So, this weekend was busy, which i love. I love to be busy and this week is busy. While schoolwork is picking up, it's not all bad and I am enjoying having a schedule. So there are about 3989 things to write about so I am going label things I guess.
Gubbio
This Friday me, Emily, Molly, and Melissa took about an hour bus ride up to the small little medieval stone town. After actually getting out of bed for a 7:50 bus, we managed to drive up to the little town with ZERO tourists. I have really started to appreciate going places and living somewhere where there are not a million tourist attractions. After hiking around in the freezing (by freezing, i mean probably like upper 30's) cold up hill in this city we managed to follow some signs that led us to the funicular. The funicular had these little bird cage type things that led you about halfway up the mountain and then from there you can hike up the rest of the way. Well, I am pretty sure that while these "cages" are legal in Italy I don't think they could be called safe or legal in the US. They were so much fun and I loved literally hopping off of the cage and seeing SNOW. My roommates think that my love of snow is historical because I literally turn into a 5 year old when I see it. For them snow is old news and is miserable. I'm not going to lie, though, hiking up a mountain over some snow was not the most joyous thing. Jumping in it though, was fun. We also visited a church at the top of the mountain for a saint whose actual body was just chilling in the front of the church. Slightly disturbing. I'm not sure why, but more than his body just being there I was also disturbed that he was wearing his whole get up including gloves. The gloves really got me. After seeing the Apennines from the top of Mt. Gubbio (not the real name), we went back down, grabbed some lunch and then hopped on a bus which happened to be the bus full of kids riding home from school which will lead me to my next point. Middle schoolers.
Middle Schoolers
I have learned that middle school is an internationally awkward time for everyone. Not only do middle schoolers smell in America, but they also smell in Italy. Especially when you are on a small bus with about 25 of them for an hour. I guess I never realized that it takes all pre-teens a while to discover deodorant. I also learned that a lot of words are universal, many of which I do not feel comfortable to write on here. In general, middle school is a terrible age and I do not wish to ride a bus around 2:00 with them again. Although, I did see one kid who was definitely the bully of the group who looked identical to a guy I went to middle school with named Justin Giannace. He was the only one in 7th grade with a mustache.
Roma
Rome! After my early morning to Gubbio on Friday, somehow I made it out of bed Saturday in order to catch an 8:00 am bus to Rome. Definitely would take the bus over the train again. Although the bus was full at first and the bus driver had us stand for about 20 minutes and drove us to another bus which was scary because I honestly thought that he was going to just have us stand for a 2.5 hour bus ride. Since this wasn't my first trip to Rome, I didn't know what to expect, I kind of thought that some of the sights would seem old. It was a totally different experience. It was nice not having a tour guide and different not being there with my parents. And possibly my favorite part was watching the faces of friends who were seeing things for the first time. We saw the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Nevona (probably misspelled), The Pantheon, the Ruins, and the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps was especially neat to see because I didn't see them on my last trip to Rome. It was crazy being around that many people and also not having to use any Italian. I actually wanted to, but everywhere people just approached you with English. It made me appreciate Perugia because if I were studing in Rome, I don't think I would be motivated to learn Italian.
Other Tidbits...
I guess I should explain the title of this blog. While enjoying my "fabulous" life in Italy, today my food and culture class had a wine tasting. My 12:00 class. We went about 400 meters (probably means nothing to anyone, I don't even know how far this is other than I know where the actual cafe is) to Cafe di Perugia and tasted 3 different wines. It was fun to take a break from the norm and break out of the classroom. It was also interesting too, to be tired from 3 glasses of wine during my already tiring psychology class. I am also having fun adjusting to British English spellings like "behaviour" rather than "behavior" and using words like trolley rather than grocery cart. I also rather enjoy hearing my British and Irish teachers use their accents in speaking in Italian.
In other unrelated things, please keep the people in Egypt in your prayers. There are 2 girls from Presbyterian College studying abroad in Cairo who have been evacuated from there schools as of today. Taylor Warner and Jessica Shamoon are their names and they are in contact as much as they can with their families, but their school is moving them to a safe European country.
Also, Ellen Scheide, my big in my sorority is donating blood stem cells today to a man with Lukemia. She will return to PC on Tuesday from her procedure. She is so giving and I am so proud of her!
As always, pictures are on facebook. I will try to put some on here later.
Caio!
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