New apartment/Siena/Spoleto

I planned to write this entry earlier today, between classes, but it never ended up happening. I was looking for a place where I could buy hot chocolate and get WiFi and couldn’t find anyplace, so then I ended up going to my favorite haunt, Augusta Perusia, sipping some hot chocolate and then wandering onward in search of a semi-quiet place to blog. No luck. The Umbra Institute “library” is too full of chatter—not a good place to sit back and reflect—and the place I ended up settling on, La Tana dell’ Orso, had a Simpsons episode blaring on a big-screen TV. I got to upload weekend pictures to Facebook, but still no blogging. So now I’m sitting in my new bedroom in my new apartment, typing this up on Microsoft Word. I’ll bring my laptop to school tomorrow and post it, along with pictures to illustrate everything I’ve been up to!


The past few days I did two very gutsy (at least in my humble opinion) things. I moved to a new apartment and I went on a daytrip all by myself. The first thing was a really difficult choice to make. I was fairly settled into Via Bartolo 40, and being right next to the school, the town center and Internet was pretty nice. But this new apartment, just a 10-minute uphill walk to school, suits me better. I am now living with an Italian student named Daniela from the University of Perugia. She speaks virtually no English, which means I am forced to communicate in Italian whenever I’m around her. She’s super-sweet and patient with my language skills, and I feel like it’s already helping me get a better grasp of Italian. We really have been able to hold conversations, and it’s so much fun! She’s very studious and quiet, but I kind of like knowing my apartment will always be a peaceful place to come home to. I also get my own room! I have one other roommate in the apartment, an American girl who’s doing the full-immersion program at the university for foreigners (Universita’ per Stranieri) and I’ve only seen her like twice during three-minute increments in the time that I’ve been here, but she seems nice. After I made the final decision about moving to this apartment, I started second-guessing myself and freaking out a little, but I can already tell this was the right choice for me.


There are a couple minor nuisances to deal with at this new apartment, just related to the way Italian apartments are made in comparison with the way an American apartment might be, but I’m going to write about those things in a separate entry. I’ve decided I need to dedicate a post to “Weird and Random Facts about Living in Italy that You Probably Don’t Know” and write about all the strange, unusual and interesting phenomena I’ve come across so far. I think people who haven’t visited Italy (or haven’t been here in a while) will be entertained and a little surprised by the things Italians find completely normal that us Americans are baffled by!
At least 90% of the people on my program traveled to Rome or Florence this weekend, but I decided to opt out. I’ve been to both places before, and I definitely plan on visiting them again this semester. I just don’t want to pay for the same sights I’ve already seen, and I’d rather not travel in a large horde a la’ high school field trip. Both cities could be done in daytrips from Perugia, so I might do that! We shall see. What did I do instead, you ask? I traveled to Siena on Saturday, and Spoleto on Sunday.


Siena is a mid-sized city in Tuscany, Florence’s rival for tourists, and I’d heard that it was a must-see. At one point I’d even considered studying abroad there, as it’s known for its university for foreigners, but I chose Perugia because it’s quite a bit larger (60,000 residents versus 150,000). You can reach Siena in a little over an hour by bus from Perugia, and I decided to venture out there on my own on Saturday. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything so purposefully independent in my life, and it was honestly so refreshing. Doing something like that really makes you realize how capable you are—it’s a very energizing feeling. Maybe if I’d missed the bus on the way home and gotten stuck in Siena (which I fully expected to happen) I’d have a different opinion, but this little excursion of mine went seamlessly from start to finish.
I left Perugia at 11:00, after asking several people where the bus departed from and getting various answers. Somehow I found the spot and boarded without a problem. The ride through Umbria and Tuscany was scenic to say the least—hilltop towns of all shapes and sizes appeared every ten minutes or so, and each time I’d think, this one must be Siena. But it never was. There are just a lot of enchanting medieval settlements covering the hills of central Italy, and Perugia and Siena are two of the biggest and most well-known. The bus dropped me off in Siena at around 12:30, and after asking directions to the town center and climbing a massive hill, I found the church of San Francesco, a beautiful brick structure that now borders part of the University of Siena. The sky was perfect blue, not a cloud to be seen, and after walking around the church/university grounds I made a beeline for the town center in search of a cheap lunch and a bathroom.





I found both at a quaint bar (bars aren’t really “bars” in Italy—more like café’s) where I ordered a panini with prosciutto. After lunch I checked my handy little Siena tourist booklet, conveniently put together by the Umbra Institute as a daytrip guide, and decided to find il Campo. The guide called it “Italy’s best piazza,” and after having been there I’m in agreement. Il Campo was basically this enormous town square, filled with all types of people lying out in the sun, eating gelato, taking photos. It was much, much bigger that Piazza IV Novembre, the main square in Perugia, and it was surrounded by restaurants and gelaterias with outdoor seating.





The centerpiece of the place was the Mangia Tower, supposedly named for some ancient nightguard who wasted away all his money in a gluttonous fashion. The tower was this enormously tall structure—I wish I knew exactly how high—and I climbed all the way to the top. Let me say, this climb was not for the morbidly obese or faint of heart. Luckily I am neither, so I squeezed through and up narrow stairway after narrow stairway to the tippy-top of the tower, where I proceeded to huff and puff and catch my breath and enjoy the view. It was quite spectacular—see below:









After that treacherous climb and the descent that followed, I rewarded myself with a gelato of cioccolato bianco and bacio (so delicious) fountain-side in il Campo, and then took a hike over to the Duomo. Siena’s Duomo is very reminiscent of Florence’s, and that’s because it was built to compete with it. At one point the two cities were great rivals, but then the Black Death (Bubonic Plague, I think?) killed off a ton of people in Siena, and the city never caught up to its Tuscan neighbor. That’s a-OK with me, though. Siena’s size was just right…much less overwhelming than Florence. Inside the Duomo were sculptures, tile-works and frescoes by a bunch of important Italian artists whose names I don’t know. I do know that Michelangelo and Bernini were included somewhere in there.







Since my bus departed for Perugia at 4:40, I didn’t have time for much else after the Duomo. There were a few art museums I could’ve gone to, but I didn’t want to spend the money and there wasn’t enough time to enjoy them anyway. Instead I just took a stroll through the city, found a cute little park where kids were ice-skating, and then miraculously found the place where the bus dropped me off and caught the ride home.


Since I’ve already written a novel in this entry, I’ll be less vivid in describing my trip to Spoleto. I went with my friend Julia on Sunday, and we took a really cheap train to get there. Let me just say that we did SO MUCH walking (up hills) that day, and I’ve been doing so much uphill walking in general, that I think despite the constant pasta, pizza and gelato, I am losing weight. It’s ridiculous. But anyway, Spoleto was the quintessential medieval town, smaller than Perugia but with its own share of sights to be seen. We stopped at a museum of archaeology where we saw a bunch of artifacts from literally thousands of years ago—the nerd in me found it very interesting. There were also the ruins of a Roman ampitheater.

The real reason Spoleto was worth the trip, if you ask me, was for il Ponte dei Torri (not sure I spelled that right) a massive bridge extending through the Umbrian hillside. Walking across it and next to it you could see priceless views of the tree-covered hills. Wild and unspoiled nature as far as the eye can see. Julia and I hiked the hill bordering the bridge, but after a precarious uphill climb leading to who knows where, we turned around. At this point we were pretty exhausted! Unfortunately our train didn’t come until 7:24, so we still had three hours of time on our hands and didn’t quite know what to do with it. We ended up meandering around town for a while, and we unfortunately learned that most full-service restaurants are closed Sunday night. Dinner was a disappointing (but cheap!) fast-food joint where I ordered a luke-warm slice of mushroom pizza.

My camera was sadly out of battery this day, so I’ve got no pictures to post, but I’ll copy some online images so you can get an idea of what I saw in Spoleto.






In other news, classes are going well, nothing much to report there. News you’ll be more interested to hear: Thursday night I’m leaving for a weekend trip to Paris! It’s so unreal to be able to just decide on a whim that you’re going someplace like Paris, but in this strange new study abroad reality, it happens. I don’t think it’s set in yet that I’m actually going there. And guys, don’t worry, although I have been quite the little adventurer as of late, I’m not taking on Paris by myself! I’m going with two of my friends (Alexa and Tina) and in a week you can expect a full report back on my two-day whirlwind French rendezvous!

Pictures!

Here are some photos to go along with my post from yesterday...one of a pasticceria, another from the market and one of the pasta making demonstration. Some random ones in between! Enjoy!

La fine della settimana e adesso

Ciao!

I've got more pictures to upload and more updates to give on life in Perugia. I miss you all and hope everything back at home (or wherever you are!) is going well.

A recap of this past weekend (la fine della settimana, for those who don't know):

On Thursday night Mallory arrived in Perugia at the quite creepy train station just outside the historic part of the city. Normally it wouldn't have been quite so creepy, but being anywhere by yourself at night in most parts of Europe isn't such a great idea, and Perugia is no exception. Luckily Mal made friends with some awesome Aussies on a month-long "summer" tour of Italy, and they protected her from the strangers lurking nearby. After we took a taxi to the city center, we dropped off the luggage and headed to Al Mangiare Bene for some yummy calzones-- and somehow we both managed to finish ours, despite their enormous size. Then, after walking around the city a bit at night, we bought a bottle of wine and hung out at my apartment for the rest of the night.

Friday we set our alarms for 11 so we wouldn't sleep through the whole day, and took a walk down past the Universita per Stranieri and stumbled upon a museum of sorts while we were searching for a creperie. The museum was basically a big tower with a few small exhibits about the history of Perugia, and a pretty great view of the city/countryside at the very top. Unfortunately it was very, very windy and cold that day, so it wasn't quite as enjoyable as it would have been otherwise. After the museum, we finally found the crepe restaurant and finished off some savory crepes.

For the rest of Friday we strolled around the city taking pictures, window shopping and eventually buying gelato at Augusta Perusia, where I vow to become a regular. This place makes the BEST hot chocolate. It's more like hot fudge than hot chocolate, really, but it's just incredible. Their gelato is homemade, and they also sell chocolates and other goodies, all prepared by the husband and wife duo that have owned the place for nine years. I stopped back again yesterday for more hot chocolate. I just can't resist going there.

Friday night Mal and I met up with some of my friends from my program at a 5 euro apertivo at La Tana Dell' Orso, a local bar. FYI, La Tana Dell' Orso means bear cave. The apertivo was a great deal-- it included a glass of wine along with an all-you-can-eat buffet of quiches, pasta, vegetables, nutella and a bunch of other delicious food items. After that, a few of us went to LunaBar for a nice relaxed night of sipping cocktails.

Saturday two of my roommates, Mal and I took the minimetro to the Saturday market, which was actually a lot different than I expected. It was held out in a big parking lot, and it was huge. But it was much more industrial, if you will, than I expected. The stands were very repetitive. You'd see a bunch of similar looking hats being sold on one row, and then the next row you'd see the same hats being sold by a different vendor. It wasn't like everything was handmade, or even cheap for that matter. Also, there were fewer produce stands than I'd expected. A couple booths sold meat and cheese, but the sight of a chopped open pig carcass didn't leave me feeling very appetized. I'm glad we experienced the market, but I don't know that I'd go back.

Later that night, overloaded on carbs and pasta dishes, Mal and I decided to go out for, of all things, sushi. Yep, believe it or not, after one week I've already had my fill of the all-carb diet. Although right this second I could really go for a pizza or some pasta-- but that's a different story. The sushi I had saturday, spicy salmon I think it was, definitely satisfied my senza pane (without bread) craving.
After sushi, we drank some wine and explored the city some more. Lots of fun memories from that night.

Sunday I woke up bright and early for the Arcadia day trip to nearby Lago Trasimeno, where we watched a pasta-making demonstration and learned about sustainable agriculture. The place was called an agriturismo, but they are basically a community center that puts on programs for the community and lets people volunteer by farming and cooking the local produce. We were served an "interesting" meal for lunch. The homemade olive oil on bread I can't complain about, and the local Umbrian beans on bread were pretty good, too. But a strange piece of meat was slopped on the plate alongside the other two mentioned dishes. It looked like someone had sewn together eight different parts of some kind of animal, without cooking it, and placed it on a plate. We were also told that another mysterious slice of bread was covered in lard. Yep. I took a bite, just to be adventurous. I did not, however, touch the funky slab of meat. I guess Italian food isn't always what people picture it to be. Olive Garden might need to revamp its advertising.

Because I have to run for lunch soon, I'll throw in a few last words now. Yesterday was the first day of real classes, and I like all of the ones I'm taking so far. The professors are really enthusiastic and want us to learn. I think creative writing (about nonfiction travel, no less) will be perfect for me, and I'm excited for Italian cinema, too. Yesterday I also discovered a library right near my apartment, where I can sit down and attempt to read newspapers in Italian. There were *zero* Americans there, which I loved, and I was able to enjoy some peace and quiet and practice my Italian.

I'm still trying to find my niche here in Perugia, but I think I've really figured out what my goals are for this experience over the last week. Coming here made those goals even more clear for me than when I was back at home planning the semester. Even when it's difficult or scary, I'm going to try to remember what I'm here for and pursue the things that matter the most to me.

Well...I promised pictures, but I've got to grab lunch before I skype with my parents, so you'll have to wait until at least later today! A dopo!

Pictures, finalmente!

So an update on life in Perugia:

I've been here less than a week now (hard to believe...feels like I've been here a month already in some ways) and I'm starting to settle in. I've gone out almost every night to different cafes and bars and experienced a little bit of everything-- but I've definitely realized that I need to make sure I seek out authentic Italian experiences while I am here. It would be easy to fall into the American college student "trap," hanging out with only Americans, getting by without using much Italian, and spending all my time at American hangouts. But that's not what I want. I could have that at home any day. And I could have gone to Rome or Florence if I wanted a whole range of American-style bars and clubs to enjoy.

I came to Perugia to really immerse myself in the Italian culture...but what I'm finding is the Italian culture doesn't seek you out. You have to find ways to come into contact with it on a real level by going out on your own. So I plan on doing more of that in the coming months. I'm going to get an internship (probably working in a local Italian high school), I'm going to volunteer, I'm going to go to language exchange programs with Italian students, and I'm going to force myself to go out on a limb and walk down random alleys by myself (don't worry mom, i probably won't be doing this at night...) and walk into shops and make conversation with shopkeepers. There's so much of this city I have yet to explore, not to mention all the rest of Italy and Europe.

Some highlights of what I've done so far:
Eaten two delicious gelatos (nocciola, bacio and cioccolato flavored thus far)
Successfully gone grocery shopping at our adorable next-door market (the owner is this adorable older man who's always smiling and saying "Ciao!") and at a full-sized American-style supermarket with cheaper prices
Drank cappuccino/ coffee drinks every single day (yep, I'm becoming a coffee addict)
Rode the minimetro, Perugia's baby-sized metro system that takes you to the train station/ supermarket/ other random places
Gone to an Irish bar and two American-style bars (seems like there's nowhere to escape Party in the USA)
Sipped hot chocolate and wine at a few authentic Italian hotspots, like LunaBar
Taken advantage of numerous free food and drink specials for Umbra students, including a yummy apertivo last night at Argentina Steakhouse (I guess the Italians are a little obsessed with making bars/restaurants related to countries other than their own)
Seen molti visti bellissimi (many beautiful views!!!)..can't emphasize that enough

Upcoming plans: hopefully this afternoon I'll faccio un passagiato (take a little stroll) around Perugia and enjoy the sunny weather. I haven't had much of a chance to do major exploring yet, so I plan on catching up on that this weekend. Tomorrow I have no class, so it'll be prime time for that. Saturday there's a market in the morning that I want to go to, and I signed up for a nooks and crannies tour of Perugia for 3 p.m. It's sponsored by my school, and it's supposed to give us an inside look at the top little hideaways of the city. Sounds like a good idea to me. On Sunday we have a mandatory Arcadia field trip, and I think it's to a nearby place called Lago Trasimeno

Also, the lovely Mallory Servais will be visiting me this weekend. She's supposed to arrive tonight by train, and I'm crossing my fingers that navigating the transportation from Rome to Perugia will be molto semplice despite her not knowing the language. I'm really excited to go on some epics adventures this weekend together!

OK, you've waited long enough. Here are some of my top favorite photos taken so far:

Another quick update

Hello blog followers!

Just wanted to give you another quick update-- I have taken about 30 pictures so far and will have to post them later, when I have my laptop with me, so for now you'll have to settle for just words.

Today I had my first day of Italian class. I placed into the advanced level, and believe it or not, advanced at the Umbra Institute is (so far) ridiculously easy. Way easier than my intermediate class last semester. I think a lot of the students here who know any Italian-- which is very few to begin with-- are less confident in the language than other students studying Italian at the Universita' per Stranieri, where it's full immersion. So I think the Umbra Institute knows that and caters to our level of understanding, which is WONDERFUL because I am receiving credit for TWO classes that would have been ridiculously difficult at the University of Maryland, by taking what seems to be one easy class here.

The whole city of Perugia is like 24/7 Italian practice for me anyway, which is a learning experience in itself. Almost everyone on my program came in knowing zero Italian, so I'm the designated translator every time we go anywhere. I've helped us order food/drinks, asked basic questions, etc. and it's really so much fun to finally use what I've been studying for the past year and a half. It doesn't feel like work at all-- it's such a rewarding feeling knowing that I was able to get a message across to an Italian. Seeing the look of recognition in their eyes after I speak (which doesn't always happen) is so cool.

The city is absolutely beautiful-- I can't impress that upon you enough. Yesterday I diverted from the street where my apartment is for a second, to take a walk up a random side street and see where it led. Turned out it was just a few minutes' walk to this unbelievable panorama of the countryside and city. Picture multi-colored stucco houses dotting rolling hills as far as the eye can see, adobe-style roofs and church towers sandwhiched together on curvy little cobblestone streets. I'll post the pictures soon, I promise.

I finally got a cell phone but haven't used it yet-- it was free to receive the phone, but calls I make do cost a bit of money. For people who have Skype and know how to make phone calls from it, or for anyone who has an international phone plan, it costs nothing for me if someone calls me. But I'm going to call home now, just for a few minutes, since I still haven't done it yet!

I've been crazy busy and trying to settle in, so I apologize for the delay in communication. I promise to keep you posted, and pictures and more detailed updates will arrive soon.

I'm here!

Ok, so i have not much time to update, but I wanted to let everyone know that I have arrived safely in Perugia. No lost baggage or delayed flights, and overall an uneventful and good flight.

I don't have internet in my apartment, so I apologize in advance for how bad I might be at staying in touch, but I am going to try as hard as I can. I don't have a phone yet either (I'm getting it tomorrow hopefully!) so I feel so disconnected. No sense of time (the time change six hours forward amplifies that even more!).

The city is BEAUTIFUL. Bigger than I expected, actually. Everything is classic Italian architecture, I feel like I stepped back in time. But there are still signs of modern life, too- a saw a Mac store as our bus pulled into the city, and there's a Lacoste store in the center of town. I've gotten to practice my Italian a little too- I ate pizza with my roommates and our neighbors at a restaurant called Quattro Passi, a pizzeria across the street from our apartment, and I helped us order the food.

Speaking of my apartment, I just moved into it today and it's much nicer than I expected. Very, very roomy, even though I share a bedroom. High ceilings and very pretty decorations, big windows looking out to the street and gorgeous architecture. I'll take pictures soon, I promise. We do have a washing machine and a normal-ish shower, but again, no Internet. :( Luckily I'm literally a minute walk from the school building, where I can get free wireless. Most apartments aren't that close.

Today we had an orientation inside a church near Piazza IV Novembre, where they talked about safety and classes and all that good stuff. In a half hour I have a walking tour of the city. Then later tonight I'll probably go out with friends and see more of Perugia! I really have barely gotten to see any of it at all yet, believe it or not. Between being shuttled to the hotel and then to my apartment to unpack, there hasn't been much of a chance to REALLY see it.

I'm still super tired from the jet lag, and though everything is going very well, I'd say I feel pretty overwhelmed more than anything. A lot to take in at all at once. I'll update when I can (soon I hope) with pictures and more about what I'm doing!

The obligatory pre-departure entry

Just one day stands between me and my semester in Italy.

Since at least mid-high school, I've known I wanted to study abroad for a semester in Italy during college. It was just like deciding to be a journalism major-- once I came up with the idea, it just kind of stuck, and I never second-guessed it. But it's always seemed like something super-far away, like graduating from college (which now isn't too far away itself-- ahhhh), something that would happen eventually but not anytime soon. Except somehow "not anytime soon" is right now.

Fall semester flew by so unbelievably fast, and the whole time I was going through all the preparations for studying abroad-- getting my visa paperwork together (not fun), filling out housing forms and course request forms, getting signatures from a billion different departments on campus, finding someone to sublease my apartment-- but it never truly hit me that I was REALLY going to Italy for four months. I was always waiting for that moment when it would smack me in the face, and I'd suddenly freak out. I'd say the reality of it came to me in gradual increments, but it was only after I'd finished my last final that I was able to let out that sigh of relief and soak up the fact that I was really, truly going to Italy next semester.

But now, as I lie on my bed in Pennsylvania on my second to last night in the U.S., and look out at my two overstuffed suitcases, I've hit a new level of realization. And I literally feel like I'm about to jump off a cliff and have no idea what I'm about to fall into. Or maybe that's a bad analogy, because jumping off a cliff has a negative connotation. Basically, I have no idea what to expect of these next four months, other than what I've heard from people who have studied abroad themselves. Everyone says it's one of the most unforgettable, amazing experiences of your life. And I'm sure (well I hope!) that's how I'll feel after it's all over-- I'll probably look back to right now and wish I could be at the start again. But for now, I have this crazy combination of butterflies in my stomach, like I'm about to go on stage for some huge performance, and I'm just ready to be up there already! But at the same time I'm super nervous.

I'm leaving behind literally EVERYTHING and EVERYONE familiar. I know zero people going on my program. And that's part of why I chose to do this program...I wanted to go without knowing anyone, to do my own thing and branch out and experience new things, meet new people. I know I wouldn't want it any other way. But that definitely makes it all the more nerve-wracking for me right now! Once I step on that plane headed for Rome, it's just me and my suitcases on our way to this place called Perugia. A place I've never been before. Here's a photo, just to give you an idea of what the place is like:



Why did I choose Perugia? Well, I first heard about it from my sister Melissa, who traveled there during her high school trip to Europe. I'd always remembered it in the back of my mind as this random place that she'd told me was "magical," this adorable medieval town in the middle of Italy that was really popular with study abroad students. But having gone to Italy for about a week in high school myself, I'd fallen in love with Florence and was set on going there. I even had the exact program I wanted to go on figured out before I started college (I'm pretty big on planning things out in advance, if you couldn't tell already! It's a good and a bad thing)...but I decided to keep an open mind last year and research some alternative destinations, just to see if Florence wasn't the end all be all of study abroad destinations for me. And that's when I stumbled upon The Umbra Institute in Perugia and fell in love with the idea of Perugia. I was torn between Florence and Perugia for a while, but after hearing from several sources that Florence was tourist central, and I'd get the more authentic experience in Perugia, I made up my mind. After all, I am an Italian minor, and I really am looking to immerse myself in the culture. I can be around Americans and English-speakers at home-- no reason to limit myself to that while I'm in Italy. Plus, if I can improve my Italian, that's always nice. And I'll only be a few hours from Florence anyway, so I'll still be there at least a few times during the semester I'm sure.

Perugia has about 150,000 residents, if I remember correctly, about 40,000 who are students. So it's basically the quintessential Italian college town. In the photo I posted above, you're looking at an image of Piazza IV Novembre, where supposedly all the students gather at night to socialize. I've heard the city really has an energy created by the young people who live there. And I have to say, I'm pretty excited to experience a college town other than College Park. I have a feeling it'll be a nice change compared to what I'm used to.

So here's the plan: I leave for Perugia at 6:10 p.m. on January 7th, and after a transfer through Frankfurt, I'll arrive in Rome at 12:40 p.m. Italy time on the 8th. Then a bus will transport me the couple hours it takes to get to Perugia, and I'll spend my first night in Perugia at Hotel Gio with all the other Umbra students. The next day, my three roommates and I will move into our apartment. I know the apartment will be located in the center of the city somewhere, but other than that I don't have much of an idea what to expect. This Youtube video gives me an idea, but my apartment will most likely have two bedrooms and two baths, and it may or may not have a spectacular view. Most likely there won't be Internet access in the apartment-- I'll have to go to an Internet cafe or the Umbra library to go online. I know Italy has strict regulations about how long the heat can be on and "quiet hours," and I know we won't have a dryer, so we'll be hang drying clothes. Apparently using more than one electric appliance at once doesn't work too well, so that'll also be an adjustment. But if I'm going to Italy, I have to live life at least somewhat like the Italians, so that's part of the deal.

Well, this first entry turned out longer than I planned! I can only imagine how long these entries will be once I'm actually in Italy and have *real* things to write about! Then again, I have a feeling I won't have tons of time on my hands to write long entries like this, so who knows. But I promise I'll be updating this routinely, so expect photos and details of my first few days in Perugia within the next week. And cross your fingers that this never-ending rain in the forecast stops!