Weekend trip to Siena, Lucca, and Pisa!!

Disclaimer: I meant to post this entry on Thursday but I didn’t have wireless. I will post one about my adventures in Rome soon!

Hey guys! Sorry to leave you on somewhat of a sad note. But before I talk about my past week here just wanted to give one last shoutout to Joepa

This is what the weather was like on the day of his procession. Pretty cool :)

But these past few days have been great. Over the weekend I went with my friends to Siena, Lucca and Pisa. I have attached pictures, once again, courtesy of Julia, Alex, and myself! It was amazing! We took an 11 am bus ride from Perugia to Siena, and walked right to the main square. There was a really tall tower that we climbed that overlooked the whole city. As I was taking in all the incredible views, the huge bell (it was a bell tower) rung. Might have been one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I thought the tower was falling down or something (I know assuming it was just the bell would be the logical assumption, but I tend to think of the worse case scenario). I screamed, but I played it off coolly. Other than that, it was really awesome.

The group in Siena!

View from the top of the tower

We explored the town and went inside the San Dominica church. This is really famous because it contains the head of Saint Catherine. Im not talking about a head made of wood or clay or anything like that. Im talking about the real head of Saint Catherine, from the 14^th century (whaaaaaaaat?????). Pic shown below:

yup...

It was cool because I had already learned about it in class. A saint’s body was considered to have healing powers so they literally kept parts of the body, such as Saint Catherine’s head (and thumb, strangely enough…). I’ve never really seen anything like this.

Then we took the train to Lucca! A small city with an actual wall built around it. We stayed there for the night in this really fancy apartment-like hostel. We walked around the really quiet town for a while looking for a place to eat. We finally settled with a pizzeria. In fact, the whole trip consisted of pizza consumption (which I didn’t mind). Then we walked around again the next morning. It was awesome because we got to walk along the walls. I also had my first gelato here. It was somewhere near amaaaaaazing. I had this coconut gelato that consisted of mostly coconut. I love coconut. So that worked out just nicely.

Us on the wall in Lucca!

Me attempting a flip on a swing in Lucca. 

Anyways, enough with my rambling. Next stop…Pisa. Even though I’ve been here before, it was still pretty awesome to revisit this world famous monument. I admit, along with the majority of the world population I did do the typical “Hey look! Im holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa!” picture. And it might make its way into my profile picture soon…. But to be honest, the most enjoyable part of this trip was watching everyone else pose with it.

Pisa!!!!

People posing. The best. 

 The train ride back was a little stressful. We had to change trains a lot, there were long layovers. Our longest one occurred in a town called Terontula, which we affectionately referred to as Tarantula. It was this deserted town somewhat similar to Eurotrip’s depiction of Bratislava. But we finally made it back to Perugia. The mini metro was closed so we had to walk back to our apartments. Now remember what I said a few entries ago about Perugia being the hilliest city on the planet? I guess it’s better to say that Perugia is literally one big hill (actually, mountain) and we live on the top. Trying to summit Perugia wasn’t exactly one of my most graceful moments but I felt pretty accomplished when we finally made it back. I then recounted this epic tale to my roommates who told us we could have just taken the bus. Oh ok cool….. haha at least I know this for next time (and im pretty sure im set on exercise for the next month).

But this past week has been great. It’s been filled with interesting classes, eating Nutella, a coffee workshop (which was actually really cool, we got to learn about all aspects of Italian coffee, which is outrageously strong…), more Nutella, some birthdays, a tour of Perugia (which was also really cool, because we got to learn about the history- like the cool history, of the city), and wine tasting J  I’m really starting to like it here.

Oh small little story. So today in my medieval women class (Officially called Saints, Sinners and Harlots, Medieval women of central Italy), my teacher was asking about a certain saint. And a girl was like “wasn’t she an aristocat??” I think she meant to say aristocrat. The sad thing is no one else (except for the two people next to me) seemed to notice or think it was funny. I had trouble containing my laughter for the rest of class. All I could imagine was singing cats. I’m actually laughing now thinking about it. Ok, you had to be there.

The Aristocats

Alright well I’ve actually got to go pretty soon. Im hittin up Roma tomorrow!!! There is a transportation strike, so this should be interesting. I’ll let you know in my next entry how it all goes down. Shout out to Catie Alves, I’ll take a pic outside the Pantheon for you :)

Thanks to the people who made it this far into this entry. I appreciate all of you for humoring me :)

Ciao i miei amici!

Emilia

 (I tried to get some Italian friends to call me Emilia instead of Emily the other day, they told me I wasn’t cool enough… fair enough)

Rest easy, Joe Pa

So I know this blog’s purpose is to chronicle my adventures while in Italy but I couldn’t really blog about my life in the past few days without reflecting on what’s going on back at Penn State. I’m sure many of you are aware that recently Penn State’s beloved coach of 46 years, Joe Paterno has passed.  If there is any time that I wish I could be back with my fellow Penn Staters during this semester, it would be now.  So I figured the closest I could get to pay tribute to this great icon, was to at least dedicate an entry of my blog to him.

It’s hard to explain what JoePa as an individual meant to me. Im sure it’s somewhat perplexing to some people who aren’t really involved in the Penn State community to understand that he was more than just a coach. When I came to this school as a freshman I really had no idea how big football was (I know some people can attest to the fact that at the time, I didn’t even know penn state was a football school, embarrassing, I know).  But I grew to love the football scene and the camaraderie that came with it. A big part of it was the school’s mutual love for JoePa. He was a figure dedicated not only to the athletics but to the school’s community as a whole. He put his heart, soul, and life into an institution that im proud to call my own. The contributions he made over the years have profoundly impacted the school in way that cannot even be described.

It’s been hard the past few days to express how I feel about this, because I have been around few people who feel the same way. I know he’s reached a great age, but I know a lot of people can agree with me when I say I was not ready for this, especially with everything that happened this past semester.

But I am grateful to have experienced the few years that he was coach.  His 400^th win last year was an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world.  Looking back, his words, actions, charisma, and friendliness will always make me smile.  He is eternally Penn State.  

So thanks, Joe Pa, for the wonderful memories.  You have impacted so many lives, and your life will forever be an inspiration to me.  Keep an eye on us. J

“Believe deep down in your heart that you’re destined to do great things”- Joe Paterno

Under the Tuscan Sun

Ciao I miei amici! Due to the request of my fan base, I am updating my blog (sorry for the delay mom).  A lot has happened since we last spoke so I have a feeling that this will be a long entry.  This past week I have started real classes, ate, gone on a fieldtrip, ate, spoke with more Italian (male) people, ate a little more and even cooked!

                Ok so where should I start? My week of intensive Italian went well. I really liked my teacher Marta who is from outside of Perugia. I told her how I really wanted to learn how to cook, and she confessed she didn’t really know either. She told me we could learn together only if we spoke in Italian.  So we agreed to do it later on in the semester. Cooking and Italian speaking don’t really mix well for me yet seeing as I confuse egg (uovo) with man (uomo).  Unfortunately I only had Marta for the intensive Italian week, but my new teacher seems really cool as well.  The week was really fun overall; Marta took us to a café and bought us our drink of choice (we could only speak in Italian). I got a late macchiato (I felt pretty chic). She also took us to a supermarket. We had to take the “minimetro” (a mix between a train and a Disney ride- pics later) to get there.  Overall, I think I learned a good amount of Italian (slowly waning off of Fremily).

                So you might be wondering, now Emily, why is your entry titled “Under the Tuscan Sun” when you don’t even live in Tuscany?? Well my dear amici, I’ll tell you. This past weekend I went on a field trip to beautiful Toscana! All students at the Umbra Institute (the name of my school- which I probably should have mentioned before) that went through Arcadia had an “orientation day” here. The purpose of the trip was to discuss living in Italy and all that good stuff. But the best part was where we stayed. We stayed at La Tenuta il Corno in San Casciano Val di Pesa, Tuscany (I have attached pictures finally! Courtesy of my roommate Julia, and my friend Alex). This place was everything you ever imagined Italy to be. I’ll let the pictures explain more than me. But it was really cool. We met the Countess Maria Guila Frova who gave us a tour of her Oil and Wine Estate. We learned about the relationship wine and oil making have on Italian culture (did you know that in this region, they clean their new born babies with Chianti?).  So along with that, of course we got to do wine tasting. I learned all the proper techniques for wine tasting (smelling, swishing and such).  We tried three wines. I definitely think I’m more partial to white wines, but I liked all three.  We also got fed… a lot.  I don’t know if any of you have experienced Italian dinners, but they are amazing. Not only because of the food, but because they can go on for hours, and you don’t even notice.  It is truly a social event.  There are typically several courses as well. We had bruschetta (yum!), this pumpkin cabbage pasta, which despite my poor description, was unbelievably good, a stew that tasted like pot roast, and a muffin-like dessert. I was pretty full at the end of it!  We also got to explore the grounds a little bit. I picked a grape as a souvenir of Tuscany. It was only after I bragged about it to everyone that I learned it was instead an olive. I forgot that there was no such thing as a grape tree…We stayed overnight there on Saturday (we had a HUGE apartment like hotel room) and returned to Perugia on Sunday. I got a bottle of olive oil for you, Mom (they make it there)!

Picture time:

Our apartment/hotel!!!

Me celebrating about the huge accommodations!

The cabbage pumpkin dish... SO BUENO!!

Julia and Cameron wine tasting

More wine tasting con Alex, Mick and Cameron

A big barrel of wine

Tuscany :)

The group- with Maria Guila!

                This week, we finally started classes. I am taking Italian (obviously), history of Leonardo DaVinci, a class on medieval women, and history and culture of foods. I have a feeling the last class will be my favorite. We get to go on a lot of fieldtrips to certain parts of Italy to learn about (and eat) the food there. I also really like my teacher, Simon. He’s from Cambridge, and he has the best accent. He was also blown away by my major. He told me meteorology is by far the weirdest major for a student he has ever had. Im not sure If that was a compliment, but I’ll take it as one. I have a feeling he’ll be expecting the forecast every time I walk into class. But he helped me realized that food and meteorology do have a connection. We read this paper in class that talked about how the climate somewhat determined what the food was like in each region in Italy.  I think I could work out some sort of career from this (not sure what, but that’s a minor detail)!!! I like my other classes as well.  We had to do introductions in each of our classes.  it’s always kind of awkward when I have to say my major out loud, because people just usually stare (Simon was an exception). But everything is already really interesting. I have a feeling, im really going to enjoy this semester.

                I also cooked for the first time (pics later)!  Since we have an excellent apartment, my friends all like to cook here. My friend Alex and I made something similar to minestrone yesterday. We had too many potatoes, so I made mashed potatoes with the rest of them (I consider them my specialty now). We also had this HUGE loaf of bread that somehow got demolished during the meal. I learned that as long as you serve bread at dinner, everything will be ok. But I think I can get the hang of cooking (hopefully…)!

                One more small story. So I went grocery shopping with Julia a few days ago, and I really wanted milk. So I bought a small bottle of it to bring back (milk is done differently here, you can only get small bottles here because it expires in 2 days). I don’t normally drink milk by itself but I decided, hey, what the heck I’ll have a small glass of this fine fresh milk.  Turns out it wasn’t milk…  it was heavy cream. I only realized this after I took a nice big swig. Lesson learned… read labels carefully.

                Ok one more really small story. I got pizza for the first time the other day at this place called Pizza e musica. It was amazing, except for the fact that they had olives on the pizza (with the pits still in them). But luckily through the warning of my friend (and stories from my Dad), I was able to avoid severe tooth injury.  But in case any of you are coming to visit me, you are forewarned!!!

                All right, well I’m going to stop talking (soon).  Tonight, there is this thing called Tandem, in which us American students intermix with Italian students from the University of Perugia ,who want to work on their English. This is at a bar. There is a certain time period when you can only speak in Italian, and then a time period where you  can only speak in English. We’ll see how well this goes.  Perhaps there will be more male Italian students with which I can practice il mio italiano. Of course sometimes I don’t mind just sitting back and listening to whatever they are saying.  But don’t worry- im practicing!

Ciao!!!

Emilia J

Abito in Italia!!!!

Ciao! Wow so much has happened in the last few days I don’t even know where to begin. I guess we could start with my living situation. In my opinion, I live in the nicest apartment out of all the students, maybe even Perugia. Ok, that might be a stretch but I lucked out…seriously. I thought a ten minute walk from my apartment at Penn State to Walker was short, I’d say my walk here is a good 30 seconds…max. It is this HUGE apartment right in the center of everything.  I also thought my apartment at home was big. It doesn’t even hold a candle to what I have here. Two huge bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large kitchen, dining room, and living room, and a drying room which comes with a washer. We also occasionally get free wireless. I’m not sure how I got this apartment, but I’m not going to question it!

My roommates are really cool too. I live with three other girls. One girl is new like me, and the two others lived here last semester as well. They have been really helpful in showing us around, and introducing us to their local Italian (male) friends … who happened to cook dinner for us a few nights ago (I’m trying to conceal my excitement about this part). The only contribution I made to the dinner was my nervous laughter. But it was awesome.  I am also legal in Italy, so I have gotten a taste of the bar life (take that all you 21-year-olds at Penn state who make fun of me- im cool now).

But more importantly is my academics!!! This week is strictly for Intensive Italian. So Italian all day everyday. But it’s really not so bad because I love the language, and we get to explore Perugia during class.  I had first intended to go into Italian 102, which is somewhat like intermediate Italian because I had taken a couple years in high school (which now that I think about it, is kind of a while ago). We had to take a placement test if we signed up for anything besides elementary Italian (101 and 110). This included both a written and an oral part. I did ok on the written part because it was multiple choice, and could figure out the answer through process of elimination. But the oral part I butchered.  I sat down, and they immediately grilled me with Italian questions to which I could only answer with “si” or some sort of mixture of French and a language I made up (Fremily). The good news is, I made them laugh (at me) the whole time. The bad news was that they suggested I take elementary Italian instead. Oh well, I suppose I should probably brush up on my Italian before I keep insisting on using Fremily to ask for directions.

I’ve taken any opportunity I have to explore the city and meet people. It has been amazing so far. These past few days have been quite an experience. My camera’s been acting weird unfortunately, but hopefully I should have pictures up soon.  I also start my real classes next week, and will also attempt to cook (!!!!)- so stay in tuned for that.

I could probably keep going, but I’ve actually got to get back to class. I miss you all. Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for helping me go here (hope you read the paragraph about the academics).

Ciao!!

Sono arrivato in italia! aww yea italy yeaaa

Hey all! I guess this is my first REAL blog post. I am very determined to keep this going (even if my parents and I are the only ones reading it) so im going to describe my first day in ITALY. Before I do I want to give a shout out to my best friends Elizabeth Lee and Catie Alves (so you guys better be reading this too) who were literally there vacuuming with me til the very last minute before I left for Italy. They also created this blog (see first post) .Thanks for all your support guys- LOVE YOU.

So I had a pretty good flight. It was around 9 hours, so we left JFK at 5:30 pm and arrived in Rome at around 8 am. Unfortunately I always leave packing to the last minute, I stay up for most of the night trying to figure out what to bring (trying desperately to make my suitcase less than 50 pounds- there were some tears involved), so add that on to the jetlag from the 6 hour time difference,  and I wasn’t exactly a bundle of joy.  But as soon as we left on the bus from the airport in Roma to Perugia it started to hit me that I was going to be living in this country for the next four months. The trip was relatively short and with the exception of the accidental nap I took, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the scenery.  There were mountains, pastures, and hills with homes built into them- nothing really like Rhode Island.

Finally we got to Perugia, a lesser- known city in Umbria, around central Italy. I constantly reminded my friend Diana (who also goes to Penn State) just how excited I was. We checked in and got oriented. To avoid messing with the jetlag even more, Diana and I decided to go take a walk around Perugia, we were specifically trying to find the Piazza Novembre, where all the activity goes on, and near where we will also be living. We asked the guy at the front desk where it was on our map, he looked at it, shook his head, and brought out a larger map. But he said it should take about a 20 minute walk- that is, if you knew where you were going….

We didn’t.  Perugia is also the hilliest city on the face of this planet. We had to take a break after we got up one street. It was literally at a 90 degree angle. But after that, we started walking down one street and a car stopped by us asking for directions in Italian. I wasn’t sure what they said, but Diana did and she pointed them somewhere. We were both pretty excited after that because a.) they thought we looked native enough to ask us directions and b.) Diana understood them.  We might not have pointed them in the right direction, but that’s irrelevant to the story. After that we pretty much walked on every road than the one we needed to,  to get to where we were trying to go. But eventually (after more Italian speaking) we finally made it.

This place was awesome. There were little shops and lots of people everywhere.  There was also some sort of festival occurring and I worked up the nerve to ask some woman in Italian what it was. She happily responded speaking really fast in words I didn’t understand (but pretended to), but I picked up on “magi.” It is January 6, so I figured they were celebrating the epiphany. They did actually have three wise men on horses... They sang and reenacted a little bit of it, and then went into the church. It was really cool. So authentically Italian. We then went and found our apartments, which were right next to the square. It will be a reallllly short walk to class. I’ll fill you more in on the apartments when we move in tomorrow. As for now, im going to finally get some sleep!

This is Emilia signing off. Fino alla prossima volta (until next time… Ok, I may have Googled that...)

FIRST POST EVER

This is Zabs and Catie and we're making this blog for Emily because she's leaving for Italy in 12 hours and hasn't finished packing yet!  While she's busily making sure all of her cutest wardrobe items are packed in her suitcase, we are jamming out to Volare and trying to stay out of her way.  We are so excited to learn of the many adventures Emily will embark on while in Italia and hope that she'll be sure to blog on here at least a couple times!  We love you, Emily!