Perugia, The City on the Hill

Please try to follow along. So much has happened since I last left you and it's only been a day. It's now 2:37 AM and I really want to tell you everything as coherently as I can.  So I left you when I was waiting to be taken to our apartment....

We were taken by a mini-van to our apartment. When we first arrived in Perugia, I was a bit disappointed by how the city looked. It had graffiti on the street walls and was very much like a city feel. However, I'm learning that we were at the bottom of the very steep hill. As you travel farther up, the city becomes breathtaking, just like the "Italy" you dream of. Lucky for me, I live at the top. I'm feeling like a princess these days. The view leaves me saying "wow" as I breath out. I wasn't able to capture this yet but I will tomorrow and be sure to share. 

After about a ten minute ride, we arrived. Of course, in Italy everything is crushed together. The streets are part of the sidewalk and people try to park everywhere. So our apartment is down the street, through a small parking area, and around the corner. 

The street my apartment is on. 

But it's great. We did have to climb two flights of stairs. (Just for those of you planning on coming to Europe -even if it says first floor, you will have to take a flight of stairs. Most places have a ground floor.) Our apartment is not "roomie" or like a stand-out compared to others I've heard of but it does the job plus some. I am living with four other girls -Desiree, Lauren, Ivory, and Susanne. There is a kitchen, two double rooms (one with a toilet off of it), single, and a full bath with tub and shower! I am currently living in the single but told everyone I'm willing to move if something doesn't work out. I like my room. I rearranged a few things because we were trying to make Lauren and Ivory's room a common area and we put the little couch in there. Here are a few photos of my room. If you are trying to get a feel for it -literally it's a rectangle. 

I have plenty of storage. That built-in is all storage; however, no way to hang anything up. Good thing I didn't pack too many dresses. The only downfall right now is there is no light in my room. The overhead light is out and I will have to contact someone tomorrow to fix it. Right now, there is a lamp that was left from pass students to use. One last thing -it's cold! Italians only heat their homes at certain times through out the day. Therefore, most of the time it is freezing! They try to conserve everything! Heat, water, gas, and they recycle. There are four different trash cans under our sink in the kitchen. After we unpacked and looked over the guidebook, it was time to head to the Umbra Institute. 

I was thrilled to head there. I mean I will be taking classes there for four months... I soon learned a few things. One, the path to school is, again, all uphill! But part of me is very thankful! I will be getting a good workout and I won't have to pay to use the fitness center. The second thing is Umbra is nothing like I thought. There are about 150 students, if that, and Umbra is only two buildings. I thought I was going onto a campus -no. It's literally like a building I would walk past and never have a clue. But it is prime location, close to the main square. I must say the staff of Umbra is very relaxed. They are willing to do whatever to help you, simply you must ask. The first thing I did was complete my permit of stay. This is the second part of my visa and without it I could be deported. It costs 195.77 euros so it equals about 254 dollars. It's a lot for a little piece of paper but I don't want to be deported anytime soon. Afterwards, I was waiting and who stepped in -Ashley. Many of you don't know Ashley but she attends LVC with me and studied in Perugia two semesters ago. I was so shocked to see a familiar face that I wasn't expecting. I actually squealed a little bit which is funny because we aren't even very close. It's funny how being a new land and not knowing many people makes you feel attached to everyone you do. Anyway, she is here for a visit and stopped in to see if she could help any new students. She is so great! She told me about all these great little places and about the markets too! 

Before I went on tour, I decided to get a little something to eat. Ashley showed me and my roommates, the little deli next door. A sweet, old Italian man owns the place. He showed us everything in the store. Explained how to order a sandwich, the best he could for us to understand in Italian. Then he allowed us to try the bread -and when I looked at my clock I realized I had five minutes to get to my tour. So I skipped a sandwich and went for a pear. When I went to pay, he typed a few things in the cash registar and then said "no money." My first Italian purchase and it was a gift. The best gift I could of gotten at the time. It was so sweet and juicy. Literally with every bite, juice ran down my chin! At 3 o'clock, I went on tour. Once I got to the square, I realized how common it was for Italians to start later. They assume people will be late. It's normal. It's funny because in America we try to start early. We got a great tour from Sylvia. I don't believe she is a professor or anything but I believe she helps with the school a lot because she said she would see us for the wine tasting later in the month! This was my first chance to actually see Perugia and it was great! There are so many little shops to stop at and pizza around every conner! We saw some great views but dumb me didn't bring my camera. I'm going to just have to deal with carrying it because I think it will be worth it. 

After our tour, my roommates and Lauren went to the grocery store, Coop. The one we choose to go to is one of the bigger stores and cheap in Perugia. To get there you get a ticket for 1,50 euro and hop on the mini-metro. The min-metro is like a tramcar at Disney but smaller. It only has one car and can go underground and then above. When you are above, it's actually built on buildings. Once you get off, you can literally see the Coop from the station.

Inside, we split up. Lauren and I decided to just plan for tomorrow and go from there. We went through the whole store and then decided on pasta, a salad, and some breakfast items. We also got some fresh fruit. Interesting fact! Italians use plastic gloves like you would see some cutting your lunch meat... to sort through any fresh vegetables and fruits. So we pulled on a glove and got to it. While we were picking we saw people weighing their items but we didn't think anything of it. UNTIL- we got in line. There we realized we need to weigh and mark them because unlike our registers they don't have a scale in them. We felt terrible! The cashier had a manager do it for us, as we made everyone in line behind us wait. Lauren and I felt horrible! We asked our roommate how to say "I'm sorry" and we apologized over and over. Now we know for next time! 

Once we were back on top of the hill, we decided to have supper. Finally at about 8pm. We are learning quickly to be like the Italians. Our goal was to go to this pizza place that Ashley recommended. She said that the ingredients are imported from Naples where the best pizza is made. However, everyone else had the same idea. To be honest, I'm glad they did! We ended up eating at this amazing place. 

It was Al Mangia Bene -you had to walk down this alley way to get to it. May I add, all the stores look like this. They have tiny entrance ways which makes it difficult to figure out where everything is. For instance, the name of the restaurant was at the top of an arch at the top of the stairs with a menu. But it was probably a three minute walk to the actual restaurant. Here we ordered our first pizzas! Oh, it was so delicious! Al Mangia Bene really focuses on organic ingredients. And the other great thing is they have English menus and few waiters who speak perfect English. So helpful! Anyway, as you can see fabulous! This will definitely be a place to come back to! 

This is Chocolate with my pizza. She is my travel buddy for my first graders! 

After our two hour dinner, yes this was probably short for an Italian meal, we left. We decided to venture around the city. Perugia still has their Christmas decorations up, ferris wheel included! 

While venturing, we met another American, Kara. She isn't a part of our program but she is here for three months with an Italian school. She speaks fluent Italian -lucky. But she seems really chill. She doesn't know anyone yet because her classes begin on Monday, as well. Crazy thing -she lives right around the corner from us. Lauren showed her apartment, I shared ours, and Kara showed us hers. While we were there, I noticed a Bible. We talked about it for awhile and literally the words, "I was afraid I wasn't going to meet another Christian" came out of her mouth. OK, for those of you who realize how significant this is.... woah! God moment. 

OK, this post took much longer than I thought but totally worth it. I hope you enjoyed all the details. If you want give some feedback -too much, not enough.