A Streetcar Named Regret

Hi everyone!
Apologies for the lack of contact for the past week or so. The little town we're in at the moment is incredible- it's too gorgeous to be inside on the internet! If you do a google search for Matera, you'll see pictures of the city. We're in a hostel at the top of the city looking down on everything.
The whole group has been together since last Sunday and we're getting along smashingly. We've adopted the lifestyle of the locals, taking three hours for lunch after our morning classes finish (and they don't start 'til 10). We have a couple of hours in the afternoon and then we just sort of wander around together until dinner time, which for us is anywhere between 7 and 11pm. I'm getting used to this new shedule and particularly appreciate the opportunity to sleep in. This will not continue past Sunday though, because we're starting to dig on Monday.
This place is so different from what I'm used to. We went hiking the other day and I fell behind trying to stop and look at everything on the ground. I did indeed see some rather large wolf spiders which I tried to catch, but they're very fast and had too much cover. I won't give up until I get one though. I found a lovely crab spider for you, Dad, but am having a bloody hard time finding alcohol here. She (I think it's a she) is white with a weird shaped abdomen, sort of triangular and pointy. A couple of people keep double-checking with me that 'the SPIDER' is double bottled and out of view. It's pretty funny.
My goodness. There's so much to say that I don't know what to say. Perhaps I shall take you all back to Rome..
On my last day in the city, I decided to follow Phil's advice and go to a church near the Piazza Barberini that is decorated with the bones of the monks who lived there. It was unlike anything I've ever seen. There were patterns on the ceilings and walls, all symmetrical and made of the same kinds of bones (vertebrae etc). In one of the rooms was the skeleton of a child on the ceiling, made to look like the grim reaper, with a sickle (spelling?) in one hand and a balance in the other. There was a little sign on the floor that said a message in several languages, with the English reading 'What you are, we were; what we are, you will be.' It was a pretty sobering thought. And just for you Phil, I took a stealth picture of said grim reaper and it turned out great.**Aforementioned grim reaper skeleton**

My last item on my list of things to see in Rome (as provided by Phil) was the Borghese gallery, where there are sculptures done by Bernini. I took the metro to go to the Spagna stop but ended up going the wrong way, so I went to the Vatican again to have my lunch in the square in front of the Basilica. When I got back on track, I followed the signs in the metro station for the gallery and ended up in the middle of nowhere, wondering if I was even still in Rome. I ran into a couple of Australian women and they helped me figure out how to get to the gallery. I had to walk through a great big field and then some sort of abandoned construction site that was full of garbage. I couldn't believe that route was leading me to Bernini.
At any rate, I got there only to discover that without a reservation, one is entirely unable to get in to the gallery. I stomped down the hill, cursing all those elitist people and their frigging sculptures. At the bottom of the hill (I had gone a different way) I was greeted by a sign that informed me I had reached the end of the line for the streetcars. This alarmed me somewhat and so I crossed the highway (there was some frogger action) to examine a map of the transit system. The guy standing beside me was a streetcar driver and told me where I had to go. He then led me onto a street car which had just been sitting there and he got on to drive it! My thoughts were as follows:

1. Don't accept a ride from a strange man.
2. At least I got to see Rome.
3. Street cars are on tracks, he can't take me anywhere secluded...

So on I got. He sat me in the front where he could see me in his rearview mirror. We made eye contact a few time and he smiled at me. He told me which stop to get off at and I got back just fine. While I was sitting on that streetcar I took a piece of paper out of my purse and wrote the following: GRAZIE MILLE. TI AMO. A thousand thanks. I love you. I was going to flash that to him when I left but I ended up losing my nerve. I wish I hadn't.

Anyway, I've been informed that we haven't got much longer before we head out today to see a couple ancient sites. Maybe I'll have time tomorrow to write a bit more.
Thanks everyone for the emails and birthday wishes. We were supposed to go to the beach today but we're going tomorrow instead. Having an incredible time. If anyone is worrying about me, he is wasting his time. Love to all.