Todi!

Am I bummed that I wasn’t at Hinkle last night for the Gonzaga game? Absolutely. Everybody’s pictures and updates on Facebook are making me so jealous! I knew that this would be one of the hardest parts of going abroad for me—missing out on so much of basketball season. But I had a pretty cool experience today too—Temple took the whole group of us to Todi, a hill town in the Perugia region of Italy. It was about a two hour bus ride from Rome, and we passed some really beautiful scenery. I missed some of it because I ended up falling asleep (getting up at 3 AM to follow the game + waking up again at 6 AM to get ready to make the bus + JET LAG), but it was well worth the long drive.

The buses dropped us off in a parking lot closer to the bottom of the hill, so we had to walk a bit to get up into Todi. Todi is so old that it is full of both Etruscan and Roman ruins—we passed a few. There is usually a cable car that takes people up and down, and we tried to take it back down when we were done for the day, but it was broken. We had about two hours to ourselves to explore the city, so we just walked around and explored a couple of churches. One was La Cattedrale di S. M. Annunziata, which was in the main piazza in Todi. Fun fact: Todi is used all the time in films because it is so charming and so characteristic of Italy. One of the Romeo and Juliet films was filmed in Todi!

The main piazza in Todi

There were some gorgeous views from the village—we were at the top of a hill, after all. It’s been surprisingly cold and wet in Rome since I’ve been here, but the views were still amazing.

After we were done exploring, we all met back down in the parking lot. The buses then drove for about a half hour to take us to Titignani, which is an old castle that is now used for a lot of events like weddings. It’s a fully functioning farm, and we were there for lunch in the castle’s banquet hall, although lunch is a bit of an understatement. We actually had what would be considered a traditional Italian wedding feast with at least ten courses. I was good and tried a little bit of everything, but it was all delicious! Everything they gave us had been produced on the farm, including the wine and olive oil.

The courses:

• ·      Antipasto (different types of breads and Italian pizzas)
• ·      Bread
• ·      Red and white wine
• ·      A selection of cold cuts, including salami and prosciutto
• ·      A salty cheese pastry
• ·      Risotto with asparagus
• ·      Pasta with wild boar sauce
• ·      Venison
• ·      Potatoes roasted in olive oil and chicken
• ·      Fresh salad tossed in olive oil and vinegar
• ·      Fruit
• ·      Almond biscotti
• ·      A delicious and chocolatey dessert—I’m not even sure what it was called!
• ·      Dessert wine (meant for dipping the biscotti)
• ·      Grappa-a drink made from the leftovers from pressing grapes into wine (this wasn’t my favorite—it was very very strong! I could only take a sip of it.)
• ·      Espresso

Salami and prosciutto

Pasta with wild boar sauce

Dessert!

Needless to say, I was completely stuffed by the end. Everything was so delicious (even the wild boar and the venison, which were both firsts for me). I don’t think I would have been able to eat all of it except for the fact that the portions of each course were reasonable and they were pretty well spaced out. That’s why it took us over three hours to eat everything!

Panorama of the view from the castle area

I’ve officially been here for five days, and today was the last day of our orientation. Tomorrow we start classes! I start with Roman literature and then finish with Italian I. I am definitely excited to start taking Italian just so I can try to understand some of what people are saying around me (or at least be able to read signs and menus more easily). I’m also taking art history and digital imaging. I’m really looking forward to my classes, especially because art history and digital imaging will take me out into the city to learn from my surroundings rather than in a classroom setting. Those start later in the week. I’ll post an update once I start everything!