Operation: Orientation

May 19, 2007

The best way to get over jet lag is to get up early and face the day, according to the incomparable professors of Meredith College. I took this advice to heart and, along with fifteen other tired and disoriented students, I got up at 6:30 AM (12:30 AM Eastern Standard Time) and took a walk around Sansepolcro. Dr. Oatsvall took us through narrow cobbled streets as the town woke from its slumber, shop owners sweeping the streets in front of their stores and vespas sputtering to life in all corners. We ended up taking a stroll into the countryside, past ancient and deteriorating villas and lush corn fields. Anghiari sat regally atop the hill in the distance. At the end of the road was a remote corner of the Tiber River (that's right folks, the ancient Tiber that flows through Rome. The same tiber that Marcus Antonius dismisses in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra with a blunt "Let Rome in Tiber melt!"), cool and blue beneath the shady overhang of the trees.
We had a delicious breakfast of yogurt, cereal, croissants, and nutella, and I tried the Italian coffee--the equivalent to five cups of American regular plus a "kick in the pants," as several travelers described it when they tried the drink. Dr. Oatsvall took us to the piazza, the town square, and showed us the basic layout--piazza, internet cafe (where I am now), ATM, cattedrale, and the Pam. The Pam is a local grocery store where you can buy nutella to your heart's consent. Did you know that most Italians do not handle produce in the grocery store by hand? They put on plastic gloves, pick out their items, and measure their weight before buying it. They do not use as many pesticides as we do, so they don't need to wash it as much as we do--besides, who wants to eat fruit handled by half the town?