Into the Mountains

so today i went to Tido (tee-dough) to attend the "welcome to rome" banquet organized by my school! i was smart and packed ahead but i was also a smart ASS and forgot to load my camera with batteries so unfortunately i was unable to take pictures BUT tido is an old medieval town located high up in the hills. so high up that once there looking down is like looking down from an air plane. it was FREEZING! and yeah the air is fresher but, my god! anyway, many movies have been filmed there and i can totally see why, it's the perfect replica of a medieval town, very well preserved, and very picturesque. but after walking around for about 30 minutes i quickly became aware of the fact that tido looks EXACTLY the same no matter where you turn. there's that brief "ah, how beautiful!" "wow, like a fairy tale" feeling and then i just got bored. i was SO ready to go at the end. tido is not a day trip, it's an hour trip---nothing more.

after tido we went to a nobleman's manor called Titignano (tee-tee-anno) and enjoyed a three hour meal. yes, that's right--THREE HOURS of delectable italian food. everything was made fresh because everything was grown/ made/ produced by the manor. that made the wine (cheap as hell---only 4 euro!) stronger than normal, more pure, and even at three years old the white wine was BEYOND amazing! it was SO good! i downed two glasses before i remembered it was a bit more potent then other wine so the potential of getting tipsy was triple! we had pizza (and italian pizza is WAY different than american and also way healthier) then we had ham, rice, chicken, lamb, spiced potatoes, vegetable, salad, fresh fruit, biscotti, tiramisu, expresso, and sweet wine. all of this was served over three hours, slowly, and in proper portions so i was able to eat ALL of it without feeling overstuffed! SO GOOD! i was glad to leave todi was sorry to see titignano go. it was cold but the castle like setting was amazingly beautiful and the food was SO delicious and the wine SO good and SO cheap! too bad i was low on euro--woulda bought a 20 pack of that white wine in two seconds. 

i remember my manager (who's been to italy many times) asking me if i drink, and i'm like, "no." he goes, "by the time you live italy you WILL drink." and he's right! O_O i'm no alcoholic in the making but i've developed a huge appreciation for good wine and---liquor in general as the italians drink with a lot of finesse and very often. 

classes start tomorrow! italian and then advanced drawing! everyone keeps scaring me, saying advanced drawing is difficult for sophomores but i really want to improve my drawing skills! we'll see how that goes...