about it and I was too scared to even sneak one! Here's a picture of the outside though!

After our tour we all headed back to our Flintstone's style bus and all prepared for a bumpy ride home, but we were just all so ready to head back to the palace and sleep we didn't care what we rode in! But now we have been preparing all weekend for our overnight field trips all next week to Modena, Mantova, Como, Parma & Milan! I'm so excited and when our field trips are over on Thursday I get to fly to San Sebastian & see Justin then spend the next week with my parents in Italy! I couldn't even ask for a better week! I'll make sure to keep everyone updated and hopefully I'll have wi-fi at our hotels! Ciao everyone!

Orvieto & Todi

Bounasera!

I'm glad everyone likes the blog so much! Now that I have a fan base I'll really have to keep it up to date now ;)

Well today we started off our day early and had to be at our bus at 7:30! Since I sat next to our director of the program (Dr. B) I ended up talking to her the whole time while everyone else dozed off...I'm glad I did though because she's a very interesting person and has traveled the world. She knows almost everything to do in every town and has personally done it herself! After the 2 hour bus ride we arrived in Oriveto, a town in the region of Umbria just north of Lazio (where Rome is) and just south of Tuscany. I was anxious to see the town because this is one of the places on the itinerary when I tour Italy with my family in a week! We first walked through an ancient well with a rather interesting double helix formation on the inside that you would never know about! You would see someone across from you in one of the windows but still somehow never reach them, it's crazy! Here's a picture of the well...

None of us had any idea it was so far down so when we went to glance over the edge when we first walked in THANK GOD I took my sunglasses off the top of my head because they would've been a goner! If you see the tiny dots on the bridge at the bottom of the well those are people, if that helps at all to show how high up we were! The picture below was also kind of risky because one sudden movement in our little archway window and it could've been bad news!

Now mom, good news for you! After we left the scary well we took a lift up to the center of the town and took a tour of the Doumo of Orvieto. It's modeled after the Duomo in Siena which is why it make look familiar but it was really interesting because inside this Doumo there was a relic of a cloth where it is believed that in the breaking of the Eucharist, droplets of Jesus's blood dripped out and onto the cloth. It's strange to me that in all these beautiful churches I've seen across Italy they're so monstrous inside but filled with so much empty space while seating only takes up about 1/4 of the whole church, and in some cases they were just plastic chairs. I asked one of the tour guides about it and she said it was because people don't really attend the churches. Isn't that terrible? They have such historic and beautiful places to attend church every Sunday and they don't go? Strange! Anyways here's a picture of the Duomo

Now here was the interesting part for me....SHOPPING!! Of course on our 1 1/2 hr. off I found the CUTEST jewelry store. All the stuff was handmade and just so funky and different. It was kind of pricy so I just decided to wait and hold off until I came back with my parents (I know you're excited Papa!) But don't worry, they're known for their famous white wine and produce about 85% of all the white wine in Umbria so that can keep you busy in all the wine bars there while we're shopping! We enjoyed a glass of their famous wine with our packed lunch (pb & j sandwiches) on the stairs of a fountain and enjoyed all the people watching. After, I found the coolest thing I have seen yet. It's called pocket espresso or espresso to go...my friend Hilary and I got them and forgoed the gelato this time. It was well worth it - the most AMAZING tasting espresso I have ever had...plus the little straw was so cute I would've spent the .60 euro's just on that!

After an 1 1/2 hr. on our own we departed for a one hour bus ride to the next town of Todi (pronounced toad-ey). Let's just say we had another 1 1/2 hr. on our own but we would have been perfectly fine being done in 15 minutes. We went during the time of the pausa (time when Italians take off for lunch from 1-4 pm) so nothing was open but the town church. There was construction on the inside of the church so we really didn't get to see too much of it. I think what made this town interesting was just cracking all the jokes with the name Todi in it (like what would someone from that town be called?) I don't know..maybe we were just delirious with boredom but that's what got us through that town! Now we're all back and I'm about to already go to bed because I have a migraine.... Not too fun! But hope you all enjoyed and I don't know if I'll be updating it tomorrow because we just have class all day tomorrow so not too much going on to inform everyone about! Hope everything is going well for everyone and give America my hellos!
-Rach

Finally Getting This Started!

Ciao Everyone!
So I know I said that I was going to start a blog so everyone could follow me (and so mom you wouldn't have to get on my facebook anymore!) but unfortunately we didn't have wi-fi where we live but now since we do I decided to start keeping everyone updated! I'm going to try to post a blog at the end of each day but with our stay in Milan next week, than San Sebastian, than touring Italy with my parents I can't always guarantee I'll have wireless! It's kind of funny how much you realize your dependence on wireless once you're without it for long periods of time as in my case. Anyways, I posted a link for my web albums which should be at the top left of the screen. I'm also trying to figure out a way to post my calender on here which shows what we're doing here in Italy day by day in case anyone wants to know! Hope everyone is safe and healthy back in America and just to let everyone know, I'm having an amazing time here and thanks for all the prayers for safety and well wishes!
I miss everyone so much and hopefully this will make you feel more connected!
Ciao!
Rachel