Journey to Italy!

After enduring the “what to pack” crisis, eating my last favorite meals, and saying goodbye to friends and family, I was ready to embark on my 4 month adventure in Italy.  I arrived in the airport a little bit teary eyed, but excited for a new journey and the growth that I knew would come from a fresh beginning and an experience outside my comfort zone.   The first flight took me to Washington D.C., where I met most of the people who are doing the same program.   We all waited in the airport for our next flight together to Rome.   I spent this time asking and being asked the typical surface questions, rehearsing the 26 new names in my head, and drinking my last Starbucks latte for who knows how long.   After this, we all boarded the plane taking us to Rome.  I was filled with excitement and anxiousness for both the semester to come, but also for the long plane ride to be done.

And after nine hours it was.  But by this time everything seemed like a daze due to the indigestible plane food in my stomach and the war between the actual time in Rome and the time my body wanted it to be.  But anyways, we all made it to Rome where we met one of professors and director of our time here, and boarded a big bus for the two-hour drive to Orvieto.  Because Orvieto is a town up on a cliff, with roads the size of a skinny single lane street at best, the bus ride ended short hike away from the monastery we are staying.  Due to the cobble stone streets, the large incline and the 3 overpacked bags per person; I can only imagine what a site this was for the people in the town.  We made it there eventually, to find a newly renovated three floor monastery complete with a chapel, library, studio and courtyard of nuns picking their vegetables.  We spent the rest of the day here getting to know one another, unpacking our things, enjoying our first Italian meal, and getting to bed early because we were all exhausted!

Sunday morning we all woke up for a short tour of the city, that included taking a walk along the side of the cliff while taking in the beautiful sights, stopping in at a café for heavenly cappuccinos and pastries, and going to the top of the clocktower to see the entire town of Orvieto from above.  We then went to one of the churches in town.  Although it was all in Italian, I loved the fact that even though we were speaking different languages, from completely different places, and have so many different traditions, we can come together and worship the very same God. 

Monday morning started off great with a run around the streets of town and along the paths of the cliffs.  While running, I felt like I was looking at a fake backdrop or I jumped into a post card because the view was so beautiful.  Because Orvieto is so elevated, there are times (like this morning) where clouds are lower than us and we can actually look down at them in the valley.   Monday was also the first day of classes, which go from 9-12, and each month here is a different class.  This first month is Art History and today we got to go inside the Duomo (Cathedral) that the town is famous for.  It is covered with frescos and pretty much all anyone could say was “wow.” We quickly learned how much meaning is behind these paintings, and began to unravel a small portion of the ways these frescos influenced the viewers who came here way back during the Italian Renaissance.  Basically it was a great start to class here.

The day continued with Italian lessons, exploring/getting lost in the town, learning to make my own cappuccino, and of course a game of nerts.

I’m realizing this post is getting to be quite long so I will just give you the highlights of today (Tuesday): running in the morning and rewarding ourselves with treats from the local café, getting a tour of all the best cafes, restaurants’, markets, shops etc, starting a new book, and buying granola.

The more time I get acquainted here in Orvieto, the more amazed I am at all it has to offer, and the more excited I get to spend the next four months here!  While the idea of being gone for four month makes me a bit anxious and I do miss friends and family, I know God has brought me here for a reason and I am in no way complaining J 

 “We seem to think that beginning is setting out from a lonely point along some line of direction into the unknown.  This is not the case.  Shelter and energy come alive when a beginning is embraced.  Goethe says that once the commitment is made, destiny conspires with us to support and realize it.  We are never as alone in our beginnings as it might seem at the time.  A beginning is ultimately an invitation to open toward the gifts and growth that are stored up for us.  To refuse to begin can be an act of great self-neglect.  Beginning precedes us, creates us, and constantly takes us to new levels and places and people.  There is nothing to fear in the act of beginning.  More often than not it knows the journey ahead better than we ever could.  Perhaps the art of harvesting the secret riches of our lives is best achieved when we place profound trust in the act of beginning.  Risk might be our greatest ally.  To live a truly creative life, we always need to cast a critical look at where we presently are, attempting always to discern where we have become stagnant and where new beginning might be ripening.  There can be no growth if we do not remain open and vulnerable to what is new and different.  I have never seen anyone take a risk for growth that was not rewarded a thousand times over.  Beginnings are new horizons that want to be seen; they are not regressions or repetitions.  Somehow they win clearance and become fiercely free of the grip of the past.”

-John O'Donohue

Unfortunately my pictures were having issues uploading on here, so here are other pictures of Orvieto to give you an idea of where I am...

There is the path we ran on

The town of Orvieto from a distance

The Duomo we went in