Better Late Than Never.

A New Church I found In Perugia.

Church in Assisi.

So just as I thought I would, I have not kept up with this blog as much as I would like which I guess means that this post will have to be a little long which will encourage me to write more often so I don't leave things out.

So first off, last week was the beginning of real classes. Due to my lack of a good camera (my own fault) I decided not to take photography. Mostly because I have gone through 3 cameras in three years and have been demoted to what my parents said would survive being in fraternaty house that runs on double a batteries. So, I got a new class approved through my school and have decided to declare a Psychology minor! Or at least that is my intention now, we will see if I actually will have time to complete it at PC. So here is a basic rundown of my classes:

• Contemporary Italy: Basically this class covers everything you wanted (or did not want) to know about Italy. Every class we cover a new topic and will basically cover every aspect of the entire country. We are going to cover georgraphy, history, religion, family life, organized crime, etc. Basically the works.




• Food and Culture of Italy: This class is just as delightful as it sounds. The professor is a young Brittish man who is really funny and commutes here from Florence. Besides a fieldtrip we are going to take to Florence later on, we talk about why the food here is the way it is and the history going back to the beginning of time it seems. Today we tasted olive oils and next week we are tasting wines.




• Elementary Italian: I don't think this needs much explination, but I do really enjoy Alassandra my Italian teacher. The language isn't too hard to pick up on, its just hard to break my habits from 7 or so years of Spanish. She does want us to learn it all though, one girl in our class paused because she didn't know the answer and let a profane word slip, so Alassandra asked us if we knew what it was in Italian and wrote it on the board for future reference.




• Human Development: This class is basically where culture meets psychology. The sweet Irish woman who teaches is is absolutely brilliant and the class is intense, but interesting. Basically we explore the theories of psychology and their origins, and analyze why they don't all include culture. A lot of reading.

An adventure I have recently taken part in is TANDEM. This is a cross cultural experience that Umbra (my program) and the University of Perugia put on. They have it at Il Barraio, the cool little bar I think I have mentioned before with the great sangria and you get to go meet Italian people. Although I didn't have much Italian to practice with the people, the people I met spoke wonderful English and I learned a lot about cultural differences. The one girl we really got to know, I think her name was Rafaella basically told us that Italians look to America as the perfect example of Nationalism which I thought was really interesting. I explained to her that I thought while most people would say they were glad to live in America, there are many that don't like everything that happens there. I definitely plan on going back to this, they have it about every 2 weeks.

Last week, in the midst of everyone in my program getting sick and very cold weather, we went to go visit a nearby town of Assisi. It was absolutely beautiful even in the rain/snow. My southern body had quite a shock to the cold weather. We toured the basilica of St. Francis and it was HUGE and gorgeous. I sometimes wonder about huge churches like that because I see tons of people touring them as a building and at the same time I see people in the pews almost in tears in prayer. I wish I had more of an understanding of St. Francis' story and of how saints play into the Catholic faith as well. Regardless it was beautiful and even though pictures weren't allowed inside, I don't think I will forget that church. The whole town of Assisi was beautiful really.

We tried some new things this week, we went to two separate aperitivos - both wonderful! And yesterday Emily and I explored some of the parts of the city that we hadn't yet. We ended up by our house somehow 2 hours later after finding some really neat shops, restaurants, an art school, and some spectacular new views. I don't think it ever gets old.