Cinque Terre

Julie, Jeanette, and I had been planning a trip to Cinque Terre for about 2 weeks now. Erica was unable to go since she had a mandatory fieldtrip with one of her classes on Friday, and, therefore, would not have enough time after visiting Siena to get back on a train for 4 hours to meet us up north to hike early the next morning. For about 4 days prior to the trip Julie had been feeling awful – she had this wicked bad cough. So the night before Cinque Terre, she tells us that she’s not going; it was the best decision since Cinque Terre is about a 5 hour hike up and down some mountains and through 5 little towns. So early Friday morning, Jeanette and I woke up to head to the train station via the bus station. For some reason Jeanette was under the impression that our train didn’t leave until 10:20am when it really left at 9:54am. So Friday morning Jeanette took her leisurely time eating breakfast until I came back from trying to internet to tell people my phone decided that it no longer had minutes on them and I could not make any phone calls and also to fill out a trip form that all Umbra students are suppose to fill out if they leave Perugia on the weekends. But the internet, of course, didn’t work so none of that got accomplished. When I got back to the apartment I rushed Jeanette and got her to start packing and we left the apartment at like 9:25am. We were sprint walking to the bus station to take a bus to the train station. The bus arrived at the train station at about 9:52 which left us 2 minutes to buy tickets and get on the correct platform. Jeanette got the tickets as the train was suppose to be arriving so we ran through the sottopassaggio (underpass connecting all the platforms) and raced up the stairs. Luckily, the train was about 2 minutes late so we heaved a big sigh of happiness that we had at least made the first train. Our ticket said it was going to Pisa Centrale via like about 4 cities, including Firenze SMN. At Firenze everyone else got off the train, but we had no idea what to do since our ticket was to Pisa, and usually they give you different tickets for every transfer you have to make. So we stayed on the train as it re-boarded and then, to our dismay, started heading backwards. Fortunately, Firenze has another train station about 2 minutes away so we hopped off, bought another ticket back to Firenze SMN and got back to the main train station. Deciding that since our ticket said we were going to Pisa, we didn’t need to buy another one so we found the next train heading to Pisa Centrale. The next ticket was to La Spezia. Our ticket had a time and a date on it; we missed the time but we figured that since it was the same day it would be okay, but just to be safe, we went to the information counter and they said it was fine. So we got on the train to La Spezia. I forgot to mention earlier that the reason we had woken up early and were fretting about the trains was because the hostel we were staying at closed its reception hours at 5pm. It was now about 3:30pm, and we still had 2 trains to catch. We finally arrived in La Spezia, and caught a train to Riomaggiore, the first of the towns in Cinque Terre, where our hostel was. We got into Riomaggiore around 4:30pm, so happy to finally be there. It’s located right on the sea, and the view from the train was gorgeous. There were high winds so the sea had massive swells in it when we first got there. We arrived to the hostel, hoping that we could communicate enough with them to tell them that Julie wasn’t with us because she was sick and secretly praying that we didn’t have to pay for her bed for the 2 nights we were staying. The receptionist was actually an American and did not charge us for Julie’s bed even though we gave them absolutely no notice that she wasn’t coming. She then took us up to the hostel room; it was a 9 person mixed co-ed room we were staying in. There were 3 Australian girls each traveling on their own, 2 American girls from NYU, and Oliver, a very light-hearted goofy Croatian who had been coming to the same hostel for many years. We never could figure out how old he was, but we think he might have been in his late 30s. That day Jeanette and I looked around Riomaggiore with 2 of the Australian girls, Anne and Catherine. Since Jeanette and I hadn’t eaten all day (except for Jeanette’s leisurely breakfast and I had 2 granola bars on 2 of the trains) we were both starving so we got some pizza and then I had some peach gelato despite the cold winds blowing at us. We headed for the sea edge or a lookout point to get a better view of the sea. When we got there I was mesmerized by the massive, massive swells. They were at least 15 feet, crashing into rock barriers and splashing over them. I don’t remember how the conversation started, but all of a sudden this American lady was talking to us about how part of the trail, from Manarolo to Corniglia, was closed because a couple on their honeymoon had been taking some pictures just right off the trail and had gotten washed away by one of the waves. The lady talking to us was retelling how she and her husband watched all the paramedics rush to the scene and all the helicopters and boats were sending divers and PJs to search for the two people. The man survived, but the woman apparently hit her head and died, but they were having problems locating her body. Later we found out that an old man was also killed on the same part of the trail. Horrified and a little selfishly upset that part of the trail was closed we headed back to try and figure out what to do about that closed section. We could either hike up the mountain at that point and around, coming back down to the other town, or we could take a train from one to the other. Oh, sorry, another very important detail I forgot to mention was the train strike. It was going to occur throughout Italy from Saturday at 9pm to Sunday at 9pm. Great, we thought, we’re going to be stuck in Cinque Terre for another day and have to use our ‘sick’ days for classes. If anyone is ever stuck there because of a train strike, there is probably no more beautiful place to be stuck, but we had a deadline and had to be back. We decided that we might want to actually leave Saturday after the hike, but we were going to check with our hostel and then with the train people the next day. Friday night Jeanette and I decided to splurge on a nice dinner so we went to this place called La Lampana. Just as we got there Anne and Catherine came from another direction and decided to join us for dinner. We waited about 45 minutes for a table. I’m still not really sure how the restaurant qued up its clients. They didn’t take reservations, but 3 people who arrived after us got seated before us because they “were in the book 2 days ago”. None of us saw or heard of this book, but we dismissed our confusion because the food was supposed to be very good. We finally got seated and had an excellent meal. I had penne pasta with salmone followed by a dessert of tarfufo nero, a chocolate ice cream dessert thing. I can’t really describe it other than it was delicious and ya’ll need to come to Italy and try it. We all had a bit of each other’s desserts: Anne got the same thing as me, Jeanette got some sort of almond cake, and Catherine ordered their homemade tiramisu. Around 10pm we got back to the hostel where everyone else was in the kitchen having a bottle of wine and talking. Since at dinner we had split a bottle of wine between the 4 of us, I really didn’t think it wise to have any more wine since we needed all the hydration we could get for the hike. I left the conversation a little early to get a shower. I think I figured out why we travel on the weekends, again. I had the most wonderful shower, again. The 2 American girls by this time were actually on their 3^rd bottle of wine and went for some gelato with Oliver at 11pm. While they were gone and everyone was waking up early the next morning we got into bed and went to sleep. Much later that night they come back, very drunk and very loud. Apparently, the little blonde one did not or cared not that there were sleeping people in the room because she started yelling and laughing and talking in a much louder than normal voice. Her friend was trying to get her to talk quieter, but it finally took Oliver to come out of his little semi-private room to tell them to calm down. She finally stopped yelling, only to start coughing. I have no idea how long this went on, or how late this was, but it was very late and she coughed for a long, long time. The next morning Jeanette and I woke up early, having had barely any sleep because of our drunken American flat mates, to start the hike. We were trying to be as quiet as possible until we stopped caring if we accidentally woke them up. The day before was so chilly that we packed as much cold weather stuff as possible which was not much at all; we thought it was suppose to be warm that weekend. Our plan was to catch a train in Rio to Monterosso because the last part of the hike is supposed to be the hardest and we wanted to start with that and then finish it up with the easiest parts. We also talked to the train people about the strike who were unsure if it was still going to happen and didn’t give us clear answers. We figured we would deal with that after the hike so we got on a train to Monterosso and from there started the hike. Monterosso to the next town Vernazza is the hardest and steepest part; it takes you basically straight up the mountain and then back down multiple times in the hour or so it took us to hike it. When we got to the train station in Riomaggiore we had to wait an hour for the next train so we decided to walk to Manarolo and then catch a train there to Monterosso. So that’s what we did; we got off at Monterosso and started the long journey back to the hostel. For part of it there was a couple walking the trail. I’m going to focus mainly on the woman because the man, for the most part was dressed for a hike, minus his nice looking pointed leather shoes. The woman however was also wearing leather shoes, high-heeled boots to be more precise while smoking. Jeanette and I were quite amazed at this feat but soon passed them on the hike. When we got to Vernazza we were very hungry and ready for a break. Ravioli and a sit-down restaurant would have tasted so good, but with a couple hours left we didn’t want to eat anything too heavy…so we had pizza with pesto on it. There was also this pastry shop, Il Pirate del 5 Terre, that was recommended to us so we stopped there, got a cannoli since we heard those were wonderful there and then asked the man to pick out the best pastry for us. It was some sort of filled nutella bread thing with cinnamon and sugar on the outside. After our wonderful pastries we headed back on the hike just as it was starting to rain. As we were heading out of the city, we ran into Anne and Catherine who had decided to hike it together. A bit later on we ran into our American flat mates on the trail, exchanged a few words, and we quickly walked away not wanting our anger to get the best of us. Vernazza to Corniglia was also a long stretch, maybe an hour and a half, but it was less steep and an easier walk. Anne and Catherine had also told us that the path from Corniglia to Manarolo was open, so we were excited that we would be able to hike the entire trail. Onward we hiked through the deadly part of the trail. It was morbidly exciting that we were hiking the same place where the day before 2 people had died. But the winds were not as high, and the water was much calmer than the day before. From Corniglia, you can see Manarolo and just as we got to the city, we stopped to watch a wedding from afar. It was very pretty. We decided to finish up and walk from Manarola to Riomaggiore even though we had already hiked that part that morning. To get from one city to the other, the path takes you through the train stations. So at the Manarola train station there was huge tour group, and it had started to rain. To get on the road back to Rio, we had to walk up a couple flights with all these old, pushy Europeans with their umbrellas. Bad thing about being tall: they don’t really care who’s around them, those old people hold the umbrella where they want to and aren’t afraid of whacking or poking you with it. I felt like Jeanette and I were doing Matrix moves to keep from being hit by the pointy objects. Once we were off the stairs we weaved in and out of people trying to get to the front. About a 1/3 of the path from Manarolo to Riomaggiore was covered so we slowed down when we were in a covered section since we could enjoy the walk and not get rained on. At the end of the covered part I decided to get my rain jacket out of my backpack and we both huddled under it and finished up the hike and got back to the hostel. We talked to our hostel lady again and she recommended that we talk to either the people in La Spezia or Monterosso about the trains. But first we were going to lie down and take some showers. After getting all nice and clean, we decided to pack all our things up and head to La Spezia; there was no point in going to La Spezia, back to Rio, grabbing our stuff and then going back there. If we couldn’t get back to Perugia before the trains went on strike we would just come back that night. Oliver said he would drop off our keys if we didn’t come back that night and gave us big hugs and tried to convince us to stay the night. He thought we were being overly cautious, but this being our first train strike, we decided it was better to be overly cautious than underly cautious. From Riomaggiore we caught a train straight to Pisa Centrale. Our ticket to Pisa said via Sanzara on it, so we asked like 10 people if the train was actually going to Pisa. They probably thought we were dumb, but we were not going to make another mistake. The train did go straight to Pisa. For the last 30 minutes of the train ride, this middle aged man sat close to us. He had his shoulders hunched up and generally just looked very creepy. I would catch him staring at me through the reflection in the windows. I realized that he also had some sort of clothing he was playing with. It took a little bit of time to realize it was, for no better word I can use, a banana hammock: male underwear very similar to female underwear. For awhile he was just playing with it in his hands, stretching it out and smelling it. Then he attached it to the headrest on the seat across from his. He would stare at it for about a minute, then lean over, rub his face in it, giggle and sit back down in his seat. I think he did this about five times. Once I’m pretty sure he licked it. A couple minutes later he took it off the seat starting throwing it in the air above his head, and I was petrified that he was going to throw it over at us since he continued to look over at where we were sitting. Once we were in Pisa we high-tailed it to the fast ticket issue machines which refused to take our credit cards for some reason. From that machine we realized there was a train leaving in about 5 minutes to Firenze and then a connection to Perugia. Jeanette ran to get in line at the ticket counter. I went to customer help to figure out about the train strike which was still going on, but if we did manage to catch these 2 trains we would be okay. I high-tailed it to Jeanette who was next in line at the ticket counter. The train we needed left at 19:54, and it was 19:53. It took some convincing for the lady at the ticket counter to give us the tickets we needed from Pisa to Firenze and then from Firenze to Perugia because she didn’t think we’d make it. We didn’t either, but we were going to try. We ran to the platform and had missed the train by about 2 minutes. The next one didn’t come for another 20 minutes. That wasn’t a problem as long as we were at Firenze before 21:43 because that’s when the last connection to Perugia left. If we didn’t get in then, we would be sleeping in the Florence train station. We were asking all these people about the train, making sure it was the correct one we were waiting for. 2 very nice Italian ladies helped us and basically told us we would have 10 minutes to get on the train in Florence. We also were worried because our ticket said Via Empoli on it. We used our Italian skills on a Australian lady, thank god, because then we were able to better explain ourselves and she explained to us what it meant and everything. The train to Firenze was supposed to arrive at 20:29, but didn’t get in until 20:39. There were those 10 minutes we needed. The entire train ride I was so nervous. I couldn’t stop talking or moving. I was making Jeanette so nervous, but I just couldn’t stop or I would go crazy. We keep looking at our phones to check the time. When the train starts to slow down in Firenze, we get to the doors so we can be one of the first people out. Its 21:42. We sprint to the board that tells us what train we need and from what platform. We needed to catch the train to Terni on platform 13. We’re on platform 2. I yell at Jeanette the platform and take off. Occasionally I turned around to make sure she was following. I had so much adrenaline and was so ready to be on that train that I could have picked her up and run with her to the train. Everyone was looking at us since we were carrying all our hiking gear sprinting through the station, but as I slid around the corner to Platform 13, and yes I did slide, the train was still there and I saw the conductor which was a good sign. Jeanette yelled at the train workers to make sure that the train was going to be stopping in Perugia. We made it! We were so excited, but we couldn’t stop shaking since we had been fretting about it for like 2 hours non-stop. I cannot begin to tell you how glad we were. Jeanette called Julie to tell her that we were not going to have to sleep in the Florence train station, and we were going to be home! We were a little disappointed that Julie did not sound more excited on the phone, but it didn’t matter. We were going home! The train arrived, we got bus tickets back to Piazza Italia and got home to a welcome party of our two roommates and two other friends, Doug and Robert. After the boys left, Jeanette and I had a stretching party, Julie got a bloody nose, I realized I left my glasses in Cinque Terre, and Erica and Julie got into a bit of a wrestling fight. No matter. We are home!

"They're beautiful"

That's just the last thing said to me at this point by one of five Italian men walking past Julie and me, in our sweats and on the computers outside on some steps. Anyhow, the rude girl struck again today. I need to let it slide by me, but I just find it so unbelievable that she has the nerve to say that. But the day got better as my another friend Becky and I went again to our favorite pizza place for lunch, then had a nice talk with an old lady at the tabaccio shop about how pretty Italy is, and then loads of classes. I also had time in my monstrously long break between classes to watch The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy; it was a very strange movie. Julie and I attempted to make chicken and rice tonight. The chicken was delicious, but the rice we got tired of waiting for it to finish so we threw it out... For dessert we had some Vienetta, but the placement of the plate on the stove with me cutting the ice cream dessert was all wrong, and the plate landed up smashing all over the kitchen floor, missing my bare feet by centimeters. Stretching party take 2 is also tonight, maybe followed by some more of Dante. I'm so close to finishing it! So far I've traveled to Hell, Limbo and now its on to something different until I decide to get back in the saddle and read Paradiso.

Juice Boxes and Stretching Parties

Today was a very interesting day. First off, its Monday. No good ever comes from Mondays. In my Italian class of, at most 15 kids, I witnessed and was victim to one of the most overt acts of rudeness I have witnessed in many years. I’m sitting in class, minding my own business, trying to understand our teacher explain our homework to us when this girl sitting next to me for some reason didn’t catch the homework assignment. Figuring I knew it, she put her hand in my peripheral vision, moved it spastically, and said, “You. What’s the homework?” You? I was and still am in shock that someone has the audacity to actually say that out loud. Classes proceeded, with my EU politics class and then to Early Christianity. Becky, my friend, and I have decided the only reason to go to that class is because the professor is very attractive…and Italian. Unfortunately, he is much older, married, and has two children. After classes, Julie and I booked hostels and looked at train tickets for this coming up weekend to Cinque Terre. Its going to be gorgeous hiking on the northern coast of Italy. After that we had been planning on going grocery shopping at which we found a very surprising thing. Did you know that they make juice boxes for wine? Well, they do, and we are now the proud owners of 6 such ‘win boxes’ as well as the cheapest box wine we could find: 65 euro cent. We’re going to use the money we didn’t use on decent wine for some very good cheese and bread. With our backpacks and purses full of food we got back on the bus to our apartment. From there I decided to get on the internet to skype and check my emails. After about an hour of sitting outside up against a building, my body told me I had to get up and go home to finish homework and visit my roommates. I get back from the internet, walk into the apartment, and find Jeanette sitting on a chair with half of her hair on the floor. She’s combing out her dreads!! From there on, the night got strange. Julie and I had a stretching party that hopefully will continue for the next of the semester so we will be able to actually touch our toes and not have bad backs when we’re old. Perhaps we’ll even get adventurous and throw in some abs, push-ups and walk sits. Erica, Jeanette, and Julie were all making fun of me because I immediately got hyper upon my arrival home and could not stop bouncing off the walls. A pillow fight was to be held a little later with Julie the unexpected victim of multiple attacks. Erica had the ‘brilliant’ plan to zip the pillows around her hands which only unzipped when she tried to pillow-attack me. Jeanette was and still is combing out her first dreadlock in the bathroom. Once I won the pillow fight, I had to announce my retirement for the night as to finish reading about the Maastricht Treaty and the treaty which made the European Union into the European Union. Quite an exciting night I must say.

Chocolate Pie!

Last night Jeanette and I made chocolate pie!! Well, mainly Jeanette. I cut up the chocolate into thin slices. It so sooo good. We went to like 4 different places to get everything. A couple days ago we found a grocery store, Parma, that's so close to our apartment so we got ice cream for Fanta floats (there is no root beer in this country!) and some butter. We haven't been able to find butter since we got here, but we found some! Next we went to the chocolate store for some delicious, world-famous Perugina chocolate. To the other grocery store, Coop, for sugar. We came out of Coop with Vienneta, corn, jam, sugar, and peanut butter. Back to the apartment to make the pie while watching the end of Amelie and then all of The Devil Wears Prada. However, the movies were put on hold while Jeanette and I had a looong conversation which was nice. So movies didn't start until like 10pm. Then this morning we woke up late and ate
a pastry covered with our new jam. Delicious. And we still have 3/4ths of the pie left for today! Its going to be another lazy day, I think. But tomorrow there's a soccer game!

La Carta Verde!

We got a green card!!! If we get another one next apartment visit, we might get a free pizza! Pizza here is delicious, and the free part makes it about ten times better. Julie's mom bought us pastries and chocolate to celebrate. Another part of our celebration involved doing 0 dishes that night. We made a huge mess all over the kitchen and table, and no one felt any guilt about it. After our lovely dinner party the 4 roommates went to this thing called Tandem; its a program set up so that Americans and Italians can talk in a casual setting. So we basically sat in small groups, and we would talk in English for a little bit and then talk in Italian next, and back and forth for a little more than an hour. It was a ton of fun, and one of the Italians I talked to is actually in one of my classes. I made a friend!

Massive Cleaning Party

This week is apartment visits where this lady, Catarina, checks out all the apartments to make sure we keep them clean. We get cards (green, yellow, red) depending on how clean the apartment is. 2 greens in row = a free pizza, but 2 reds in a row = 2oo euro fine to go to a cleaning service to keep the apartment clean. So we had a massive cleaning last night because our apartment visit is today. Hopefully it was already happened because we need to be able to cook dinner tonight, and I'm tired of tip-toeing around the bathroom. Also last night Julie's mom took us all out to dinner at a really nice restaurant, La Taverna. There were so many other Americans there, but the food was outstanding! Plus, we all got dressed up and had a fun and fancy dinner!

This week has been relatively uninteresting. Lots of homework and reading for class. I was under the impressive that study abroad classes were suppose to be a little easier because the teachers understood that, while you were there to learn, you were also there to experience the culture. However, I still find myself in my room, hovered over my desk reading hundreds of pages a day. Maybe hundreds is a little exaggeration, but its A LOT!

Thank God We're Home

We woke up early today to go to Ancona, a port city on the east coast. Trains were easy today; we had about a 20 minute layover in Foligno where we picked up another train to Ancona. Upon arrival, we had no idea where the hostel we had booked reservations for was. All we had was the name so we asked information at the train station, and luckily the hostel is about a 2 minute walk from the train station. So we walked with our very heavy backpacks to the hostel (Julie has 2 bags) to find out that they were closed until 4:30pm (it was 1pm when we arrived to the hostel). Having no place to put our bags we decided to grab some pizza at a nearby pizzeria. It looked like a McDonalds with all red and yellow furniture and walls, but the pizza was pretty decent. After pizza we looked for a gelateria since we still had many hours before we could dump our belongings in a room. We walked and walked for this gelato joint. Finally, with backs hurting and those awkward straps on backpacks around our stomachs and chests, we spot a ‘park’ with some benches so we throw off our heavy loads, and lo and behold, a gelateria/cafeteria is right across the street. Julie, Jeanette, and I go get some gelato while Erica watches the bags. We eat the ice cream which is so delicious after hours of traveling. Julie and Jeanette decide to break out the homework and begin reading for class. Erica and I are pigeon watching; it is very interesting to see pigeons fight over food and interact with each other. After a couple minutes of this, I grab my Purgatorio book and begin reading it. After reading one canto I got very sleepy and fell asleep on the park bench. I wake up occasionally to find that Erica is listening to her iPod, Julie has slumped over her knees and got out her North Face to keep warm, and Jeanette is asleep on the end. I nodded off again. We all awake later to find Erica laughing at us; she never fell asleep and has been taking videos and pictures of us because Julie looks dead, Jeanette’s mouth is open the whole time, and I keep shaking. The entire time we all have our sunglasses on, and passerbyers think we’re all asleep, and Erica told us they were pointing and whispering about us asleep on the benches. Finally, it was time to get back to the hostel. We arrive at 4:35pm and its open! So we go in and tell the lady working at the counter that we have a reservation for 4. I did not think ahead at all and didn’t print out any document that said we had made reservations; I wrote down the reservation number, but that was about all. We’re apparently not on the list, but she did have a room left, so that’s where we are right now. Julie, Jeanette, and Erica have all fallen asleep in their beds. I am hoping to find internet because I was able to get on for about 30 seconds before the signal went away, and we still have to contact the university to tell them we’re gone for the weekend. After everyone woke up from their naps, we headed towards dinner since it was about 7pm and we were hungry. So we talked to the man at the hostel downstairs and he told us to get on this ¼ bus. So we get on it thinking it will take us to the centro or city center. Slowly, throughout the bus ride everyone starts to get off until there are only 3 men and us on the bus. We’re in some sketchy neighborhood when the remaining 3 guys get off, and the bus driver tells us that it’s the end of the line and we also need to depart from the bus. Not knowing where we are but having an idea about the area of town we are in, we quickly start backtracking until we are finally lost and ask for directions at a hair salon. A lady working there helps us and tells us to catch a bus further down the road since walking back to our hostel or the center of town is a long walk. In order to get on the bus though you have to buy bus tickets at the Tabaccio shops and he told us that the bus only came about every 30 minutes and we would have better luck walking a little further on down a hill where the bus comes more frequently. We walked a little further on down the hill, but none of us ever saw a Fermata (bus stop) sign. We come to a dead end in an apartment complex, and Jeanette asks this young guy for directions to a bus stop. He was really patient and kind and gave us pretty clear directions to a Fermata. Go down, left, down some more, right, and then straight. We followed those to a T and walked straight for a long time. About the time we had give up hope, we turned a corner and there was a bus station. After all this walking to a restaurant and still having not eaten, we were all starving so when a restaurant was spotted we basically ran towards it and sat down, gobbled up all the bread they gave us. The waiter brought us toasted bread and olive oil because “you look very hungry”. The restaurant had some televisions in it where we made up dialogues for the implausible RAI soap opera on, followed by K-19: The Widowmaker. It was dubbed over in Italian so we continued our fun dialogues until we got the conto (check) and left for home. The trip back to the hostel was nothing in comparison to the previous bus trip. The only incredibly annoying thing was that we waited for about 30 minutes for the bus because on the map it looks like a long walk from the Piazza with the buses to the train station where the hostel is and since we had been walking all night, we were tired of walking. We’re on the bus for about 2 minutes when it comes to the train station; there was absolutely no reason for us to take the bus less than a ¼ mile to the train station especially since we waited for so long to get on it. But we are safely back at the hostel. I took the most wonderful shower here. It was real water pressure and the hot water is evenly dispersed throughout the showerhead, unlike the one in our apartment where all the hot water is in one giant hot drop in the center surrounded by lots of cold water. Erica’s on the phone, Jeanette and Julie are in bed with their eyes closed, and I need to read some more of Purgatorio.

Sept 15: Today we got off to a late start. Erica is one of the hardest people I know to wake up. After we were all awake and dressed, Julie reminded us how cranky she gets when she gets hungry so we stopped at a grocery store down the street for some breakfast: bananas, assorted cookies, kit-kats, and some Ritz crackers. We ate them on the way back to the train station to buy bus tickets for the bus to Sirolo which supposedly has very nice and pretty beaches. We buy the tickets and are nervous that the bus trip to Sirolo is going to end up like the bus trip to the centro the previous night. However, we had learned our lesson and got on the right bus which took us to this little town about 10 miles south of Ancona called Sirolo. The bus drops us off near the park entrance, but we are still really hungry and stop for some pizza and Fanta first; we have decided that the Fanta here has more of an orange taste than in America. After lunch we hike back to the park entrance and see signs for the spiagge (beach) S. Michelle. It’s a 4 something, maybe kilometer walk down the mountain to the beach with lots of hairpin turns. Erica and I decide to take a short cut, which did end up being shorter, but while we waited for Julie and Jeanette to catch up to us, they went a different way and waited for us while lying on the beach, soaking up the sun. After waiting and searching for them for about 30 minutes, Erica and I decide to head down to the beach and hope that they are down there. We look up and down and finally spot them. The beach was gorgeous, and I think we were the only Americans there. We laid out for about 3 hours; Julie and Jeanette got in the water which was pretty cold. When the shade started creeping towards us, we decided it was time to get back up the mountain and started the long and strenuous hike back. Sweaty and just feeling gross we find la fermata and catch the bus back to Ancona. After showering, Erica with paper towels, we decided to get back in the saddle and try to go to the centro for dinner. So we bought tickets for the ¼ bus, again, but this time we asked the bus driver if the bus was going to Piazza Roma because had we not asked the bus probably would have taken us back to Drug Land. The streets in the centro were crowded with people, mainly kids between the ages of 12-18 years. We couldn’t figure it out until we were at a restaurant. First off at the restaurant, there was the cutest little boys with a toy gun playing around; it doesn’t sound cute, but it was. Back to the story, all the waiters and waitresses were wearing Notte Bianca shirts. Notte Bianca is a festival, or series of festivals, celebrating the end of summer and stores are open very late. So it was one big party downtown with a couple of stages and one DJ playing Beat It, Sweet Dreams Are Made of These, and Get Into the Groove. Unfortunately we were all dead tired and wanted to head back to the hostel. So we got back on the bus, but before getting to the hostel, we stopped at the gelateria at the train station. Julie refused to get any after looking for it downtown, Erica got cacao Amsterdam, and I got yogurt and crema all’ouvo, or egg cream. Quite delicious actually. We are back at the hostel getting ready for bed since we have to get up early and be out of the hostel at 9:30am tomorrow and our train leaves around 11am.

Sept 16: Today’s trip was not as well executed as yesterday’s. We woke up on time, were out of the hostel at 9:30am, at the train station at 9:45 waiting for our train at 11:10am to leave for Perugia. Not fully understanding exactly what platform 2ov meant, we got to Binari (platform) 2 right after 11am, and starting searching for our train. We headed up and down the platform and right at 11:10, we noticed 3 platforms over a train leaving for Binari 2 ovest. We watched as our train left the station and as our afternoon diminished as well. The next train didn’t leave for another 2 and a half hours which was just fantastic since we had already been there for an hour and a half. The only silver lining I could find was that at least I was getting some homework done. The train pulls up and we got on, heading towards Foligno, our layover point. In Foligno we had an hour and a half layover. Thank god nothing at all happened to that train. We were all on the verge of just screaming at each other if something else went wrong. Finally we arrived in Perugia; I couldn’t imagine a more welcoming sight. We got off the train and basically ran towards the first bus, so excited to be home. The bus was jammed packed with people, but we were so happy to be home, no one really cared that they no longer had any personal space. To top off the entire trip, right as we got off the bus, it starts pouring down rain. So we hiked back to the apartment in the downpour, and of course, we open the apartment building door and the sun came out. Julie and I decided that we deserved the steak tonight for dinner after such a tumultuous weekend at Ancona.

We thought the weekend adventures were over. Not so much. We get back to the apartment; Julie and I are so ready for the steak its not even funny. So we start to thaw the steak, but we are so ready to eat so we just put the steak on the stove and start to cook it. I move over towards the sink to start boiling water for rice, stand up too quickly, and hit my head on a couple of our one shelve which knocks the shelf and causes both the glass nutella and glass peanut butter containers to shatter on the floor. So we take a break from the steak to clean up nutella and peanut butter. Luckily, after a couple of flips on the steak, we notice that part of it is good to go, so we start sectioning off parts of the meat and just eat as we go. Most of the way through the steak eating, the flimsy counter gives way and the meat goes flying on the floor. Erica calls the 5 second rule, and we continue to eat the meat. Nothing else could go wrong tonight. It could, but after this weekend, I am ready for anything. Pictures, and there are pictures, will come.

Not Creative Enough for a Title Today

Yesterday I tried to go and blog. I really did, but the internet decided not to work, again. I was planning on getting so much needed life planning out of the way, but instead that had to wait until today to figure out the rest of my GW career. Due to my excellent study skills I had no homework to do last night which was so nice. The roommates and I were planning on going to Cinque Terre this weekend, but we were about 2 hours too late to book hostels unless we want to stay in 14o euro a night rooms. So instead we're going to Ancona - a city/town on the east coast of Italy to hit up the beach while its still sort of warm. It'll also give us some more practice learning Italian since its not a very touristy place, and we don't know how much stuff there is to do there. Should be fun - we're looking forward to just relaxing on the beach. Today I'm waiting on friends to finish class so we can go to lunch somewhere, but it'll probably end up being a pizzeria. I need to find more food because in about a month pizza is going to start to be really old, and I don't want that ever to happen. I like pizza too much to be sick of it for a long time. I need to find some a panino or something else to eat for lunch. Oh. As of later in the week or next week I will no longer have plans on Nov 2 and Dec 1. I've decided to drop the Early Christianity class because, as interesting as it sounds, its not really. After taking Eastern Religions at GW, I think I'm done with learning the names of each group's different group of war or Jeff the God of Biscuits (Eddie Izzard skit) since its not so much early Christianity as it is what was before Christianity for some of the course and then some Christianity. I thought it was going to be more crusades like which would have peaked my interest a whole lot more than relearning the differences between anthropomorphic and anthropocentric.

Bells, Boys, and Garbage Trucks

Second day of classes today. Unfortunately, my first class is at 9am and the others aren't until 13:30 and 15:15! So I have this long long break in the middle of the day. And I was good today and finished all my homework up to this point so hopefully I won't fall behind on my readings. I've forgotten all this time to tell people about the bells! We've gotten used to it, but bells ring every 15 minutes here to announce the time. Its going to be weird coming back to the States and not knowing the time every 15 minutes. However, there is a bell tower near our apartment that goes crazy sometimes. My hunch is that it happens at noon, but the bells don't stop ringing. It goes on and on and on for probably like 3-4 minutes straight. Different story: I was at the grocery store yesterday buying milk since our apartment goes through a liter of milk a day. First off, I could no figure out which milk to buy; one had a picture of a little girl and said something like Interno on it while the other had a grown woman and something like Scermo on it. I made the executive decision to buy the one with the grown woman since we were more like her in size. I think it ended up being skim milk. While I was in line buying the milk a little boy was in front of me being held by his mother. He was screaming his head off and pointing to some coffee. His mom tried to appease him by getting something for him. That stopped the temper-tantrum for about 30 seconds. When it started up again, another little boy, probably a year or two older than screaming boy, tugged on his shirt, put his hand up to his mouth and gave him a very very dirty look to quiet him. At this point I was laughing on the inside; I started to actually laugh but everyone else in Coop looked stern and unamused, so I tried to keep it in as much as possible. I'm actually not sure if he ever stopped screaming. And the last and final story; its not like a fact really. The garbage trucks here are TINY! They look like Tonka trucks. Everytime I'm with Erica and Julie they crack some joke about it, and I can't help but laugh. They're so tiny!!

Classes: 1st Day

Last night was the last official night of summer. All my roommates and I had signed up for a historical walking tour of Perugia led by one of the Umbra staff, Zach. It was very interesting with true and very untrue facts about important buildings and people in the city. We learned about the last name Altuni - the name used by the orphanage when they gave last names to the abandoned children of the city. The orphanage sounded quite interesting though. In the side of the building near the door there used to be a turn-table sort of thing where mothers would place their unwanted babies and turn the table so the baby would be inside the orphanage. After the tour ended we were all starving; Julie and I had been eating ALL DAY but our never satisfied stomachs were craving more. Julie re-met this kid, Keane, on the tour, so we invited him back to our apartment for pizza and Top Gun. We were planning on a double feature of Eddie Izzard, again, and Willow, but Jeanette had a meeting and wouldn't be back until late, and Erica and I were the only ones who knew who Val Kilmer was. We needed to rectify this most seriously overlooked problem and decided Top Gun would give the much needed introduction to Val Kilmer without us having to restart Willow for Jeanette.
Today was the first real day of classes. It started with Italian at 9am. I am now the first person awake in the morning in the apartment and therefore must remain as quiet as possible and get dressed in a mostly dark room as to not disturb everyone else sleeping. After Italian I have about a 2 hour break where I have to get some lunch and change out my books. Today I also spent that time getting my permesso di giorno, basically the official document that allows me to stay in Italy for more than 3 months. Without it I could get thrown out of the country. So then I went to The Politics and Economics of the European Union class which apparently is suppose to be a difficult class according to the teacher. Then I had another long break were I got some reading done and headed off to The History of Early Christianity class. The teacher is a little difficult to understand, but we're going on two field trips which should be interesting: one to Rome and the other to Spoleto. So, if you've wondering what I'm doing Nov 2 and Dec 1, that's it.
And the random picture for the day: any guesses? We thought this was very neat. Its a cigarette dispenser. Although none of us smoke, we were all taken with this contraption.

Last Day of Summer

Today is officially the last day of summer. Classes start tomorrow, and I have three: Italian, Politics and Economy of the EU, and the History of Early Christianity. Ugh. They sound interesting, but I am not looking forward to writing papers and studying for tests. Especially if there are any of Monday. I WANT TO TRAVEL! And don't worry parents, I'm also picking up the Italian language as well. Last night after we got back from our train and bus rides around the country, I walked to our internet point for a long time and got some stuff done. When I got back to the apartment I found Erica and Julie watching Eddie Izzard's Dressed to Kill. There's a part of skit where he talks about the guys on mopeds in Italy, revving their engines, "Ciaaaoooo." When Mike and I first saw it years and years ago, we both thought it was hilarious, but actually being here, its about 10 times funnier. Today, I was hoping on going to a calcio (soccer) game. Perugia apparently has a pretty decent team, and there is a home game today. Unfortunately, I slept until about 11:38 and with breakfast and shower and getting ready, it was past the time when everyone was meeting at La Fontana to go down to the stadium to tailgate. Plus, the game doesn't start until 3pm, and my roomies and I signed up to go on a Historic Walking Tour of Perugia at 5pm. So I would be rushing to get to both of them, and not going to the calcio game allows me to be a very good student and skim my books and course readers and perhaps read some more of Dante's Purgatorio. Picture is from the train yesterday. The windows are quite dirty, but we thought the countryside (campi, I think) was beautiful and tried to take some pictures of it.

Orvieto or Bust

Today, Erica, Julie, and I decided to take a day trip to Orvieto. We checked out the bus/train routes, we researched things to do there and places to eat. Unfortunately, the trip was a bust. When we got to the transfer point, Ternotola, we realized that the next train would not be coming for another 2 hours which meant we wouldn't get to Orvieto until about 7pm - right about the time the sun goes down. So, instead, we changed our ticket to take up back to Perugia, and we just went back to the apartment where we did a massive cleaning of the apartment. It is now spotless and organized. We even found a place for all our excess food that doesn't fit in our kitchen. After cleaning we did a whole lot of eating. I feel like Julie and I have been snacking the entire day. For breakfast I had pieces of salami and bread, an egg, some pear juice, and lots of other random snack foods and have continued that trend all day today. After the Coop yesterday, Julie and I feel a little obligated to start cooking all the pasta and cake mixes for meals since we spent so much on food. We're planning on hamburgers and steaks soon...as soon as we can figure out some seasonings for the meat.

Coop and Erso

This is a unique day because I have time to blog TWICE! After this afternoon, we went back shopping for some school supplies. Pens and pencils and notebooks are so expensive here (parents, can you bring lots of pens and pencils with you, please?). Julie and I also got some push pins for our bulletin boards which is the only place we can put up pictures. We had already cut out our favorite quotes from Cosmopolitan and Seventeen (most of jokes or stupid quotes that we found really funny) and put them on our boards tonight. We also took our first adventure on the buses...to the giant Coop near the train station. We bought so many groceries, and hopefully we'll be cooking a lot in our tiny kitchen. After we left we were waiting for the bus to come pick us up again when an Italian man came over to us and started talking. Its so different over with how men act towards women, but we realized that its kind of nice. It gives us a chance to practice our Italian. Apparently, we are all pretty girls, but Julie is the prettiest; he asked her to marry him, but unfortunately, she was/is unable to. Which stinks for me because I have my pretty Italian dress ready for a wedding! Tonight we were planning on going to see Harry Potter 5 in Italian, but we have no idea where the theater is, so plans have changed to us watching a movie in the apartment, I think.

Wetting the Bed

Ciao. Today was the first real morning we were able to sleep in. Unfortunetly, yesterday afternoon my water bottle opened in my bag all over my bed so in order to have a nice, dry place to sleep, I had to sleep on the couches in the living room. Those are some of the most comfortable couches I have ever sat on, but they are a little too short. Before bedtime we had a roommate night watching The Usual Suspects. Good movie, but I was expecting a comedy for some reason. This morning Julie and I ended up sleeping until about 11am; it was wonderful. We took our time getting ready this morning and went exploring. The temperature is perfect today. We got some gelato before lunch; it was been such a nice day. On our way back to the apartment for the afternoon (everything closes from 1-4 for la pausa) and stopped at UCB for some more hangers. It was the shadiest thing I've ever done. I felt like I was stealing from the store. Every other time we've been there, they give us a bag and tell us to fill it up near the door. This time she handed us a bag and told us to go upstairs. So we went upstairs and started just grabbing all the empty hangers. When we came back downstairs we were stopped and told we could only take black hangers (our bag was full of white ones). One of life's greatest mysteries: why does United Colors of Benetton have 2 different color hangers and why is one dispensable while the other is not?

Covert Trash Run

Last night we had out first 'family' dinner in the apartment. A couple nights ago, Julie and I made our first real meal, not including the cereal we eat in the morning for breakfast, but last night all the roommates ate dinner together on our dining room table, if you want to call it that. We made this type of hollow pasta with tomato sauce with a side of cucumbers and carrots as our vegetables or bread if you wanted it. The pasta was just strange; I was able to use it as a straw for a couple of sips, but it wasn't easy. We also realized we had to dispose of the trash in our room since it was piling up, but we had no idea what to do with it. So all the roomies and I each took a bag, and we hunted for a trash can. But the closest trash can we could find was a private one, so we made sure no one was around, dumped our trash in the cans, and left quietly. And I thought I'd add a random picture in here. This is the view out of our balcony in the other bedroom - to another person's balcony across the 'courtyard.' I know its such a wonderful view. Today was the last day of Intensive Italian classes since we don't have classes on Friday!! Julie and I had decided that we are most definitely sleeping in tomorrow morning. This morning was killer to wake up; when I got to class everyone was talking about how it was the worst morning, and they just wanted to sleep in today. This weekend should be fun though. Saturday there's a walking tour of historic Perugia which I want to go on, and Sunday is a Perugia calcio (soccer) game! We'll all meeting alla fontana and then tailgating before the game! And hopefully going to the grocery store sometime this weekend to stock up on the essentials, like pasta and sauce.

Our First House Guest

In Italy, at least for us, no one is allowed to stay in our apartment if they come and visit. They must register with the local police and stay in a hotel or hostel or something due to the anti-terrorist laws here. But last night we had a very uninvited guest in our apartment - in our kitchen to be more exact. A centipede found its way onto our tiny kitchen counter, and the entertainment for the night (after our first homemade dinner and watching La Vita E Bella) was trying to catch the thing and putting it outside. It took many seconds of crafty thinking to blow it onto a flat surface and then use the old glass and piece of paper trick. Eventually we did get him outside and out of our kitchen!

Since Julie and I have been feeling under the weather for the past couple of days, last night we made pasta with olive oil and got giant bottles of sprite and watched La Vita E Bella on our very comfortable couches.

This is going to be a very short blog since I am starving. Instead of eating pizza I had lettuce for the the fiber and I am very very hungry now.

Rainy

Today is the first day that we have not had an incredibly sunny day. It started off cloudy, and now its sprinkling and cold. Luckily, the apartment is not far from any of the classrooms so we're only cold for a little bit. But I thought that I should put up some pictures of what life is like outside of my apartment since all the pictures are of our home for the next 4 months. This is the street where we live, Via della Cupa. The building straight back with the dark shutters is our building, I think. The picture is taken from Via dei Priori. If you take a left you end up on the main corso, Via Vannuci which is listed in the 1000 Places to See Before You Die. Everyone is there at night and during their breaks. The town is very quite except during these times when the entire city decides to pack onto one street. If you take a right you head to the steps where I can pick up wireless and where I usually talk on skype since its the closest wireless point from our apartment. This other picture was taken on the west side of the center of town, I think. I'm not really sure what those buildings are, but I know that the tall one that's sort of in the middle was pointed out to us as something important. I thought as the last picture I should put up my roommates again since we do hang out alot. We frequently take walks around the city to see if we find any small little pizzerias or other fun little restaurants. This is one of the wonderful views of the city. Again, for those who have forgotten, from left to right, its Julie, Jeanette, and Erica. There will probably be no walk today since its so cold, but Jeanette and I are going to go in search of some jeans. Hopefully the place is close; either way I'm going to be putting on a big coat. My battery is running low, and for some reason, an associate partner of the study abroad program is going to be looking at our apartment in about an hour so I have to get back and clean it in a jiffy!

Intensive Italian Week

We started classes today. By classes I mean we had to start going to class. Our regular classes start next week; this week is devoted to Italian; from 9-3 with an hour break in the middle I sit in a room with 6 other girls (there are no boys at my level) and our teacher, Francesco, and learn how to tell our landlord that the stove is leaking gas or the power doesn't work - like it didn't tonight. Somehow the power is our apartment went out so instead of going to dinner at 7pm like we planned, we left at 8:15. For that hour we sat in the dark. Well, Julie had a flashlight and was doing her homework (the only one of us to get homework on the first day), and I sat in our window reading Cosmopolitan to my roommates where we learned some very interesting things like that smoking can kill unfertilized eggs in the womb. But back to the subject - Italian class. Francesco, our teacher, is surprisingly not Italian; he's French but has a flawless accent and also a droppy left eye. He's a good teacher and, of course, we only speak Italian in the class which is a little hard, but at the end of the week my Italian will drastically improve. After classes Julie and I went in search of hangers, a hair dryer, and some plug converters since all the electrical things I brought have their own power converters so I only need to change the plugs! We first went to United Colors of Benneton for the hangers; we heard there was just a big box of free hangers in the front of the store. We were glad to get them so now we can hang up some more shirts and skirts, but why would a store just throw away its hangers. That seems like such a waste of money when they could reuse the hangers. Oh well, now I only need like 8 more hangers until all the clothes piled on my desk can have a home in my huge closet. Jeanette has lost her voice, and we constantly find ourselves all whispering when we talk to her since she has to whisper. When someone comes home and they find Jeanette and one of us talking to her, they instinctively whisper back and ask what the problem is. This wouldn't be that funny, but she hasn't had her voice for a couple days now. I was afraid that I handed off my cold to her, but they seem to be doing 2 completely different things to us so I now think she has something else. We are also in desperate need to go grocery shopping. We have to go out for every meal right now because as Erica put it, "When I open the fridge I have the option of salami, cheese, or coke." We also have orange juice, 2 types of milk (not sure if they're 2 different types of milk or what types they really are either), and some orange fanta.

Pictures

So as of yet, I don't know how to add in pictures with captions in the blog so this post will just be pictures. This is my roommates, from the left, Erica, Jeanette, and Julie. Erica is from California; Jeanette is from Minnesota, and Julie's from New Hampshire. We are in our living room which we have since rearranged because that eating table was right in the middle of the room, separating the two couches on either side of it. It was a bit awkward so we made some changes. Okay, I've just realized that this post is also going to look very strange since I'm not very blogger savvy yet. This is our amazing bathroom with the bidet and washing machine! Not much of a shower but it does the trick. This other picture is of our TINY TINY kitchen. I'm standing in the opposite corner so the only thing not in the picture is the refrigerator. The stove is on top of the oven so we have absolutely no counter space. No idea what we'll do about that yet. Luckily, these are the only two small rooms in the place. We have two bedrooms for the four of us, and both bedrooms are huge! This is my side of the room. We don't have enough hangers yet for all our clothes to go in the closet, but tomorrow we're going to United Colors of Benneton to get free hangers! Once we get everything for organizing our room and such it'll look a lot less cluttered and messy. The other is Julie's side of the room with the window. And unfortunetly, we don't get internet in our rooms! We have to go about 5 minutes to some steps outside one of our classrooms for some free Wi-Fi. So in the winter past 8pm (when the institute buildings close) I have no idea how often I'll get on the internet since I don't want to sit outside on brick steps in the snow and freezing weather. This is the building where we live. I think we live on the second floor - its a bit confusing to us so its either the second or third floor, but on the backside and its a little hilly so its hard to tell.

The Bidet

Second full day in Perugia. Last night I met some guys from Wabash; we bonded with the whole Indiana thing. But today we had a full Umbra meeting - met most of the people who work at the school and then had a talk with a police officer about crime in Italy. My roommates and I have been eating as much pizza as possible. Its so delicious. I have yet to get gelato though. Yesterday I was going to but then it got cold all of a sudden. Julie, Erica, Jeanette, and I took a walk, looking for supposedly free clothes hangers, took us to some gorgeous views and some escalators in an old castle/fortress. Tomorrow morning we have our Italian language exam at 9am, but we have to met at the main fountain in Piazza IV Novembre at 7:45am! Not looking forward to that - tonight I'm going to be studying as much Italian as possible. On Sundays, a lot of stores are closed but a tobaccio (place to buy cigarettes, stamps, phone cards, etc) was open near our apartment so we stopped to get postcards and phone cards. The old lady working there seemed to really like us - we have made a friend! We have found a new use for our bidet! Its a perfect PERFECT place to shave legs. I mean perfect. Just the right amount of water and everything.

1st Day

Hello all. I arrived to Perugia, Italy, yesterday night but really did nothing that day except meet my roommates - Jeanette, Julie, and Erica. We live on Via della Cupa 7 - about 4 blocks from the main piazza - Piazza IV Novembre. The city is beautiful. Everything is old, and there are pretty doors and windows on most buildings. Today, we got into our apartment and set everything up. Ate pizza (AMAZING!) at a little pizzeria outside, went on a quick tour of the city, and found a great internet spot on some steps right outside of a gelateria. Right now there are about 6 13-14 year olds chatting to each other and having a grand ole time in front of me. The table just peer pressured one of the girls to smoke. I don't think she liked it, and I think some of them just noticed me looking at them. In about 2 minutes I have to go back to the apartment to grab Julie, drop my computer, and go to dinner with a small, select group of people (everyone has a different time to go to this restaurant). We also did a little grocery shopping today - have some cokes, bread, cereal, milk, and of course lots of pasta! I'll put up pictures of the apartment later tonight, I think since I can't get on the internet from my room unless we figure out how to break some passwords which might be a little illegal with Umbra Institute.