Roma '08-'09: Orvieto

Ciao tutti! Almost October, Halloween! Well, sort of. Anyway, I've had a lovely couple of days. Yesterday Kelsey and I went to Orvieto, a little hill town in central Italy. It was very small and not much was going on, but it was so nice to get away from the busy city for a while. We took the train, which was kind of fun except for the fact that we missed the 9 am departure we'd wanted to make and had to leave at 11 instead. It was okay though, because we just wandered around the area (I haven't really been to that part of the city much). Orvieto was absolutely lovely. It was sweet and picturesque like Assisi, but slightly more lived in. It's like a happy medium between Perugia and Assisi. I still prefer Rome though! Then this morning I went to the catacombs for a second try (first time I wore shorts and wasn't allowed in. Darn Catholic city) with my host family and some of their extended family. It was really cool and creepy, and though I couldn't take any pictures it was an excellent experience. One of those things you don't really need pictures to remember.

Oh, and I started my internship! The organization is called Ricerca e Cooperazione (Research and Cooperation) and it's a non-profit seeking to improve conditions for the impoverished in third world countries (as far as I can tell thus far). Pretty much I'll be doing a lot of translating of their website and project proposals/reports into English for reports and such. I'm really, really excited to be involved. This is really along the lines of what I think I want to do someday, something that I think I can look back at when I'm old and be happy because I did something worthwhile, not just a corporate job or lawyer (even though I know you can do a lot with that as well!). For example, their last project was to help improve living conditions for street children and street mothers in Ghana through improved education, job opportunities, etc. I just feel really lucky to have the opportunity to be involved in such an organization, and I can't wait to find out what I'll learn from it.

This is the famous duomo in Orvieto. Apparently Orvieto was the location of the miracle in which the host actually bled on the cloth below it, symbolizing it's transformation back into the body of Christ. Kelsey and I saw the actual cloth on display in the chapel near the altar. The duomo is absolutely stunning, and none of my pictures could possibly do it justice. Assume that with everything... but I try!