Orvieto e io cucino il mio primo pasto.

Entrance to the walled city

I'm going to do this in backwards, starting with today. Here goes....

View from Orvieto

I just cooked my first ever meal by myself and without the use of a microwave!! This is a momentous occasion! I absolutely despise cooking, and avoid doing it at all costs! But I've been eating such crap here (okay, basically pizza for every meal) that I realize it's time I started eating healthier and more balanced.  So this morning I ventured to the grocery store to get some ingredients.  I got a LOT of stuff.  It should last me a week or so, and I got breakfast and lunch meals too, so I shouldn't have to eat pizza at all this week. I decided to cook penne, chicken and broccoli with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.  

Orvieto

 So when it was time for dinner, I made my way down to the kitchen, armed with all my ingredients, and claimed a spot on the stove.  I got my water boiling without any assistance from salt, and added my penne to it.  While the penne cooked, I chopped up three chicken breasts into small pieces.  Once the chicken was cut, I took a frying pan and covered the bottom with olive oil.  Then I added the chicken (I had to only do a little at a time because the pan was tiny).  I cooked the chicken until it was a little brown on both sides and I took some out to save it for later meals.  When the pasta was done, I strained it and left a little water in so it wouldn't stick.  Then I added the broccoli to the chicken and let that cook for a few minutes.  Once the chicken was cooked through, I put it all on a plate and mixed it up.  Then I added some Parmesan and voila! I wasn't expecting much, but it was actually really good.  Since I didn't have any garlic or seasoning of any sort, I figured it would be really bland, but it wasn't! I saved enough for probably two more meals, so I can just heat it up when I get hungry. And I only burned myself once! Unfortunately that burn is on the middle joint of my middle finger, so it hurts a lot. But this is still super excited, and everyone should be super proud of me!! 

Orvieto

Okay, so now back in time to yesterday.  I got up at 11, and we went to Termini to catch the train to Orvieto.  This time, we actually made our train! The conductor-woman was completely evil though. She yelled at us several times. The ride took about an hour and 15 minutes or so.  When we got off the train, we had to take a bus up to Orvieto, because its on a hill-- a really high hill.  I used my broken Italian to ask the man what time the bus was coming, and obviously it got the point across, because he told me 10 minutes, but when asked in English, he said 45 minutes (the bus showed up in 10). So we took the bus up, which was oddly reminiscent of the buses in Capri (curvy roads up the hillside).  

Cobblestone streets of Orvieto

Once at the top, we went into the walled city.  It was an Etruscan city, looking out over all of the Umbria region.  We went onto the walls, and could see for miles.  It was really beautiful, and it was a really nice day, too.  After seeing that, most of the other girls were ready to go walk around the town to see the shops, but there was so much more to see within the walls! So me and Abbye went and explored the rest of the area.  We found some pretty interesting spots to explore, and ultimately ended up sitting on a bench overlooking Umbria and just talking for awhile.  It was lovely!

The theatre in Orvieto

Eventually we decided to rejoin the group, so we walked through the town by all the shops.  We didn't really look into many of them, although I did contemplate getting myself a small, cross-body leather bag (I really want one now... regrets, regrets). When we found the group, we decided to eat lunch (it was 4pm, and definitely didn't want any repeats from the night before!), so we went to a little place where we could sit outside and eat.  We all ended up getting margherita pizza, french fries and a coke.  It was okay, but nothing special (we would have ordered something different, but the servers didn't speak any english and the menu didn't make any sense at all!). Around this time, I befriended a stray cat.  Stray animals seem to like me.  This one was starving and really loud.  He walked around under our table and begged for some food.  Then he left for a while, and then he came back again, under my chair.  So I fed him some pizza.  He was very grateful, and adorable.  I took pictures of him.  Kind of wanted to take him home with me.  Oh well.  After we ate, we headed home.  I used some more italian, which is always exciting, and we got home around 8pm or so.  

My new friend! 

Other than cooking and doing homework, I didn't do anything exciting today.  Tomorrow I have classes, but maybe Wednesday I'll make it to Campo Dei Fiori in the morning to see the market! I'll keep you posted, of course. Ciao!

Meow!