After what feels like weeks, and is in reality only about 4 days, we are finally moved into our apartments! But before I delve into the ravishing details of how much I absolutely LOVE my apartment, I will fill you in on the past few days, now that I recovered from my trans-Atlantic voyage.
This week, we have been doing orientation, primarily on foot…Macerata is gorgeous, and most everything is within walking distance, especially within the walls, on the labyrinths of Vias, Viales and Piazzas. I am still not entirely able to navigate solo… I often recognize where I am, but I do not know how that relates to my destination or the path of least resistance to my destination. But, we are learning, ever so much. Our program director Filiberto has an encyclopedic knowledge of nearly every building in the city, when it was built, by whom, for whom, and what it has been used for in the years since.
Perhaps almost as daunting as finding your way around the city are the hills, one that is a main artery of the city is Piaggia del Torre… a delight reserved only for pedestrians. The piaggia stretches for the equivalent of several blocks, and is an alternating series of stairs and these fantastic brick ramps. For the past few days, while the students were staying in a hostel, it was part of our daily commute to the class center (lucky for me, it is not on the way to my apartment!!!...but I do have my fair share of stairs…)
Speaking of the class center… it is in a former palace. Macerata is filled with palaces that have been put to new use. Because the university here was founded in 1250 it was has been filled with nobility and royalty for centuries. One of our classrooms is the ballroom. It has lovely murals on the ceiling that tell the story of this particular noble raising a force of 100 men to go fight in the first crusade.
Our first few weeks are going to be spent in intensive Italian language courses, and then we will begin our other courses. This Saturday we are going off to the Adriatic coast, just a 35 minute train ride away. From certain points around the city, we can catch glimpses of the sun gleaming off the water.
So the apartment…its just around the corner from school, and on the Italian 2nd floor, which is really the American third floor, so lots of steps. It is absolutely gorgeous. It has a bit of an art deco style interior, but with its own character. I turned my key and walked inside for the first time and absolutely melted. When you walk down the corridor, my bedroom is the first room on your left. If you walk through my room you can get to the kitchen through another set of double doors. But if you skip my room, your next stop is the living room. It holds a couple of decent couches and a very small TV that gets a couple of channels. BBC news at 6 AM (don’t think I will get that desperate to hear the English language) After the living room is Erin and Carlye’s room. The bathroom comes off the kitchen, it is very pink, and has a great view from its little window.
(pictures coming soon, internet is far too slow today to try to load them, sorry!)
The kitchen has one of the best views, although it is basically the same as the view from my window, only a wider swath. My room technically has only one narrow window, but if I leave my doors open, I can take in the view from the big window in the hallway. The windows here don’t have screens, but they do have shutters. The best way to keep cool is to keep all the windows open, but close the shutters on those that face the sun.
Tuesday night we went out for dinner to an amazing little restaurant. Our first course was a pasta with a light sauce and finely chapped bits of meat. Then, a small pork chop (a name that does not quit how delicious it was…) and an incredible thin chicken cutlet, with a lemon to squeeze over it. There was also fresh mozzerlla, properly prepared eggplnt, and fried potatoes. We also had a delightful, gentle red wine and yummy white wine. Then for dessert, a custard dish whose name escapes me and coffee (café). It was almost paralyzingly delicious.
After dinner, we headed back to the hostel, and the 6 girls in my room stayed up just a bit too late gabbing. But so far I don’t think any of us are any worse for wear because of it.
On Wednesdays and Saturdays there is an open air market spread throughout the city selling everything from fruit to dresses, to Chinese style fans, to jewelry and purses. We walked around it for the first time today, and I am excited to explore it more each week.
We have continued our walking tours of this gorgeous city, and I have been having lots of delicious food (I think gelato is officially a food group) I have tried a few new restaurants and made my first trip to the grocery store. Today, we are going to the mall… The mall originally a concept invented by the Romans as part of the governemental forum, transformed and commercialized by Americans, and then brought back to Italy, so I am quite curious to see what it will be like.
Tomorrow is Civitanova, the birthplace of Enrico Cecchetti (what luck!!!!) Enrico Cecchetti designed them method of ballet I grew up learning. Hopefully I will get a chance to see his house, if not tomorrow another day, because it is only a 40 minute train ride away J Civitanova also has a beach, so after a week of hot hot heat and humidity, we get to take a dip in the Adriatic.
Peace & Blessings :)
No comments:
Post a Comment