Nooks and Crannies

So a few people (cough cough Mom/Joey/aunts) have casually been poking fun at my mentions of wine in the last post. Let me clear something up: wine is served with every meal, and you only have a little. So even though it was mentioned twice, don't think I'm going crazy. I'm still me, after all!

Anyway, I have been meaning to write about the "Nooks and Crannies" tour of the city that I went on last Friday, but other moments have gotten in the way (I'm not complaining...I had a wonderful weekend). I don't really know how to explain the tour, except to recount a couple of the cool stories and post some pictures!

During the tour, we learned a lot of really cool facts. Here's a fascinating story about orphans. Zack (our young professor tour guide that works at Umbra) took us to the outside of the old orphanage from the Middle Ages. The parent (half of the "orphans" actually had them) or whoever found the baby would set him or her on a "Lazy-Susan" type thing on the outside of the building. They would also place on object with the baby, like a wooden spoon. The parent or whoever would then ring the bell and run away. The monk on duty would go over to the Lazy Susan, and spin it around so that the baby would "come inside." They took very accurate records of when children came and went. If the parent came back years later and wanted their child, they would give the date they left him or her and the object that was left also (ie. the wooden spoon). Cool huh?

Zack also talked about some cool details on buildings that you would never notice. There is a sort of mold of wheat etched into the side of one of the cafes, because it used to be a Roman market. There is also a skull and crossbones carved into another one of the buildings (but I sort of missed that story...)

Here are some of the pics!

Ancient arch from Roman times

One of the most frustrating parts of being here is not being able to convey the magnificent beauty of everything I'm seeing. Pictures don't do the views justice. Not even close.

Like this:

It says: "I will do for you what the spring does for the trees." You have to think about it for a second. SO beautiful.

Love this.

Today, our "real schedules" started. I had Italian (like I've had for a week), and then Contemporary Italy. That class is going to be awesome. The professor is the sweetest, there are only twelve kids, and I may get to visit an Italian family eight times over the semester with another person in my class to have the chance to talk with them about Italian life and form a relationship. I'm definitely going to apply for it! The family would speak good English, so I won't have to worry about miscommunications (Although I am still most definitely going to try to speak as much Italian as possible!)

 I have a travel workshop tonight, then it's on to homework! It is "study" abroad after all.