Day Two.

Hi again!

Today we didn't do much. It's still Orientation and we're still getting acclimated and sort of overwhelmed by everything so we've been taking it easy.

I got up this morning late because, while I had set my alarm, I hadn't turned it on. So I woke up at 9 instead of 8:30 and had to rush to shower. Unfortunately, the shower has basically no pressure so my shower took forever. I'll budget more time next time...

We met Dan at the Campus Center at 10 for a PowerPoint laying out all the rules we have to abide by while we're here. Most notable are: No food or drink OF ANY KIND in the Campus Center where we will have class for three hours straight...No water? Bitches... Also, if we do have guests, we have to ask permission two weeks in advance and the guest has to pay 12 euro a night PLUS a 100 euro deposit. Yeah...don't come visit me and expect to stay here. My bed is huge, though.

After the presentation we went to lunch at the Mensa again and it was delicious. Lunch is my favorite now. Still have yet to have breakfast. I had a granola bar this morning. Was a little chewy. Anyway, lunch was good.

After lunch we went back to our apartments for a little while and I unpacked. Now the room looks semi-lived in. It will look more so when we go to the market this weekend and buy decorations and such. I would like some pictures and a mirror. Also maybe a tea pot.

At 2 we met Dan and the boys at the Piazza Duomo and went on a walking tour of Alba with a guide from the tourist office. We saw the town hall and many churches, including the cathedral of Alba. The churches were beautiful and all over the place. Apparently Alba has a long history of being home to many sects of monks including Franciscan, Benedictine, and Augustinian. There's also a convent as well.

The Cathedral of Alba.

The altar inside the Cathedral of Alba.

Madonna of the Graces (1377) inside the Baroque church of St. John the Baptist.

At the city hall we learned that Alba was given a gold medal for its efforts in the Italian Resistance movement during WWII. After the armistice between Italy and the Allies in Sept. 1943, northern Germany was still occupied by Nazi forces. The Italians, though, fought the Germans after the armistice, without the support of American liberating troops (they hadn't moved that far north yet). I thought that was cool and that certain people (*cough* Dad *cough*) would be interested.

After our tour (we were freezing by the end!), we went back to our apartment and chilled out. Along the way I stopped at a book store and bought some postcards. I think I did a good job of pretending to be Italian. I only really needed to say "Hi." "Thank you." and "Bye." and since "Hi." and "Bye." are the same word, I had it pretty easy...Back at the apartment I watched Monday's episode of Big Bang Theory, chatted online, and bought a calling plan with Skype so now I can call American home and mobile numbers from Skype which is really cool. Also, I have voicemail on Skype so if someone calls me via Skype and I'm not there, they can leave a message. By the way, my Skype screen name is foxme5 so add me if you'd like to talk.

We met for dinner in the Piazza Duomo at 6:30 and headed to La Duchessa for pizza. Along the way we found a pasticceria (bakery) that looked really good. I want to go back there for breakfast some morning. At La Duchessa we ordered pizza individually and they were each about 10" roud pizzas--large portions, even for dinner. I'm going to get fat... Anyway, we also had dessert since, at this particular restaurant, our vouchers get us 10 euro's worth of food and the pizza was only 4-6 euro. I got a tartuffo bianca (white truffle) dessert which is like a ball of white (not vanilla) ice cream with coffee ice cream inside covered in some sort of white crunchy pieces. It was refreshing but I would have preferred chocolate in the middle rather than coffee.

The group at La Duchessa!

After dinner we went to Mary Madden's, the local Irish pub. Because every town in Italy needs an Irish pub... Anyway, there was a soccer game on (so typical in every Irish pub) and the group ordered beers since it was the cheapest thing. Cocktails there are like 7 euro and beer is like 3,50. I didn't get anything because I'm cheap, don't like beer, and can't justify ordering a $5 drink that I'm either going to take an hour to drink or only drink a quarter of. We stayed for a little bit and then headed back to our apartment.

Tomorrow we're meeting at the Campus Center sometime between 9:30 and 11 to make copies of our passports for the Italian Embassy who needs them for our Visas. Apparently this is a big deal and they've had trouble in the past. There's nothing else planned for the day because Fridays are considered our "free time" (no classes!) so I have no idea what I'll do. Probably go on a walk exploring the city. To be announced.

Anyway, nothing too exciting but we're still getting acclimated and learning our way around the city and the language.

More photos of the churches, etc. on Facebook!