quick update before florence!

I realize I haven't posted during any of the days this week, which is strange since I was on such a roll posting nearly every day.
Well, it's probably because classes are in full swing and since I am taking 5 classes, I have been slightly overwhelmed by the amount of work (and heavy books I've had to carry up and down hills on my back). There has also been nothing of real note to post about.
Sure there are daily things, interesting things of note, but nothing that require a full entry to talk about. So instead, I will try to sum up all of the "juicy" things that have happened in the past few days in this one entry.
The last thing on note in this blog is my journey to Assisi. Since then I have gone on a small tour of Perugia led by Zach, one of the student associate workers in the Umbra Institute. He studied here a few years back and now works for the institution- he knows EVERYTHING about perugia. He is the one that writes the little guidebooks for us... he even has his own vineyard and makes (crappy) wine. His tour was really interesting and we learned about why Italians in the Umbrian region don't put salt in their bread (salt wars against the pope) and other small little stories about famous writers and politicians who travelled through or lived in this region.
As I mentioned, classes started and after a little difficulty, and being placed on the waiting list (luckily I was the first name on it) for the cinema class, I was placed into the class by tuesday. My Art Renaissance teacher seems interesting, I am always trying to place her accent- german perhaps? My psychology professor is incredibly nice and interesting- she is irish and I love her accent. And finally, my food cultures professor is undoubtedly german and he won't let us forget it. I love that class. A few of my classes have field trips built in to the classes and for the Art class we are going to Florence for the weekend to see many art museums and architecture which should be amazing. And the food class includes a day trip to tuscany and we are going to learn how to make a traditional tuscan feast. However, the class is not a cooking class- we learn primarily about the functions and histories of many different foods- so far it is extremely interesting. We've learned a lot about salt (actually a lot about salt in every tour I've been on so far) and how the term "salary" comes from salt, because it's such an important commodity.
Classes aside, there have been a lot of fun experiences with food. My friend Anthony is an amazing cook and we have all (a group ranging from 3-5 sometimes) been meeting at different apartments and cooking up different pasta dishes. We made homemade sauce the other night and it was absolutely amazing.
We went to the cinema in town on Monday- they show movies in english with italian subtitles (which is great to practice italian-- and I hate dubbing so this is much better!) every monday and this week's film was The Devil Wears Prada. Next week I'm going to see Marie Antoinette :) The ticket price is only 4euro and it's in an old opera house. We sat on the third level in one of those private boxes-- it was gorgeous and absolutely worth the 4euro!
I will be seeing many movies here since my cinema class meets every monday to watch a mandatory movie. They look like really interesting movies- the class is not quite what I expected since we are learning primarily about the culture and history of Italy THROUGH films produced during different time periods- but I think it is really interesting so far, and I really like the professor, who is also my Italian professor- he's a great teacher and I feel like I'm really picking up the language, which really comes in handy since I am *ahem* in Italy. Especially for getting around the city and everything.
On a travel note, I am posting this whole garbled mess before I leave bright and early tomorrow morning with a few friends for Florence! We are staying over for two nights, I booked a hostel online but who knows how that works out. I have some back ups and I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm really excited except I am trying to write down all the possible things we can do. Since I'll be back with my art class and probably my parents I won't stress seeing everything.
My friends and I are also booking some sort of cabin/camping situation for Venice in February which is during Carnevale- a major celebration similar to Mardi Gras. Everything books up really fast and is much more expensive which is why we're going with the cabin if nothing else. It should be fun as long as we get to go. I plan on trying to go to Venice at least twice since I want to visit Murano island and see glass blowers and maybe even take a class (is that even possible?)
We are all trying to preplan our trips as much as possible to get cheap rates and figure out what weekends are best for everyone's schedule. As for pre-planned trips, I signed up for the Amalfi Coast trip through the institute, and made the list! Hooray! Capri, Pompeii, Naples, and gorgeous blue water here I come!
But first, on to Florence! I'll update you all on my weekend when I return. Have a fantastic weekend everyone! :)
Ciao!