Well, only about 40 days left in Italy. Rapidly coming to an end. The weather is absolutly beautiful here almost everyday. Perfect temperature of not blazing hot and not weather that makes you want to stay in all day. I think the difference is the humidity levels compared back home in Iowa. Here, there is less humidity. Perfect place. The past 2 slash 3 weeks iv spent dodging ash clouds from the volcano and zipping across seas. Trying to speak languages I have no idea how to speak. Spent to much money. Been to a different continent. Practiced and succeeded on my bargining skills. Expereinced being a true minority. Ate some of the most tremendous food. Been held at customes becuase of my passport. Seen things I will never be able to explain and will never see again. And most importantly, i'v been living life.
On May 6th, three of my friends and I hopped onto a train from Perugia destin for Roma. We arrive in the Roma Termini Stazione and realize that we have missed the train to the airport that we needed to take. Decided to go see how much a taxi would cost, ends up being only 1 euro each than it would be to wait for the next train, so we do it. But he wasnt a taxi driver. We end up walking 4 blocks into Roma to a little blue car (no idea what it is) he clear out his back seat and welcomes us into the car. After a 35 minute car ride through Roma we arrive at Leo Davinci International airport. Paid the crazy man and off the Prague we went. It was my first time out of Italy since I was in London for a 5 days. And it felt even more wierder (if thats a word) leaving the second time. The plane ride itself was exciting. I was separated from the group to sit in the emergancy exit asile, which i have actually been picked on 3 flights now to sit there, dont know why i am always choosen; they dont have assigned seats on ryanair or wizzair flights so they just pick people as they walk by, always happens to be me. But, we were on board with all Italians and if you have ever been on a plane with all italians its fun. They put their hands up on take off like on a rollercoaster, they cat call at the flight attendents (mostly just the women) while they talk on the speaker or walk by the asile. And any turbulance you feel they will be 'ohhhing and ahhhing' in a joking matter of course. But the best is the landing, hands up agian on the way down until the hit the ground and just as all the wheels hit the plane errupts in cheer and clapping, laughter, and high fives. Really is a great expereince in itself.
Spent three days in prague walking around trying to understand cezch (impossible). Stayed in a huge hostel for online $8 a night which was nice met a ton of French students from Paris who were all language majors. We some how convinced them we were Italian and not American. (that is always our plan when we travel). We dont say we are American unless we absolutly have to. Dont know why we did it, it was just easier that way. I usually just past as an italian just by how i looked and not so much on the amount i spoke, hahaha. but my other two friends did most of the talking since they have been studying italian for 3 and 4 years now. Prague was beautiful, absolutly beautiful river that ran through the town and old style buildings lined the street in the oldtown center. The weather was a little chill and overcast but it warmed up some towards the end. Mainly, we just walked around and saw what we could and just chilled out. We bought a bottle of Absinth (sp) which i would classify as liquid fire. Absolutly brutal. Teasted like hot mouthwash with little shards of glass in it going down the throat. Which makes sense to me becuase it was 70% alcoholic; yeah, never again. Our flight from Prague to Milano was at 6am. We left our hostel at 415 and had to sprint to check the bus to the airport. Got to the airport at the completely wrong terminal. Find another bus to take us to the right terminal. Sprint to the gate (had 3 minutes till it closed) just to find that the flight had been canceled do to an 'ash cloud' over northern italy, from the volcano in iceland about a month earlier. Spent the next 3 hours trying to find someway to get into italy so we will be able to make our next flight the next day out of pisa. our first option was to take a flight to Bari, italy. bari is the heal of the boot and we were flying out of pisa the next day which is like the upper shin of the boot. Which would have meant about a 15 hour train ride and VERY expensive. Luckly we found a flight into Rome, but still had to pay about 90 euro extra becuase it was with a different airline. Got into Rome grabbed a train to Pisa and stayed the night in Pisa airport.
Luckly Pisa has just reopened the flights out of Pisa about 12 hours before our flight was to take off. Left Italy again destined for Ibiza Spain; which is a small island south east of spain. The island itself is only 24 Km across. It was a little paradise. Solely run on tourisum, mainly from folks from the UK. It was a nice place to just sit back and relax on the beach and soak up some sun. Had a good three nights in Ibiza before departing for Barcelona, Spain. Spain Spain was awesome compared to Ibiza which was more like a resort. It was good to actaully hear spanish and i was actually pretty suprised how much i could pick up on it and understand it because of my italian and the 2 years i studied in highschool like 6 years ago. They speak with a particular lisp in Spain which I didnt like at first but towards the end thought it was very beautiful. Didn't do much in Spain but walk around and look at stuff. They did have an AMAZIng fresh market everyday which some great great great food. I spent about a couple hours there each day. I made sure i had a traditional dish in each place i stayed and I would have to say that my dish in spain was the best. a tub full of rices and veggies bread and chicken. I dont even know what it was but it was amazing. I just saw the guy keep taking scoops of stuff and pilling it higher and higher.
Left Spain for Morocco on the 16th maybe the 17th. while in costoms in Reus Airport outside of Barcelona two of my friends Ruth and Corey got stopped because of there passports, which held up the entire line and almost cost about 100 people to miss their flights. The conflict ended up being the security at costoms didnt understand what the passport was saying and if it wasnt for a guy fluent in spanish and english they would probably still be there. They really really really really really take a close close look at the US passports. Anyone EU or honestly almost anywhere else the just glance. They looked through mine for about 5 minutes, and i dont have that much information in their. I dont know if it was just becuase we were on our way to morocco or what, but it got a little intense. But, we made it to morocco regardless. And completely thrown into a culture and continent none of us had been in before. It was awesome. All the poeple crowding the streets, the venders trying to say 'hello' in every language they could think of the have you try their orange juice or eat their dried friut, loved it. Usually, alls i had to say was something in italian and they would just start listing off cities in italy to try to get me to buy something, then alls i would have to do is said i didnt understand in italian and that would get them away from me. but it was great. we got our room in the heart of the major market area and spent all our days walking the alleys going into shops bargining for items, eating new foods, just completely being overwhelmed with what we all were expereincing. I highly recommend you going if you so desire. After or time was up in morocco we got on our night train to Tangiers. First time on a night trian. It was actually fairly comfortable, i enjoyed it a lot. Once we made it to Tangiers we had to take another 45 minute taxi ride to the port where our fairy was waiting to ship us across to to malaga spain. Going through costoms in Tangiers was my time to hold up the group, the man wouldnt let me leave for 15 minutes as he checked through my passport, would look at me and look at the passport picture ( and in all fairness, i look like a 35 year old terrorist in my passport picture, so i had a feeling it would happen sometime) I also am about 25 lbs lighter now then i was in the picture. My hair is long and faded back into a fohawk and in the picture i am buzzed to about an 1/8th inch. I just look scray in the picture, flat out. hahaha. But, he asked me a whole bunch of questions, mainly in French (everyone in Morocco speaks french and arabic) I could only understand little things of what he was saying just because it sounded a litlte like italian sometimes. But after awhile he let me go. I thought it was funny.
Rest of the journey went well, flew from malaga to bologna, italy where Tim Dodd picked me up (a friend of mine that took a month to travel Europe and take pictures, big tax right off, he is a photographer) We drove the 3 hour drive back to Perugia and it was good to be home at last. spent the next two days showing Tim around Perugia and Assisi then we headed to Florence and Cinque Terre, breathtaking views in Cinque Terre. Had a blast. Took a train back from Florence on sunday to Perugia where I am currently for the next couple weeks.
Life in Italy is great. My friends I took the long trip with are done with school here in Perugia so they are traveling around Europe still while i go to school, sucks i know. But i cant complain to much. everyday in this country is a vacation to me. It will be hard to leave.
ciao tutti
michele
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
im still alive. Ecco mi.
Ciao tutti. Mi dispiace per essere pigro.
Believe it or not I have not vanished into the wild hills of Italy and lost forever. I am still nestled comfortably in Perugia. I started my last blog by saying, 'I can't believe its March' , well I can't believe its May. haha. Honestly, did not realize that I have not blogged for two months. My parents on the other hand seemed to make it their number one priority to remind me that I should keep on my blogging. So the blame is totally on me, not them. They tried, but their grasp of control seems to be loosening over the distance between us. Regardless! Ecco mi.
If you haven't heard in the past two months my family visited me over Nick's spring break in March. I met them in Rome where I acted as the tour guide and map holder while they enjoyed their first days in Italy with wide eyes and jaws dropped. To be honest was a wierd experience seeing them but instantly felt like I was just on another vacation. It was a great time. I hear Nick has been waiting to see his name in a blog so I dedicate this sentence to you Nick, haha. They came to visit me in Perugia for a couple days after going down to Pompei and Napoli. They got to see the chill lifestyle Perugia lives. Spent a day driving through Toscana (although the drive almost killed us all) roads can be a little twisty turny in that part of the country. A very beautiful part of the country though. They finished out their jounrey through Italy in Firenze which was full of museums, mounuments, soccer game, and gellato.
April came and so did a new level of Italian classes. I am not enrolled in B1 level courses. I was very hesitant to move up to B1, but decided it would be better to be in the bottom part of the class and force myself to learn than be in the top part and go over stuff I already know in A2. So far the classes have been great, I really enjoy my instructors and meeting new people. Has been just a great experience so far, not only because of being complete out of control and humbling yourself to learn this laungage but just being around so many different cultures and being so engulfed by the Italian culture has truely been a time in my life I will never forget!
Again, I apologize for being lazy over the past two months. I appreciate all those of you who still reguarly check to see, I am sure I have disapointed you with my absence. All is well! All is great! Italy is wonderful and breathtaking, every inch of it, every part of it. I am greatly looking forward to my final two months here!
I wish you all the best wherever you are.
Remember that life is about love; love everything, love everyone, and love will find you.
yours forever,
Michael DiMarco
Believe it or not I have not vanished into the wild hills of Italy and lost forever. I am still nestled comfortably in Perugia. I started my last blog by saying, 'I can't believe its March' , well I can't believe its May. haha. Honestly, did not realize that I have not blogged for two months. My parents on the other hand seemed to make it their number one priority to remind me that I should keep on my blogging. So the blame is totally on me, not them. They tried, but their grasp of control seems to be loosening over the distance between us. Regardless! Ecco mi.
If you haven't heard in the past two months my family visited me over Nick's spring break in March. I met them in Rome where I acted as the tour guide and map holder while they enjoyed their first days in Italy with wide eyes and jaws dropped. To be honest was a wierd experience seeing them but instantly felt like I was just on another vacation. It was a great time. I hear Nick has been waiting to see his name in a blog so I dedicate this sentence to you Nick, haha. They came to visit me in Perugia for a couple days after going down to Pompei and Napoli. They got to see the chill lifestyle Perugia lives. Spent a day driving through Toscana (although the drive almost killed us all) roads can be a little twisty turny in that part of the country. A very beautiful part of the country though. They finished out their jounrey through Italy in Firenze which was full of museums, mounuments, soccer game, and gellato.
April came and so did a new level of Italian classes. I am not enrolled in B1 level courses. I was very hesitant to move up to B1, but decided it would be better to be in the bottom part of the class and force myself to learn than be in the top part and go over stuff I already know in A2. So far the classes have been great, I really enjoy my instructors and meeting new people. Has been just a great experience so far, not only because of being complete out of control and humbling yourself to learn this laungage but just being around so many different cultures and being so engulfed by the Italian culture has truely been a time in my life I will never forget!
Again, I apologize for being lazy over the past two months. I appreciate all those of you who still reguarly check to see, I am sure I have disapointed you with my absence. All is well! All is great! Italy is wonderful and breathtaking, every inch of it, every part of it. I am greatly looking forward to my final two months here!
I wish you all the best wherever you are.
Remember that life is about love; love everything, love everyone, and love will find you.
yours forever,
Michael DiMarco
Friday, March 5, 2010
Perugia/Roma
I can’t believe it is March already! Time is flying by it feels like. It is crazy to think that spring break is coming up and my family will be here is just ONE short week. I remember thinking when I left that the middle of March seemed SO far away, and now, we are already knockin’ on the door of sun shine and warm weather. It has been about mid 50s and dipping into the 60s here in Perugia, I have been enjoying it. Walked around in just a t-shirt a couple times, it was nice. But, usually late afternoon it gets cold and rains every day for a couple hours. And the nights are fairly chilly. You can tell it is getting warmer though! So the earth still works.
Well, in the past week, I let Tom go mid last week. I don’t remember if I wrote that last time or not, but he left. And the end of last week was pretty normal, trying to survive my classes… I think this past week has really hit me that I need to constantly be thinking about the Italian Language and it’s not just going to come to me like I would like. I am pretty used to willing my way to getting something I want or achieving something in my life and I’ve been lucky enough to get through life that way so far. But, I think I am going to have to ‘will’ myself to study a little bit more than I have been. Like constantly. Yesterday, I went out and bought some grammar books as well a book with all the Italian verbs listed and the meanings in English, as well as all the tenses it has. (All these books are in English, thank GOD). I first started studying in Perugia; I thought it would be nice to just learn Italian IN Italian, totally. I have learned over a month of blank stares at the board and the teacher that I need a little more help. Haha.
The professors say that everyone in A2(my level of study now) will move onto B1 no matter how good you are. They say they kind of just look the other way on some people. Right now I am afraid I am one of those ‘some people’. And I don’t like that. So, my goal is to make it into B1 without a doubt. I think it’s possible, it’s not that hard. I just want to think about it constantly, which I have been lately. I am making more and more connections with Spanish which is helping too. I wish I would have taken more Spanish in high school or at UNI. Would have helped immensely.
Forget about school, last Sunday I went on a day school trip to Rome. You got to pay 30 euro and they drove you via bus from Perugia to Rome. I thought it was a good deal at first because it said we would get into the Vatican Museum for free, and later learn that the Vatican Museum is always free on the last Sunday of the month. Hahaha. So if I went on the trip by myself, I would have only had to pay 20 euro, oh well. I went with some friends from my class, all girls; I have no first that are guys here, still. Hahha, I don’t get it. At home I only hang out with guys, mainly because I only want to hang out with guys. Here, I only hang out with girls. I am half way around the world if that has anything to do with it. We waited in line for the Vatican Museum for 2.5-3 hours... The line was crazy long; stretched from the entrance of the Museum all the way to the side entrance of St. Peters Square. Way to long! But we made it in. And I thought I saw everything the first time I saw the Vatican Museum a month ago, but I saw so much more this time, it was great being there with people you know too. After the museum we grabbed something to eat, and made the mistake of eating at the café right next to the exit of the museum which was a bit expensive, I should have saw that coming. Spent some time in St. Peters Square and then headed for Piazza Novana, the girls didn’t want to wait in line to see the Basilica (that was the only thing I wanted to see) But I am always over ruled being the only boy, so I kept my mouth shut, I am learning my lesson quick hanging around girls, just be quiet. Walked through Piazza Novana, which was totally different than the last time I was there, it was actually full of people, a little market throughout the whole square, it was great. So many people. Made the short 5 minute walk over to the Pantheon, which personally, I loved and was so surprised how much it didn’t look has I pictured it. Haha. It was like in the middle of apartment buildings. You walk through an ally and them, poof, there it is. It was great though. That’s the best part of Rome, you walk through and ally here or an ally there, and then there you are at some historical site you have been studying since you were in grade school. Truly is the Eternal City. After the Pantheon, it was about another 10 minute walk to the Trevi Fountain, which was easily my favorite site of the whole trip. It was soooo big and so many people just sitting around enjoying the day and tossing there coins into the fountain for luck! (Back turned to fountain, coin in right hand, throw over left shoulder…. Or was it the other way around?) Haha that is what I was told so I did it that way, but however you do it, I think you get the point across! Ran into the Italian Changing of the Guard in some square which Italian soldiers and the Carabinieri (I think). It was pretty special. They marched around and had a military band their blasting the anthem and some man standing in the doorway overlooking the whole thing, we were told by some Italian lady standing next to me he was the ‘President, not Obama, not political’ so I don’t know what he was. Maybe a General or something. He seemed important though. After that, I tried to figure out where we were and after I did, I found the girls talking with 2 officers of the Carabinieri and knew were to go too, another perk of hanging around girls, they always can rely on their looks and being a girl to get where they need to go. We made our way to the Coliseum to find it was closed, so we just walked around. You forget how big it is, it’s huge for how old it is. Hopped on the subway to Termini, changed to the A Line (Red/Orange) and stopped by the Spanish Steps before we headed back to wear the bus was to take us home to Perugia. I really like the atmosphere at the Spanish steps, lot of people just sitting around, doing nothing, a nice lazy Sunday for the people of Rome and the tourists.
I moved into my new apartment last Saturday as well, it is two floors up from where I lived before. I share it with 6 other GIRLS and actually now there are 8 girls here because 2 girls from Lithuania are staying here for a week. So, I am really haven’t some back luck, or the BEST luck, with my friendships and living situations here in Italy. They are all very nice. And I love the apartment. To make it so much better, half of my walls are pink with light blue trim; Italy is trying very hard to test my sexuality. I am still stayin’ strong though. To be fair, it is a manly pink.
I am still alive in Italy. I think I get an email or a facebook message everyday telling me to write a blog, so to all of you who check regularly, thank you, and I am sorry. I will suck it up and write more often. Hope all is well where you are!
Take care ALL
God Bless
Ciao,
Michael DiMarco
Well, in the past week, I let Tom go mid last week. I don’t remember if I wrote that last time or not, but he left. And the end of last week was pretty normal, trying to survive my classes… I think this past week has really hit me that I need to constantly be thinking about the Italian Language and it’s not just going to come to me like I would like. I am pretty used to willing my way to getting something I want or achieving something in my life and I’ve been lucky enough to get through life that way so far. But, I think I am going to have to ‘will’ myself to study a little bit more than I have been. Like constantly. Yesterday, I went out and bought some grammar books as well a book with all the Italian verbs listed and the meanings in English, as well as all the tenses it has. (All these books are in English, thank GOD). I first started studying in Perugia; I thought it would be nice to just learn Italian IN Italian, totally. I have learned over a month of blank stares at the board and the teacher that I need a little more help. Haha.
The professors say that everyone in A2(my level of study now) will move onto B1 no matter how good you are. They say they kind of just look the other way on some people. Right now I am afraid I am one of those ‘some people’. And I don’t like that. So, my goal is to make it into B1 without a doubt. I think it’s possible, it’s not that hard. I just want to think about it constantly, which I have been lately. I am making more and more connections with Spanish which is helping too. I wish I would have taken more Spanish in high school or at UNI. Would have helped immensely.
Forget about school, last Sunday I went on a day school trip to Rome. You got to pay 30 euro and they drove you via bus from Perugia to Rome. I thought it was a good deal at first because it said we would get into the Vatican Museum for free, and later learn that the Vatican Museum is always free on the last Sunday of the month. Hahaha. So if I went on the trip by myself, I would have only had to pay 20 euro, oh well. I went with some friends from my class, all girls; I have no first that are guys here, still. Hahha, I don’t get it. At home I only hang out with guys, mainly because I only want to hang out with guys. Here, I only hang out with girls. I am half way around the world if that has anything to do with it. We waited in line for the Vatican Museum for 2.5-3 hours... The line was crazy long; stretched from the entrance of the Museum all the way to the side entrance of St. Peters Square. Way to long! But we made it in. And I thought I saw everything the first time I saw the Vatican Museum a month ago, but I saw so much more this time, it was great being there with people you know too. After the museum we grabbed something to eat, and made the mistake of eating at the café right next to the exit of the museum which was a bit expensive, I should have saw that coming. Spent some time in St. Peters Square and then headed for Piazza Novana, the girls didn’t want to wait in line to see the Basilica (that was the only thing I wanted to see) But I am always over ruled being the only boy, so I kept my mouth shut, I am learning my lesson quick hanging around girls, just be quiet. Walked through Piazza Novana, which was totally different than the last time I was there, it was actually full of people, a little market throughout the whole square, it was great. So many people. Made the short 5 minute walk over to the Pantheon, which personally, I loved and was so surprised how much it didn’t look has I pictured it. Haha. It was like in the middle of apartment buildings. You walk through an ally and them, poof, there it is. It was great though. That’s the best part of Rome, you walk through and ally here or an ally there, and then there you are at some historical site you have been studying since you were in grade school. Truly is the Eternal City. After the Pantheon, it was about another 10 minute walk to the Trevi Fountain, which was easily my favorite site of the whole trip. It was soooo big and so many people just sitting around enjoying the day and tossing there coins into the fountain for luck! (Back turned to fountain, coin in right hand, throw over left shoulder…. Or was it the other way around?) Haha that is what I was told so I did it that way, but however you do it, I think you get the point across! Ran into the Italian Changing of the Guard in some square which Italian soldiers and the Carabinieri (I think). It was pretty special. They marched around and had a military band their blasting the anthem and some man standing in the doorway overlooking the whole thing, we were told by some Italian lady standing next to me he was the ‘President, not Obama, not political’ so I don’t know what he was. Maybe a General or something. He seemed important though. After that, I tried to figure out where we were and after I did, I found the girls talking with 2 officers of the Carabinieri and knew were to go too, another perk of hanging around girls, they always can rely on their looks and being a girl to get where they need to go. We made our way to the Coliseum to find it was closed, so we just walked around. You forget how big it is, it’s huge for how old it is. Hopped on the subway to Termini, changed to the A Line (Red/Orange) and stopped by the Spanish Steps before we headed back to wear the bus was to take us home to Perugia. I really like the atmosphere at the Spanish steps, lot of people just sitting around, doing nothing, a nice lazy Sunday for the people of Rome and the tourists.
I moved into my new apartment last Saturday as well, it is two floors up from where I lived before. I share it with 6 other GIRLS and actually now there are 8 girls here because 2 girls from Lithuania are staying here for a week. So, I am really haven’t some back luck, or the BEST luck, with my friendships and living situations here in Italy. They are all very nice. And I love the apartment. To make it so much better, half of my walls are pink with light blue trim; Italy is trying very hard to test my sexuality. I am still stayin’ strong though. To be fair, it is a manly pink.
I am still alive in Italy. I think I get an email or a facebook message everyday telling me to write a blog, so to all of you who check regularly, thank you, and I am sorry. I will suck it up and write more often. Hope all is well where you are!
Take care ALL
God Bless
Ciao,
Michael DiMarco
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Assisi
Sorry it has taken me so long to sit down and write! I have actually been fairly busy. Last week was like every other week I have had here in Perugia. Classes are getting more and more interesting. I am actually now starting to learn and not spend the whole day figuring out what the professor is saying to me. I think I have some of the basics down now, but I know there will be a lot of work to be done outside of class as well as in the class room. I actually have to study, this is just like home, only at home I know what they are saying and still don’t understand, here I have the excuse that they are speaking a different language at least. Haha. No, I am learning. And am having thoughts of not speaking English at all throughout the day. That still seems a little impossible right now but hopefully soon, I will be at that point. I have talked with my friends about it and we tried it for about, I don’t know, 3 minutes, and 2 of those minutes were spent with our noses in the dictionary. Ha. So, we have some work, me the most probably.
I was told half way through the week that I would have the pleasure to provide shelter for my good friend Thomas Pannicucci (one of my best friends from home, he is studying in Austria and came down for a few days to visit, how nice). I just so happened to have a bunch of extra blankets and comforters in my closet that I never open because I think it smells absolutely horrible, but for some reason, Tom actually really, really liked the smell. I don’t.
So, having Tom around was great. I hope he didn’t get too bored; he got a good taste of what life in Perugia was all about. Chilin’. Sitting around and relaxing. Even though we didn’t do much, it was still nice to not do much with one of your best friends I think, just like home.
I met him at the train station Saturday morning around 10:38am. I had to walk from my apartment to a part of the city that I had never been to... I am assuming none of you know Perugia, so little short lesson; I live in the Centro (Center), most Italian cities have a Centro, which is basically the old part of the city. The Centro in Perugia (about the size of Des Moines) is located on top of a very large hill. So, the new part, including the train station, is located down the hill. And of course the roads are not straight and there is no easy way to get there. So, I looked up the directions on Google and it said it should only take about 15-20 minutes on foot. Not bad I thought. So I took a picture of the map and transferred it onto my iPod so I could have it with me when I walked. Which I am SO glad I did.
In Italy, the street signs are on the side of the buildings which makes it hard for you to see what street you’re on and what direction the street is going sometimes. And the signs that are like normal street signs never seem to be where you need them to be. So after a few wrong turns and walking up and down the same hill a couple times I finally found a little ally way which was the road I was supposed to take. I figured if I kept going downhill I would find it. My reasoning ended up working. And found the station.
While waiting for Tom I was stopped by a kid about my age speaking way too fast for me to understand so I told him what I tell about everyone. Non parlo l’italiano bene. He was persistent, which then I knew he wanted to sell me something, and asked what language I spoke, I told him. And he got his friend to speak English with me. He wanted me to buy a 42’ flat screen TV from him. I laughed and turned around and there was Tom walking up the stairs. And HE laughed at me when he saw me. Well, first he looked about me then looked away then looked back at me (didn’t notice me at first). I don’t think he expected my hair to be as long as it is. In reality it isn’t that long, just abnormally long for me, I guess. And it doesn’t look good. Haha.
So, Tom and I started our climb back to my apartment, which by the end we both were panting and sweating, luckily I remembered the way this time. We got some pizza and I showed him around Perugia a little bit. We relaxed all weekend, had some tea and coffee with my friend Marthe from the Netherlands and on Monday we decided to get out of Perugia and head to Assisi. (about 25 minutes SE by train).
We looked up the weather for Assisi and it said an 80% of rain and 90 mph winds! It rained but thankfully we had maybe 3 mph winds, the weather site was a little off. We arrived into Assisi and took the train to the Centro of Assisi which too was on top of a hill and our plan was just to walk down and see what we could see because we had no idea what was in Assisi, besides St. Francis. We got dropped off at the top and just started walking.
Assisi was great. It was just like Perugia only SO much better. Everything was SO nice, every stone perfectly placed. Everything was done with care and well taken care of. We hopped from church to church looking for St. Francis. We grabbed some paninis and eventually our way to Piazza San Francesco. There was really, no one in the city the whole day and the church was empty. Of course, breathtaking and absolutely perfect. We went to the basement to the tomb of St. Francis and it was a very, very, very surreal feeling to sit in the dark room with a Saint’s Tomb ten feet in front of you. It brings faith into something that is tangible and right in front of you. The date on the tomb throws you back a bit too. If I remember right, I think 800 years old now. Or something close to that. He was 44 years old when he died. In 44 years on this earth he was worthy in becoming one of the most respected and known Saints out there. Crazy to think about. I am truly blessed to be able to have the opportunity to visit St. Francis and have Assisi so close to me in Perugia.
Tom and I spent the rest of the day journeying through Assisi, walking through little paths that took us to places we felt like no one had gone before but was really just a path to a huge old castle that over looked the whole city. It cost 8 euro to enter and we were havin’ that so we just stood and looked. And listened to the French guide as he spoke to the 25 middle scholars from France about the Castle. The whole time as Tom and I walked through the city we wondered why in the shops there would be a whole bunch of crosses and then right next to them, cross bows or swords or guns. We couldn’t understand the odd combination of items next to each other until we made it to that castle. And it made sense.
I had my first Gelato in Assisi, my flavor was called ‘After Eight’ (that is the actually name, I did not translate that). Haha it was mint. And I will have to say, I can promise you that that will not be my last gelato cone. It was phenomenal.
Our day in Assisi was great, although wet and left us with tired (but very strong) legs, still a tremendous city in so many different ways; the churches, the Castle, the buildings, the food, the curvy roads, the history, the Saint. Everything rolled up into one little city nestled into the side of a mountain overlooking the plains of Umbria. Not a bad place to be.
I was told half way through the week that I would have the pleasure to provide shelter for my good friend Thomas Pannicucci (one of my best friends from home, he is studying in Austria and came down for a few days to visit, how nice). I just so happened to have a bunch of extra blankets and comforters in my closet that I never open because I think it smells absolutely horrible, but for some reason, Tom actually really, really liked the smell. I don’t.
So, having Tom around was great. I hope he didn’t get too bored; he got a good taste of what life in Perugia was all about. Chilin’. Sitting around and relaxing. Even though we didn’t do much, it was still nice to not do much with one of your best friends I think, just like home.
I met him at the train station Saturday morning around 10:38am. I had to walk from my apartment to a part of the city that I had never been to... I am assuming none of you know Perugia, so little short lesson; I live in the Centro (Center), most Italian cities have a Centro, which is basically the old part of the city. The Centro in Perugia (about the size of Des Moines) is located on top of a very large hill. So, the new part, including the train station, is located down the hill. And of course the roads are not straight and there is no easy way to get there. So, I looked up the directions on Google and it said it should only take about 15-20 minutes on foot. Not bad I thought. So I took a picture of the map and transferred it onto my iPod so I could have it with me when I walked. Which I am SO glad I did.
In Italy, the street signs are on the side of the buildings which makes it hard for you to see what street you’re on and what direction the street is going sometimes. And the signs that are like normal street signs never seem to be where you need them to be. So after a few wrong turns and walking up and down the same hill a couple times I finally found a little ally way which was the road I was supposed to take. I figured if I kept going downhill I would find it. My reasoning ended up working. And found the station.
While waiting for Tom I was stopped by a kid about my age speaking way too fast for me to understand so I told him what I tell about everyone. Non parlo l’italiano bene. He was persistent, which then I knew he wanted to sell me something, and asked what language I spoke, I told him. And he got his friend to speak English with me. He wanted me to buy a 42’ flat screen TV from him. I laughed and turned around and there was Tom walking up the stairs. And HE laughed at me when he saw me. Well, first he looked about me then looked away then looked back at me (didn’t notice me at first). I don’t think he expected my hair to be as long as it is. In reality it isn’t that long, just abnormally long for me, I guess. And it doesn’t look good. Haha.
So, Tom and I started our climb back to my apartment, which by the end we both were panting and sweating, luckily I remembered the way this time. We got some pizza and I showed him around Perugia a little bit. We relaxed all weekend, had some tea and coffee with my friend Marthe from the Netherlands and on Monday we decided to get out of Perugia and head to Assisi. (about 25 minutes SE by train).
We looked up the weather for Assisi and it said an 80% of rain and 90 mph winds! It rained but thankfully we had maybe 3 mph winds, the weather site was a little off. We arrived into Assisi and took the train to the Centro of Assisi which too was on top of a hill and our plan was just to walk down and see what we could see because we had no idea what was in Assisi, besides St. Francis. We got dropped off at the top and just started walking.
Assisi was great. It was just like Perugia only SO much better. Everything was SO nice, every stone perfectly placed. Everything was done with care and well taken care of. We hopped from church to church looking for St. Francis. We grabbed some paninis and eventually our way to Piazza San Francesco. There was really, no one in the city the whole day and the church was empty. Of course, breathtaking and absolutely perfect. We went to the basement to the tomb of St. Francis and it was a very, very, very surreal feeling to sit in the dark room with a Saint’s Tomb ten feet in front of you. It brings faith into something that is tangible and right in front of you. The date on the tomb throws you back a bit too. If I remember right, I think 800 years old now. Or something close to that. He was 44 years old when he died. In 44 years on this earth he was worthy in becoming one of the most respected and known Saints out there. Crazy to think about. I am truly blessed to be able to have the opportunity to visit St. Francis and have Assisi so close to me in Perugia.
Tom and I spent the rest of the day journeying through Assisi, walking through little paths that took us to places we felt like no one had gone before but was really just a path to a huge old castle that over looked the whole city. It cost 8 euro to enter and we were havin’ that so we just stood and looked. And listened to the French guide as he spoke to the 25 middle scholars from France about the Castle. The whole time as Tom and I walked through the city we wondered why in the shops there would be a whole bunch of crosses and then right next to them, cross bows or swords or guns. We couldn’t understand the odd combination of items next to each other until we made it to that castle. And it made sense.
I had my first Gelato in Assisi, my flavor was called ‘After Eight’ (that is the actually name, I did not translate that). Haha it was mint. And I will have to say, I can promise you that that will not be my last gelato cone. It was phenomenal.
Our day in Assisi was great, although wet and left us with tired (but very strong) legs, still a tremendous city in so many different ways; the churches, the Castle, the buildings, the food, the curvy roads, the history, the Saint. Everything rolled up into one little city nestled into the side of a mountain overlooking the plains of Umbria. Not a bad place to be.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
My Address
Michael DiMarco c/o Francesco Fabbri
Via Annibale Marriotti, 1
06123 - Perugia, Umbria, Italy
The 'c/o' is very important so don't forget it, so is 'Francesco Fabbri' if you do not put those two things they will not be able to find me. And write the address information in all CAPITALS because its easier for Italians to read I guess or something like that. I guess it is just how they do things.
All letters are welcome!
Via Annibale Marriotti, 1
06123 - Perugia, Umbria, Italy
The 'c/o' is very important so don't forget it, so is 'Francesco Fabbri' if you do not put those two things they will not be able to find me. And write the address information in all CAPITALS because its easier for Italians to read I guess or something like that. I guess it is just how they do things.
All letters are welcome!
La Dolce Vita
Second week is done. Things are continually getting better here in Perugia. I am learning more and more in class, and understanding more and more but still need to do more work outside of class to ‘catch’ up to my other classmates. We finally were told what book we needed to buy, and everyone was complaining how much it cost (20 euro) and I was happy how much it costs, my books at UNI cost 5 times that much for one book. But, now that I have my book I can do more and more exercises at home when I am bored and have nothing to do. Class is going really well and I am still very thankful to everyone that helps me out in class, including my professor. I knew my smiles would pay off!
Now that the first week and things are over with and I am settled in, I have been thinking about the rest of my time here in Perugia. And I realized, I have no idea what I am doing for school after March. My class now goes until March, but I was never told what I do after that. And Study Abroad at UNI has been no help. I don’t know if I will be continuing studying Italian at my university now or if I am moving to the other university in Perugia, which is called Umbria. At Umbria I would be able to study subjects more directed towards my major and potentially would be able to transfer credits back to UNI. That is not totally confirmed. But, if I stay at my university now, Stranieri (foreigner), I would study Italian the entire time I am here in Italy. If I chose to do that, I would most likely come back to UNI with no transferable credits from Stranieri. But, I could if I wanted, transfer to the University of Iowa next fall and double major in Italian and Sociology. (I have already looked into it mom and dad, and the costs are fairly similar than UNI), but the only bad thing would be I would have to move out of my parents basement! Hahaha. Just kidding, that was only a temporary thing. SO, I have options. But need to figure out my plans as soon as possible. I enjoy learning Italian, but looking towards my future, I don’t know how Italian would help me in the United States, besides jumping out on paper in an interview. Then again, who says I will live in the United States my whole life. .. this next week or two I have some big decisions to make I think. We will see! I have to ask some questions at Stranieri as well as find Umbria University and speak with them. Which will probably lead to nowhere at first but will give me something to start with.
I started cooking this week too. It’s been great. I first made some pesto penne, but I made the mistake of cooking to much pasta so wasted quite a bit because I hadn’t bought anything to put my leftovers in yet. So I ate as much as I could. I will admit, it wasn’t the best pasta I have ever had, but I have potential I think. How hard is pasta to mess up anyways, right? But, it still tasted good, I don’t know if it tasted good because it was actually good or because I was proud of myself and convinced myself it tasted good. Regardless, I like cooking now. I made pasta last night as well, and again cooked to much noodles. So, it is a learning process I think. The one thing that is hard for me to get used to is there is no microwaves! Anywhere! I don’t think they exist in Italy. And I don’t have an oven. Just two burners that are more like hot plates but it takes too long, so I just eat my leftovers cold.
I am a juggler now as well, my new hobby. My friend Ozan who I believe I have talked about before showed me how to juggle and I picked it up very quickly and am convinced everyone can learn quickly. Alls you need is good hand eye coordination and your set. Ozan and I are even going to make me my own juggling balls with balloons and rice. I can’t wait! Right now I practice with oranges in my room when I have nothing to do. I love juggling.
Life is good, I am in Italy and I feel it would be a sin to complain about live because I am living in Italy right now. A place I have always dreamed of visiting, and now, I am living here. Crazy. I am very blessed with everything I have and very thankful. Undoubtedly, one of the best experiences of my life so far. And am very excited for what is to come, but still am taking things slow and enjoying the moment of the now, I think its important to not only look forward to what is to come in life but to remember how good life is in the now, we are all very lucky to be here, to be where we are. Stop and smell the roses sometimes.. If there is one thing I have learned here in Italian so far, is they always stop and smell the roses. There is no urgency, whatever needs to get done will get done in time, is the mindset. Enjoy the moment, and it doesn’t hurt to live in Italy, because every moment is a great one. I think in the states we are so consumed with deadlines, agendas, and countless commitments; that we forget who we are and what is most important, we forget what life is all about. And even though Italy has horrible heating systems, no microwaves, and no mustard; they know how to live life in the moment. They know how to stop and smell the roses. La Dolce Vita. And if there is one thing I hope to take back to America is that. The sweet life.
Now that the first week and things are over with and I am settled in, I have been thinking about the rest of my time here in Perugia. And I realized, I have no idea what I am doing for school after March. My class now goes until March, but I was never told what I do after that. And Study Abroad at UNI has been no help. I don’t know if I will be continuing studying Italian at my university now or if I am moving to the other university in Perugia, which is called Umbria. At Umbria I would be able to study subjects more directed towards my major and potentially would be able to transfer credits back to UNI. That is not totally confirmed. But, if I stay at my university now, Stranieri (foreigner), I would study Italian the entire time I am here in Italy. If I chose to do that, I would most likely come back to UNI with no transferable credits from Stranieri. But, I could if I wanted, transfer to the University of Iowa next fall and double major in Italian and Sociology. (I have already looked into it mom and dad, and the costs are fairly similar than UNI), but the only bad thing would be I would have to move out of my parents basement! Hahaha. Just kidding, that was only a temporary thing. SO, I have options. But need to figure out my plans as soon as possible. I enjoy learning Italian, but looking towards my future, I don’t know how Italian would help me in the United States, besides jumping out on paper in an interview. Then again, who says I will live in the United States my whole life. .. this next week or two I have some big decisions to make I think. We will see! I have to ask some questions at Stranieri as well as find Umbria University and speak with them. Which will probably lead to nowhere at first but will give me something to start with.
I started cooking this week too. It’s been great. I first made some pesto penne, but I made the mistake of cooking to much pasta so wasted quite a bit because I hadn’t bought anything to put my leftovers in yet. So I ate as much as I could. I will admit, it wasn’t the best pasta I have ever had, but I have potential I think. How hard is pasta to mess up anyways, right? But, it still tasted good, I don’t know if it tasted good because it was actually good or because I was proud of myself and convinced myself it tasted good. Regardless, I like cooking now. I made pasta last night as well, and again cooked to much noodles. So, it is a learning process I think. The one thing that is hard for me to get used to is there is no microwaves! Anywhere! I don’t think they exist in Italy. And I don’t have an oven. Just two burners that are more like hot plates but it takes too long, so I just eat my leftovers cold.
I am a juggler now as well, my new hobby. My friend Ozan who I believe I have talked about before showed me how to juggle and I picked it up very quickly and am convinced everyone can learn quickly. Alls you need is good hand eye coordination and your set. Ozan and I are even going to make me my own juggling balls with balloons and rice. I can’t wait! Right now I practice with oranges in my room when I have nothing to do. I love juggling.
Life is good, I am in Italy and I feel it would be a sin to complain about live because I am living in Italy right now. A place I have always dreamed of visiting, and now, I am living here. Crazy. I am very blessed with everything I have and very thankful. Undoubtedly, one of the best experiences of my life so far. And am very excited for what is to come, but still am taking things slow and enjoying the moment of the now, I think its important to not only look forward to what is to come in life but to remember how good life is in the now, we are all very lucky to be here, to be where we are. Stop and smell the roses sometimes.. If there is one thing I have learned here in Italian so far, is they always stop and smell the roses. There is no urgency, whatever needs to get done will get done in time, is the mindset. Enjoy the moment, and it doesn’t hurt to live in Italy, because every moment is a great one. I think in the states we are so consumed with deadlines, agendas, and countless commitments; that we forget who we are and what is most important, we forget what life is all about. And even though Italy has horrible heating systems, no microwaves, and no mustard; they know how to live life in the moment. They know how to stop and smell the roses. La Dolce Vita. And if there is one thing I hope to take back to America is that. The sweet life.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Perguia
Ciao! Schools started! Thank goodness. Gives me something to do. But, school is going to be a lot harder than I had expected I think. I was told at UNI that my classes here in Perugia would be taught in English (I think) haha. I am starting to second guess myself on if I was actually told that or not now that I am here. Reguardless, my classes are taught in all Italian. No English or any other laungage can be spoken. So, I am very behind the rest of the people in my class. I think it will be good though, because it forces me to actually learn and not just sit in class. I have to focus to even try to understand anything the prof. says. She speaks so fast. Their are 30 students in my class but we split into two groups so for some classes we are with everyone and some classes we are with our group...
M: 2-6 (Verbal Practice) Everyone
Tu: 2-6(Verbal Practice) Everyone
W: 9-11(Grammer) Everyone
11-1(Grammer) Smaller Group
2-6 (Verbal Practice) Everyone
Th: 9-11 (Grammer) Smaller Group
F: 11-1 (Grammer) Smaller Group
So my Wednesdays are long, but other than that fairly simple. A couple of girls form Japan and the Holland girl and me know the least in the class. But, my professor knows that. She yells my name, Michele!, in class and asks if its hard or easy (always in italian), I always say its hard. Becuase it is right now, I need to build up my Italian vocab and then I will start being able to say things. And then there is the grammer and the verbs and the ending changes. But, if I am here for 5 months everyone says I will be able to speak very well when I leave.
Out of half of the people in my class about half are asian (as I had predicted) and there are about 10 Isrealian and Palestinian boys in class. and the rest of us. I think I am know as the typical dumb American that only knows English. Well, it is true. But at least I am trying to learn another language and travel half way across the world to do it. No, but everyone is very nice to me. The girls in my class have taken pity on my not knowing anything Italian well. There is a girl from Spain, two girls from Brazil, a German girl, and the Holland girl. We all sit by eachother and they each help me periodically throughout the lessons. I am very thankful for them. They all can speak English except for one of the Brazilians and the Spainish girls speaks about as much English as I do Spanish. But all no problem communicating, its actually fun. But yes, the girls are very nice and write down important things to remember about the grammer and stuff like that. The isrealian and palestinian boys always are together and go out and smoke all the time in the middle of class. Everyone here smokes. Everyone. I am the wierd one because I do not smoke. Something I was not used to was all the smoke breaks we get in school. Like every 45 minutes haha. Its insane. I usually have to stay in the class and stuff, its usually me and the Japan girls in the class studying when everyone else is smoking. But, they still know way more than me. I am always the first one to class, and class always starts 15 minutes late. I know that is normal or whatever, still wierd to me. And no one is on time, everyone shows up 30 minutes or 45 minutes late. hahaha, I don't understand it. There is usually just me the Japan girls and the older man from Finland on time and for the first 20 minutes. So, wierd. I feel like a good student. Everyone came in with at least 1 month of intense laungage course of Italian before this course. Oh yeah, I don't remember if I said or not, but I am in Italian 2, they call it A2 but its not the begining course. A good number of the kids in the class have like 4, 5, or 6 months of studying Italian in their home countries.
I have been meeitng some people, I am good friends with a Turkish boy name Ozan who is a juggle that wants to go to Orlando, FL to join the circus. That is his life dream. haha, he is a very good juggler. I met him in my Hostel in Perugia and we talk and I see him on the streets and stuff. So I am not completly alone, he has introduced me to all his friends from Turkey, but I forget their names very quickly. I feel horrible, but they are all very nice.
I decided to move into the 6 bedroom apartment upstairs in my building. So, on the 28th I move agian. I am excited for that to alwasy have people around even if there is nothing to do, at least there are people around.
I walked out of class the other day and looked down the hall and saw a guy with a flat billed New York Mets hat on and an old faded yellow Xmen shirt on. And he was a bigger guy, not fat just had a little puff to him. I realized now how you can spot the Americans so quickly when I saw him. haha. My professors thought I was from Greece. So, I guess that is good.
My hair is getting longer, don't know how to tell the barber how to cut my hair so I will just keep growing it out. Um, I bought a plant the other day. Don't know why, but just gives me something to take care of, which I like. The old lady kept talking to me in Italian, haha, she knew I didn't understand anything I was saying but it was fun. She was sweet. I might go back just to talk with her.
I am doing well, no drastic problems. Except, I am not able to watch Lost online becuase of international viewing rights or soemthing like that. Which sucks. But, I think I am going to to dowload the Super Bowl off of Itunes so I can Watch that on Monday which will be good.
I miss a lot of the little things, which I think is very typicall, heres just a little list of what I miss....
Aunt Nancys Salad
Pablos Quessadillas
My Blanket (haha, seriously)
Mustard
Driving
Flavored Chips
A few things that I love here in Perugia...
Kababs
Pickels (I bought a jar a day ago and they are all gone)
Walking very slowing
People Watching
Pizza place up the street (I'm becoming a regular)
The Market
All is good in Perugia for me. Had a semi rough week for me last week. But things always turn around for the best it seems. So my mindset is very postive. Now that I know what to expect in school and talked to my classmates. I'm set, now things just start falling into place.
Hope all is well back home and wherever you are!
Ciao!
Michele (Mee-Kay-Lay) ...not michelle. ha
M: 2-6 (Verbal Practice) Everyone
Tu: 2-6(Verbal Practice) Everyone
W: 9-11(Grammer) Everyone
11-1(Grammer) Smaller Group
2-6 (Verbal Practice) Everyone
Th: 9-11 (Grammer) Smaller Group
F: 11-1 (Grammer) Smaller Group
So my Wednesdays are long, but other than that fairly simple. A couple of girls form Japan and the Holland girl and me know the least in the class. But, my professor knows that. She yells my name, Michele!, in class and asks if its hard or easy (always in italian), I always say its hard. Becuase it is right now, I need to build up my Italian vocab and then I will start being able to say things. And then there is the grammer and the verbs and the ending changes. But, if I am here for 5 months everyone says I will be able to speak very well when I leave.
Out of half of the people in my class about half are asian (as I had predicted) and there are about 10 Isrealian and Palestinian boys in class. and the rest of us. I think I am know as the typical dumb American that only knows English. Well, it is true. But at least I am trying to learn another language and travel half way across the world to do it. No, but everyone is very nice to me. The girls in my class have taken pity on my not knowing anything Italian well. There is a girl from Spain, two girls from Brazil, a German girl, and the Holland girl. We all sit by eachother and they each help me periodically throughout the lessons. I am very thankful for them. They all can speak English except for one of the Brazilians and the Spainish girls speaks about as much English as I do Spanish. But all no problem communicating, its actually fun. But yes, the girls are very nice and write down important things to remember about the grammer and stuff like that. The isrealian and palestinian boys always are together and go out and smoke all the time in the middle of class. Everyone here smokes. Everyone. I am the wierd one because I do not smoke. Something I was not used to was all the smoke breaks we get in school. Like every 45 minutes haha. Its insane. I usually have to stay in the class and stuff, its usually me and the Japan girls in the class studying when everyone else is smoking. But, they still know way more than me. I am always the first one to class, and class always starts 15 minutes late. I know that is normal or whatever, still wierd to me. And no one is on time, everyone shows up 30 minutes or 45 minutes late. hahaha, I don't understand it. There is usually just me the Japan girls and the older man from Finland on time and for the first 20 minutes. So, wierd. I feel like a good student. Everyone came in with at least 1 month of intense laungage course of Italian before this course. Oh yeah, I don't remember if I said or not, but I am in Italian 2, they call it A2 but its not the begining course. A good number of the kids in the class have like 4, 5, or 6 months of studying Italian in their home countries.
I have been meeitng some people, I am good friends with a Turkish boy name Ozan who is a juggle that wants to go to Orlando, FL to join the circus. That is his life dream. haha, he is a very good juggler. I met him in my Hostel in Perugia and we talk and I see him on the streets and stuff. So I am not completly alone, he has introduced me to all his friends from Turkey, but I forget their names very quickly. I feel horrible, but they are all very nice.
I decided to move into the 6 bedroom apartment upstairs in my building. So, on the 28th I move agian. I am excited for that to alwasy have people around even if there is nothing to do, at least there are people around.
I walked out of class the other day and looked down the hall and saw a guy with a flat billed New York Mets hat on and an old faded yellow Xmen shirt on. And he was a bigger guy, not fat just had a little puff to him. I realized now how you can spot the Americans so quickly when I saw him. haha. My professors thought I was from Greece. So, I guess that is good.
My hair is getting longer, don't know how to tell the barber how to cut my hair so I will just keep growing it out. Um, I bought a plant the other day. Don't know why, but just gives me something to take care of, which I like. The old lady kept talking to me in Italian, haha, she knew I didn't understand anything I was saying but it was fun. She was sweet. I might go back just to talk with her.
I am doing well, no drastic problems. Except, I am not able to watch Lost online becuase of international viewing rights or soemthing like that. Which sucks. But, I think I am going to to dowload the Super Bowl off of Itunes so I can Watch that on Monday which will be good.
I miss a lot of the little things, which I think is very typicall, heres just a little list of what I miss....
Aunt Nancys Salad
Pablos Quessadillas
My Blanket (haha, seriously)
Mustard
Driving
Flavored Chips
A few things that I love here in Perugia...
Kababs
Pickels (I bought a jar a day ago and they are all gone)
Walking very slowing
People Watching
Pizza place up the street (I'm becoming a regular)
The Market
All is good in Perugia for me. Had a semi rough week for me last week. But things always turn around for the best it seems. So my mindset is very postive. Now that I know what to expect in school and talked to my classmates. I'm set, now things just start falling into place.
Hope all is well back home and wherever you are!
Ciao!
Michele (Mee-Kay-Lay) ...not michelle. ha
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Perugia
A lot has happened since my last post. I have a new home! A single room in Via Annibale Mariotti. It has everything I need. I am here at least until the 27th and then I have the option of staying in the room I am in now (but pay an additional 50 eruo per month) or move upstairs to the appartment which is shared with 6 students from my university and pay the amount I am this month. I will most likely be moving upstairs, beacuse of money reasons and I will at least have someone to talk to, hopefully, ha. The landlord told me that I would be living with 5 other girls. I've never lived with girls so it will either be a complete disaster or great. I am hoping for great, either way a good experience. Today I went and took care of some business at the school and got placed in my classes and received my schedule. I originally thought I was going to be taught in English, but the more and more I think about it and go to the school I am getting hints that I will being taught in Italian, sooo I hope I am ready for that. I will have to pick up on things fast.
When I got to the area where we were to meet to have an oral exam and be placed into classes I waited and waited to hear my name called, but it never was. So finally when the ladies in the room were walking out, I walked in to talk. They didn't really notice me or show me attention that they saw me in there so I just stuck out my paper that said I was supposed to be there. Then the three of them looked at eachother, looking at me. haha like they were sizing me up for something. They asked if I spoke any Italian, thats about all I understood them say. I told them no. They read me name out loud and asked if I had Italian background, I said yes. Then they started talking fast again to themselves. Finally, they gave me my paper back and it said A2 and not A1 so I dont know for sure, but I think they signed me up for Italian II. I dont know how they decided that, haha, but I will see tomorrow(wednesday) is my first day. I start with 8 hours of Italian language and grammer tomorrow. Wednesdays will be my busy days. But, I am SO ready for school start. I have nothing to do right now and am soo bored.
I didnt pack enough warm clothes either it is about 30-40 degrees here everyday, 40 on the warm days(sunny days) which we have had 2. I havent decided if I should buy a jacket yet or not beacuse I still think it will warm up soon. We will see.
I have two friends. They are Turkish and speak little English, but enough to communicate with me. I like them. I dont seem them really at all but when I do I like it. They are very busy with their schooling, they are here for a month and then off to Roma for 4 months studying some more. Other than that, I havent met anyone. The past week has been pretty hard and have felt a little homesick. But, things will start picking up here now that school starts and I will see more or the same people everyday. I am ready for that.... No fun being alone.
Ill let ya know about school tomorrow!
ciao ciao amici!
Michele DiMarco
When I got to the area where we were to meet to have an oral exam and be placed into classes I waited and waited to hear my name called, but it never was. So finally when the ladies in the room were walking out, I walked in to talk. They didn't really notice me or show me attention that they saw me in there so I just stuck out my paper that said I was supposed to be there. Then the three of them looked at eachother, looking at me. haha like they were sizing me up for something. They asked if I spoke any Italian, thats about all I understood them say. I told them no. They read me name out loud and asked if I had Italian background, I said yes. Then they started talking fast again to themselves. Finally, they gave me my paper back and it said A2 and not A1 so I dont know for sure, but I think they signed me up for Italian II. I dont know how they decided that, haha, but I will see tomorrow(wednesday) is my first day. I start with 8 hours of Italian language and grammer tomorrow. Wednesdays will be my busy days. But, I am SO ready for school start. I have nothing to do right now and am soo bored.
I didnt pack enough warm clothes either it is about 30-40 degrees here everyday, 40 on the warm days(sunny days) which we have had 2. I havent decided if I should buy a jacket yet or not beacuse I still think it will warm up soon. We will see.
I have two friends. They are Turkish and speak little English, but enough to communicate with me. I like them. I dont seem them really at all but when I do I like it. They are very busy with their schooling, they are here for a month and then off to Roma for 4 months studying some more. Other than that, I havent met anyone. The past week has been pretty hard and have felt a little homesick. But, things will start picking up here now that school starts and I will see more or the same people everyday. I am ready for that.... No fun being alone.
Ill let ya know about school tomorrow!
ciao ciao amici!
Michele DiMarco
Perugia
Today was a good day in Perugia. I found a little park area that looked over the whole south side of Perugia and it was so beautiful. I had no idea how high up we were compared to the rest of the city. The part of the city I am in is known as the old city. It has all very old buildings with very curvy paths they called roads. And the old city sits on top of a very large hill and you can over look everything. You can see the Umbrian country side with the rolling hills and mountain peaks in the back ground. Straight out of a painting. I spent the whole day just walking around looking in shops. Got a piece of pizza, soo good. Sat around at the piazza again, today it was a warmer and the sun was out so it was a more enjoyable experience. I am able to get around to places now without a map and I can walk to school from my apartment (that I am not in yet) no problem. Now I just have to learn the short cuts. I gave up trying to find a way there downhill and a way back downhill. So I looked for the most flat pathway possible. Still will be panting when I get to school and come home. The city is awesome. There is one main road in the older part of the city and today I stood and watched a guy draw a woman’s face on the ground with chalk. It was sweet. I had nothing else to do. I get kicked out of the hostel for about 4-5 hours every so I have to make sure I have stuff to do for that long. And I am running out of places to walk and stuff to do. I don’t know what I am going to do if it rains… I don’t even want to think about it. Oh well. It was a much better day than my first in Perugia. I am staying in a room with a boy from Turkey he and his friend, who is a girl but the girls and boys are separated in this hostel, are looking for a place to live for a month here in Perugia so they have been looking all over. He likes me, I let him use my headache medicine and gave him some peanuts and skittles. Him and his friend seems to like that. He is a nice boy, he is a juggler and hopes to find a room here in Perugia with the juggling crowd ( I haven’t seen any jugglers here yet). I like it here better than Roma, a lot let chaotic and a lot more young people. I hear a lot of people speaking English here and I am sure they are students at the University for Foreigners; they seem to be having a good time so I hope my experience will be the same!
Perugia
What a day… train was an hour or so late this morning which made me late to my hostel which closes from 11-430pm so when I got there at 1130 I realized I have to wait 5 hours to put my bags away. I thought okay, not bad, five hours isn’t long. But then it started getting cold. So those 5 hours sucked. I hated it so badly. And the only church I could see was locked. So I got my blanket out and acted like a hobo for a good while. Got into my hostel and found they don’t have internet, great. Went to the place where the lady at the hostel said I could get internet, the place is under renovation, awesome. Walked down to my university where I will be studying the next 5 months. Translated a sign and realized I miss orientation, which was the past four days when I was in Rome, great planning Mike. Walked down to where my apartment is, found it, nice little area, but still haven’t heard from my landlord yet on confirming me living there yet. Perfect. Not my most favorite days nor the way I would have liked to start my stay here in Perugia, but tomorrow is another day. ..
I can honestly say, today was the first day I started feeling a little lonely and homesick. Never thought it would happen, but I am starting to wonder if I will be able to handle doing this alone. We will see. I just want to get into my apartment, wherever it is. And just get settled in, then hopefully things will start rolling in my favor.
Tomorrow is a new day….
I can honestly say, today was the first day I started feeling a little lonely and homesick. Never thought it would happen, but I am starting to wonder if I will be able to handle doing this alone. We will see. I just want to get into my apartment, wherever it is. And just get settled in, then hopefully things will start rolling in my favor.
Tomorrow is a new day….
Roma
I slept in a bit this morning, too long I guess because when I woke up no one was in my room. All of the other 7 people had left. Haha, weird feeling but I didn’t mind the room to myself. I decided to be productive with the day and go to the Coliseum. It was great, right when you walk out of the metro station it is right there and you and cant even see the top of it until you are all the way out of the station. I didn’t pay to go in, because I didn’t want to and I will probably go back and do all that again. Yeah, kind of taking the experience for granted I know. Oh well. It was a good day to be outside, well no rain at least so I walked a mile or so down the road to a big church that was on the map. St. Giovanni I think it was. It was gorgeous. Like a mini St. Peters. Only all white marble and huge statues down the side. I loved that church and I thought St. Patrick’s back home was beautiful. After getting lunch at this little place by the metro I went back to the hostel to take a quick little nap. I knew I was going to have to be up early in the morning for my train to Perugia so I thought I would squeeze a 2 hour nap in.
I went to the Spanish steps because I hear it is a cool place, I wasn’t that impressed but I mean it still was cool. Maybe because I had gone from the Vatican to the Coliseum, that these steps just looked like steps. Iv spoiled myself I think for two days. I was going to go back to St. Peters Square at night but I wanted to make it back for free pizza at the hostel. And I am not sure but I think the pizza I got was liver and onions. It was free though and didn’t taste like anything really so I ate it. Tomorrow I leave for Perugia.
I went to the Spanish steps because I hear it is a cool place, I wasn’t that impressed but I mean it still was cool. Maybe because I had gone from the Vatican to the Coliseum, that these steps just looked like steps. Iv spoiled myself I think for two days. I was going to go back to St. Peters Square at night but I wanted to make it back for free pizza at the hostel. And I am not sure but I think the pizza I got was liver and onions. It was free though and didn’t taste like anything really so I ate it. Tomorrow I leave for Perugia.
Roma
Decided to go to the Vatican City with some people I met at the hostel in my room. It poured rain all day. When we got off the metro and started walking towards St. Peters Square we were bombarded with people asking one after another if we wanted to have a tour in English, or Spanish, or any language. And then there were lines and lines of people holding out umbrellas just waiting for you to take one because of the rain. Haha it was great. I figured if I didn’t take the guys offer on the first umbrella then I shouldn’t on the next guy because I was already more wet. You just had to hold strong the hold time and not pay for one. I was successful. The Vatican was phenomenal. I was amazed first at the size of St. Peters Square. My favorite part of the square is all the statues on top of the outside facing into the square. Everything about it was just so perfect. And when you go into the Basilica it only got better. Unlike anything you will ever see, no matter who you are or where you come from, you will find beauty in St. Peters Basilica. I could have spent the whole day in there but one of the girls we were with wanted to see the Pantheon that afternoon so we had to keep moving. We went into the Vatican museums and into the countless number of rooms filled with wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling, art. The most old and beautiful art I have ever see or will ever see. Sistine Chapel was obviously the high point of the museums. When you walk in and see all the heads looking at the ceiling in silence you know you are in something special. The paintings on the ceilings felt like they were falling right down onto you. Amazing. After that it was back into the rain. I made it back to the hostel and decided to nap a bit before I went to meet my new friend Carla who is a friend of a friend that lives in Rome, I took a bus to Piazza Novana and she took me to a little place for some food. It was good to talk to someone that shared a commonality with home. She was a great help on little questions I had about Rome and Italy. So, it was a good night, a good day all in all.
Roma
Traveling was the worst. Had a delay in Chicago which pushed my arrival time in Washington D.C. back about an hour and gave me 5 minutes to make it to my next flight. I was off the plane sprinting along with about six other kids my age and a family of five, all trying to make it to the same flight to Rome. When we got to the terminal we found it to be delayed because the guy that fills the jet, overfilled one of the wings and gas was everywhere. So, they had to clean that up which took about forty minutes. When I arrived in the terminal to Rome I knew I was in the right place because all that I saw were a lot older men, very well dressed in suits with dominant facial features (including the big nose) and two priests were on the flight; you wouldn’t have even had to look at the screen to know you were headed to Rome. I got into Rome this morning at about 9am local time. Long flight, but I slept as much as I could. My luck on my third flight finally showed through; unlike my first two flights who not only sat in their own seat but also shared half the seat with me, I was blessed with a little pitite girl studying vocals in Florence. She was nice and quiet, and had food allergies so I was very happy to see her sitting next to my seat. I probably got about 3 or 4 hours of sleep on the plane, mainly because of boredom. When the sun rose in the morning while we were flying over France is was a beautiful way to view my first sight of Europe as I peeked through the clouds. But, I would have to say the sight of the Italian coastline and the rocky hills from above, the stretching broccoli type forests of trees, was a very beautiful way to start a morning. I couldn’t help but think what it would be like to live in some of those villages I was spying on from above. The sandstone style houses with the red clay tops, something you see only in pictures. To say the least, I was very happy and excited to finally land.
After landing into cold, wet, rainy Rome; I realized how bad of an idea it was to not get up the throughout the whole flight. My legs were sooo tight and the minute I stood up I realized that I had to use the restroom very badly. So, I spent the first 15 minutes or so in Rome in the restroom relieving some much needed pressure. Found my way out of the airport and into the stazione (train station). Had my first Italian short convo with the lady at the ticket counter. More or else was two words and she helped me by repeating them back to me, but still a confidence boost, at the time. Made sure I validated my ticket, because my father made sure to tell me at least 4 times in a day to do so. I spotted an American girl waiting for the train into Termini too. She wasn’t hard to decipher, she was blonde had three huge bags. I helped her put her bags on the train and we shared little seating area. Even though we didn’t talk much we still liked the company of having someone that spoke English around at least for such a short time. It was her first time in Italy as well. She headed to Florence for school right after the train into Termini, she looked completely lost when I left her. But, so was I so I wasn’t much help. I helped her find where to buy some tickets for Florence and that was that. I had my own problems, somehow my perfect planning and preparation to walk from Termini to my hostel failed me. I came out on a complete different street, so I just picked a direction and walked that way. I knew which way the train came from and I knew that was south and I needed to go north a bit so I walked that way, it eventually worked out. I got into my hostel but had to wait until 15:00 (3pm) to check in. So, I decided to check out a local convenient store. I walked in this little closet of a shop and asked, in Italian, if he spoke English, he looked at me with a real puzzled look and said something and pointed behind him so I shook my head up and down and walked out. I had no idea what he said, so much for the confidence boost, ha. I walked and hung out at Termini because that was the only thing I knew and I figured they would speak a little bit more English than anywhere else that was close by. I usually wouldn’t think that way but I wasn’t feeling confident at all in my Italian by that point If there is one thing I have noticed about Italians is that everyone of them has something beautiful about them. Something that sticks out and makes them unique, I don’t know if it is the attitude about life and the heritage or what but it is a very attractive sight. They are very confident and deliberate in their movements and actions.
I haven’t had anything to do today, so I have spent most of the day on the computer; making sure the Vikings lost (glad to see they know how it feels to have a late Favre interception cost them a playoff game) and other things. I’m sharing my hostel for the night with 5 Brazilians, 1 Chinese/American (from Boston), and 1 Australian girl. I feel bad for the girl. It’s going to be an early night for me, but I think I will be woken up later because these Brazilians look like they mean business about going out tonight. So, we will see!
All in all, I would consider it a day of survival in Roma. Didn’t do a thing. Just sat around and tried to sneak in little naps here and there. I am glad to be here. I think tomorrow, if the weather cooperates I will go see more of the city.
After landing into cold, wet, rainy Rome; I realized how bad of an idea it was to not get up the throughout the whole flight. My legs were sooo tight and the minute I stood up I realized that I had to use the restroom very badly. So, I spent the first 15 minutes or so in Rome in the restroom relieving some much needed pressure. Found my way out of the airport and into the stazione (train station). Had my first Italian short convo with the lady at the ticket counter. More or else was two words and she helped me by repeating them back to me, but still a confidence boost, at the time. Made sure I validated my ticket, because my father made sure to tell me at least 4 times in a day to do so. I spotted an American girl waiting for the train into Termini too. She wasn’t hard to decipher, she was blonde had three huge bags. I helped her put her bags on the train and we shared little seating area. Even though we didn’t talk much we still liked the company of having someone that spoke English around at least for such a short time. It was her first time in Italy as well. She headed to Florence for school right after the train into Termini, she looked completely lost when I left her. But, so was I so I wasn’t much help. I helped her find where to buy some tickets for Florence and that was that. I had my own problems, somehow my perfect planning and preparation to walk from Termini to my hostel failed me. I came out on a complete different street, so I just picked a direction and walked that way. I knew which way the train came from and I knew that was south and I needed to go north a bit so I walked that way, it eventually worked out. I got into my hostel but had to wait until 15:00 (3pm) to check in. So, I decided to check out a local convenient store. I walked in this little closet of a shop and asked, in Italian, if he spoke English, he looked at me with a real puzzled look and said something and pointed behind him so I shook my head up and down and walked out. I had no idea what he said, so much for the confidence boost, ha. I walked and hung out at Termini because that was the only thing I knew and I figured they would speak a little bit more English than anywhere else that was close by. I usually wouldn’t think that way but I wasn’t feeling confident at all in my Italian by that point If there is one thing I have noticed about Italians is that everyone of them has something beautiful about them. Something that sticks out and makes them unique, I don’t know if it is the attitude about life and the heritage or what but it is a very attractive sight. They are very confident and deliberate in their movements and actions.
I haven’t had anything to do today, so I have spent most of the day on the computer; making sure the Vikings lost (glad to see they know how it feels to have a late Favre interception cost them a playoff game) and other things. I’m sharing my hostel for the night with 5 Brazilians, 1 Chinese/American (from Boston), and 1 Australian girl. I feel bad for the girl. It’s going to be an early night for me, but I think I will be woken up later because these Brazilians look like they mean business about going out tonight. So, we will see!
All in all, I would consider it a day of survival in Roma. Didn’t do a thing. Just sat around and tried to sneak in little naps here and there. I am glad to be here. I think tomorrow, if the weather cooperates I will go see more of the city.
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