Today was gorgeous! It rained all week and today it was perfect.
I decided to go to Assisi since it is so close by on the train. I was supposed to meet my friend there but she ended up not being able to go - which is why there are only pictures of buildings...
It was so nice to get out and explore for the day! The weather was amazing, warm, sunny, I even bought gelato yuum. I loved the main church of Saint Frances, the inside was magical with big vaulted ceilings and there are two parts- the lower and upper part of the church. I also wandered around and the city is quite touristy but still beautiful. I even got a few great shots of the church as the sun was starting to go down. I am going to catch up with posting pictures so try not to be overwhelmed..
Anways check out the pictures (from Assisi) :
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027640&l=217a4&id=30002851
Pictures of my house:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027410&l=2354a&id=30002851
Pictures of Napoli:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027053&l=7011b&id=30002851
Pictures of Pompeii:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027134&l=918f8&id=30002851
Pictures of Capri:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027111&l=65c01&id=30002851
let me know if you have problems looking at the photos!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Spello
Went to a super cute little town today about 30 minutes by train from Perugia.
It was very quiet but had the most beautiful tiny streets and tons of flowers.
Meli (my friend) and I had a great lunch yuuum I had the most amazing spaghetti cabonara.
Here are the photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026873&l=25a81&id=30002851
Let me know if there are issues with the pictures! otherwise enjoy :)
It was very quiet but had the most beautiful tiny streets and tons of flowers.
Meli (my friend) and I had a great lunch yuuum I had the most amazing spaghetti cabonara.
Here are the photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026873&l=25a81&id=30002851
Let me know if there are issues with the pictures! otherwise enjoy :)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Its a small world!
My first class is officially over! I took the test and passed (yay) and am moving up to the next level of Italian (B1). I decided to take the one month class instead of three months in the hope that I will learn more and not be bored. This week has been sort of like limbo. Classes ended on Tuesday and I spent two hours waiting in line on Wednesday for my new schedule...luckily it looks like I am in the same class as a bunch of my friends from this month :) I thought that I would begin my new class today but actually classes begin maybe tomorrow? Italy can be quite disorganized.
In any case one of my flatmates, the girl from Armenia left today. It was a little sad, she was quite nice and I will miss having another girl in the house. I am so excited, I officially signed up for the trip to napoli, pompeii and capri on October 11th!! It is going to be so much fun. I have been telling all my friends in the hope that they will join me! With my new class I don't have school on Mondays and only two hours on Fridays so its prime for weekend adventures. This weekend I was planning on going to Siena but now the forecast says rain...every time I try to go somewhere it rains...but maybe I will simply go somewhere a little closer to Perugia to visit on Sunday or Monday. I want to buy my plane ticket to Ireland, to see my aunt in Dublin, but I am having trouble. The ryanair flights depart too early from Rome, I would have to spend the night in Rome in order to actually make it. hm. If you have any suggestions let me know.
Today was crazy. I ran into four people I know from Colorado College within the space of two hours. FOUR. Two of the girls I knew were going to be here in Perugia but the other two completley surprised me! It was fun to run into people from college but also very surreal, I still can't believe it. Perugia is a small town, I am sure we will be running into each other all the time.
I am so happy the weather got warmer recently, its made for better walks in the piazza and more gelato! I am looking forward to the start of my new class whether that is tomorrow or on Tuesday...only time will tell.
ciao!
In any case one of my flatmates, the girl from Armenia left today. It was a little sad, she was quite nice and I will miss having another girl in the house. I am so excited, I officially signed up for the trip to napoli, pompeii and capri on October 11th!! It is going to be so much fun. I have been telling all my friends in the hope that they will join me! With my new class I don't have school on Mondays and only two hours on Fridays so its prime for weekend adventures. This weekend I was planning on going to Siena but now the forecast says rain...every time I try to go somewhere it rains...but maybe I will simply go somewhere a little closer to Perugia to visit on Sunday or Monday. I want to buy my plane ticket to Ireland, to see my aunt in Dublin, but I am having trouble. The ryanair flights depart too early from Rome, I would have to spend the night in Rome in order to actually make it. hm. If you have any suggestions let me know.
Today was crazy. I ran into four people I know from Colorado College within the space of two hours. FOUR. Two of the girls I knew were going to be here in Perugia but the other two completley surprised me! It was fun to run into people from college but also very surreal, I still can't believe it. Perugia is a small town, I am sure we will be running into each other all the time.
I am so happy the weather got warmer recently, its made for better walks in the piazza and more gelato! I am looking forward to the start of my new class whether that is tomorrow or on Tuesday...only time will tell.
ciao!
Monday, September 15, 2008
To see my photos from Firenze go here:
http://s374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/alanab7/?albumview=slideshow
Enjoy!
p.s. let me know if there is a problem or its not working
http://s374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/alanab7/?albumview=slideshow
Enjoy!
p.s. let me know if there is a problem or its not working
Firenze
Ciao! I spent an amazing weekend in Florence and thought I should write about it before I forget all the details.
FRIDAY:
My friend Cecilia and I left after classes on Friday and caught an afternoon train to Florence. As we pulled into the Santa Maria Novella station it was pouring! I thought about how I had only brought summer clothes to wear...Luckily it stopped raining long enough for us to get to the hostel, which was surprisingly easy to find. The hostel was very nice, clean, great shower and fun girls in our room. We dumped our stuff and ran off to explore the city right away. It didn't take us very long to find the Duomo, and at first sight it was simply breath taking. We had to stand and crane our necks for a few minutes in awe. I loved the colors especially, the green and pink accents. We wandered around the main square where the Duomo and bapistery are for awhile before deciding it was time for dinner. We found a great little restaurant near our hostel that seemed reasonable and had an amazing meal. It was more of a family style restaurant so we got to know the people sitting on both sides of us, it was alot of fun. I had some pesto pasta to remember. After dinner we were stuffed and took a short walk to digest, luckily it stayed clear for us all evening, no rain :)
SATURDAY:
Saturday morning we got up and were out the door at 9 am (impressive, I know). We headed straight for the open air San Lorenzo market, which we heard at dinner the night before was a must see. The market was great, row after row of leather goods and pashminas, I didn't even know where to start. Cecilia and I both bought gorgeous leather bags and some shawls. I found a green pashmina that is a great match with my eyes hehe. Then it started pouring. Cecilia bought an umbrella and I whipped mine out and we headed in the direction of the Academia. We still had an hour before our reservation, so we popped into a cafe and had coffee, croissants, and I had some pizza yum. Then we went on to the Academia and I was so glad I had made reservations as we walked past the huge line of soaking people and got right inside. The David was magnificent. It was so great getting to see it up close for the first time. Just trying to understand that a person carved it by hand stretches the imagination. I loved seeing the veins in his hand, and the expression on his face. All in all definitely worth the cover fee. We went to a self serve cafeteria for lunch and had some not so great pizza for not so great prices. It was a bit difficult to eat well on a budget in Florence, so we did our best. After lunch it continued to drizzle and we decided it was the perfect time for a nap.
POST NAP:
We rubbed the sleep out of our eyes after a few hours...and headed towards the Ponte Vecchio (bridge over the water). First we hit the Piazza Signorina on the way, quite beautiful with lots of statues. Finally we made it to the water. This was one of my favorite parts of the weekend trip. I just loved the atmosphere and the beautiful views over the water. We of course walked across the Ponte Vecchio and were overwhelmed by all the jewelry! It is crazy the amount of stores that are crammed onto the bridge. We had a good time window shopping. It showed signs of starting to rain again so we dipped into a cafe for some gelato. sooo good. After I took a good fifty pictures (at least...) we went back towards the tourist area, and started shopping for sweatshirts. After a day in the rain with a skirt on I definitely needed one. It had been so warm it didn't occur to me to pack say pants or tennis shoes or a heavier sweatshirt. Found a cute one and moved on to dinner. We ate at the same place (too good to pass up) and I had great linguine al vongole. We were super tired afterward and headed straight back to the hostel for showers and sleeeep.
SUNDAY:
got up too early for my taste (7:30) and were out the door by 8:30 to make our reservation at the Uffizi Gallery for 9am. I was happy again that I had made reservations. It was so amazing to see the Botticelli paintings up close. That was easily my favorite part of the Uffizi although I also liked the one painting by Michelangelo, some of Raphael's paintings, and some by Titian. The view of the ponte vecchio from the Uffizi was gorgeous, you could see quite a ways down the canal. We spent a couple hours wandering the Uffizi and I was very happy that my guidebook had commentary on the important paintings, it really provided insight that I otherwise wouldn't have know about. I also eavesdropped on a couple English tours until one tour guide gave me the evil eye...
Next I had a quick snack and my friend Cecilia headed to mass inside the Duomo. I saw the sun peeking out of the clouds and decided to try and get some better pictures at the Ponte Vecchio. It started raining again (after i got my pictures YAY). After Cecilia finished mass, we got some lunch at a really nice cafe behind the Duomo- great pizza. We were a bit tired out from our action packed weekend and decided to take a slightly earlier train home, but not before we stopped at the outdoor market to pick up shawls for our host mothers back in Perugia.
SUMMARY:
my favorites: The Ponte Vecchio
Botticelli's birth of venus
Titian's venus of Urbino
Overall LOVED Florence, even though we didn't have the best weather for picture taking and sightseeing(cloudy, grey and rainy). I wish I could have gotten a little more off of the tourist track, I'm not sure a got the real feeling for the city. I want to go back to Florence already....I still want to see the Bobali gardens and climb up Giotto's tower ( I didn't think it was worth it this time- too cloudy to see very far). It was fun to spend a few days in a big city, very different from smaller town Perugia.
All in all a very busy weekend and a great trip!
FRIDAY:
My friend Cecilia and I left after classes on Friday and caught an afternoon train to Florence. As we pulled into the Santa Maria Novella station it was pouring! I thought about how I had only brought summer clothes to wear...Luckily it stopped raining long enough for us to get to the hostel, which was surprisingly easy to find. The hostel was very nice, clean, great shower and fun girls in our room. We dumped our stuff and ran off to explore the city right away. It didn't take us very long to find the Duomo, and at first sight it was simply breath taking. We had to stand and crane our necks for a few minutes in awe. I loved the colors especially, the green and pink accents. We wandered around the main square where the Duomo and bapistery are for awhile before deciding it was time for dinner. We found a great little restaurant near our hostel that seemed reasonable and had an amazing meal. It was more of a family style restaurant so we got to know the people sitting on both sides of us, it was alot of fun. I had some pesto pasta to remember. After dinner we were stuffed and took a short walk to digest, luckily it stayed clear for us all evening, no rain :)
SATURDAY:
Saturday morning we got up and were out the door at 9 am (impressive, I know). We headed straight for the open air San Lorenzo market, which we heard at dinner the night before was a must see. The market was great, row after row of leather goods and pashminas, I didn't even know where to start. Cecilia and I both bought gorgeous leather bags and some shawls. I found a green pashmina that is a great match with my eyes hehe. Then it started pouring. Cecilia bought an umbrella and I whipped mine out and we headed in the direction of the Academia. We still had an hour before our reservation, so we popped into a cafe and had coffee, croissants, and I had some pizza yum. Then we went on to the Academia and I was so glad I had made reservations as we walked past the huge line of soaking people and got right inside. The David was magnificent. It was so great getting to see it up close for the first time. Just trying to understand that a person carved it by hand stretches the imagination. I loved seeing the veins in his hand, and the expression on his face. All in all definitely worth the cover fee. We went to a self serve cafeteria for lunch and had some not so great pizza for not so great prices. It was a bit difficult to eat well on a budget in Florence, so we did our best. After lunch it continued to drizzle and we decided it was the perfect time for a nap.
POST NAP:
We rubbed the sleep out of our eyes after a few hours...and headed towards the Ponte Vecchio (bridge over the water). First we hit the Piazza Signorina on the way, quite beautiful with lots of statues. Finally we made it to the water. This was one of my favorite parts of the weekend trip. I just loved the atmosphere and the beautiful views over the water. We of course walked across the Ponte Vecchio and were overwhelmed by all the jewelry! It is crazy the amount of stores that are crammed onto the bridge. We had a good time window shopping. It showed signs of starting to rain again so we dipped into a cafe for some gelato. sooo good. After I took a good fifty pictures (at least...) we went back towards the tourist area, and started shopping for sweatshirts. After a day in the rain with a skirt on I definitely needed one. It had been so warm it didn't occur to me to pack say pants or tennis shoes or a heavier sweatshirt. Found a cute one and moved on to dinner. We ate at the same place (too good to pass up) and I had great linguine al vongole. We were super tired afterward and headed straight back to the hostel for showers and sleeeep.
SUNDAY:
got up too early for my taste (7:30) and were out the door by 8:30 to make our reservation at the Uffizi Gallery for 9am. I was happy again that I had made reservations. It was so amazing to see the Botticelli paintings up close. That was easily my favorite part of the Uffizi although I also liked the one painting by Michelangelo, some of Raphael's paintings, and some by Titian. The view of the ponte vecchio from the Uffizi was gorgeous, you could see quite a ways down the canal. We spent a couple hours wandering the Uffizi and I was very happy that my guidebook had commentary on the important paintings, it really provided insight that I otherwise wouldn't have know about. I also eavesdropped on a couple English tours until one tour guide gave me the evil eye...
Next I had a quick snack and my friend Cecilia headed to mass inside the Duomo. I saw the sun peeking out of the clouds and decided to try and get some better pictures at the Ponte Vecchio. It started raining again (after i got my pictures YAY). After Cecilia finished mass, we got some lunch at a really nice cafe behind the Duomo- great pizza. We were a bit tired out from our action packed weekend and decided to take a slightly earlier train home, but not before we stopped at the outdoor market to pick up shawls for our host mothers back in Perugia.
SUMMARY:
my favorites: The Ponte Vecchio
Botticelli's birth of venus
Titian's venus of Urbino
Overall LOVED Florence, even though we didn't have the best weather for picture taking and sightseeing(cloudy, grey and rainy). I wish I could have gotten a little more off of the tourist track, I'm not sure a got the real feeling for the city. I want to go back to Florence already....I still want to see the Bobali gardens and climb up Giotto's tower ( I didn't think it was worth it this time- too cloudy to see very far). It was fun to spend a few days in a big city, very different from smaller town Perugia.
All in all a very busy weekend and a great trip!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Hello everyone!
I just got the internet set up at my house in Italy so hopefully I can be a little better about posting entries here. Italy is great so far! Perugia, where I am staying, is quite charming, especially the city center with its old winding streets. The main square has a big fountain and church, and is always teeming with people. I just started class yesterday. The school is not too far from my house, maybe a fifteen minute walk. I also discovered a really good pizza place that is on the way back to my house from school..yum. I have a lecture in the morning for three hours and a conversation class in the afternoon for one and a half hours. I really like my lecture teacher, she is really animated and fun. My whole class is made up of foreign students which is very cool. I am meeting people from all around the world from Poland and Turkey to China and Taiwan. I am actually the only American in my class. I've been having fun exploring Perugia, I already have a favorite place. If you walk all the way down the main street, corso vannucci, at the very end there is a shady area with trees and lots of benches, overlooking a spectacular view of the umbrian countryside- all rolling hills and church steeples poking up. It has been quite warm recently which makes it hard to stay cool walking up and down all of the hills in Perugia.
My host family is also great. My host mother is an older Italian woman, who speaks absolutely no English. We sort of communicate in hand gestures...haha. She is very sweet and helpful. My room is bigger than I expected, with a bed in one corner, a rolling clothes rack, small bookshelf, desk with two chairs, and two big windows. It even came furnished with a reading lamp! how perfect. There are currently two other students living in the house as well, both from Armenia, one girl and one boy. They don't speak English and we mostly communicate in Spanish since my Italian still needs work.
I am hoping to start traveling around Italy via the train soon! But now I need to go study my Italian. I will hopefully figure out how to post pictures soon as well.
Ciao!
I just got the internet set up at my house in Italy so hopefully I can be a little better about posting entries here. Italy is great so far! Perugia, where I am staying, is quite charming, especially the city center with its old winding streets. The main square has a big fountain and church, and is always teeming with people. I just started class yesterday. The school is not too far from my house, maybe a fifteen minute walk. I also discovered a really good pizza place that is on the way back to my house from school..yum. I have a lecture in the morning for three hours and a conversation class in the afternoon for one and a half hours. I really like my lecture teacher, she is really animated and fun. My whole class is made up of foreign students which is very cool. I am meeting people from all around the world from Poland and Turkey to China and Taiwan. I am actually the only American in my class. I've been having fun exploring Perugia, I already have a favorite place. If you walk all the way down the main street, corso vannucci, at the very end there is a shady area with trees and lots of benches, overlooking a spectacular view of the umbrian countryside- all rolling hills and church steeples poking up. It has been quite warm recently which makes it hard to stay cool walking up and down all of the hills in Perugia.
My host family is also great. My host mother is an older Italian woman, who speaks absolutely no English. We sort of communicate in hand gestures...haha. She is very sweet and helpful. My room is bigger than I expected, with a bed in one corner, a rolling clothes rack, small bookshelf, desk with two chairs, and two big windows. It even came furnished with a reading lamp! how perfect. There are currently two other students living in the house as well, both from Armenia, one girl and one boy. They don't speak English and we mostly communicate in Spanish since my Italian still needs work.
I am hoping to start traveling around Italy via the train soon! But now I need to go study my Italian. I will hopefully figure out how to post pictures soon as well.
Ciao!
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