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!