Ciao Perugia!

Last post...

2009-04-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

Strange as it is, but this may be my last post.
Obviously, no post length can accurately describe how the past four months have been. To borrow from Gabby, this experience was everything and nothing like how I thought it was going to be.

I hadn't set any certain goals for myself before leaving, but I can think of a bunch I have completed.
-I was able to immerse myself (probably could have done even more) in a foreign culture
-I learned to think like the people I lived with
-I experienced the country and the culture in the best way possible, and traveled
-Wandered beyond my comfort zone in a million different ways
-Met people that I know I will remain in touch with for years and years

There are others I'm probably forgetting, and there are probably mistakes and errors I made that somehow changed my experience. But all things considered, this has been one of the most jam packed 4 months of my life, hands down.

It's weird to think that in less than 48 hours, I will be on a plane to return home, yet will probably feel like a stranger in my own country at first.
To be honest, I am a little scared to come back. Not because I don't want to, but because I have really lived in Perugia, and because of this, it feels a little like leaving my home. It will be strange not to have Sara to share a room and a late night conversation with, to find Caitlin to discuss the finer points of Scrubs and the Office but to also have a life chat with, to count on Gabby to meet me whenever and wherever for a cafe and a discussion of the amazingness of where we are.

So I bid you a final ciao, I may add some final photos tomorrow of the last week and half. But in case I don't, I have to say that I enjoyed having this blog a lot, definitely an outlet and a way to show all the pictures and amazing people I've been able to spend this time with.

A presto....

Ravenna, land of mosaics

2009-04-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Driving through Le Marche and up to Emiliana-Romagna!

Delicious lunch in the main piazza.

Courtyard of the main church...will get back about the names.

Absolutely stunning. the pictures don't do it justice in the least.

The colors are just that vibrant. Insane!

They still had time to make a huge fresco on the ceiling after the enormous mosaics..
Those crazy Byzantines!

The mausoleum...and on the inside:

A thousand mosaic stars!

When you walk in, you have to adjust your eyes and the ceiling actually glitters just like in this picture!

A Ravennese cat!

Underwater...something? Perhaps used to be a mausoleum, and then now filled with water with fishies!

Dante Alighieri's tomb! He was exiled from Firenze, and then came to Ravenna.

And because the Fiorentines felt guilty, they still pay for the oil that supplies the eternal flame at Dante's tomb.

More mosaic..

Famous mosaic, with at the top the 'hand of God' poking out of the sky.

Roma...vuoi sposarmi?

2009-04-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

The street by our hostel!

Piazza della Repubblica! (with another stolen Egyptian column)

The TREVI FOUNTAIN!!!!!

The beautiful, beautiful forum of Rome. Where I want to live. Forever.

My new home!

Colosseo. Ah. Amazing.

Roman Holiday!

2009-04-19T05:38:00.000-07:00

I will never get over the palm trees in this country.

Sun starting to set..

Palm tree and St. Peter's Basilica!

A swiss guard...what amazing outfits :-)

Our breakfast nook!!

Piazza Navona...and a column that the Romans stole from the Egyptians...oops.

My only stalker picture of the trip!

The market!!

Spices, spices and SPICES!!

An old ruins area which is used as a shelter for abandoned cats...literally, there were TONS of them.

When in Roma....

2009-04-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

A little Italian pride..

THE COLOSSEUM!!!

Jocelyn had to be put in a timeout while in the forum.

The largest arch (I think) of the forum.

So pretty (my little italian guy moment)

Beautiful piazza we passed on the way home

Italians and their lock obsession. You lock it with your love interest, and throw the key away! They are all over gates and fences and bridges and fountains.

Pantheon!
Old Colosseum steps.. amazing how old they are, think of the people who have walked on them.

The stairs on the wall were amazing to me...pretty much Rome in general was mind bloggling to me.

Avventure Romane

2009-04-19T05:11:00.001-07:00

Finally! Some real Romans!!

Colosseo! Where they kept the fighters and the animals and everything. So much history...its staggering how much history you're in the presence of.

The FORUM!!!!

My macro masterpiece. Colosseo in the background!!

"I love you from here...to the end of the earth...once again here...for eternity".

People just relaxing on a beautiful Sunday in Roma.

Flowers and balcony..so Italy.

Can you believe this is Roma!?!?

Trastevere region (the area that the North End was modeled after)

Hehe...

Beautiful street in Trastevere.

Jocelyn, wanting to have it on record that she had ice cream in the Pope's front yard.

SWISS GUARD!!!

Lecce: the legend continues but is coming to an end...

2009-04-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

Our last evening wandering around (killing time before our 10:30 pm overnight train)

This amazing fagottino (my own personal culinary adventure): pizza dough basically with tomato, cheese, spices....

Our beautiful street and door at night...we were sad (heartbroken really) to leave.

My could-be-better panorama. Greece see?! White washed buildings and water and boats..

Our delicious Otranto lunch, with CALAMARI!!! (culinary adventure number five)

Otranto bay!

Me and Monica in the Adriatic!!

Beautiful Adriatic waves..

Goodbye Lecce!

Monica! Starved...and made her pose despite it.

SO BLUE!

Pretty flowers

The coast, rocky and then becomes full blown cliffs (like the Amalfi! said an Otranto citizen..)

Me and Monica :-)

Lecce: but wait, there's more?!

2009-04-19T04:35:00.000-07:00

Culinary adventure number four: the best bruschetta of our lives and the best white wine of our lives. So good and amazing...I cant even describe. The secret (I think): red wine vinegar instead of balsamic! PHENOMENAL!!

More detail was needed to convey the magic.

Absolutely destroyed it :-)

Word to the wise: don't drive into the water.

Beautiful anchor, view into the water...ah I miss it.

Our much needed AM coffee.

Beautiful..it made me think of Greece even though I've never been.

The fort piazza, if you can call it that. They even had canons!!

Puglian lizards!

Sea blue...hm!!

Lecce: the neighboring towns strike back

2009-04-19T04:11:00.000-07:00

Main street again!

Culinary adventure number three: Arancini. Delicious balls of rice with tomato sauce and cheese and ham on the inside, breaded and fried. Yummmmmm.

View from the train on the way to Otranto!

The beach front walk in Otranto!

The bay...so clear. So pretty.

The secret ampitheatre of Lecce!

Another Lecce church facade.

Fields on the way to Gallipoli!

Piazza in front of the Gallipoli train station.

The harbor, all the fishermen were back with their daily catches. Oh how I have missed seafood...

Our bench in a Lecce park where we sat and took in the sun and summer-y weather. Everybody was still wearing winter jackets and scarves...crazy!!

More park.

Antique market, they had everything from jewelry to furniture to old postcards from the '30s!

Lecce-an balcony!

Lecce ampitheatre, take 2!

Lecce: the sequel

2009-04-19T04:03:00.000-07:00

The flowers were so colorful and it just felt like a tropical paradise.

My pride and joy palm tree picture!

Last flower picture..

Oops haha just kidding. But they were so pretty!

They sold chipmunks at the market! I wanted to buy this one. But I had no place to put it :-(

This was a huge church and I couldn't fit it all in the picture no matter what angle I tried.

Oh well there you go! Better picture of it..

Second culinary adventure: pasticciotto. Pastry/shortbread crust, inside a mountain of pastry cream. Ate one and am pretty much set for life.

Detail of the custard madness. Oy.

Piazza where we had breakfast!!

Lecce continued...

2009-04-19T03:54:00.000-07:00

At night everything glows! All that crazy limestone...

Beautiful duomo piazza.

The night sky is actually that color blue.

Yet another small alley shot.

The sheer amount of palm trees was insane.

It looks almost unreal, the colors and the shapes of the buildings.

Culinary adventure number one: Rustico. Mozzarella, beschamel sauce and tomatoes in a puff pastry. Absolutely ridiculous.

The main street!

:-)

One of the many palm tree pictures I had to take...

Lecce!!!

2009-04-19T03:40:00.001-07:00

Monica trying to take a picture of the rolling countryside

Our front door in our awesome street!!

Our street!!!

Inside of Lecce's main duomo.

The nifty Duomo ceiling

Lecce and Rome

2009-04-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

Biggest updates tripwise: Lecce and Roma.
So, we find ourselves here with a small week of break. obviously...we must do something. I had kind of wanted to stay around here and chill, but unfortunately the weather looked bad. Friends were going to Sicily, but the last minute planning made a big group impractical so all'improviso...monica and I decide: to Lecce we go!!! Hostelworld, last minute calculations, a packed bag and a 5 am wake up later, we were on the train at 7 am to go down to Lecce, which is in the Puglia region of Italy (the heel of the boot).
We arrive at the station and are picked up by the owners of the B&B we booked. At first-mildly sketchy, but they took us to the little room which was in the centro storico, really beautiful and cool in temperature (it was hot) and super comfy beds, a big kitchen and bathroom. Absolutely glorious, and only a couple minutes from the center!
Bags get dropped off, a change of outfit and we were off! We walked and walked, and Lecce is absolutely beautiful. It's made of limestone, so it glows at night. Everyone goes for their afternoon/early evening passeggiata, so the streets are full of people enjoying gelato and snacks. Our first stop was a bakery where we bought a rustico, which is a puff pastry with mozzarella, beschamel sauce and tomatoes. A recommendatino from a Leccian here in Perugia...it was absolutely delicious. We wanted to keep eating it till we couldn't eat no mo'. We then decided that it would be smart to eat at home (risparmiare some soldi) so we made some soup and tortellini and ate while watching our tiny but perfectly placed (across the bed) tv. We planned our next two days, and basically passed out.
The next morning, up and out the door around 8:30, and off to our next adventure: breakfast, including another local recommendation, pasticcioto. So this monstrosity ended up being a shell in the shape of a boat of a buttery, shortbread but with a little more taste dough, and inside...more pastry custard then should ever be in one location. Half of mine broke and fell on the plate and it sounded like a huge *thump*. Clearly feeling the need to walk it off, we headed out and around Lecce. A BEAUTIFUL city, and it was SO warm out (pictures will soon follow). We had lunch at an osteria which was so good I can't even explain. The best eggplant lasagna/parm thing I have ever had and the BEST panna cotta in the world. The afternoon, we wanted to go to Gallipoli, a city on the Ionian Sea, and basically it's own small island (at least the old center). We arrived two minutes after the train had left...and had already convalidated our tickets. After much discussion, we decided to still go for the small hour and a half we would have had (waste not a ticket). While waiting, we discovered (slash were told) about this old, small roman ampitheatre that almost nobody knows about, and took many a picture. Then we hopped on to Gallipoli which was beautiful. The water was crystal clear, and buildings white washed, it looked like Greece! We stumbled back home, absolutely exhausted and dined on wonderful arancini and pizza and rustici.
Because Lecce is small, we had finished walking around the majority and decided to spend our last day (thursday the...2nd of april) in Otranto, on the Adriatic Sea. It was AMAZING. the water was even blue-er, and it was sunny and hot and awesome. We ate the best bruschetta of our lives along with the best glass of white wine of our lives, and then ate FRIED CALAMARI, which we miss because: Umbria (and therefore Perugia) is landlocked and we don't trust their seafood. We left there around 5:30, and had a couple hours left in Lecce. We then took our 10:30 overnight train (were driven there by our two hosts who are super nice, and if you need to stay in Lecce CALL THEM La Piazzetta B&B), with a 4 am stop in Ancona and arrived in Perugia (after a missed train at Foligno...grr) at 9:40. Then it was off the house, a re-packing of the backpack (which may or may not have included many recycled clothes), quick school meeting and then on the 1:40 train to ROMA!!!!

Arrival in Roma at around 5, quick hop to the subway (it made me SO happy to be on a subway again. I miss you, T) and arrival at the hostel with plenty of time to walk around before Jocelyn arrived. Quick change into more euro-appropriate attire, and then walked off in the direction of the Pope's house! Very impressive, the piazza is really beautiful and very pleasingly designed, with the big columns and the big boulevard leading up to it. I wandered across the bridge and up the river, got a little lost among the side streets and wounded up back by the hostel and hopped into a pasta restaurant where they served me possibly the largest single serving of pasta I have yet to see. Jocelyn then arrived around 10 and we were both so tired, so bedtime was early.
However, up and out by 9:30 on saturday (a delicious breakfast was supplied...they had warm milk in a thermos!!!) and we walked non stop for 13 hours. Our feet HATED us with a firey passion. The pictures I will post will show our travels. We found a cute place to eat at night, and went to bed fairly early because the next day was going to be just as long.
Sidenote: I want to live, actually physically reside in the forum. It was my favorite place by far, and I am dying to move into one of the old houses or just build a fort among the ruins and live there forever. Couldn't believe that the Via Sacra, the only cobblestone street there which is still left, was walked on by Ceasar, Anthony and Cleopatra (and me!!). It was so beautiful. Also: took pictures of a Polish travelling group who all decided my camera skills were good enough, so ended up takign the same picture basically 20 times. They then decided me and Jocelyn deserved kisses to thank us, so after many a cheek-kiss later, they told us if we were every in Poland, we should stop by. Will do.
Sunday we walked around for a less impressive 8 hours (pictures again will show) and we did the Colosseum!! Which I loved, couldn't get over that you could still see the steps that people walked on centuries ago.
Basically: Roma is amazing, and Lecce is amazing. Lecce has a landscape that is insane, olive groves as far as the eye can see, white sand beaches and cliffs, and the perfect place to camp and spend all your time outdoors. Roma is Roma, it's just too great to describe.

Pictures will be added to explain my excitement, as will updates on visiting Ravenna (home of the mosaics!).
Sorry for the lazy-ness. Hopefully it's over!
A presto,
-Chloe

Long time no post!

2009-04-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

So I may have been neglecting my blog..but the good news is that I have ceased to procrastinate, and I have many wonderful things to write about.
Here is a piccolo list of things I will be writing about in the coming 24 hours (hopefully):
-vacation to Lecce with Monica
-weekend in Roma with Jocelyn
-day trip to Spoleto with Gabby, Justyna and Arek
-final class dinner
-saying goodbye to all the Erasmus students
-visits from people
-spring finally arriving!
-horseback riding by Lago Trasimeno

Although in my defense...my computer charger died, and it took two weeks to receive the new one which meant that I couldn't get my pictures from my camera to my computer...maybe not a completely good excuse but that's all I have :-(

But its all over!
Sidenote: if you have neighborhood food drives or Red Cross type funds for the earthquake in Abruzzo, please donate! The Italian government is being a little shady about the outside help they will accept (if any) but hopefully if there are funds they will take it!

More soon. Promise!
A presto!!

The last couple dias.

2009-03-05T03:59:00.000-08:00

Since last update...last week was it? Nothing terribly new, just enjoying being back in Perugia and enjoying the city. Last week was gorgeous weather, and on Saturday I took Justyna and Roberto to the open air market a little ways outside of Perugia. Afterwards we met Monica, Amanda and Gabby and bought tiramisu (which, I realized yesterday, literally means 'pick me up') and ate it on the duomo steps. it was so warm, almost t-shirt weather! We then went to the round church that has a lawn in the front, and lounged around and did nothing for hours, under the sun. It was perfect.
That night we went to Urban, a discoteca that was having a sort of band night, where we listened to three different groups play rock type stuff. I loved it, it was a welcomed change, since usually they only play techno in discotecas (which is nice too..but sometimes enough is enough). Sunday was a quiet and rainy day, spent lounging around, studying and doing homework. This week is Roberto's last week, so we're spending a lot of time with him. Yesterday we went to his chorus concert, where a lot of other of our classmates were singing. It was soooooo good, we never wanted it to be over! They sang Amazing Grace, but also songs by Puccini, as well as three songs from les choristes, 'cerf volant' 'vois sur ton chemin' and another. They sounded so good, and everybody got flowers at the end.
Afterwards we went to Dal Mi' Cocco, a typical Perugian restaurant with a fixed menu. Tons and tons of food, I can't even describe. It was delicious though, tonight we're having dinner together and then singing karaoke. Haha, it will be awesome. Also very sad, because our little group gets a long so well, and with Roberto leaving..it's like the child is leaving to go off on his own, we all felt like the family going to watch their first grader sing last night! All in a loving way of course.
This weekend is also going to be a quiet one most likely, tomorrow Caitlin and I will go to a museum and then dinner while Gabby and Sara go skiing.
Here are some pictures!!
Lounging around.

Urban!!

Ok last batch...before the firenze ones.

2009-02-25T02:37:00.000-08:00

confetti shot!!

elton john was in venezia too!

a joker.

San Marco at sunset

one of my favorites :-)

Another of my favorites

Want some more??

2009-02-25T02:34:00.000-08:00

a mob!
unlike any church i've seen.

san marco...there were a lot of people.

amazing.

the best breakfast i've ever had, a little ways from our apartment, on the water. absolute bliss.

Venezia again...

2009-02-25T02:28:00.000-08:00

and the costumes begin..

no words.

Ponte Rialto

More Venezia

2009-02-25T02:24:00.000-08:00

so beautiful :-)

gondolas!!

i love the front doors that are right on the water.

a beautiful canal.

the night we arrived! this is across the train station.

Pictures!!!!!

2009-02-25T02:15:00.000-08:00

one of the tons of mask displays

our open front door. that is literally why i couldn't describe how amazing the apartment was.

Caitlin and her amazing photo editing ways.

The roomies again! Me, Sara, Caitlin and Gabby in our fabulous masks.

A Tale of Two Cities

2009-02-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

So it has been a long long while since I have last updated.
I will try to address everything in order (because i get ocd about these things) and then tomorrow will come the massive pictures.
First: last update was coming back from Florence. I left on saturday morning with roomate gabby, and friend monica and our other two friends justina and roberto and justina's boyfriend. we arrived 11 ish or so, and got breakfast and put our stuff in the hostel (which was AMAZING). we were 6, so we shared two big 3 bed-rooms and had a shared bathroom. it was extremely clean and basically hotel like. we walked around ALL day, hit up the leather and open air market. i wasn't planning on buying anything, but you know how those italian vendors are..i got a jacket and a bag and a scarf. the jacket was thanks to friends who came in the store with me and basically bartered for me and got the price way way down. from there we made our way to the duomo, which was spectacular as usual. we climbed all the way up the campanile, where we got magnificent panoramas and views on the entire city. the weather was crystal clear and warm, honestly could not have asked for a better day. we walked all the way across the city to the ponte vecchio, which was beautiful. on the monument on the ponte, there is a gate where people attach locks as a symbol of love, and since it was valentines day...there were a lot. we saw a couple attach one, say something, and then close their eyes and throw the key backwards into the Arno (i think its that river).
At night we went to have dinner at a restaurant by the ponte, which wasn't super good but we had a really good time chatting and laughing and reliving the day. saturday night we got wine and had a quiet night at the hotel chitchatting some more, learning some polish (justina and areg). we were very tired from walking around all day, but sunday morning we did it all over again, this time carrying our bags with us (check out was at 10:30). we walked the market again (open 7 days!!) and this time went past the Uffizi where the Davide by Michelangelo, we didn't go in because the line was an hour and a half long of wait. we walked up the side of the river, and up to another beautiful church and piazza (where those four boys were, busy being italian). more walking around, and then we headed home around 6 or so, got into perugia around 8 and immediately went to a pizza place to buy ourselves our own personal pizzas. it was an absolutely amazing and fun weekend, Firenze is really a unique city.

the following week (last week) was nice, it was quiet, on wednesday we had Tandem again, and went to aperitivo for it which was nice as always. talked a lot with an italian girl named Marisa who Gabby had previously met, we are planning a dinner soon because we both love to cook. Much of the week was spent in anticipation for Venezia.
It finally happened, thursday at 11 we all ran from school to catch our 12:17 train headed to Firenze and then Venezia.

So Venezia...gosh there are no words to describe Venezia, and even less to describe Venezia during Carnevale. I had been once before during a senior year exchange, but this time was just a thousand times different/better/intense. It was completely indescribable. Let's start with the arrival: we get to the train station, and we just see hordes of people outside. I see water, and my first thought is aw cute there's a fountain in the piazza by the train station! but no...its the canal (obviously). we find our vaporetto station, get a ticket, and take it down to Zattere, our 'neighborhood' if you will. we get off, walk right along the canal and get to our apartment. this apartment was ridiculous. it was RIGHT on the water, you open the front door, and a yard and half from it is the water. it was like having your own boardwalk and view of the ocean. the apartment had a huge kitchen/living area/dining room area, with couches, tables and a tv. there were two rooms for two people in each, and TWO FULL BATHROOMS!! the couches in the living room were beds, so me and gabby slept there and the other girls got the rooms. it was so nice having an apartment to come home to, you can't even realize.
immediately upon arrival, Monica, Gabby, Sara and I went out to walk around. our neighborhood was quiet, but as we got towards the center we found that every little piazza was filled with these mini 'raves', people in costume having a good time and dancing to people who brought huge stereos or had brought instruments and were banging away at them. it was phenomenal, and only got us more excited for the next few days. we headed home not too late because we wanted to have a full day on friday.
Friday morning we got up early and were out the door by 8:30. We just explored and explored and explored, walked absolutely everywhere. we wandered the streets near us, crossed to the main island, and got to st marks which was full but not too full. we walked down the walkway by San Marco's, where we stopped and got a cafe and enjoyed the view and the SUNSHINE. we had bought masks, and decided to put them on. they were barely on our faces when this barcelonian girl asks for a picture with us! needless to say it made us feel very happy/authentic. after cafe we took a vaporetto to Murano, where the blown glass is made. we got a free demonstration of glass blowing (very impressive) and then walked around Murano, which is a very cute residential island. it is different from Venezia proper, but has a lot of the same feel. the architecture on all parts of the island is clearly influenced by the middle east (Venezia having been a stop on the silk road). the houses have middle eastern windows with cool curves and really nice shapes and colors. in addition, everywhere you looked there were people dressed up in elaborate costumes, usually in pairs, with magnificent colors and ribbons and lace and masks. that took up so much time, seeing a splash of color in the corner of your eye and running towards it before it disappeared into the crowds. after murano we took the vaporetto home, which itself is like a mini tour. Friday night we all had dinner at home, and headed out all masked up to experience the streets of Venezia during Carnevale. we found a piazza full of people that had a band playing what I felt was authentic Brasilian style carnevale music. there were saxophones, drum set, a bell, whistles and big drums (the kind slung around your back). the music was great, and we danced for a long time.
After crashing at home, we woke up saturday morning ready to go again. This time when we got to San Marco...the hordes of people we hadn't seen on friday had all of a sudden landed. there were so many people i can't even convey the sheer masses in any way. the pictures tomorrow will explain it all :-) me and Sara walked down the San Marco walkway again, and got panini and sat in a sun filled piazza. the weather was gorgeous, and everybody was sitting and soaking up the sun and just enjoying life. Something I love about Venezia is the feeling of absolute joy and happiness in the air. it seemed like the air was saturated with a joie de vivre which is missing from a lot of places in the world. We then walked all the way to the other side of the Venezia island, from which we could see Murano and the Cimetero, the island which is entirely a cemetery (brings to mind Pere LaChaise). We were exhausted, and after a while headed home. We had dinner at a restaurant just a little ways from our apartment, and then Monica, Gabby, Caitlin and I headed to Piazza Margherita just around the corner, where it seems the Venetian italians go. mostly a bunch of crazy kids running around and having fun, we got accosted by so many who saw we were obviously tourists, but for the most part they were all really nice. We learned some Veneto! (dialect). here goes: 'sta festa ze bea (questa festa e bella) and mi stago ai zattere (i'm from zattere or i live in zattere). it was loads of fun, confetti was EVERYWHERE (it's still in my pant pockets, bags and boots). Sunday morning we got up a little big later, and headed back to Margherita to see how the damage of the night before had been cleaned (they have cleaning crews on standby, literally, who work all night to make the piazza clean again). we got pastries at a really cute pasticceria (where we all found our dream man, a very cute pastry chef/apprentice. i mean really: cute, venetian AND a pastry chef?!?!?! could it be real?!?!). by then it was time to go home, we packed the bags and headed off to the train station, leaving beautiful Venezia behind...
of course me blabbing about Venezia doesn't really represent how beautiful it was, so tomorrow definitely will come all the pictures.

I miss Venezia :-(
But next stop: Roma questo weekend!!!!

Velocissimo update-o

2009-02-16T01:55:00.000-08:00

This is a velocissimo update only because there are a couple pictures i need to put up from the weekend. I went to Firenze with Gabby, Monica and three friends Roberto, Giustina and her boyfriend Areg -sorry if i spelled it wrong :-(.
Being in Firenze for Valentines Day was awesome, and everything went really well, and the market...well. I will post up pictures very soon. However, there are two pictures that must be put up. One is of a panorama taken from the top of the campanile of the huge Duomo, and the second is a picture of a group of four italians, who were just standing in a piazza looking at a puppet show. but they sum up the entirety of why this country is awesome.
Enjoy :-)

First panorma.

this is why i love this country. the style, the look, the casual stance, the ridiculous fashion forwardness..how do they do it?! it's so overwhelming.

Ridiculous weather

2009-02-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

So. Yesterday morning we woke to fog. complete fog, it was like being in the clouds. then, while leaving class at 5, it was beautiful and sunny, with the beginnings of a really pretty sunset. i walk into the internet point, and an hour and a half later, emerge to go home.
it was hailing. and not kinda hailing, COMPLETELY hailing. the balls of ice are as big as m&ms, and while me and gabby run for cover, i start getting concerned my umbrella will get holes blown straight through it. we hide under an arch for a bit, and during a lull in the hail intensity, we venture out a couple feet, only to be pelted once again by a torrential downpour of hail. now, it takes all our strength and tact to get back up the two steps, because the hail has now made a layer of ice balls that threaten to make both of us fall down the street steps and crumple at the bottom into the middle of a busy intersection.
but, we make it back to the arch, and after a couple minutes, we leave again. we walk down a street which happens to be one way and very very narrow. a bus comes by, and we start to think oh no. its over. we escaped the hail, the thunder storm, and now we are going to get squashed against a wall. we squish ourselves against the wall as much as possible, when the bus reaches us, stops, and the (very cute) driver says something to us. we dont really understand, but wander over to the opposite side of the street, where the bus stops and opens the doors. YAY!
so we hop on. the driver and his (very cute) friend make small talk, where are you from, etc etc. but me and gabby are so frazzled we dont even comprehend whats going on, we just say oh we need to get off at this street here please! and the bus stops, and we hop off into the hail and rain (that had in the meantime decided to start again). then me and gabby look at eachother and realized how we majorly failed the last 15 minutes of our lives. not only two ragazzi talk to us, but the driver stopped the bus in the street solely to pick us up. needless to say, we were very upset by our failure.
and today, we wake up to a gorgeous day. me and caitlin ate lunch on the steps, and while getting ready to pack up, the sky gets pitch black, and we hear rumblings. and then it started to snow and sleet. and here we are now, getting sleeted/snowed on.

all it made me feel really, was miss new england. i miss the snow! i miss leaving the house in the morning with boots and a t-shirt and getting snowed on in the afternoon.
anyways. hopefully the next bus experience will be better (and hopefully no more hail. it hurts)

bacci!
-chloe

continuation...

2009-02-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

SO.Major updates to be done.Chronologically, here it goes: Wednesday we had another Tandem meeting, where I met a really nice guy named Simone, who taught me basically every historical anything about Italy. We discussed the Mafia, how the French have way more in common with Italy (then both would like to admit. For example- the Italians must give the French props for their flag. HA.) and other interesting things, such as dialects. He is from Pulia, and to say 'Andiamo' its something like...um. 'something something amazone'. I'll ask him again so that my story is a little better than that.Then Gabby the roomie met a really nice girl who invited us to aperitivo at her house that evening, and we met her roomates and a couple friends. We talked for hours, they were extremely nice, and I'm sure they are people we will see again. All in all, a very very good day.Thursday class, which was magical (as always), and then that evening Chiara (italian roomie) invited us to go to dinner with her and her friend at this nightclub/cafe place called Velvet. We dressed up really nice, because at this place, you will get stared down if you dress even slightly casual. We got there, and eventually (around 11) the place got full and busy and turned into a night club. it was ALOT of fun, they played lots of good songs and it was really nice to spend time with Chiara. She had just finished some exams and gotten 25 and 27 (both out of 30) on them, so it was time to celebrate.Friday...we went to the Baci factory! Yes, I imagine most of you are mad because you think that the experience was lost on me (being a chocolate factory and all) but it wasn't. It was very cool to see, and I took extra care in enjoying the moment just for all of your sakes. We got TONS, and i literally mean it, TONS of free chocolate. You could just grab handfuls. We watched a documentary on the Bacione, which is in the Guiness book of world records for largest chocolate (weighing in at 6000 kilos). Ew. I mean...delicious! Friday night was a quiet one.Saturday I went to Gubbio, a little medieval town an hour from Perugia with Gabby, Sara and two friends Giustina (polish) and Roberto (chilean). It was a lot of fun, and many pictures will ensue.My ramblings about everything in italy looking like something out of LOTR is officially justified: not only did Gubbio look like Minas Tirith (as did Assisi) but there was also Rivendell, Bilbo's house in Hobbiton, the tree from Minas Tirith AND....a license plate that said 'Orc'. My life is complete.

plans for the future: Firenze saturday to sunday, and next week....VENEZIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bisous!

-chloe

Gubber-town, Rivendell and a really, really fat cat

2009-02-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

ok so my extremely long and detailed post of my excursions of the past week was deleted because the internet stinks. but here are some pictures! the long ramble will be added tomorrow.

Orc. enough said.

Bilbo's house.

RIVENDELL!!

The tree from Minas Tirith.

The largest cat on the face of the earth.

My happy latte macchiato.

MINAS TIRITH.

Veni, Vidi, Vici

2009-02-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

I've survived a month so far while acknowledging that the french and italians have a mutual dislike for eachother. The italians always make a snobby face when the french are mentioned, and then when I say that I'm in fact french, they pretend they have no problem with it. However my mad italian skills paired with my italian heritage paired that I have the last name to prove it makes them calm down.
This mutual co-existence came crashing down last night. The roomates and friends from class and I went to a pub called 'Downtown' (I thought, when I was told we were going downtown, that were going into downtown Perugia-wherever that was). Out of curiosity, I asked the bartender if he knew what pastis was. He said no, and I described that it was kind of like sambuca, but not as sweet. He started listing sambuca like brands, some were Greek, others Turk etc. But then he asks me where pastis hails from...and I inform him. France.
An eye roll. A slight head shake. A shrug. This meant war. I wasn't letting this one go. I'd put up with that one too many times.
"So what about the french? What's wrong with that?"
"All they have is good wine" (which, I will point out, is INSANE that an Italian would concede that the French had good wine)
"Oh, just wine? We have excellent wine, champagne, cheese and pastries and PASTIS."
"We have cheese too. Do you guys have Parmeggiano?"
"No. But you don't have brie or camembert or good swiss. So...what now?"

More head shaking, and yes I was getting pretty worked up. I love both the Italians and the French, why can't people just humor me and pretend they love my other country? Honestly. The bartender himself said that sambuca was too sweet and syrupy, so now that I've talked the talk..I have to walk the walk and somehow get him to try pastis and award me the official victory of Pastis v. Sambuca in which the home team wins.

HO VINTO. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

More Assisi

2009-02-02T04:15:00.000-08:00

Here is more Assisi, as promised:

I liked this because it looked like those two people were perched on the edge of an abyss (or a huge cliff, whichever).

Totally not an accidental choice of colors.

3/4 of the roomies!

This panorama is thanks to Caitlin and her wonderful photo stitching skills (Stephan-read my camera manual and tell me how to do that!!)

In other equally exciting news...we have booked an apartment for Venezia for the carnevale. The apartment is for 6 people, and it has a kitchen and it is right on the water. At first we all thought we'd stay in Perugia for the carnevale festivities, but when we started looking up Venezia...it didn't help that I had gone previously for carnevale, and some of my best memories of Italy are from the carneval. So it's official: we are all going!! Next up: finding a memory stick with enough space to hold the enormous amount of pictures I will take.

This week looks to be a rainy one, hopefully we can make Deruta or another little town on Saturday, and on Thursday we are planning to go to an authentic Perugian restaurant. We went to a restaurant called da Caeserino on Friday and it was absolutely delicious (and cheap!).

A presto tutti!!

Technology...

2009-02-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

The internet is sadly not cooperating right now so I will have to continue picture posting tomorrow.
Hope you enjoyed Assisi so far!!

Assisi pictures!

2009-02-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

Chiesa St. Anna sopra Minerva. Originally a church for Minerva, a Catholic one was built over it (notice the greek-ish columns). Check that story though...my world history is rusty.

The backyard of one of the (many) churches.

Beautiful :-)
Notice the random four cars parked perpendicular to every. other. car.

Assisi

2009-02-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

FINALLY WENT TO ASSISI YESTERDAY!!

Assisi, land of churches. A city where literally, there is no ugly alley, no ugly street, no ugly people, no ugly dogs, no ugly food. A city where also, there are TONS of nuns and priests. The city looks so clean, but mainly the churches were amazing. We took the train in the morning which was really easy, then took a bus up from the train station up to Assisi, and then we just walked around ALL day long.
I really can't do Assisi justice in words...so here are the pictures. Also, its nestled in the mountain side, and it looks like Minas Tirith in LOTR. I just had to insert that observation in there.

Chiesa San Francesco

The piazza right in front of San Francesco

Amazing doorway. JEALOUS ( kind of looks like a hobbit house)

The last couple days

2009-01-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure! :-)

Don't you wish your front door looked like this? I do.

There was a street lamp in the sky!!

Had to include a vespa...not just any vespa, but an old, classic vespa.

This was one of only a few pretty graffiti in Perugia. Not a hundred percent sure what it says, I will get back to you on that.

The colors are so bright sometimes, although 9 times out of 10 the camera can't capture how rich they are.

And a random pigeon perched on his window.

So last time I made claims of an Indian restaurant..and unfortunately it had closed for business indefinitely (probably because they were an Indian restaurant in Italy) so instead we opted for Chinese food, which turned out to be quite good (fried ice cream for dessert!!!). Thursday we had a day off for the festival of the patron saint of Perugia, San Costanzo. There was a big market, and it was so nice out so me and Gabby did some more exploring. Thursday night we went to an Irish pub named Elfo's, which actually played a lot of classic rock (anywhere that plays Creedence Clearwater Revival is good in my book). Tomorrow is ASSISI which I am SOOOOOOOOO excited for. Hopefully the weather will keep up (fingers crossed, knock on wood etc.)
Ciao!

Oops I forgot the round church and the castle

2009-01-30T08:37:00.000-08:00

And here is the famous castle tower! It's actually just the top of an arch leading into town...but still cool.
This is the famous round church that felt so medieval.

The round church, the castle tower, and the accordionist

2009-01-30T08:26:00.000-08:00

This is literally a street in our backyard. You walk a little ways down our street, walk up a flight of stairs, and up this street and this is what you see.
I thought I should add a little Italian pride

This is the accordion man.

Medieval and Indian goodness

2009-01-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

Today was the first sunny day in a few days, so after class, thanks to an extended break (cancelled letteratura!!) I walked around basically in the streets and areas in our apartments 'backyard' and discovered some really beautiful houses, huge backyards, forests and even a castle. Up a little farther was the round church that Perugia is also famous for. Gabby and I went inside and...you could smell the history of it. It is one of those structures that has remained completely unchanged since it was built (1500's or so) and inside smells like damp, cool, medieval rocky smell that none of Perugia's other churches have smelled like so far. Its very intense to walk into something so old. Right in front of it is a pretty little lawn with stone benches, and if you walk down the path you join Corso Garibaldi, which when you walk down leads you right to my school!
It's insane that people live in constant view of this church. I mean...we have the minutemen. Which are great and all, but they ain't no jousting knights!
I will post many pictures tomorrow.

In other, equally as important news: tonight I am going to eat at an Indian restaurant which serves....buffet. A buffet of Indian food which, for those of you who know me, will result in massive amounts of ingested food following a day of purposely saving space for this feast. As my friend Elisabetta put it "Oh I miss ethnic food". Pasta/pizza/gnocchi/bread is amazing, no doubt about it, but we crave curry.

Bisous!!

Did I mention....

2009-01-26T02:06:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that on the form you have to fill out for the bank...it asks for your hobbies and practised sports.

I didn't feel like explaining frisbee :-)

For Italian Eyes Only...

2009-01-26T01:43:00.000-08:00

this is the saga of Mistah M, also known as Marco from UniCredit Banca in Perugia, and myself.
it all started about a week and half ago, when I walked into the bank saying that I would like to open an account. sure, he says, you need a codisce fiscale.
A what? Obviously, I didn't have one, but he showed me on a map where to go, to the Agenzie delle Entrate, which would give me a codisce fiscale (something kind of like a social security number). So Monday a week ago, I go to this Agenzie (which mind you, is halfway down the MiniMetro line), and after a billion years of trying to understand this building/maze, I get to the secretary and say, I need a codisce fiscale for a bank account. She hands me a form I need to fill out, and says that I need to ask my landlord (?!?) for a Cession di Fabbrica, which I suppose is like a proof of residence (or something...). Obviously, I was annoyed, but I go back to the Umbra Institute to use the computers and ask if they know what it is. The housing lady says that she does, and she's sending paperwork in and that once its complete she will ask the landlord to send me a copy of it. "Come back in a couple of days". Yeah....right.
So I go online later, to look up this codisce fiscale, and I find a website that generates one for you. I fill out the information, and I get one. I was a little suspicious, so I fill out a new one with a fake name etc, and it can't generate one. Allright, so it's maybe a real one. I ask the housing lady if this is what some codisce's look like, and she says sure, why not.
Well, I wasn't sure, so later last week I come back to get my cessione di fabbrica, only to find out that it won't be complete because they are missing a copy of one of my roomate's passports (even though they had been in position of either her american one or her italian one for the entirety of the three weeks we'd been here). So I'd have to wait a little longer. Well, I decided I was not going to, so last friday I walk into the bank and Marco asks me if I got the codisce. I say yes, and show him my printout, which looks less than official. After some convincing on my part, he skeptically accepts it, and says to come back Monday morning because there will be more people working at the bank, and we'll do it then.
So this brings us to today, where I walk in, all ready to go. I hand him my information, he copies it, and then he asks me to follow him. We walk through a door, down a corridor, into this back room that looked a little like an interrogation room. I sit down, and he starts fiddling with the computer, filling out information and numbers and whatnot. I'm holding my breath because lord knows that all of a sudden something is going to happen.
But nothing does. He fills out the account information, the passport information, address, phone number etc. He clicks to confirm, and BAM. ERRORE. In bright red. He goes back, and re-submits. ERRORE. He goes back, re-submits. No dice. So he goes back and re-fills ALL of it. It finally works, and prints. Marco then has to go back and confirm some personal information, among them....the codisce fiscale. he clicks to submit, and my heart stops-!!!!!ERRORE-CODISCE FISCALE. those exclamation points are so unholy. so i say "um...is it saying the codisce is false?" and he says "well maybe. it might be because your middle name wasn't in the codisce". So he deletes my middle name from the ID part, and sure enough, it works. I could breath.
Now that it's all done, he goes to pick up all the paperwork that I need to sign.
NONE OF IT PRINTED. so it's back to the forms, and re-printing. 15 minutes, two computer freezes and one restart later, I walk out of the bank with my brand new card, a spring in my step, and in desperate need of coffee.

Grazie mille Marco for putting up with me!!

Mass, Amelie and Cafe

2009-01-25T04:35:00.000-08:00

So last night Sara and I stayed in because we were so tired, and had a quiet night watching superman in italian and trying to figure out what we wanted to do for the next four months. Today we're sitting down with the roomies and making a huge gameplan for the next four months. Full, FULL weekends. At the carta giovane center we got tons of literature on what to do, and we will never have to leave perugia cuz there is so much to do (but we will anyways). Next week we plan to go to Assisi, which is a beautiful city with tons of gorgeous churches, and then we want to go to Deruta which is known for their pottery.

Anyways more about today. This morning Gabby, Sara and I woke up to go to mass in the main Duomo, which was really nice and of course filled with people. The service was all in italian which made it even more enjoyable. It was a gorgeous day out, so we walked around for a bit longer. Now in Perugia, there is a guy who plays the accordion almost every day (he's one of many 'characters' of Perugia). Now, he is Italian (I think) but teaches at the conservatory, and is one of those multi-talented people who has travelled the world and makes what you have done seem so small. But, thats not even the best part. The best part is that he plays the entire soundtrack of Amelie, and apparently- he helped Yann Tiersen on the music. Which is incredible, and there is nothing better than walking down Corso Vannucci on a quiet Sunday afternoon listening to Amelie.
After listening to him for a little while, we stopped this couple that had just been talking to him. They had just asked him to play for Attilio's (that was the man) festa that he was having. After talking to him for a while, we found out he was from Le Marche, the region that borders Umbria to the east. He was telling us about how beautiful it is, and which towns we need to visit (note to self: Aspelo and San Ginesio). So that is definitely one of the many places we need to go to.
Potential plans for the future include: a visit to the Umbra and/or Tuscany hot springs, a bike ride through Tuscany, hiking in and around the mountains of Perugia, a day trip to Firenze (assuming they don't decide to strike, which they did on friday from 9am to 5pm.), Assisi, Deruta, more Perugia fun and now a trip to Le Marche, among others. It seems like every day we discover new places and things to do.
After talking with the couple we went for a cafe at "Bar Medioevo", which is a bar tucked away which on the outside looks small, but inside has nooks and a slightly vaulted ceiling. A perfect italian Sunday!
Later, we are going to do some homework, plan out a couple trips and then maybe see a movie with Donatella.
A presto!

Saturday

2009-01-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

I hate technology, and I hate microphones. The Skype microphone doesn't work which is why I can't call anybody because I will hear you but you will not hear me (add me if you haven't!).
So I hate technology.
Today we went to the open air mercato again, and I bought two scarves, which I obviously don't need. But they were so pretty! Its a rainy day today, and tonight my roomate Sara and I are going to make dinner and maybe watch a movie. A relaxing day because last night we had friends over for dinner, and then we went to a bar which was having a rock night...like I said, I missed AC/DC.
I have almost all my pictures posted up! I will update when they are all done.
I will leave you with pictures from after mercato...when the umbrella broke with the pouring rain :-(

gabby and I. we were more amused then mad.

and a little twirl!

Thursday Evening...

2009-01-22T08:15:00.000-08:00

So tonight there are two famous journalists, Beppe Severgnini and another (oops...forgot the name) who are having a lecture forum thing about these books they have written. Beppe is a Corriere della Sera writer, and is relatively well known in the US as well (according to Prof. Francesco). Hopefully I will get to go!
In other news, I ate too much pasta today, as cliche as it sounds, and now I have to go buy salad for fear of exploding if I eat anything else remotely like pasta. Did I also mention that I drink coffee now? uh oh....

Tonight at 9 is the Devil Wears Prada in italian, which obviously me and the roomates are going to watch together. Whilst eating salad :-)

IN CASE anybody wants my address, here it is before i forget:

Chloe Greppi
Umbra Institute
Via Bartolo, 16
Perugia 06122
ITALIA

bisous a tous!

Tandem

2009-01-22T02:13:00.000-08:00

last night gabby, caitlin (other roomate) and I went to Tandem, which is organized by Umbria in which americans and italians get together and speak italian/english. we met some really nice people, and afterwards we went to aperitivo at lunabar (a jazz/music/cafe place). some italians invited us to a serata at a cafe near school where the DJ plays rock and not silly techno...which is great. I miss AC/DC. the next meeting is in two weeks, and we are all definitely going!
on another note...we bought our roomates Donatella and Chiara a little bag of chocolates and wrote them a card wishing them good luck on their exams. They are studying engineering and math (respectively) and have been studying quite literally all day and all night. so we wanted to give them a little something-they were really happy :-)

bacci!

2009-01-21T05:01:00.000-08:00

This is the inside of Feltrinelli, which is their barnes and noble. they have school supplies, books, notebooks, music and movies. the staircase is a huge collage of movie scenes, and this one was my favorite :-)
This church is one of many in Perugia, but it's right by our school. at night the inside is lit up bright orange and is so beautiful against the navy blue sky.

This is the view from the mini metro station (their subway). those are the appenines (i think) over yonder, and although they are far away, we hope to be able to ski there.

2009-01-21T04:55:00.000-08:00

In the courtyard of a church/apartment building, there were these flowers that had dew drops all over the leaves, and after many a try, finally got this picture. it was about 7 or so at night, and so quiet and pretty.

Our flinstones escapade, from left: Donatella, her boyfriend francesco, francesco #2 and andrea. Francesco due and Andrea both want to go to Miami, and we told them that they should go. they'll make pit stops at our places before heading down to the 'beech' :-) they are awesome.

2009-01-21T04:51:00.000-08:00

At the fattoria on saturday 1/18/09, Gabby and I found a ginormous cactus, and decided to hide underneath it. it was bigger than this picture would have you believe..cactissimo, if you will.

three of the four (american) roomies: Sara, Me, Gabby. Sarah is from Maine, Gabby is from Maryland. they are wonderful :-)

2009-01-21T04:46:00.000-08:00

This was the view from one of the school buildings at night...it took literally 20 photos before i achieve this.
Perugia at night....yes. its that beautiful.

DISCOUNTS!

2009-01-21T04:30:00.000-08:00

so today my roomate gabrielle and i went to the center for 'young people' services in perugia, and got: a 'young person' ID card which gives us discounts to everything under the sun, a free internet ID card with password, a huge map, a book of places we can get discounts, the entire bus schedule, an agenda, doctor jekyll and mr. hyde in italian, and a list of where and what to do in and around perugia. needless to say- i have A LOT of reading to do now.

Today in class we discussed marriage, which was interesting because we got to share our different perspectives. i thought that marriage has become less of a necessity, because now both men and women can be easily independent, at least more easily than in the past. but according to people from other places (azerbidjian, germany and greece) it is still something that is expected. i know that in france people don't necessarily get married, and i know that in the US it happens differently depending on region. It was interesting, definitely.

Afterwards, before coming here, we went to a bar (its official guys- i drink coffee now. goodbye chai, hello espresso!!!) and the girl there, Flavia, chatted us up and invited us to an italian dinner she was planning on having. it is so easy to meet people here, and there isn't a stigma against foreigners (after all-this is a city of foreigners). on saturday our roomate Donatella invited us to dinner with her boyfriend Francesco and their five other friends. we went to a flinstones themed restaurant (no joke-ill show pictures) and it was amazing. they were so nice, we chatted about everything, from what italians think of americans (they think that the world sees italians badly because of their government....haha), to these two guys who want to go to miami (we told them they'd be popular-but to leave the speedo at home).

Sunday we took a tour to a fattoria, where the farm is run by family, and we made pasta (and then ate it). i'll post pictures of that too. Friday was a big exploration day, we (my american roomates sarah and gabby) took a TON of pictures.
that is the last couple days in a nutshell, monday was school as per usual (4 hours) and yesterday was school (7 hours..sadness) i will post up a couple pictures right now of Perugia, and the past couple days and soon hopefully, i'll have all my pictures posted up on ovi.com (i'll send a real address once it happens)

ciao ciao!

First Post!!!

2009-01-19T04:56:00.000-08:00

After hours of toil....I finally have a blog whose colors aren't blinding or terribly clashy.
Just want to say that all is well, and that soon (hopefully tomorrow) I will be able to put up a long blog, or crash course blog, of the past ten days in PERUGIA!!!!!