Monday, January 28, 2008

Frozen in time

This weekend I went to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Ercolano with two of my guy friends Geoff and Spencer. We left on Friday, which turned out to be a day full of a comedy of errors. We had an early train, so none of us had a lot of sleep. We had to take a train to Naples, and then get on a smaller regional train to go to Sorrento (that's where our hostel was). Once we get on the regional train, we see that Ercolano is a stop on the way to Sorrento, so we decide to stop off at Ercolano before we arrive in Sorrento.

Ercolano (Herculaneum) is the city that was covered in ash by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Since it was not covered in smoldering hot rock, the buildings and especially paintings are much more preserved than those in Pompeii. It's about 1/5 in size of Pompeii too, so we were able to cover it in about 2 hours.

Ercolano




Ancient Snack Bar



Floor mosaic




Me in Ercolano


Geoff and Spencer





After Ercolano, we wanted to head to our hostel to check in, then eat, and sleep. Because of our lack of sleep, we dozed off on the train and were wakened by an old man telling us the train was finished. We weren't in Sorrento. Luckily, he was extremely nice and showed us the way to get to where we needed to be. Despiste that good fortune, we arrived in Sorrento about an hour later than we wanted to.

We checked into our hostel, which was surprisingly nice. Then we wanted a nice, long dinner, and that's precisely what we did. Upon heading home, we are all looking forward to a bed and shower. Unfortunately, Geoff used the wrong key to get into the door, so the key broke off inside the lock. We weren't able to get into our room! Geoff and Spencer tried to get the key out, but nothing worked. I called the man at the front desk, but he was rude and not helpful at all. We had no place to go, so we decided to sleep on the floor outside our room for the night. We would have to wait until the next day to fix anything.

I had dozed off, so I guess it was about an hour later when our neighbors came home. They were Americans too and invited us to stay in their room for the night. One of the guys had a pocket knife and offered it to Geoff. Spencer and I were talking to the guys when miraculously Geoff got the key out of the lock, and we were able to open our door with the correct key! Few times in my life have I been happier than in that moment. It was hands down the best night's sleep I've had.

We woke up the next morning and headed to Pompeii. We spent all day there. It was huge and absolutely overwhelming. Seeing Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background was constantly daunting. It's hard to imagine that an entire city was preserved so well. It was the perfect time to go too since it wasn't very crowded.

Mt. Vesuvius in the background at Pompeii









Mt. Vesuvius



Amphitheater



Taking a break inside the Amphitheater


Dad: Deer hunting for you


Mom: A warthog/javelina thing for you



Sorrento & the Mediterranean





All in all, it was a great weekend. Sorrento is absolutely beautiful. Many things were closed because it's low season, but we still enjoyed ourselves. Mom, I found Vueve Rosè there. Some convenient stores even have champagne in little bottles.

Tiny champagne


Naples is pretty gross though. After talking to a woman in Sorrento, I think the trash strike is over, but rubbage still remains on the street. Money was paid to open up dump sites, but somewhere along the line, the money disappeared (a.k.a. the Mafia took it). Now that the workers are back, there literally is no place to put the trash. In Ercolano and Naples, this sadly disgusting castrophe was very apparent.


Naples was a scary city. I don't know if it was because I knew beforehand that it is a major place for Mafia activity, but I didn't feel very safe walking around. Luckily I had two huge boys looking out for me, so that made me feel a bit better.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Return of the Sun

After only seeing one day of sunshine in Perugia thus far, I was thoroughly pleased to wake up to an actual sunrise and head for school with a blue sky. We are all so thankful for the sunshine, and I can only hope that it lasts for a few days.

This weekend I'm going to Sorrento, which is in southern Italy close to Naples. Three of us are headed there to see Pompeii and Herculaneum. It should be a really humbling experience.

We'll only be in Naples for a short while to transfer trains, so hopefully we won't smell too much of the stinch of all the trash. Don't know if news from Naples is reaching the US, but the trash workers have gone on strike. This week there is 3,500 tons of garbage lining the streets. It's down from the 7,000 tons from last week! People are starting to burn it in the street. It's really bad stuff, but we'll be safe, and I'm going with two big guys so I feel pretty safe.

I'm going to enjoy the weather!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Al Dentista

I chipped a tooth last week. There's not a great story behind it; I just bit into a piece of chocolate with nuts, and that did it! Naturally, I couldn't wait 4 months to return to the US and get it fixed. Hence, I would have to face the dentist here in Italy.

I went to the administrators at school, and they set up an appointment for me. It was this morning. They guaranteed at least one person there would speak English. That made me more comfortable.

As I walk to the office, I'm told to look for a daunting grey door on the side of a busy street. Excellent! But that was precisely what it was. An indistinct door with a small sign on the side. I don't know how I found it, but I was lucky I suppose. I walk in to an empty room of chairs and magazines. No secretary, no check-in. I see two doors, one is labeled "Toilette" so I open the other. It's a hallway with dentist rooms, and a nurse got on to me and told me to wait in the other room...in Italian. So I waited for approximately three minutes.

The same nurse came back out to get me, and I told her I was a student from Umbra, but that didn't phase her. She sat me in the operation chair without me even telling her my name! The dentist comes in, asks me what happened, leans the chair back, and starts drilling. I couldn't very well ask if there was anyone who spoke English in the office while drills were buzzing in my mouth.

He did his thing, fairly well I'm assuming from the lack of pain on my end. When it came time to pay, I entered my name, birthday, and home address into their computer. That's it. Paid in cash, and I left. The entire ordeal took a maximum of 20 minutes.

Lessons learned from my dentist visit today:
1. Magazines are the quintessential reading material for doctors' offices everywhere.
2. It must be a universal requirement to be young and beautiful to become a dental hygienist.
3. Italians don't waste time when it comes to medical issues.
4. When in doubt, consult the bilingual dictionary.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Weekend in Florence

A group of us went to Florence for Friday and Saturday. It was absolutely stunning. Friday we went to the Accademia Museum to see the David. The David was unbelievable. I've seen pictures of him, but I never thought he was going to be that big. He was at least 20 feet tall. We stayed there looking at him with amazement for a good 15 minutes. There wasn't much else in the building. Most of the remaining statues were only plaster replicas, so we didn't stay much longer after that.

I snuck a picture of David.


We then walked and shopped for a bit.

The best panino I think I will ever eat.


Mom, Dad: You would have LOVED this store.


As we passed the Duomo it was about 4:30, so we randomly decided to head to the top of the Duomo for sunset. It was the best 6 euros I think I'll ever spend! To get to the top, you have to climb 463 stairs. That may or may not sound like a lot, but let me tell you....I was feeling it the next day! Reaching the top, not only were we out of breath from physical exersion, but looking out over Florence at that time of day, truly took our breath away.

Photos from the top



The peeps. Me, Lauren, Kristen, Casey, and Andrew


Casey and I


Lauren


Italy's a fan of live music in the streets, which I completely enjoy.


Kristen and I soaking in some Vitamin D, something we haven't seen much of in Perugia.


Overall, it was a great weekend. Florence is a beautiful city, but it made me really thankful to be studying and living in Perugia. I'm actually able to speak the language here. In Florence, people wouldn't even let me attempt to speak Italian to them before they spoke English right back to me. Another thing that annoyed us: we went to dinner Friday night at a pretty small restaurant. It was really good food, but they basically shoved us out because other Florentines were waiting to eat and the owner said he needed to seat them! That would never happen in Perugia. We were slightly disheartened by that, but it didn't dampen our spirits too much.

On another note, I tried dance class out back here in Perugia last Thursday night. The class was composed of mostly high schoolers, so I felt a bit out of place. It was strange too because the instructor didn't even lead class at all. The warm-up was memorized by all the girls, which I thought was strange. They told me to go back on Tuesday to the class that starts an hour later...it's an advanced class. I'm hoping that will be a bit better. It felt good to dance again though because it had been nearly a month!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Period: Acclimation

As school started this week, I'm slowing starting to get into a pseudo routine. I have Italian every morning at 9 a.m., but I have a break until the early afternoon when the rest of my classes start. I'm taking three other classes: Italian Cinema: 1945 to Present, Globalization and the World Economy, and International Marketing. I can already tell I'm really going to enjoy the Cinema and Globalization classes (despite a lot of reading for the latter), but I'm not sure about the marketing yet. We didn't talk much about the class, but apparently we get to work with a travel agency and help develop a marketing plan for them. I think that's really cool!

Apart from class, I've been cooking nearly every night. I don't necessarily cook, but I'm around other people who do. Naturally we've been experimenting with various pastas and sauces. Last night I went over to my friend Lauren's apartment, and she made pasta from scratch. I mean, made from eggs and flour only, rolled it out, let it dry, cut it up, Italian-style pasta. It was excellent! Eggplant has also become my new best friend. It's so tasty and filling and ridiculously fresh.

Lindsay (left) and Rachel (right)...weird how that alliteration worked out. Two of my roommates cooking dinner. (This picture was stolen from Jenny, another roommate.)



We are also trying to start a breakfast club since most of us have class at 9 and then not again until the afternoon. I wasn't able to attend today because I had too much reading to do for my class today. Hopefully, I'll get back on it next week.

New friends. From left to right: Kristen, Lauren, Me, Casey (Picture stolen from Casey.)



Food. Wine. Friends. Our typical night here. (Picture stolen from Casey.)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Rain & wine

It's been rainy and cold here since we got here, so that's why I haven't gone around to take pictures of the city. It's absolutely stunning though. I can't wait until the sun shines again.

I'm starting to get close to my roommates. There are 7 of us in total, and last night we had some friends over for dinner. So we made pasta, eggplant and chicken parmesan. It was excellent! It's nice having the time to actually prepare dinner.

Another fact about Perugia: Legend has it that years ago the Perugians were revolting against the Pope when he put a tax on salt, so to defy him further they stopped using salt all together. Ever since then, they don't use it regularly to cook. There is a noticable difference in the flavor of saltless bread. You can buy "pane con sale" bread with salt in stores, but at restaurants they only serve saltless bread.

Tomorrow my roommates and I are going to the open market that they have every day. It's three floors of all fresh produce, so basically a gigantic farmer's market. Another thing that I have to get used to is that most stores are closed from 1-4 for lunch and "la pausa" which is like a siesta. Lunch is the big meal here, so everyone takes hours off for it. I'm also getting used to drinking wine at lunch and dinner. I tell my parents I'm sampling all the wines for when they get over here I'll know which brands are the good ones! (Don't you know they believe that!) In all honesty though, wine is an integral part of life over here.

And quite possibly the best part of Perugia I've discovered so far: There's a cheese store that sells the most fabulous cheeses, and the owner tells you what wine goes best with whatever cheese you buy. Exactly my kind of store!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Baci

Ciao a tutti!

I left the States on the 27th to meet up with my best friend Heather in Greece. We spent New Years there in Athens and then headed on to Rome.

Athens was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. By far, one of the cleanest cities I've ever seen. The acropolis is unbelievable. It is so strange to me how structures that have been around for over 2000 years sit there in ruins while modern life goes on like normal. And the Greeks don't even think it's anything special....but neither did the Romans about driving past the Colosseum. I guess when you don't see it everyday and have only heard about it in textbooks and on TV, you are able to truly appreciate it.

The first ruins we stumbled upon...early in the morning.



The Acropolis. Our hostel was literally 2 minutes away.



Greek people are so friendly! This man saw my camera and insisted I take a picture of him.



It was only a few days after Christmas, so Santa was tired.



Olives!



Remnants of Christmas.



Sunset on daytrip to Aegina.



New Years was great in Athens too. We saw the firework display despite creepy guys trying to follow us for nearly an hour. Talking to the police was a definite way to get them to leave. We then opted for a low-key evening at a wine bar and ended up meeting three Italians who worked in Romania and were just in Athens for vacation. It was a nice evening overall, and a great way to ring in the New Year!

Rome was just as spectacular. The Vatican City was great, as was the Sistine Chapel. I think if I had done more research on what I was seeing before throwing myself into those frescoes and tapestries, I would have appreciated them more. I'll make note of that before I go back with the family in May. Heather and I spent practically an entire day in the Ancient City near the Colosseum. It's huge, and we got lost many times just staring at the massive arches.

Heather in front of St. Peter's Basilica.



Apparently, we were surprised at how MASSIVE the Colosseum is.



Yea, it's that huge.



Inside the Colosseum.



Just some stuff laying around the Ancient City from thousands of years ago...



Oddly, these trees are my new obsession.



I sadly had to leave Heather on the 4th to head to Perugia for my program. It was hard leaving her, but I'm so glad we got to spend that week together. It was as if we hadn't spent any time apart (she was in Prague for the fall semester studying abroad).

Perugia is GREAT! It's this tiny old town on the top of a hill in the Umbria region in the center of Italy. It's so hilly here, so hopefully I'll come back with legs of steel! I'm in an apartment with 6 other girls. I've only ever lived with one other girl, so it should be interesting. Everyone is so nice though! We're on the third floor, but we don't have much of a view. We're all trying to adjust to the heating situation. Heating and electricity is limited in Italy. Our apartment is only allowed 6 hours of heat a day, and the times are up to the landlords discretion. Layering has become my lifeline!

The food here is to die for! My parents always told me that eating was an event in Italy, and I just let it go in one ear and out the other.....but now, I know what they mean. The last two meals I've had have lasted a minimum of 3 hours with at least 4 courses. I feel so glutonous, but I feel that it's a good thing it's hilly here because you work off at least a few hundred of those calories just getting to the next destination.

Quick fact: Perugia is known for their chocolate. They have hazelnut covered chocolates called Baci that have little sayings written inside the package. The English translation for baci is "kisses" so they are similar to the idea of the Hershey's Kisses. They taste nothing like them though, and they have actual sayings on the paper, not just the name of the candy, but hopefully you sort of get an idea of what I mean. They even have Baci McFlurries at McDonald's!

I have yet to try gelato here in Perugia, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of it, so I'm in no hurry. The coffee (a.k.a. espresso) here is amazing, especially for my caffeine addiction. I'm fitting into the Italian culture quite nicely I like to believe.

Tomorrow we start a week of intensive Italian classes. We'll have Italian classes for 5 hours this week, and then next week we start our regular class schedule.

I hope everyone is doing well back home!! I'll try to update this as much as possible but take note that I won't be online as much as back home because 1) I'm in Italy, 2) Internet is hard to get here, but 3) don't think I don't love you.

A presto!