"I See the Colosseum!!!!"

Ciao!

This past weekend may have been one of the best weekends so far!  I went to Rome for three days and I had some great experiences.  Since we have no classes on Fridays here in Perugia we were able to enjoy lots of time in Italy's capital.  So when in Rome....

On Friday morning my roommate Erin and friend Kym started our journey to Rome!  We got up at 5:30 in the morning in order to catch our train at 7 am.  Rome is about 3 hours from Perugia by train and we got there in about 2 hours thanks to the fast train system in Italy.  We got to ride on the Eurostar which is a fast train that can hit speeds up to 250 km/hour, believe me it was fast!  We got to Rome in no time at all :)

Once we got to Rome we checked in at our hostel which was a 2 minute walk from the train station.  I had never stayed in a hostel so I was a little nervous but it all worked out.  We stayed in a 10 bed mixed dorm, we had roommates from New York City, Finland, France, and Australia.  Everyone was really nice and very accommodating so my first hostel experience was an A+.  After checking in we decided to see the sights in Rome.  We first walked to the Pantheon which is one of the oldest churches in all of Italy.  A lot of famous artists and past Italian leaders are buried inside.  There is also a huge hole in the top of the dome called the oculus.  I am not sure what the point of it was but it was still interesting that the hole is still there.  And when it rains you will get wet!

After taking many pictures of the Pantheon we ventured over to the Trevi Fountain.  The Trevi Fountain is famous all over the world and I was blown away when we first saw it.  It is so much larger than I imagined and there were tons of people all around.  One of the biggest reasons people come to the Trevi is to make their wishes.  As the story goes, if you throw 2 coins in you will be ensured a trip back to Rome and find true love.  So we all did it and we even took a video....

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Rome was to see the Colosseum.  I had dreamed about seeing it for a very long time.  When I would be having a bad day at work over the Summer I would say to myself "when you're standing in front of the Colosseum this will all be worth it" and believe me it was!  When I had my first glimpse of the Colosseum on Friday night I couldn't control myself.  My friends laughed at me but I yelled "I see the Colosseum!" when I saw the tiniest piece of it many steps away.  It was such a surreal experience to be standing under such a huge structure.  It's hard to believe but that was only our first day in Rome!

After a very restful nights' sleep we got up Saturday morning and planned to spend almost the entire day in the Vatican City.  We took the metro to a location just outside the Vatican walls and went to the Vatican Museum.  If you ever go to the Vatican Museum please make reservations.  Erin made us reservations before we left and it was well worth it.  The line to get in the museum was almost 3 hours long but with our reservations we went right in.  The museum is huge!  You could spend an entire day in there and still not see everything.  I knew exactly what I wanted to see before going so we headed straight to the Sistine chapel.  It's odd but the Sistine chapel is literally in the museum itself.  There is no photography allowed inside but it was incredible.  When I stepped inside it was an out of body experience.  I am not a big fan of art history but the paintings are unreal.  And just imagining Michelangelo himself painting the ceiling took my breath away.  The chapel is very small but so amazing.  It is also still used today when the cardinals elect a new pope.  I think it seeing the chapel was my favorite part of our weekend.

When we finished with the museum we headed straight to St. Peter's square to see the inside of the basilica.  Walking into St. Peter's square was another unforgettable experience.  The sheer size of it was larger than I had pictured.  We waited in line for about 45 minutes to get into the basilica but it was well worth it because when we got in we saw signs saying we COULD take pictures with flash!  This may not seem like much but considering you can't take pictures inside almost any church in Italy it was incredible we could take as many pictures as we wanted of the biggest basilica in the world!  Needless to say I snapped as many photos as I could.

The greatest part of the basilica is seeing Michelangelo's Pieta.  This is one of his earliest sculptures he did when he was only in his twenties.  It is of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus after he was crucified.  When I first laid eyes on the sculpture I was very moved by it.  It was another one of those moments that just made me speechless.  And best of all we could take pictures of it!  To protect the sculpture it is behind bulletproof glass....

We then walked around the interior of the basilica simple admiring everything we were seeing.  It was so large that I am almost positive I missed some things but it was really amazing to be at the Vatican.

 After viewing the basilica for awhile we headed over to the Colosseum again so that we could see it in the daytime.  Even as I sit here writing this I still can't believe I stood next to the Colosseum.  I have a feeling I won't believe it for awhile.

At this point on Saturday all 3 of us were exhausted.  We had walked so much and seen so many things that our brains couldn't take much more.  To relax we headed for dinner then went to the Trevi fountain at night and ate gelato in front of it.  It was a perfect ending to a wonderful weekend in Rome!

We got back to Perugia around 1:45 this afternoon and I am still pretty exhausted from our Rome adventure.  But I must study for my midterms and it is difficult to do so.  Especially because the Eurochocolate festival is going on right outside our school building.  But midterms will be over on Wednesday afternoon then my fall break begins on Thursday afternoon!  I will post more about my plans for fall break later in the week after my midterms are over :)

I hope everyone had a restful weekend and I want to congratulate the Lebanon Valley football team for winning their homecoming game this past Saturday, way to go dutchmen!!  Also a big congrats to the LVC field hockey team who is 14-0 right now!!  I am so proud to be a dutchmen today :)

Italian word of the post:
    Amico - friend

Have a great week everyone!

Morgan :)

Here is a link to my Facebook so you can see the rest of my photos from Rome!  Enjoy!
    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240292&id=604955888&l=f6936a666f

That's Amore!

Ciao!

As I said in my last blog entry last Tuesday night my roommates and I attended a pizza making workshop.  We signed up for this workshop a few weeks ago through Umbra.  There only take 15 students so we were very fortunate to sign up early enough.  We were all looking forward to this class since we signed up so once Tuesday came we couldn't contain our excitement anymore.

At 7 pm on Tuesday we met a few of the Umbra staff members to walk down to "Pizza e Musica", a local pizzeria here in Perugia.  I had never been there before but I heard rave reviews from the Umbra staff and some of my fellow classmates.  Once we arrived at the pizzeria we had a little history lesson on pizza.  We learned that it was supposedly created in Naples, Italy at the pizzeria Brandi (where we ate a few weeks ago!!).  Then we learned how to make a real Italian pizza from the pizzaiolo (pizza maker) at this pizzeria.  The pizzaiolo was from Naples so he knows all of the secrets!  We  learned about the oven that is used to make a pizza and a few students got to make a pizza or two.  I was not one of the students chosen to make a pizza but we all got to watch and learn so it was still a lot of fun.

The oven used to make the pizza..so cool!

 

One of my fellow LVCers Matt learning from our pizzaiolo

Rolling out the dough..by hand!!  

After we learned all about pizza it was time to eat!  We each ordered a pizza of our choice, I had the Perugina pizza which consists of red sauce, mozzarella cheese, and sausage.  It was really really good!  I'm not sure if I could make a pizza like they do here in Italy but I could try when I come home to the states.  I wish I could pack up a pizza or two and ship one to all of you in the US but unfortunately no one has invented the technology yet.  

After we stuffed ourselves with pizza we went back home to study for our Italian midterms which we all took this morning.  I feel as though I did pretty well and we get the results next week.  I also have three more midterms next week so hopefully they all go as well as Italian.  

Tomorrow I am off to Rome, Italy's capitol and a place I have wanted to visit for a very long time!  Myself along with 2 of my friends are going to visit the Colosseum, the Vatican City, and much much more.  I plan to study for my midterms on our 3 hour train ride to and from Rome and do a lot more studying once we return to Perugia on Sunday!  I will update sometime next week but it may not be until later in the week due to my midterm exams.  

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Italian word of the post (for you Dad):

    treno - train

Morgan :)

Umbra Photo of the Month Winner is....

Ciao!

As I previously posted in one of my blog entries, I entered a photo into the Umbra Institute's photo of the month contest.  This afternoon I found out that my photo was selected as the winner!!  This is the photo I entered from my trip to the island of Capri....

 

For my prize I will receive a free pizza from a local pizzeria here in Perugia!  My roommates and I are going to enjoy this very much :)  

You can also see my photo on the Umbra Institute blog and Facebook page..here are the links.

http://umbra-institute.blogspot.com/

 http://www.umbra-institute.com/current.php?id=31

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far!  As for me my roommates and I are going to a pizza making workshop tonight conducted by the Umbra Institute, I can't wait!

Italian word of the post:

    fotografia - photography

Morgan :)

 

Entering a Contrada in old Siena

Ciao!

Yesterday I had a field trip to Siena with my Contemporary Italy: Culture and Society class.  Siena is about an hour and a half from Perugia and it is located in the region of Tuscany.   Siena has a population of about 50,000 and it is a major tourist location.

I really had no idea why we were going to Siena until my class last Wednesday.  My professor explained to us that the Sienese people are still living in the Middle Ages (sort of).  Siena is divided into 17 contrada's.  There is really no English word for contrada but the best way to describe it is a neighborhood of about 3,000 people.  The people of these neighborhoods are very proud of the contrada they come from.  Out tour guide (who is a Native Sienese woman) told us that your contrada comes first, then your family.  You do not get to choose your contrada, it is wherever your parents lived before they had you.  And what is very interesting is parents can be of a different contrada than their children and brothers and sisters may even be different from one another. 

The pride of each contrada can be seen twice a year on July 2nd and August 16th.  These are the days of the "Il Palio".  The Palio is a famous horse race dating back to the year 1260.  There are 10 horses that race around the main piazza in Siena and whatever contrada wins gets bragging rights for a whole year and a nice silk banner.  There is only a first place winner, the second horse to finish is the first loser.  And these races are taken very very seriously by the Sienese people.  About 45,000 people are in the piazza on the day of the race.  Each contrada is represented once a year (twice if you are lucky enough to win a lottery and make it to the August 16th Palio).  I have put a link below to a Youtube clip that our professor showed us in class before we went to Siena.  This clip pretty much says it all....take a look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM0YqFJrypk

After hearing about the pride each contrada has for itself I was so excited to visit Siena.  When we arrived, we took a tour of the town including the famous Piazza Il Campo (where the Palio horse race is held).  It was such a beautiful day that it made our field trip that much more enjoyable.

 

After a tour of Siena and a wonderful lunch we headed to meet our tour guide, Nicoletta who was going to take us to a contrada.  After our learning in class I just assumed that anyone could go into a contrada but this is definitely not the case.  Only the members of that contrada can go into it.  Our class had special permission to enter this particular contrada because the tour guide was friends with one of the members and she is native to Siena as well.

We entered the contrada and went to their museum.  Here we saw all of the contrada Palio banners they had ever won, one of the banners even dated back to 1736, pretty incredible.  We then watched a video of their last Palio victory and had a tour of their church.  Each contrada has their own church and each member is baptized into their own contrada.  It was so interesting to see an actual contrada because most people do not get the chance to ever do this.  I felt like we had entered a secret society (you know about this dad, haha!). 

Two of the banners from the Palio race (these are floor to ceiling)....

 The church of this contrada (notice the contrada flags hanging around the altar)....

 After our visit and tour we left the contrada and enjoy some free time to explore Siena.  A group of us went to get some almond cookies that are native to Siena.  They were absolutely delicious!  I bought a couple cookies and I am going to eat them sparingly because they are so good!  We also went to get some gelato (of course!) and we saw the most beautiful sight....gelato with real fruit in it!!

 

I had one scoop of pineapple and one scoop of strawberry and it was amazing!  The real fruit was right in the gelato and it was so fresh!  

After walking off our gelato we headed to our bus and came back to Perugia about 7:30 pm.  It was a long day but we all had a really great time!  I am so happy we had the once in a lifetime chance of actually visiting a contrada, it is something I will never forget.

Now I am back in Perugia and preparing for my week of classes.  I have my Italian midterm this Thursday and my three other midterms are the following week.  I cannot believe it is time for midterms already, time is surely flying away from me and I am not sure how I feel about this.  I don't think I will ever be ready to leave this beautiful place!  I am trying to enjoy every moment and every day I am here :) 

Perugia is also preparing for something big....EUROCHOCOLATE!!  This is an annual festival held every October for ten days!  Lots of chocolate companies are represented and there are chocolate festivities held all ten days including chocolate carvings and free samples.  Needless to say I am one happy camper right now because yesterday they starting setting up for it.  There are tents being set up in the piazza and you can tell something big is coming our way.  The festival runs from October 15-24.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!  I miss you all so much!!

Italian words of the post (my gelato flavors):

    fragola - strawberry

    ananas - pineapple

Morgan :)

P.S. GO PHILLIES!!!!  Even though I can't watch the games (I do watch the highights the next day) I am still rooting all the way from Italy!!  Beat those Reds tonight!!!!

Hiking, Eating, and Planning!!

Ciao!

I am so sorry I have not updated since last week but my classes are starting to get hectic.  We have to start thinking about our final papers for many of our classes and it's crazy to think about finals already.  And midterms are just two weeks away(crazy!).  But this past week has been a lot of fun and it was nice to stay around Perugia for a weekend.

As I mentioned in my last post I had to go to the police station (called the Questura in Italian) last Wednesday to finish my permit of stay duties so that I am a legal citizen of Perugia until December.  My appointment at the Questura was scheduled for 8:30 in the morning, since my Italian class doesn't begin until 11:00 am everyday it was hard to get up at 7 am for once.  But I got there early so I could be one of the first people in line so I could make it to Italian on time.  When I got to the first person at the immigration office in the police building I realized that only one man spoke English (and he spoke very little English).  He told me to go to get my fingerprints taken in a separate building and that the building opened at 8:45 am.  Well, that building didn't open until 9:30 am and so I had to wait outside in the cold for awhile. 

It was an interesting experience to have my fingerprints taken.  The man spoke no English and he asked for my parents names and since my parents do not have Italian names it was hard for him to understand the spelling.  So I had to spell the names in Italian, luckily he realized I don't speak much Italian and he let me write it down.  He then put my information into a computer (hair color, eye color, height, etc.).  It's kind of unnerving to know the Italian government now has all of my information.  But I got done at the Questura around 10:30 am and I made it to Italian on time.  Now, I am free to live in Perugia until December, woohoo!

I didn't have plans for the weekend because I wanted to plan some trips for later in the semester so on Friday I decided to go hiking with my roommate Jessica.  Umbra organized a trip to visit Spoleto to hike Mt. Monteluco.  A group of five of us and one Umbra staff member traveled to Spoleto by train (remembering to validate our tickets of course) and met with one of the professors and we hiked to the top of Monteluco!  The hike took a little more than an hour and it was uphill the entire way!  We were all very sweaty and tired by the time we got to the top but the views were incredible!  As these pictures show the views were well worth the hike to the top....

 

 

After taking in the amazing views of Spoleto we headed to lunch.  The restaurant we ate at was at the top of this mountain and it was the best meal ever (I realize I say this on every blog post but I cannot get over the food in Italy, so yummy!).  I had pasta with red sauce and mushrooms and this brownie custard dessert.  And of course we had red wine to drink, the Italians say that wine is their gasoline, and I agree :)  We hiked down the mountain after lunch and enjoyed some free time in Spoleto while we waited for our train back to Perugia. 

On Saturday morning I met up with two of my fellow LVCers, Matt and Kaitlin and their roommates and we all went to the Saturday market in Perugia.  We didn't buy anything but it is just fun to walk around seeing everything the market has to offer.  For lunch we were all craving American food so we went to McDonald's!  I'm not sure if the fries tasted better because of my lack of fries or because they are just better but I had the best french fries ever!  Sometimes, you just need a little McDonald's in your diet I guess :)

Afterwards, we went back to Matt and Kaitlin's apartment to plan a weekend trip we are taking in November.  And yesterday we booked our flight to London for November 18-21!  We are leaving that Thursday night from Rome and heading to London for three nights!  I am so excited (and for those of you who are not aware of what that weekend is I will explain)....

November 19th is the release date for the first part of the final movie of the Harry Potter series!  Being a Harry Potter nerd I cannot wait for this movie!  Before I came to Italy it was my dream to go to London for this movie release and now that I am definitely going I am so anxious for this trip.  We might not be able to see the movie because you cannot book tickets for the movie this early in advance but we will still do Harry Potter nerdy stuff all weekend long.  And hopefully see the movie :)

This coming weekend I have a field trip to Siena on Saturday with my Contemporary Italy: Culture and Society class.  I am not sure what we will be seeing yet but I will update as soon as I can.  This weekend is also a preparation weekend for my upcoming trips.  The weekend of October 15-17 I am going to Rome for three days!  And Fall break is coming up very quickly and I am planning on going to Venice, Vienna, Prague, and Munich!  I cannot wait for all of my excursions and I am so excited to share them all with you when I return to Perugia.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will update as soon as I can!  

Italian word of the post:

    viaggiare - to travel

Morgan :)