Day 1 & 2

Hi Everyone!

I landed safely in Rome yesterday around 9:30am Italian time.  We then had to wait until 1pm for other flights to arrive before we took the bus to our hotel in Tuscania.  Unfortunately our bus broke down around 2pm and we were stuck at a gas station on the side of the road until 5!  So that is how I spent my first day in Italy.  We finally made it to our hotel in Tuscania and got a short tour of the town and then went out to dinner.  The dinner was great.  We were served a three course meal with spaghetti, then chicken and potatoes, and my favorite, a brownie lava cake type dessert.  By the time I went to sleep I had been awake for 33 hours straight.  It was definitely a long day and I was very anxious to go to bed.  

I am staying in a hotel room (it is the only hotel in the town) with another student named Elizabeth.  We each have our own little twin bed, which is very very stiff and uncomfortable and of course there is no air conditioning anywhere here so it is definitely a lot different than a hotel at home, but that was expected.  

The weather has been between 95 and 100 so far and there is no wind at all so that is taking some getting used to for all of us.  Especially because we walk everywhere here.  

Today we ate breakfast in the hotel and then went to see the Lorenzo de'Medici school in Tuscania.  We met our Italian teacher for the week and he took us on a more in depth tour of the small town.  We were dismissed at 11 for a break until 2 so we went to the local grocery store (if you can even call it that) to get some fruit to keep in our room.  It is very different than at home and we made the mistake of buying sparkling water instead of regular because all of the labels are in Italian and we can't read them.  

We have a sit down Italian language class from 2-5 tonight.  Then we have the rest of the night to go get dinner on our own and then we are all going to the bar.  When I say bar, I don't mean like at home, or in Boston.  The bars here are basically outside tables where you can sit down with your friends and talk and order drinks.  You won't catch anyone dancing or making a fool of themselves while falling over drunk like in the US.  Even though most people at the bars are our age, or younger here.  

So thats what my first two days looked like.  I miss everyone back home and can't believe I won't be waterskiing at the lake this weekend.  I know Florence will be much more exciting than this tiny little secluded town, but I can't help but miss home, the lake, and seeing all my friends and family!  

This is the potatoes and chicken. (second course)

and the lava cake dessert.

This is a fountain in the middle of the town,  Tuscania.

This is a picture of the back side of our hotel. 

Here is a famous old church in Tuscania.  I thought it looked like my church at home a little bit. Especially the way the inside is painted below.  

Here is just a picture I took of the street we were walking down so you could see what the old architecture looks like.  All of these pictures are from the ancient half of the town.  There is also a more modern half where our hotel, the market, and a lot more housing is located.