I’ll start this post by saying that this week is going to be completely different to my two weeks in Lucca. Firstly, I’m taking private lessons for two hours in the morning, whereas last week I was taking group classes with 7 – 10 others which went for about 4 hours (including a break). This school has a total of 10 students this week compared to over 50 in Lucca. In Lucca, I stayed in a house with a local Italian lady, whereas this week I have an apartment to myself. For after school activities, this week I’ve paid for daily excursions with the school to various Umbrian towns which start at 2:30pm. In Lucca, the activities were varied and only one trip a week involved travelling to another town. Another noticeable difference is that Todi is quite a small town, whereas Lucca’s a city. I planned it this way because I wanted to have two completely different experiences, so here we go!
Arriving in Todi on Sunday afternoon, and having dropped off my things, I found a staircase next to my apartment. Climbing it all the way to the top, for a total of 192 steps (I counted twice!), I turned around and saw this amazing view. Needless to say, not a bad start!
After having a chat with a group of Canadians enjoying a week in Todi, and wanting to get my bearings in the new town before it was dark, I walked around to see what my options were for dinner. Being Sunday night, a lot of the restaurants were closed and one was actually completely booked, but I eventually found Antica Hosteria Della Valle. It’s a smallish restaurant with five tables inside and a table for 12 was set up outside. I had a lovely (though small) dish of ravioli filled with cheese with a sprinkling of mushrooms and truffle. For dessert I had a panna cotta covered in a fig jam. Very sweet but good! This was all washed down with a glass of vino rosso della casa. The group of Canadians I’d met said they’d had two bad experiences in the restaurants in Todi because they don’t speak English (but also one great experience – I should have asked for names!). This restaurant had a lovely young lady as the waitress serving the five or so tables and was very patient and friendly with the three tables with English speaking couples.
In the evening, I tried having a shower and the water pressure was non-existent, making rinsing my hair incredibly difficult / impossible. I was surprised to find out that there was someone staying there the week before because there’s no way they could have showered with the limited water pressure. I asked the school to let the owners know, and he came and fixed it the next day. Besides that minor issue, the apartment is lovely. Oh and I had a bit of trouble with the washing machine. I’d tried using it as instructed but four hours after I started it, it was still running. At this point it was 11pm. I finally shook it a bit (since the owner had moved it earlier when showing me) thinking it might be off balance. That seemed to work and by 1:30am my clothes were finally washed. Needless to say, I was tired in the morning!
Having no internet in my apartment, in the morning I went to the school early to catch up on emails. My teacher, Donatella, came to the school at 9am and seemed to be tired from running. I found out that she’d purchased a ticket for the parking lot, but didn’t receive a ticket from the machine. So we went from the school, to an administration building, to another place and then finally to another building where some of the classes are taught. I didn’t mind all the commotion because it allowed me to experience (second hand) what Italian life is all about!
For my first class, the teacher thought I was a beginner, but fortunately she was prepared to quickly change her lesson plan! I’d asked if we could work on when to use passato prossimo v imperfetto (verbs in past tense), so most of the two hours was spent working on exercises to learn that. We also have a bit of a chat and she asked what else I’d like to learn during the week.
Prior to staying in my apartment for the night, I joined the walking tour of Todi that the school puts on for new students on Mondays starting at 3:30pm. I was surprised to find out I was the only one going on the tour. So it was me, and my 24 year old guide for a couple hours of walking around Todi, checking out the inside of the (many) churches and then having a drink at a bar in Piazza del Popolo. She was very friendly and spoke only in Italian and I understood a large part of it. Understanding the ‘church and long ago history’ words is a bit difficult, but I had a general idea about what she was saying. Our chat over a drink was more so about what it’s like to be 20-something living and studying in Italy, which was really interesting. I was especially keen to hear first hand how hard it is for young people to find work and found it a bit sad that it’s a very stressful time for many young people with uncertain work prospects. No wonder there are so many Italians in Australia!
I had to be at the apartment for 7pm so the owner’s husband could fix the shower and then I was home for the night. In the afternoon, I’d walked down to the bottom of Todi to find a supermarket (which means walking uphill back to the apartment – urgh!) so I now have food! After eating, I worked on my homework, which I’m happy to have because there’s not a lot for a person traveling solo to do in the evenings in Todi!
Roving Beaver 
Well, there’s definitely a huge difference between Lucca and Todi. A lot more laid back there. Love the view! Good to experience two different learning opportunities.
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