Eleven of us students went to Italy. Upon arrival, we were greeted by an Italian named Matteo, who, we had been told by the students from last year, is a really cool guy. Since I was the first to arrive, by four hours, I sat with and got to know him a bit. He talked about how great Saint Anselm students are and about all the students last year. He really gave me the impression that he really was friends with last year’s group. Once everyone arrived, we boarded a tour bus and embarked on an hour-long bus ride to Tuscania. When we got to the town, I was honestly too tired to really process what was happening. Rides had been arranged for us, so we got into the cars and went off to our apartment.
Walking into my apartment, I was surprised about how big the rooms were, the spacious kitchen and sweet living room with a sectional couch, it was better than anything I had ever had on the Hilltop. We did not have much time to settle in as we had to head to orientation, and it was a decent walk. On the walk, I really started to take in that I was in Italy; the old homes, medieval towers, and the unfamiliar language all assured me of that. Meeting up with everyone for the beginning of our orientation was a bit interesting considering we had all been up for about 30 hours straight, but we were being treated to a nice dinner to begin the process, so it was hard to refuse. The first few courses of pasta were delicious, but the main course of steak was amazing. It came out sizzling loudly and even has someone who does not eat meat, I have to say the display was very impressive. The day concluded with a tiramisu dessert and a voyage back to the apartment, where the boys and I crashed from jet lag.
For the first full day of orientation, a big day was planned for us. We started off with a tour of the city where we visited different stores such as a bakery, butcher, formagio (cheese shop), café, fruit shop, and lastly, a supermarket. The people at the local shops were extremely welcoming and accommodating, we were given many free things like cheese, cookies, and fruit. At the café when our party of 15 entered, customers were quick to get up and move so that are group could sit together. Everyone in Tuscania just seems so nice, and we really feel welcome in this town. Continuing on about the tour, we were guided around by one of the professors from Lorenzo De Medici Institute, our host school, and he was a fascinating guy. He had a very unique accent from his mixed Australian and Irish upbringing, but what made everyone like him was some of the crazy things he would say in his speeches. While I would love to talk about them, they are not appropriate for school. Later on, we met our professors for a traditional Italian gathering where we had different finger foods and got to break bread with the people we would be spending the year with, it was a great experience, unlike anything at Saint A’s.
On the third day of orientation, we visited the town hall and met with a local official. We discussed how Tuscania is taking measures to preserve the town’s historic beauty as well as reduce the town’s carbon footprint. In the meeting, we assured her that we would love to help in the efforts and affirmed our commitment to the Beautify Tuscania program. We then visited a garden filled with olive trees featuring one tree planted by last year’s group. In true Anselmian fashion, we marched right next to that tree and planted ours right next to it. I personally broke earth with the shovel to begin digging the plot where our tree would go. It was a great bonding experience and really brought us together as a group.
On the final day of orientation, we did fun intercultural activities with Italian high school students we first did an art project based off of Etruscan golden gilding. The students gave us notebooks with some of the signature recipes of the area. Afterward, the students gave us a brief tour of the nearby medieval churches. The students were shy, but the ones who were stronger in English did give us some tidbits about the town.
I’m excited about Tuscania and look forward to more memories with this group. We have already had plenty of unofficial get-togethers, and it’s been a blast hanging with everyone.
