Priceless Pics

These are some of the pictures that I've taken since I've been over here. I'm not really sure what apprehension is keeping me from getting more shots, but something is. Hopefully after this weekend, I will have my desire back again.
Upon our arrival to Perugia, Brooke and I moved into a typical Italian apartment. When I say typical, I mean traditional. It's decorated with many pictures of the Pope, Mary, and it has a few Jesus statuettes. Our kitchen is small (not as small as mine last semester :), and it is well furnished with glass plates and mix-matched cups. It took us a while to orientate ourselves in it because there were things placed in such weird places. And that seemed to be a common theme throughout the rest of our house... Our washing mashing is in our bathroom, and our refrigerator is in our family room. Our family room has a TV which we always use to watch the Italian version of Deal or No Deal with our roommate Tatiana. We have a large couch, fireplace, and an old dinner table as well in our family room. In our bedroom, we have two twin beds, one desk, and an armor. But, the view from our room is breathtaking! Just take a look below...


After two weeks of staying in Perugia, I took my new friends to visit my favorite city--Florence. Below is a picture of Kevin sleeping, and Brooke enjoying the train ride.

I love train rides. Something about them always excites me when I'm on one. I might just be from the sense of adventure when going somewhere new... Anyways, while Kevin slept, the rest of us (Brooke, Andrew, and I) had a blast while traveling to and from Florence. We danced, sang, and chatted as we celebrated our new friendships and anticipated/reminisced our journey. I took them to some of my old hot-spots from last semester. They loved il Gatto e le Volpe and said that they would go back just to eat there again. But, even the sights, churches, and the Duomo, could not compare to what they thought about Piazzale Michelangelo. That's still probably one of my favorite places in Florence.
I didn't want to post tons of pictures from Florence because that's all I did last semester, so here's a new one you guys haven't seen from there.

"It's not allowed to put locks on the railing."

Anyways, this past week, an Andy Warhol exhibit opened in Perugia. I haven't been into the exhibit yet, but I plan on going pretty soon. The opening day was a big deal in Perugia. It brought many to the town just to observe the festivities. One of the things the opening day offered was this huge cake. It was probably 10 X 10 and it tasted a lot better than I thought it would.

Normally, free things don't taste so well, but when in Italy, everything is delicious!


This past weekend we went to Assisi. I loved it and I can't wait to go back. Amazingly enough, it's only 2.50 euros to get there from Perugia. Brooke and I were able to explore this medieval town for almost nothing. We went without a map or a schedule--which was great because we didn't have any expectations before we came. Our first place to visit was the Basillico di San Francesco. It was beautiful... the white stone against the blue sky reminded me so much of Greece.


After we spent some time admiring the facade, we continued exploring. Eventually we found the city center, which led to some beautiful, less popular (and populated), churches.


On our way to the center, I found this (below) on the wall. I do not know how it was created, or by whom, but it's pretty cool.


After we visited almost 90% of the churches in Assisi, we decided to hike to the highest point on the hill. This was my favorite part of our day. It took us a little too long to get to the top, but we had a blast getting there. Brooke is a good person to travel with--she's very funny :)
At the top of the mount is a place called Rocca Maggiore. It is a historic landmark because it used to be a fortress, but now it is home to a museum and one of the best views of the valley. Here are some pics of the piazzale, the fortress, and the view.



While we were up there, Brooke and I decided to take some fun pictures of us since the sky looked so "forte" (trans: strong). You could see the lightning and rain in far parts of the valley. It made for a beautiful background.


This weekend, we are spending three nights in Barcelona! I hope to have lots of pictures and stories to share with you all when I return.
Until then,
E

I've Arrived!

I'm sorry I'm just now posting a blog. It turns out that I am going to have to buy and internet stick if I want to access the internet whenever I want to... and those are kind of expensive here. So--right now I am only able to access at an internet cafe or at the Institute. My life is crazy.... and I feel like I am in a program that is way over my head. We had an entrance exam last Tuesday and classes started last Thursday. I want to cry all the time, but I've told myself I'm a big girl and I'm not going to. There are 6 American students in the Full-Immersion Program and I live with one of them. Brooke (from Cali) and with a girl from Russia (Tatiana). Soon we'll also have an Italian roommate. Our common language is Italian, so it’s been an interesting experience to communicate daily in Italian. This semester is very different from my last semester--just like I thought it was going to be. Brooke and I go out almost every night and hang out with boys the majority of the time (which is almost the complete opposite of what I did last semester in Florence :) It’s been really hard to get time alone, and if you know me well, I'm a big alone time person or rather a quiet person. Normally I would spend most of the time reading, journaling, studying without much socializing… But since Brooke and I have all of the same classes (26 hrs a week), we wake up at the same time, eat at the same time, etc., which translates to: major withdrawals from not having seclusion.
My classes are at an Italian university, taught in Italian, but, they are all Italian Language classes so they aren't as hard as it would be if they were topic classes. Either way, I still have so much I need to learn. I am constantly opening up my Italian-English dictionary trying to figure out what the teacher is explaining. And when I speak Italian, I constantly make a fool of myself---which has made me even more insecure about speaking in Italian. I know that I will improve because I already have, but I constantly grow frustrated with myself because I WANT to be good at speaking the language.
To finish, I have a short story for you. In Perugia, there are a set of stairs that wind from the top of the hill down to the bottom. On one of the turns, there is a green door which looks totally forgotten, but the wall that the door is on has vines pouring over the top of it, partially covering the door (kinda like the secret garden door)---it's an absolutely beautiful picture and I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I'm going to. Okay anyways, on with my story. I saw this door on our first day of arrival in Perugia when we were exploring on our own. And if you know me well, you might know my fascination with doors.... there's just a mystery about them which captivates me. Normally after I find a door that I like, I imagine what’s behind it and then continue on my way, eventually forgetting everything that just took place. And just like that, I imagined a beautiful, forgotten garden and vineyard, and we continued exploring. But the next day we had a group tour of Perugia. Our tour guide Zach took us all around the city and kept us entertained every step of the way. The last thing he took us to were the stairs. We walked down the stairs and stopped at the door. He starts to tell a story then pulls out a key, unlocks the door, and walks in. At that moment, I'm sure you can imagine my face--excitement, astonishment, etc. and like a child, I walked in first to see the garden. It turns out that our tour guide is the tenant because the owners live in another country. Zach is supposed to take care of the garden weekly, but it had definitely been neglected…
Anyways, I just wanted to share that with you guys because for the first time in my life I was able to enter a door that I admired. I think it was the perfect way to start off a semester.
Until next time,
Elizabeth