Ali al Italia

I broke my promise about updating again. Sigh. In the past three weeks, I have been to (all together now):

Brugge, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, Crete (Chania and Heraklion), and now Athens.

Talk about whirlwinds. We were moving at a pace of about a new city every two days until Robin left, at which point I decided to park myself on the beach for a week. It was an excellent decision on my part. Tomorrow I fly back to Rome, and then go home to Orvieto for a few days to do some work and some laundry.

But on the 31st…look out, Europe. “HarperQuest Oh-Twelve” commences.

I am pretty dang excited.

The last few days have been a whirlwind! Actually, the next two weeks are going to be one huge whirlwind, but it’s relatively quiet at the moment. We flew into Brussels and got right on a train to Brugge, since we didn’t really have time to see both cities. Our first view was of gorgeous flowing trees, a Gothic-looking bell tower, and a ferris wheel! There was a big carnival going on in town, so we stopped by for a great view of the city and some fair food. Yesterday we looked around the city some more and then grabbed the train to Amsterdam for Koninginnendag - Queen’s Day! Everyone was decked out in orange and partying pretty hard. We grabbed a couple of Amstels at a Popeye-themed bar and wandered around taking in the atmosphere of the city on its biggest holiday. We ended the night at a surprisingly authentic American diner for burgers, quesadillas, and milkshakes…although, naturally, our waiter was Italian! Off to explore the city some more for the next 24 hours, then off to Berlin!

Well, I did not keep that promise of putting up more pictures. At this point, I am abandoning my computer for a while (in my suitcase in my friend’s apartment in Orvieto, so not really abandoning it), so I may just have to show everyone the rest of my photos when I get home! Our classes here are finished and tonight is our farewell dinner with the whole group. My undergrad career is really and truly over now! Tomorrow we all go our separate ways. It’s hard to believe that exactly three months ago today I was meeting all of these people for the first time and now I feel like I’m leaving some of my best friends! It is such a strange situation that we are in here: spending literally all of our time with each other for such a short span made us way closer than we otherwise could have been. Leaving is going to be hard. I feel like I have only just gotten the hang of life here! Unfortunately the time has come to move on. Thank goodness I’m keeping Robin with me for 19 more days! I’ll try to keep this moderately updated with my rapidly-changing location throughout the next two months, but pictures will be rare.

Next stop(s): Brussels, Brugge, and Amsterdam!

Well, it’s been a while! It is now (somehow) April, and we’ve had a few Italian adventures in the past month! Here’s the run-down, excluding spring break:

We made an excursion to a neighboring hill town, Todi, which was an Etruscan settlement like Orvieto and our coordinator Alba’s hometown! We explored the archaeological museum, the medieval cathedral, the Roman cisterns, and had a real, Italian-style lunch at Alba’s mom’s house! We had great fun eating homemade pizza, lasagne, pork, vegetables, and fig and peach tarts, marveling at the amazing view from the porch, and taking “family photos” in the living room. It felt like a real Harper/Sargent gathering!

Inside the cisterns underground.

My friends Christian and Ted horsing around on a wooden seesaw that we found!

The Byzantine-style church just off the hill, outside of town.

Caught exploring in the crypt of a church…oops.

Family portrait! Most of our group at Alba’s mom’s.

Our next trip was to the Etruscan necropolis outside of Tarquinia, on the western coast of Italy. Claudio was our guide as we explored the tombs and studied the 7th - 4th century BC wall paintings, which was fun. We also got to go to the beach that day! I had my shoes off, my pants rolled up, and my feet in the water as quickly as possible! There were a bunch of kite surfers out in the waves that day. We ate gelato with our toes in the sand and watched their pretty impressive performance.

Looking out toward Tarquinia from the necropolis.

Inside an Etruscan tomb.

Claudio, our fearless leader, looking like the classic Italian Indiana Jones.

Kite surfers at Tarquinia Beach!

Robin, Debra, and Tamara at the shore (it was windy that day).

In my natural habitat. 

Must go do Italian homework, but more to come soon, I promise!

A while ago, we went up to a castle on top of a hill near Orvieto that serves as the studio of a local ceramicist, Marino Moretti. We got to watch him throw a couple pots on the wheel and paint a few of his famous tiles in the style of medieval Italian artisans. We tried our hands at some tiles that he had prepared, too! We asked if Marino had any apprentices right now and when he said he didn’t, I think we were all ready to volunteer!

…e Roma, parte tre.

Roma, parte due.

Pictures from our day trip to Rome a couple weeks ago!

(Source: alicat19)

I guess is was about two weeks ago now that we took a Wednesday group trip to Perugia and Assisi - uh oh, I am so behind! Both of these towns were interesting in very different ways: Assisi because of its significance as the home of St. Francis, and Perugia because of its unfinished cathedral, collection of Renaissance art, and chocolate factory!

Perugia was snowier than Orvieto, owing to its slightly higher elevation and proximity to the Apennines, the mountain range that forms Italy’s backbone. After riding the “mini-metro” to the upper city, we were treated to this view:

Taylor (my roommate) and me in our matching hats with the Apennines in the background:

Our guide showed us around Perugia, from the ancient Roman sections of the wall through the underground Medieval streets and out into the modern square! We ate Baci (“kisses” in Italian - chocolate and hazelnut candies) and looked at all of the creepy Renaissance-era baby Jesuses in the cathedral and museum. We had some authentic Neapolitan pizza for lunch (thicker crust than the rest of Italy) and then got back on our trusty bus for the short drive to Assisi.

…which was pretty gorgeous. This is the view of the lower city from the upper city. We spent our time in the upper city and only saw the lower on our bus ride through it, although I would have liked to see the basilica that is under the dome in the above picture.

Our first stop was the Basilica of St. Francis.

The upper chapel of the cathedral is said to have been inspired by Sainte-Chapelle, one of my favorite places in Paris. You could see the influence in the tall, thin windows, but St. Francis’ is much larger and therefore had to have more solid support - walls rather than windows. Both the upper and lower chapels are covered in frescoes, which show stories of the Bible and chronicle St. Francis’ life. Our guide pointed out that St. Francis was very big on education, so these would have been used, in accordance with his philosophy, to help the congregation understand what the priest was talking about during masses. We went down to the crypt as well to see his tomb and the tombs of four of his closest friends and followers. I felt that this church was different than many of the others we have seen. As our guide said, “St. Peter’s divides, St. Francis’ unites.” St. Peter’s and the Vatican in general, because of the opulence and history of the place, are sometimes seen as a representation of the controversial, more corrupt facets of the Catholic church, while St. Francis’ church was built in honor and memory of a man who strove to distance himself from the things he considered hypocritical in Catholicism. All around town, you find the Franciscan, T-shaped cross made of simple olive wood and the words “Pax et Bonum” or “Pace e Bene,” which mean peace and goodness or good things in Latin and Italian. There just isn’t a lot to argue with there.

We also visited the Church of St. Clare, who was a follower of St. Francis. She was about 10 year younger than him and founded the Poor Clares, a group of nuns who take vows of poverty. Her church was smaller than his and more simple in general.

Oh, and we also passed a Roman temple next to a medieval clocktower, because Italian cities are just all unstuck in time.

The view from the wall near St. Clare’s, which was, appropriately, a total Holy Card Picture:

…and everyone wanted the shot!

It was really a good day. About half of our group missed this trip, but I think everyone who made it was very glad they did.

Cena Messicana (Mexican Dinner!) tonight, Tarquinia and the beach tomorrow, and more pictures and updates coming soon!

The rest of Florence!

Perugia, Assisi, and Rome coming soon!