Classes

In Orvieto, we are only taking one class at a time, and our first class is simply called "Disegno in Orvieto". All our classes take place in the Palazzo! Here is the doorway, leading into the courtyard. 

This is the studio classroom, where we are all doing perspective drawings in the  morning, along with starting off the day with poetry and inspiring readings from artists around the globe. On breaks, we can even sneak down to the bakery and get fresh bread :) The rest of the Palazzo consists of a smaller study room with a cozy fireplace, and an even smaller library room. It's freezing in every room at the moment, but I've been told it stays cool in the summer heat. 

 Then, after class, we are sent out into the city to sketch out assignments! We can walk in any direction and find something amazing to draw. 

Gelato and the Duomo

As you wander along the streets of Ovieto, you'll be surprised when there suddenly appears before you a wide open space, fronted by a massively ornate cathedral. It dwarfs the buildings in it's shadow, and shines brilliantly in the sun. People gather on the steps to talk, take pictures, relax, and most importantly...eat gelato from the nearby gelateria.

This is my first gelato!

And this is the front of the Duomo :)

Views!

One thing that Orvieto has, unlike anywhere I've seen, is a 360 view of the countryside. Since it's perched on a tall hill, you can walk in any direction and come to an edge with views like these. The city of Orvieto atop the hill has around 5000 people, and the surrounding town of Orvieto down below has around 21,000 inhabitants.

These two views are from both the balconies in my apartment!

More Apartment

Here are some pictures of the rest of our apartment. It's pretty old and rustic, but feels rather fancy at the same time. There are books everywhere, a wonderful collection of art on the walls from all different mediums, and every nook and cranny is filled with some little hidden treasure, whether it's a china teacup or an old Italian manual. It has it's flaws though, like current our washing machine is broken and our electricity is out. And it's nearly always freezing. But we learn to take these things lightly, and they become funny parts of the experience.

The wifi in the Pilazo where we have internet access is very slow, so uploading pictures is very slow. But I'll do my best!

Arrival and Settling.

The moment has come and passed, I have officially moved into Orvieto.

The plane ride was long a tedious, but over with. No complaints really, other than a memory of never trying to eat airplane curry again.

Professor Doll picked us up at the airport in Rome and we made our way an hour and half north to Orvieto, which is perched on an ancient volcanic mesa, walled in by cliffs of natural and man-made walls of tuffa (sp?)

Here are some pictures o our drive there.

Our city is kind of like this one, just a bit smaller.


I live in an apartment called La Terazza, as it has a huge terrace that overlooks one of the walls. Here are some pictures! I'm in an internet cafe with slow loading, so I may have to put up the rest of the pictures another time.

Here's part of my room:





Internet time is up, so ciao for now!

Pre-Arrival

Good-morning everyone!

Like every other college traveller, I'm going to try to keep a blog while I'm abroad, both to keep people updated and to force myself to reflect on what I've been up to.

Hopefully this blog will be mainly observational, with lots of pictures! I'll keep my personal musings in my journal, and post mostly pictures and brief details. We are all busy, so this way you have less to read and I have less to write :) But I'll do my best to be as thorough as possible, and thankfully for me, "a picture is worth a thousand words."

So stayed tuned! I leave tomorrow morning, and will be landing in Rome early Saturday morning.

Ciao!