dolla dolla bills, apartments, conclaves

Sat, Jan 10 2009
Jet lag is a funny thing. I spent most of yesterday trying my darndest not to nap (or more realistically, not to nap longer than an hour) and this morning I woke up at 8:15 a.m.-ish, totally refreshed and ready for a full day of getting lost in Viterbo. Now, at 8:30 p.m., I'm basically ready for sleep again. Hopefully that means by tomorrow my hours will be more or less adapted to Italy.

Learned and saw a lot today. To follow: why the word "conclave" originates from Viterbo and some pope-selectors locked in a cathedral without a roof in the 1000s; a Nigerian man who loves America and carries around a one dollar bill; my first real cup of italiano cafe con latte; and the SICKEST apartment I've ever seen.

After we finished breakfast, lugged our luggage to a meeting room in the hotel, and had another piece of orientation this morning, we took a tour of Viterbo. Of course, I was disoriented the entire time and ended up at the same pizza place for lunch that I went to yesterday even though I thought I was on a street I had never been on before. We stopped at a few of the piazzas, which in Viterbo mean a square with a tower, fountain and cathedral. One of the piazzas that breaks that rule is piazza de gehu, but given the story behind the cathedral there, it deserves the break.

Stefano explained to us that the cathedral, back around 1000, was used by the pope for about 100 years because it was safer and more secluded than living and working in Rome. After one pope had died, the clergy got together to select a new pope. Well, it was taking them months, and people started to get pissed. The Viterbo population wanted a new freaking pope already. So they decided to take action: they locked the clergy inside the cathedral con cieve, or with a key. Then they stopped giving the holy guys as much food. Then they took the roof off the cathedral so it rained inside. Apparently it wasn't really enough motivation, because about two years later, a new pope was selected. Con cieve eventually became the word "conclave," which somehow became the name of a magic convention in Boston. But that's probably not a direct connection.

After the tour was over and I had eaten a tiny sample of some kind of sweet pastry and a small cup of red wine I snagged for free at one of the open-air markets, we were free for lunch. As we walked down one of the cobblestone streets looking for a ristorante, a large black man with a gray sweater and protruding belly stopped Calli, one of the girls we were walking with. Now, Calli has some crazy dreads, and this guys definitely noticed.

"American rasta??" he asked her in a thick, deep Nigerian accent, thrilled to gaze at her hair. We talked with him a while about how much he loved America and wants to go there. He told us Italy was tame and uneventful and asked us if we thought the same. We told him we'd been here less than two days and certainly hoped it wasn't. He asked all of our names and where we were from. He told us he'd heard of New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia. None of us were from D.C. or Atlanta. He told us he was from Nigeria. None of us had been there. Right before we went to walk our separate ways, he triumphantly said, "In God we trust!" and then wouldn't let us leave until he showed us the carefully folded one dollar bill he kept in his wallet and pointed at each word as he said it. We went on our way to look for pizza and he went on his way in the opposite direction.

After lunch and a trip to the grocery store where we found a vegetable labeled "califour" but was green and spiky, we met back at the wing fountain to regroup before seeing our apartments for the first time. I was pretty excited about mine. I'm living with three other girls who go to Iowa State in the group of apartments that are pretty much exactly halfway before the north and south campuses of the university. As we walked to our apartment, Stefano showed us we were also about 20 seconds away from an internet cafe and a gelato place, plus we live right above a mini grocery store.

We walked through the giant, dark wooden doors into the large, marble lobby. A fake skylight in the ceiling is where the floor in the hallway on the first floor right above actually is. (Also, I love how the ground floor is also the zero floor here, so instead of "G*" or something in the the hotel elevator, it said "0.") A big marble staircase led up to the floors above. The first stop was our room on the first floor, while another group of four girls and the co-ed apartment with two girls and two guys were up on the third floor.

With much excited anticipation, we unlocked the door to our apartment and the SWEETEST living location I've seen. Ever. In my entire life. Jaws dropped at the spacious living area leading down a long hallway that ends with the bathroom. We ran into the room to the left through the living room. First, you have to understand that the ceilings in here have to be about 25 feet high. Second, you have to understand that the closet in the first bedroom we walked into is nearly as tall as the ceiling. Third, you have to understand that the bedroom also has a glass door taller than the closet that leads out to a small balcony. Fourth, you HAVE to understand that both bedrooms consist of a desk, closet, and maybe some shelves on the floor. Then you have to realize that the rooms have spiral metal staircases that lead up to two beds on a loft. A loft! I don't even think words were going through my brain at this point, I was smiling and freaking out so much. The kitchen is huge too, and already came with a bunch of spices, glasses, plates, silverware, a water filter, and the like. The living area had a whole bunch of art previous students also left. The second bedroom, the one I'm in, has a bit of a smaller closet and a smaller window instead of a balcony, but it still has the spiral staircase loft and an eternal place in my heart. I am going to be living here the next five months. Holy crap.

We also have a TV left here by previous people, which gets cable and is currently tuned to MTV playing a rerun of America's Best Dance Crew.

After we moved in, we walked to the internet cafe around the corner where I ordered a "cafe con leche," was corrected by the girl working there that it's "cafe con latte," and then asked for wifi to find it was broken. I drank my coffee that actually comes in a tiny white cup and saucer and is damn strong but seriously good. It may have had milk, but it tasted like creamy black coffee.

Since the internet wasn't working at the cafe (sorry, these two entries probably won't be up until at least with a third by Monday or later) we walked to the mini grocery store under our apartments. It reeked of dead fish, which, we soon realized, was due to the dead fish in a bucket underneath a shelf of cookies. A room on the side was filled with vino, and after discovering my roommates are all loyal white wine drinkers, we selected two bottles for 2.50 and 3.50 euro (vino is cheaper than aqua here) and brought them upstairs to toast our first official night in our italian apartment.

The jet lag has caught up to us again so we probably won't be going out tonight, which is why I've had time to write this now, but tomorrow is Sunday and basically the whole town will be shut down so we'll have time to explore and act like tourists with our cameras glued to our hands.

All in all, a long, sweet, sweet day.