Have you ever had a moment in your life when you just thought, there is too much information in my brain? I am thinking too much, and wondering too much and you kind of wish you could just turn it off? Well since you can't answer back, I'm going to assume, for my own sanity, that you said yes. Well up until yesterday for probably about seventy-two hours straight, that was my life. Now I'm not trying to complain, I'm not, because I know 99.9% of college kids have felt the exact same thing at one time or another. And do you want to know why, because here in Perugia, its FINALS week!!
And with two finals on Monday and one on Tuesday my study time was very much not my own this weekend and the beginning of this week. And on my last week in Perugia! In the words of Stephanie Tanner (yes I was a HUGE Full House fan when I was like ten) ... How Rude! So instead of fabulous European adventures full of new experiences and fun sights, this weekend, I saw the inside of the Umbra buildings and the four walls of my bedroom. Though again, I can't complain because I really did come here to go to school and learn. And I did! I learned a lot more than I thought that I did, so studying wasn't horribly difficult, just A LOT of information in NOT A LOT of time! And add that to packing, trying to enjoy my last week in Italy and thinking about going home and back to the US and my brain was just chock full of information. Like can't fall asleep/just want to stare at a wall/feel like your brain is going to explode in an instant kind of full of information. Well thats how I felt this week, and while it might not be as exciting as most of my weekly posts, or in any way as eloquent, its what this last week in Perugia has been like.
Though it hasn't been all bad. They finally lit the Christmas lights, and they're pumping Christmas music (American Christmas music) through loud speakers all over town. And Perugia is just glowing! This is the most adorably quaint Italian city ever created and it has been a blast seeing it go through the changing of the seasons and see the new preparations for the Christmas season. In the end, it has been the perfect place to study abroad I think and I could not imagine being absolutely anywhere else!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
I’ve had my run, Baby I'm Done, I gotta go home, Let me go Home
Well, its official, one week form today and I'll be making my way back to the US. And you know what? I can't tell which I am more, happy or sad. These past 3 months have been absolutely amazing. They have been even more unbelievable that I ever imagined, and I am one hundred percent positive that this is where I was supposed to be this fall. I have seen amazing things, made great friends and learned a lot about myself. And I wouldn't trade any of my experiences (even the not so pleasant ones) for anything in the world.
That all being said though, I cannot wait to get home. I spent this past summer living at home and spending practically every waking our with my best friends or some member of my family, and its really hard to just go cold turkey and not see any of them for months. Especially when this is the longest I've ever gone being away from any of them before. But I am happy to report that this (well the past few weeks) have been the first times I have felt homesick. I am quite impressed that I have managed to keep those feelings at bay for most of my time here. Quite an accomplishment in my book! So seeing as how there is only so much time left of my study abroad experience how about a lovely little list of all (er well most) of the things I'm going to miss about life in Perugia!
1. My friends especially my roommates who are probably the funnest craziest group of girls I've ever met and whom I've become ridiculously close to after such a short time.
2. The scenery - walking through these streets past adorably old and ornate Italian buildings and being able to glimpse the Italian countryside everyday, its going to be hard to give that up.
3. My professors! (yes I did in fact go to classes and learn things this semester!) But my Italian teacher is an awesome woman and my Food Cultures professor makes us laugh everyday - I'm going to miss them and their antics.
4. The food - everything is so unbelievably fresh and delicious here. And especially gelatto around every corner! (Why the US hasn't caught that trend yet, I'll never know)
5. Traveling and having adventures every weekend. Sure I can travel around the US, but how often can you just whisk away every weekend and end up in new and interesting countries? Not that often I'd say.
6. The people who work at the little grocery store around the corner from me who I see probably on a daily basis as there always seems to be something our apartment is out of.
7. My room. I have a single in my apartment, so I have a good amount of privacy, but I also have an extra bed in my room, so on any given night, I tend to have surprise roommates as my roommates have taken turns sleeping in this extra bed. (I have 5 roommates and I have managed to have them all as a roommate for at least one night, if not more). Also it has impossibly tall ceilings and beautiful exposed wood. And my window is right over an adorable little street.
8. Writing in this BLOG. Sure I can keep it up when I get home, but really who wants to read about things that aren't my European adventures? But I will say I've enjoyed writing it thus far. It's been a nice way to keep track of all my adventures here, but also I love that I get to "talk" to each of you who read it at least twice a week. I actually have no idea how many people read this thing, but I would like to say thank you for those that do. I can't imagine that my posts have always been exciting or interesting, but thanks for coming back and reading it anyway! It's been fun. :) Though don't get too sad yet, this isn't the last one. I've still got at least two more posts I'm required to make!
That all being said though, I cannot wait to get home. I spent this past summer living at home and spending practically every waking our with my best friends or some member of my family, and its really hard to just go cold turkey and not see any of them for months. Especially when this is the longest I've ever gone being away from any of them before. But I am happy to report that this (well the past few weeks) have been the first times I have felt homesick. I am quite impressed that I have managed to keep those feelings at bay for most of my time here. Quite an accomplishment in my book! So seeing as how there is only so much time left of my study abroad experience how about a lovely little list of all (er well most) of the things I'm going to miss about life in Perugia!
1. My friends especially my roommates who are probably the funnest craziest group of girls I've ever met and whom I've become ridiculously close to after such a short time.
2. The scenery - walking through these streets past adorably old and ornate Italian buildings and being able to glimpse the Italian countryside everyday, its going to be hard to give that up.
3. My professors! (yes I did in fact go to classes and learn things this semester!) But my Italian teacher is an awesome woman and my Food Cultures professor makes us laugh everyday - I'm going to miss them and their antics.
4. The food - everything is so unbelievably fresh and delicious here. And especially gelatto around every corner! (Why the US hasn't caught that trend yet, I'll never know)
5. Traveling and having adventures every weekend. Sure I can travel around the US, but how often can you just whisk away every weekend and end up in new and interesting countries? Not that often I'd say.
6. The people who work at the little grocery store around the corner from me who I see probably on a daily basis as there always seems to be something our apartment is out of.
7. My room. I have a single in my apartment, so I have a good amount of privacy, but I also have an extra bed in my room, so on any given night, I tend to have surprise roommates as my roommates have taken turns sleeping in this extra bed. (I have 5 roommates and I have managed to have them all as a roommate for at least one night, if not more). Also it has impossibly tall ceilings and beautiful exposed wood. And my window is right over an adorable little street.
8. Writing in this BLOG. Sure I can keep it up when I get home, but really who wants to read about things that aren't my European adventures? But I will say I've enjoyed writing it thus far. It's been a nice way to keep track of all my adventures here, but also I love that I get to "talk" to each of you who read it at least twice a week. I actually have no idea how many people read this thing, but I would like to say thank you for those that do. I can't imagine that my posts have always been exciting or interesting, but thanks for coming back and reading it anyway! It's been fun. :) Though don't get too sad yet, this isn't the last one. I've still got at least two more posts I'm required to make!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Where's my happy Ending?
Now I know what you're thinking after that title, silly Brittany, there's no way you can unhappy, you're in Italy having an amazing adventure full of new and exciting things. And it's true, I am, and I'm having a fabulous time doing it ... but honestly, if there is one thing that Italy is missing - it's someone to be in love with! This is probably the most romantic and adorable place I've ever been, and not having a special someone to share it with, not so fantastic. True, I have my girlfriends and all of the new friends I've made here, but Europeans are simply the most romantic people I've ever met! And this weekend, in Venice, I realized that as never before!
Venice is beautiful! It's probably my favorite city in Italy, second maybe only to Perugia, because its where I live. But Venice is unbelievable! It is literally like something out of a movie, a mix between Pirates of the Carribean and Peter Pan. You can be told that there is water where streets should and boats where cars should be, but until you see it in person, theres no way to understand it. It is the coolest place I think I've ever seen. And while its a pretty large place, its pretty impossible to get lost. Jess and I got off the train and headed straight for the Piazza San Marco, or so we thought. Because really, there is no straight streets from one place to the other. It is literally a maze of backroads and winding alleyways, all very safe, just a little confusing. I think we took some wrong turns somewhere and eventually had to buy a map. After of course accidentally bumping into the Realto bridge. We took pictures, not realizing that that was exactly what we had found, and later came upon it again only to realize that we had in fact just bumped into the famous Realto bridge! We eventually made our way to St.Mark's Square, a really cool open square surrouned on three sides with short rows of buildings and loggia (rows of arches that extend past a buildings fascade to create a covered walkway) and on the third side with the St.Mark's Cathedral. Which is probably the most beautiful cathedral fascade I've ever seen. It has three arches, one large one flanked by two smaller ones and they are so ornately decorated, each top of the arch full of a gorgeously colored fresco. And many tiny flecks of gold mosaic looking peices. This probably isn't even an accurate description, but its all I can manage to put into words at this point. And the inside is just as incredible. The ceiling is literally covered in this gold flaked mosaic. And the Cathedral is huge! It was one of the biggest, most ornately decorated (as far ceilings go) cathedral that I've seen.
Before heading inside the church though, we climbed the bell tower next to the Cathedral - and again I say, if you ever come to Italy, climb the bell towers, they'll give you the best views you can get. And the views from this bell tower, did not disappoint! The water surrounding Venice stretched out for miles, and you could see the city for what it actually was, and island. It was phenomenal. Especially when, much to out surprise, the bells started chiming! And chiming is probably not the most accurate description as chime denotes a small, tiny noise and this was anything but tiny. These massive bells were swaying almost violently back and forth clanging and banging marking off the hour (it had just turned 2 o'clock) and it was awesome to be in the tower while this happened (even though my hearing might be worse for it!).
That night, we ate the typical Venice meal of fresh seafood and did some touristy souvenir shopping and picked up some beautiful Murano glass pieces (something that Venice is famous for).
The next day we wandered more around the city, hopping on and off, the vapporetto which is the public transportation there, and in fact is a ferry boat, not the usual bus or train. But even in our wanderings and stumbling into various beautiful squares and churches, we never got lost. Venice isn't a small place, but once you get inside the little back streets, which are more like walkways than streets since they are sans cars, you literally just walk in circles until you're right back where you started. And usually, that means you get back to the Grande Canal. Which is the main "street" in Venice and probably the most well known, as it houses the Realto and begins near the Piazza San Marco. And it was this interesting color blue. Not necessarily crystal clear, but sort of a hazy aqua color, quite pretty.
Venice (Venizia in Italia) is a gorgeous gorgeous city, full of the smell of ocean, beautiful glas sculptures and gondolas as far as the eye can see. But it is such a romantic spot, going without that special someone tends to feel a bit like you were cheated. So my suggestion, if you ever go, go with someone you love, or unfortunately, you might leave feeling like you missed out on some of Venice's charm.
Venice is beautiful! It's probably my favorite city in Italy, second maybe only to Perugia, because its where I live. But Venice is unbelievable! It is literally like something out of a movie, a mix between Pirates of the Carribean and Peter Pan. You can be told that there is water where streets should and boats where cars should be, but until you see it in person, theres no way to understand it. It is the coolest place I think I've ever seen. And while its a pretty large place, its pretty impossible to get lost. Jess and I got off the train and headed straight for the Piazza San Marco, or so we thought. Because really, there is no straight streets from one place to the other. It is literally a maze of backroads and winding alleyways, all very safe, just a little confusing. I think we took some wrong turns somewhere and eventually had to buy a map. After of course accidentally bumping into the Realto bridge. We took pictures, not realizing that that was exactly what we had found, and later came upon it again only to realize that we had in fact just bumped into the famous Realto bridge! We eventually made our way to St.Mark's Square, a really cool open square surrouned on three sides with short rows of buildings and loggia (rows of arches that extend past a buildings fascade to create a covered walkway) and on the third side with the St.Mark's Cathedral. Which is probably the most beautiful cathedral fascade I've ever seen. It has three arches, one large one flanked by two smaller ones and they are so ornately decorated, each top of the arch full of a gorgeously colored fresco. And many tiny flecks of gold mosaic looking peices. This probably isn't even an accurate description, but its all I can manage to put into words at this point. And the inside is just as incredible. The ceiling is literally covered in this gold flaked mosaic. And the Cathedral is huge! It was one of the biggest, most ornately decorated (as far ceilings go) cathedral that I've seen.
Before heading inside the church though, we climbed the bell tower next to the Cathedral - and again I say, if you ever come to Italy, climb the bell towers, they'll give you the best views you can get. And the views from this bell tower, did not disappoint! The water surrounding Venice stretched out for miles, and you could see the city for what it actually was, and island. It was phenomenal. Especially when, much to out surprise, the bells started chiming! And chiming is probably not the most accurate description as chime denotes a small, tiny noise and this was anything but tiny. These massive bells were swaying almost violently back and forth clanging and banging marking off the hour (it had just turned 2 o'clock) and it was awesome to be in the tower while this happened (even though my hearing might be worse for it!).
That night, we ate the typical Venice meal of fresh seafood and did some touristy souvenir shopping and picked up some beautiful Murano glass pieces (something that Venice is famous for).
The next day we wandered more around the city, hopping on and off, the vapporetto which is the public transportation there, and in fact is a ferry boat, not the usual bus or train. But even in our wanderings and stumbling into various beautiful squares and churches, we never got lost. Venice isn't a small place, but once you get inside the little back streets, which are more like walkways than streets since they are sans cars, you literally just walk in circles until you're right back where you started. And usually, that means you get back to the Grande Canal. Which is the main "street" in Venice and probably the most well known, as it houses the Realto and begins near the Piazza San Marco. And it was this interesting color blue. Not necessarily crystal clear, but sort of a hazy aqua color, quite pretty.
Venice (Venizia in Italia) is a gorgeous gorgeous city, full of the smell of ocean, beautiful glas sculptures and gondolas as far as the eye can see. But it is such a romantic spot, going without that special someone tends to feel a bit like you were cheated. So my suggestion, if you ever go, go with someone you love, or unfortunately, you might leave feeling like you missed out on some of Venice's charm.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Christmas is all around us ...
What's that you say? It's not December yet? Yes well I know, but maybe someone should clue the Italians in, because they've started their Christmas prep already. Here in Perugia, Christmas lights are being strung across every street! Hundreds of power lines connecting the dangling ropes of lights are being hung from every building! It's yet another exciting time here in the the beautiful city of Perugia, and I can't help but wonder if they ever stop preparing for an event of some kind!
However, I have been doing my research on Christmas in Italy, as much out of my own interest, as I have to give an oral presentation in Italian class next week (5 minutes speaking nothing but Italian ... oh my!) and I've picked the Christmas holiday as my topic! It turns out that in this lovely country, Christmas is not a day or two long affair, but instead, its about a month long celebration with various holidays throughout it! It begins next week sometime, though we've heard our Christmas lights on the street will be lit this weekend, and last until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. They have several traditions that seem like they would be fun additions to our usual family celebrations. One of my favorites, is that instead of sending a letter to Santa about how good they've been all year, the children here write one to their parents about how thankful they are for the year they've had with them and place it under their fathers plate to be read at Christmas Eve dinner! Another favorite is that they have something call an "Urn of Fate" and they put all of their presents into this urn and take turns drawing out presents one at a time for each family member and they open them together. They also have something that is known as "il ceppo" or the tree of light, and its a large wooden pyramid shaped frame with different tiers, the bottom one holding a manger scene and different small gifts of fruit and candy above it. Much like our Christmas tree, it is ornately decorated with these small gifts. One of the most well known traditions, is the Feast of the 7 Fishes on Christmas Eve night which takes place because back in early Christianity, Christmas Eve was a religious Feast day, and no meat could be eaten. Probably the biggest difference in celebrations though, has to do with children receiving presents from Santa. It is not Bobo Natale (Santa) who brings children presents, but La Befana, a nice old which who was asked by the wise men to come adore the new Christ Child. She refused, and later, when she saw how brightly the North Star was shining, realized she may have made a mistake. So she set off on her own to find the baby Jesus and got lost, along with the presents that she was bringing him. So instead, she gives her presents to the children of Italy. Italians share our tradition of stalking being 'hung on the fireplace' and good children do receive candy and things and bad children receive cobbone (or coal), or in the modern day case, black crystallized candy.
Christmas is an exciting time in any country I think, and I can't wait to get home and start celebrating! In fact, I already know that my first weekend home, I am already promised to two large traditions in my family, a family friend's traditional Christmas party and the getting of the Christmas tree ( a now 24 year running tradition in my household! Though I myself will only be experiencing my 21st lovely celebration of this tradition!). But even though I like my own traditions at home, and being able to celebrate with my friends and family, it is nice to think about other people around the world and the different ways in which they celebrate! Who knows, maybe I'll even bring a few of these new Italian traditions home with me!
However, I have been doing my research on Christmas in Italy, as much out of my own interest, as I have to give an oral presentation in Italian class next week (5 minutes speaking nothing but Italian ... oh my!) and I've picked the Christmas holiday as my topic! It turns out that in this lovely country, Christmas is not a day or two long affair, but instead, its about a month long celebration with various holidays throughout it! It begins next week sometime, though we've heard our Christmas lights on the street will be lit this weekend, and last until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. They have several traditions that seem like they would be fun additions to our usual family celebrations. One of my favorites, is that instead of sending a letter to Santa about how good they've been all year, the children here write one to their parents about how thankful they are for the year they've had with them and place it under their fathers plate to be read at Christmas Eve dinner! Another favorite is that they have something call an "Urn of Fate" and they put all of their presents into this urn and take turns drawing out presents one at a time for each family member and they open them together. They also have something that is known as "il ceppo" or the tree of light, and its a large wooden pyramid shaped frame with different tiers, the bottom one holding a manger scene and different small gifts of fruit and candy above it. Much like our Christmas tree, it is ornately decorated with these small gifts. One of the most well known traditions, is the Feast of the 7 Fishes on Christmas Eve night which takes place because back in early Christianity, Christmas Eve was a religious Feast day, and no meat could be eaten. Probably the biggest difference in celebrations though, has to do with children receiving presents from Santa. It is not Bobo Natale (Santa) who brings children presents, but La Befana, a nice old which who was asked by the wise men to come adore the new Christ Child. She refused, and later, when she saw how brightly the North Star was shining, realized she may have made a mistake. So she set off on her own to find the baby Jesus and got lost, along with the presents that she was bringing him. So instead, she gives her presents to the children of Italy. Italians share our tradition of stalking being 'hung on the fireplace' and good children do receive candy and things and bad children receive cobbone (or coal), or in the modern day case, black crystallized candy.
Christmas is an exciting time in any country I think, and I can't wait to get home and start celebrating! In fact, I already know that my first weekend home, I am already promised to two large traditions in my family, a family friend's traditional Christmas party and the getting of the Christmas tree ( a now 24 year running tradition in my household! Though I myself will only be experiencing my 21st lovely celebration of this tradition!). But even though I like my own traditions at home, and being able to celebrate with my friends and family, it is nice to think about other people around the world and the different ways in which they celebrate! Who knows, maybe I'll even bring a few of these new Italian traditions home with me!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
So I guess I learned something new today ....
While in Italy, I have been taking Italian language classes (we are all required to) in the vain hope that by the time we leave here, I'll be semi fluent. Well it's almost three months in, and I wonder if I'm any better at Italian than when I started. True, I can understand MOST Italians if they speak to me slow enough, and I guess I couldn't do that before. And I can carry on a small conversation consisting mainly of small talk - how are you, where are you from, things like that - so I can get myself around Italy well enough. But at this point I believe I'm becoming even more fluent in the art of hand language. You might think that this is a silly thing to have conquered, the art of hand language, but I see it as basically learning a second language while I'm here.
Basically, I mean that during my stay here Italy occasionally I have no idea how to say something or what I am trying to convey in Italian, so I have to relay on a mix of pointing, gesturing and basically making a fool out of myself before the people that I'm speaking to understand exactly what I'm trying to say. It is an interesting thing, because its universal. If you point at something or gesture as to the size of something, or even shake your head in a yes or no fashion, regardless of what language you actually speak, the gestures are the same. True, each culture has its own specific gestures that they use and they occasionally mean completely different things in different countries, but on the whole, the major ones that are needed to convey basic points, are the same. It's incredibly convenient too! Especially when traveling, like I have been doing so much of, to countries that speak various languages, hand gesturing and my quasi European hand language has come in immensely useful.
I love things like that that are so universal that they are unmistakable. It makes you remember that even though countries and cultures are very different, at the end of the day we're all human beings and we all possess the same sets of emotions and feelings. And even when you can't necessarily communicate well with words, sometimes all you need is a simple gesture (like a smile) to communicate what you want to. :)
Basically, I mean that during my stay here Italy occasionally I have no idea how to say something or what I am trying to convey in Italian, so I have to relay on a mix of pointing, gesturing and basically making a fool out of myself before the people that I'm speaking to understand exactly what I'm trying to say. It is an interesting thing, because its universal. If you point at something or gesture as to the size of something, or even shake your head in a yes or no fashion, regardless of what language you actually speak, the gestures are the same. True, each culture has its own specific gestures that they use and they occasionally mean completely different things in different countries, but on the whole, the major ones that are needed to convey basic points, are the same. It's incredibly convenient too! Especially when traveling, like I have been doing so much of, to countries that speak various languages, hand gesturing and my quasi European hand language has come in immensely useful.
I love things like that that are so universal that they are unmistakable. It makes you remember that even though countries and cultures are very different, at the end of the day we're all human beings and we all possess the same sets of emotions and feelings. And even when you can't necessarily communicate well with words, sometimes all you need is a simple gesture (like a smile) to communicate what you want to. :)
Friday, November 23, 2007
Turkey Coma
A lot happened this week, and I'm just catching up - so there's two posts from today!
There's nothing like an American Holiday to make you miss home. In Italy, they clearly do not celebrate Thanksgiving, so us Americans were on our own for Turkey Day festivities. We still had to go to class which was a bummer, because if there was a time I did anything but eat mass amounts of food and visit with family on Thanksgiving, I can't remember.
There is a restaurant here in Perugia that nicely enough put together a traditional Thanksgiving dinner special, as most people in the city realized that there is a large population of Americans in town that would enjoy the whole turkey (tacchino), mashed potatoes (pure di patate), stuffing (riempimento) deal. However, this was not going to cut it for me and my friends. No we had to do this restaurant one better and make our own Thanksgiving day feast. And who was in charge of the tacchino and the riempimento? Of course, ME! And let me tell you this was an interesting project for me. Not only have I never cooked a turkey before, I've never even cooked anything larger than a few chicken breasts. So a WHOLE turkey, this was going to be interesting. First of all, they don't just have entire turkeys on hand here in Perugia so I had to go to the butcher (they also don't have supermarkets with everything in them, you have to go separate places for bread, meats, fruits and veggies etc.) and order a whole turkey a week before. But that was the easy part! I finally get it home and luckily I had my roommate visiting me from the US because I'm unsure I could've done the rest alone. Because the turkey came mostly clean, but unlike the turkeys you get at home, it still had the neck and tail attached, and several of the innards still
inside. So we had to clean out the rest of the turkey (gross!) and attempt to remove the tail and neck. We ended up leaving these attached because we had no idea how to take them off! But we washed him (Tommy, we named the turkey, it made the thought of handling the raw turkey less unnerving for it to have a name :) ) and managed to cover him and stuff him and put him in the pan. I made stuffing from scratch too, something I've never done before, and it may have been even tastier than the turkey!! My next issue though, was in Italy they use Celsius degrees, and my instructions (from the mum) were in Fahrenheit, and there is no dial on my oven to set it to a specific temperature either. So letting it cook was interesting! And Italians must also have an extra sense to simply know when a meat is finished cooking, because they don't have meat thermometers. Every time I asked a kitchen supply store if they had one, they looked at me like I was crazy. Not so great a feeling, especially when you're already a little sad not to be home with your family for Thanksgiving! But once my friends started showing up for the feast, things got much more enjoyable. Everyone was excited to be celebrating together, even if we couldn't be with our family at home, we could at least be with our 'family' here. And everyone brought a 
different dish and we ate picnic style on the floor. And Tommy the turkey, when he was ready was pretty darn good! I also had my first attempts at carving a turkey, which was also really fun. Sitting around with my girlfriends talking and eating and laughing was a perfect way to spend Thanksgiving! And the turkey coma that always follows Thanksgiving dinner and eating far too much was a welcome excuse to enjoy relaxing for a night, and not being a busy busy bee like I am for most of my time here!
If you asked me at this time last year what I'd be doing for my next Turkey day , I never would've thought that I would be spending it in Italy, cooking a whole turkey (basically by myself) and having a blast doing both, but that was exactly what I did! And you know what, I wouldn't have had it any other way!
There's nothing like an American Holiday to make you miss home. In Italy, they clearly do not celebrate Thanksgiving, so us Americans were on our own for Turkey Day festivities. We still had to go to class which was a bummer, because if there was a time I did anything but eat mass amounts of food and visit with family on Thanksgiving, I can't remember.
There is a restaurant here in Perugia that nicely enough put together a traditional Thanksgiving dinner special, as most people in the city realized that there is a large population of Americans in town that would enjoy the whole turkey (tacchino), mashed potatoes (pure di patate), stuffing (riempimento) deal. However, this was not going to cut it for me and my friends. No we had to do this restaurant one better and make our own Thanksgiving day feast. And who was in charge of the tacchino and the riempimento? Of course, ME! And let me tell you this was an interesting project for me. Not only have I never cooked a turkey before, I've never even cooked anything larger than a few chicken breasts. So a WHOLE turkey, this was going to be interesting. First of all, they don't just have entire turkeys on hand here in Perugia so I had to go to the butcher (they also don't have supermarkets with everything in them, you have to go separate places for bread, meats, fruits and veggies etc.) and order a whole turkey a week before. But that was the easy part! I finally get it home and luckily I had my roommate visiting me from the US because I'm unsure I could've done the rest alone. Because the turkey came mostly clean, but unlike the turkeys you get at home, it still had the neck and tail attached, and several of the innards still
inside. So we had to clean out the rest of the turkey (gross!) and attempt to remove the tail and neck. We ended up leaving these attached because we had no idea how to take them off! But we washed him (Tommy, we named the turkey, it made the thought of handling the raw turkey less unnerving for it to have a name :) ) and managed to cover him and stuff him and put him in the pan. I made stuffing from scratch too, something I've never done before, and it may have been even tastier than the turkey!! My next issue though, was in Italy they use Celsius degrees, and my instructions (from the mum) were in Fahrenheit, and there is no dial on my oven to set it to a specific temperature either. So letting it cook was interesting! And Italians must also have an extra sense to simply know when a meat is finished cooking, because they don't have meat thermometers. Every time I asked a kitchen supply store if they had one, they looked at me like I was crazy. Not so great a feeling, especially when you're already a little sad not to be home with your family for Thanksgiving! But once my friends started showing up for the feast, things got much more enjoyable. Everyone was excited to be celebrating together, even if we couldn't be with our family at home, we could at least be with our 'family' here. And everyone brought a 
different dish and we ate picnic style on the floor. And Tommy the turkey, when he was ready was pretty darn good! I also had my first attempts at carving a turkey, which was also really fun. Sitting around with my girlfriends talking and eating and laughing was a perfect way to spend Thanksgiving! And the turkey coma that always follows Thanksgiving dinner and eating far too much was a welcome excuse to enjoy relaxing for a night, and not being a busy busy bee like I am for most of my time here!If you asked me at this time last year what I'd be doing for my next Turkey day , I never would've thought that I would be spending it in Italy, cooking a whole turkey (basically by myself) and having a blast doing both, but that was exactly what I did! And you know what, I wouldn't have had it any other way!
Show me some of that Spanish dancing ....
My last trip out of Italy, to Barcelona, this past weekend was bittersweet. It was my last trip out of the country, so it was a little bit sad, but I got to see two of my best friends from NU there! One of the girls has been studying in a little town in southern Spain this fall and the other just came to visit us. It was awesome having a little Boston reunion in Europe. I hadn't seen either of them for months, so a reunion was long overdue!
Barcelona is a gorgeous city. Our hostel was literally right on the beach, we walked out of the door and past the Mediterranean sea every morning - were we lucky or what? And across from the street from where our hostel was was an adorable boat yard full of rows upon rows of sailboats. It was incredible! It made me want to rent one and go sailing for the day, even though I get incredibly motion sick - but it would've been worth it!
Barcelona reminded me a lot of Boston, its right on the coast, most things are within walking distance, and it even had a street that reminded me of Comm Ave, lined with trees and brownstone-esque buildings and a square that reminded me a lot of Copley. But once you got off of the main streets, and wandered a little bit, you realized again that you were in Spain. The set up of the streets are a lot like Italy in that buildings are really close together and a lot of smaller streets connect hidden gems nestled in the middle of city blocks, like the Picasso Museum and the Santa Maria Church (both completely obscured from view from the main streets, but tucked away in little back alleys).
Gaudi, the artist/architect from Spain was also a HUGE influence on the city of Barcelona. His architecture is a little bit out of the ordinary and covered in mosaics of brightly colored tiles. His main work in Barcelona was unbelievable. The Segrada Famiglia as it is called, is a chapel that has bee under construction for 300 years. Its construction is fueled by anonymous donations alone, so it still has yet to be finished. It is probably the most outrageous religious building you will ever see. It towers well above most buildings surrounding it, and with its 18 towers and hundreds of turrets covered in the brightly mosaic-ed tiles, at first glance you're not sure if you're staring at a church or a giant wedding cake. Words simply can't express how interesting and intricate this building is, and its not even finished yet! Gaudi also created a number of other buildings and a park area. The park greets you with two giant gingerbread looking houses and 
and entranceway staircase covered in the trademark mosaics. the most famous peice of this staircase is a beautifully represented lizard. And at the top of the stairs is an informal sitting area with a winding row of benches surrounding a oval shaped portion of land, and the benches are just as beautifully ornamented with his signature color scheme as the rest of the architecture he created. And the view of Barcelona is unbelievable as well!
Soccer is also huge in Spain, so naturally we took a look at their football stadium, also really cool. It technically just looks like any other stadium, but if you imagine it full of people (literally no empty seats anywhere) and these people are decked out in their favorite teams colors, screaming their heads off, like only passionate Spanish residents can, it is quite the site to see!
They also held the 1992 Olympic Summer games in Barcelona and the "port Olympic" as it is now called was also quite amazing to see. There was another stadium where most of the games were held, and an interestingly shaped building where the athletes were housed for the duration of the games. Also, one of what I thought was the coolest parts, was a park opposite the stadium and all along the park were flag poles and during the Olympic Games, each flag pole held the flag of one of the countries competing in the games. Not so cool now that they're empty, I suppose, but if you walked down that strip of park area in 1992 amidst all of those flags flying, I think it would be really interesting.
Barcelona's nightlife is a little out of control. Luckily I didn't experience too' too much of it. We went out at night, because socialization is a big part of getting to know a country. And while it was interesting to be out an about in such a beautiful city, at the time we went out a lot of the area was dead. Apparently, bars are open until 2 or 3 in the morning and then at that point, the clubs and discos open. Apparently this is a HUGE part of Spanish nightlife, however, it was a art that I did not get to see. I'm not quite sure how the Spanish manage to operate on so little sleep, but apparently I'm not European enough, because I simply couldn't stay out and awake until 5, 6 or 7 in the morning! I keep kind of thinking to myself that that was was a pretty lame move, not staying out as late as the Spanish, but then I think, if I could operate on 2 hours of sleep, then maybe I could've done it. All I know is that even with a siesta (the break the Spanish take midday, and EVERYTHING shuts down for the equivalent of kindergarten nap time) the Spanish are pretty amazing people to be so energetic on so little sleep all of the time. Bravo Spaniards, Bravo!
The last thing I did in Barcelona though, was possible the coolest, my roommate and I got up really early and watched the sun rise over the Mediterranean Sea. Not only did we literally have the best, most obstructed view of the sunrise, but the colors were magnificent! IT was literally the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen! And it definitely helped that I was experiencing it in Barcelona, the sun seems a bit brighter there :) Sadly after that it was back to Italy I went, but it was interesting to see the sun set in Italy and think, I saw the sun rise in a completely different country that I am seeing it set in and neither is the country I come from. Unreal. Simply unreal.
Barcelona is a gorgeous city. Our hostel was literally right on the beach, we walked out of the door and past the Mediterranean sea every morning - were we lucky or what? And across from the street from where our hostel was was an adorable boat yard full of rows upon rows of sailboats. It was incredible! It made me want to rent one and go sailing for the day, even though I get incredibly motion sick - but it would've been worth it!
Barcelona reminded me a lot of Boston, its right on the coast, most things are within walking distance, and it even had a street that reminded me of Comm Ave, lined with trees and brownstone-esque buildings and a square that reminded me a lot of Copley. But once you got off of the main streets, and wandered a little bit, you realized again that you were in Spain. The set up of the streets are a lot like Italy in that buildings are really close together and a lot of smaller streets connect hidden gems nestled in the middle of city blocks, like the Picasso Museum and the Santa Maria Church (both completely obscured from view from the main streets, but tucked away in little back alleys).
Gaudi, the artist/architect from Spain was also a HUGE influence on the city of Barcelona. His architecture is a little bit out of the ordinary and covered in mosaics of brightly colored tiles. His main work in Barcelona was unbelievable. The Segrada Famiglia as it is called, is a chapel that has bee under construction for 300 years. Its construction is fueled by anonymous donations alone, so it still has yet to be finished. It is probably the most outrageous religious building you will ever see. It towers well above most buildings surrounding it, and with its 18 towers and hundreds of turrets covered in the brightly mosaic-ed tiles, at first glance you're not sure if you're staring at a church or a giant wedding cake. Words simply can't express how interesting and intricate this building is, and its not even finished yet! Gaudi also created a number of other buildings and a park area. The park greets you with two giant gingerbread looking houses and 
and entranceway staircase covered in the trademark mosaics. the most famous peice of this staircase is a beautifully represented lizard. And at the top of the stairs is an informal sitting area with a winding row of benches surrounding a oval shaped portion of land, and the benches are just as beautifully ornamented with his signature color scheme as the rest of the architecture he created. And the view of Barcelona is unbelievable as well!Soccer is also huge in Spain, so naturally we took a look at their football stadium, also really cool. It technically just looks like any other stadium, but if you imagine it full of people (literally no empty seats anywhere) and these people are decked out in their favorite teams colors, screaming their heads off, like only passionate Spanish residents can, it is quite the site to see!
They also held the 1992 Olympic Summer games in Barcelona and the "port Olympic" as it is now called was also quite amazing to see. There was another stadium where most of the games were held, and an interestingly shaped building where the athletes were housed for the duration of the games. Also, one of what I thought was the coolest parts, was a park opposite the stadium and all along the park were flag poles and during the Olympic Games, each flag pole held the flag of one of the countries competing in the games. Not so cool now that they're empty, I suppose, but if you walked down that strip of park area in 1992 amidst all of those flags flying, I think it would be really interesting.
Barcelona's nightlife is a little out of control. Luckily I didn't experience too' too much of it. We went out at night, because socialization is a big part of getting to know a country. And while it was interesting to be out an about in such a beautiful city, at the time we went out a lot of the area was dead. Apparently, bars are open until 2 or 3 in the morning and then at that point, the clubs and discos open. Apparently this is a HUGE part of Spanish nightlife, however, it was a art that I did not get to see. I'm not quite sure how the Spanish manage to operate on so little sleep, but apparently I'm not European enough, because I simply couldn't stay out and awake until 5, 6 or 7 in the morning! I keep kind of thinking to myself that that was was a pretty lame move, not staying out as late as the Spanish, but then I think, if I could operate on 2 hours of sleep, then maybe I could've done it. All I know is that even with a siesta (the break the Spanish take midday, and EVERYTHING shuts down for the equivalent of kindergarten nap time) the Spanish are pretty amazing people to be so energetic on so little sleep all of the time. Bravo Spaniards, Bravo!
The last thing I did in Barcelona though, was possible the coolest, my roommate and I got up really early and watched the sun rise over the Mediterranean Sea. Not only did we literally have the best, most obstructed view of the sunrise, but the colors were magnificent! IT was literally the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen! And it definitely helped that I was experiencing it in Barcelona, the sun seems a bit brighter there :) Sadly after that it was back to Italy I went, but it was interesting to see the sun set in Italy and think, I saw the sun rise in a completely different country that I am seeing it set in and neither is the country I come from. Unreal. Simply unreal.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Un Giorno da sola
I have been told you have to try traveling by yourself, at least once. This of course came from my roommate who is perfectly content with traveling for weeks at a time by herself! But I figured I'd give it a try. Sooo I went for a little adventure this weekend ... by myself. I took a day trip to Siena, and it wasn't as scary as I thought! Siena is not that far from Perugia, and by bus it only took even less time than the train! But now if you know me, you know that doing anything alone is pretty much my least favorite activity. I like to be surrounded by people, and when I am making decisions about when to do things, I usually make them around when someone else can come with me. But for once, it was nice to do things on my own time, to make decisions based solely on what I wanted to do, and go where I wanted to go. Now I don't think that I could travel for long periods of time by myself, one day was enough for me, but it was interesting to realize that I can get around Italy on my own. I used my Italian, and I suffered through some interesting travel mistakes, but I'm still alive and I think I'm the better for it!
It didn't hurt that Siena was BEAUTIFUL! A friend of mine had studied there in June, and had told me all about it, so I knew I had to get there at some point in my study abroad experience and I very glad I did! The town is a lot like Perugia, its a city, but its fairly small. All of the streets are skinny and buildings are close together and most of the monuments and historical sights are definitely within walking distance. And the main piazza, Il Campo, is awesome! Everyone comes here to eat and hang out in the sunshine. The main civic building is in Il Campo and right in front of it is a raised walkway area, much like steps without the steps, or a theaters graduated seating, without the seats. And it was just an awesome little place, bustling with life and people!
And the civic center has some amazing artwork in it, including a painting that I'd been learning about in one of my classes, that I didn't know was located there, and was an awesome surprise! I love learning about artists and artwork and then being able to see their artwork in person. It is probably one of the coolest feelings ever, to be able to appreciate art because you know what it is and who made it. And after having spent so much time on this particular painting and then literally bumping into it in this museum, was unreal! It helps, too, that this painting is on a huge scale and probably 30 times my size, but still, it was awe inspiring for reasons other than its grandiose nature. And attached to this civic center is a bell tower, that I was instructed by my friend to climb, even though it was 330 steps up. But I did 414 in Florence right? So this, I thought, would be nothing! Well it was quite the trek up, but it was well worth it! The views were incredible! You could see all of Siena, and much of the surrounding countryside. It was breathtaking! You were only allowed to spend 15 minutes at the top, due to size restrictions at the top of the tower, but I could've spent hours. I couldn't take my eyes off of the expanse of rooftops that blurred into one another and the hills and countryside that literally rolled on forever. It was exactly what you think of when you think of a little town in Italy. So amazingly Italian that you literally want to stay there, soaking it in forever.
So all in all, I had an amazing time on my little adventure alone. It was a bit nerve racking at times, but I'm glad I did it. Not only did I get to see an amazing city, but I got to know that I can travel alone. Being by myself and on my own is not that scary over all. And I pride myself on being fairly independent in my life in general, but every once in a while, its nice to have a reminder that you actually are! :)
Friday, November 9, 2007
Last Stop - England!
Before I get
to the last stop, I forgot to write about my favorite church I'd seen! We saw so much in Scotland, that remembering it all was kind of tough. But St.Giles church on the Royal Mile was gorgeous. It had wonderful stained glass windows and plenty of tiny chapels. But it felt homey somehow. It didn't feel like a giant cathedral that Mass would never be said in. To me it felt like a nice place that I could definitely go to to worship. I am unfortunately not being so good about getting to church while abroad, but if I had the chance, I think hearing Mass in this church would've been very nice. And while I may have forgotten to include it in my last post, I'll never forget it. And it was definitely my favorite church that I'd seen on Fall Break, even possibly since I've been in Italy.
Well, so it was almost the end of my fall break, but I had one more stop to go, and it was back to England. I was lucky enough to be staying with family friends who live a few hours outside of London! And even more lucky, I ended up flying into the airport that was closest to them, so I didn't even have to take the dreaded train by myself! I got picked up right at the airport! Talk about the star treatment haha! I realize that getting picked up in a car does not sound like the most luxurious thing a person could do, but after 4 flights, 5 days of buses and trains, a car was absolutely amazing! And sleeping, for two glorious nights, in a bed, a real bed, not a hostel bunk bed was also absolutely wonderful!
The family I stayed with I have known for around 10 years. Every so often one, two or the whole lot of our families have gone and stayed with the other for different amounts of time. Most recently the eldest son came and stayed with my family, so I had seen him recently, but as for the others, I hadn't seen them since I was 13! Eight years! So it was very exciting! Nicely enough, they were exactly like I remembered them. And it was absolutely wonderful to have a mom figure to be fretting over me for a few days. When you're this far away from home, and without the ability to just go home when you need to, its nice to spend a few days in a family situation, with a mom much like yours who can take care of you! Though I am a grown up (or trying to be these days) its still nice to be able to 'come home' I think, and though this wasn't my home, its the closest thing I have to family over here and it was nice to spend time with them. Though I fear I wasn't such a splendid guest, as I was exhausted and I slept, a lot! But they didn't seem to mind, and it allowed them to go about their days without worrying about me.
Though I did spend a day with the mom, in a town nearby called Lavenham. We walked around and went into this old guild hall and looked around. And she told me all about the town and the
buildings that we saw. Including a very crooked house and a house that used to be about 100 meters away from where it currently stands. Apparently, back in the day, when you moved, you really moved, and you took your whole house with you. Then we poked around a few antique shops and headed home for tea. And while it may be a stereotype of England that they drink tea, from my experience, I'd say it was dead on. There were definitely several times throughout the day that I was offered tea (okay, or coffee) and it seemed completely appropriate. Though I'm not a big tea drinker, so I passed, but what a place to live if you liked it! :)
Unfortunately, my time spent there was brief, and it was back to London to meet up with my traveling companions. We spent one last glorious night roaming around London and the downtown area. And in particular a portion that reminded us a lot of NYC with big television-billboards and lots of people out and about. It was a lot of fun and really cool to see that part of London!
On our last day in London, we did the total tourist thing and went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. Unfortunately it was raining, so they didn't have their usual beefeater outfits on, but it was still really cool. And the queen was home, as the English flag flying above the palace signifies.
And then, just like that, my fall break was over, and it was time to come back to Italy. Though I still had a plane, 2 trains, a bus and a taxi to look forward to to get me back 'home' to Perugia. We actually almost missed our train, so we almost ended up stuck in Rome for the night, but luckily we made it, and by 2AM Monday, I was sleeping in my own bed in Perugia. But what an amazing week it was! I got to see so many amazing things and travel to three different countries! I even got to escape the city for a little while and travel to the beautiful green countryside of England and hang out with friends I haven't seen in years. It was probably the most perfect vacation I could have ever taken. It was the most fun, and the most exciting travel experience I've ever had. And to be able to do it with 4 good girl friends, well that just made it all the better! I can't wait for my next European adventure! :)
to the last stop, I forgot to write about my favorite church I'd seen! We saw so much in Scotland, that remembering it all was kind of tough. But St.Giles church on the Royal Mile was gorgeous. It had wonderful stained glass windows and plenty of tiny chapels. But it felt homey somehow. It didn't feel like a giant cathedral that Mass would never be said in. To me it felt like a nice place that I could definitely go to to worship. I am unfortunately not being so good about getting to church while abroad, but if I had the chance, I think hearing Mass in this church would've been very nice. And while I may have forgotten to include it in my last post, I'll never forget it. And it was definitely my favorite church that I'd seen on Fall Break, even possibly since I've been in Italy.Well, so it was almost the end of my fall break, but I had one more stop to go, and it was back to England. I was lucky enough to be staying with family friends who live a few hours outside of London! And even more lucky, I ended up flying into the airport that was closest to them, so I didn't even have to take the dreaded train by myself! I got picked up right at the airport! Talk about the star treatment haha! I realize that getting picked up in a car does not sound like the most luxurious thing a person could do, but after 4 flights, 5 days of buses and trains, a car was absolutely amazing! And sleeping, for two glorious nights, in a bed, a real bed, not a hostel bunk bed was also absolutely wonderful!
The family I stayed with I have known for around 10 years. Every so often one, two or the whole lot of our families have gone and stayed with the other for different amounts of time. Most recently the eldest son came and stayed with my family, so I had seen him recently, but as for the others, I hadn't seen them since I was 13! Eight years! So it was very exciting! Nicely enough, they were exactly like I remembered them. And it was absolutely wonderful to have a mom figure to be fretting over me for a few days. When you're this far away from home, and without the ability to just go home when you need to, its nice to spend a few days in a family situation, with a mom much like yours who can take care of you! Though I am a grown up (or trying to be these days) its still nice to be able to 'come home' I think, and though this wasn't my home, its the closest thing I have to family over here and it was nice to spend time with them. Though I fear I wasn't such a splendid guest, as I was exhausted and I slept, a lot! But they didn't seem to mind, and it allowed them to go about their days without worrying about me.
Though I did spend a day with the mom, in a town nearby called Lavenham. We walked around and went into this old guild hall and looked around. And she told me all about the town and the
buildings that we saw. Including a very crooked house and a house that used to be about 100 meters away from where it currently stands. Apparently, back in the day, when you moved, you really moved, and you took your whole house with you. Then we poked around a few antique shops and headed home for tea. And while it may be a stereotype of England that they drink tea, from my experience, I'd say it was dead on. There were definitely several times throughout the day that I was offered tea (okay, or coffee) and it seemed completely appropriate. Though I'm not a big tea drinker, so I passed, but what a place to live if you liked it! :)Unfortunately, my time spent there was brief, and it was back to London to meet up with my traveling companions. We spent one last glorious night roaming around London and the downtown area. And in particular a portion that reminded us a lot of NYC with big television-billboards and lots of people out and about. It was a lot of fun and really cool to see that part of London!
On our last day in London, we did the total tourist thing and went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. Unfortunately it was raining, so they didn't have their usual beefeater outfits on, but it was still really cool. And the queen was home, as the English flag flying above the palace signifies.
And then, just like that, my fall break was over, and it was time to come back to Italy. Though I still had a plane, 2 trains, a bus and a taxi to look forward to to get me back 'home' to Perugia. We actually almost missed our train, so we almost ended up stuck in Rome for the night, but luckily we made it, and by 2AM Monday, I was sleeping in my own bed in Perugia. But what an amazing week it was! I got to see so many amazing things and travel to three different countries! I even got to escape the city for a little while and travel to the beautiful green countryside of England and hang out with friends I haven't seen in years. It was probably the most perfect vacation I could have ever taken. It was the most fun, and the most exciting travel experience I've ever had. And to be able to do it with 4 good girl friends, well that just made it all the better! I can't wait for my next European adventure! :)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Visions of Plaid
We got to Scotland and the first thing you notice, a HUGE temperature drop! It was really, really cold! I had bought a scarf and gloves back in London because it was a little bit chilly there, but thank goodness I had, or I probably would've been frozen in Scotland! Beyond being cold though, Edinburgh was gorgeous!!! Before we got there, people compared it to Boston, and while I would say that is accurate as far as size and activity is concerned, nothing else is quite like it! Boston is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but this place was out of this world! The architecture was tall, sharp and dark, and it was seriously breathtaking. And it was so green! Not only could you see the city portion of it, but in certain sections of the city, you could also see the gorgeous green mountains! And there was an enormous park in the middle of the city as well!
The first thing we did, was head to the castle of Edinburgh. We walked up the Royal mile past
some really amazing looking churches and one that had been renovated into a shopping center I believe. The castle is situated at one of the highest peaks in the city and even just the view on the way to it was magnificent! And once we were inside it was even cooler. We took a tour with this older Scottish gentleman as our tour guide and he was awesome! He was really passionate about the castle and the history that he was explaining to us, so that made it all the more interesting. He told us all about the castle and its uses and the royal families that used to live there. He also showed us to where the crown jewels were kept (which were also beautiful - though they wouldn't let you take pictures of them, so sorry no photos for you!) And the views from the top of the castle, were unreal! You could see all the way to the ocean and to the 
pictures totally don't do it justice. If you ever have the chance, get yourself to Edinburgh! After that we wandered back down the Royal Mile and off to one of the main streets in the city. And we passed by this awesome Scottish band performing on the sidewalk! They had bagpipes (have I mentioned that I am oddly, mildly obsessed with bagpipes?) and huge drums and they were awesome! Then we did a little bit of shopping, because the main street was lined with really awesome stores. I was actually quite surprised, because I managed to restrain myself from buying anything! which is very unlike me! 
And then the next thing we knew, it was night time! We split up for dinner and most of us regrouped for a roommate's birthday celebration. So we got to experience a little bit of the Scottish night life. It's tantamount to most other European nightlife's I've experienced, pubs are open for a certain amount of time, and they're sparsely populated, mostly with locals and then when those close, the dance clubs open (though we did not end up at one of those!) and most people dance into the wee hours of the morning. We didn't stay out too, too late because unfortunately traveling doesn't really allow for reckless abandon as to amounts of sleep you get, and we had a lot we wanted to accomplish the next day!
So it was up again in gorgeous Edinburgh and our first stop was to climb a small hill on the outskirts of the city and let me tell you, it was also unbelievable. The view from on top of this hill was astonishing. You could see the mountains again, but you could also see the entire downtown area of Edinburgh and the castle way up on the hilltop! And the air up there was so wonderful! So fresh and clean and music to the lungs! I may have done a few twirls - Sound of Music style - just to soak in the amazingness (yes I made up a word) of this hill!
Afterwards we wound our way through the giant garden in the center of town. It was both breathtaking and emotionally stirring. Each of the benches that sat along the path next to the garden each had their own adorable dedication and inscription, mostly to people who had loved the garden and have since passed on. Being the sap that I am, one actually almost made me cry. It was to a woman from her husband and she had been a musician and conductor who had performed in this park and the inscription read "If music be the fuel of love, play on sweet Fiona". Well after several inscriptions like this, I was nearly in tears. I was so moved by the generosity and love of these family members who dedicated these benches to their loved ones, it was incredibly sweet.
I had to get it together though, because at the end of the park, we were headed into the National Gallery, and we had lots of artwork to look at! There was a number of gorgeous paintings and sculptures contained here, though studying in a country known for its art, other museums and galleries sometimes fail to compare. After the museum we went in search of a place called the "Baked Potato Shop". We were told that if we were in Edinburgh, we were not to miss this place. Though, it was so small, a mere hole in the wall place, one very well might have missed it! We finally found it and it was probably the best baked potato I've ever eaten! You could get literally ANYTHING you wanted in this potato, most of us were pretty standard, cheese, veggies, sour cream were our choices. I ended up with chili and a friend got artichoke. They were so delicious! And I urge anyone who goes to find this shop, because it was amazing!
After lunch, we went off in search of the cafe that J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter
novel in. It took us some hunting, but after what was probably several hours of searching and literally walking in circles, we found it! The Elephant house is an adorable little coffee shop that proudly displays a "Home of the Harry Potter" book sign in its window. And when you sit in this little cafe, you can almost feel J.K. Rowling getting her inspiration all over again. You have an awesome view of Edinburgh Castle, that looks remarkably like Hogwarts and in the area is a Potter street and all sorts of magically named places and streets. It is no wonder her creative juices were flowing! This cafe was seriously the best possible place to write those books!
Later that night, most of the girls I was traveling with went on a haunted tour of the city, but unfortunately I don't do well with being scared, so I opted not to go, instead I stayed back and napped, because that night was game one of the world series! And we stayed with a friend so that we could watch it, at 1AM our time! So once the girls got back, it was about game time, so we sat up and ate hot dogs and chips (true American baseball style) and watched my Sox get a huge lead early on! Unfortunately, most of us fell asleep before it was over, but from what I hear I wasn't that exciting of a game anyway, with a Sox win of 13-1!
And then just like that, my time in Scotland was over! We were flying out of Glasgow, so most of the next day was an attempt to get to Glasgow and get to the airport. We got to see a bit of Glasgow, but we only spent a few hours there, so we didn't see much, and unfortunately nothing of too much note! But it was in Glasgow that we had our worst mistake of the trip! We thought we were flying out of Glasgow International, when really we were flying out of Prestwick, a 45 minute cab ride away! And so by the time we showed up at Glasgow International, there wasn't time to take a train to the other airport and we had to pay a HUGE some of money to get to the other airport! A GIANT pain in behind. Luckily we made it in time, but it was very, very stressful! Luckily there were no other glitches in the plan that night, and at 9 something, we touched back down in England to finish our last few days in London!
The first thing we did, was head to the castle of Edinburgh. We walked up the Royal mile past
some really amazing looking churches and one that had been renovated into a shopping center I believe. The castle is situated at one of the highest peaks in the city and even just the view on the way to it was magnificent! And once we were inside it was even cooler. We took a tour with this older Scottish gentleman as our tour guide and he was awesome! He was really passionate about the castle and the history that he was explaining to us, so that made it all the more interesting. He told us all about the castle and its uses and the royal families that used to live there. He also showed us to where the crown jewels were kept (which were also beautiful - though they wouldn't let you take pictures of them, so sorry no photos for you!) And the views from the top of the castle, were unreal! You could see all the way to the ocean and to the 
pictures totally don't do it justice. If you ever have the chance, get yourself to Edinburgh! After that we wandered back down the Royal Mile and off to one of the main streets in the city. And we passed by this awesome Scottish band performing on the sidewalk! They had bagpipes (have I mentioned that I am oddly, mildly obsessed with bagpipes?) and huge drums and they were awesome! Then we did a little bit of shopping, because the main street was lined with really awesome stores. I was actually quite surprised, because I managed to restrain myself from buying anything! which is very unlike me! 
And then the next thing we knew, it was night time! We split up for dinner and most of us regrouped for a roommate's birthday celebration. So we got to experience a little bit of the Scottish night life. It's tantamount to most other European nightlife's I've experienced, pubs are open for a certain amount of time, and they're sparsely populated, mostly with locals and then when those close, the dance clubs open (though we did not end up at one of those!) and most people dance into the wee hours of the morning. We didn't stay out too, too late because unfortunately traveling doesn't really allow for reckless abandon as to amounts of sleep you get, and we had a lot we wanted to accomplish the next day!So it was up again in gorgeous Edinburgh and our first stop was to climb a small hill on the outskirts of the city and let me tell you, it was also unbelievable. The view from on top of this hill was astonishing. You could see the mountains again, but you could also see the entire downtown area of Edinburgh and the castle way up on the hilltop! And the air up there was so wonderful! So fresh and clean and music to the lungs! I may have done a few twirls - Sound of Music style - just to soak in the amazingness (yes I made up a word) of this hill!
Afterwards we wound our way through the giant garden in the center of town. It was both breathtaking and emotionally stirring. Each of the benches that sat along the path next to the garden each had their own adorable dedication and inscription, mostly to people who had loved the garden and have since passed on. Being the sap that I am, one actually almost made me cry. It was to a woman from her husband and she had been a musician and conductor who had performed in this park and the inscription read "If music be the fuel of love, play on sweet Fiona". Well after several inscriptions like this, I was nearly in tears. I was so moved by the generosity and love of these family members who dedicated these benches to their loved ones, it was incredibly sweet.
I had to get it together though, because at the end of the park, we were headed into the National Gallery, and we had lots of artwork to look at! There was a number of gorgeous paintings and sculptures contained here, though studying in a country known for its art, other museums and galleries sometimes fail to compare. After the museum we went in search of a place called the "Baked Potato Shop". We were told that if we were in Edinburgh, we were not to miss this place. Though, it was so small, a mere hole in the wall place, one very well might have missed it! We finally found it and it was probably the best baked potato I've ever eaten! You could get literally ANYTHING you wanted in this potato, most of us were pretty standard, cheese, veggies, sour cream were our choices. I ended up with chili and a friend got artichoke. They were so delicious! And I urge anyone who goes to find this shop, because it was amazing!
After lunch, we went off in search of the cafe that J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter
novel in. It took us some hunting, but after what was probably several hours of searching and literally walking in circles, we found it! The Elephant house is an adorable little coffee shop that proudly displays a "Home of the Harry Potter" book sign in its window. And when you sit in this little cafe, you can almost feel J.K. Rowling getting her inspiration all over again. You have an awesome view of Edinburgh Castle, that looks remarkably like Hogwarts and in the area is a Potter street and all sorts of magically named places and streets. It is no wonder her creative juices were flowing! This cafe was seriously the best possible place to write those books!Later that night, most of the girls I was traveling with went on a haunted tour of the city, but unfortunately I don't do well with being scared, so I opted not to go, instead I stayed back and napped, because that night was game one of the world series! And we stayed with a friend so that we could watch it, at 1AM our time! So once the girls got back, it was about game time, so we sat up and ate hot dogs and chips (true American baseball style) and watched my Sox get a huge lead early on! Unfortunately, most of us fell asleep before it was over, but from what I hear I wasn't that exciting of a game anyway, with a Sox win of 13-1!
And then just like that, my time in Scotland was over! We were flying out of Glasgow, so most of the next day was an attempt to get to Glasgow and get to the airport. We got to see a bit of Glasgow, but we only spent a few hours there, so we didn't see much, and unfortunately nothing of too much note! But it was in Glasgow that we had our worst mistake of the trip! We thought we were flying out of Glasgow International, when really we were flying out of Prestwick, a 45 minute cab ride away! And so by the time we showed up at Glasgow International, there wasn't time to take a train to the other airport and we had to pay a HUGE some of money to get to the other airport! A GIANT pain in behind. Luckily we made it in time, but it was very, very stressful! Luckily there were no other glitches in the plan that night, and at 9 something, we touched back down in England to finish our last few days in London!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
These Irish Eyes Are Smiling
The next stop on my Fall Break (abbreviation FaBre, in case I throw that in somewhere) after England, was Ireland! What a fun country! The people are extraordinarily friendly and the accents are adorable! The first person we met, our cab driver was so chatty it made me instantly as ease in this new country! And although it was late and we were tired he told us it was unnacceptable to go straight to bed, that it was our first night in Ireland and we should most definitely walk the 5 or 10 minutes to the near by town of Swords because according to him " it was on fire"! Well, how could we say no to that? So we went out, we didn't stay out long, but it was fun to explore a little bit of the town anyway. First thing I found, a store with the name FLYNN across the markee. I mean I knew Flynn was a prominent Irish last name, but I got so excited I simply had to photograph it! After a bit of wandering we ended up in a little pub in the middle of town and ordered our first Guinnness' of the trip. Since Guinness originated in Dublin and is as our cab driver also mentioned "Irish religion" we didn't think it was right to get anything else. Well I don't know if it was just the atmosphere or what, but Buinness tastes different in Dublin. As I am not a huge beer drinker, and especially not a fan of darker beers, Guinness is not my first choice, but in Dublin, its delicious! It's smooth and light and not filling like it is back home. Though apparently, as we were told later, it is not a very lady like drink, as the men sitting next to us laughed at 5 younger women who were all drinking a pint. Well, I guess we showed them, didn't we?
The next day after walking through the heart of Dublin, past the Millenium Spire (a giant steel spike in the middle of town), it was off to the Guinness Factory itself. Being newly 21, I have yet to tour a beer making factory, so this was very exciting for me! It was really interesting to be taken through the different stages of beer production, harvesting the hops and barley, adding the purest water, fermenting it, taste testing and finally bottling and shipping. Who knew so much went into making a pint? I do now! My favorite part of the factory though was the advertising floor. It was full of different bottle types, commercials, billboards and labels of Guinnness since it's creation. It was really interesting to see the progression that their advertising has taken. And lastly it was up to the 360 degree pub for our complimentary pint. While the beer was okay, the view was even better! You could see all of Dublin! It's always fun to get an arial view of a city that you're exploring because you realize just how large it is and how far you've actually walked. And let me tell you, we walked pretty far to get to that factory! But it was well worth it, I'd say!
Unfortunately that took up a large portion of our first day, and all that there was time for afterwards was dinner and some time to experience the Irish nightlife. We were being a bit American though, and ended up at this fantastically American restaurant that had a huge US flag on the ceiling and played songs from Journey, The Police, U2 and Prince. But we figured, we've gotten a whole heck of a lot of Europe in the past few months, whats a little bit of home going to hurt? Dinner was good, but directly afterwards we were catapulted right back into Ireland! WE went to a pub that was reccommended by a friend studying abroad and it was
EXACTLY the type of atmosphere that one thinks of when one tries to imagine Ireland! It was dimly lit, full of people laughing and smiling and sharing pints and the best part, there was an Irish band playing! Well, I pretty much fell in love with this band. I love Irish music and this band was so lively and people were so excited jumping and dancing around that it was just an awesome experience. It was probably my favorite part of Dublin! I was extremely close to buying their CD, and I wish I had, because they were fabulous! So authentically Irish it made me smile the entire time we were there!The next day we walked around more of the different districts of Dublin. We walked through the Temple Bar region, which is full of pubs (one of which we ate lunch at - and I got Bangers and Mash, a typical Irish dish of sausages and mashed potatoes - YUM!), shopping and restaurants. It's a really cute area, and reminded me a bit of downtown Boston, but much more compact. Then we walked down and around the 'old town' portion of the city where there is a lot of really interesting architecture and two important churches, The Church of Christ and St. Patrick's Cathedral. The Church of Christ is really beautiful inside with lots of little chapels and the most interesting portion, an underground crpyt area where there are several burial sites and some really interesting artifacts from Dublin. St.Patrick's Cathedral, probably the most well known in Ireland, is HUGE! The ceilings are
immensely high and the stained glass takes up entire portions of the wall! It was beautiful! Even the floor was ornately decorated. And I've found I have a weird liking for these ornately decorated floors that I have found in churches and other large monuments. Odd I know, but they're beautiful, and I can't help it! After St.Patrick's we tried to go to Trinity College to see the book of Kells, but the building it was in was closed, so we just ended up back in the Hostel. We were exhausted and decided to relax and regroup for hopefully another night of Dublin Nightlife, but unfortunately, we got a bit too relaxed and we never made it back out! Something I sort of regret now, as that second night in Dublin was one of my favorite nights of FaBre, but oh well! Traveling makes you tired and theres no shame in taking a night off! Besides, we had to be up early the next day to catch a flight to Edinburgh! I had already seen so much at this point! I couldn't beleive I wasn't even half way done my trip! If the Irish were this polite to us and the country had been so entertaining, Scotland couldn't be much different, I thought, so I was very excited to go! Even if it did mean getting up at 4:30 AM for a 7 AM flight! Oh well! Early mornings and late nights, so is the life of a traveler I suppose!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Please Mind the Gap
So I went to London, and fell in love. The city is beautiful, the people are friendly, and the cider is delicious. :) It was the first stop on our Fall Break, so naturally I was excited as a kindergartener on the first day of school. I was excited to speak English again, and to see this wonderful city again, I had been there a little less than 10 years ago with my family. But London has changed since then, and I'd say I've changed, too. So this was a whole new experience for me! The tube, or the Underground, their public transportation system is beautiful. It is clean, and new and sorry Boston, but a whole heck of a lot better than the public transit I'm used to!
After checking into our hostel, and getting the first of many Starbucks (I know, uber American, but hey they don't have it in Italy!) it was off to see the sights! We took the tube to the downtown area, stepped out of the station and it was just BAM Big Ben! I have had a lot of these epiphany type moment, but Big Ben is a pretty impressive one! The houses of Parliament are enormous, gorgeous buildings that are slightly Gothic in their appearance, with flat levels and pointy turrets on the tops of them. They are beautiful during the day, but even prettier at night! We were told that the minute hand on Big Ben is about twice the size of a double decker bus, so the clock face as a whole is as tall as four double decker buses stacked on top of each other! Then we walked along the Thames River and past the Tate museum and wound our way to the restoration of Shakespeare's the Globe theater. I am a self proclaimed (and darn proud of it) theater dork, so this was really cool for me. Unfortunately we couldn't go inside, since their season is over. But seeing it, how it would've looked back then was still really cool. We wanted t go see a play inside it, which you can still do today, but again the season being over put a small road block up in our plans! But it was really cool to see regardless.
Later that first night, we went on a boat tour of the Thames which was awesome. It told us so much history of the different buildings along the river. And its always nice to hear the history from someone who knows it like the back of their hand. I mean I saw a lot of things during Fall Break, but they always mean a lot more when you get to hear, form someone who understands it, the history of what it is that you are seeing. And the houses of Parliament and the Tower Bridge are absolutely beautiful at night. I love city lights in general, but being a part of something that large and breathtaking, makes them 100% cooler.
After the boat tour it was directly onto the London Eye, the giant Ferris-wheel thing, containing 33 orbs symbolizing the 33 sections of London) that they constructed in London to serve as an observatory for tourists and visitors. At the moment the Eye is the tallest observation wheel, though there is one being constructed in Beijing, I believe, that will out do it, so sadly, the Eye won;t hold this distinction for much longer. We did some pleading with the person operating the Eye and managed to get a bubble all to ourselves. It was so much more fun just being up there with the four of us, than having other people we didn't know, because we got to take as many pictures as we wanted and ask all of the stupid questions to each other that we wanted. I even did a cartwheel inside our bubble! A couple of the girls I were with were almost too scared to go to the edge of our little bubble, so I did a cartwheel to prove that the structure was stable and they had nothing to worry about. We laughed about it, though I'm not sure that any fears of falling out of the bubble were calmed. Oh well!Later that night we went to an adorable pub and drank Strongbow hard cider, which is probably the most delicious thing I've ever drank. I mean, I pretty much like anything that tastes like apples, apple juice is probably my favorite drink ever. So a carbonated apple drink that was alcoholic, but didn't taste like it was, was amazing in my life. We went to another pub a little further down the same street which was also a lot of fun. I think Italy could take a cue from the English, more pubs I say! I love the atmosphere- an almost underground feeling, and everyone is happy and friendly, it makes nights out in the city a bit more fun!
The next day we went exploring, and shopping. We started off at the British Museum, which luckily for student bank accounts, is free admission. The rooms were broken up into various countries and it was fun to walk around and explore 'the world' throughout the museum. We saw a lot in interesting exhibits, but probably the coolest one was one about the amount of prescription drugs a person takes in their lifetime. It followed the life of this one couple and it
followed the different stages in their lives and the different medications that they would have taken during the different periods of their lives. You would never know that you took that many pills in a lifetime, but they were almost all completely necessary to the happenings of that portion of your life. And each of the pills that you would have hypothetically taken was woven into this netting of sorts that stretched on for at least 20 feet, though the wife's was longer, because she lived longer. And there were pictures that accompanied the netting, that detailed the lives of the two people who were represented in the study. It was really interesting.After the museum it was off to the Covent Garden district of London where we put in some quality shopping time at the various shops along the streets. And where we also sat at this cute little cafe and ate bagel sandwiches, which again, doesn't seem too exciting, except that you can't get them in Italy :)
Later that night was my first experience with the Airline
RyanAir, whom gives great deals for in Europe flights (we took 3 during the trip), but is occasionally a little disorganized and sometime unreliable. Luckily I had pretty good experiences with them, but this is not the case for all passengers of the airline. Regardless of my experience though I was excited to fly, because when we touched down, it mean that we were in Dublin! Being a quarter Irish myself, this was extraordinarily exciting! And I could not wait to explore! But that story, is for another time! No need to overwhelm you with too many stories at once! And trust me there are many many more! But that's it for the first round of London, the wonderful city that I was lucky enough to return to at the end of the trip for one a few last adventures before it was time to head back to Perugia. But even in this first small portion of time I spent there, to repeat myself, I fell in love. If only it weren't such an expensive city, I would move there in a heartbeat. In fact, I just might anyway! :) Just kidding ... sort of!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Is this really my life?!?!
I'm back! I know you're thrilled :) Anywho, after returning from an insane week full of new countries, accents, cultures and the use of every single mode of transportation possible, I am currently in a serious state of sensory overload again! It was an absolutely amazing week, jam packed with beautiful views, fabulous food (that wasn't pizza or pasta!) and yes of course, travel mishaps and hang-ups. I had a fabulous time and enjoyed being able to speak English for an entire week (getting lost and asking for directions is a lot easier to do when you speak the same language as the person you're asking haha), but I thought I'd be more depressed about being "home" in Perugia. But I've got to say, I'm pretty much floating on cloud nine! Not only did I just get to have and amazing United Kingdom adventure (the who, what, where and how will be explained in later posts), but I still get to spend a month and a half studying in Italy! How lucky am I?!? And as it turns out, I missed Italy - and surprisingly enough it's beautiful language - a lot! AND to top off an absolutely amazing Fall Break trip, my favorite boys of summer, THE BOSTON RED SOX won the World Series! Now this would be fabulous news to any baseball fan, that their team won the World Series. But until three years ago (as I know most of you are aware) we hadn't won one in 86 years! So to go from no wins to two wins in four years is beyond phenomenal. I mean I had faith in my Sox, we did have the best record in baseball this summer, but just hearing (at 5:30 in the morning, mind you) from my mom that we had in fact swept the Colorado Rockies and were world champs again, made me want to jump for joy!
So yesterday, I was clearly and quite frankly obnoxiously sporting my Boston Red Sox pride. My hat was firmly on my head and my "Calzini Rossi" (Italian for Red Sox) t-shirt that I got as a present before I left was proudly on my body as well. And more than the other two, a smile as big as the Green Monstah itself was stretched across my face! I was literally beaming all day long! Sorry other baseball fans, I don't mean to gloat, but man I was (an still am) unbelievably excited! And unfortunately there's no stopping me this week, forget cloud 9, I am currently on cloud "Red Sox/UK/Italy" and it's going to take a HUGE wind to knock me off!
So yesterday, I was clearly and quite frankly obnoxiously sporting my Boston Red Sox pride. My hat was firmly on my head and my "Calzini Rossi" (Italian for Red Sox) t-shirt that I got as a present before I left was proudly on my body as well. And more than the other two, a smile as big as the Green Monstah itself was stretched across my face! I was literally beaming all day long! Sorry other baseball fans, I don't mean to gloat, but man I was (an still am) unbelievably excited! And unfortunately there's no stopping me this week, forget cloud 9, I am currently on cloud "Red Sox/UK/Italy" and it's going to take a HUGE wind to knock me off!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Midterms
I'm a little embarrassed to say it, but occasionally I forget that I'm here for school. I travel a lot, spend time enjoying my city - a lot and just genuinely enjoy my time here with the friends I've made. So this being midterms week, is seriously putting a cramp in my new found Perugian style. The tests I've taken so far have been on the easier side, I was far more prepared than I probably needed to be, but the constant reading and up until the wee hours of morning nights I've had this week are taking me right back to good old NU. And what's the point of coming all the way here just to feel like I'm back home? No, I mean I'm glad to be learning, don't get me wrong, but much like the rest of the student body here, I will be happy when this week is over and I can enjoy some European life once again, stress free!
Speaking of European life, after about 3 o'clock tomorrow, I am officially free of these dreadful midterms and it is off on Fall Break! We've been planning so long I can't believe that it is finally here! London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and back to London is going to be a crazy crazy week! We already have some great itineraries lined up, with some golf in Scotland (and yes we're getting the full golf garb!), a trip to the Guinness factory in Dublin, and a musical, the London Eye and another really exciting, yet at the moment secret event in London! I don't want to jinx myself on this last minute addition to my travel plans, so I won't divulge the details yet, but as of right now, let me tell you, I am thrilled! Not only do I get to not have any stress, class or homework for a week, but I get to see 3 new countries and get to have soooo many new experiences (especially this new one in the works that I will recount detail for detail when I return!).
So it's off for trip numero due out of Italia for me! Sorry but I might be MIA on the posts for a few days. But I'll have A LOT to say when I get back, so never fear you will be swimming in stories of the Adventures of Brittany next week!
And for those of you who are also taking mid terms this week - In Boca della Lupo! Or 'In the mouth of the wolf"! aka Good Luck! :)
Speaking of European life, after about 3 o'clock tomorrow, I am officially free of these dreadful midterms and it is off on Fall Break! We've been planning so long I can't believe that it is finally here! London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and back to London is going to be a crazy crazy week! We already have some great itineraries lined up, with some golf in Scotland (and yes we're getting the full golf garb!), a trip to the Guinness factory in Dublin, and a musical, the London Eye and another really exciting, yet at the moment secret event in London! I don't want to jinx myself on this last minute addition to my travel plans, so I won't divulge the details yet, but as of right now, let me tell you, I am thrilled! Not only do I get to not have any stress, class or homework for a week, but I get to see 3 new countries and get to have soooo many new experiences (especially this new one in the works that I will recount detail for detail when I return!).
So it's off for trip numero due out of Italia for me! Sorry but I might be MIA on the posts for a few days. But I'll have A LOT to say when I get back, so never fear you will be swimming in stories of the Adventures of Brittany next week!
And for those of you who are also taking mid terms this week - In Boca della Lupo! Or 'In the mouth of the wolf"! aka Good Luck! :)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
CHOCOLATE!
As the capital of the Umbria region, Perugia is the home to many different festivals throughout the year. Already in the short time that I have been here, I have seen a science festival, a puppet festival and another children's festival. The city seems pretty small, but apparently it's huge, because it's been the home to all of these interesting happenings! And this week, once again, the city is buzzing with excitement and bustling with people as Perugia prepares for the 100th annual Chocolate festival!!! By far, the most exciting in my opinion, this one also appears at this stage to be the biggest!
The town square, home to the fountain has a huge stage set up on the middle of it, almost eclipsing the huge fountain! And all of the main streets are now filled with stands and cases for the chocolate that is coming! The Perugina Chocolate factory is here in town too, and they're sponsoring most of the stands, but you can already tell that there are far more companies involved. And thats music to my ears, because the more types of chocolate I can try, the better! I've been told that they make literally everything out of chocolate this week, including but not limited to a house, flowers, cds ... EVERYTHING! Much like the ice sculptures that you see in Boston during New Years Eve celebrations, these stands and cases will be the new home chocolate sculptures and I couldn't be more excited! I mean chocolate makes pretty much anyone happy, but having all of these cool sculptures and creations made strictly out of the velvety goodness that is chocolate, in all types of varieties is beyond thrilling. And rumor has it that while the sculptures are working on their creations, they throw the scraps and non integral peices to passers by. Needless to say I will be making several trips to be one of those passers by so that I can grab just a little taste of this crazy tradition.
I can't but wonder though, why don't we have more chocolate festivals in the US? I think it would make us a much more pleasant country if we could all get a little chocolate in our lives :)
The town square, home to the fountain has a huge stage set up on the middle of it, almost eclipsing the huge fountain! And all of the main streets are now filled with stands and cases for the chocolate that is coming! The Perugina Chocolate factory is here in town too, and they're sponsoring most of the stands, but you can already tell that there are far more companies involved. And thats music to my ears, because the more types of chocolate I can try, the better! I've been told that they make literally everything out of chocolate this week, including but not limited to a house, flowers, cds ... EVERYTHING! Much like the ice sculptures that you see in Boston during New Years Eve celebrations, these stands and cases will be the new home chocolate sculptures and I couldn't be more excited! I mean chocolate makes pretty much anyone happy, but having all of these cool sculptures and creations made strictly out of the velvety goodness that is chocolate, in all types of varieties is beyond thrilling. And rumor has it that while the sculptures are working on their creations, they throw the scraps and non integral peices to passers by. Needless to say I will be making several trips to be one of those passers by so that I can grab just a little taste of this crazy tradition.
I can't but wonder though, why don't we have more chocolate festivals in the US? I think it would make us a much more pleasant country if we could all get a little chocolate in our lives :)
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
The happiest place on earth
Soo I'm just back from another exciting weekend of travling! This time it was my frist trip out of the coutry and it was off to Munich for the world famous Oktoberfest! And let me tell you that I can barely describe the place! We got to munich on Friday (after having to sleep in the airport - my first experience with that and take a 645 AM flight haha) and checked into our hotel and things and then it was off to the fairgrounds. I walked around for the first like 20 minutes with my mouth like wide open - I've never seen anthing like it before! It was an enormous fair grounds (much like an annual fair near my hometown, the Topsfield fair, but on steroids) it was covered in people, crazy carnival rides, games, and foooooood! And of course 8-10 beer tents that had beer gardens outside which were insane! Each beer tent can hold between 8500 and 10000 people! and then the gardens, which is the outdoor section is full of
benches and can prob hold another like 600-2000 people as well! People drink these ridiculous huge beers called steins and eat some of the weirdest foods! I got to the festival and first it was time for a sausage! Delicious! And then, I had to get my first stein! The first beer we tried was by far the best, from the beer house Augstiner. My group was not pushing our luck with multiple steins, so we just walked around through the tents we could get into, trying different sausages and roasted nuts! We stayed until closing, at about 11 or so then it was home to sleep and prepare for the Saturday! We had to be up early because we wanted to get into a beer tent and unless you make a reservation you have to be in line super early or you wont get it. So we had to be to the fair grounds by 8AM and then we had to stand in line -in front of the Hoffbrau house becuase we were told it was the best and one of the biggest - literally pressed up against people and everytime the door even remotely opened you'd get surged forward
and it was basically like a panic attack waiting to happen. We've basically equated it to getting to see a favorite rockstar or waiting in line at like the door the the Tweeter Center if you have lawn seats.
German oom - pa -pa band as they call them starts playing and the crowd is cheering and cheers-ing and everyone starts to get a bit loosened up and its just literally madness the rest of the day! The band even played some american tunes like Sweet Home Alabama, New York New York, the twist and this one they loved that goes like "heyyyy hey baby oo ahh i wanna knoooooowwww if youll be my girl" unfortunately that the ONLY line they know so they repeat it the whole time! It was fun though! The beer maids carry anywhere from like 4-10 steins at a time and literally people keep blowing right through them! It's insane! I myself was not that quick with them, they're huge mugs! And I wanted to stay in the tent as long as I could, because they're so popular once you leave, you can't get back in. And two of the people I met were in authentic German costumes of leiderhosen and a drindl, the outfits that most natives were also wearing! We met alot of people this weekend beyond our little group because most people are really nice (though it might be the beer talking!) and a lot of people speak english. Also at our table was a group of 3 men from Denmark, Mikel, Mes and Alexander who are currently interning in Germany and we spent the day with them too. They were alot of fun, and very good dancers! It really is just a very happy place! I mean everyone is in such a good mood and the tradition of the festival is almost 200 years old! So its a really fun celebration! On Sunday we got to do a bit of sightseeing in Munich. Which is a beautiful city! My Grampy told me to go see the glockenspeil so i couldnt dissapoint him! So we walked around and I ate more sausage and some potato salad which was delicious! And then beore I know it, it was back on the plane home! Though things got a little confusing and I got off the train from rome to my town and I ended up having to wait an hour then take another train and wait another hour and take
a bus back to Perugia and then a taxi home! So it was a long trek home but well worth it for my fabulous
weekend!
It was so fun to see another country other than Italy and it makes me excited for my fall break coming up! Things are a little frustrating travel wise, but ALWAYS worth the hassel! I love Europe and I love traveling and I can't wait to do it again next weekend!
benches and can prob hold another like 600-2000 people as well! People drink these ridiculous huge beers called steins and eat some of the weirdest foods! I got to the festival and first it was time for a sausage! Delicious! And then, I had to get my first stein! The first beer we tried was by far the best, from the beer house Augstiner. My group was not pushing our luck with multiple steins, so we just walked around through the tents we could get into, trying different sausages and roasted nuts! We stayed until closing, at about 11 or so then it was home to sleep and prepare for the Saturday! We had to be up early because we wanted to get into a beer tent and unless you make a reservation you have to be in line super early or you wont get it. So we had to be to the fair grounds by 8AM and then we had to stand in line -in front of the Hoffbrau house becuase we were told it was the best and one of the biggest - literally pressed up against people and everytime the door even remotely opened you'd get surged forward
and it was basically like a panic attack waiting to happen. We've basically equated it to getting to see a favorite rockstar or waiting in line at like the door the the Tweeter Center if you have lawn seats.
German oom - pa -pa band as they call them starts playing and the crowd is cheering and cheers-ing and everyone starts to get a bit loosened up and its just literally madness the rest of the day! The band even played some american tunes like Sweet Home Alabama, New York New York, the twist and this one they loved that goes like "heyyyy hey baby oo ahh i wanna knoooooowwww if youll be my girl" unfortunately that the ONLY line they know so they repeat it the whole time! It was fun though! The beer maids carry anywhere from like 4-10 steins at a time and literally people keep blowing right through them! It's insane! I myself was not that quick with them, they're huge mugs! And I wanted to stay in the tent as long as I could, because they're so popular once you leave, you can't get back in. And two of the people I met were in authentic German costumes of leiderhosen and a drindl, the outfits that most natives were also wearing! We met alot of people this weekend beyond our little group because most people are really nice (though it might be the beer talking!) and a lot of people speak english. Also at our table was a group of 3 men from Denmark, Mikel, Mes and Alexander who are currently interning in Germany and we spent the day with them too. They were alot of fun, and very good dancers! It really is just a very happy place! I mean everyone is in such a good mood and the tradition of the festival is almost 200 years old! So its a really fun celebration! On Sunday we got to do a bit of sightseeing in Munich. Which is a beautiful city! My Grampy told me to go see the glockenspeil so i couldnt dissapoint him! So we walked around and I ate more sausage and some potato salad which was delicious! And then beore I know it, it was back on the plane home! Though things got a little confusing and I got off the train from rome to my town and I ended up having to wait an hour then take another train and wait another hour and take
a bus back to Perugia and then a taxi home! So it was a long trek home but well worth it for my fabulous
weekend!
It was so fun to see another country other than Italy and it makes me excited for my fall break coming up! Things are a little frustrating travel wise, but ALWAYS worth the hassel! I love Europe and I love traveling and I can't wait to do it again next weekend!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
October? Already? No!!
Well I can't believe it is October already! It seems like legitimately yesterday that it was August 30th and I was packing up and flying off to this beautiful country! My roommates and I were discussing this exact phenomenon last night. One of them has been in Italy since July, so for her, her time in Italy is more than half over. More than half over! I can't even fathom that. I am reveling in the fact that I still have two and a half months left! And I am unbelievably excited for it to be October, because my weekends are already FULL of travel plans!! This weekend I'm off to Oktoberfest in Munich! What an experience! I've been hearing nothing but good things from all of m classmates that have been there the past few weekends. Then I have a class trip to Florence, then its midterms and Fall Break! And during fall break, its off to England, Scotland and Ireland! I can't even believe it! I don't think I truly realized just how much traveling I'd be doing here, but so far, that's all that my weekends have consisted of! I am here there and everywhere!
But I guess not being in one place for too long is just one of those things that I've had to get used to! And let me tell you, there are a lot of things that you can learn to get used to. Definitely including certain body odors of other citizens (haha), not being able to talk to friends and family on a regular basis, use the Internet whenever you want, or watch your favorite TV series, or having to take 2 buses just to get to the mall! But its also been great to know what I can and can't handle, change wise. All of those things, don't even phase me anymore. And whats more, they've taught me about the fact that change isn't as scary as I once thought that it was. I used to pretty much run in the opposite direction of change. Now I say, BRING IT ON! I'm ready for whatever life has to throw my way, and I can't wait to see what it has in store for me next!
But I guess not being in one place for too long is just one of those things that I've had to get used to! And let me tell you, there are a lot of things that you can learn to get used to. Definitely including certain body odors of other citizens (haha), not being able to talk to friends and family on a regular basis, use the Internet whenever you want, or watch your favorite TV series, or having to take 2 buses just to get to the mall! But its also been great to know what I can and can't handle, change wise. All of those things, don't even phase me anymore. And whats more, they've taught me about the fact that change isn't as scary as I once thought that it was. I used to pretty much run in the opposite direction of change. Now I say, BRING IT ON! I'm ready for whatever life has to throw my way, and I can't wait to see what it has in store for me next!
Friday, September 28, 2007
''I said it's something free that means a lot to me, when I'm with my friends I feel home''
So it has almost been a whole month here in Perugia and I cannot even begin to believe that it has been that long already! This month has flown by!! After being a little under the weather at the beginning of this week, I felt for the first time, slightly homesick as well. I think that that's a common occurrence though, when you are feeling sick in a new environment, its natural to miss being close to home and family members. Even at Northeastern, if I'm sick, I'm only a short car ride away, and I can easily head home for a night to recoup. Unfortunately 30 miles by car is a lot easier to travel in a day than the some 3000 miles by plane that I am from home right now. Luckily, my friends here have been taking care of me! One has even brought me cold medicine, tissues and some medicated tea! Being this far from home, your friends become your family a lot more quickly than at home. I have some girlfriends at home that are legitimately a part of my family, and it's nice to know that even this far from home, there are a few people here that already mean almost as much to me as my best friends.
Luckily for me, I didn't come to Perugia having known no one at all. I have one of my sorority sisters here with me and its nice to have a little piece of my life in the states here with me. It has made my transition to life in this new city and country that much easier. As much as you can be linked to the other students here through the shared experiences you are having currently, its nice to be around someone who knows your history. Someone who you already share a bond with, to experience these new things together.
And this week, yesterday actually, one of our other sorority sisters who is backpacking her way through Europe stopped in to visit with us! She was traveling around Italy and had an extra day, so she stopped by with us to see where we were studying and living. It is so nice to see more familiar faces in a place with so few! And its fun to show people from back home in the US around this new city that I have come to call home in Italy. Visitors like her make me glad I'm here, experiencing all of these new things. It reassures me that this was the right choice for me, because it reminds me that home - the people and the places - will always be home, and that is something that can't change, but this experience and this adventure that I'm on right now is something that might change my life forever and I would have regretted not taking the chance that I did in coming here.
In realizing that I've been here almost a month now, makes me also realize that I don't have that much time to spend here, so even though there might be the beginning pangs of homesickness, I'm not worried. I have people here that are becoming just like family, I have a few ties to my life back in Boston and I only have 2 and half months left to be away from everyone else. Since this past month has seemed to go by so quickly I can only imagine that the rest will fly by just as much; though I most definitely do not want it to!
Luckily for me, I didn't come to Perugia having known no one at all. I have one of my sorority sisters here with me and its nice to have a little piece of my life in the states here with me. It has made my transition to life in this new city and country that much easier. As much as you can be linked to the other students here through the shared experiences you are having currently, its nice to be around someone who knows your history. Someone who you already share a bond with, to experience these new things together.
And this week, yesterday actually, one of our other sorority sisters who is backpacking her way through Europe stopped in to visit with us! She was traveling around Italy and had an extra day, so she stopped by with us to see where we were studying and living. It is so nice to see more familiar faces in a place with so few! And its fun to show people from back home in the US around this new city that I have come to call home in Italy. Visitors like her make me glad I'm here, experiencing all of these new things. It reassures me that this was the right choice for me, because it reminds me that home - the people and the places - will always be home, and that is something that can't change, but this experience and this adventure that I'm on right now is something that might change my life forever and I would have regretted not taking the chance that I did in coming here.
In realizing that I've been here almost a month now, makes me also realize that I don't have that much time to spend here, so even though there might be the beginning pangs of homesickness, I'm not worried. I have people here that are becoming just like family, I have a few ties to my life back in Boston and I only have 2 and half months left to be away from everyone else. Since this past month has seemed to go by so quickly I can only imagine that the rest will fly by just as much; though I most definitely do not want it to!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The Ferry Stairs – 1 Me - 0
The amount that you can accomplish in a weekend never ceases to amaze me! Back at Northeastern, weekends consisted of late nights out with friends, sleepy mornings and mid-afternoon brunch. Homework was included in there too, but relaxation was ultimately the key activity of my weekends. I have seen more of Italy in one weekend than I think I have seen of Boston in my three years at NU.
This weekend, the town of Pompeii, the port of Naples and the Islands of Ischia and Capri were on the agenda. First up was Pompeii, the Italian city that until semi-recently (in comparison to its age) was covered in 25 feet of volcanic ash from the deadly eruption of Mount Vesuvius. I’d been there before, when I visited Italy senior year in high school, but still, the city amazes me! The fact that even though this city is in ruins and even though it was covered with twenty five feet of debris, it is still, in most respects standing, is literally unbelievable. Whenever I am in ancient cities that are in ruins like Pompeii I try to think about what life must have been like for the people who lived there all those years ago. The amount of people that had walked those cobbled streets before me and lived in each of the houses is insane. 
And unlike most ancient cities, some of the inhabitants of Pompeii are actually still living there. Clearly not actually several hundreds of year old people, but casts of their bodies, which had been preserved by the ash have survived. When Vesuvius erupted, it covered the bodies of the Pompeian’s with ash and after their bodies decomposed, there were hollows left within the layers of ash that excavators then poured plaster into. The result: casts of the actual inhabitants of the day that the volcano erupted. That was probably the coolest thing we saw there. This photo to the left is one of those bodies.
After Pompeii it was off to the hotel, on the island of Ischia, which was probably one of the nicest places I will stay while on my study abroad experience, as most of our stays are in hostels. Although I have had good luck with them thus far, not all of them are as clean and staffed with friendly people as my first hostel in Cinque Terre! Nothing too exciting to note except that I ate fish for dinner. Not so surprising of a meal when staying on an island, but as most people know, I don’t eat fish, ever. Shellfish, sure – but fish, fish, forget it! But new experiences include new foods, so I figured you have to try everything once and it was delicious!
The next stop on our weekend was the Island of Capri. We took a ferry from Ischia and the views from the boat were breathtaking. In the middle of the Mediterranean, surrounded by nothing but blue skies and blue water, it kind of makes you never want to leave! And the Island of Capri was even more beautiful!
Most of the others on our trip went straight for the beach, but luckily my group of travelers was looking for something a little touristier. So it was off to the chairlift that we read about in one of the girl’s “Italy for Dummies” book. Expecting something closer to a ski lift that could carry several people at once, we were more than a little surprised to find a single-occupant chair that looked like it went at an almost completely vertical angle. More than a little scared, we hopped on one by one and rode up this giant mountainside. The payoff though was even more that imaginable! You could see for miles and miles of sea and other islands! I have never felt as small as I have these past few weeks looking at some of these endless views. But I also have never felt so lucky to be alive and be able to see and experience all of these wonderful things the world has to offer. After seeing all of the gorgeous water surrounding the mountaintop we were on though made me even more anxious to get in and swim! Luckily our next stop was the beach. The water is so salty that you barely need to tread water; with just minimal effort, you can float in place and soak up the sun on the top of the water. I hope I get to go back to the islands off of the port of Naples some day, because it is officially one of my favorite places I have seen thus far in Italy. 
The last day of our trip was spent in Naples, the organized crime capital of Italy. You can imagine after having gotten this information from our tour guides, we didn’t quite relish our time in Naples. Window shopping consumed most of our time, and keeping track of our valuables consumed the rest. I admit, none of the people I was with lost anything important, nor did I see anyone get robbed. But from the stories we were told, it is not the nicest of neighborhoods. Forget the fact that it was Sunday, aka the Lord’s Day in most Italian towns, from the not so rosy picture we received from our tour guides, we did get the impression that we needed to venture far. I did however get the best pizza I have ever had, from Brandi Pizzeria, which is apparently where pizza was invented. And I am not even being facetious when I say that they invented pizza, because that is what this restaurant is famous for. And I believe them, because it was the most delicious pizza that I have eaten yet in Italy, and we eat a lot of pizza!
Well, I get exhausted just about every time I have to write about my ridiculously jam packed weekends. About as exhausted as I do after traveling all weekend, but I wouldn’t trade any amount of sleep for the experiences that I have had here. I very highly doubt that I will be as lame on my weekends once I return to Boston as I have been previously. If there is this much to see and do in a country the size of Italy, imagine what I have missed out on in my own state! I think I’ll be going on many more adventures next spring, because I’m not sure I remember how to sit still on a weekend anymore!
(The title for this blog entry came from one of my trips on the ferry; because apparently, even in Italy, I am clumsy and stairs and I do not get along)
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