Week 2: Trastevere, Tivoli, Spoleto e Assisi

A true Dartmouth term has officially started. Classes are truly sucky… it’s funny how each teacher knows the other’s syllabus and they all teach from the same classroom with the same group of students, and yet they still pile on the homework… more even than a normal Dartmouth term (hard to say). It’s difficult to try and travel on the weekends and get all the homework done.

This week in Italian 8 (our Roman culture and art class, taught by Paolo), we watched a movie completely in the Roman dialect of Romanesco (but it’s ok (I tell myself) because we had Italian subtitles… ugh!). Then on Thursday we went to Trastevere, the quartiere (neighborhood/borough/area) just south of il centro storico (the historic center) where I live. We were assigned to interview different people in the area about the neighborhood, likes, dislikes etc. (of course in Italian). It was actually pretty awesome since myself and my partner understood most everything we were told and we were able to communicate pretty easily with the people.

The other two classes are not quite as interesting. Italian 10 (intro to Italian lit) is really more of an exercise in using the Italian-English dictionary as I am no where near fluent enough to understand everything I am reading. However, the in class time is fun since Graziella (our professor) conducts much research in the area of immigration and most of our conversations are on that subject, as well as our first composition which was due today. Italian 12 blows… I like the prof (Filippo) but the class is ridiculous. I can understand how Filippo wants to have discussion in class, but this is very difficult with a subject as black and white as the grammar and use of a language… but he never really gives us the real answer.

In other news, I’m getting the Roman routine down, and I have the transportation system figured out to get me around to the important places in town… I just give myself 40 minutes in the morning to get to class on time since the whole process of waiting for the bus, taking the bus, and walking to class from the bus stop can take anywhere from 10-50 minutes. Speaking Italian is getting easier and easier as now I can effectively eavesdrop on conversations and understand the general idea. Also, I’ve been able to do more complicated tasks in Italian, such as buying my train tickets at the station (without having to say “Cosa?” = “What?”), as well as converse with people at tourism offices and hotels over the phone, although the phone is still difficult as it is hard to understand someone when you can’t see their face.

Friday, we took a trip by bus a town nearby called Tivoli to visit La Villa Adriana (or Adrian’s Villa), named after Roman Emperor Adriano. The Villa is a gigantic estate (now state park) filled with ancient ruins from Imperial Rome; there weren’t too many people at the park either which made for a really great tour. Agnese (our professor for the art history portion of Italian 8) took us on a 4 hour tour of the park (all in Italian don’t forget), telling us all about the different buildings.

Afterwards Dartmouth (and when I say Dartmouth I mean my parent’s money they have paid for tuition) treated us to a lunch which was followed by a tour of a museum in another nearby town of Palestrina.

Saturday morning I woke up around 6:30am to make a 8:14 train to Spoleto in Umbria. I met Carrie (another girl on the program) and her friend from high school Allison (who is studying in Rome with another program). We reached our hotel around 10:30am to set down our bags and set out to explore the town and the hiking trails in the hills above. We ended up hiking for about 3 hours to the top of this hill nearby called Montecello where we enjoyed some great views.

Dinner that night was amazing as well, especially after the miles of walking we had done over the past two days. Carrie told us after we sat down to dinner, at this great little restaurant called Osteria dell’Enoteca, that her dad would be paying for this dinner as a birthday present to her (which was Friday). Needless to say, we went all out; we ordered an antipasto with bruschetta and prosciutto, first courses of pastas with wild boar and truffles, second courses of pork, wild boar and veal (which I tried, and to my satisfaction didn’t really like), dessert of biscotti with a dessert wine, a flan type dish, an Italian version of Crème Brule, the house wine (a 2006 Umbrian Merlot) during dinner, and some limoncello to finish it all off. It was amazing (and free!).

That night I didn’t sleep too well however, every time I tried to lie down my nose would get stuffed up and I’d have to go blow my nose… although it’s just a head cold, nothing to dwell to much on (read: Mom don’t worry). Anyway, Sunday we took a morning train to Assisi.



When we arrived at the city, we learned that there was a biannual peace march, taking place on the same day… and being the Dartmouth students that we are, we joined in. The march took us to the top of the town to la rocca (Italian for fortress) where there were plenty of free samples and other festivities. Later we toured more of the city and went inside both La Basilica di San Franceso and La Chiesa di San Chiara. Inside San Chiara, as we were walking through one of the rooms, I saw a nun take a picture. I thought to myself, “well if a nun can take a picture it must be okay.” But no sooner had the flash gone off I was told by three different people that it was not allowed… however one of them was a friar named Alessandro who ended up giving us an entire history of the church and offered to give us a personal tour were we to come back later during the study abroad, “Just ask for Friar Alessandro, I work here, and they will get me… God bless you!”

After exhausting the sites of Assisi, we made our way back to the bus stop for the train station and joined the masses from the peace march in pushing and shoving our way onto bus (ironic). Fortunately, we were able to find seats on the bus in the non-reserved seating area that is second class, and I was able to write this comfortably.

Other news, I figured out the laundry situation in the house. At first my host mom was saying that I needed to go to the Laundromat to wash my clothes, but when I looked at the Italian home stay forms and talked with Alessia, the Dartmouth Rome Center Director, I realized that I shouldn’t have to pay to do my laundry too. I talked with my host mom tonight and after much discussion I can wash my clothes in the house, and if I have a lot then she will give me the 2 Euros to take my clothes to the nearby Laundromat. I know it’s not a whole lot but it’s one less expense, especially when the exchange rate is (last time I checked) $1.41 = € 1.

Future Plans:
Tomorrow we go on a guided tour of San Clemente in Rome (I guess near the colusseum) with our professor Agnese; and early morning Friday we leave by bus to Tuscany for an all expenses paid trip to Tuscany thanks to the NIAF’s (National Italian American Foundation) president Frank Guarini, who is a Dartmouth grad. We’ll spend our time in the countryside as well as the beautiful city of Siena, as well as receive a cooking class and wine lesson.

Also, myself and five others finalized our plans for the break around All Saint’s Day (October 26- November 3) to travel by train to different places north of Rome. The itinerary is as follows:
Cinque Terre (2 Days… don’t know which city yet for the hostel)
Torino (2 Days at a Best Western downtown)
Courmayeur (2 Days in a hostel just outside the village which is located in the province of Valle d’Aosta near the Swiss border)
Parma (1 Day)
Bologna (2 Days)

How’s that for an update? I can’t guarantee this much each week, but I had some time on my hands (read: I was procrastinating) and I thought a real thorough chat would be nice. Oh, and since I hadn’t put it up sooner, here is a picture of my apartment building… nothing special, but it gives you a better idea.

If you feel like talking or writing to me here is all my information:

Address
Via Quirino Majorana, 31
00146 Roma, Italia

Cell Phone
+0039 334 174 3958

Home Phone (don’t call this number unless it’s an emergency)
+0039 06 558 4983

Skype Name*
Andrew.ferrera

*Since I don’t have internet at my house you won’t be able to call me but if you send me your skype info I can give you a call sometime.

Okay, that’s it for now, I’ll update the blog again sometime next week after Tuscany.

Ci Vediamo (lit. we’ll be seeing each other, but also a standard “bye”)