Do Not Attack The Mailman

A few SYA rules to be noted:
1) Please don't scotch tape anything to furniture or walls without expressed permission.
2) No hitchhiking.
3) Do not attack the mailman.

You've really got to wonder what sort of students SYA has had in the past.... Evidently point 1, the tape issue, is a result of a girl a few years back who taped study cards to her dresser. Most unfortunately, the dresser turned out to be an ancient family heirloom, and the ancient family finish came off with the tape. So that rule is understandable, if still very amusing. The next two rules however, leave much to the imagination. I would think the second rule is simply precautionary, and not a result of someone's mistake - at least I hope not.... However rule 3 is still puzzling me. Do not attack the mailman. Is this really something they've had trouble with in the past? Very, very strange.....

First day at Via Cavour 77, my school for the year. The school is right on a main street, on the second floor of what is now an apartment building but was once a "palace," or a grand house in which lived the nobles of Viterbo. Along the walls are frescoes that are obviously really really old - the colors are faded and cracks run through the pictures, yet they are still beautiful, perhaps more so because of their worn appearance. The school has three classrooms, and a meeting room - piccola! At the doorways you can see how thick the walls are - some three feet thick!!! That really is what strikes me most - the frescoes of course are beautiful and definitely antique, yet only when I walk through the doorways do I really remember how old this building really is.

Once everyone got over the excitement of exploring the school, classes began. Proper classes aren't until next week, so today I had only three classes: Italian, "Living with an Italian host family," and more Italian. I really need to get a notebook, because I've been writing everything in my italian packet and I can never find the notes I'm looking for... For lunch the whole school went to the Mensa, the university cafè. Starting next week, I'll have lunch during period 6 (no idea what time that is...) - students could pick either period 6 or 7. I know several of my classmates who are going during period 6 also, so that will be fun.

I'm back from school now, about 4:30, and no one else is home. Il nonno picked me up by La Porta Romana, a giant stone archway at the entrance of Viterbo (I was amazed to see it, but apparently these are completely common, appearing at several points in the walls of many cities here...), and dropped me off at home. I kind of like being here alone, as it allows me to be lazy and rest momentarily - learning Italian by living with a family and being forced to speak and understand is literally physically exhausting, and that paired with lingering jetlag is tough. I'm sitting on my balcony right now (no joke, I have my own little balcony, right off of my room!). Literally a few feet away from me is the top of an olive tree, the edge of a grove. There are a few red roofs in my view, but for the most part it's just trees and fields. In the distance are mountain foothills, over which there are huge white clouds. Last night I stayed awake long after everyone else had gone to bed, because the clouds were flashing brilliantly with silent lightning. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I'll attach a picture, but it does little to convey the magnitude of the storm. Since the clouds are so far off, the air was still warm, not even a breeze. I couldn't even hear i tuoni (the thunder) - just the brilliant orange flashes of lightning far in the distance.

And that's all for the moment. Tomorrow I'll go out and explore more of the nooks and crannies of Viterbo, get lost, discover ancient alleys...