Arezzo and Relaxation
Ciao! Time to update!
29Jan2005
Today we went on our first field trip to a neighboring city named Arezzo. We met downstairs in the lobby at about 10:30 and then we followed Matt (who works here and was our tour guide to the train station, lol) down the mountain to the train station. Once we arrived we met up with some people from the center who were already there and they passed out train tickets and we got to experience validating them, etc. Then we had to go under the railroad tracks through a tunnel (that’s how they do it here apparently) and we boarded the train from the other side. It was pretty exciting as I had never ridden on a real train before! Well about 10 minutes later we were in Arezzo, because obviously it’s pretty close. At the train station there we met up with Paolo who is one of the professors that we hadn’t met yet.
From there he took on us on a short tour of some main streets in the city and we went in a few churches. One of them was spectacular inside; it was a real gothic cathedral. Except that apparently some artists had come back in during the later renaissance and painted murals in it. But that’s history that’s neither here nor there. After a few churches our tour was finally ended and it was a good thing too. It was 1 o-clock and most of us hadn’t eaten (there’s no breakfast on field trip days, and even if there were breakfast is at 8:30am) so we were all famished.
We all kind of grouped up with people we were familiar with and found places to eat. I went with a group of guys I’ve been hanging out with and we went to Hollywood Cafe… yes that’s right, Hollywood. Leave it to us to go to Italy and find the American named place to eat in. well it was only called that because it was one of those theme places and they had posters up of old movie stars from America and what not. But it was most definitely Italian as we soon discovered with the menus.
Heh, not one of us could speak or read Italian really, nor did we have a dictionary, so when we received our menus in full Italian… well I think you can guess. We decided to stick with pizza because we knew that word and from there we had to guess at which ones to get. We figured that cheese is usually at the top of the list so wed be safe if we stuck with something there maybe? Well Jon and I decided we would both try one called Marinara we figured that was tomato and we’d be safe enough. Brett decided to go with the only one that had olive written next to it because he had a craving for olives and we were pretty sure that’s what that was. He hoped that the other two items were just sauces or spices or pepperoni or something. Jason decided on one called the Tri-something that we were all guessing was probably a three meat since those are pretty popular in the U.S. Well, we ordered and when we got our food we were in for a few shocks, lol! Marinara was exactly that. We had crust with tomato sauce and that’s it. Brett’s had olives like he wanted, but the other toppings were sauce and… sardines! And Jason’s Tri- ended up being cheese with tomato chunks on top. Brett was not thrilled, lol! So he kind of picked at his around the sardines as much as possible, but they were in the sauce and he just couldn’t do it. Jon and I were fine with ours, it was pretty good, and it was definitely sustenance, and Jason liked his okay as well.
Well while we were a group of girls that I have been hanging with pretty frequently came in and were talking to us, etc. and after we finished eating and paying Jon and I decided to go ahead and try to catch the 2 o-clock train back to Castiglion Fiorentino. The others said they were right behind us so we left and by the time we got halfway down the street we knew they weren’t and knew they weren’t going to make it. Jason and Brett like the ladies, so we figured they were chatting it up and we weren’t going to worry about it. Well we made it to the station and finally figured out where to validate our tickets at that one and which tracks to get on for the right train. We got on and had a little conversation on the way back, then after getting off met up with some other people who had been in different cars and we all started the trek back up the mountain. It was definitely easier going down, because on the way back up we were all about to die the path we were taking was so steep.
Well we got back and I replied to an email and uploaded some of my pictures and then I took a nice long nap until dinner. Dinner was pretty good, and then afterwards I tried to talk to JB for a while. I was finally able to talk to my parents and also managed to get my phone unlocked! Whoop! Well after I was finished talking to them, I went out to one of the local clubs here called the Velvet Underground. Matt and another guy that works here named Milos were DJing and it was a heck of a party. Everyone was having a good time and I hung out for a while then my roommates and I decided to go over to Roggio’s which was the bar from the other night.
We headed over there and as soon as we walked in the door we met up with Julia and Mario which were the local girl and her boyfriend we had met there the previous night. Well we ended up talking to them for a few hours and had a good time and I actually started learning some Italian. When it was about 3:30am Daniel and I headed back to the center and finally went to sleep around 4:30am.
29Jan2005
Today we went on our first field trip to a neighboring city named Arezzo. We met downstairs in the lobby at about 10:30 and then we followed Matt (who works here and was our tour guide to the train station, lol) down the mountain to the train station. Once we arrived we met up with some people from the center who were already there and they passed out train tickets and we got to experience validating them, etc. Then we had to go under the railroad tracks through a tunnel (that’s how they do it here apparently) and we boarded the train from the other side. It was pretty exciting as I had never ridden on a real train before! Well about 10 minutes later we were in Arezzo, because obviously it’s pretty close. At the train station there we met up with Paolo who is one of the professors that we hadn’t met yet.
From there he took on us on a short tour of some main streets in the city and we went in a few churches. One of them was spectacular inside; it was a real gothic cathedral. Except that apparently some artists had come back in during the later renaissance and painted murals in it. But that’s history that’s neither here nor there. After a few churches our tour was finally ended and it was a good thing too. It was 1 o-clock and most of us hadn’t eaten (there’s no breakfast on field trip days, and even if there were breakfast is at 8:30am) so we were all famished.
We all kind of grouped up with people we were familiar with and found places to eat. I went with a group of guys I’ve been hanging out with and we went to Hollywood Cafe… yes that’s right, Hollywood. Leave it to us to go to Italy and find the American named place to eat in. well it was only called that because it was one of those theme places and they had posters up of old movie stars from America and what not. But it was most definitely Italian as we soon discovered with the menus.
Heh, not one of us could speak or read Italian really, nor did we have a dictionary, so when we received our menus in full Italian… well I think you can guess. We decided to stick with pizza because we knew that word and from there we had to guess at which ones to get. We figured that cheese is usually at the top of the list so wed be safe if we stuck with something there maybe? Well Jon and I decided we would both try one called Marinara we figured that was tomato and we’d be safe enough. Brett decided to go with the only one that had olive written next to it because he had a craving for olives and we were pretty sure that’s what that was. He hoped that the other two items were just sauces or spices or pepperoni or something. Jason decided on one called the Tri-something that we were all guessing was probably a three meat since those are pretty popular in the U.S. Well, we ordered and when we got our food we were in for a few shocks, lol! Marinara was exactly that. We had crust with tomato sauce and that’s it. Brett’s had olives like he wanted, but the other toppings were sauce and… sardines! And Jason’s Tri- ended up being cheese with tomato chunks on top. Brett was not thrilled, lol! So he kind of picked at his around the sardines as much as possible, but they were in the sauce and he just couldn’t do it. Jon and I were fine with ours, it was pretty good, and it was definitely sustenance, and Jason liked his okay as well.
Well while we were a group of girls that I have been hanging with pretty frequently came in and were talking to us, etc. and after we finished eating and paying Jon and I decided to go ahead and try to catch the 2 o-clock train back to Castiglion Fiorentino. The others said they were right behind us so we left and by the time we got halfway down the street we knew they weren’t and knew they weren’t going to make it. Jason and Brett like the ladies, so we figured they were chatting it up and we weren’t going to worry about it. Well we made it to the station and finally figured out where to validate our tickets at that one and which tracks to get on for the right train. We got on and had a little conversation on the way back, then after getting off met up with some other people who had been in different cars and we all started the trek back up the mountain. It was definitely easier going down, because on the way back up we were all about to die the path we were taking was so steep.
Well we got back and I replied to an email and uploaded some of my pictures and then I took a nice long nap until dinner. Dinner was pretty good, and then afterwards I tried to talk to JB for a while. I was finally able to talk to my parents and also managed to get my phone unlocked! Whoop! Well after I was finished talking to them, I went out to one of the local clubs here called the Velvet Underground. Matt and another guy that works here named Milos were DJing and it was a heck of a party. Everyone was having a good time and I hung out for a while then my roommates and I decided to go over to Roggio’s which was the bar from the other night.
We headed over there and as soon as we walked in the door we met up with Julia and Mario which were the local girl and her boyfriend we had met there the previous night. Well we ended up talking to them for a few hours and had a good time and I actually started learning some Italian. When it was about 3:30am Daniel and I headed back to the center and finally went to sleep around 4:30am.
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30Jan2005
Ah Sunday morning. We had gotten in pretty late the night before so we decided to sleep in. I got up around noon and got showered. After looking around I found that most everyone was gone and was about to go hiking with a small group of people who invited me to accompany them if I liked, when the same group of girls got back from Italian Mass and asked if I wanted to go eat with them. Well I was starving and very anxiously agreed. They went upstairs to get changed and then I discovered that the group of guys from before was going with them as well.
Once they finished getting dressed we all went out and decided to go to Hermes, a little restaurant right around the corner from “The Velvet” (the nickname for the Velvet Underground) We ate lunch and Jon and I had pizza again although this time we knew what was on it because we had a dictionary. Jason and Brett tried some pasta and the girls all ate Pinini’s which are a type of sandwich. Everything was delicious and when we were finishing up the owner brought us a huge tray of free desert pastries! They were really good! When we paid we tried to tip them and they wouldn’t take the money so we left it on the table and he actually came outside and insisted we take it back. People here are incredibly friendly to us!
We went back to the center and I talked to my parents a little more and then a few of us decided to go play spades. By this time it was about 3:30 in the afternoon so we played for a while and taught one person how until half the players decided they wanted to go to an optional lecture at 5:30. So I decided to get online again and answer some e-mails. Then I decided to take pictures of the center I’m staying in until it was time for dinner and I will be posting those later today. Dinner was spectacular again, we had spaghetti, salad, roast beef, and mashed potatoes with fruit for dessert.
After dinner I watched more people play spades and then I played a little and we taught another girl to play and then when it was about 11pm everybody decided to go to The Velvet for a Bob Marley cover band they were having. I opted to stay in and talked to JB for a while on the computer and then went to bed. Well I went to bed at 1am and woke up at 5am for no apparent reason but fully awake and decided to get online. I talked to JB a little before she went to sleep (time difference) and then decided to update my blog. And here we are!
So now I’m off to get showered and ready for my first breakfast here and then I have a full day ahead of me I’m sure. I’ll try to upload more pictures later today and update again soon! For now though, I miss you all and Ciao!
Ah Sunday morning. We had gotten in pretty late the night before so we decided to sleep in. I got up around noon and got showered. After looking around I found that most everyone was gone and was about to go hiking with a small group of people who invited me to accompany them if I liked, when the same group of girls got back from Italian Mass and asked if I wanted to go eat with them. Well I was starving and very anxiously agreed. They went upstairs to get changed and then I discovered that the group of guys from before was going with them as well.
Once they finished getting dressed we all went out and decided to go to Hermes, a little restaurant right around the corner from “The Velvet” (the nickname for the Velvet Underground) We ate lunch and Jon and I had pizza again although this time we knew what was on it because we had a dictionary. Jason and Brett tried some pasta and the girls all ate Pinini’s which are a type of sandwich. Everything was delicious and when we were finishing up the owner brought us a huge tray of free desert pastries! They were really good! When we paid we tried to tip them and they wouldn’t take the money so we left it on the table and he actually came outside and insisted we take it back. People here are incredibly friendly to us!
We went back to the center and I talked to my parents a little more and then a few of us decided to go play spades. By this time it was about 3:30 in the afternoon so we played for a while and taught one person how until half the players decided they wanted to go to an optional lecture at 5:30. So I decided to get online again and answer some e-mails. Then I decided to take pictures of the center I’m staying in until it was time for dinner and I will be posting those later today. Dinner was spectacular again, we had spaghetti, salad, roast beef, and mashed potatoes with fruit for dessert.
After dinner I watched more people play spades and then I played a little and we taught another girl to play and then when it was about 11pm everybody decided to go to The Velvet for a Bob Marley cover band they were having. I opted to stay in and talked to JB for a while on the computer and then went to bed. Well I went to bed at 1am and woke up at 5am for no apparent reason but fully awake and decided to get online. I talked to JB a little before she went to sleep (time difference) and then decided to update my blog. And here we are!
So now I’m off to get showered and ready for my first breakfast here and then I have a full day ahead of me I’m sure. I’ll try to upload more pictures later today and update again soon! For now though, I miss you all and Ciao!
posted by c|young | 7:45 AM
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