Okay, this was a big weekend.
On Friday the 13th, we had a field trip for "The History of food and culture in Italy" We had to meet at the main piazza at 6 am, which was so hard to get up for, and we took a 4 hour bus ride to the countryside out side of Florence, I believe it was the tuscany region, but I don't currently have all of the information with me, but anyway. We first arrived at this family owned, all organic farm. The family is was passionate about their produce it was really neat. The eldest gave us a tour of his land and farm. He also tried to make it into this odd little story about water and looking at the rays the sun makes when it shines through it? I really don't know what he was trying to communicate but he was really into it, so we al went along with it. They showed us their bulls and their goats (which there were goats that were born the day before, and I got to hold a baby one!) they were so cute. Then they took us into their house and let us sample all of their produce. We tried a bajillion different type of cheeses, unpasterized warm milk, organic yogurt, fresh apple/orange/grape juice, and coffee made from barley. The milk made me sick and the yogurt was super nasty but the rest was delicious :) Then we hopped back onto the bus and headed closer to Florence to a world famous butchery. We spoke with the owner (well his wife translated because he does not speak one bit of english) but he was also extremely passionate about his job. He spoke about using every single piece of the animal and not letting any of it go to waste. He is so inventive and he is continously trying to help the environment and he kept stressing the fact that he believes you should leave the land in better condition that the one in which you found it in. He was such a sweetheart. But at this resturant, they cooked us a 16 course meat meal. We were all about to explode after our 4 hour "lunch." We ate the normal cuts but also ate a random cut of the cow that isn't even named because it is so small that it is almost always thrown away. We ate the shins, the knees, above the knees, and some other random pieces also. We also ate raw meat which was absolutely delicious! It was such a neat experience to see the difference betweent he organic, vegetarian farm in the morning and the passionate butcher in the afternoon. What was also neat about the resturant is that they make you sit with other people, they think that it is a better way to enjoy the meal to be with strangers and make new friends, which I think is such a cool way of looking at things, I wish more places had that idea!
Since we were in Florence anyways, we decided to make it a weekend trip there. That night I stayed with Lauren's friends from back home since they are studying in Florence anyways. They set up a private wine tasting for us which was a ton of fun! Then Saturday I woke up early to meet a few other friends to see all of the attractions that Florence has to offer. Mary, Raf, Stuart and I went to the Accademia in the morning to see the David, which was absolutely breathtaking! It was so much bigger than I ever imagined! They also had an exhibit of old instruments, which had a vertical piano in attempt to conserve space, but that idea failed miserably. We then headed to the Duomo and to the Uffizio which was SO large. We spent about 6 hours there and they had a ton of rooms with beautiful artwork. We then headed to dinner and to Piazza Michealangelo at nighttime to see the 360 view of Florence.
Then on Sunday we decided to head to Pisa since it was only about 45 minutes from Florence, at least that is as long as it should be. Our first train at 1030 was delayed until 11 when they then told us that it would be delayed for another 45 minutes so we decided to switch to a different train that was scheduled to leave at 1053. Well, everyone had the same idea as us. The train scheduled to leace at 1053 didn't leave till 1145 and it was so crowded that we had to stand up inbetween train carts. It was so crowded even, we couldnt move an inch until we arrived in Pisa at 1245. It was extremely frustrating, but hilarious all at the same time. There was an American on the train that was literally freaking out about the fact that the trains were running so late and everyone was making fun of him. A group of Germans were sitting with us and they busted out bottles of Peroni at 1030 to start the day off right, so us and the Germans were just making fun of the crazy, hotheaded American. It was glorious to say the least. Once at Pisa, we just spent about two hours capturing funny pictures of the tower, walked around a little, and headed back to Perugia.
It was again a very relaxing weekend! Oh and I almost forgot! I started my internship at the highschool this week too! I go down there every Wednesday from 12-130 and 3-5. During 12-130 I help with a classroom, where its mostly just debates. The first week was a special drama course where I had to act out Shakespeare with 17/18 year olds.. it was amusing. Then the week after was actual class again, but since it snowed (and when I say snowed maybe a centimeter of snow stuck to the ground) all of Perugia literally shut down. My teacher was two hours late to school and only 6 of the 23 kids showed up for class. It was so odd but funny all at the same time.
I'm heading to the Perugia soccer game now! I'll try to write more later tonight, but I have midterms this week (eek!) so I might not be able to. Miss you all terribly!!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
February 6-8 : Bari
Hey all!
So I realise I am extremely behind on this whole blog thing so I decided I would make a post for each week I missed (hopefully I can remember everything.) So For the weekend of February 6-8 we were going to head to Switzerland, but it turned out one of my friends forgot that she had a day trip in Rome on Friday morning, so instead we met her in Rome Friday afternoon and took a trip to the heel of Italy. The train ride was about 6 hours down to Bari, but we stopped at Ancona, which is a precious little town right on the coast. From Ancona to Bari (which was about 4 hours) we were right along the shoreline the entire time, so the beautiful views made the long train ride well worth it! Once at Bari, we had a very difficult time finding our hostel but eventually found it. It turns out the guys phone was on silent because his dog has cancer and they were in the middle of giving him his daily treatment, something of that sort. The next day we just walked around Bari, not sure exactly what to do considering the only reason we went there is because it was the only place in Italy that had sunshine for the weekend and not rain! It was in the middle 50s and sunny the entire weekend which was such a fantastic change from the 20-30 rainy/snowy Perugia. So we literally spent all day Saturday walking around the town shopping and enjoying the views. It was a pretty little wharf town though! Sunday we grabbed some breakfast and hopped on the train and when we arrived in Perugia it was snowing!
Despite the fact we had no idea what to do in Bari mostly because there were no really toursit attractions (or we didn't know of any at least), we had a very relaxing, warm weekend away from chilly Perugia, which was exactly what I needed!
So I realise I am extremely behind on this whole blog thing so I decided I would make a post for each week I missed (hopefully I can remember everything.) So For the weekend of February 6-8 we were going to head to Switzerland, but it turned out one of my friends forgot that she had a day trip in Rome on Friday morning, so instead we met her in Rome Friday afternoon and took a trip to the heel of Italy. The train ride was about 6 hours down to Bari, but we stopped at Ancona, which is a precious little town right on the coast. From Ancona to Bari (which was about 4 hours) we were right along the shoreline the entire time, so the beautiful views made the long train ride well worth it! Once at Bari, we had a very difficult time finding our hostel but eventually found it. It turns out the guys phone was on silent because his dog has cancer and they were in the middle of giving him his daily treatment, something of that sort. The next day we just walked around Bari, not sure exactly what to do considering the only reason we went there is because it was the only place in Italy that had sunshine for the weekend and not rain! It was in the middle 50s and sunny the entire weekend which was such a fantastic change from the 20-30 rainy/snowy Perugia. So we literally spent all day Saturday walking around the town shopping and enjoying the views. It was a pretty little wharf town though! Sunday we grabbed some breakfast and hopped on the train and when we arrived in Perugia it was snowing!
Despite the fact we had no idea what to do in Bari mostly because there were no really toursit attractions (or we didn't know of any at least), we had a very relaxing, warm weekend away from chilly Perugia, which was exactly what I needed!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Another Lazy Weekend in Perugia
Hey all!
So after having a delicious chinese meal on Friday, we went to a friend's apartment to make crepes for dessert and decided to just hang out till about 3 am. There are a lot of neat people here, Italians and americans. Its even neat because we live right next to the University for Foreigners which hosts people from all over the world. Today, we meet some girls from Turkey and the other day I met some girl from Albania. Theres so many different type of people here, I feel like sometimes its hard to find a true local, Italian.
But Saturday we decided to just wake up and head to the train station. Once we got there, Lauren, Leslie, and I just hopped onto the nest train leaving and ended up in Cortona for the day. We tried to walk from the train station to Cortona, but thankfully we decided to ask someone how to get to the main square because it turns out you have to take a 20 minute bus ride from the train station up this huge hill. That would've been quite the walk. Cortona had beautiful views, very similar to Perugia. We arrived during the Pausa so it seemed like it was a ghost town. But we had a cute little lunch and walked up and down the tiny streets looking at the many local antique shops. It was a very fun, relaxing, quiet day. Then once we got back it was my friend Kristen's 21st birthday so took her out to dinner to celebrate.
Lauren, Jane and I were extremely excited for this morning because we thought that we finally figured out this beautiful gothic church had mass in English! Turns out it was false advertisement so we walked into the end of an Italian mass. They told us we were in the wrong church but when we went to the second church that was suppossed to have mass in English, we walked into yet another service. So we just sat through mass in Italian again, but we're determined to find a place that has service in English. After mass we were going to go grocery shopping but EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. Since we took the minimetro to the big grocery store, we figured we should get something while we were down there and went to McDonalds for breakfast :)
But its about 3:40 here and I am meeting some friends for coffee at 4. Italians are very eager to practice their english! Hopefully Ill be watching the Superbowl, but it doesn't air here until midnight, so well see how my homework and if Im even still awake by then :) go steelers! haha miss you all! Take Care!
So after having a delicious chinese meal on Friday, we went to a friend's apartment to make crepes for dessert and decided to just hang out till about 3 am. There are a lot of neat people here, Italians and americans. Its even neat because we live right next to the University for Foreigners which hosts people from all over the world. Today, we meet some girls from Turkey and the other day I met some girl from Albania. Theres so many different type of people here, I feel like sometimes its hard to find a true local, Italian.
But Saturday we decided to just wake up and head to the train station. Once we got there, Lauren, Leslie, and I just hopped onto the nest train leaving and ended up in Cortona for the day. We tried to walk from the train station to Cortona, but thankfully we decided to ask someone how to get to the main square because it turns out you have to take a 20 minute bus ride from the train station up this huge hill. That would've been quite the walk. Cortona had beautiful views, very similar to Perugia. We arrived during the Pausa so it seemed like it was a ghost town. But we had a cute little lunch and walked up and down the tiny streets looking at the many local antique shops. It was a very fun, relaxing, quiet day. Then once we got back it was my friend Kristen's 21st birthday so took her out to dinner to celebrate.
Lauren, Jane and I were extremely excited for this morning because we thought that we finally figured out this beautiful gothic church had mass in English! Turns out it was false advertisement so we walked into the end of an Italian mass. They told us we were in the wrong church but when we went to the second church that was suppossed to have mass in English, we walked into yet another service. So we just sat through mass in Italian again, but we're determined to find a place that has service in English. After mass we were going to go grocery shopping but EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. Since we took the minimetro to the big grocery store, we figured we should get something while we were down there and went to McDonalds for breakfast :)
But its about 3:40 here and I am meeting some friends for coffee at 4. Italians are very eager to practice their english! Hopefully Ill be watching the Superbowl, but it doesn't air here until midnight, so well see how my homework and if Im even still awake by then :) go steelers! haha miss you all! Take Care!
Friday, January 30, 2009
i <3 school
Hey guys!
Yet another school week has passed! It's so crazy how fast time seems to pass here, I can't believe its the weekend again already! The week went smoothly, my quizzes were hopefully good as well! On Thursday, it was a Perugian holiday of their Patron Saint, Constantine, so a lot of people had the day off, but I still had classes. There was a huge open air market in celebration of it so our Italian professor took us down there. It was so neat! They had samples of the famous Perugian pastry, which was pretty neat to learn about. We just walked around the market for about 3 hours inbetween classes and actually spoke with a few locals, it was difficult but super exciting to actually be able to understand some of what they were saying.
Then after classes, I made dinner for the apartment and went salsa dancing again!! It's such a neat experience and some of the dancers were super good, which made me look insanely goofy but oh well!
And! today I had an interview for my internship! I was insanely nervous about making the commitment but after speaking with the teachers today I am so excited I made the decision to do it. I will be working at a local high school. I'll help teach the English class and there are a few students who want one-on-one tutoring because they are taking a certification test on feb 26, so that should be exciting but hard! I hope my english skills are good enough! But what im most excited about is that they might be able to let me teach a biology class! When the teachers found out my major, they were so excited because usually they have students who are English or education majors. But they have to speak with the boss first, so hopefully he approves it!! That would be SO neat!!
Eeek im being yelled at! I have to go, we're doing chinese for dinner tonight, very italian :) miss you all tons!!
Yet another school week has passed! It's so crazy how fast time seems to pass here, I can't believe its the weekend again already! The week went smoothly, my quizzes were hopefully good as well! On Thursday, it was a Perugian holiday of their Patron Saint, Constantine, so a lot of people had the day off, but I still had classes. There was a huge open air market in celebration of it so our Italian professor took us down there. It was so neat! They had samples of the famous Perugian pastry, which was pretty neat to learn about. We just walked around the market for about 3 hours inbetween classes and actually spoke with a few locals, it was difficult but super exciting to actually be able to understand some of what they were saying.
Then after classes, I made dinner for the apartment and went salsa dancing again!! It's such a neat experience and some of the dancers were super good, which made me look insanely goofy but oh well!
And! today I had an interview for my internship! I was insanely nervous about making the commitment but after speaking with the teachers today I am so excited I made the decision to do it. I will be working at a local high school. I'll help teach the English class and there are a few students who want one-on-one tutoring because they are taking a certification test on feb 26, so that should be exciting but hard! I hope my english skills are good enough! But what im most excited about is that they might be able to let me teach a biology class! When the teachers found out my major, they were so excited because usually they have students who are English or education majors. But they have to speak with the boss first, so hopefully he approves it!! That would be SO neat!!
Eeek im being yelled at! I have to go, we're doing chinese for dinner tonight, very italian :) miss you all tons!!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
ROMA!
Hey guys :)
Sorry its been over a week but things are finally starting to turn crazy! Last weekend we went to Roma, left on Friday around 5:30 (unfortunately there ws a train strike from 9-5 :( but we made it to Roma around 8:30. We stayed in this awful, disgusting hostel for 8.50 euro a night, but it was totally nasty. From now on we will be bringing our own pillows and blankets! But three of us went out to a nice long dinner (haha, yes I love the food..) at this quaint little resturant where noone spoke english. It was very relaxing after a long day of traveling/school work. Around 8 am on Saturday we were out the door and ready for a big day. We saw the Colleseum, Palatina, the Forum, the Ruins, the Arc, the Pantheon, the Spainish Stairs, and the Treve Fountain. We stumbled upon this church that looked awful from the outside but was absolutely breathtaking once inside. We spent about 2 hours there in awe. It was amazing. Then three of us went out to a 4 hour dinner (again) while the other 4 just grabbed pizza and went to bed. After a scary cab ride home, we safely arrived at the hostel. The cab driver was incredibly passionate about Obama being President and was extremely upset that my roommate Lauren did not vote democratic, but voted for Mccain. It was the scariest thing, but at teh same time it was really neat to hear a Roman be so passionate about our president. Even during the inaugaration (not sure if I wrote about this already) but we started at a little caffe near our apartment, and they were all completely quiet watching in amazement. This little old lady was crying she was so excited for the world. So we left and went to a pub that was playing it in English so we could understand and there were quite a few locals with American flags and cheering "Yes we can." It was just eye opening to see that we actually do effect the entire world in such a huge way.
But, back to Roma. On Sunday we were out and about around 8 again to go to Vatican City. We attended mass at the main alter!! THe mass was in Latin and they had a full choir, it was fantastic. We then made the hike up to the top of the dome to see the striking views from above and saw the tombs of the Popes below the basilica. We got to see Pope John Paul II tomb, which was goregous. It was quite an emotional day for the three of us as the others split once we said the word mass. But, nonetheless, we all had a great experience seeing and attending mass. After that we had to catch the 3 pm train home and arrived back to Perugia around 7 Sunday night. Overall, it was such an amazing experience and we all want to go back asap, even if it is only to see Vatican City and St. Peters basilica again. I cant believe I was in Roma last weeekend!! The only downfall is that it was raining (and I mean pouring, like monsooning) all day Friday and Saturday, but Sunday was clear, blue skies. :)
As for home, it rained yesterday, as usual, and were into the second full week of classes. I've already written 3 papers (yikes!) and have a quiz tomorrow morning! So they wait no time in throwing you into it all!
My apartment is still the best I've seen around :) There will be pictures soon, I promise! As for now, I have class and another quiz! Can't wait to hear from you all and hope all is well back in the States :) Ciao!
Sorry its been over a week but things are finally starting to turn crazy! Last weekend we went to Roma, left on Friday around 5:30 (unfortunately there ws a train strike from 9-5 :( but we made it to Roma around 8:30. We stayed in this awful, disgusting hostel for 8.50 euro a night, but it was totally nasty. From now on we will be bringing our own pillows and blankets! But three of us went out to a nice long dinner (haha, yes I love the food..) at this quaint little resturant where noone spoke english. It was very relaxing after a long day of traveling/school work. Around 8 am on Saturday we were out the door and ready for a big day. We saw the Colleseum, Palatina, the Forum, the Ruins, the Arc, the Pantheon, the Spainish Stairs, and the Treve Fountain. We stumbled upon this church that looked awful from the outside but was absolutely breathtaking once inside. We spent about 2 hours there in awe. It was amazing. Then three of us went out to a 4 hour dinner (again) while the other 4 just grabbed pizza and went to bed. After a scary cab ride home, we safely arrived at the hostel. The cab driver was incredibly passionate about Obama being President and was extremely upset that my roommate Lauren did not vote democratic, but voted for Mccain. It was the scariest thing, but at teh same time it was really neat to hear a Roman be so passionate about our president. Even during the inaugaration (not sure if I wrote about this already) but we started at a little caffe near our apartment, and they were all completely quiet watching in amazement. This little old lady was crying she was so excited for the world. So we left and went to a pub that was playing it in English so we could understand and there were quite a few locals with American flags and cheering "Yes we can." It was just eye opening to see that we actually do effect the entire world in such a huge way.
But, back to Roma. On Sunday we were out and about around 8 again to go to Vatican City. We attended mass at the main alter!! THe mass was in Latin and they had a full choir, it was fantastic. We then made the hike up to the top of the dome to see the striking views from above and saw the tombs of the Popes below the basilica. We got to see Pope John Paul II tomb, which was goregous. It was quite an emotional day for the three of us as the others split once we said the word mass. But, nonetheless, we all had a great experience seeing and attending mass. After that we had to catch the 3 pm train home and arrived back to Perugia around 7 Sunday night. Overall, it was such an amazing experience and we all want to go back asap, even if it is only to see Vatican City and St. Peters basilica again. I cant believe I was in Roma last weeekend!! The only downfall is that it was raining (and I mean pouring, like monsooning) all day Friday and Saturday, but Sunday was clear, blue skies. :)
As for home, it rained yesterday, as usual, and were into the second full week of classes. I've already written 3 papers (yikes!) and have a quiz tomorrow morning! So they wait no time in throwing you into it all!
My apartment is still the best I've seen around :) There will be pictures soon, I promise! As for now, I have class and another quiz! Can't wait to hear from you all and hope all is well back in the States :) Ciao!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
What a Great First Weekend :)
Ciao !
Theres SO much to tell about the weekend I'm really not sure where to start! Friday we finally got to sleep in which was exactly what we all needed. It was so nice to not have to worry about having any specific agenda! We got up and walked down to a few speciality stores to pick up fresh meat, fish, bread, and cheese. It was fun to just stroll through the town friday afternoon. After lunch, we walked around and looked at all of the local boutiques. And we did run into the newsreporters covering the trial of the murder that happened here last semester. Noone seems too upset about the entire thing. Theres just always a lot of reporters and cars outside of the courthouse. Turns out she was a student at the University of ForI really don't know a lot about it, but there are still alot of individuals protesting the bombings in Gaza. We've already run into a march for peace and today they had a tent set up with a lot of bloody awful pictures. I found it weird to see all of it because I kind of assumed we wouldn't run into any of that being in a small town, but apparently I was wrong. I was talking to an advisor and she said that sometimes professionals will just protest and you'll randomly see a group of doctors marching through the street with their scrubs on - that should be an interesting sight.
Anyways, Friday we just shoppped around and hung out all day. It was a pretty relaxed day of just getting to know each other. But! we stumbled across this delicious bakery where I finally had my first cup of gelato. It was the best gelato ever!! As for Saturday, we decided to head out to Assisi. A group of 8 of us went, which I think we learned is just too big of a group to travel with considering 5 of us stopped every 5 seconds for a picture while the others just wanted to get through it, slightly disappointing. We didn't get to see alot because some girls were really anxious to get back to Perugia. We misread the train times and ended up sitting on the train all alone from 1045-1130. Other than that the traveling went surprisingly well. We only got to see the tomb and basilica of Saint Francesco, but it was absolutely breathtaking. Since it was such a foggy day (which still made for some really neat pictures) we will be heading back for another day trip soon to see Saint Chiara and the beautiful views that we missed. We ate a delicious lunch at a cute little restuarant where I randomly picked a dish and I got egg noodles with tomato sauce - I was slightly disappointed to learn I didn't magically pick veal, but it was a delicious meal.
Today was yet another orientation, but it was the last one! yay! We had to be ready to go at 9 am (yuck) This orientation was through Arcadia University and buses took us out into the countryside. Once we got to this little farm, we learned all about culture and tradition of a typical family farm. We learned how to make pasta, baskets, and how they make olive oil. This area grows over 50 types of olive trees and each individual type has its very own needs. It was neat because the farm is completely self sufficient and we got to eat the pasta that we made earlier in the day! The family made us a four course meal and they were so sweet to us. You could see their passion for their way of life and their pride in their home/business. Turns out the olive oil that they produce was voted number 3 in the entire world! Pretty neat to say the least. After a long day at the farm, we arrived back in town around 6 tonight. It was one long day and everyone slept on the quick busride back.
Tomorrow starts classes but I only have Italian from 1030-12 and Human Development from 145-5 so it should be a pretty easy day (hopefully)! As for now, I have 6 exercises to complete and an essay about myself to write! Miss you all and hope youre staying warm! Ciao :)
PS - it was about 50 degrees again today :)
Theres SO much to tell about the weekend I'm really not sure where to start! Friday we finally got to sleep in which was exactly what we all needed. It was so nice to not have to worry about having any specific agenda! We got up and walked down to a few speciality stores to pick up fresh meat, fish, bread, and cheese. It was fun to just stroll through the town friday afternoon. After lunch, we walked around and looked at all of the local boutiques. And we did run into the newsreporters covering the trial of the murder that happened here last semester. Noone seems too upset about the entire thing. Theres just always a lot of reporters and cars outside of the courthouse. Turns out she was a student at the University of ForI really don't know a lot about it, but there are still alot of individuals protesting the bombings in Gaza. We've already run into a march for peace and today they had a tent set up with a lot of bloody awful pictures. I found it weird to see all of it because I kind of assumed we wouldn't run into any of that being in a small town, but apparently I was wrong. I was talking to an advisor and she said that sometimes professionals will just protest and you'll randomly see a group of doctors marching through the street with their scrubs on - that should be an interesting sight.
Anyways, Friday we just shoppped around and hung out all day. It was a pretty relaxed day of just getting to know each other. But! we stumbled across this delicious bakery where I finally had my first cup of gelato. It was the best gelato ever!! As for Saturday, we decided to head out to Assisi. A group of 8 of us went, which I think we learned is just too big of a group to travel with considering 5 of us stopped every 5 seconds for a picture while the others just wanted to get through it, slightly disappointing. We didn't get to see alot because some girls were really anxious to get back to Perugia. We misread the train times and ended up sitting on the train all alone from 1045-1130. Other than that the traveling went surprisingly well. We only got to see the tomb and basilica of Saint Francesco, but it was absolutely breathtaking. Since it was such a foggy day (which still made for some really neat pictures) we will be heading back for another day trip soon to see Saint Chiara and the beautiful views that we missed. We ate a delicious lunch at a cute little restuarant where I randomly picked a dish and I got egg noodles with tomato sauce - I was slightly disappointed to learn I didn't magically pick veal, but it was a delicious meal.
Today was yet another orientation, but it was the last one! yay! We had to be ready to go at 9 am (yuck) This orientation was through Arcadia University and buses took us out into the countryside. Once we got to this little farm, we learned all about culture and tradition of a typical family farm. We learned how to make pasta, baskets, and how they make olive oil. This area grows over 50 types of olive trees and each individual type has its very own needs. It was neat because the farm is completely self sufficient and we got to eat the pasta that we made earlier in the day! The family made us a four course meal and they were so sweet to us. You could see their passion for their way of life and their pride in their home/business. Turns out the olive oil that they produce was voted number 3 in the entire world! Pretty neat to say the least. After a long day at the farm, we arrived back in town around 6 tonight. It was one long day and everyone slept on the quick busride back.
Tomorrow starts classes but I only have Italian from 1030-12 and Human Development from 145-5 so it should be a pretty easy day (hopefully)! As for now, I have 6 exercises to complete and an essay about myself to write! Miss you all and hope youre staying warm! Ciao :)
PS - it was about 50 degrees again today :)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
first week of classes...DONE!
Heya!
I finished the first week of classes today around 3! The intensive Italian week is over and I took a placement test around 9 am this morning. Our last "field trip" was to go to the supermarket today. We had to take a mini metro down to the bottom of the hill. Its cute because the mini metro is only a year old and all of the locals are extremely proud of it. Its literally this little tiny box on rails that takes you up and down the hill that Perugia is built around and the bottom of the hill is modern! I didn't even recognize it as the antique town of Perugia! Anyways, we got to the "Big Coop" It looks exactly like your typical Krogers, which was somewhat sad but somewhat comforting all at the same time. Since we learned how to order meat, cheese, fish, bread and such I wanted to put my skills to good use and I actually had a conversation with the cheese lady! We understood eachother and I didn't even point! I was so excited afterwards my friends wont stop making fun of the huge smile on my face. Oh well, it was the neatest thing ever!!
But its now the weekend, and we're all so excited to actually be able to sleep in tomorrow! It should be interesting to see when we wake up.. ha. But i think we're going to take it easy this weekend and explore the nooks and crannies of Perugia, head to the open air market, and then day trip to Assisi, which is about 30 minutes by rail. I cant wait to start traveling out of Italy either!!
On another note, last night one of my roommates, Lauren, and I just realized that we are in the same sorority, it was the oddest discovery ever!! What are the chances!! Everything is still going well (which is great because ive only been here 6 days.. haha) but its so neat that my roommates and I get along SO well, We're all incredibly different! And Perugia is still as beautiful as the first time I saw it :) and just because I can rub it in, it was about 48 degrees F today :) Only downside is that it keeps spitting rain at least once a day, but no down pours, just a little drizzle here and there and the locals freak out and get out their ponchos, umbrellas, rainboots, EVERYTHING! While all the Americans are like wow, this is nothing haha
Anyways, I think Im going to head out to meet some friends for salsa dancing :) but keep up the emails!! i love getting them!! miss you guys SO much and hope all is well back home! Ciao!!
I finished the first week of classes today around 3! The intensive Italian week is over and I took a placement test around 9 am this morning. Our last "field trip" was to go to the supermarket today. We had to take a mini metro down to the bottom of the hill. Its cute because the mini metro is only a year old and all of the locals are extremely proud of it. Its literally this little tiny box on rails that takes you up and down the hill that Perugia is built around and the bottom of the hill is modern! I didn't even recognize it as the antique town of Perugia! Anyways, we got to the "Big Coop" It looks exactly like your typical Krogers, which was somewhat sad but somewhat comforting all at the same time. Since we learned how to order meat, cheese, fish, bread and such I wanted to put my skills to good use and I actually had a conversation with the cheese lady! We understood eachother and I didn't even point! I was so excited afterwards my friends wont stop making fun of the huge smile on my face. Oh well, it was the neatest thing ever!!
But its now the weekend, and we're all so excited to actually be able to sleep in tomorrow! It should be interesting to see when we wake up.. ha. But i think we're going to take it easy this weekend and explore the nooks and crannies of Perugia, head to the open air market, and then day trip to Assisi, which is about 30 minutes by rail. I cant wait to start traveling out of Italy either!!
On another note, last night one of my roommates, Lauren, and I just realized that we are in the same sorority, it was the oddest discovery ever!! What are the chances!! Everything is still going well (which is great because ive only been here 6 days.. haha) but its so neat that my roommates and I get along SO well, We're all incredibly different! And Perugia is still as beautiful as the first time I saw it :) and just because I can rub it in, it was about 48 degrees F today :) Only downside is that it keeps spitting rain at least once a day, but no down pours, just a little drizzle here and there and the locals freak out and get out their ponchos, umbrellas, rainboots, EVERYTHING! While all the Americans are like wow, this is nothing haha
Anyways, I think Im going to head out to meet some friends for salsa dancing :) but keep up the emails!! i love getting them!! miss you guys SO much and hope all is well back home! Ciao!!
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