Nuns playing soccer!? - Week 2

Wait A Second....Nuns Playing Soccer?

Today is Friday August 25th and I have now been in Italy for about two weeks. To get things started off on this lovely day I want to inform you that yes my title for this is correct, and I did witness nuns playing soccer from the Fortezza. I arrived in the classroom where we normally have BUSA 3500 and where you get the best view looking over the town and beyond. I then realized that over a building about a 100 meters away I saw two nuns kicking the soccer ball back and forth. Now this wasn't just casual passing it with ease to one another. These nuns were fully decked out in their nun outfits and putting some zing on the ball as they were kicking it back and forth playing soccer with each other. I was impressed and felt ashamed that I was complaining about the heat with my outfit that I had on. 

16 Mile Hike!

 Lets go back in time for a second to a week ago from today where I would embark on the longest walk of my life. Sam, Matt and I agreed with Dr. Cochran that on Friday, August 18th we would go on a 16 mile hike starting at 6 am. The journey included stopping at two towns, and then making out way back to Montepulciano. Out first stop was Pienza and the journey getting there was a long one. I felt like we were in a Lord of The Rings movie with all the hiking and different terrain and scenery change. After cars zooming by us, some breathe taking views and a couple liters of water later we arrived at our first stop, Pienza. Pienza was such a cool place and bigger than Montepulciano. We got to see their Piazza, which had a beautiful church in the center and we even got to sit in on an Italian mass, which was really a unique experience. We then went to get a good prosciutto and cheese sandwich from a local meat shop and take a little break. 

Had to sneak in a quick selfie of our squad before we left for our big hike. Didn't even realize that I was able to get the sun coming up in the background.

The sign of the two towns that we saw on out long journey that day. This location was cool because in the background you can see the town of Pienza and all the open space around it. As you can see lots and lots of walking haha.

After the town of Pienza we continued our journey to Monticchiello. Let me tell you the journey to the top of that one was one to remember. It was a very long and steep climb to reach the summit to where the town was located. We witnessed this little tomato cart guy passing us and it seemed like his cart was going to give out any second. Finally, once we reached the town we got to experience a smaller, more quieter way of living. I remember it was a lot smaller than Pienza. The one thing I liked about this trip to all the towns, including ours, is that they are all so unique and offer a little different taste of the Italian way of living. I also think it is really cool how each town around here has a Piazza. It's like the one signature thing that they all have and they are all spectacular in some sort of way.  

We Saw A Lamborghini!

On the way back from leaving Monticchiello was when I really started to feel the pain in my feet and all the fatigue that was taking over my body. By this point I had drank at least 5 liters of water, my shirt was off and it was a battle to finish this expedition back to our home base. That made it sound a little more intense than it was haha, but it felt like a mission. On the way back we saw a  LAMBORGHINI. I mean it was a Lamborghini, but a tractor version, not as flashy, and fast. It was still something cool to see and also funny. I also got to eat some fresh grapes from one of the vineyards that we passed. The grapes were so tart, but also refreshing and gave me a little bit more of energy. Overall this was such a fun experience to do, but something that I most likely won't be doing again anytime soon. I slept like a little baby that night.

Below are two pictures. One is in front of the sick Lamborghini and the other of an alley way in the town of Monticciello.

               

Wine Tasting Done Right 

There couldn't have been a better way to end that Friday than getting to do some good ole wine tasting. This was my first time doing this and I thought it was a lot of fun. The lady who guided us through our experience was awesome and spoke the best english I have heard so far. We got to try three wines and the last tasting was some grappa. The wines were good and I remember my favorite being the one with a rainbow on the bottle and it was the one that you drink on very special occasions. Also, what was cool was the fact that they had a custom bottle with Kennesaw State University on it. Along with the wine we got to have an assortment of cheese and meats. Funny thing was that the cheese we ate came from the town Pienza that we were in earlier that day. The environment for the wine tasting was held in the wine cellar and we were surrounded by these massive barrels of wine. This really added to the experience and made it that much more unique and special. 

Where we did the wine tasting and the massive wine barrels!

Day Trip To Orvieto 

What an experience Saturday, August 19th was. We got to go on our first trip out of Montepulciano as a group to Orvieto. First let me tell you about some of the cultural experiences I had just getting there. We started out at the bus station in Montepulciano. What was different about these buses was when you went on you would insert your ticket in this machine that acted as a time card and would stamp the date and time on your ticket. From the bus we arrived at the main train station, called Cuzzi. Cuzzi is like the central hub to go anywhere in Italy from where we are located. One interesting thing that the Cuzzi train station had was a slot machine section and for the bathrooms you had to pay to use them.  Later that day I would learn that was the norm to have to pay to use the bathroom at these large cities. The train was way nicer than Marta in my opinion but when your stop came you had to get out first because the train wouldn't stop for long. 

The three amigos in Orvieto 

Once we got to Orvieto the first thing we did was take this cool like trolley, cable ride up to the top to where the city was. The first thing we did was see the Duomo di Orvieto, which is the massive church right in the center of the city. That was probably one of the most impressive works of architecture that I have seen so far in my life. I was blown away by everything that it had to offer. I can't even begin to imagine how awesome it would be to go there for church. I learned about the church and how it was started in 1290 and finished in 1591. I also learned about the alter cloth. After the tour of the church we went to the top of this tall bell tower and got a great view of all of Orvieto. While we were up there the bell rang and it made everyone up there jump. After this it was time for a gelato break and let me tell you I got the best gelato I have had yet there in Orvieto. The cappuccino flavored gelato from this little shop was unbelievable. Also, the best pizza I have had so far was there too. As you know I love my food, so I was a happy camper that day after eating myself full of pizza and gelato of this caliber. One thing I did notice about Orvieto was that there were some beggars, which I haven't seen so far in Italy until then. I think this was because it was a bigger city and bigger cities in the U.S. you will see this too. 

Dinner Fit For A King 

What I experienced Saturday night August 19th was like nothing I have ever experienced before at a steak restaurant, and that is coming from someone who works at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  This had to be one of the coolest dining experiences. This piece of steak was one of the biggest, thickest and juiciest steaks I have ever had in all my life. What made this an experience was leading up to the delivery of the steaks to the table.  The man who runs the restaurant has a place in the back where he has a huge piece of meat and had a massive butcher type knife and hack, hack, hack, chops pieces of meat right off the hunk of meat. It was so cool to see happen, especially because I have been around all types of steaks and nice restaurants that serve steak, but this was just something completely new. At the end when we all had are filled of steak and delicious sides they write the amount on the paper on the table, which again was new to me. They don'y care how you get the money, they just give ya the amount on the table and expect you to pay it. (I am actually going to be going there tonight for round two!)

                  

Above are some pictures from our experience at the steakhouse that night. The far left picture is the owner and his wife holding up the big piece of meat we were about to get cooked up and eat. The middle picture is of me finishing off every little bit of steak right from the bone! The far right is a picture of the way the steak was served to us and believe me this picture doesn't do the justice of just how magnificent this looked when it arrived to the table. 

Fast Forward Back To Today 

This whole week was honestly filled with a lot of studying and classes. I had my first BUSA 3500 test and Monday through Thursday I had classes from 8:45 to 6:15. Now I am done with Italian and I got my "participation award", I guess you could call it haha. The only night I ventured out a bit was on Tuesday night where we got to meet some of the local kids from the towns around here. There was a DJ and American pop music playing, which was fun to see these Italian kids loving it. Yesterday morning I also went to the local market which was full of delicious food. I just got four apples, but got to sample some olives and pollo (chicken). Something I noticed around here is that the people here must love there anchovies, because they were everywhere at the market. I don't know what the joy is in them, because the smell turns me away every time and they aren't the most appealing. I think I will stick to the other Italian favorites. After a busy week of classes, studying and a test. I decided to enjoy myself. Last night, Thursday August 24th we went to the center of the Piazza where there was a play type skit going on. There was fire, explosions, intense music and people on stilts. I was not expecting that at all but it was awesome to see and glad I went down to check it out. All this week we have seen all the different contradas practicing for the big barrel race Sunday and they had their tents up where you could get food and drinks. This was defiantly a busy week for me and for the town leading up to the Bravio delle Botti, which is the festival this weekend. Everyone is saying after this weekend the town will clear out and be back to normal. I love all the activity though because it gives you something to do and see all day long and night. 

 
Above is a picture of all the students who just did one section of Italian. We are with our two reachers who were always very helpful and full of energy. It was such a cool experience to take an Italian class in Italy taught by real native Italians.

This is a picture from the market that I went to Thursday Morning.

As you can see there was tons of fresh fruit options to pick from.

That one guy in the white shirt is actually the guy who gave me the 

four apples that I got!