Perugia has brought a whirl wind of emotion. Being in a foreign country makes me feel all my emotions 83.46x stronger than at home; therefore, I was a wreck when Sam Sadler sent out his retirement letter, Prez Nichol resigned, and a friend from home passed away. On the other hand, I was absolutely elated to have passed my Italian written and oral exams at l'Universita' per Stranieri. To celebrate this, a couple friends and I blew this popsicle stand and made un giro around Tuscany. Saturday night we went to Cortona, the town about which is written in Under the Tuscan Sun. It was breathtaking to watch the tramonto over the hills.
Traveling on a whim is amazing. We got to the main piazza in Cortona at the same time a couple, having just been married, was watching out of the church.
We watched the celebration for a bit before continuing our exploration of the city, which was by far the cleanest I have seen. There are signs posted everywhere about the hefty fine for leaving
behind. This is clearly NOT enforced in Perugia. (This picture was taken in Gubbio, however). My two friends and I were rendered speechless at each lookout despite continuously seeing the same view. This city is one for the list.
We returned late that night only to get up at 5, which was really 4 since we had our time change this weekend, to catch a train to Pisa. After getting the mandatory photo
ooops, I mean
We headed to Viareggio to nap on the beach. I swear we could see France (scherzo, I kid) from where we were.
After getting sufficiently sunburned, we skipped town for Lucca; a very cute town which should be visited by all. We tried to see the house where Puccini was born and raised, but all we got was
Woooo! We putzed around town for a while, then decided to hit Florence for dinner. I did not get any pictures there because we were chowing down on some great vegetables at Il Vegetariano. Isomma, I am wiped out.
Hope that's enough update to keep you satisfied for some time.
A dopo.
