01/22/10

Excursion #1: Macerata
At the end of the day my room mates and I came back to apartment, filled our bathtub up with hot water and soaked our feet and passed out. After walking nonstop from 9am to 6:30pm, that's all we wanted to do.

It was an awesome day though, we climbed to the top of the clock tower, and got to see the arena where the city holds the Opera festivals in the summer. We toured the cathedral and basilica, the underground catacombs (creepy but warm, so we were happy to be down there), and the rest of the medieval city. Apparently, Macerata was founded on ancient Roman territory but it's not a Roman town-it's Medieval because of it's shape and it's on a hill the surroundings were built around it like in layers like an onion. Also, Roman towns did not have churches-Medieval towns do. They don't separate life and death so the dead were usually buried underneath the churches, instead of in a necropolis (as in Roman towns-outside of the walls).
...So there's a little knowledge for ya.

We were supposed to get tandem partners tonight. Italian students to partner up with us and help us learn Italian. My partner wasn't there, but her name is Serena and I'll meet her Wednesday morning. Most of the other tandem partners were older than we thought-some upper 20's.


Random Facts:
Saint Giuliano is the patron saint of Macerata.
My hands permanently stink of garlic.
They don't refrigerate their milk.