I arrived in Rome with almost no sleep. The flight was an hour late, which was aggravating, but unsurprising for Italians. When I got there I met with Toni (the driver - he was holding the Arcadia sign at the airport and immediately took my bags for me), Stephanie (the other Arcadia student), and Valerie (the intern for the director position in Rome - she's been helping us with translations and things).
Stephanie:
(my kitchen)
Valerie:
(she didn't know I was taking this - I like it, though)
From the airport we went straight to the hotel which was actually a convent (I am officially a member of some religious group in Italy because that way it's cheaper for everyone involved) which I think is funny. The idea for bringing us back was that we would rest up (everyone takes a siesta from, like, 1-4) before lunch. Instead Stephanie and I took a walk. Which was not smart.
After our "rest", we met Tina who is this woman:
(in the middle - to the right is Stephanie)
Tina took us out to lunch. I ate gnocchi like I'd never had before - they were smushed and kind of crunchy. Delicious! She explained to us some of the ground rules form Arcadia and gave us the secret to all Italian cooking (and no, I'm not telling).
After lunch my memory gets a bit hazy. I do have it written down but instead I'll just tell you that the next day is a haze of food and walks around markets. We met Tina's daughter, Giulia, who is 13. We walked around this one market where Tina showed us how to order food from the meat place (and how to avoid getting horse meat), the cheese counter, fruits and veggies, etc. I'm going to have to try that later today, because I just ate my last zucchini.
Tomorrow is a holiday (similar to the fourth of July in the US) so it's a weird combination of everything is closed, but when it's open it's OPEN. For example, when we went out to dinner in Rome (at Pizzeria Remo) there was a communist fair going on in the square. We listened to the mediocre band and walked around. The next day, in the same square, there was a mini festival and all of the girls bought dresses. Mine is very mod looking - I wore it yesterday.
The neighborhood I was just talking about was very cool - they had an herbalist and homeopathist there. Tina told me that homeopathy is taken very seriously - more seriously than Western medication because homeopathists require more education here. We also went to a hippie organic-free-trade-free-economy place that was in an old stable. It was very neat.
Oh well. I told myself I'd log out in one minute so I guess that's a wrap with Rome! Next entry we'll get down to it - my first few days in Lecce.
No comments:
Post a Comment