Italy: The good, the bad, and the ugly

I know that I've commented on many different aspects of the Italian society and culture in my blog. However, I don't feel as if I've taken the time to address certain aspects of life in Italy that really stand out and that have made my experience here different than if I had stayed in another country, or even in another city in Italy.
First, I will start with one of the most important, significant, symbolic... well you get the idea... elements of Italian culture.
FOOD
I didn't have to take a food cultures/history class here (no not a cooking class) to learn how important food is to Italian culture. It's obvious everywhere in Italy, from restaurants to grocery stores to dinners at home-- even those cooked by us Americans pretending to be Italians. I've already gotten comments about how my blog entries mentioning the food here has made mouths water and stomachs grumble (sorry Evan) . Well let me tell you, my stories hold no exaggerations. The food here is basically the best food I have ever had in my entire life. Grocery shopping at home will never be there same, for instance. Here, grocery stores are small and hard to come by, they are also often closed and not very well stocked. However, when you buy something even as simple as tomatoes, you are guaranteed the freshest produce, grown right here in Italy-- possibly even a short distance from where I will be putting it on my shelf or in my fridge. Regular food here in Italy is almost as organic as the foods found in the organic section in the Harris Teeter, however, they don't need the label of organic produce. There are actual labels of organic produce here, though I'm not sure how much more organic they could possibly be... they were surely grown completely without pesticides/fertilizers and in farms solely for the purpose of organic produce. There are even organic markets the first Saturday of every month, celebrating the idea of organic foods, materials, clothes, everything- you name it.
I'm not sure how much I've discussed the actual food concept of meals either- with the aperitivo (appetizers), primo piatti (first dish- usually pasta), secondo piatti (second dish- usually meat), and then sides (sorry I forgot the Italian term), ensalate (salad- yes at the end), cafe, dolce (dessert), grappa (ew). Of course, you don't always get every plate, usually just one and dessert, sometimes two-- all depends on where you're eating and how much money you have ;) And as I've found from eating with Italians, dinners in the actual Italian homes do not usually consist of many courses unless it is a special occasion. Italians also love their coffee and have very specific unwritten laws about them, so if you are planning on visiting this country you must know these rules- unless you are like most of us, who by now just shrug off the whole Italian eye roll considering there are so many problems with their dumb rules. For example, the main rule is that you must drink cappuccino before the afternoon. It is only a morning/breakfast beverage and cannot be drank any later because of the milk content. Italians then drink cafe (espresso) later in the day. The faulty logic? Italians eat tiramisu for dessert all the time- a very milk heavy dessert... if milk is bad to drink later in the day, then why the heck do they eat tiramisu for dessert??? (this is something my food teacher complained about a lot). Wine is another huge part of the Italian culture, as most of you are aware. However, you never really realize how big it is until you're in a restaurant and see a five year old drinking a small glass of wine with dinner- but only table wine is really big in Italy, not fine wines. Wine is cheap and easy to come by, and usually pretty good (according to people who actually like wine) especially since it is all locally grown. So basically, Italians like their food and drinks but they are unbelievably skinny, and this comes to the next very important culture aspect of Italy.
FASHION
Before leaving for Italy, my mom was pretty scared for me, considering I dress pretty casual- and by casual I mean jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers- all the time, every day, etc. So she dragged me out shopping and we bought a lot of nice clothing, including nice black shoes- which I did wear but as for my suit *cough* that will have to wait for some more business deals to go down in order to wear it... or maybe just a few group presentations at Elon or some such thing. However, as worried as my mom was about the fashion here in Italy- she was right for the most part. Clothes are huge here, and Italian girls/women/boys/men tend to all blend together into one specific person based on clothing choice. I'll never forget my first few weeks in Perugia, walking to class and seeing the mobs of look-alikes wandering down the streets. All the girls look like clones of one person and all the guys look the same as well. They all wear whatever is the fashion trend, not matter the actual weather outside. For example, in March when we had some nice days they would still be out in pants, long sleeves, and JACKETS. You may be asking yourselves, are those Italians crazy. My answer? Yes.
Italian clothes are also pretty expensive (except for on shopping street in Perugia and a few other random stores where you can buy very reasonable clothes). The logic here is that the clothes are made with higher quality materials and are expected to last longer after many wears- i.e. Italians wear the same clothes day after day (they also don't take as many showers, but more on that later).
They are also kind of scary for a few reasons. Let's think about this: They eat so many carbs and yet can fit into these tiny tiny little clothes. That's really saying something. Is it that they exercise more? I'm not all that sure, although I can tell you the hike to and from my apartment every day has definitely toned my leg muscles... yet I would never be able to wear what would be a typical size in Italian women clothes- in fact, its pretty hard to find pants here unless you are a stick. This also goes for men, as the Italian boys/men wear their pants quite tight and it makes it quite awkward when they decided to get up in your face- another characteristic of Italian living. But moving on... Italians are scary because they judge you as they pass by. They give you the top down stare and basically give you a score based on the way they shake their perfectly razored long dark hair and put their hand on their pretty nonexistent hips. The Italian men stare at you through their GIANT sunglasses and think "hooray an American" and I just walk on by, not so oblivious anymore- but after four months, just completely immune and quite frankly, who cares anyway?
I have no idea how those Italian women walk up the massive hills of Perugia in their heels and giant boots. I have no idea why they still continue to wear sweaters AND jackets when it is almost 70 degrees outside. I have no idea how they breathe in their tight clothes or how they can eat so much and still fit in their tight clothes. It's all just a mystery I guess... unlike the men of Italy who are no longer a mystery, but more of an annoyance.
ITALIAN MEN
As I am a girl I will write about Italian men. There is not much to say about Italian women except that they dress incredibly well and look absolutely gorgeous even if they are going outside to water the plants or throw out the trash. Italian men however, besides wearing tight tight pants and GIANT (no really THEY ARE HUGE) sunglasses ALL THE TIME, like to bother women, especially American women. This is because they have obviously given up on the Italian women who are way too cool for them and who are also used to their annoying cat calls and touching and following us at all hours of the day (I'm talking 3:00 in the afternoon here). It went from strange, to weird, to annoying, to creepy... now it's just old. I can't wait to get back to America where I will be ignored. You think you've heard weird stories about Italian men, but you don't know what it's like till you are actually here. They just have NO SHAME. They will walk up to you and ask if you speak English, where you are from, and maybe if you can send a postcard to them? "What your address?" Their broken English starts off being cute, then turns annoying and you KNOW they just used the same lines maybe 20 minutes ago on some smart girl that kept walking away. The Italian women are so used to this that they don't give them the light of day, so the men of course, go for us dumb American girls who have no idea that we will be followed and cat called constantly. Based on our clothes choices, we stick out like a sore thumb (that expression is weird) and unfortunately unless you have dark hair, look semi-Italian, and walk with the "don't mess with me face" (i.e. me) you are subject to these bothersome guys.
But you may be wondering, why is all the attention so bad anyway? Aren't Italian men gorgeous? Well, first of all most of these guys still live with their parents. In fact, in Italy, momma's boys are not only widespread, they are actually widely accepted by society. They are called "mammoni" and for the most part live at home until they are in their late 30's. According to my professor, because times in Italy are hard, especially since people don't make that much money since they don't work that much (see WORK) they often live at home because it saves them money. He also said it is a helping situation and that they help out at home (a likely story) in return for staying there. My opinion: they stay at home because they're lazy and because they can. So unless you are interested in one of these strapping young men who expect you to be just like mommy, I would suggest you keep on walking. Italian men are also incredibly sexist, not only because they are men (ha) but because it is all part of the culture as well. They live with their parents, and their mothers do everything for them- thus they expect girls they date to be the same. This brings me to the subject of dating in Italy.
DATING
It's hard enough to understand dating in the United States, with all the unspoken rules and such between men and women. Well, imagine having all those rules to follow while also having new mysterious dating rules at work in a strange new European country. As I've seen and heard about through others (no first hand experiences here), dating in Italy is basically a huge free for all- especially when it comes to the men. In Italy, nothing matters unless you are married. They tell us girls the most important phrase to know in Italy is "sono sposata"- "I'm married". These two magic words are supposed to wear off those men I mentioned in the previous section. However, this sometimes doesn't even work. Men in Italy have no concept of monogamy nor do they have any concept of a steady relationship. Guys here ask us if we have boyfriends and home and we always say yes just to TRY to get them to leave us alone, but even that doesn't work. We always get the response, oh but no boyfriend in Italy? As if this is okay. But... in Italy it is. Dating is such a loose term here, which makes me laugh because Italian couples act so passionate in public and you'd think they were madly in love, but most likely this is the story: They publicly announce that they are dating but in reality the man has another girlfriend and the girl has another boyfriend. They might carry this on for quite some time. I am dead serious. The most amusing thing to see is guys checking out girls EVEN WHEN THEY ARE OUT WITH THEIR GIRLFRIENDS. This is why they wear the HUGE dark sunglasses, so their girlfriends don't see them. This is my theory at least. Also, PDA in Italy, as you might have figured out is not only everywhere, but it is absolutely disgusting. Italians truly have no shame, and I have seen the craziest things on park benches.
WORK
Working is a fun thing to talk about with Italians, especially ones our age. In America, we are used to working summer jobs and even jobs while at school, sometimes more than one. Us American college kids strangely enough have great work ethic and can sometimes hold up for 30 or even 40 hours a week. This AMAZES Italians. Here in Italy, Italians do not work while they are in school. This brings back the whole idea of the mammoni idea, because boys don't work, they have no money so they live at home. Also, Italians don't work as many hours as we do in America. Things just aren't open as long (due to things like la pausa- see TIME) and payment isn't that great. However, waitressing here is interesting because they get paid normal wages and don't make tips. You don't tip in Italy because there is a table charge which is sometimes 1 or 2 euros and is basically the equivalent of a tip. This took a while to get used to considering I am not only used to tipping, but after working in a waitress last semester it is a weird concept to think about. But as for other jobs, it makes me laugh because living in Italy often reminds me of a whole other world- solely for their work ethic. I can't imagine doing business with Italians overseas or any type of trading deals, considering their constant breaks and minimal work ethic. No wonder their cinema business is failing so badly. But that's another story.
TIME
Time doesn't exist in Italy. I've lived here for four months and I can tell you with a straight face that Italians have absolutely NO CONCEPT OF TIME. They are always late and actually, to them, it isn't a problem, nor is it even considered "late". They don't seem to care, because EVERYONE is late. Things will run over the allotted time (i.e. class) and no one notices. In relation to the whole business deal situation, I can't imagine doing business deals because the combination of minimal work ethic and no concept of time must mean terrible communication and an incredibly misunderstanding between Italy and other countries (i.e. The United States).
Living here has opened my eyes to several new ways to live life, however, as a person who must always be on time- this is one thing I have not, and will not understand.
However, the flow of time also has more meaning for Italians and this is something that I have not only come to understand, but now love and will dearly miss. For instance, getting coffee doesn't have to happen in five minutes: in and out at your local Dunkin Donuts- or even a minute: up to the Starbucks (yuck) drive through window and then on with your life. No, here in Italy, drinking coffee is an art. It is a time for relaxation and for thought. And I'm not talking about comfy couches and jazz music playing (although Cafe Morlacchi is good for this kind of atmosphere). I'm talking about standing at a bar and taking a break. Drinking coffee in Italy is a daily routine, and Italians literally must schedule it in in their brains (they may have no concept of time but they certainly have a concept of drinking coffee) because the same people are at the same bars day after day. Standing there, drinking away, and chatting with the barrista.
Another food related time example occurs in restaurants. In Italy, waiters/waitresses don't automatically bring the check. They leave you alone and wait until you ask for it. You can sit and enjoy dinner or just the company of friends/family for as long as you want. They don't push you along with dinner or try to kick you out. Italians tend to have very slow and long out dinners (probably because of all the food consumed) and it's nice because they actually take the time to make dinner something more than just a quick fast food meal before returning to work. These are the things that I will miss about Italy and notice immediately upon returning to the United States.
One thing I will not miss, but that is essential to the Italian lifestyle is the 3-4 hour break during the day known as la pausa. This also existed in Spain but was not quite as noticeable because we didn't have to go grocery shopping. During pausa, EVERYTHING closes so that people can go home and have a 3-4 hour lunch. This can be quite annoying considering it happens from around 12-4 and if you are out of food, there is basically nothing you can do. This sometimes was incredibly stressful especially when travelling. Imagine arriving to a town after travelling 3 hours and realizing that NOTHING IS OPEN. There were many towns where we wandered around for a few hours trying to desperately find a place to eat or something interesting to see.
While it is still sometimes hard for me to understand how Italians can be so laid back and slow with many things (and always late), their lifestyle makes life so much more enjoyable. In the United States everything always feels so rushed and insignificant. Nothing holds any importance in life and things always have to be fast and perfect. No 5 hour dinners made with friends over stupid conversation and maybe a burnt dessert. No dinners out at an amazing restaurant where it takes a good hour to get something that could have probably been made in a few minutes. Americans truly have no patience for these things whereas Italians savor them. Taking the time to appreciate even the little things around you is easy to do in such a beautiful country and city where the landscapes and skies are always new and the architecture is ages old. But I'm sure we can do that even in America, land of the free, and possibly the most rushed society ever.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Remember when I said that time doesn't exist in Italy? Well this also applies to the public transportation schedules. Trains, buses, planes... nothing seems to run on time. Not to mention the time schedules are incredibly hard to follow and sometimes at weird hours you have to take a bus instead of a train... see previous entries for that fun story. Public transportation here in Italy is truly the only way to get anywhere. And the fact that we don't have cars and I became terrified of renting a Vespa because of the fact that a few Umbra kids fell of their rented Vespas and one of them was on crutches (although he's a moron anyway).
With all our traveling in Italy, it was difficult to not appreciate the transportation in Italy for its price and efficiency—for the most part. There were also times when we all never wanted to hear the word “Trenitalia” again or have to ask “what bin are we leaving from?”. Trains in Italy are not exactly the most beautiful forms of transportation either and I’m pretty sure most of them are from the 70’s with their weird plaid seat covers and faint musty smell. The grafitti that sometimes coats the windows and outer walls of the trains confirms this.
Trains aside, I am far less impressed by Italy’s bus system. Incredibly difficult to navigate and always understand, the buses are annoying enough because they are late and at times full to capacity so the ride is nothing but tight and uncomfortable. The bus ride to the center of Perugia is comparable to a boat ride on choppy water (boat ride to Capri anyone?), climbing the narrow windy pathways up to the top. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have fallen over on the bus, usually on an innocent bystander. The buses also do not stop for you, even if you have your arm outstretched, which leads me to believe there is some kind of secret signal that only the inhabitants of Perugia and the bus drivers know. Not only do they not stop for you when you are at the bus stop, they don't stop for you when you're crossing the street. Buses sometimes would drive up on the sidewalks because they make crappy turns and I've almost gotten hit a few times just walking home minding my own business. Not to mention the countless times I've almost been hit by a car or vespa on the narrow streets of Perugia- I still don't understand how or why anyone would want to drive in my city. My street is a dead end and when cars go down to a certain point, they end up driving backwards all the way back-- and not slowly either! It's ridiculous. Taxi rides are just as scary, almost as bad as NYC taxi rides. I think I only rode in a car twice the entire 4 months I spent in Italy, if you don't count taxis. Walking is truly the only way for students to get around, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

That's all I can think of now, but I'm sure if there's any other culture aspects I will definetely bring them to light in this entry. I am now back in the United States, trying to organize all the things I brought back from Italy and get ready to go to Elon to see all my friends.
Italy was one of the most incredible experiences of my life and I would never want to forget a single moment of the four months that I lived there. I hope you have all enjoyed my blog and my memories and until we meet again... a presto!

Just two days...

So I just finished my last final and am officially a senior, which is weird because all my friends at Elon aren't even done with classes yet and here I am, in Italy, done.

Not done with Italy though. Only two days left, although I'm not sure how much Italy I will really be doing in these next two days considering my room is a mess and I have to somehow get that mess into 2 suitcases. I'm worried about breakables, but I have a plan so we'll see how things hold up. Some people brilliantly realized that none of the shops in the airport will be open when we fly home-- stupid 6:30 am flight or whatever it is-- so my whole idea of buying wine in the duty free shops and putting it in my duffel to take on the plane is now shot. I was looking through my plastic bags yesterday which happen to line the floor under my bed and I realized that I bought so many gifts- you better all love me when I get home.

This past week has held nothing special, just going with the flow of exams, a bit of an allergy breakout-- the weather here is beautiful and so I suffer.
I did go to eat at this amazing Perugian restaurant which happens to be the street over from my house (and I wait till the last week to go, right?) and also to the Medieval gardens which were pretty.

I am trying to eat as much pizza as possible before I leave since I am well aware that pizza ANYWHERE in the United States will not even come CLOSE to the amazing pizza we have here.

Tonight there is a goodbye dinner for us with the faculty/staff and then tomorrow I'll probably go to the ceramics show one last time-- also the free cheese festival in the underground part of the city, (how nice of a goodbye is that?!) to buy some gifts (more gifts, I know). Then at 11/12pm my roommates and I are buying a meter long pizza and probably crying around the dining room table- one last time. Liz and I are calling a taxi to take us to Piazza Italia which is where the buses are getting us at 1:30am/2am. Nice goodbye, right?

I am going to be so dead when I get home.

Speaking of home, I've finally decided that I'm ready to come home- more or less. I know that I can't stay in Italy forever, not to mention all of my funds are completely depleted. However, I can't wait to come home and spend time with my family and friends (elon and home friends) before heading off to Mexico in June (as long as everything goes well). Italy was an amazing place to study abroad, and I'm glad that I came here instead of the many other places I could have gone... especially going to Perugia over a bigger city like Rome or Florence (my funds would have been gone in February). Despite many scary instances- i.e. break ins and the like, Perugia has felt like home for the past four months and it will be weird returning to the United States--- only to go to Mexico (what am I thinking, right?). I hear culture shock is much worse upon arrival in the United States- considering I had no culture shock when I came here- I love the Italian lifestyle so much... I fear for my return to the United States- a country that I've been having a hard time feeling patriotic for lately.

How am I expected to return to a country that doesn't do what it says it will, and where so much pain and hurt is unresolved. After the VT massacre, life at Elon will be weird, and I wasn't even in the United States when it happened. I feel like so many things have happened over the past four months and even through my somewhat lame attempts to stay connected through online media sources, I can't help but feel disconnected. I know that living here in Italy has changed the way I look at things, in my opinion for the better, and I'm sure that my new (well not completely new) beliefs and ideals will be questioned.

As for Italy, I will miss it. A lot. I would like to return some day, but there are so many places to see in the world that it's hard to think about returning here right away.
Plan on another entry soon about Italy, I feel like I haven't really sat down and wrote about things I've noticed or cultural elements here and considering I only have two days left, I better write about them now.

Hope you are all doing well. Love you and see you all soon.

FORZA PERUGIA!

A perfect day for a soccer game!

Perugia VS Manfredonia
(they're from the tip of the boot)

they got a little creative with the newspapers

the players come out on the field

some action- we're red by the way

smoke? and crazy fans

Liz and her banner

me and Liz supporting our team- Il Grifo- The Griffin!
me and most of my roommatesour landlord bought us ice cream- Liz and Lydia
mauro, our landlord, me, and liz eating ice cream
We won! 2-0, Yay Perugia!

Ravenna and Rimini

So as you all know, I had been wanting to go to Ravenna and Rimini, two towns northeast of Perugia on the Adriatic Coast for quite some time. After consulting our schedules, we realized the best time would be this weekend and so after spending a good amount of time on Trenitalia's website (one of the things I am looking forward to not dealing with anymore- so annoying) trying to find train times that worked, we settled on this (somewhat crazy) plan:
Leave for Ravenna around 8am, do Ravenna in the afternoon, then take the train to Rimini (they are only an hour apart), do Rimini until 2am (yes I said 2 am) and then take the train back to Perugia, bringing us home right at 6:30am. We (Margaux, Jackie, and I) decided, what the hell, let's do it.
My roommate Liz had gone to both towns before so that was one of the main reasons I really wanted to go- plus she gave us tips on what to do and such. So we left promptly, and had no train problems, making a few switches here and there- had a really good cappuccino in some random train station- they had flavored sugar- weird!
Anyway, so we arrived at Ravenna right around 1:20ish, and immediately went looking for lunch. We found a pretty hopping little pizza place and all got little personal pizzas before heading out to the tourists office to rent bikes. One of the coolest things I found out about Ravenna was that EVERYONE bikes there. Even women in their high heels and older men in their suits were biking around town. It's one of the easiest cities to bike in, and probably the only city that I've seen ACTUAL SIDEWALKS in.

(a sidewalk? no way!)

It's a really pretty city and very very pedestrian AND handicapped accessible- I loved the little areas in the street made especially for bikes, so great. Ravenna is also a huge city for Mosiacs, they are everywhere and they have museums and chapels full of them- also, I spotted a few mosiac laboratories (workshops) that looked like they were still fully functional. Pretty cool.
So we went to the tourists office to rent the bikes, which were pretty nice- baskets, bells, lock, etc. They were free, we just signed our life away and then went out riding. First we tried heading toward the mosiacs, but that didn't work since there seemed to be a lot of school groups out and Margaux hadn't ridden a bike since she was 12. So instead, we headed for some side streets to get used to the bikes. After riding for a little while we decided to head back out- having the bikes was so nice and easy, we got around the town so much faster (not that it was a big town, but it was just easier) and it was a lot more fun.

(our terrible parking job)
So we followed the signs for the mosiacs and we found a building that was basically a church but underground there was a whole excavated area. Apparently some guy wanted to build a garage or basement or some such thing and upon construction of his house, dug up this giant mosiac floor. After a whole crew worked at it, they uncovered a whole ancient house with an entire mosiac floor. It was neat because you could walk through the entire floor plan of the house and see all the tile floors and images made out of tile.

There were a bunch of other tile museums but we wanted to be on the 4:50 train to Rimini so that we could see the Malatesta Temple before it closed at 7pm... so instead we headed straight over to Dante's tomb. Well... after getting lost a few times, we found it. Dante was actually from Florence, but the city kicked him out and then he came to live in Ravenna (good decision). This is why there is an empty tomb for Dante in Florence, which I saw on my art trip. However, his real tomb is in Ravenna, and it's really nice.
There was also a museum but it was closed.
After seeing his tomb, we biked back to the tourists' office, returned our bikes and headed for the train station. Before taking the train to Rimini, we had some tasty gelato- and then we were off.
Rimini is right on the shore, and it is the home of Federico Fellini, one of the most famous Italian directors, and possibly one of the greatest (weirdest?) directors ever. I really wanted to see the city because he based so many of his movies off his childhood there.
Once we got to the town, we headed straight for the Malatesta Temple, and unfinished church whose interior is done entirely by Alberti.
Inside there was a fresco by Piero della Francesca and Giotto's famous crucifix-- I've seen duplicates, but nothing compares to the real thing. It was weird being inside though because the entire dome was just white and plain- totally contrasting the other half of the temple where Alberti's fancy sculptures were quite ornate and decorative along the arches.
After seeing the Temple, we decided to wander around. We then found Augustus' arch (yes another arch, they are everywhere) in the middle of nowhere, basically.
Rimini is also a really pretty town, and a lot of people were biking there too, but nothing like Ravenna.
We windowshopped and wandered the streets, looking for the center. Along the way we stopped in the Conad (grocery store) and bought bread, proscuitto, cheese, fruit, and cookies for a nice cheap dinner to eat later. After this, we found one of the main piazzas where Fellini actually filmed a bit of "Amarcord" so that was neat.
Since we knew we'd be in Rimini until 2am we kept wandering around and looking in stores trying to kill time before heading to the beach. We also played on a playground for a little bit, getting weird looks from a lot of Italian moms.
After this, we tried following signs for "al mare" but unfortunately it was really confusing and we ended up in a sea port, which looked strangely like New Hope. So we turned around and headed for the Train station which is where there was supposed to be some kind of tunnel. After failing to find this tunnel, we settled on taking the bus since it was getting dark and we were tired of guessing where the beach was.
The bus dropped us off right on the main drag which had tons of shops, restaurants, and hotels and we turned and headed to the beach. Most of the hotels had private beach front areas which changing areas and picnic tables and such, but since it was night time, no one was there and everything was pretty dead. So we made our way through and just plopped down right on a picnic table on the beach to eat our dinner. It was kind of creepy, actually it was rather scary, and we figured if someone came to kick us out of the private beach area we would just pretend we didn't know Italian and try to offer them a cookie. But no one came, and after we ate we headed down a path to walk along the water. It was a really pretty night- there were more people out walking on the beach than we realized, there were even people riding horses along the water!
We stayed out on the water for a while, playing with our frisbee disk and wandering along the water until we had walked a pretty far way down. So we turned and headed up toward the hotels and restaurants and found ourselves at a McDonalds. Bah. Well, we used the bathroom and then looked at their map to figure out where we were. Then we noticed kids riding by in those bike carts like the things people ride on the boardwalk, and on the boardwalk in disney world. We looked in our Go Italy book and found the rental place in the book and on the map and then headed off to go rent a pedal cart, as they were called. We found the place after getting a little lost and wandering around in the Fellini park.

(crazy fountain in the Fellini park)(giant camera in the Fellini park)

Unfortunately, the rental place was closed so instead we went in an arcade and played foosball and air hockey, talked to some random italain boys and then headed off to window shop. Luckily, Rimini was a really hopping town so it wasn't scary being out so late in a strange place considering it's only April. There were a bunch of bars and clubs and there were even clothing stores still open. Margaux bought a pair of glittery capris and then we tried to find a gelato place that Go Italy recommended but unfortunately that was closed too... but we found another place and got some gelato (second gelato of the day... well not technically since it was midnight).
After the gelato we went to the bus stop and waited for the bus. We checked the times and then for some reason the bus never showed up. Then the next bus came, but didn't stop for us. Annoyed, we headed up the path toward the train station which was really well lit and actually not very long at all.
We went right into the train station where we sat for a while before the train came. Our train was actually delayed, which seemed to be a pattern for the day, but we didn't have any problems and after a few switches and chilly train rides we found ourselves back in Perugia and I stumbled into my apartment around 7 in the morning. After brushing my teeth I went to bed right away, only to wake up 3 hours later feeling strangely well rested. My body is tired but I can't sleep. Maybe I'll take a nap later, but for now I need to study for my finals.
Tomorrow my entire apartment is going to a Perugia soccer game with our landlord and then we are cooking him and his family dinner. That should be fun, he's so nice.
I will update on that later, but for now, it's time to study. Hope everyone is doing well. I can't believe there is only a week left.

Amalfi Coast Trip and Italian Field Trip

Thursday was the last day of classes and I spent last weekend in southern Italy again, this time in the Amalfi Coast. The trip was run through my school which was nice because I didn't have to worry about booking or planning any kind of transportation, hostel, etc.
So the day started at 4am, yes 4am, on Friday. I woke up and got everything together that I had packed the night before. I ate a quick breakfast and then walked to Piazza Italia where I met Margaux and Jackie who were also going on the trip. There were at least 30 or so kids going on the trip and we all waited around, as usual earlier than the Italians, for the bus. The bus ride was a good 5 hours, I had brought my laptop but there wasn't enough room to really work on my paper, plus I was exhausted. The day before I had gone to Rome just for a few hours to meet with one of the Schools for Chiapas' workers to talk about my internship this summer which I am 99.5% doing as long as I can afford to go. But anyway, I was exhausted and unfortunately the bus wasn't the most comfortable thing ever, but after Jackie and I switched and I took the aisle seat it was much better.
POMPEII
After a rest stop and another few hours, we made it to our first stop: the ruins of Pompeii. I was really excited since it was one of the things I really wanted to see while living in Italy. They reminded me of all the ruins in Rome except much more expansive. Our group was split in two, and we had a fun little tour guide who had a funny red umbrella with ears. She told us many interesting things about the city and about the archeology efforts and reconstruction that has been going on for so many years. Restoring the site which is constantly under surveillance and construction is quite controversial because leaving everything under the ash and cement allows the buildings and artifacts to remain in far better shape than if they were recovered and tourists were allowed to walk all over them like we were doing on our tour. But, I'm glad they recovered a good amount of it- it was a lot bigger than I expected.
We saw shops, homes, walked on ancient streets, even went into a whorehouse. The most depressing part of the tour were the molds of the people who had died trying to escape from the eruption. Apparently people would run back for their belongings even though Vesuvius was erupting, our guide said most people could have survived but because they went back they were caught by the poisonous gases and killed, later covered by ash.
These molds were incredible, you could see the folds of their dress, their sandals, everything- the bodies inside were completely gone from the years, but apparently their bones were still inside, rather chilling. Other than that it was really neat, also surreal to see the volcano right there- how could anyone feel safe living under a volcano!? Afterall, Pompeii was built on volcano ash anyway! Weird!
After our tour we had some time for lunch and a few of us found a little pizza place and had really good pizza, much like the pizza in Perugia. Naples is the home of coffee and pizza so we were all set to eat lots of pizza this weekend.
SORRENTO
We left Pompeii and started a climb up the hills and mountains directly on the coast for Sorrento. A lot of the places I was in for the weekend reminded me of Sicily, obviously because both are in the south and on the water- but still some architecture was remarkably different. Not as spanish as in Sicily, but far more baroque and simple. We made it to our really nice 4 star hotel after it seemed like we were going to fall off the cliff a few times. The Umbra people kind of messed up our rooms so it was me, Margaux, and Hannah, who I had met and is really nice. Most of us were near each other in the hotel so it wasn't that big of a deal, except that there was only one key. Oh well. We left the hotel after dropping stuff off to explore the town. Sorrento is HUGE for lemons and there was a beautiful lemon garden across from our hotel so after shopping around, having some delicious lemon gelato, and getting free samples of lemoncello (basically lemon vodka- yuck), we relaxed in the lemon garden until dinner.
The dinners were in the hotel and we could pick from a menu- I had a great dinner of eggplant pasta and cod. We tried finding the beach at night and instead found a street with tons of little shops in it and then decided that it was late and we were tired and were going to the island of Capri early the next morning so we went back and went to bed.
Capri
The next morning we woke up and had a good breakfast at the hotel, I had brought bread and nutella (much like the previous weekend) and made some sandwiches for later, which was good because Capri was pretty expensive for eating. We met our group in the lobby and then walked to the port where we got our ferry tickets and headed to the boat. The weather was not nice at all, it had already started dripping and the sky was cloudy- sad, because the day before it was gorgeous.
Oh well, we boarded the boat and sat on the top, where a bunch of kids were goofing off and wearing their towels like capes and we took a bunch of pictures before it started raining a little harder and the waves started lifting the boat up a little bit more than I would have liked.
I got pretty seasick, and felt dizzy and gross for the rest of the day. After landing at the island of Capri, which is home of the blue grotto, which we didn't actually go to because of the weather (and my stomach) we decided to take the hike up the hill to where the natural arch was located. After wandering through many shops and homes and finally a natural path, we found the arch which was absolutely amazing.

It was truly a natural arch made out of the rock and you could look through it to see the coastal floor and the beautiful blue water washing up against the sand. We took a bunch of pictures and then headed back to the trail where we had seen a cute restaurant built into the side of the wall. We had a really good lunch, though a little expensive, pretty much inside of a cave. That was fun.
Then we headed back down to Capri where we decided to take the bus to Anacapri (Capri is a huge island with many different things to do- they gave us a list) where there was supposed to be some sort of lift to take us further uphill on the island to see some great views and etc. However, because of the wind and crappy weather, it wasn't running and instead we walked around Anacapri until we saw signs for the blue grotto which we then decided to walk towards. Well, we did but it was a bit of a walk and it was already getting late so we took the bus back and then shopped before taking the ferry back to Sorrento before dinner. We had another good dinner and then hung out a bit before watching a movie on my laptop before bed. I still felt kind of sick from the day so it was for the best.
NAPLES
We boarded the bus in the morning after breakfast and headed to Naples. There was a tour guide on the bus telling us many things about Sorrento and lemons and other things about Naples once we got there. Then we went on a bit of a walking tour around the city, we were mostly in the nicer part of Naples which is fine with me because I've heard that there are some nasty parts of it- it's a giant city. The tour was pretty short, but it was good because our guide showed us a place to eat lunch- where the pizza Margherita was first made, where to have the best espresso, and where to get the best pastries. Pretty much the most important information anyone could get on a tour. After that we wandered around, ate in all the places he suggested- the pizza was amazing, and so was the coffee.
Then we ended up in front of a giant castle lounging in the sun. Of course it was a beautiful day both days except the day we go to Capri. Oh well, it was still a great trip and I had a fun time, even though it seems like a short trip.
Italian Class Field Trip to Bevagna
So we got back from Amalfi on Sunday evening and then the next morning all of us were expected to wake up for our Italian field trip which was to a small town in Umbria, Bevagna. We had no idea what we were doing there or what was happening except that it was free and that it was through Italian class. So I met at Piazza Italia on Monday morning and met my friends and my Italian teacher as well as all 100 or so kids that were there, it was quite a scene. There were two large buses and a smaller one, we ended up on the smaller one. It, like many things run by the Umbra Institute seemed a little messily organized, but it turned out to be quite a fun day!
We arrived in a little town and got little metal pendants before splitting up into groups with our Italian teachers and then we got a little tour guide. Apparently, the town was having a Medieval Festival for a month and they had all these workshops modeled after the Medieval times opened up for tours and that is exactly what we did.

(Meg in the silk machine- this was women's work back then)

(vat of watery paper stuff)

We went to a painting, candle making, silk making, paper making workshops and then had a weird medieval box lunch (ha) in the park. After eating my friends and I headed back into town to find a wood store we had passed earlier, it was a really neat store- everything inside was made from olive tree wood, I bought a pretty ring. We were also looking for park toys (really hard to find in Italy for some reason) and saw a store with a soccer ball, after going inside we found some kind of disc toy that resembled a frisbee and we bought it for only 50 cents each. We headed back to the park to find my professor and some students and other professors playing with a frisbee so we headed to the other side to play with our much cooler discs. After dessert, we started playing again and attracted the attention of those who had been playing earlier and ended up having a lot of fun running around the park with my professor who is basically like a 10 year old boy.

(my friends and my professor, Francesco- we love him)

It was such a beautiful day and the weather is supposed to be nice for the rest of the week. Now that classes are done, everything seems to be winding down. We only have review sessions this week along with my Italian final on Thursday. Next week is all finals and then... we leave. I can't believe it, nor do I want to think about it.

I also want to take a moment to say that my heart goes out to the students, faculty, staff, friends, and family of Virginia Tech. This is the most terrible of tragedies.

Sicilia!

On Thursday after Italian class, I returned to the apartment to finish packing and after calling Liz to pick up some grocery necessities (Nutella, bread, and cookies) we were off to the bus stop. The bus was a little late coming, but we made it to the train station with no problem and met Jackie who had bought our tickets to Rome. We had only bought the one train ticket, our overnight ticket, to Palermo and were planning on buying the rest at the Rome station. However, by the time we got there (about a 3 hour ride) the train was a little later than planned and we ended up just boarding our sleeper train.
Notte Treno
Now, I've been on an overnight train before, but it was very different, as we got into our little couchette car and saw no beds at all. I instantly freaked but realized they must fold out from the wall. There was a woman and a man sitting in our car which was also weird because we distinctly requested "donna" or female, for our sleeper car. The man was speaking English and obviously very lost and the woman, who was Italian, looked annoyed with him and pretty much asked him to leave, and then we told him to find one of the Trenitalia workers outside to help him find his car- the cars were all out of order, but still... it was the donna car.

(Jackie and Liz on the Night Train)

So we sat in our little car and made sandwiches and then the woman showed us how to pull the beds down and use the lights and close the door (it was not as easy as it sounds). The Trenitalia worker people kept coming in and randomly giving us things: first it was sheets and pillows, then this little package with a toilet seat cover, moist towelette and paper slippers, and then these little plastic containers of water.
Liz and I took bottom bunks and Jackie slept on the top, although I'm not sure how much most of us slept. I spent a good amount of time staring out the window at all the towns we were passing by (Naples looked gross) and checking the time. We had figured out the time we'd possibly be passing through the last town before the train was loaded on the boats (or however they do it) so I had set my alarm for 3am. Sure enough, around that time the train was going back and forth on the track and there were weird noises and all of a sudden we were kind of hoisted into this giant white metal room, which I realized was the ship. All the trains just kind of slid right into place as there were train tracks on the boat and each car went side by side into the giant room. After a few minutes, I woke up Liz (who had been asking me if we were on the boat at every stop we came to) and Jackie and we headed outside of the car. There were stairs leading up to the deck and we climbed up and saw people sitting in their cars and wandering around the boat as well.

(to the sea?)

(a train on the ferry)(Liz and I on the deck)

It was a giant ferry, and we were all in our pajamas- I bet the Italians loved that one. We took some pictures out on the dock, got some drinks and snacks, and then headed back down to sleep.
Palermo
We arrived in Palermo around 8:00am and went right to the ticket office to buy train tickets for the rest of the trip. After that, we headed off in the direction of our hostel, to see where it was and if we could possibly drop our stuff off. After a quick cafe stop and some neccessary southern pastries (I think they put ricotta cheese in everything) and window shopping we found the hostel, which was down a sketchy street and had the smallest door ever. The hostel was up a few flights of stairs, and when we arrived the girls working the desk were so nice and led us into their little sitting room and turned on the tv for us (more like a giant projection tv) and brought us coffee, tea, and water. Then they let us in our room early- what a great room! and told us how to get to the beach, that they could order us pizza later for our room, and gave us a few restaurant recommendations (which we never actually used)... basically the nicest hostel ever!
So we left the hostel ready for exploring the sights of Palermo and then hitting the Tyrrhrenian sea!
We wandered down the street looking for the main piazzas that were listed in the packet that the girls at the hostel gave us. One of which we found first and it had a giant fountain and was surrounded by a few governmental buildings and a giant church.
We went inside the one church and it was beautiful, very gothic and spanish-- in fact, most of Palermo reminded me of a few of the Spanish cities I had visited (exactly four years ago I realized).
There were tons of little shops along the road we were walking on, also many palm trees, and possibly bullet holes (no I didn't get any pictures of mob bosses- although I think I may have seen a bunch of them at a park playing "chess"). We found another main church, (hopefully I will fill in the names of all of these when I get the chance) and took some pictures of the pretty exterior before going in.

(so many palm trees!)

After walking around a bit more and getting some lunch we realized we had gone in the completely wrong way of the bus stop that the girl at the hostel had told us. However, we were near a church that was on the list of things to do in every guide book on Palermo, so we decided to pay to see the mosiacs, which ended up being mostly covered by scaffolding.
However, what we could see was really cool, and then we continued on and ended up getting a tour of the current Sicilian government offices and old palace. That was pretty cool. Then it was beach time.
We ended up taking a bus to the bus stop that the girl had told us about since we were so far away to begin with (we had bought tickets earlier at a bus station while checking lines and such) and boarded the bus for the beach. The bus took us down one of the most popular shopping streets in Palermo which we visited later. Then it took some interesting turns and we were in what looked like a natural wildlife reserve. There were trees and hills and goats? Then all of a sudden you could see the water.
While on the train to Palermo, you could see the sea the entire way, but then when we arrived it was gone. The bus came down a bit of a hill and we could see a cute little beach town with beach houses and a cement walkway and little shops and a boardwalk thing closed due to the season. However, we got off the bus and headed right for the empty beach- probably empty because the water was cold! But it was nice, and the sand was pretty and had tons of interesting sea shells. We hung out there for a while, enjoying the landscapes, the sea was surrounded by the mountains and little towns up in the hills, which was really different from all of the other oceans and seas that I've been to.
After spending a good amount of time on the beach we decided to head back, we waited for the bus and then took it back to the shopping street where we wandered around looking at the shops before heading back to the hostel. On the way we passed by a procession for Good Friday which reminded me of when I was in Barcelona exactly four years ago- weird right?
The woman there ordered the pizza for us and let us go back to our room, coming to get us when it arrived, it was really nice, almost like room service, and totally different from every other hostel we'd stayed at. They even let us use whatever we needed from their little kitchen, plates and silverware and etc. We had a nice pizza dinner (second time eating pizza in Sicily)-- the pizza there is different, the sauce is really good and crust is a lot heavier, it really reminds me of home. However, I am definetely used to the thinner crust now and will have a really hard time eating pizza at home and not missing real thin crust delicious Italian pizza.
But anyway, the next morning we planned on waking up in time for the stores to open to do a little quick shopping before catching our next train to Taormina.
Taormina
After boarding our nice Estar train to Taormina, we found our little train room which had two men and a woman already sitting in their seats. The two men were really funny and one would point out the window excitedly and show the other one something and the woman kept laughing at us because we were making nutella sandwiches and then putting nutella on our cookies. There were a ton of people travelling, obviously because of Easter- there were also boy scouts and girl scouts? Some kind of weird mixed troop thing, and they were all on our train. The train ride to Taormina was quite possibly one of the most beautiful train rides I have ever been on. Unfortunately, I didn't have a window seat, but I kept getting up to look out the window. We were basically passing by the Sicilian countryside on one side and the sea on the other. It was gorgeous. At times it felt like the train tracks were leaning toward the sea and that we were all going to just fall into the blue water. But that didn't happen. So about 3.5 hours and one train switch later we found ourselves in the Taormina-Giardini train station, which wasn't exactly in Taormina. We stood around at the bus stop along with a few other confused people, until the bus showed up. Then we took the bus up a long windy road way up into the hills- you could see tons of ocean towns and little islands out in the water, it was beautiful.
We arrived at the bus station and started walking and following the signs for our hostel, the only hostel in the town. It was a good 20 minute walk to our hostel from the center of town, and it was a pretty cute little place with a common room and free breakfast. We were only there for a night and the next day we paid a euro each to store our luggage- not bad. However, compared to the hostel from the previous night it was nowhere near as nice.
After dropping our stuff off (and making a few clothes changes and such also because it was raining) we headed out to the center of town for a quick lunch and to see all the shops and the Greco Teatro- Greek Theatre.
It was a very relaxing day, and there seemed to be a ton of tourists around (apparently cruise ships stop in Taormina?) and we ambled our way through the shops that sold random things made from lava ash and random cute souvenirs. I finally had a cannoli and it was so good- but it was so cheesy (they put ricotta in everything in the south), so it was pretty different than in the US. Liz and I also got popcorn from a little street vendor which was good since I haven't had any since I left the states. Weird little food things like that I miss- popcorn, pretzels, those were always my college staples- now it's Nutella wraps!

So, the Greek Theatre (above) was really neat, it had fantastic views of the shoreline and the town of Taormina. They actually still use it for live shows which would be amazing to see. We wandered around there and took a bunch of pictures before leaving and walking around to see more shops. Then we followed our guide book's suggestions and went to a pretty nice restaurant that was right over the water. It wasn't too expensive considering we were sitting outside in a covered area and there was music and dancing. Jackie and I both got fish, although Jackie's was a full fish- head, eyes, mouth, tail- you name it.
Liz and I were a little freaked out. My spaghetti and clams were really good and we had some traditional Sicilian desserts, one of which was almost like apple pie except it had a honey coating- it was so good!
After eating dinner we decided to take the ski lift/cable car thing (The Finuvia- see above) down to the beach. That was an interesting ride-- once down at the beach we had no idea where to go, and there was no one around. We walked around a bit and then found a sign that said "to the beach" and we followed it into something that looked like a sewer.. it was a little scary.
We found "the beach" which was more like a marina, it had lots of boats and we decided this isn't the beach we had seen from the bus and we headed back up to take the cable car back up to our hostel since it was late and we were tired.
The next morning we woke up in time for a free breakfast and to check out and store our luggage. We got dressed up and went to a church we had found the day before. However, we had left early and the mass (like everything in Italy) was late to start. We sat out in front of a little cafe and Jackie had a spumenta? which is basically like an iced coffee only the strongest iced coffee I've ever tasted (the south is the only place you can get iced anything really) and Liz had fresh squeezed blood orange juice that was really good.
After the first mass got out we went to stand in front of the church and we went in and got seats in a pew. The church was so crowded with people that not everyone could fit and people were standing in the aisles and overflowing out to the street. It was weird too because when the priest came processing in, he just walked around the people standing in the aisles. Also, a lot of people didn't stay for the whole mass which is a lot like home, except some of these people didn't even stay for the eucharist- which I found really strange. They just got up and left as if they had enough God for the day. Perhaps they were tourists, there were a lot of people just randomly in church, like ourselves, except we stayed for the whole mass- which was quite enjoyable. I liked trying to figure out what the homily was about (the whole mass was in Italian except they translated the gospel and there was one random sentence in english during prayers). The priest was fun to watch and there was even a baptism during the mass.
After Easter mass we went down one of the other streets that we hadn't walked down the previous day. We poked in a lot of shops and then came to a small piazza at the end which had a nice view of the water and a few cafes. We ended up eating in one cafe outside for lunch and had personal pizzas. Again, the crust was a lot heavier, but not as heavy as the one in Palermo. It was also really crispy and I really like Sicilian sauce, it reminds me of the sauce from a place we go by where my Nana lives in Sayreville.
After shopping we headed back to the hostel to change into beach clothes and head down to the beach! We took the Funivia down and this time found the signs for Isola Bella, or beautiful island which was indeed quite beautiful!
To get there you had to walk down stairs through a wild life protected reserve. The beach didn't have sand like the one in Palermo, everything was rocks and it was really hard to walk on. There were also little islands way out in the water that we could see, but everyone was on Isola Bella. You could also rent boats and go see the grottos but we decided to just find a nice spot on the island and put our blankets out. We went into the water, but like Palermo the water was still chilly. It was fun though, there were large rocky surfaces out on the water that had strange green kelp or some kind of seaweed on them that was like a giant green mossy carpet and felt really weird to walk on. We stayed out on the island for a few hours before heading back to the mainland up on the hill. Our train back to Rome wasn't until 10pm so we started looking for a place to eat dinner. Unfortunately, because it was such a touristy town most of the restaurants were expensive. Also, because it was Easter there were tons of people out walking around and eating dinner- which is REALLY strange because we thought everything would be closed down since Italy is such a catholic country. Anyway, we wandered down a side street and found a pretty cute litle restaurant where I had homemade pasta that was really thick and wide- I don't remember the name, and it was served with some kind of eggplant tomato sauce- it was really good. Eggplant is also big in the south which is exciting because I love eggplant! After eating dinner we headed back to the hostel to change and grab all our stuff. Then we walked the long long walk for the last time back to the center where we caught the bus to the train station.
Notte Treno Part Due
So we had already bought our train tickets and for the past few days had been worrying about the fact that on the ticket it said 6 person couchette which didn't seem possible because there was no way to fit 6 people in one of those rooms and have one bed for each person- it's only possible to have 4 beds. So we boarded the train and sure enough it was the same set up with 4 beds but there was no one else there. We asked one of the Trenitalia workers when they came around if anyone else would be in there with us but we had trouble understanding him (along with every single person in the south- their accent and word choice is really different than the northern italians). After a stop, he came back and there was another person sharing our room, but only one other woman. Then she randomly left to go be with her friends on the train and it was just the three of us. That was nice, except the train was a lot older and not as nice as the first train we had been on. There were weird seatbelts that hung from the ceiling that were supposed to "hold you in" on the top--- I slept on a bottom bunk again. The train was also really cold, and I kept waking up, although I did get more sleep on the way home than I did on the way to Palermo on the first night.
We arrived in Rome around 8 in the morning and then took our last train back to Perugia-- the trains were packed! The monday after Easter in Italy is a countrywide holiday called Pasquetta which is like little Easter, and everyone usually goes somewhere on holiday with their friends or family like the beach, or the city, or in our case, Perugia. TONS of people got off the train, TONS of people were on the bus back up to the top of the center, I have NEVER seen that many people before. It is obviously the start of tourist season because ever since we've been back I've seen tour after tour through my amazing town and seeing people walk around lost gazing at the Etruscan arches that I pass by every day on the way to class. I've given directions to tons of people, who assume I am Italian (which is a fun feeling) and it's getting annoying to have the streets so crowded.
What's left?
This weekend I will be going on the school trip to Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast which I am SO excited about. It's nice because we don't have to plan anything and we just take the bus, get dinners, have tours, and etc. Plus, the area looks gorgeous, another sea for me to put my feet in! I just hope there aren't tons of tourists there either!
This is my last week of classes which is also really strange. It's weird that it's all going to be over so soon and that I won't see any of this every again, unless I come back. But even my professors and some of my fellow students that I am so used to seeing every single day- even the random people on the street who I have begun to recognize on a daily basis. I will miss every single thing about this study abroad experience. It will be strange to have to go to Elon next semester and readjust to the whole American way of life after living here in Italy. I will definetely miss this lifestyle so much, I really dislike the way we do things as Americans and I really hope to continue to live like an Italian as much as I can, even in America. Especially foodwise, I will miss the food so much.
I am excited to see my family and friends and everything else I miss (mom have the apple pie ready!) but it is still hard to accept that in a few weeks I will be flying back home to the United States.
But enough of that! There are still a few weeks left and I am going to make the most of them. I am trying to get to Ravenna, Rimini, Gubbio, a Perugia soccer game, and a few other random things before leaving- so wish me luck and I will be talking to you all soon!