We made it! And it’s even more perfect than I had imagined!
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| Me, Rae, Mary |
The majority of us were on the same flight and it was very obvious who was part of the group once we were at the gate. Some of us met and everyone continued to chat as we waited anxiously for our 4:00 pm flight. After an hour delay from cleaning the plane we finally boarded. I wasn’t lucky enough to get a seat by someone else on the trip but I figured I could pass the time by watching movies and sleeping, so I didn’t worry. Wrong. As soon as we were in the air, the flight attendant announced that they will be showing The Social Network, Eat, Pray, Love, and Pursuit of Happiness, so I was super excited [especially about Eat, Pray, Love because a part of it is based in Rome!] Well… about 10 minutes into The Social Network, it cuts off and the flight attendant comes back on the intercom and says that they are having audio and video difficulty and they will start the movie again in about 15 minutes. Well 9 hours later we landed in Rome, and the movie was never restarted! Ha. I was sitting by an Italian girl who was about my age, but didn’t speak a lick of English, and since I hardly know any Italian, chatting with her became quite the challenge, and unfortunately, I was unable to sleep [again] due to much excitement and thinking…. So, needless to say I was bored to death. Oh well.
Tommy [our “dad” ] flew with us, and Cinzia [our Program Facilitator or Italian Sister as Tommy says] met us in Rome. We loaded on 2 buses and headed 20 miles southeast to Ariccia! We were all amazed at the way people were driving [especially parking], the “safari” trees, and the beautiful scenery in general. We knew we had to be getting close, and then Cinzia pointed up and said, “See that bridge?” “That’s the palace, there behind it!” Suddenly, everything felt so real. I had heard so much about the Chigi Palace and seen many pictures but nothing compared to this view. We all quickly pulled out our cameras to try to get pictures [through the bus windows] of it up on the hill. Seconds later, we laughed, realizing this was where we would be living for the next 3 months and we would have many opportunities to get a picture or 2 :)
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| Chigi Palace from the Bus :) |
Chigi is beautiful! And so is everything around it. Might have something to do with the fact that Bernini designed it all? Hmmm :) Auburn’s, Joseph S. Bruno, facility is in the basement of the palace [the museum is up top]. We have a large kitchen, hang out area/ classroom, and 4 bedrooms. I am in the Siena room with 5 other girls: Rae Ann, Sallie, Katie, Leah, and Taylor. We each have our own little “cubby”, with lots of storage!
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| My Cubby!! |
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| My closet |
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| My pretty window :) |
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| Siena Room (3 up, 3 down) |
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| Common Area/Classroom |
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| Orange Kitchen :) |
After we unpacked and ate lunch, Cinzia gave us a tour of Ariccia and Albano [the neighboring town] and gave us an overview of where to catch the train/bus, where to buy fresh food, or get the best gelato :) There is so much information… it is hard to remember everything!
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| Ariccia!! |
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| Chigi Palace- my home for 3 months!!! |
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| View 5 minutes from the Palace |
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| Love this town. |
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| Love this church. |
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| Chigi at night! |
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| Church across the street from Chigi |
We ended our first day at a local Pizzeria Bar for dinner! This was by far my favorite part of the entire day. Our professors met us there and bought us all dinner. They reserved a big table for us downstairs but they were short 4 seats. Of course, I was one of the last 4 to get down there so we got “stuck” at the professors table. At first it was awkward because we weren’t sure how to act, especially with table manners, but it ended up being literally SO much fun! Maurizio [our director] sat by us and made us laugh the entire time. Who would have thought I would be sharing pizza, drinking wine, and cracking jokes with my teacher?! Maurizio has visited Auburn before and had the funniest comments about “pulled pork” and was trying to talk like a redneck! It was absolutely hilarious! We ate so many appetizers of different meats, cheeses, breads, and my favorite, Suppli, which are basically friend rice balls with cheese inside. I was already stuffed at this point but then out came the pizza! …which is very, very thin! The first one brought to us was covered in different vegetables. I asked Roberta [our program coordinator] what the “oniony looking thing” on top was and she informed us that it was “pig fat!” Straight up fat. Ew! I am willing to try just about anything, but I draw the line at fat. Roberta agreed and said it was not her favorite either, so I didn’t feel so bad : )
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| Appetizers! |
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| Chin Chin! |
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| "Professor Table" |
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| Yummy pizza with not so yummy pig fat! |
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| Me, Elizabeth, & Maurizio |
I have spent less than 24 hours in Ariccia and I officially love it. I cannot believe how much I have already learned and seen! This semester might live up to everything I hear it is and more :)
Well I have now gone 2 nights without sleep and I am exhausted! We start class [orientation] at 9 tomorrow morning! Goodnight!!!
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