Well, I haven’t checked my email for a week, and I haven’t been online at all since Tuesday. What does this mean, you ask? It means that my family arrived in Roma on Monday, and I have been busy ever since. We went to class to take our exam on Monday afternoon, and then we headed to Roma to meet my family. It was a fairly uneventful trip, as most of our train rides to Rome tend to be, the exception this time was that I started to get sick. Of course, the trains were late, but we planned for that, so we were on time when we finally made our way through the bad neighborhood around Termini station and found the hotel.
It was really great to see everyone again, but almost right away, we had some bad news. My grandmother’s purse was slashed on the metro earlier that day. I was really upset, but it was important for me to not show too much discomfort in order to help my family feel relaxed about it. Luckily, grandma had everything in her neck pouch, so the slash-er only got a couple of water bottles. We went to dinner, and as we sat down, grandma announced that her neck pouch was missing its money, and a traveler’s check. We can only hope that it fell out, and that no one was a sly enough thief to be able to get in under her coat and into her pouch without her realizing it. After dinner, we returned to the hotel, and hung out, discussing plans for the next day. We never make decisions quickly, so it was late when we finally got to bed.
When we woke up, it was raining. As Kevin and I discovered in a previous trip, the Vatican is miserable in the rain, so we decided to return to Viterbo. We knew Grandma was nervous about being on the metro, and understandably so, so we all partnered up, or tried to, but our family is rather disorganized whenever we try to get anything done, so we all sort of missed each other, but we made it safely onto the trenitalia train, and made it in groups of three, back to Viterbo. We had some lunch, and settled in, and hopped on the bus to go to the Ipercoop, (like a Walmart and a mall in one place) because Dad wanted to buy a new suit, and the stores there are inexpensive. We had limited time until class, and our errands took so long that Kevin and I had to walk the two miles to go to our Italian Culture course. It was rough, but most of our class was a reception for the Erasmus students. We were introduced to the president of our college (about the size of OU), and to a dean as “the American students who are getting married on Friday.” From there, the PR guy soaked up the opportunity and introduced us to a newspaper man who asked us if it would be ok for a reporter as well as a cable television crew to attend our wedding. Uhm. Yeah. So we said yes, of course, because… because why not? It was going to be good publicity for the college, so that helps. Later we returned home and we ate at Tre Re, tried to get gelato, took the family on a night tour of the town and went to bed.
Wednesday, we took the family around Viterbo to show them the sites in the daylight. We got a late start, but that isn’t uncommon for us, especially with travel-weary family members. We were glad they got to rest a couple of nights in Roma and go to see the sights as well, all before we came back to Viterbo. We went to breakfast at Giulio’s café, and we went to the office so Grandma could send an email to Brian and Brent because they couldn’t be there with us. It took a little while because of some technical difficulties, and when we were ready to leave, Francesca let us know that we had another bit of paperwork to take care of before the wedding. So we went to the Commune, tried to fix the problem, and then headed back to Giulio’s for lunch. We then walked around, went to the farmacia to get some allergy meds for me, because I thought that was my problem, and we went to take a tour of the town. I started to get quite ill, so I went home to lay down while Kevin took the group around some of the medieval section of town. The family came home, and Doug, Grandma, Dad, and Kevin all played cards while I slept and Mom hemmed dad’s suit. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to finding Doug a sweater, me some shoes for the wedding, and Dad a tie. After several trips down the corso and a trip to the Ipercoop we were successful. We went to the Labyrinth for pizza, and it took quite a while. I was really sick, so I don’t remember very much of it, honestly. Then we went home and went to bed.
Thursday, the family went to see the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum, and Kevin stayed with me in Viterbo. I was supposed to go to class, but when I woke up, I almost “Technicolor yawned” as we say in my family, and so, being more sick than before, I was ordered by Mr. Rinehart to “stay in bed young lady.” I slept in, and then went to get my hair cut, because it was outrageously long, and I did not have bangs anymore. They let me stay in the sink with wet hair for twenty minutes, which I am sure aggravated my illness, but they at least turned a heat lamp on above me, haha. Let’s just say the 80s were alive and well when I left the salon. It was awful. I asked for my bangs to be trimmed to a certain level, and the guy trimmed them. I told him they were perfect…. So he cut them again, of course. I look really 1990s. Instead of perfect, it is perfectly awful, haha. Oh well, it’s just hair. Kevin and I ate doners for lunch, and my family came home around evening. The guys went out for Kevin’s “bachelor party,”
i.e. two drinks with my dad and brother. Mom and grandma went to get flowers for the wedding, and I laid in bed drinking tea hoping to be healthy in time for the wedding. We made a small dinner of a wine and tomato pasta, and a salad, and went to bed.
What a bummer it is to wake up cold at 7am on your wedding morning! It was cloudy out, and the sun still did not want to cooperate. I was really nervy, and 4 hours before the ceremony I just wanted to go back to bed. I was mustered out of bed, and took my shower. The family was just as anxious as I was, I think. There were problems with batteries, and money, and who knows what else, so as they went to an ATM with my groom, I stood around in my robe waiting for them to get back, after being told that I was not allowed to start getting into my gown until they came back with cameras. As I told them, and I am telling you now, it is a little unnerving to have pictures being taken of you in your robe and slippers with no makeup. So I asked them only take a picture of my shoes being laced onto my ankles, and my wishes were respected, thankfully. We managed to get everyone out of the house at the time we said we would leave, which, if you know my family, is a feat in itself. We made our way to the Comune, met up with Stefano, Mary Jane, Steve, and Francesca. There was a little kid in a hat in the courtyard we waited in, and I played with him to calm myself down, because I was really afraid I was going to cough and hack or sneeze during the ceremony, and that it would be in front of the Mayor and caught on video. Mary Jane brought us some newspapers with our wedding announcements/articles in them. We eventually made it upstairs, and honestly, after about five minutes, everything started, and it’s a little blurry. We understood most of what the mayor said in Italian, and Mary Jane told us word for word in English. We ended up having to give our “yeses” twice, once in English and once in Italian, which was interesting. At least that way the family understood. The mayor said some really nice things about being honored to have us be married in Viterbo (he rarely does the ceremonies personally), and how it was nice that the city brought two people together in love, and made us honorary citizens of Viterbo. It was really sweet. He gave a nice long speech, and got a little annoyed when Mary Jane’s translations would be summaries because he would not pause for her to speak, which was really cute. Then the cameraman and interviewer from the cable station asked us questions, and I answered in a really ridiculous fashion. Kevin at least responded in Italian, haha.
Sometime when we weren’t looking, some of the USAC students made it in, and after the many pictures, we descended the stairs and got “riced.” The joke of the moment was “I know what I am making for dinner” because rice was stuck everywhere: in my flowers, my hair, my dress, well, you get the picture. We took many pictures at the fountain in the courtyard where I played with the little boy in his winter hat earlier. After the crowds dissipated, we went to the Papal Palace for more photos, and to a courtyard. Then we went to lunch, and though my stomach was not in the best of conditions, I was still able to eat most of the food. We got the foods we ordered at Dada last week mixed up, and so asked that the wrong thing be served to our guests, haha. They liked it, though the curry smell sort of got to me. We didn’t even order dessert because we were so full. It was really a good time, though the conversation was not as lively as either Kevin or I hoped it would be. We did enjoy ourselves.
Soon after the meal, we returned home, Kevin bought me some medicine, and then I decided to lie down. The family scurried to pack everything, and rather abruptly left to catch their train to Rome. I was very sad when they left, but as I know that my tears make my mother cry, I was good and kept my eyes dry until after they left, when we came back into the room to see the pictures from my dad’s camera and name them. When we crawled into bed (the only comfortable place to sit in my apartment), I went all waterworks. I missed them already. I was rather snippy with them while they were here because they were excited to be together and would talk together instead of heeding instruction, because my throat was sore and I was difficult to hear. I was really uncomfortable the whole week because I was sick, and I think they understood, but I still felt bad for being irritable. I told Kevin that we have nothing to really look forward to here after this week, because we are going on our last big trip, the family is gone, and we are married already. All semester all we have talked about is “when the family comes,” and since they have already come there is nothing left. I think that is probably a bit pessimistic, but I really miss them, and I feel even more empty without them here now that I got to share my Italian home with them. It will be good to be back home.
Kevin and I hurriedly packed and rushed across town to the opposite “door” and caught our train to Orte, and then to Spoleto. We almost got off at the wrong stop due to some bad information, and ended up safely in Spoleto. We took a cab to our hotel, put our things in our room, checked out the balcony, and went to dinner at “Café della Signora.” That night was probably my worst night of sickness because of all the stress from the wedding, and the limited sleep in the days before. At dinner I was really out of it. I don’t remember most of it. We came back to the hotel, showered, and went to bed.
In the morning, we slept in late, then wandered out to lunch at a quaint osteria. Spoleto was built on hills, so the walks were arduous, but charming views made the hike worth it. We were going to go back to the hotel so I could sleep some more, but found the castle, and so went on a tour. We understood most of what the tour guide said in Italian, but she insisted on speaking to us in English after she explained everything in Italian anyway. That was ok, because by the end, I was so tired that hearing it in English was a blessing. After we left the castle, it rained horribly, so we came back to hotel and changed into dry clothes and looked at the rest of our pictures and fell asleep. When we woke up for dinner, it was almost 9:30. We went to the same place for dinner as we did the night before, and I ordered soup to try to keep my stomach from getting icky. Yes, that is a juvenile way to say it, but it’s the best description I have without grossing you out, I promise. Anyway, we ate, and came back to the hotel. Right after we crawled into bed, I started coughing, as I often do since I have been sick, and I coughed so hard I couldn’t keep my dinner down. Then I was upset because it was an expensive restaurant, so Kevin played with my hair until I fell asleep: he’s just sweet like that.
In the morning we thought we had to checkout by 11, but were not sure, so we set the alarm for ten, and got our showers. It was actually a sunny morning, so we took more pictures from the balcony, checked out, and left our bags at the hotel to look around the Duomo. We also went for a walk on the Ponte, an old aqueduct from sometime in the middle ages. We came back, got our bags and went to lunch at Apollinare. We wondered why there were so few people in the restaurant, but it was the best restaurant in town, and since it was a Sunday, we figured people just eat out earlier on Sundays. We had something tasty, but unnamed for an appetizer, then a cheese puff thing, and two kinds of pasta, and I had basically an apple pastry, and Kevin had panna cotta and fragole,
We wandered around and wound up at the Roman Amphitheatre. I was really sick and woozy, so we sat in the theatre for a long time. It was a free ticket for us because of our majors and because we were from a non-EU country. We made our way to the train station, which was hard to find. We checked the schedule, and got on the wrong train, because the train was in the bin we were looking for. We got off at the next station, and then missed the correct train, and had to wait an hour for the next train towards Orte. We got our tickets checked, but the ticket taker did not realize that we were on a different train, so we were ok. When we got off at Orte, we checked the schedule, and the next train was supposed to leave for Viterbo at 21:00. We watched some television and ate some potato chips, and I drank a Sprite. Eventually I started typing this journal. When I looked at the computer clock it said 9:30. I was confused. My watch said 8:30. The clock above the TV agreed with the computer. So we asked a lady, who told us that the Italian daylight savings time started that day, and we had indeed missed the last train to Viterbo for the night. We were a bit distraught, and decided to call a cab (as a 40 euro cab ride was cheaper that a 90 euro hotel stay), which after a good deal of miscommunication and losing things in translation, was about 20 minutes late. The cab was neither a marked car, nor did it have a meter, but was the taxi driver’s personal vehicle, a Benz. After a bit of hesitation, we decided to trust him, and let him take us to Viterbo, and the 40 minute drive seemed short, after he dropped us almost right at our door. We were just glad to be home, after our foolish misunderstanding about the time, which in the States changes this upcoming Sunday, not the Sunday past.
That about wraps up our week. Mom, don’t forget to water my plants!
A Presto!
Doreen Rinehart
(Ha, I LOVE saying that!)