A Word On My Room

So this was my first time staying in a religious institution during my trip thus far. I knew before I left that convents and monasteries were semi-inexpensive options for me as a traveler, and honestly, I thought it sounded kind of cool. Something about actually sleeping in “God’s house” appealed to me. In practicality though, it’s kind of weird.

While I thought it would be somewhat ethereal (and thus cool), in real life that translates into silent, unsocial, and echo-y. It feels something akin to walking up the center aisle at church with your pillow and blanket and camping out between pews. While you might be “closer to God” (in theoretical proximity), something about the notion is simply…wrong.

Of course I am exaggerating a bit. Once you’re in your room, it’s not nearly so…holy. It’s simply a very quiet, somewhat sparse hotel room; certainly nothing to complain about. But on your way to and from your room…if you scuff your shoes a little too loudly, it definitely feels like a sin. :)

Speaking specifically now about my room in the monastery in Volterra, when I first analyzed it, I felt that it was quaint, but something about it was off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. That is, until the next morning. I had a window, but it was permanently shuttered closed from the outside. Thus, I had ZERO natural light or window to the outside world. Thus when I woke up during the night, I had no idea if it was morning or 3am or what. This wasn’t necessarily a problem until my second morning when I had an EARLY morning bus/train to catch. No natural light combined with no alarm clock….makes getting up on time a mite bit tricky. However, paranoia of oversleeping is a GREAT alarm and I caught my bus from Volterra to (…Colle Val D’Elsa to Siena to…) Cortona in just the nick of time.

(This was the door to my room. Can't hardly see it? That's because it was hardly there...)