2017 Orvieto Program Handbook

Orvieto Program Handbook

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Preface The purpose of this handbook is to set down the basic guidelines for our life in community as students and faculty attending the Orvieto summer program.

The handbook takes as its model the earliest and most influential of the handbooks for monastic communities: the sixth-century Rule of Saint Benedict (from which most of our topics and chapter titles are taken).

Saint Benedict has been called the Father of Western Monasticism, and was largely responsible for articulating the principles and putting into widespread practice a form of Christian community guided by mutual service and mutual accountability in the midst of the social disintegration of the “dark ages” of the crumbling Roman Empire. He has been called the First European, and in fact is the patron saint of Europe. Many astute spiritual writers and theologians of our own time, however, see Benedict as a figure with new relevance for a socially fractured global society and for the emergent church of post-modernity.

It’s easy to see a new “dark age” in the murderous tribalism now destroying the love of neighbor in many parts of the world. Harder to get a handle on, yet closer to home for those of us living in the developed economies of Western democracies, is an encroaching narcissistic individualism. Seduced willingly by technology, with its high-speed evolution that silences any critical perspective, we become shut off behind our personally designed interior worlds of soundscape and digital artifice. We imagine that cyber-communities of social networking can offer a satisfying alternative to real bodies listening in real time and in real space, taking real risks on one another’s behalf. A critical task of our generation is to establish a healthy balance between using the tools of technology available to us and not letting them dominate daily life and colonize the areas of our lives that require full, attentive presence.

A number of leading faith-based writers are suggesting that our best hope for recovering healthy, morally grounded social life may come through a sort of new monasticism in which small communities whose members are answerable to one another can model alternatives to the egocentric materialism that everywhere threatens neighborly love and authentic self-acceptance. (The works of writers such as Henri Nouwen, Jean Vanier, Thomas Merton, Kathleen Norris, and Wendell Berry, provide an entry into a wider bibliography on this topic.)

Saint Benedict’s history-shaping articulation of the three virtues of monastic community—poverty, chastity, and obedience—may sound unattractively limiting and hopelessly medieval even to Christian ears. They correlate profoundly, however, as the antidote to the three dimensions of self-actualization held out by our own epoch as the chief Good: materialistic consumerism, unlimited recreational activity, and resistance to any rule or any person who would appear to constrain our ego-drives.

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Conveniently for us, Benedict is a local saint, born in the Umbrian town of Norcia, founder of monasteries such as Subiaco, the inspirational figure behind monastic communities in abbeys such as Sant’Antimo and Monte Oliveto Maggiore.

It is the conviction of the Orvieto Program leaders that Benedict’s insights are surprisingly relevant for a group of classically educated high school students spending two weeks in Italy, and that Benedict’s Rule for community life provides a framework for the purposes that define the Orvieto Program, which are: 1. To inspire a culture of Scholé by studying in an atmosphere of restful, unrushed learning, with deep and meaningful engagement experienced through conversation, travel, and reading.

2. To provide contemporary American students—whose lives are lived largely after or without tradition—a vivid experience of tradition in art, spirituality and worship, and civic life.

3. To inspire young people of faith to reconnect with the artistic, cultural, and spiritual traditions of the past, neither in a mood of nostalgia nor in a mode of academic dispassion, but to foster a creative response to the past in order to shape a humane future in the arts and culture.

4. To establish an environment that invites collaboration between teacher and student, fostering a community of makers and learners answerable to one another.

5. To give students an experience of rhythms of a life that is slower, simpler, and more embodied than the forms of contemporary American life by dining together, encouraging sustained conversation, experiencing the traditional liturgies of religious life and civic celebrations, living more closely to the earth in the midst of vineyards and olive groves, and trading the automobile for the foot.

Such purposes may make the Orvieto Program appear to be hopelessly old-fashioned (although students from classical schools may be somewhat used to that!). The program’s vision represents a countercultural avant-garde, addressing hungers that people feel deep inside without fully recognizing them. We hope that our program in Orvieto can be radical—going to the source—pruning back unconstrained foliage to nourish the roots of being human. We seek to foster an incarnational mode of human being that can touch the spiritual in the material, that can hear and see the invisible things of God in the visible things of God’s creation, that can sing with Saint Francis: All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made, and first my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.

How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Living in a Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2. The Daily Office: Religious and Spiritual Life as a Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3. Quietness and Conversation: On the Spirit of Silence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4. Dining Hours: Dining as a Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5. Property and Utensils: Good Stewards of Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6. Daily Manual Labor: Taking Care of Our Lodgings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7. Coming and Going in the Convent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 8. Communicating with Family and Friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 9. Courtesy and Safety in Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 10. Health, Wellness, and Medical Care. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 11. Solving Problems as a Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 12. Concerning Rules, Mistakes, Faults, and Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 13. Helpful Travel Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 14. Contact Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

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1. Living in a Community Our lives as students and teachers will unfold in the context of two overlapping communities.

First, we will be forming a community among ourselves within our program headquarters at Convento dei Servi. As strangers together in a foreign country, and as students and teachers following a common curriculum and living in close quarters, we will be thrown together and drawn together more intimately than occurs during a school year. The patterns and habits we develop will create powerful opportunities for building one another up as fellow members of the Body of Christ, or for eroding those bonds by not making the necessary investment in the community.

Second, we will be going out into the civic community of Orvieto itself. The Orvietani share a more close-knit and generationally deep experience of town and neighborhood than is now common in today’s mobile and suburban American society. We will find the townsfolk to be welcoming and friendly to the students and teachers of our program. The daily choices we make in responding to our citizen-hosts—expressing either courtesy or indifference, care or suspicion, openness or fear—will have a lasting influence on our individual experiences and on our program’s future.

2. The Daily Office: Religious and Spiritual Life as a Community For at least a millennium, Orvieto has been an important town for the Roman Catholic Church.

It has periodically served as a residence for popes and is the place from which the holiday of Corpus Christi—celebrating the Incarnation of Christ in the sacrament of holy communion— was first instituted in the 1260s. The cathedral serves as the seat of the bishop of the diocese and is the site of town-wide liturgies, but every neighborhood has its own parish church.

We intend for students to have a respectful, accurately informed, and non-combative experience of the Roman Catholic tradition that has so deeply informed Italian culture. We hope to foster an atmosphere of open and courteous conversation about the historical varieties of Christian spiritual and doctrinal expression, while honoring each student in his or her chosen expressions of faith.

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In light of this intention, students and teachers will attend the sung service of Evening Prayer at the convent of a contemplative order of Franciscan nuns and may witness, schedule permitting, a grand liturgical service at the cathedral. The intent of the Orvieto Program is also to encourage and assist devotional life within our own community, perhaps by keeping our own regular time of morning or evening prayer or by singing together.

3. Quietness and Conversation: On the Spirit of Silence We intend for our students and teachers to experience something of the monastic tradition of community life, with rhythms and responsibilities quite different from the forms of contemporary American school and civic life, where the values of individualism can appear to give everyone the right to fill everybody else’s space with one’s own noise.

Convents and monasteries have always been places of quietness and shared space, where each person accepts responsibility for sustaining an atmosphere conducive to the community’s defining work of prayer and meditation, of reading and study and manual labor to the glory of God. The guideline is that private and individual noise ought not to encroach on communal space. It’s not that Orvieto is a silent town. The bells of the Duomo and the church bell in our courtyard mark the hours, as does “Maurizio,” the mechanical figure who strikes the bell on the town clock tower. These sounds, though—like the hubbub of conversation during the evening passeggiata (community stroll through town)—are shared sounds, signaling the community’s life together.

Most students come to appreciate the respite from noise pollution that life in Orvieto can provide. Many of us, however, have to go through a period of withdrawal from a sort of addictive dependence on the pervasive background presence of noise, usually the popular music that we surround ourselves with as we move from the car to the store to doing homework to jogging. The constant use of portable music players often creates distance in a community setting. With earbuds inserted, we seem politely to keep our private music to ourselves, but in fact are setting

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up invisible walls of separation, insulating ourselves and dulling our attentiveness to the distinctive sounds of our environment, both natural and social. Our program’s effort to reduce noise is intended to foster an atmosphere of conversation and listening, not separation and isolation.

4. Dining Hours: Dining as a Community We hope that our time in Orvieto provides a counter-experience to the eating-on-therun that has become the norm for contemporary American life. The daily meals in Orvieto include a simple breakfast of cereals and fruit. After the morning’s classes, the community pauses for a midday dinner together, and then again for a lighter supper. Pranzo, as the day’s main meal is called in Italian, provides an opportunity to not only unwind from the morning’s concentration in the classroom, but also to engage in thoughtful conversation that integrates our diverse backgrounds and personalities with our experiences in the classroom and in our host culture.

On travel days when we will be eating away from “home,” students will need to buy their lunch, but we will always return to Orvieto in time for supper. We have small storage units for each student and a refrigerator to store snacks and any additional food students may wish to purchase.

As a branch campus of Gordon College, the program facilities in Orvieto are governed by the same expectations for conduct that apply on the main campus, including the exclusion of alcoholic beverages.

5. Property and Utensils: Good Stewards of Resources Italians in general follow much stricter codes of conservation in the use of resources and utilities than Americans do, with our comparatively plentiful and inexpensive supply of water, electricity, gasoline, and the like. (Prices for gasoline and heating oil, for instance, are generally twice what they cost in the States.) Orvieto, with its cliff-top location, requires even greater care from its populace.

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This is one context for a much more stringent set of guidelines for so many behind-the-scenes activities of daily life. Turning off lights and lamps and appliances when not in use is an essential habit to form quickly. While controlling high utility costs is one motivation, we also wish the Orvieto Program to model an ethic of stewardship for the earth and its climate and resources, reducing consumption and recycling and reusing whenever possible.

Plumbing systems are quirkier and more fragile as they wind their way, with limited water pressure, through the walls of ancient buildings. Students must learn to take short showers, for instance, both to keep the program’s water bill down but also out of respect for one another, since Italian water heaters are not built to handle several people taking fifteen-minute, full-blast American showers.

Small matters such as keeping shower drains clear of hair, not flushing hygiene products or wads of tissue down the toilet, and mopping up any leakages are critical for avoiding expensive repairs. Plaster walls over thick masonry are easily damaged and costly to restore.

6. Daily Manual Labor: Taking Care of Our Lodgings Conscientiousness in the conservation of resources is just one aspect of our participation in the upkeep of our lodgings in Orvieto. Students and teachers are responsible for keeping their bedrooms clean and for maintaining an ordered environment throughout the entire convent. It is everyone’s job to pitch in.

We are responsible for keeping all common areas clean and picked up, with furniture properly cared for. We don’t leave our belongings or a mess in public areas of the convent. We will prepare a rotating schedule of basic household chores for all to help with, including taking out trash, doing the dishes in the kitchenette, organizing trash into the various categories for recycling, and observing the town-wide weekly schedule for recycling.

We want the presence of our program to improve this historic property, not contribute to its disrepair. Students are encouraged to make their own creative contributions to the beauty of our surroundings according to their gifts and talents.

7. Coming and Going in the Convent In terms of security and keeping track of ourselves, our approach to life in the convent is not unlike that governing our homes and schools. Orvieto is a very safe town, but for our own security as a group, teachers always must know where students are located and will carefully oversee all excursions outside the walls of the convent. Students are not to leave the building without the permission of their teachers and must never go out alone. Within certain parameters, students will be given permission to venture through town on their own in small groups on some occasions. (Note: This policy does not apply for the teacher/administrator trip.)

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8. Communicating with family & friends Most students will come to appreciate the purposeful effort of the Orvieto leaders to give students an experience of being unplugged from many of the modern communication technologies to which we have become almost addicted, and to wean ourselves from the habit of instant access to friends and family back home via Facebook or Skype, tweeting, e-mailing, or texting by cell phone or computer.

a. Regarding the Internet We will be following the policy of Gordon College (as well as those of most universities with study programs in Italy) for our stay in Orvieto: namely, not to provide free 24/7 Internet access in the program quarters nor to have plug-in Internet points in the student bedrooms. If a student is having a sudden bout of homesickness or roommate irritation or is rebounding from a moment of difficulty in the classroom or on an excursion, it may provide an immediate relief to spout off about the matter via a Skype call or a quick post or text to a friend or family member back home, but it can also distort the student’s more reflective assessment of the situation, as well as create unwarranted stress or helpless frustration for his or her friends and family.

While the ethos of the Orvieto Program is intended to discourage the flight into cyberspace and to encourage our embodied presence with the people and places around us, there will be controlled Internet access in the convent during the evening.

We also recognize the value of bringing along your own computer for taking notes in class and for storing and editing digital photos and videoclips, in addition to Internet use.

b. Regarding Cell Phones Our program’s view that excessive cell phone contact (the same goes for Facebook and Skype) with friends back home inhibits full immersion in a crosscultural experience is a philosophy confirmed by the experience of every other American academic program in Italy. Every minute on the smartphone is a minute not in Italy. To whip out the smartphone camera (or any camera, for that matter) so that your first view of a beautiful or “famous” place or object is through a camera lens will pretty much cancel out the possibility of actually seeing. To be packaging your experience for your Facebook audience even as you are having the experience simply means that you are not having any attentive, bodily experience shared in the company of the people you are actually with. Therefore, we will maintain an “eyes first, camera second” policy on all excursions.

Every minute of compulsive texting with friends back home, messaging Facebook friends, or playing video games on your cell phone or laptop means that you are not deepening your friendship with the people with whom you are sharing your experience in Italy­—and it assuredly cancels out the possibility of making new friends with “real people” in Italy. Students are not prohibited from bringing cell phones with them from the States. However, we ask students not to bring cell phones to class and to not text, play video games, or carry on phone conversations in the shared spaces of the convent. Remember, too, that most American cell phones do not automatically carry international service, and the ones that do charge a hefty fee per minute for international calls. Teachers will be able to make international calls to parents in case of an emergency. For the same reason, parents will be given the program leader’s and teachers’ cell phone numbers. On excursions, cell phones are to be used for picture taking only, according to the “eyes first” policy stated above.

9. Courtesy and Safety in Town Be courteous and friendly . . .

With polite and mature behavior, students can earn the respect and appreciation of the citizens of this close-knit civic community. Attempts to use Italian are well received by the townsfolk, and courteous greetings to shopkeepers and café staff are appreciated and returned. We have experienced among the Orvietani none of the nameless, faceless anonymity of urban or suburban America. Our presence is noticed, and therefore it is all the more important that we be conscious of our role as ambassadors for Christ, for the schools we represent, and, yes, for America, and that our behavior counters the stereotype of the obnoxious “ugly American.” It is part of the crosscultural experience to discover the extent to which each community’s highly nuanced repertoire of communicative signals—which seem so natural and universal to its members—are in fact culture-specific, quite varied from country to country, and in need of translation and interpretation. It is a slow process to develop cultural antennae able to register the nuanced connotations of our behavior and that of others.

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But not too friendly . . .

Alas, the most annoying and potentially dangerous arena for mixed or mistaken signals is the realm of the sexual. While we must resist the unfair stereotype of the sexually aggressive Italian male, we may experience a measure of offensive sexual harassment from fellows (of all ages) interested in testing their own stereotypes of American young women, fostered, one must admit, by countless American movies and television shows and media celebrities.

Through discerning observation, determine what behaviors may be taken as flirtatious, however unintentionally, and avoid them. What for us may be normal friendliness (a smile, laugh) can in certain contexts be received as encouragement. Take precautions against sending the wrong or unintended signals through, for instance, the American tendency to be too quickly open and friendly. We have to overcome the fear of telling unwelcome accosters to back off and get lost.

Happily, Orvieto itself is a notably safe community, both statistically and by ethos, where students can feel the presence of neighbors looking out for neighbors. Nevertheless, we expect everyone to exercise prudence and good sense. Again, students must always ask permission from a teacher to leave the convent unescorted by an adult and should never venture out alone.

10. Health, Wellness, and Medical Care Generally speaking, students will find ordinary daily life in the Orvieto Program to promote fitness and well-being without any particular effort on their part. We do lots of walking, there is less tendency toward unnecessary snacking, and daily rhythms promote a good night’s sleep and reduction of stress.

Allergies are an unpredictable factor. The different array of plant life in central Italy can translate into fewer allergies for some Americans and more for others. We have often seen people have stronger allergic reactions to different varieties of mosquitoes and other insects than those found in the States. Hence we advise students to come with as much preparation as their medical care Stateside can provide (antihistamines or cortisone creams, and especially an EpiPen for those who have a known history of life-threatening allergic reactions). The program leader should be informed of any unusual or potentially problematic health issues.

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Ordinary visits to local physicians for common health problems (antibiotics for an ear or throat infection, for instance) are not expensive and do not ordinarily run through an insurancereimbursement process. We have an established and trusted relationship with a local general practitioner who can provide diagnostic help during her regular open-clinic hours. The regional hospital is located a short drive away at the bottom of the cliff, and emergency room treatment is available at very modest cash expense (if they bother with payment at all).

We have not found dental care or specialized medical treatment to be easily obtained or competently delivered. Hence we strongly advise students to have a thorough dental checkup and cleaning before arriving in Italy. Also, please be sure to bring from home any regularly taken prescription medicines and inform the program leader of any ongoing medical or health issues before leaving the States.

11. Solving Problems as a Community The Orvieto Program depends on the basic emotional, social, and psychological health of our participating students. We are not well equipped to deal with dysfunctional behavior that may require professional counsel or treatment. Nevertheless, we know not to expect a stress-free, conflict-free, and emotionally tranquil experience when twenty or more individuals are placed together in close quarters for two weeks in a radically new and foreign environment. We must rely on students to exhibit healthy coping mechanisms, and we must rely on open honesty with one another when problems do arise.

At the first level, we expect students to be patient and forbearing with their roommates and companions but also to be courteously direct and honest in expressing frustrations or annoyances. If, for instance, your roommate’s lack of order or cleanliness is a regular irritant to your sensibility, kindly tell him or her directly rather than resorting to sarcastic innuendo or withholding kindness.

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Secondly, one of the roles of the program leader and teachers is to be mediating figures who can serve as a first resort for addressing complaints or disturbances, and who are invested with the authority to help resolve problems.

Third, the program leader is always available— indeed, is ultimately responsible—to help solve problems, to assess and adjudicate any lapses in following rules of conduct and behavior, and to attend to the general welfare of the students. A notable feature of the Orvieto Program is that the program leader and teachers live in close proximity with the students and are present throughout the day as we all participate in a common life together.

Having thus outlined a hierarchy of authority, the ethos of the program is one of mutual accountability. Our intent is to foster an atmosphere of care in which behaviors that signal emotional, physical, or spiritual distress will not be ignored or denied.

12. Concerning Rules, Mistakes, Faults, and Correction Foolish or rule-defying behavior will receive considerate initial inquiry. People do make mistakes, and the program eschews hard-nosed legalism. Nevertheless, the leadership has limited capacity for damage control. Persistent small-scale inconsideration of program policies will be dealt with sternly, but in-house. Willfully defiant or sinful behavior, or repeated behavior that violates or disrespects those policies designed to sustain the overall moral, psychological, and physical health of the students, will receive prompt and decisive action. The Orvieto Program reserves the right to send a student home in the interest of both the student at fault and the rest of the group. Students will be dismissed from the program without refund, parents will be notified, and immediate arrangements for returning home will be made with any extra travel costs incurred paid by the student’s family.

Students are expected to obey the civil law in effect in Italy and to respect the customs and practices of the community in which they are living. We understand, for instance, that Christian convictions with regard to tobacco products and alcoholic beverages differ. At no time, however, will the use of tobacco, illegal drugs, or alcohol be tolerated. The program leader will dismiss any student guilty of such activity and follow the procedure outlined above.

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13. Helpful Travel Information a. Weather There’s no denying that July is a hot month in the central Italian region of Umbria. Temperatures in the 80s are typical, sometimes breaking 90 degrees, but it is usually cooler at night. Italians know how to cope: avoiding strenuous activity during the midday period, walking on the shady side of the street, slowing down the pace, and staying hydrated.

The old, thick-walled, highceilinged buildings (like the renovated convent, leased by Gordon College, where we’ll be residing) stay refreshingly cool. Air-conditioning is pretty unknown in Italy (and thought to be unhealthy with sudden transitions from very hot to very cold). We have fans for use in each room, and wooden shutters used effectively will keep the sun (and the mosquitoes!) out and the breeze flowing. However, if you’re not accustomed to warmer weather in the summer months, you may wish to bring a handheld fan or ice pack.

b. Money Orvieto may be a mostly medieval, 2,500-year-old town, but it’s not primitive! Plan to purchase unexpected or forgotten items right in Orvieto as needed. You can find inexpensive clothing and toiletries and raingear in the big outdoor market, and there are plenty of stylish shops in town, as well as a fully stocked supermarket (even if it is convenience-store size compared with American super-size grocery stores).

The exchange rate has been hovering around $1.38 per euro for many months. In terms of overall buying power, prices are not exorbitant, nor remarkably different from prices for the same things in the States. A cappuccino typically costs €1.20 or about $1.70—still less than at Starbucks. Soft drinks are pricey—€2.50 ($3.25) or more, with no free refills— so you may want to give up your Coke habit. A gelato costs from €2 to €5—expensive, perhaps, but worth the splurge given the special deliciousness of real Italian ice cream! You won’t get anything like it in the States.

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You won’t need much money (unless you intend to do a lot of souvenir shopping or gelato gorging), but you will need some for snacks, lunches on excursions, and those unexpected items you didn’t know you needed. Don’t bother exchanging money ahead of time—you’ll get a bad exchange rate in the U.S. and it’s unnecessary. Do not use traveler’s checks; they are obsolete these days anyway, often difficult to cash, and usually do not get a good exchange rate. Likewise, don’t bring a lot of U.S. dollars (a little for snacks at Dulles is good), as you will get a terrible exchange rate in Italy. A debit card is best because you can use it as a credit card, which gives the best exchange rate in shops, or you can use it to withdraw cash from an American bank account with only a small transaction fee (unlike credit cards, which usually charge much more). ATM machines, called Bancomats in Italian, are readily found in every Italian town, Orvieto included.

It is wise to get a new debit card account for the trip and to only put in enough money for what you think you will spend. You can always contact home and have them put more money in the account if needed. You want to minimize your loss if your card is stolen. If you don’t mind the rather large fee for using a credit card to withdraw cash from the ATM (check with your credit card company to find out what it is), using a credit card will usually eliminate any financial loss if the card is lost or stolen, since most credit card companies will not charge you for any unauthorized purchases if you report the loss promptly.

It is very important that you call the bank that issues your debit or credit card at least a week before you leave the U.S. The toll-free number is usually printed on the back of your card. Discuss with your bank the following items: 1) Tell the bank that you will be in Italy (give the specific dates) and plan to use your card there.

Otherwise your bank may refuse to honor a transaction made in Italy, thinking your card has been stolen.

2) Ask about (or establish) the daily withdrawal limit. A low daily limit will minimize your loss if the debit card is stolen but will restrict a large purchase—which may also be a good thing!

3) Ask your bank what phone number you should call from Italy if you have

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problems using your debit or credit card. A toll-free number may be printed on the card, but be sure it is for international calls. If a card is lost or stolen, the program leader will contact the student’s parents immediately. Parents should make a photocopy of both sides of the card so they can give the necessary information when they call to report the card’s loss.

4) Never write down your PIN, but make sure you know it! Italian Bancomats generally take only numerical PINs, usually four to six digits in length. If your present PIN includes letters or other characters, change it.

5) Ask what the bank charges for using the card overseas. Be aware that your bank will probably charge a 1–2 percent fee for converting euros to dollars. So, for example, if you withdraw the equivalent of $100 in euros, the bank will charge you a $1–$2 fee.

There’s also a fee for using a debit card at an ATM that does not belong to your bank (just like in the U.S.) and a much larger fee for using a credit card at an ATM (just like in the U.S.). Despite these additional charges, you are almost guaranteed to make out much better than if you bring dollars to Italy and exchange it for cash euros. It’s also much safer than carrying dollars.

6) Though cell phones are not frequently used on the trip (see page 12), we do understand that most (if not all) students will have a cell phone with them. As mentioned previously, there is Internet available at certain times in the convent. Students can connect via Wi-Fi to send texts or emails to family or friends during the time allotted for connections. We also recommend contacting your phone carrier ahead of time to get details on international options while students are abroad.

c. Laundry We have a washing machine in the convent, but it’s complicated to use and a single load takes upward of two hours, so we don’t have the sort of setup where everyone can expect to throw in a load of laundry in the evening, then throw it in the dryer, and have a clean wardrobe in the morning. It is better to come with underwear and lightweight shirts that you can rinse out in your bathroom sink and drape in front of

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your room floor fan for the night. That said, it would be good to pack a travel-size bottle of detergent (dish liquid works fine, too).

d. Medicines If you take prescription medications, make sure you bring enough for the two weeks because you can’t refill prescriptions at an Italian pharmacy without an Italian doctor’s prescription. We encourage you to bring cold remedies and your preferred pain-relief products, plus preferred allergy medications, or cortisone-based products for rashes and the like. Exact equivalents are generally difficult to find in Italy and a little more costly. Having a small first-aid kit, with band-aids for scratches and blisters, is a good idea.

e. Packing: What to Bring Light, airy shirts or polo-style shirts and lightweight trousers are best for the boys (jeans are OK, too). Girls should not bring thin-strapped tops because churches (and we’ll be visiting a lot of churches!) sometimes prohibit “immodest” clothing. Likewise, no short-shorts or miniskirts. In fact, longer, loose-fitting skirts and dresses are best for keeping the airflow going and staying cool! Girls should bring a light scarf or shawl they can tie around their shoulders to take with them on all excursions; a church’s definition of “immodest” may differ from yours.

If you want to dress like an Italian and not stick out like a typical American tourist, then don’t wear shorts outside the convent (especially boys), don’t bring T-shirts with large logos on them, and don’t wear flip-flops! In addition to the fact that wearing flip-flops screams “I’m a stupid American!” to every passerby, the ancient pavestones covering the streets of Italy are unforgiving, and with only flip-flops between you and the hard, cobblestoned pavement, your feet will hurt in a matter of minutes. Good, comfortable leather sandals— sturdy enough for lots of walking—are best. Also bring a pair of sport shoes for jogging or playing some pickup soccer and to give your feet a change from the sore spots they may

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have developed from your sandals. A pair of dressier shoes (unless your sandals qualify) are recommended for less casual occasions. We will be attending an opera!

Bring one lightweight sweater or jacket and a thin, scrunchable poncho or travel-size umbrella in the event of rain, as central Italy can get passing afternoon thundershowers in the summer.

Bring a daypack or large purse with a long shoulder strap, one that closes securely, for your camera, sunglasses, and whatever else you want to carry around with you every day.

The most important guideline: Pack light. There won’t be anyone to carry your luggage for you. Make sure your luggage has wheels. You may check one bag at the airport, which must weigh no more than 50 pounds (hopefully, for your sake, much less!) and whose combined length + width + height must be no more than 62 inches. There is no extra fee for one checked bag on international flights. You may also bring a personal item with you, such as a purse or laptop case, as well as a carry-on bag with a combined length + width + height of less than 45 inches. Note that these are maximum numbers. You will need to transport your belongings through airports and train stations, which may involve steps without an escalator.

You shouldn’t need anything more than one medium-size suitcase at most, plus a small carry-on, such as a daypack. It is always a good idea to pack small (less than 3.4 ounces) toiletries in a quart-sized ziplock bag and an extra set of undergarments in your carry-on bag in case your luggage is lost. Because of security regulations, you cannot lock your checked luggage.

Remember that you cannot keep bottles (larger than 3.4 ounces) of liquid or cream (such as shampoo), scissors, tweezers, or other sharp items in your carry-on bag. Below is a standard packing list that you may find helpful (but not all-inclusive): Commonplace book (required) Voltage converter and plug adapter (Plugs in Italy have two round prongs and U.S. plugs will not fit into them, nor do the voltages match.)

Passport and color copy of passport to give to the program leader Debit card or credit card Neck pouch (worn under your clothing) or waist belt for holding money, passport, debit card, or other valuables Washcloths (Europeans consider them personal hygiene items, like a toothbrush.

The convent does provide towels and bed linens.)

Medication (prescriptions, pain-relief tablets, first-aid items) Toiletries, especially deodorant and shaving razors (Women’s razors are hard to find and deodorant options are limited.)

Glasses/contacts, contact solution Inexpensive accessories (Leave your valuable jewelry at home.)

Underwear, socks, etc.

Sleepwear Dress/skirt or dress pants and nice shirt (for a dressy event such as the opera) Tops/shirts/T-shirts (using the guidelines stated in this manual) Jeans/pants/shorts and/or skirts (using the guidelines stated in this manual) Lightweight jacket Cell phone and/or laptop chargers Travel umbrella or rain poncho Detergent/dish liquid

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f. Traveling home After the flight home, please be prepared to spend some time in customs before you are able to leave the airport. This is a typical process for international flights returning to the U.S., and it can take longer than expected.

Traveling for several hours and adjusting back to your time zone require some rest. Be sure to give yourself adequate time to rest and rejuvenate upon returning home.

14. Contact Information Orvieto Program Organizer Classical Academic Press Phone: 717-730-0711 Fax: 717-730-0721 E-mail: Orvieto@classicalsubjects.com

Orvieto Program Owner Gordon College Professor John Skillen E-mail: John.Skillen@gordon.edu

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