Beautiful Day in Perugia

A view on the way home from school

Basilica of San Pietro

Perugia was very lively today. Today was the "Festa di San Costanzo"-- the festival honoring Saint Costanzo, the patron saint of Perugia. There was a small band of little old men playing in the street and tents set up in the Piazza. There were also a million booths selling anything from puppies and turtles to underwear and cheese... the latter not together of course.

We went on a walk with my Italian class through the market and then visited the Basilica of San Pietro. The frescos were stunning (as usual) and the Basilica holds some of the most important pieces of artwork in Perugia. Very cool.

Classes have been going on for a full two weeks now and I already feel like I've been here forever. I also think I'm in love... with Leonardo da Vinci. "Leonardo da Vinci" is the title of one of my classes and it is too cool. He was an all-around genius and probably one of the most interesting people to read about. I will be going on an overnight field trip with my class to Milan and Florence in March to see his artwork.

I'm visiting a biodynamic farm in Tuscany tomorrow with another class and will be posting those pictures soon! Now for some fun Italian facts:

Doors open the opposite way

Italians are obsessed with "Nutella"- a chocolatey frosting-like spread

Milk comes in bottles no bigger than a litre

Wine is cheaper than water

The color purple is IN- every store window displays purple everything

Italians love shiny shoes and jackets...

That's all for now. Ciao!
XO

Assisi

Basilica of San Francesco from the top of AssisiConquering Assisi

Sunset from the top of Assisi

Yesterday I came pretty close to heaven.

Or so it seemed... Nikki and I visited Assisi this weekend, which is the birthplace of St. Francis. It is an absolutely beautiful town and just a 25 minute train ride from Perugia. It actually looks pretty similar to Perugia- same narrow and winding streets, but much more hilly. There are also little shops everywhere selling the most crosses and rosaries you could ever imagine... along with tons of weird souvenirs- think fake pistols and t-shirts with kittens on them... We took a bus from the Assisi train station to the city center. After dining on delicious paninis, we started our walk toward the Basilica of San Francesco.

The ceiling and frescoes in the Basilica were stunning. No pictures were allowed inside, otherwise, I'd probably post about 20 pictures of the frescoes on the walls depicting St. Francis's life. St. Francis was the son of a rich cloth merchant. After he had a vision of Jesus telling him to "repair 'my' house", he devoted his life to the church and gave up everything he owned- he even stripped naked in public to make his point. The man giving us a tour made sure to point out the fresco of him doing the Full Franky.

Many of the frescos were painted by Giotto. He was one of the first artists to ever experiment with depth perception, so some of the paintings looked a little "off". The lines didn't quite match up and some of the people in his paintings looked as tall as the buildings. Michelangelo also studied under Giotto. It's crazy to think these frescoes were done in the 1200s... Americans think anything from the 1800s is old!

After seeing the Basilica, we trekked to the very top of Assisi. Located at the top is a castle- Rocca Maggiore. The walk was intense- we weren't even walking on roads, but on a very narrow path on the side of a hill through mud and rocks (and rain!). We reached the top at the perfect time because the rain had stopped and the sun had just started to shine through the clouds. It seemed as close to heaven as we could get. The view from the top was beyond incredible- I think I took 30 pictures from the exact same spot. We sat for the longest time and just watched the clouds shift. Definitely heaven on earth!

More blogging and pictures to come soon- I'm going on a field trip to Tuscany this Friday!

Baci! (Kisses)

Lake Trasimeno

This past weekend we took a day trip to the nearby Lake Trasimeno. It was a little dreary, but still so beautiful. I couldn't take enough pictures of the hills, trees, and this fluffy little white dog running around. There was also the cutest 7 month old horse. The Italian man showing us around said the horse and little white dog are partners in crime and are always causing trouble. We were shown how to make pasta- a long and bruising process (who knew it took so much arm work?) and got to sample some of the best olive oil in Italy- Michael Schumacher, the famous race car driver, even has bottles shipped to him from this place!

Exploration

After a lot of cold and rainy weather, yesterday was sunny and in the upper 40s- a perfect Friday for exploring and picture taking! (We don’t have school on Fridays either- whoo!)

Perugia is abuzz with media- we even saw an NBC van. The trial concerning the female student who was murdered last year is going on, so there are policemen everywhere and it is the front page of every newspaper. We walked to the courthouse, but the entrance was barricaded and there were too many people to see anything. The turnout will be interesting, as I have heard different sides of the story. You can read more about it here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/localnews2008636417/

I had my first gelato yesterday! We even asked the owner to take our picture to document the occasion. She also sells delicious pastries (think chocolate croissants from the Coffee Grinder, but better!) and espresso- this place could be dangerous.

That’s all for now, but I will leave you with some observations I have made since being in Perugia:

- Everyone has a dog.
- Everyone dresses their dog in clothes.
- Italians (and I’m pretty sure all Europeans) LOVE Obama. They even have a song about him.

- The word “prego” can be used in almost any situation… and I think it is the equivalent to saying “no worries”.
- The older man who works at the small grocery store by our apartment might just be the nicest person alive—he ran after us down the street when we forgot some groceries and even gave us two free bottles of wine!

Ciao!

Greetings from Perugia!

Ciao!
It is only my third day in Perugia and I already know I'll never want to leave.

We arrived in Rome where it was warm and sunny and then rode on a charter bus for three hours through beautiful hills. We stayed in a hotel our first night and moved in our apartment the next day. Italy is veryyy different from the U.S. in so many ways. One of the most noticeable differences is how much they conserve resources. We only receive 7 hours of heat a day and since the weather is very cold, we wear all the layers we can around our apartment. Last night, my four roommates and I were eating dinner at our little kitchen table with hats and mittens on... a funny sight to see. Also, the water heater turns on and off so we've started to wash our hair in the sink in order to make our freezing showers as quick as possible! Little things like the water, very little lighting, a little laundry machine that we thought was a dishwasher, and a sink on the floor of the bathroom by the toilet.... will just take a little getting used to!

This week we are only taking our Italian class. We go from 9am-5pm, but with many breaks in-between. They are teaching us how to "survive" in Perugia; we are learning how to say things like, "Two tickets for l'autobus" and "Sono Americano"... these are the only things I could think of off the top of my head- obviously I am not very fluent yet. Usually I just speak Spanish and can get along okay. The Umbra Institute I is about 25 feet from our apartment door. There is also Umbra II, where I go for two of my other classes. It is about a 15 minute walk down winding, narrow, and STEEP cobblestone streets- quite the leg work-out. All classes start next Monday, so I am eager to see what they are like.

Internet access is limited, but I hope to be posting pictures and maybe a walking video tour of our apartment soon. More to come later!

Much Love,
Jenna