Under the Tuscan... fog?

Today was my Food Cultures field trip to a vineyard and farmhouse in Chianti (Tuscan region) to tour and learn about the wine process, have a wine and cheese tasting, and then learn how to make traditional Tuscan food.
We met at Piazza Italia around 6:30am for the bus which was pretty nice considering I was still half asleep and the comfy seats were very welcome. The bus drove for a good hour and a half before making a random stop at a hotel where we picked up our professor, Peter Fischer, the most random and hilarious German man ever. Lindsay and Zach, two Umbra staff members had met us earlier and were the ones accompanying us on the bus. After picking Peter up, we made another stop in order to get breakfast and coffee in a little town before climbing the hills up the where the vineyard was. My little group wandered off and found a little bar where we got cappuccinos and I got a tasty apple strudel (brioche). We were a little late meeting back at the bus, but soon we were off. The vineyard was way up in the hills and the bus ride there made me a little dizzy. It was really foggy all morning and most of the pictures I took looked like we were up in the clouds, but the fog lifted only a short while after the tour of the vineyard...
Once we got there a woman gave us a tour and explained the fermentation process and the background of their vineyard. It was a pretty big one, exporting a large number of bottles to other countries (most wine in Italy is exported out anyway). Fun fact: Italians prefer common or house wines to quality wines. It is tradition to drink wine that we today consider to be quality wine (i.e. French wine). Italy only recently started producing quality wine and considered as a chief(along with France and Germany I believe). However, despite this, all quality wines are exported out of Italy because Italians don't drink these wines at all.
So we learned about different ways creating, fermenting, and storing wine and then we went into another building where we had the wine and cheese tasting. The vineyard also made their own cheese, mainly from sheep and goats only. The cheese was okay, not my favorite. I tried the wine (by try I mean took a sip). I know that in Italy I am supposed to do as the Italians do, blah blah. Well I don't like wine at all. I think it tastes like the smell of nail polish remover and it makes me dizzy and sick. Especially red wine, and that is all that we were given. I wandered around and took lots of pictures (of the vineyard and such) instead.
They also had their own olive oil and I considered buying it, it was really good-- but I am afraid of bringing bottles home in my checked bags.. since the whole flying laws with liquids... so dumb.
Anyways. After the wine and cheese tasting we got back on the bus and drove some more and got to this cute little farm house in the middle of tons of vineyards. Once there we were handed aprons and instructed to split up, there were tons of different rooms in which we would learn how to make each of the different courses (don't worry mom, they also gave us a print out of all the recipes!!) So we dashed into the ravioli and tiramisu room (who wouldn't) where we learned how to actually make and press pasta (which was a lot of fun) and then we made spinach ravioli. Margaux and I had some issues with the spinach ravioli.. after you press the pasta and have it in front of you with the spinach, you apply this egg paste so the pasta will remain secure. Once you do this you have to get all the air out of the pasta so that when it cooks they don't burst. Well, easier said than done. Oh well, they tasted absolutely delicious when they were done!

(pressing pasta)
(our gnocchi before it was cooked)
(the finished product.. so good!)

Other people in the room were also making tiramisu which I briefly watched but they made it so fast (apparently it wasn't hard at all) so I didn't have much to do after we were pressing the pasta. After we were done in that room, they sent us upstairs where we learned how to make gnocchi. The dough was already made for us, all we had to do was cut it, roll it, cut them into small pieces, and then roll them with forks to make that weird indentation that gnocchi usually has. It was easy and a lot of fun, they came out really well-- and tasted really good too :)
Moving on, we learned how to make some toppings for cristini which is like bruscetta only the bread wasn't toasted... there were 4 different types: pomodori (tomatoes), melanzane (eggplant), pepperocini (peppers), and broccoli (I should look up that one..) They were really really good, especially the eggplant and the broccoli one-- which Margaux actually made all by herself after the guy said two words to her in italian and then whisked her away randomly. Before that we had chopped so much garlic that I think it is in my blood stream and definitely going to be seeping out of my pores for the next week.
After all the cooking and prep work we headed outside to wait for the people in the farmhouse to cook our (somewhat disastrous looking) pastas and food. We played with the kittens that were outside and enjoyed the nice weather.
Then lunch.. also my dinner and probably breakfast for tomorrow! was served. We had water, wine, the cristinis, spinach ravioli, gnocchi, chicken (which we didn't make), potatoes (which were amazing and we found out the recipe for from the chef since it wasn't on the sheet), eggplant parmasean!!, and then the tiramisu... by the time the tiramisu came I was so full. But everything was amazing! I can't believe we made all of those things (well most of them). Our professor would randomly wander around and talk to us as we were eating, he is hilarious and a great guy- it was a lot of fun. After eating we went outside to lay in the sun and try to digest. They also gave us coffee but I couldn't force myself to get up to get it. It was such an amazing day... Peter Fischer kept joking with us that we were going to go right back in and start with the first course and eat it all again and we all groaned.. but it was amazing food.

(my friends and I with our hilarous professor
who was pointing to the water because
he told us to tell our parents that he encouraged the drinking of water)

So after we are all about to burst, Peter Fischer tells us we have to get up and digest by walking... for ten miles-- we all look at him like he's crazy, which he very may well be- and head to get our coats. The bus is waiting for us outside but he tells us to keep walking up the hill on the main road. It was actually good that we walked because it does help with digestion... plus the views were gorgeous!
There were tons of vineyards and little farm houses and towns off in the distance. We walked way up the hill and kept turning around to see the bus randomly following us-- obviously Peter was up to something. So we keep going (it was definetely not ten miles though) to the very top of this one hill into a small town and we see this giant grafitti that says "Wake up and Smile!" and then the bus stops and Peter says "wake up and smile, time to go!"
I really wonder if he does this all the time or if he just randomly found it on the last field trip, because my roommates definetely did not mention this- and it was so bizarre. But anyway, we got on the bus and headed home. It was a long day of food food food, my favorite kind of day ever.
I love the food in Italy so much, everything is so fresh and amazing, I know that despite what the Italians say, if I tried to make any of these recipes at home they will never taste as good as they do here. But at least my cooking skills are improving :) And now I can't wait to try to make some fresh pasta at home! (a ton more pictures from my trip are on my yahoo photo page, so go check them out!!)
The rest of this weekend will be spent studying for midterms and planning my parents' visit and my weekend trip to London! Hope everyone is doing well! Miss you all!
Ciao!

Political chaos

So yesterday when I was doing my usual daily internet website checks: Elon's E-net (I really do check it), NPR, itsgettinghotinhere.org... etc etc. I notice a giant headline on NPR that causes me concern: Italian Prime Minister Resigns. Now, I can't claim to know anything about the political situation in Italy. I know what I know, and a lot of things I just look up when I have time and figure the rest out on my own. However, I knew there were problems here when protests were going on the last few weekends against the building of a military base in Venice. It was all over the news, however, it was hard to understand because american newsources just don't cover this kind of stuff. This base had been supported by the prime minister and Italians were way way against it. This is the same prime minister who is against the war in Iraq and called for Italy's removal of troops from the war. He's only been in office (is it called office here?) for 9 months... I checked CNN too because I can't understand anything that is going on the Italian news channel.
CNN is calling it political chaos. Yesterday is was all over the front page on their website. Today it's been replaced by Brittany Spears and Anna Nicole Smith-- obviously we see where our loyalties in the news lie.
However, the BBC has good coverage of what's going on. I also asked my Italian professor to get an Italian perspective on everything (and to try to understand better what's going on). He looked extremely concerned about the whole thing and kept saying that it was "VERY bad". Apparently the prime minister had only been elected/sworn in 9 months ago and for him to resign now is just making a giant mess. Apparently today the president is supposed to decide what to do and Francesco said he can either call for a new election for prime minister, create or switch to a new government... basically, it's going to be crazy here-- and we have to be studying abroad right in the midst of it.
It's strange though, you'd think more people would know about it considering we are here, but most students don't really seem to care or to see the importance of this. Considering I don't even really know what's going on or why this even happened (he resigned because he lost a foreign policy vote??? those things just don't happen in the US). It's also hard to understand because we don't have a prime minister, we don't really have what I could consider an equivalent, and to have someone just decide to quit like this is obviously disconcerting to all Italians.
Today when walking to class I could sense a buzz in the air, there were tons more Italians walking around and talking in big groups and I could only guess as to what they were talking about. If the president decides to hold elections, who knows what could happen while I am here.
I know this doesn't really affect anyone in the United States, but I mean think about it. All of this happens right after major foreign policy decisions that were DIRECTLY associated with our war in Iraq- I say our war because every other smart nation is backing out. Yesterday the prime minister of Britain said they're going to start the removal of troops from Iraq as well. Italy removed theirs a while ago. Who is left that will support this war? Half of the United States doesn't even support the war anymore. How long is it going to take to end this mess?
---End of my politcal rant---

Food field trip tomorrow. Hopefully going to a soccer game this weekend. Other than that it's time to do lots and lots of work as midterms are next week (eep!) and my parents are coming in a week! :)
Ciao!

Carnivale!

This post is going to be extremely long (so grab a cup of coffee and try to bear with me) and very detailed as it contains the events of this past weekend, also known as one of the best weekends I have had here in Italy thus far. Not only did it take place in the number one Italian city that I wanted to visit, but we got to go to Venezia (Venice) during Carnivale, which is like an Italian Mardi Gras, except much more tasteful. But more on that later, my weekend truly begins on wednesday night.
Wednesday: San Valentino
Despite my normal dislike for Valentine's Day, I was pleasantly surprised over my overall good mood and pleasant day. Unfortunately, our professor had cancelled on us for dinner the day before (colleague dinner? I highly doubt it) but we decided to do our valentine's day dinner anyway. And what a dinner we had! Pork chops, rice, chicken, brown sugar carrots, twice baked potatoes, coffee, fruit salad, wine pears, and a chocolate cake from Augusta chocolates :) Just about everyone made something to bring and there were 8 of us at dinner. Meg went all out and even made decorations to hang on the walls and she cut the paper towels into little hearts to use for napkins. Margaux even brought chocolates to decorate the table. We hung out and ate our giant meal for at least 4 hours, pausing only to switch and clean plates, dance around to Nek (our favorite bad italian pop star), and play hackey sack in the living room. It was a great night.Thursday
We had decided the night before that we were going to meet up at Margaux's apartment for lunch to make crepes with nutella and the wine pear sauce from the night before. Upon meeting we found out that our professor had called two of the girls in our group earlier that morning asked if we were rescheduling dinner to that very night (which they had suggested the day before after he backed out of v-day dinner). After a lot of commotion, we decided to eat out at La Cambusa, a good but inexpensive restaurant on the street of one of our academic buildings. A small group of us decided to go (not everyone was going because not everyone has him for a professor) for 8pm and we worked out all the arrangements with him. The dinner was a LOT of fun and we all had a great time- it lasted a good three hours. We learned a lot of random things about Italy that you would only really talk about with actual Italians. I really need to start going to Tandem more (the program where you talk to Italians) since my Italian has improved since we got here. We tried speaking Italian at dinner but ended up speaking in english since we didn't have vocabulary for what we wanted to say. After talking up our cooking skills and the amazing valentines day dinner that he missed, Franceso pretty much asked us to cook him dinner so we're going to organize another dinner again. It was a great start to the weekend that I had been looking forward to for such a long time... going to Venice for Carnivale!
Friday

(first things I saw after getting off the train... I think I screamed-
it's just not possible to take a bad picture of Venice)

Our group of 8 (Me, Jess, Jackie, Margaux, Meg, Kristen, Kate and Alanna- didn't really know the last two) met early at Piazza Italia to catch the bus to the train station. The train to Venice consisted of a train from Perugia to Terentola with a train switch to Florence. Then we switched to the E*Star train (which is the nicer, fancier train) for the train ride to Venice. This was the first time I had ridden on the E*star (besides the one time we rode on it by accident and got a stupid fine) and we had assigned seats. However, no one seems to look at their ticket or have any clue about what an assigned seat is so people were sitting in our seats. After a bit of confusion we finally found some seats and I spent most of the train ride reading Life of Pi (which I finished and was really good) and working on my italian composition for class. Riding the train in to the city was really neat because the tracks went over a bridge and you could see all the islands as you approached the station. Venice, if you don't know, is made up of about 400 islands that are all connected by waterways and canals. A lot of the canals are man made and the public transportation system is known as the Vaporetti, or water buses, which we eventually figured out how to use and enjoy-- but more on that later. After getting off the train we realized that we had no idea how to get to the campsite/hostel where we were booked and decided to call a few other people since a ton of Umbra kids were staying at the same place and had arrived the morning before. After getting directions (we had to take a bus to the airport and then take a bus from there to the campsite) we finally found our way to Campo D'Orba. We checked in and left all our stuff in the cute little cabin. Jackie, Jess, and I shared our cabin which had three little beds and a HUGE bathroom and it was overall very nice for only 16euros a night.

(inside and outside of our cabin)

We left the campsite and took the two buses back to the main area of Venice- our campsite was far off the island because of Carnivale. We were lucky to get a room at all, it was so crowded everywhere- which I noticed immediately on the buses. The Venice buses sucked because they were double buses which are extremely long and I spent most of my time falling on top of people because I couldn't hold on to the bar well enough. However, we finally got back to Venice, Piazza Roma, to be exact, and then decided to try to find dinner and then San Marco (Saint Mark's square). After some pizza we were on our way. And then lost. And then lost again. And again... lost. I had read in the one guidebook, "YOU WILL GET LOST. ACCEPT IT". So we did. Again and again and again. It was ridiculous. Half the time we were following these weird signs up on buildings with strange curvy arrows that didn't lead anywhere. There were even spray painted signs on buildings and those definitely did not lead anywhere. However, after 2 days in the city we could pick out several landmarks (like the donkeys) and could find our way around easier.

(donkeys!)

Our group made it to a few different piazzas complete with crazy stores-- we even found a store that ran on the energy produced by riding a bicycle... probably one of the most random stores I've found in Italy, but also one of my favorites. The store sold a ton of fair trade merchandise and the people were handing out information about a special energy conservation day coming up soon in Italy (possibly in the United States too).. hooray!

(me generating the power for a store)
(masks masks masks!)

We found one particular piazza where there were giant white booths set up selling masks (see above) and capes and costumes. Carnivale is similar to Halloween in the sense that people dress up and even "trick or treat" in a certain sense, however, the mentality and overall mood of the holiday is so very different. Walking around the city you see young and old Italians dressed in the most elaborate and beautiful Renaissance costumes. Full outfits: gloves, boots, dress socks, hats, wigs, etc. Amazing. These people also go to giant balls which cost hundreds of euros... when we were on a vaporetti just taking a ride we saw a giant building that was lit up from the outside with tons of different colors and you could only get to the building by a boat--- inside we could see people twirling and ballroom dancing... it was amazing!
But anyway, back to the story---
The group eventually split up and Jess, Jackie, and I wandered around the city, looking at all the different mask stores and people dressed in costumes. We got lost again trying to find San Marco and ended up walking along the Grand Canal and admiring the buildings and water. The best thing about Venice was getting lost just because everything was new and exciting and beautiful and so different than any of the other Italian cities we had been to. Plus, the decorations for carnivale were crazy! The streets were lit with stars or cobwebs or hearts in giant lights... there was one particular piazza that was easy to remember because it had a GIANT scary looking elf thing that I refused to take a picture of because it scared me too much. It was kind of like the kiddie area, they had a carousel and donkeys!! I think they even had donkey rides... we went up and pet the donkeys and there were little kids trying to give them carratini (carrots) it was so cute!

(star lined paths, man in white wig that we followed to San Marco's)

So after wandering around a bit more we saw this guy dressed to the nines with a white powdered wig (see above) and he was pointing all these confused looking people in one direction so we followed him and lo and behold, found Saint Mark's Square! It was giant and reminded me of Siena's large Campo area... except there was a HUGE stage for carnivale and lights everywhere, even on the mosque, museum, and tower.

(the stage at San Marco)
(lights lights lights!)

There were tons and tons of people gathered around and live music and dancing. The whole weekend was just a giant party. We met up with the other Umbra kids who were dancing and having a grand time. We found out from the kids who had gotten there the night before that there was a gathering of the people with costumes at sunrise that morning on the grand canal. Apparently they stayed up all night and saw them all lined up at sunrise and took pictures... which was probably incredible, but I did get to see a ton of amazing costumes without staying up all night.

(Jackie posing with a Renaissance couple)

The three of us wandered around the square and down the grand canal before we decided to head back (it was a long and tiring day) in time to catch the shuttle to the campsite. A giant group of us left and after getting a little lost, found the way to the bus station area. The camp provided a shuttle but it only ran until 10:30pm and cost more than the bus. However, it was a good deal because we didn't have to switch buses and it took us straight to the campsite-- AND I didn't have to worry about standing and falling over on the bus for 30 minutes.
Everything about that day was fantastic... then at around 3am I get a phone call from my roommate, Alana. "Lisa.. someone broke into our apartment. They took everything". Let me tell you, those are probably some of the scariest words I've heard in a long time. Luckily, my roommates were gone when it happened and everyone was safe. Most of my roommates were actually out of Perugia and only two of them were around for the weekend. Robbers broke in through my other roommate's window which didn't have a bar over it and broke through the shutters (we still have no idea how), broke the glass, and then proceeded to steal as much as they could. They got two laptops, a lot of jewelry, ipods, etc. However, they didn't get anything of mine or my one other roommate's because we hid everything. Thank god. A few weeks ago an apartment had been broken into and the guys lost everything except one boy who hid his laptop and other valuables. Ever since that story I hid mine as well and I am SO lucky that nothing got stolen. However, now being in our apartment is incredibly scary at times. Our landlord has been amazing about the whole thing, he fixed the glass asap, got bars for the window, and even a safe box. He feels terrible about the whole thing... it's just... so scary. It kind of made the rest of the weekend a little more tense for me, but at least none of my things got stolen... so on with the story of the rest of my weekend in Venice!
Saturday
The next morning we woke up early for our big day. The three of us decided to just stay away from the big group just because it was easier to walk around in a smaller group and we knew Venice was going to be mobbed anyway. We headed for the bus stop and got some really good bread, nutella, and cream cheese (cow cheese as we called it- which was kind of gross) for breakfast and caught the bus into Venice. We got lost (surprise surprise) trying to find our way to Saint Mark's again. This time we ended up on a very large street with tons and tons of vendors. It reminded me of the open market in Florence except for the fact that it was so crammed of people that you could barely move.

(if you really want a good idea of how bad it was, click on the picture above)

Basically, you were forced to shop-- and shop we did. I bought tons of gifts on this trip, so everyone get excited! We eventually pushed our way through the crowds (when I say push, I mean literally shoving people out of the way) and found a little bar to have some cappuccino. By this time it was nearly noon, and we had wanted to make it to the square at 11 for the parade. However, we later found out there was actually no real parade and I think we saw plenty of costumes parading around to satisfy our need for an actual parade. After getting directions from the little red riding hood at the bar (he was nice) we found ourselves in Saint Mark's again.. this time with at least 3 times the amount of people that were there the day before.

(San Marco's during the day)

It was insane. Not to mention the stupid birds flying at your head. If there's one thing I hate, it is birds. After pretty much running away, we ducked into the line into the Basilica which I was really excited about because of the very gothic look which was different from all of the other duomos we had seen so far. The rest of the group (who we had actually found in the square) decided to go to Murano Island without us (we were heading there later) and we went into the Basilica. It was absolutely gorgeous-- gold everywhere! We paid a euro to see the golden altarpiece... WOW. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures inside so this is the best I could do.

(inside of the basilica before I realized we weren't allowed to take pictures)

So after seeing the inside of the Basilica we grabbed some pizza (we honestly didn't eat much more than pizza, bread, cookies, and nutella all weekend- hey it saved money!) and then headed toward the vaporetti stop at Saint Mark's. We figured out the boat system (it is SO much easier than the buses in Perugia!!) and decided to get the 24 hour pass because we could use it from that point until the next day. It was the best thing we could possibly have done! We bought our tickets and went into this little platform boxed shape thing to wait for the boat. However, we all thought the platform was actually the boat.. it was on the water and bobbing and had seats so we honestly sat there for a good 20 minutes until I turned to Jackie and asked "when the heck is this boat going to start moving?!" I think at that point some lady looked at me like I was crazy and then the three of us slowly realized we were on the waiting platform... then we felt like idiots and lo and behold a boat came and we got on it and off to Murano island!
I have dreamed about going to Murano island ever since I first saw Dale Chihuly's blown glass. Murano island is the real home of blown glass, it is where all the factories are located because the Italians were afraid that the fire from the factories would burn down the buildings in Venice which were all made of wood at the time. Blown glass is amazing to see done in person, which you can see by free demonstration!

(free demonstration!)

As soon as we got off the boat there were people waiting to tell us to follow them. So we went into this factory and watched a man blow a flower vase and a horse... then we went into their shop. I was so ready to buy a chandelier... honestly. I love Murano glass so much. But I never actually saw anything I loved so I decided to wait. But I did buy some jewlery and gifts of course! :)
We wandered around Murano island going in and out of stores for a good few hours. It was a lot less hectic and much quieter than the crowded mess that was back on Venice. It was also a very beautiful little island and we watched the sun go down over the water. We also ate at a little bar and had really good flat bread (similar to torta al testo, but not quite) sandwiches. We then took the vaporetti back to San Marcos where we wandered around some more, followed random people in sombreros, made friends with jugglers, watched fire breathers/jugglers, and took tons of pictures with people in costumes.

(tower and building lit up with designs)(fire!)

We also randomly took the vaporetti around the island and just got off at whatever stops we felt like. At night, Saint Mark's was lit up with crazy designs and people were dancing to the live music. We also found a group of people drumming down a side street and had fun dancing around there for a little bit. It got late and we decided to head for a bus since our 24 hour pass was good for both the vaporetti and the buses (seriously it was the best deal ever). However, since it was late, the buses only ran to the airport, and the bus to the campsite from the airport had stopped running. We decided to walk from the airport to the campsite (it was not far at all) but it was a little creepy and also along the highway-- don't worry we made it back to the campsite safe!

Sunday
We woke up around the same time and headed back to the main part of Venice, ready to take a vaporetti to Burano island-- where lace is made, or "Lace Island" as I had been calling it. We wanted to use our vaporetti pass as much as we could since we could still use it until 2:30pm. In fact, the day before we had bought our train tickets home since we hadn't bought them going to Venice since we weren't exactly sure when we would be returning. We bought tickets for the 2:32 train and scheduled our day around that.
However, we had no idea it took so freaking long to get to Burano island. I'm talking a good hour. The island was so adorable though and worth the trip, even though we spent a grand total of 20 minutes wandering around before we had to get back on another vaporetti and head to the train station.

(grassy knoll and some laundry...)
(along a canalway on Burano island)

The buildings were all different colors, old women were hanging their laundry in the middle of grassy knolls--- there was actually grass and trees, a change from all the brick, cement, and water canals (not that it's not beautiful, I just like to see a little bit of nature). Another fun thing about taking the vaporetti to Burano was seeing the different islands on the way. My favorite was a random one that we did not stop at. It was a giant brick walled island with trees inside and upon closer inspection, we decided it was a graveyard- we could see crosses and what looked to be gravestones. So this is what the Venetians do with their deceased.. makes sense to me!

(I think this was a giant cemetary floating on the water)

After having a mild panic attack about not making it back to the train station in time we made it with no worries... we took a vaporetti back with a nice woman and her cute little dog and had plenty of time to have a slice of pizza before boarding our train for the 5 hour trip home.
Overall, my weekend in Venice was by far the best. The small group I was in was so much better and easier to deal with than a large one. We had such a fun time seeing all the costumes and masks and the way Italians take such pride in dressing up in their Renaissance outfits. The whole holiday was exciting but also confusing at times. The mess of confetti, broken beer and wine bottles, and general trash began to upset me by Saturday night and I thought of the poor janitorial people that would be cleaning for the next few days. I was also confused about the reasons for this continuous party, as the Americans and other tourists were obviously excited about "drinking to the point of no return" as my food cultures professor would say whereas the Italians were content to literally stroll around the streets in their outfits and stop to pose for our excessive picture taking. Culture differences, eh?
Oh and by the way, since Venice is built on the water and the water levels continue to rise, the entire city has been slowly sinking due to global warming. The water levels are rising and the tides are getting out of control. They're even going to start building water gates to hold back the flow of water (similar to what they are proposing to do in Florida). So if you really like my pictures and think it's a gorgeous city and want to visit, you better do it now before a lot of the city is underwater in the next 30 or 40 years. Just a heads up.
Returning home to Perugia was weird especially after being robbed. I'm glad we bought our tickets when we did too because the other people in our group left later, missed a train and got stuck in Bologna... I was worried about them but they made it home safe around Monday afternoon... I am so happy with our early decision making (I owe my planning skills to my mom.. thanks mom!)
Now the weekend and constant party atmosphere seems to be so far away with midterms approaching... Carnivale itself is over tomorrow (it lasted for quite some time) with Fat Tuesday. No more confetti in all the streets. No more costumes, no more celebrations. Ash Wednesday is this week as well-- perhaps I will make it to church, but probably not. This friday I have my food cultures trip which I am SO EXCITED for. We go to the Tuscan countryside and do wine (not so excited) and cheese tastings and then learn how to make all kinds of food and have an 8 course, 4 hour meal. Apparently it's amazing :)
I know this entry was long, but this weekend was so incredible I wanted to document as much as possible. I know that I barely convered it and that I couldn't put as many pictures on as possible but just check my yahoo account for the rest. Thanks for reading through all of this (just take it a day at a time that's how I wrote it at least... oy) and I miss all of you so much!
Ciao!!!

Ceramics town

This week has been quite overcast and spent mostly in classrooms and apartments. My friends and I have continued our trend of cooking lovely dinners for each other, and I've made pasta and dessert... lots of nutella brownies! Jackie and I made a special trip to the big Coop (grocery store) down by the train station just so we could find baking soda (which we still didn't find) so we could bake cookies. Instead we found little mini lava cakes like the kind you get at Chili's that explode delicious hot chocolate sauce from the inside. I followed the Italian recipe instructions on the box and they came out really well!
Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day, after the rain stopped, Liz, Jackie, and I went to Cafe Morlacchi for some hot chocolate. The man gave us the menu for all the different kinds of hot chocolate (there must have been at least 50 types) and we picked one out and he responded "No" and we were confused and then he said "male" (bad) and started telling us which ones to get and then which ones tasted too sweet and like chewing gum. I ended up just getting a regular hot chocolate with extra milk, Liz got one with caffe, and Jackie got one with amaretto. It was the first hot chocolate I've had here, and they're really thick like pudding and you have to eat them with a spoon. Sooooo good! It was a nice little cafe and apparently they have live music every Saturday night so I'll definetely be going back soon.
Today we went to Deruta, which is about 20 minutes away by bus. It is a tiny town known for it's ceramics and thats about it. We went knowing that we wouldn't spend much time there and that we would spend most of it oogling at pretty ceramic bowls and other such things. When we got to Deruta (or what we thought was Deruta) we got off the bus to discover we hadn't gone all the way into town. We wandered around a little bit and found a cute little thrift type store where we proceeded to try on lots of things, Meg found a really cute dress and boots and bought them. The women in the store were really really nice and talking to us in french and italian (some of us speak french really well) and then the women offered to drive us to a place to eat. They ended up driving us to a grocery store because I think some communication got lost along the way, so we ended up walking up a bit of a steep hill to the center of the town. The views were beautiful, there were so many gardens and farmland and green grass which we don't see much in Perugia.
We eventually found the center area of town and the group split up a little bit and a few of us wandered into a few of the ceramic shops that were open. One shop was by far the best, they even had an article hanging on the wall where they had appeared in the NYtimes for their ceramic work- the woman in the store was painting a giant dish as we walked in.

(outside of store)

(ceramics store, woman painting)

She was very very nice and was telling us about the pieces and showing us different things. Everything was so intricately designed and even small things like wine stoppers were so beautiful. I knew I wanted to look at other stores, but I had a feeling I would be back to buy more, which I did later :)
Jackie, Jess, and I went into a little bar to get some water and coffee and the man in the store was also very nice (basically everyone in the town was incredibly nice) and talking to us in Italian and asking us about where we were from. Most people in the town knew we were students from Perugia (I guess they are used to the college kids coming in to buy ceramics) and he was trying to help us out with our Italian.
In another store a man gave all of us tiny little ceramic perfume bottles that smelled lovely. Jackie and Kristen bought a few things from the store and the man randomly gave us all the little bottles just as a thank you for being there. And then there were the bus people...
To make a long story short, we went into a little cafe to use their internet to look up the bus schedules. We found the time for the next one and went to the counter to ask the woman where the bus stop was. The woman along with two men standing there told us there was no bus back to Perugia, no bus at all, and we were lucky because the one man had a bus and could take us back. We immediately thought this was sketchy and said no and walked away- a few of us were a little disconcerted because they said there was no bus, and we still had no idea where the bus station was. I called my roommates who had just been in Deruta a few weeks ago and they told me how to get to the bus stop and that there was definetely a bus back. We started walking towards the direction we thought was right when we came across a cute older man who gave us very detailed directions and wished us luck. We found the bus stop with no problem, went into a tobacchi and bought our bus tickets. The woman said the bus should be coming in a few minutes so we sat and waited. Then out of nowhere, the men from the cafe who told us they could give us a ride home show up and start telling us that there is no bus. We were arguing with them telling us that there was no bus and we didn't need their help and that they should just go away. One man points to another one (wearing a track pant suit) and tells us he is a policeman as if we are 5 years old and have no sense of the real world. The one man said he was going to go into the Tobacchi and ask the woman if there were any more buses, so two people followed him, then they were in there for a while and we stayed outside while random people who were obviously in with the scam artists as we started calling them started standing around the bus stop watching us. The whole situation started to get really awkward so we went inside the Tobacchi and got the whole group together and called the emergency number from the institute, who talked to the woman in the tobacchi for us and who also helped us call a taxi. Don't worry, everything worked out fine, it was just a little scary and the stupid scam artists wouldn't leave us alone.
We had to take a taxi back to Perugia because we did end up missing the last bus, only because they wouldn't tell us where the bus station was in the beginning. If they had only told us, we would have made the bus and been back without a problem. Oh well, goes to show not everyone in Deruta was lovely and nice, although just about everyone was except for those annoying people. Ugh.
Anyway, we got back just in time for dinner and went to the only Indian restaurant in Perugia which was good, but not quite what I'm used to. Next time we go, I'm getting the buffet which was an amazing deal. I had lamb tikka and it was tasty :)
Now my friends and I are typing away in my internet supplied apartment and I am about to hopefully finish up the application for my last internship that I am applying for. Next weekend we're going to Venice for Carnivale which is basically like the Italian Mardi Gras (it's going to be crazy) but also amazing because they dress up in gorgeous Renaissance dresses and wear beautiful masks (I am definetely buying a mask) and have parades and balls and lots of parties. We are staying in a heated cabin and will try to see as much as possible, but unfortunately the lodging is off the island (incase you did not know, Venice is an island city and all the buildings are basically floating on the water) and we have to take a bus over the bridge onto the island and the last one leaves at 10pm. Which is good because we'll miss all the crazy night stuff, unless we decide we want to stick around and see it. Who knows.
I am so excited because I really want to go to Murano island and see glass blowing. I'm not sure if I'll be able to see it on this trip, I may have to go back to Venice again. This is probably going to be the most exciting trip of the semester, as I have wanted to go to Venice for a very long time.
This week is going to be pretty relaxed leading up to our trip to Venice since I already spent a bit of money on ceramic gifts for everyone, the unfortunate taxi ride home, and the Indian food. I want to save money for Murano glass. This coming wednesday is valentines day and saint valentine is the patron saint of Terni, which is a few towns over from us. Apparently they have nonstop festivities all month long, but since I've never really liked Valentines day I don't really feel any reason to go (unless I found out they have free food, then that is a different story). On a related note, my friends invited our Italian professor (also my Cinema prof.) over to dinner one day next week and he said wednesday, which is weird because it is Valentines Day. We are waiting for him to realize it's V-Day because I am pretty sure that he is dating the Italian professor who teaches in the room next door. He did write it in his planner... hopefully when/if he comes we can speak Italian through dinner, or he can speak his cute broken english and mispronounce things like he does all the time in Italian/Cinema class.
I will possibly update later in the week before we go to Venice. If not, talk to you all sometime during the week. Ciao!

fried rice pudding!

This has been a pretty relaxing weekend so far. After a 4 hour meal at the Secret Restaurant (which still happens to be my favorite restaurant here in Perugia despite their slowness), we hung out and had a good time. We were going to go bowling, but perhaps some other time.
This morning we woke up early and headed off to Siena which is not too far, about 3 hours by train-- a train with tons of connections, might I add.
Getting there was easy as pie (and fine free!), we had a little bit of a wait in Chiusi, Kristen and I wandered around while Anthony sat in the train station. We had some cappuccino and then we were off! Once we got to Siena we had to take a bus up to a main piazza close to the center of the town. We were planning on meeting Margaux and Meg there who had basically slept overnight in Siena after a few mishaps of not finding a hostel in Pisa where they had been the day before.
Kristen, Anthony, and I wandered into a duomo (though not the main one) which was pretty cool, more modern than most, and definetely not as ornate. It was Saint Catherine's church and they had her face/head (I really hope that wasn't real) and her finger (which was real and freaked me out). I really don't get why they need to have pieces of the saints bodies out on display. Just let them rest in peace.
After spending some time there, we wandered towards the main duomo which you could see from every direction.
Once there, we paid to go in (first duomo to charge entrance), but it was probably my favorite so far. It was quite large, due to its several renovations over the years, and there were many things to look at. Of note, there was a giant room (I'm pretty sure it was a library) with many different books in it that were open to pages and pages of beautiful images and old writings.

(library and an open book page)

The floors throghout the duomo were all tiled images and they were amazing, even moreso than most of the paintings on the walls. One painting was in a separate prayer area and it was that of Mary and the christ child and I had definetely just seen that, and discussed it in my renaissance art class. I love applying things I learn in that class to the real life paintings/sculptures/architecture I see while exploring the different cities in Italy.
After seeing all the sights in the duomo we headed off to the main center of Siena, which is basicaly like the big hangout place-- a giant tower and museum and then in front of it, almost an amphitheatre-like set up, I decided it would be a great place for a live concert.

(Il campo)

People were laying on the ground in the sun (it was rather chilly) and there was even a fountain in the center that had well water dating very far back (I apologize for never remember any dates). The water was sooo good. Anyway, we were starving and I was about to eat my arm when I saw a weird little wooden building separate from the rest of the shops and near the end of the center part. We walked towards it because a few people were looking for an ATM. I realized that the building was actually selling what appeared to be little balls of fried dough. I was starving and it smelled good so I got in the small line to buy whatever it was. Then I started watching them make it and notice the ingredients on the wall along with the name "Fritteria _____" (boo I forgot). The ingredients included rice and flour and even orange. To my (and everyone else's) surprise and enjoyment, it was fried rice pudding (at least that's what we decided it was)! I thought they weren't frying the little balls of dough enough in the middle and that there was all raw dough, but then I realized, it's rice pudding! My new favorite thing ever.

(anthony eating the fried rice pudding)

We eventually found a little pizza place that had really good thin thin pieces of pizza as well as calzones (which here, are just folded over pizzas). I had a slice of funghi (mushroom) and an artichoke calzone (SO GOOD).
After eating we headed back to the center to check out the museum and tower, unfortunately the tower closed at 3pm and the museum was closing in a few minutes. Margaux and Meg paid to go in to see a famous fresco for a few minutes while the rest of us went back outside to hang out in the sun (and buy more delicious fried rice pudding). Apparently it was some type of holiday (when is it not a holiday in Italy?) and there were tons of little kids running around the center in costumes. It reminded me of Halloween, except I didn't really see any candy. They were all buying confetti and throwing it around and also spraying silly string, it was kind of gross and getting everywhere and made me mad that some poor custodial type people are going to have to clean up all the mess. Oh well.
After that we made our way home through the winding streets of Seina, watched a man paint pictures with spray paint (and then have to pay a fine for selling things on a street without a permit), and waited in the train station for our final departure.
Siena was truly beautiful, and I would absolutely go back considering I didn't get to do so many of the things there. The rest of this week coming up is mainly school work... I found another possible flight to Paris and decided to book it. It's the last weekend in March, I have no assignments due, it was only 184 US DOLLARS (woot) and hopefully I will be staying with Laura (!) and her friend Laura (confusing, no?) Now I just need to learn a bit more french than "parle vous frances"
Not much else to update on, hope you are all having a lovely weekend.
Ciao!
**I wanted to post a picture of me and my friends at dinner just to show you my usual group of friends so you have a good idea of who I'm talking about all the time.
This is from when Meg made us an amazing dinner. From left to right is Margaux (the best Italian speaker of the bunch of us, and incredibly smart biology major from Tufts), Kristen (another genius bio-chemist from Oregon), Anthony (our token male), Jackie (my best friend here), Me, and Meg, she's from Jersey too and she's awesome! They're all awesome :)

quick climate change post

This is yet another unrelated Italy blog (bear with me!) Although a mighty important blog at that!
So this week has been the week of action for hundreds of universities across the United States and even internationally! Many great things have been happening including screenings of An Inconvenient Truth and even a photo petition which my Campus Climate Challenge buddies over at Elon University (and at several other campuses of course) have taken individual pictures of themselves with a caption telling Congress to "Step it up!" and reduce carbon emissions. You can read/see more about the actions here (there's even a picture of me and Christine from December!), here, and here! This last link is actually all the photos from the photo petition, which I think is the best idea ever! It actually shows the people and faces behind the petition... all students (either high school or college) trying to make a difference! Hooray for the youth movement!!!
I even had my friends here take some pictures!

Jackie

Anthony

Kristen

Margaux

last but not least, Meg

We are all on the photo petition, along with countless others! Tonight Paris even turned the lights of the Eiffel tower off for 5 minutes, and cities/homes/schools/etc are turning their lights off to make a statement against global warming. Tomorrow the UN is releasing a climate change report... and I'm pretty sure I know exactly what it's going to say. Maybe it will start things rolling, as if everything else hasn't been enough as is.
If only the rest of the world, mainly the United States, could follow Europe's example (everything here in Italy is incredible in regards to their energy conservation... don't worry I will have another post on that sometime soon), our energy consumption could decrease soo much.. Speaking of Europe's example...
On another note, I made a fabulous dinner tonight of a recipe that my mom makes: pasta, ricotta and fontina cheese, spinach (we substituted arucola), bacon (we used pancetta), onions, and roasted pine nuts and walnuts. I came out really really well. Then we made nutella brownies which were divine.
As for the rest of the weekend, a group of us are going to Sienna for the day on Saturday, and I'm homeworking tomorrow and Sunday.
Ciao!