Wow, I haven’t updated in forever. Our “fieldtrip” last week was a cooking class with Alba, our program director. She taught us how to make gnocchi and tira misu, which turned out beautifully and I’d like to try my hand at it at home.

Our big fieldtrip of the semester was to Pompeii, Naples, Paestum, Cumae and the Regia di Caserta. The compact version of that is that the south has the best pizza in the world, I think…Pompeii was pretty incredible but I almost enjoyed Paestum more, if only because it was less crowded and the weather was perfect and autumn-y and wonderful. The museum in Naples was incredible, too, because we saw some stuff that I’ve been studying since I was a freshman in high school (ie the best copy of the Doryphorous, which became the classical canon for beauty) and some amazing Hellenistic sculpture, which also happens to be one of my favorite artistic periods…Cumae was small but pretty and we could see horse-drawn chariots running along the beach (what the heck, right?) and the Regia di Caserta is actually the Italian version of Versailles. Ploy, Meghan, Jessica and I rented a 4-person bike and got a great workout riding around the Regia’s grounds, up hills and down…we had to push the bike up a couple hills, so I got my cardio in for the month I’d say…

Halloween is not really a celebrated holiday here, but we made it so. My friends and I were witches, some other girls were wine glasses, another was proseco, we had a scary creature, a moon goddess, a punk rocker, and a Roman senator, to name a few costumes. We hung out at a freind’s house and then went to the only club on top in Orvieto, which was a lot of fun.

As there was an Italian holiday, one of my roommates and I went to Rome and met up with Maddalena & co. We didn’t do much but we did watch an Italian teen 80’s movie called Notte Prima Degli Esami, which I think is like watching Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink or something…it was actually great, I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you, English subtitles, p.s. The next day we met up with some other friends and did some shopping, saw the Piazza del Popolo, the outside of St. Peter’s, some Caravaggios, and got lost in Rome. Ate some phenomenal gnocchi and gelato (not at the same time).

Now it’s time to study for exams this week. Blah. I can’t believe how late it’s getting. I come home in about 4 weeks and I can’t imagine what it will be like. I have been to at least a bit of Europe and I love to see how each country has its own sappore, sabor, whatever you want to call it. Orvieto is full of such genuinely nice people, and Italy itself is one of the most welcoming countries I think I’ve been to.

Next post…the best fieldtrip we ever took.