Arrival in Orvieto Italy

If there is one thing I have already learned since I left to the USA, flew across the Atlantic for the first time in my life, and arrived in Italy is that just because I speak Spanish it does NOT mean that I will be right about my guesses as to what certain things mean in Italian. Also, I learned that Newark is not the same as New York. Heh...


Here's why I say this. After my 8 hour flight to Rome from Newark I stood in a long line to go through customs, this means essentially you hold up your passport for a guy in a booth to wave you past. And I got this nifty visa for what? No stamp, nuttin. Anyhow. Upon passing through there I saw right away an exchange window. I handed the lady my 220 dollars I wanted exchanged. This lady spoke very poor English and tried to explain to me something in Italian about 5 euros and I still don't know what that was about. After handing her my passport for ID conformation, I received 131 euros for 200 dollars. For some reason she found no need to exchange the extra 20. I dunno.

I ran in to fellow Orvieto goers at the exchange window (Elderly couple and another man around their age)! Three professors. I overheard one of them telling the lady that they were staying in Orvieto. It was quite lovely to have company as we looked for our luggage band and waited anxiously for our suitcases.

Newark, not the same as New York. The lady of the couple and I were speaking and at some point I used Newark and New York synonymously. Then I asked her "Why do they say Newark. Whats the difference?" I got an amused chuckle 'heh, well distance for one.' I googled Newark it is NOT New York, its just in the state New York. I think the reason I thought this is that not until high school did I learn New York is also a state, not just a city. I supposed that idea has just stuck in my head. But aside from that, on the boarding pass they write Newark/New York. See the slash? Doesn’t that imply this or that, ie the same thing??

Thank God I got to take a shuttle! Me and my new found friends/professors got our luggage and headed out to the gate. Right away we found a couple U of Aers waiting at the allotted meeting spot. Slowly more and more of us accumulated to a group of about 35 or so.

After about a two hour bus ride we arrived in Orvieto. Orvieto is atop a very large hill. It is such a cute town! We were dropped off by a bus station of sorts. There I was assigned the name of my apartment and some roommates. We managed to squeeze our luggage (some suitcases weighed 60 plus pounds!) in the back of a small car, and then we squeezed ourselves in.

Now I know why Europeans drive such teensy weensy cars!!! The roads here are more narrow than in Oaxaca and some of them are two way!! The whole town feels like a labyrinth. We went left, right, straight until I didn’t know which way was which because the buildings are so tall!

Our apartment is ADORABLE! I will try and post pictures asap.

So…I have more things to tell but I think I’ll end with my story about why I shouldn’t rely entirely on my Spanish. At some point yesterday my roommate and I left on a hunt for a phone card to call our families and let them know we are alive and well. We ended up in a café/bar close by. I decided I needed to use the restroom. I got downstairs to the "toilettes" and saw the bathrooms side by side. They were labeled “signore” and “signori” and being o so savvy in Italian, because of my fluency in Spanish, I quickly deduced that of course its “signori” is the female and proceeded to that room. The restroom was a single person restroom which I much prefer. The toilets here are different than the USA toilets. The tank is actually attached to the wall, up high, and you push a button in the wall to flush the toilet. The hole in the toilet where all the water goes faces the opposite direction than in the USA and there’s very little water that sits in the bowl. Anyhow…back to the story…

While I was washing my hands I saw a guy come downstairs. He looked a little confused and was looking at me and at the different bathrooms. I wisely and knowingly said “I think that one over there is the men’s.” He seemed grateful and went in. I saw him close the door to his bathroom. Low and behold there was a figure of a little woman on the door; you know the typical women’s restroom sign (my bathroom didn’t have that.) Haha. Thankfully they were single person bathrooms.

So Italian 101 e is female i is male :)

More to come!