Greetings from Montepulciano, Italy!
I'm currently overlooking the gorgeous Apennine Mountains in Tuscany from a cafe in a building that is centuries old - across from a store with origins in the third century BC! You can check the map to see exactly where the town is, but you may recognize it from Under the Tuscan Sun or, when it is released, the sequel to Twilight (New Moon). Both were filmed here in Montepulciano.
The flight over was nice - ATL to JFK, JFK to Rome. I met a very nice man and his daughters, who are from Rome, and - thank goodness - he was extremely helpful and taught me enough Italian to get around for a day or two. By the end of the flight he gave to me his Italian/English phrasebook that he used to learn English, complete with Disney cartoons in the margins! He owns an Italian restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah. If you're ever in town, get some food at Nona Lucia's! We exchanged contact information, and he even gave me his cell phone number incase I ran into trouble in Rome.
Seven hours from JKF to Rome - I arrived in Rome at about 9:30am local time. Two hours - and no sign of my luggage - later, I initiated a conversation with the lady in customer service. Yes; they had lost my luggage... three months worth of stuff! As of this morning, 8/31, there is no sign of my things. Fortunately, this is the ONLY bad news I have!
Our apartment is in an incredibly old building - the city still looks like the medieval town it started out as - and we have a narrow but four-story apartment, complete with a balcony on top with an incredible view of rooftops and mountains.
Classes began today - though my textbooks are still MIA - and I think I may just learn Italian, after all! My voice degree (especially having experience in opera) has actually come in pretty handy as far as vocabulary and diction are concerned.
We are slowly becoming a part of the community here, seeing the same faces and making friends with locals. This past weekend concluded a huge festival in town (hence the green/yellow/black flag I'm wearing in the photo - our neighborhood's flag).
I'm off to shop target.com so I can get some clothes since my luggage is gone! I hope it shows up - all of my adapters, clothes, etc. are in there. For now I have no camera (for lack of charger), among other things, so these are the only photos for now.
ALSO - I now have an Italian cell phone! (39)3927836165.
Much love to you all! Missing Georgia but loving it here.
Ciao!
amanda june
