E Dopo E' Venuto Il Sole

The past week has brought nothing but sunshine and puppies on Corso Vannucci. Unfortunately, I rarely get the chance to take a stroll down this main street during school days. This weekend has proven to be beautiful, however. One of my flat mates and I went on a run which started at our apartment. There was about an 1/8 mi downhill jaunt before a treacherous 1/4 mi uphill death stretch. After that, our run continued downhill until we reached the cemetery. The tombs which surrounded us could have been the setting for Phantom of the Opera, were we not in Italy. 40 minutes later, we were still gawking at the majesty the cemetery exuded. As the wind picked up, I began to freeze in the shorts I was wearing, so we began the trek home. There was no way we could run it our legs were made of pure lead by this point. To make matters worse, every person we passed gave us the most inquisitive stares. "Runners" are not a common sight on the streets of Perugia, least of all runners who are walking in the dead of winter in shorts and a bright yellow WILLIAM & MARY sweatshirt. Per fortuna, I don't understand enough Italian or Perugian dialect to understand all that was being yelled at us from a particular vespa.

Today is a day for fotos and shopping after the pausa.

...it is finally worth the 8 hour flight to get here.

Ventitre Ore per Settimana

I have begun the second week of classes; all substitutes are gone, replaced with my scheduled professors. It's interesting being in a class of international students. There are only four Americans in the class. Many students are Asian with about 10 from China, one from Mongolia, one from Taiwan, and one from the Philippines. We 17 students only represent about 3/2 of the class. The rest of the students span the globe. Such diverse backgrounds as ours make cultura quite interesting. With a brilliant professor who wears plaid pants and a gigantic sweater everyday, we have covered the feminist movement in Italy, changes in the traditional family, love, marriage, heaven and hell/ after life, the Mafia, and the region of Umbra. It is often the case that the professoressa calls on students to share their traditions and beliefs. The stories people share make the four hours pass quickly.

While I haven't had the chance to meet many Italians yet, I have gotten pretty good at throwing together pasta (great segue). Last night a few friends and I made pasta (dough), sauce, this wine based drink (I cannot for the life of me remember what it is called.), and salad. Benissismo! Delicioso! After we watched a few episodes of Fawlty Towers, a show written by and starring John Cleese and his first wife. It's wonderfully British and loud and hilarious. There are only 12 episodes, so it is quite acceptable to get addicted.

Tonight is kereoke at a local club (bar means caffè and caffè means espresso). I might go check that out and push my roommate to the mic.

Off to wash clothes...possibly by hand.

*The picture is of my favorite caffe, Kefe. The name is a pun. It means caffè and che fai? which means "What are you doing?" or "What's up?" In local dialect is sounds more like che fe? hence: Kefe.

Una Doccia Bella

Our landlord installed a shower curtain yesterday. It's fabulous. All I have to do is squat under the nozzle while straddling the stair in the tub (the stair which was previously a built in seat when I had to sit to shower.). So, yea. I am pretty stoked.

It's never an easy endeavor understanding my landlord. She doesn't seem to understand or care that I don't speak Italian well during that day or at all when I have just rolled out of bed to a pounding on my door and drilling in the wall a couple rooms over. Ma, va bene. It's all a part of the experience. The only thing that peeved me was the fact that they left the drill dust all over the bathroom that I spent 3+ hours cleaning a couple days ago. C'est la vie.

Well, time to buy vegetables.

A Perugia

You might say I have settled in, or you might say I am further discovering the "intricacies" of this small city. One of my flatmates and I moved in Jan. 4th. Our landlords speak no English, so the grand tour was difficult to say the least. We basically understood that we are not to touch the temperature dial no matter how cold and frostbitten we become. Utilities are expensive. Had I more language skills, I would have asked why our tiny shower tub came with no curtain. Is a shower just another way of cleaning the rest of the bathroom? Is it really possible to get clean while sitting in a tub half the length of my legs, holding the nozzle in one hand, and lathering up or rinsing off with the other? Apparently the answer is yes, but I have not yet figured out how this can be true.

So, Umbra kept us bouncing from one activity to the next during the weekend before classes started. Mostly they had us find buildings all over the city center without much direction and with no prize for finally finding said buildings. Yeah. Also, since I do not take classes in Umbra Institute, I had to find my buildings on my own (with the help of my fellow lost Americans). The main Stanieri building is less than a minute from my apartment, but I only go there 1 hour a week. The rest of my classes are twenty minutes downhill from my apartment, which isn't bad until I have to walk back up after a 10 hour day of classes. Thankfully, there is a bar (cafe) and a mess hall in the far away building since every single dish in my apartment was dirty when I got there. Big job cleaning up.

What's good about being here where the key to my apartment looks like it should unlock a castle? No math. Good food (when it doesn't come from my apartment).

By the end of the semester, I hope to not get sweaty palms when I speak in class and not burn myself when I light the gas stove (I still have yet to light it at all.).

Off to buy shoes!