Other bits of my life. . .

I finished Bettylou and I am on to a pineapple (which Katerina the cleaning woman put in the trash). I have to be done painting SOON--the show goes up a week from Tuesday. I get to curate it. Next weekend I spend a short weekend in Rome (hopefully flanked by time in Marlie’s villa in Gubio) with HRCers!

I will be back in less than three weeks. Heart breaking? Yes, a big tad. BUT I am keeping my chin up and focusing on the fact that I am a lucky girl to have many wonderful things (people) waiting for me.

terrifying? yes. i can vouch for that seeing as i ROAD IN IT!

senza helmut, left to right (in gubio). sam, me, caitlin, scott and richard.

biker babes.

haha, the gang. dont we look tough and biker like?!

I’m a nut (cluck, cluck), I’m a nut.

This endeavor is mixed beer nuts from a can, in honor of the “biker” in me.

Art continues to be the main catalyst of all things good in my life. I have been meaning to run up to Citta di Castello about an hour north of Perugia to see some Burri works. I finally had an open weekend and decided to go see the museums. I invited Caitlin and she got the fabulous and wild idea that we should take scooters to Citta di Castello. . . .

Friday, we had a little lesson. I was terrified but made it into the traffic after about 10 minutes of parking lot. We then road around with Richard, a kid on the program who was sort of a ringleader for the weekend and his visting friend, Sam. So, they drove us, we watched gorgeous Italy zoom by.

Saturday morning, gear up, armor, its cold. I wore a durable collared shirt, a wool sweater and a hoodie with my jean jacket and a scarf—I was still cold. Saturday the above mentioned and my friend Scott all participated in our little trip. In the beginning of the day I had the “special” scooter—he was slow, at least while I was driving him. At one point I was way behind and everyone pulled over to wait. As I was trying to get to the other side a huge truck pulled right behind me a honked. That was scary. Sam happened to be taking a video. HA. We snuck into a deserted house. Accidentally went to Gubio and rode in terrifying birdcages up the mountain. Lots of little fabulous things all day. We just rode around and let the road take us where ever.

In my life, this whole scooter extravaganza was merely a vehicle to an art museum. Funny enough ,when we reached Citta di Castello the museum was closed. As I mentioned above, art is the catalyst to all things good in my life. If I hadn’t wanted to see those painting I probably would have NEVER gotten on a blasted scooter. That blasted scooter was one of my favorite things I have done in Italy. I am going to do it again. A monster has been created.

careful. slowly. you go around me. ooops, footing. okay, breathe. do NOT look behind you--SMILE!

this is not a joke. focus. creak, creak, FLIP! splat.

jesus hill. this is a little terraced hill in our hostel town, manarola. manarola was the least toursity of the "five lands."

Cinque Terre: The Adventures of Swamerina and Katerina

All right, time to crack open another nut. This nut is an almond in honor of the homemade trail mix that kept me fed the WHOLE TIME we were in Cinque Terre.

Swamerina and I hiked, and hiked, and looked over the very steep, treacherous edges and hiked, oh, and we ate pesto. One of my favorite trips in Italy.

First hike, HARDCORE! We accidentally went on a “not well marked, no other people around, practically crawling on our hands and knees it is so steep” trail. At one point we seriously had about 18 inches on which to walk, if we went one inch too far we would have landed very, very far down--scary far down. I could not look to my left for sometime, vertigo would have consumed me and I would have become part of the Cinque Terre terrain for eternity. We loved it.

Our day continued with hikes that were very nice but not half as exciting as our debut to Cinque Terre.

We consumed an entire jar of pesto between the two of us in one sitting.

I want to work their for the summer, I actually came very close to asking for a job but then realized I miss my Bloomies and my family too much . . .

The trains had to stop due to rioting caused by soccer rivals. These trains, by the way, lean SEVERELY when ZOOMING the tiny little platforms. We managed to pull a classic Swati and Kate, we just sat chatting while everyone else left, the conductor had to get us off the train. So typical.

I got to wear spandex for an entire day and it was okay.

On our way home we stopped in Florence for a few hours, shopped, had coffee, saw Lili. So nice.

We DID NOT take a taxi home. Cheers! Eat your almonds.

lindsay in the main piazza in prague near the anti-climatic clock.

Prague in a nut shell

yeah, the food, can we say HEAVY!!!!!

A cotton candy nut shell . . .

FANTASTIC TRIP! Prague was fine, it looks like Busch Gardens. No good art which always dampens my experience anywhere. Kafka museum, fine--to stretched. Mucha museum, interesting but not my kind of art. Communist museum, wow, it JUST happened. Swan Lake, that was incredible. Jazz club, fine. Hostel, very nice. Evening ghost tour, not scary. This is ME saying something WAS NOT SCARY.

Fun memories. The Japanese Princess who lived our hostel with her rescuer with leather wrist bands. They were couple who seemed to live in the hostel, spoke neither English nor Italian so we had no communication for smiling (sometimes). They were camped out—settled for the long haul. Throughout our stay in Prague Swati, Lindsay and I created a fictitious scenario of their lives which became our reality of them.

The Burry. They had every kind of beer (I tried many of them (blue berry, coffee, champagne, cherry, regular good eastern European) and still left not liking beer). We went their EVERY day we were in Prague. We became regulars in four days (regulars in our own hearts, not really in theirs).

my name is kate

do not worry, you will get some prague soon. i am tierd but felt a post was needed.

francesco called me kate. there was silence, long, long, long then applause from my close italian class friends (who know i am kate, not katerina). life changing.

prague was great. we did not crash in the alps and end up living in elephant skins from japan .. . long story. we got creative with stories abotu our hostel mates.

you should congragulate my little sister, i hear she is amazing.

i am not happy. i leave in a little over one month. this is a problem. a big problem. like huge.

prague will be put into a nice edited (HA, you can hope) little work of keyboard taps.

oh, i got banged and i have a mullet. bad news. MULLET! now everyone think i am spanish or from argentina. in prague they handed me spanish guides!!!!!

done.

ciao. di cui for reading (that is the bad italian phonetic spelling of the check word for "thank you"). i am gone. ciao.

mi chiamo katerina

Have I mentioned that EVERYONE calls me KATERINA. I hate that name. My Italian teacher, Francesco, calls me Katerina—fine. NOW, because I hate that name ALL of my friends in Italian class AND my roommates call me that blasted name that is not mine.

This week was midterm week—I just finished. Two of my midterms were in class essays in Italian. I am drained. The best part of midterms week was probably the study groups; we have fun. Surrealist games have come back into my life!!! We played them during a study group the other day and are planning to again at the Saturday Cookie Party!! I feel some BIG BOOTY coming on!!! I do not think my Perugia friends understand how much I love these ridiculous games!

Painting is going well. I am working on a project of portraits. The project basically involves a TON of portraits—some sittings as long as an hour, other 4 minutes. I am a tad nervous about loosing some technical aspects of my art BUT I am having a blast! Very generous souls are donating two hours of their time to me starring at them with a brush in my hand and a canvas in front of me. I am in the middle of a large portrait of Bettylou—aprox 3x4. . . Before next class I am going to start a self-portrait the same size--I am always there. Next Tuesday I am presenting my work to the beginning painting class--that will be a good experience.

It is raining in Perugia. Surprise.

Going to Cortona Saturday (I WILL take the right train!!!!).

Leaving for Praga next Tuesday night!!! WOOOO HOOO

londra

i am sitting at stansted airport. £2 left so i decided to spend it on the computer--go figure.

london=more expensive than my left arm with pink finger nails.

kind of reminded me of a more eclectic goregetown and bigger.

saw we will rock you-amazing, SOOO amazing. hostel was fine roommates were horrible, like to the point where at 4 am or something this morning i packed and left to wait in the bar area for the cab. yeah, horrid. irish boys and stupid american girls. i never wonder why we have such a bad reputation after encountering people as i did. starbucks!!! sugar free vanilla soy latte!!! tate modern--very nice. i think i saw one of my rommates from last semester--from afar. lots of veggie patties at subway. zebra print leggins. more broken sunglasses. perugia will be happy to hear abotu my borken sunglasses. when i bought the pair that broke (replacing a different broken pait) the sun left. now that i have broken the cursed pair I am hoping the sun (and some warmth) will find our little hill town.

so london was good. bettylou and i had a nice time together. i need to go back but i am glad i went. very glad. very tierd. 4 minutes remaining. post time.

oh, they cant understand my english in london. i do better in italian!!!!!

too-da-loo

did you know tea for two is actaully dinner for two?

we got a caricature (sp?). its of the same person?! i had a blast with Miss LILI!!!! we ate, shopped, went out. how fun!!! i loved her roommates. i am tierd.

swati and i finished the grab bag last night--5.

oh, the bell, i have to go paint a person. i have to blog about that too. leaving for london. WE WILL ROCK YOU! TATE MODERN!!

ciao tutti!!!!

Torta Pazza

Yesterday evening we had another roommate dinner. Recall time: last roommate dinner through the course of the meal we each consumed an entire bar of cream cheese. Last night it was time for me, Swati and Bettylou to prepare the meal--retaliation time. Bettylou made a fabulous appetizer, a Mexican inspired casserole with Italian cheese and corn and Italian salsa. It was amazing. Swati made spinach lasagna, very nice, very nice. I made the dessert.

Bum, BUM, BUUUUUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

May I begin by stating that it is difficult to find chocolate cake in Italy? Wait, rephrase. It is difficult to find chocolate cake IN THE BOX in Italy. That was more honest. I found some. I bought cake pans. I bought the ingredients for the frosting. Now, when I make (Molly makes) this cake in the US it is not difficult. I (she) take a bar of cream cheese, a tub of whipped cream, a cup of granulated sugar and a cup of powdered sugar, OH and crushed Hershey almond bar and I (she) mixes it. EASY. This should be so simple—no. In Italy the cream cheese is more like yogurt, the whipped cream was only found in a spray can (not refrigerated), the powdered sugar was not a cup and the Hershey almond bar was an eclecticism of chocolates I found at the grocery. That’s fine. I am a creative and accommodating person, this can work.

The cakes stuck to the pan a little—that’s okay, the culinary artist needed a taste. Chopped up the chocolate bars. Fine. Easy. Piece of cake? Not quite. The frosting, it was not becoming frosting—soup. NO, I am not the appetizer!!!! I mixed, I beat with the whippy thing, and I called my Momma!!! Nothing. I threw the frosting into the freezer. Stuck the chopped chocolate on top of our fridge and stuck the two cake pans into our little kitchen closet. Side note: our kitchen closet does not reach the floor, it is a little room and its floor starts about 6 inches above my waist. It is like a purgatory room.

We ate. My mixings sat—cooling (thickening), cultivating, and thinking about life past.

Dinner finished. I asked everyone leave the kitchen. I ran around throwing my cake together. It was a smidgen drippy. Oh, no, A LOT DRIPPY!!! I RANNNNnn into the room where my roommates were waiting for me to call them. I yelled for them to get into the kitchen and START EATING!! The cake is DYING!!!! No questions asked. They all rushed in, saw the cake and grabbed spoons. We ate the cake. All together. One big, happy, cake-eating group of girls in Perugia, Italy.

I ate some of it this morning. Its good.

carnivale masks

cute unseeing americane

bettylou who and i doing basketbal drills early in the morning in the fog of torino

catch up

No big trips in the last week.

Hosted another cookie party. Fabulous, of course. Wonderful company. Caitlin and Marlie made chocolate covered strawberries and macaroons. Oh, yes.

Our bar Bag . . .. So sad, has slowed to an almost stand still.

We found a hookah bar. It is underneath our apartment. So bad. I love it.

Elizabeth is here visiting. I took her to Cortona after class on Monday. We had a very nice time, a little chilly. Then we got lost. Yes, wrong train again. I have a talent. Do you think graduate programs are available in getting lost? I would do very well.

I will try to put together a more interesting and cohesive conglomeration of life after Venice and Torino. Pictures? Possible.

Florence to see LILI this weekend then London.

pictures.

the tower, it leans



pre gaming for carnivale with BL on the train.

Torino and Venice. Olypics and Water City. Dazed and confused/Stranded on desolate italian highways.

I suggest you drink a few espressos and put on an outfit that will last you Thursday through Sunday before you read this.

Thursday night. Barely made the train. Made it. Saw Cortona on our way. Played with Carnivale masks on the train.

First stop Florence. Did not do much. not a lot of time. Next Stop Pisa. Whoa? WHAT!? PISA!! Leaning tower at 3am? I THINK SO. We realized we had a three-hour layover in Pisa. None of us were willing to make a separate trip to Pisa but during a layover, come on! None of us knew the work for tower in Italian so we just said “Dov’e (where is). . . ” and leaned.

Back on the train. Sleeper car like attempt. A tad cramped. Sleeping was a joke.

Boun Giorno, Torino! 730 am. Paid for a clean bathroom and then began our tremendously extended search for where our game was to take place. Found someone to ask, shot us over to someone else to ask. Fine, they do not open until 11. Fine. We will get a coffee and site see. Back. Nope, wrong place. Lindsay and Swati stake out food and the entrance, Bettylou and Kate—FIND THE BLASTED TICKETS!!!!! Bus. Tram? Lines. Met a very nice Canadian boy who tried to straighten me out with a map. HAHA. Fine. Long line. WE HAVE 20 MINUTES!!!!!!! No, no, Bettylou tried to find a better place, I try. NOO!! Some how we then figure out we are in the wrong place. Bye bye, nice Canadian, Grama would have been proud, off to the CoSport office. Darn it, we have NO time. Time to Taxi. Get there via taxi. He waits. . . . honk. You need my passport?! Dig in purse. Dig. . . phew. Grab. Run? Wait, wait! Sign?!!!!! GOOOOOoooo. Taxi. Give him the address and SHOW HIM A MAP of where we are going. Got it? Duh, he is a cab driver. Get there. EVEN LET HIM KEEP THE CHANGE . . . WRONG PLACE!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Past 1300. Way past 1300. Hailing another cab. A driver sees us. Calls us one. Took a long time. Bettylou and I were standing at opposite sides of a large area trying to hail cabs. One stops, we get in. WE GET YELLED at because we did not call the taxi. Get out of the cab. New cab. Will not speak to us. Get to the right place. Sprint out. See Lindsay and Swati who take their time getting to us,. We are going nuts. They finally reach us and share with us that the game has yet to begin. What? (We find out later that the game had in fact started, actually and entire period had been played, oh dear). Get to the game. Fin game. Met some Americans. Surprise. They were nice. Once was named Katie. Surprise.

Are you alright ? Do you need to take a break? You cant. Keep going!

We found tickets for the US Women’s Hockey game. Exciting. Not too pricey. On the tram met the family of one of the US Women’s Hockey Player’s, Molly. Met two women who kindly escorted us to the venue. We did not have to think. It was nice. I had a di prociuto-ed sandwich. Life was good. We got in. Phew. Amazing game. AMAZING. Wow. It went into overtime and a shoot out. The US did loose but the game was incredible. I got to talk to Daddy during the shoot out. That was fun.

Saw the torch. Check (-ed off) and wow.

Okay, by the way, WB was in Torino too. We had one of our ooops, bumped into you in an Italian city moment and said ciao, see ya later. At the train station we managed another meeting and WB announced he was joining our Venice trip!!!!!!!!! How exciting!!!

Train to Venice. Ugh. To sun it up we ended up sleeping on little chairs that pop out of the wall in the corridor of the train cars. People walking back and forth. Lots of stops. Folded over. Sleeping?

530 am, boon groin, venezia. Good morning in deed. Ha. Enthusiasm lacking. Found waterbus tickets on the waterbus. They last an hour. We rode for one hour waiting for the sun. I must say getting into Venice early in the morning was a neat experience. Venice is one of the most unique cities in the world. I walked up to it and occult not see it. I had to wit for the sun. There must be something poetic in that. I was way too tired to appreciate it then.

Good morning, Sunshine. Wander in the (attempt at sun) and cold until a church opens. Church opened.

I am not remembering well. We did that. Headed for an old handmade journal place. A scary, over tourist-ed bridge. And off to Murano, the glass blowing island. We slept on the waterbus. That was neat. We saw a demo. Looked at a ton of glass. I now have another goal in life—to have an overly tacky Venetian Chandelier. It will be splendid. We bought a “family” of colorful glass owls for 5 euro, each took one.

Landed. Hello, it’s the first day of Carnivale. Face paint time. As I was getting my face painted (color scheme, PINK) Daniel Castro found me. Daniel Castro is a good friend from Interlochen. Interlochen, I have not seen him since we went to camp together the summer after my sophomore year of high school!!!! HE FOUND ME!! I knew he was in Venice, he knew I was in Perugia, but the likelihood of that actually happening? We briefly chatted. He still playing the piano, his English is better. I still can’t believe he found me. Wow. So I saw Daniel. Jeepers.

3135. Face painted, WB and I taking a serious picture, as per usual.

Got food. Missed the big showdown in Saint Marc’s Square. Tried to find the hostel. Oh, man. I hate this part. Finding our hostel was painful. We could have died. This brings to mind horrid memories which I will soon bare to the keys of my laptop.

I have to take a minute. Breathe. Okay.

Going to make some more tea. Calming.

Okay. The first time it only took us about two hours to get to our hostel. We took the waterbus and real buses and then walked across a huge highway. No big deal? It should have only taken about 20 minutes, fine, just fine. We had not slept since Wednesday night (it was Saturday evening). We were fine. We made it. The hotel which was connected to the hostel seemed fine. The receptionist led us down a dark garden path to the hostel. It was clean. One of the two rooms was properly heated. No problem. Nap time. Crash time. Two hours later Bettylou and Swati were knocking on the door of the room where Lindsay and I were actively living healthy comas—guys, it’s the first night of Carnivale, we are going out.

Back to the main area of Venice? We did it in about 30 minutes. This was a cruelly deceiving point of our night which contributed to the horrific confusion and frustration we later encountered.

Went out. I had an amazing mascarpone e café crepe. Danced around outside of a bar on Saint Marc’s square. Saw Darth Vader. Bettylou said “Ciao, may the force be with you.” Good comic relief that would have been better inserted into about 3 hours later.

We finished earlier then we thought, thats okay, we would get home in plenty of time. Oh, I type too soon.

Waterbus. Got it. We did not have to wait to long. Good.

OOOO, quick insert. US Women’s Hockey won the bronze!!!!

Okay, water bus. Landed at Piazza Roma. Got on the night bus. No problem, we were directed, strictly instructed to get off at the first stop. We did not like the first stop and stayed on the bus. We stayed on the bus for a long time. Watched chunks of Venice flowing by. Ride it to the next stop? I think that is what we did. We rode it around all of the way and then got off at the right stop. Oh, we ended up at Piazza Roma for a little while. Back on the route. Pushed the button. Got of. Side of the highway. Its IS a bus stop. I saw the bus stop sign. Foggy. Early in the morning. Nothingness. In a city we have never seen. What we have seen was predominately at night. Fine. We started walking. As far as we knew this was right. We ended up walking on the side of a highway, overpass, ramp, intersection thing. Luckily it was so late there were not too many cars. Fog. Foggy. Fog. We had not slept. Where is the hostel? Fine. We called the hostel. He laughed at us. Do not worry, I wrote a review of the hostel which will soon be found on hostelbookers.com. Call us a cab, please. He called us a cab. We stood. On the side of the highway. In Venice. In the fog. The bus came. Fine, forget the taxi. We got back on the bus. Took it to some train station. We got to the hostel. All wanted to kick the reception man. To bed.

In the morning there was free breakfast. YAY, FREE. We sat down had coffee, nutella, roles, normal continental Italian breakfast. Oh, I got an idea. Lets take some of the prepackaged toast and jam for later. Without any stealing savvy, I marched up to the breakfast table took four of each and marched back to my seat. I was followed by an angry Italian server, yelling at me for taking what I would not be eating on the premises. I told her that I was just getting for my friends. I made them eat it. After we had gorged ourselves on the nutella and rolls I asked my friends to consume even more. They did. And I did not get killed by the angry Italian woman. I Smiled and told her to have a nice day. This event reverts back to the day I stole a button that looked like red sunglasses. Mom made me return it to the manager. I took a different approach this time. . .

The Peggy Guggenheim in Venice was amazing.

The ride home we stopped in Florence and I got to see Lili for 20 minutes.

Finito.

oh, and hopefully some labrynth pics to come!!!!

i made him feel better.

a statue outside of parliment facing the danube.

gross but good. oh dear

PestABud

Okay. I am leaving for another trip this weekend and cannot let my blog get too backed up. I must quickly fill you in on Budapest.

Airport. Darn it, they almost did not let us leave the country, ooops.

Oh, we had to see Mozart Opera, Titus Kegyelme or something because Tosca (SO SAD) was sold out. So we did, but on Friday. Two very smelly grils put on nice ltitle outfits in the airport bathroom (we sued the family one) and ran to a taxi, said ciao Budapest and ran to the opera. Opera House, amazing. Loved it. Wow. An old man who spoke no language that we did took us to a bust of the man who designed the edifice. Fabulous.

Hostel. Haha, 8 person room all boys but us. It was fun. They were nice. Whatever. We always have a good time. OH, speaking of hostel boys, the people that were next too us on the plane knew the kids we met at Bellaroma Hostel!! WHOA.

Oh, and I was hallucinating crepes and I thought I saw a Starbucks. I was a tad famished. This is the night after we lefts italy and ran to the opera. Same time. We found the 24 hour crepes place. Good. Banana Turmix. My new best friend. Why in Hungry? It is easier to have lovers that are from afar.

It is very difficult to try and do this in a 15 minute period of time. I appologise for the haphazard manner in which I am composing this.

Our breakfast looked like dessert. Parliament was awesome and inspired me in the world of molding (not green on food). Currently the first female (president?) is reinging. For 10 mil citizens there are 385 reps. Wow. Go hungry! They can never manage to vote the number down. Oh, and congress meets in the old opera house. Fun Fun.

Oh, funny language things. I grabbed some roasted chesnuts form a vendor. He said “hello” to us as we walked away. Made me smile. I left a dressing room (didn’t buy anything!) and the helper woman said “you are the best.” I love it.

Why are the seats under the chandalier the cheapest?

Haha, it might fall.

Going, going, going.

Hotel Gellert. Masssage. Lots of nakedness everywhere. CHEAP. Hot baths. I am going to have my bachlorette party there. Well, not totally bachlorette because Marty and Zach are invited . . . Then we had AMAZING FACIALS. This was all very cheap and warm.

HOT.

Oh, Swati fell asleep during the facial (snored).

Okay. Went to the castel and the hilarious Labrynth. We grabbed a little lantern and ran around posing with all of the very bad immitaion statues and cave paintings. So fun but then, ALL of the other lanterns went out. The only light we had was our own lantern. I am not kdding and those of you who have been in the dark and or to aan amusment park with me should understand how poor Swati must have felt. Spooky music was playing., we oculdnt see. I was scared. We bumbped into some people who looked ta us like we ewre NUTS and realized that the lights were supposed to go out.

Home. Nap. Talk to Greek Boy about art. Restaruant. Slap tierd. Up again. Another Turkish Bath. The City Baths. Coed, have ot wear a bathing suit. Go OUTSIDSE into a very hot bath. We looked pretty silly. STEAM.

Art Museum, waned to run in and see Goya. No time or money. Went to the coffee shop because a Guard was kind.

Taxi to airport. Pretty much the ned of a crazy weekend. I am sure I am missing many details but I must run off to Torino to watch womens hockey at 1 pm.

Obviously, they did lets us back into the country.

Sorry for the bad, grammar/spelling. This is like a massive IM. Sorry. CIAO TUTTI!!!

filler

okay, budapest was AMAZINGGGG!!! I will fill you in on that later. a few things a have been meaning to type.

when italians go to the track they sprint for about 2 minutes then stand around and talk for about 30 minutes. repeat. despite that they all still look fabulous in spandex. soccer players everywhere.

have i mentioned my rommates are all amazing. fabulous. i love them. we are all SO different (which is why this is owrking). i just needed to clarify that. lets all jump for joy.

laurie-gives me a budget to shop for her necklaces, love it! i have yet to find some. . . thats okay. AND she is going to go to guys and dolls with me in london.

mariana-italian, the real kind. cooks a lot, dosnt let us. always gives a hug when needed (like when i got home from spoletto ancona)

kelly-we run off for secret things like baby yogurt and pastery

bettylou who-gives me the giggles at the worng times, hmm, like in class when the prof said "my cousin, fabio." most of you know why that is particularly funny in my life and why we lost it. yup, embarassing, we LOST it!

swati-my favorite travel buddy. running buddy. cooking buddy. she is a good buddy.

i am excited for pating. a tad scared of having an idependent study atmophere but i am redy for it.

yes.

Basel the Basil. oh dear. we bought a basil for our apartment. killed it over night. she rested, resurected, apocolypsed and armegedoned. it was a battle and she lost. please dont tell the real basel. . .

okay, despite the fact that aquarius did just start playing on my ipod i must go and eat the last packet of rise i have left. swats, bl and i are coop-ing later. the age of aquarius.

oh, i did not edit or spell check, mi spiace. . . .

ciao ciao

a horiffic but colorful room atthe modern art museum in spoletto. we could nto take pics inside . . . the funky glare.

see. hear. speak.

wool castle

Friday we had a roommate dinner. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Through out the course of the meal we each consumed (in the food, not plain) one 8 oz. bar of cream cheese EACH. Gross. Then we napped—a lot. At 1200 we got up to leave our apartment at 130 to dance at Domus. I know I said I didn’t like Domus very much but it IS a little fun . . . Bettylou and I have a fun game, choosing our victims. I was the victim of a very nice young man who will appear later in the blog (he kind of rescued me, Swati, Bettylou and Katie (a girl from Umbra that we met)).

Spoleto. Oh my goodness. One of the most memorable, stressful and hilarious day of my life in Italy, no doubt. The best part is every time Swati, Bettylou and I have tried to really this day, we are the only ones laughing, crying. I will do my best to share this splendid disaster.

We went to bed around 5. I woke everyone at 1030 the next morning. We got to the train station smoothly. Got to Spoleto, no problem. GReaT! The reason we (I) wanted to go to Spoleto was to see the modern art Museum and the huge Calder sculpture outside of the bitty train station. I am not even Calder’s biggest fan but he seems to follow me everywhere. HE follows ME. At the train station there were little packs of sugar with the sculpture on it. I wanted to steal some for my friends but got scared. Bettylou and Swati stole some for me, but I did not. And I lost them. Grr.

Fun day. Walked along a bridgey thing over nice hiking areas (twas cold), took tons of fun pictures. I love them.

Great day.

Train time. Buckle up. OH, WAIT. I always for get this part. My friend that I made the night before, he text messaged me the next to say is this your number. I wanted to say no, have a nice life. I do not make friends in clubs. Luckily, I was cordial. Contact was made which will save us later. THANK GOODNESS. Every time I type “thank goodness” I think of Wicked (Mommy, molly, Casey, Daddy, appreciate this).

Okay, okay. Train Station. We meet Katie, she goes to U of R. We get on the train. The right train. Hmm. Oh, the train ride is so nice, long. We are tired, make dinner plans back in Perugia. We will be home no later than 9. OH, Swati left her book at the station in Spoleto. Sad. Train, roll. Chit Chat. Fine. Hmm, it has been a while. My goodness. Why do we keep ZOOMMING past so many stops? Gosh, that doesn’t look familiar.
Darn it. BL and I went and asked a man sitting on the train. He looked at us and said we are on our way to Ancona. This is when Kate stops giggling and panic mode (but controlled, just very tense) SETS IN. Okay, fine. Get off at the next stop. NO NO NO someone says, get off at Ancona. Fine. We land at Ancona. I sprint ahead (its about 9 now) to the info office--talk to them. Run to the ticket office. Closed. Sprint back to info office. Go to the auto things. Run back. Schedule. Orario. OH no. NO. Okay, we were supposed to change at Foligno, 30 mins outside of Perugia. Fine, get back to Foligno (which we accidentally call FOligono ALL of the time). NOOOOOOO. The last train from Foligno to Perugia leaves at 952. IT’S a 2-HOUR RIDE!!! NOOOOO!!!! Fine. Breathe. RUN to Internet café. No luck. Bus to Perugia from Foligno, haha no.

Pause.

Breathe.

Think.

Shoot, oh, shoot. I know. I know. DARN it. I have a semi solution. Poop. GRR. The nice boy we met the night before. The one who text messaged me during the day. The one who wanted to take me out to breakfast. He is from Folgino. Shoot. Good thing I did not break of that contact . . .

I text messaged him and asked him to look for the bus schedule for me. ALL in Italian. He (I figured out later) speaks English but spoke only in Italian with me because I asked him to. Grr. He messaged back and offered to drive us. DARN IT!!! What does one do? No other option. Fine. thank you, He messages back and says he will bring two cars for all of us. I started crying on the train (while laughing, kind of). NO, not two cars. One is PLENTY. Thank you, we will see you at 1130. AHHHHHH! This the very short version of the inner and outer turmoil. I was going crazy. This is all. Breathe. Its okay. Momma, I was safe, I promise!

This whole train ride was full of me freaking out, laughing HYSTERICALLY, flipping out more and then, I kinda, I cant believe I am blogging this. I cant. I had to go potty. Bettylou walked with me. I was so shaky and upset. We opened the door to the bathroom and I lost it, we lost it. We died. You could pretty much see the tracks through the seat. Can you imagine the rest of the story? Please do. I can’t type it.

Okay, pause.

We landed at Foligno. Time to encounter clubman. I was still really mad that I had to ask for his help. He was so nice. So gentlemanly. Everything went really well. Before we got in the car Swati made a list of questions to ask him. I told them that in the case of a lull in conversation they WOULD loose their lives. My favorite. Oh my. I about died. I was actually having a fairly normal conversation with him (I asked if we could speak in English, which he speaks fluently, I didn’t know, I was just too stressed to speak in Italian). Any ways, Bettylou suddenly said .. Oh, wait.

Aside--We have an obsession with Vespas, getting a ride. Our latest mode of attempting to procure a ride is for me to ask for a cigarette from guys with helmets. . . We haven’t done it yet an I wont smoke all of the cigarettes (again, that’s for my Momma).

So, Bettylou suddenly says, “Hai una vespa?” I lost it. In a good way. Wow. I lost it. So random. So innocent. So blunt. So wonderful. I love Bettylou. Wow.

I am tired now. Are you tired too? You should be. That was a lot.

I am being safe and smart and surrounding myself by those who are safe and smart. No worries.


the wool castle is a bad translation of the name of a fortress at spoleto.

i love to laugh

Today was beautiful. This afternoon I daintily perched on the windowsill of our kitchen window and watched the little people of Perugia go about life during la pausa. As I was perching I watched a little vespa hit a little man. Was I concerned? Oh, no, no, no--I laughed. I am so bad. AND HE HEARD ME. It wasn’t really a hit, just a bump. I am so horrible.

All right, must catch up on the grab bagging.

Velvet

Excuse me, Velvet Fashion Café. Velvet. Blue. Loud music. It is said you should only wear black. That tends to be a problem for me. Posh-ish. I broke out my Posh Spice Pucker. An older crowd. American music. EXPENSIVE. I wore my fabulous leopard heels, which was a painful choice after dancing and then having to walk back up the hills.

Enone (there should be accents on the e’s

Wow. Swati and I were going expecting Sushi night. Sushi night ended last week. Poop. No, fabulous. We plopped down in our (not reserved, oops) seats and looked over the menu. Things looked good, the service was nice. It was time for Kate Korroch and Swati Shroff to actually have a really dinner out (we had to celebrate the first day of Umbra Classes). Wow, what a meal. We scoured the huge wine bible for a cheapish bottle. The cheapest was from Assisi, a white. It was acompanined with some little free sampler do das with toothpicks. Our appetizer we split. It was a cheese plate. The little man came out and explained each cheese for us. We were instructed to begin at 12 o’clock and continue around the plate in a clockwise path—mild to strong. The cheeses were amazing. I cannot tell you any of the names but they were incredible. One was an old favorite from Cortona, some form of pecorino . . . that’s all I can remember. Entree time. We split the two vegetarian options—a spinach flan and a mushroom risotto. Heaven. We concluded our dinner with what I like to call a chocolate volcano (what they served up on special occasions at toninos). Phew. Good.

We proceeded to café morlacchi to meet a bunch of our friends Morlacchi is my favorite place. There was a group playing. A blind woman playing on the piano and shriek singing. The aesthetic was amazing, not soft, howl almost but so involved and engrossed. Some of her singing reminded me of the music from Frida. Accompanying her was a man on guitar (who also sang) and a guy on trumpet. People were dancing around and just having a ball. It was beautiful.

Went to tandem last night, a bunch of Italian and a bunch of Americans are paired up and you speak. They guy I talked to gave me a flier for Speed Date Night—haha.

Classes, so far so good. We have only had two days. I dropped my da Vinci class and am now taking Contemporary Italy Soceity and Culture. I figure I should learn all of that if I am going to grad school here. . .

life is to good

i am going to see TOSCA in BUDAPEST next weekend. thats about all i can say right now.

http://www.viennaticketoffice.com/detail_en.php?ID=608&VO=47140

team cookie

outside of the vatican in rome

Balla e canta

Written 26.01.2006

This week is the high point of me shamefully learning the art of skipping class. Next week is when our real class begins—I will be attending all of those.

Tuesday night—Amazing dinner with the Hard Rock kids. Loop again for a “Pearl Jam” concert. Fun, kind of random, but very fun. At the end Lindsay got onto the stage and played a Pink Floyd Song on guitar.

Last night, despite our fatigue, we decided (I demanded) to accomplish a few of our grab bag goals.

Contraputno

This bar is quite renowned for its outdoor festivities during the warm season (it got to -10 C last night). We trekked down a slightly dim alleyway and wandered to where a sign had the words “Contraputno” on it. As we turned into the bend we saw a very large, very dark porch with tables, a bar, etc. Not at all discouraged we pranced up the stairs to the porch, pressed our cold little hands on the icy glass, our breath creating little circles of frost—we waited for a sign of life. Contraputno was most definitely closed. I could not stop laughing. Got a picture.

L’Elfos

Alright, one strike but perseverance and tenacity were strong in our cold, cold, and OH SO FRIGIDLY COLD blood last night. We went to a few Piazza’s we know hoping to find this pub which happened to be the first vegetarian restaurant in Perugia. We asked some guys in the street, they pointed us in the right direction. Another dark ally (don’t worry, I travel in groups of three or more), we walked. Finally we came across a little door way with some odd looking people standing in it. I asked them if it was our destination, of course it was. We went in and later figured out the odd looking people we the band which was performing that night. Fun place, very neighborhoody. One girl was there to sing and all of her friends were they to support her and they were SO excited about it. Warmed my little heart. Good place to attempt to find a Veggie Burger. They are supposedly known for playing classic rock.

Tonight we have the Australian children coming for dinner and then a Mozart Choral concert. We may go to Loop, may try a new bar. Tomorrow night is the big dessert night. OH!!!! Today I met a girl NAMED KATE from BLOOMINGTON! She went to high school with Jada and hangs out at Soma! I can’t wait to talk to her more! She leads some Christian organization here in Perugia, my friends goes. Before their Bible studies they have English/Italian conversation hour. I am going to go tomorrow.

Tango was to early yesterday so I will try for next week. That was disappointing but I will go on, tangoing in my soul.

This weekend is just me Swati and Bettylou Who. Twill be quiet but we shall miss the rest.

Ciao Ciao.

Written 28 gennaio 2006

I had some technical difficulties so I was not able to post the last blog as promptly as I had hoped. The technical difficulties were due to my little thumb drive having a little switch pushed to the wrong side. I was convinced that the woman at the Internet café had taken over my computer.

The Australian kids were precious—so gracious, so appreciative. They worshipped Bettylou. When Swati and I left for the Mozart they all took pictures with us. Cute.

Mozart was wonderful. We only stayed for half but I felt very at home being surrounded by classical music. The vocalists were very active; practically performed the work as an opera despite the fact the concert was in a lecture hall. Granted, the lecture halls in Perugia are extremely elaborate in décor compared to the ones at IU.

So, I have tried a few new bars but they were not grab bags. Swati and I have a lot of work to do this weekend.

Café Milano

Seems very posh but it is not intimidating—like it was okay that I hadn’t showered or gotten out of my school clothes. At Café Milano one can order any kind o drink and it comes with a complimentary munchie. Our friends (part of the hard rock group) had arrived quite a bit earlier and had cocktails and wine. They were also served little munchies with random things from avocado to tuna to broccoli on them. Swati and I went for a very nice (though a bit to syrupy for me) dolce vino. With our beverages we were served nutella crepes. Oh, life is wonderful.

The next day I happened to return to Café Milano for the conversation group. I met another person from Bloomington there. WEIRD but wonderful! How crazy. The conversation group was fun. There were people from all over. We played a game sort of like Taboo (in both English and Italian). Everyone was very nice.

So yesterday morning I was wandering around the house taking my time getting ready. Now, you all know I have a singing problem. I just sing a lot--like a lot, a lot. When a person is living in Italy there are many wonderful places to just sing. For some reason Weber’s Pie Jesu (spelling?) has been in my head so I have been singing that. I ended up starring out of one of our window into our little courtyard singing Pie Jesu. Hmm, our courtyard in one for many. Pretty much all of the apartments in our building surround our little courtyard—I forgot that this means many people can look into it and into the other windows of the apartment. So, basically, one of our neighbors got a nice little late morning concert yesterday. My roommates will NOT let me live it down.

Cookie party was fabulous. It was very slightly reminiscent of my High School graduation party accept it was a potluck. Craig and Jeremiah came over around 7 to join Swats, BL and I in the begining of the very tedious process of backing cookies in Italy. Conversions, chopping chocolate bars, melting butter, not slicing fingers, extracting vanilla extract from the tiny sample perfume like vile—it was intense. We did it and they were FABULOUS. Tons of people came, lots of mingling, lots of amazing dessert (one of my friends, Marlie, from Vermont (family you understand why this is interesting) whom I may be joining a Perugian choir with (why not share my singing with ALL of Perguia and not just my neighbors) made brownies from scratch). We had some amazing crème puffy things, jelly thingies, just overall a very sweet smorgusboard.


Midnight, went to loop for a little while then we briefly visited Celebrate because Marlie was working, I do not like that place. Left and ventured to the most recent new club in the life of Kate Korroch,

Domus

We had to go through a little room with black padded doors. We got to dance. I enjoyed myself quite a bit and met a few interesting people but I will not be frequenting this club save for those “I NEED to dance” days. I have those often so who knows. Yup, so, nice but not the kind of ambiance by which I like to constantly surround myself.

We then had tea with Marion, Jasmin and Gosia (the later two, Erasmus students, are leaving Tuesday!).

Oh, so these “we’s” are just me and Bettylou, Swati was getting up very early to go to Sienna for the day. When BL and I got home we were joined by Swati in the kitchen. We got a very good laugh out of hat. Swats saw us to bed and left for the day.

Tonight we will hopefully be trying some grab bag bars. I am going to throw some pasta together for all of those who went to Sienna. Should be a good day. What day isn’t good that begins after 1?

Boun Weekend!

its a small world after all!

Thursday night at midnight Swati, Kait, Lindsay and I decided to leave for Rome the next morning. So, the next morning Swati and I went running then hopped onto the train (after being delayed due to a slight obsession with falafel).

Kait and Lindsay arrived before we did, they waited. Swati and I arrived. We then commenced a very long and unintentional tour of Rome and its mass transit system (we seriously covered almost one entire line). Despite our “short cut” we were all in very good spirits.

We came across the Vatican at night. Wow.

Hostel. The first night we stayed at Bella Roma. By the time we arrived at the hostel the staff and I were quite intimate due to my frequent calls during our unintentional tour of Rome that evening. We were pooped so we stayed in for the night. Ty-manages the hostel, from California, met some girl, followed her to Italy, she found someone else, he is there now. BJ-British, hates London, took us to McDonalds (it was so late they were no longer making food, the ONLY vegtitarian option was french-fries). Matt and Greg-Americans studying in Copenhagen, very relaxed, very fun. Lindsay and I are trying to arrange a visit to see them and stay with their host families. From what I hear we had a very unusual hostel experience. By the end of the night we were all buddies. We just sat around joking and talking about why we were in Europe, what we wanted to do, playing games, trying to find cheap cake, etc.

In the middle of the night we woke up to two guys in our room fighting about smoking in bed. Probably not the safest but we were all smothering our faces in our pillows so that they would not hear us laughing.

Morning. Vatican Museum. Due to the fact that I was at the Vatican in August, I went straight to the modern section. Not the most impressive collection, duh, it’s the Vatican. I went around sketching works I liked, things I would like to apply to my own work etc. A security guard noticed me sketching and approached me. He was very fascinated with what I am doing in Italy, etc. By the end of our conversation (senza inglese) he took me out to a courtyard in the middle of the Vatican museum where tourists are not allowed to go. Pretty neat.

Met our friends Alexis, Patrice, Jeremiah and Craig at the Spanish steps. Had way too expensive pizza. Went to the Keats-Shelly Museum. I love romanticism. Being in the museum reminded me how much I appreciate what I learned in high school and that I should read that stuff more often. What a fascinating group of people they were. While I was in the museum I was looking out the window down at all of the people sitting on the Spanish steps. I told Swati that I wanted to just sit and draw everyone. Later the hostess of the museum told us that the Spanish steps where a prime venue for models to lounge around waiting to be picked by artists for subjects of the artists’ paintings.

Trevi fountain. No explanation needed. Tourists. I got back to Rome without going to the Trevi last year. I wonder what will happen now that I made a wish for it?

Piazza Novana. I am not a huge fan. Very touristy. It is pretty and historically it is interesting.

We all kind of split up, went back to our hostels (new hostel, not worth mentioning, boring). Later we all met up for dinner. Originally we were going to go to a nice dinner where there was a chocolate menu. Instead, the famished Americans SHAMELESSLY ventured to HARDROCK CAFÉ! During our hour-long wait for a table I noticed VEGGIE BURGER on the menu. At that moment I ran around and hugged all of my friends. My veggie burger was followed by a HUGE brownie Sunday.

Morning, just Swati and me. Grabbed a Cappuccino and Croissant then headed to the bus. As we were chatting on the bus we simultaneously saw the Mario Praz Museum, a museum we both wanted to visit but did not really have on our agenda. We pushed the little red button and hopped off the bus. So, Swati and I went into the museum at 1010. Apparently the tours were only by the hour, the receptionist was very stern about this (may I please remind you no one speaks English, my Italian language skills, thought still dull, are sharpening). She sort of brushed us away then sighed and spoke quickly on the phone. She told us to go up the top floor. We figured were rushing to meet the tour that began at 10. Nope, we had a tour all to ourselves. Swati, the guide and I walked around talking (me getting to translate) about what was in the museum, the history of Praz, his family, etc. AMAZING EXPERIENCE. Mario Praz was an Italian who taught English. His main love in life was collecting things—art works, furniture, miniatures, etcBeing an art historian I was surprised by the fact that he died in the 1980s. His taste was old; I would have dated him back to the later 1800s. The locals thought he was cursed, they spit at him and at his house when in passing. The Museum is his very well-done apartment. Apparently all of his things were sold and they had to be bought back in order for the museum for open. As we left Swati and I grabbed some books and took notes. When we left the little receptionist got up and embraced us while kissing our cheeks. I love Italians. She was so haughty then ended up treating us like her long lost daughters. I think they were enamored with our enthusiasm for their museum.

Bus. FABULOUS market. We landed in a very Italian area. The market was SO crowded. We had a blast touring around and deciding if/what to buy. I ended up getting 5 fabulously tacky necklaces for 10 euro. The bargaining was fun. I offer a price, he says no, I walk away, he says yes. I like it.

After the market we saw the word falafel. If you haven’t figured this out from the beginning of this entry Swati and I have a slight obsession. We marched across the street to the falafel joint. They loved us! As I previously stated this area of Rome did not have any tourists, so no one spoke English. They were so exited to see Americans. The man in charge of the restauraunt gave us a supli (I do not know how to spell this). It was basically a friend ball of rice (Spanish-esque) breaded on the outside—scrumptious. They were just so happy and so kind, so hospitable and so excited to share their favorite parts of their culture—food.

Mass Transit to the Coliseum. Yup, ultimate tourist thing to do. It was cold but you have to go in once in your life. While we were there we saw a man we met on the train on Friday. We were all excited to see each other and recount what we had done while in Rome. I had a small history with this man. On the train I asked him (in Italian) at which station we were. He replied, “I speak English.” We chatted and he asked where I lived. I told him I was from the United States, he dryly answered, “I know.” Despite his seemingly crass manner he ended up using the word “colorful” to explain something he had seen while t the coliseum. He now has a special place in my heart.

Train station. Ate Brie Crockers at McDonalds. Took the train back. Saw a ton of Umbra kids on the train. Took a cab home from the station. POOPED.

Going out to some friend’s apartment tonight. Tomorrow there is tango class. Thursday Bettylou is having Australians (high schoolers) over. Friday we are having a dessert party. Swati and I have drawn a few more grab bag bars but haven’t gone yet—oh, no worries, we will.

I bought an Italian dictionary, like all Italian.

Overall I am starting to actually not think about using Italian and it is just coming out. I still feel so rusty and uncomfortable but I guess I am growing. I am still trying to branch out socially and meet more and more people. This is very hard to do because I really like everyone I have met. We still have over three months. No one is going anywhere. Actually, my Erasmus friends are going next week. Bummer.

I might go back to Rome to look at their art schools (for grad school). I do not want to loose the language.

I am looking forward to painting. Very much. I miss it. I think I am really ready to get back into it. Reflex those little muscles. Remind me of this when I am learning a ton and not producing a product I like. Process. Process. Process. PRODUCT! Process.

Momma, I am at a Japanese computer so i do not know how to email you. I LOVE the new designs. Tweedle numero due.

Ciao Tutti!!!!

Quando a Perugia

Well, Swati and I have done pretty well with our bar/café grab bag. Since we set our goal we have tried (or at least visited) 5.

Shamrock: Like it’s name, it is not quite Italian. Despite Shamrock’s lack of Italian spice it was quite well sprinkled with people from all over the world. I was hoping to see some little green men with fabulous hats and thick black belts--niente. Though we did find the dart room. Bettylou and I played a 501 game. I have improved since high school though I do think I was making some of the guys next to us a tad nervous.

Celebrate: Yuck. Empty. Looked like it wanted to be danced in, it wasn’t. I have a friend who works there so maybe I will go back but it was not a thrilling experience.

Merlin: Haha, we walked in and there were a bunch of men sitting at tables wearing numbers. They all sort of perked up when we walked in—it was date-note night. Apparently this is a version of speed dating. If a person finds another person appealing he or she sends a note to him or her. I really wanted to jump in, what a perfect way to practice my Italian! I am a little sick so I decided to put the note-dating off to another night!

AND Bettylou bought me a flower.

Okay, the next night. . .

Café Morlocchi: I loved it. Café Morlocchi was not busy at all when we went but it is known for having poetry readings, live music, etc. They had a huge variety of different teas and hot chocolates (gross to me, SOO thick). I had a fabulous flute of my favorite thing—dolce vino. I think that café Morlocchi could be my new home away from home. Oh, all Italians.

Loop: Another “I loved you” and all Italians. Loop was wonderful. We went up a little set of stairs into a second floor café/musical venue/art gallery. WHY!!! I LOVE IT! We sat down at a little table, everyone was speaking in Italian. After a few minutes two guys got up on the stage and started singing and playing acoustic guitar. This event was very well done but tickled my giggle. All of the pieces which were performed were American acoustic guitar songs sung in Italian. You all know how I feel about that, but it was very funny figuring out the lyrics.

So, how fun, things are going well.

Classes are pretty much going the same. I am struggling but persevering. Sometimes I hate tenacity. Speaking is still terrifying—don’t laugh. I love going to my contemporary art class because I know the material so well. During the lecture I pretty much understand everything.

All right, a rewarding experience. I have a friend in my stranieri classes who is Japanese; her name is Maheko (I feel very ignorant spelling that, I have NO clue what is right). I was speaking to her the other day, just chatting between classes, etc. I accidentally said something in English and she just looked at me. I realized that we had never spoken in English, she doesn’t speak English. I am so used to everyone knowing English that I just assumed she knew. SO, I inadvertently made a friend with out using ANY English whatsoever!

Well, I am off to Rome on Saturday. Just a quick trip. I am hoping to find some modern art exhibits!!! I must study my competition!!!!

Well, a pleasant weekend to you all!!!!

fotografia

at the national museum in perugia. me, kait, and lindsay.

more pics to come!

trying to get pictures up

if this works?

trying to get pictures up

if this work this is a picture of four of my roommates and me

Mi Piace Senti Mouvi!

When we leave the University everyday there are little people handing out fliers with various activities for the evening and upcoming week. Today a particular flier was thrust into my hand advertising Strawberry Daiquiris AND a movie. The movie is “Family Stone”. On the poster of the flier the movie is titled “Feel the Love.” Next to the poster on the flier the words read, “Fell the Love.”

Italian’s obsession with American Pop Culture (which I know SO well) is always fascinating to me. I try so hard to appreciate that I am from such an affluent place but it is also a smidgen depressing me. Is there any way to get away from it? I am trying my utmost to soak in as much NON-American culture as possible.

Last night one of my roommates Swati and I had dinner with some friends we made this weekend. They are from Switzerland, Poland, Holland and Austria. At dinner we talked about Euthanasia, the death penalty, celebrations (Carnival, Halloween, Day of the Dead, etc). It was so interesting to here what everyone had to say. The more we all learn from each other the more our opinions will develop. It was intriguing to hear what they had to say compared to what we are taught compared to what they are taught.

Don’t worry--it wasn’t all serious, the night before we went to a Disco Tec together.

My other big NON-American venture of the weekend was a guy I met named Aldo. I was walking home from the Internet one evening and a young man and his big hyper dog (named Bob, my Daddy’s name!) were ahead of me. We kind of just said hello but kept walking together. We ended up chatting and he is from Camucia (the bigger part of Cortona). We exchanged phone numbers so that we could meet again. The next day he called and he took me to a very cute little café to have un café. Please keep in mind that there is a language barrier. We both wanted to practice the language we do not know while getting to know one another. Instead of talking about American Pop Culture (what many Italian want to talk about with Americans) we talked about where we are from, the differences of our two countries, even got onto religion, etc. Refreshing that experience was.

A few random things:

If you know my sister and have not congratulated her on being a FRESHMAN in high school and getting the LEAD in Guys and Dolls, I suggest you should

Swati and I made dinner for some friends. We did NOT burn the apartment down.

In class last week someone was playing the piano the hole time. Wow. Amazing. Distracted. I think it was Chopin. I would love for my painting to reflect art as his music does.

The Professors always leave their coats on (as do the students). Sometimes they stand the hole first hour of class. Sometimes they stand holding their coats. They are just so ready to start, the just go!

The rooms in which we have our classes are amazing, molding, high ceilings, church pew like desks sort of like at the Wren Chapel In Williamsburg. When I am walking around the building sometimes I just walk by a fresco.

I only have two week left at l’Universita Stranieri.

One of my teachers teased me about (stupidly, I changed as soon as class got out) not wearing socks. I thought y’all would appreciate that.

I am going to attempt to upload some pictures if my silly blog actually starts to work.

Swati and I just wrote down every café and bar in Perguia on little pieces of paper. I put them into a baggy and we are going to randomly draw them out every other day and GO!

Gadgets and Gizmos

Please congratulate my little sister, Miss Adelaide, on her part in Guys and Dolls.

I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, MARZ!

Classes are still draining but I have almost gotten through my first week. This has been SUCH a wakeup call when considering my pampered fall semester. Yesterday (during my over 9 hours of class day) I went to lunch with some of the other 411 Umbra Students. We spoke in Italian the hole time. I hate it. In Italian speaking is my weakest area (go figure). It is very frustrating try to grow and practice AND get to know people. I know if I keep it up I will grow an enormous amount.

Today one of my classmates told me that his Dad directs Disney movies—example, THE LITTLE MERMAID. I pretty much choked on my pizza.

Tonight my roommates and I are making pizza then possibly heading out to soak in a bit of the Perugian nightlife. The Bar names crack me up. In Cortona we had Route 66. In Perugia there is Merlin and The Cave, Celebrate, etc. Oh no, American Culture is not spreading EVERYWHERE, not at all.

Ciao Tutti!

Sono distruttiva . . .

Thank you to the dear person who fixed this for me. My attempt at something technical was about to die.

So, last night I blew out the electricity in my apartment. Ooops. As I was prancing around my little room trying to unpack my over due luggage I thought it would be fun to listen to iTunes. My little target power converter is not so good--She blew all of the power out. This is after I broke (with another roommate) one of the locks on our front door and chipped paint of off my heater. What can I say? I am destructive.

In a class taught in Italian if the professor runs out of room on one line he or she just simply continues the word on the next line (very confusing for an American student who does not know all of the vocabulary in the Italian language). I am learning.

Tomorrow I get to go to Art History classes taught in ITALIAN!!!

Vengo dagli Stati Uniti.

Italy has been graced with my presence yet again.

Perugia is wonderful. Though, I have only been here for a few days I am already quite confident that this semester is going to be fabulous.

Swiss Air lost my baggage. I JUST received it. My roommates have been very gracious sharing clothes with me. Someone told me that Swiss Air will reimburse me for what money I have spent while waiting for my luggage--I went on a modest shopping trip. I wonder how I could lose more bags?

My apartment is fantastic (save for the allotted 6 hours of VERY WEAK heat per day). There are 5 bedrooms, a common room, kitchen, and 1 ½ bath. I do have a room to myself. The comforter has big bold striped and polka dots—very Katiedid. I think it will look very much like home when I get my things thrown into the muddle. Pictures to come!

Today was my first day of class at L’Universita Stranieri. I will not tell you that it took my friend and I 30 minutes to find the building (which is about 5 minutes from our apartment). Our first class was three hours. THREE HOURS. I am exhausted. Of course I was the very first person called the professor attacked (she did not really attack me, she actually seems very kind). I did not completely devastate myself but lets just say I have quite a bit to learn and the way Italian is taught in American NOT VERY ITALIAN. She asked me a question in a different formatt then they do in the first FOUR levels of american taught italian. I stumbled but made it. The class has people from Japan, Korea, France, Pakistan and Turkey (no Italian). Most of the people are their getting real degrees; we are just getting into the cultural part. The core curriculum for my language study includes two Italian language classes, Italian lit, contemporary history, art history classes (modern, contemporary and medieval). Wow. I am pooped just looking at the week ahead.

I think I will learn more than I would ever be capable of in the US. Growth takes pain.

Well, heading off to cook some beans! I have one vegetarian roommate. YAY!

Oh, the very fist person I met when I arrived to JFK, her name is Kate and she goes to William and Mary, The worlds is small.

OH, one more thing. As we were landing in Rome (it was a long landing) I swear to my furry leopard print shoes that I saw the exact place from which the commission I just finished as inspired. I knew the area very well. It was the perfect set up of little farm castle and mountains coming together. Just a fun tidbit.

Ciao!

Vengo dagli Stati Uniti.

Italy has been graced with my presence yet again.

Perugia is wonderful. Though, I have only been here for a few days I am already quite confident that this semester is going to be fabulous.

Swiss Air lost my baggage. I JUST received it. My roommates have been very gracious sharing clothes with me. Someone told me that Swiss Air will reimburse me for what money I have spent while waiting for my luggage--I went on a modest shopping trip. I wonder how I could lose more bags?

My apartment is fantastic (save for the allotted 6 hours of VERY WEAK heat per day). There are 5 bedrooms, a common room, kitchen, and 1 ½ bath. I do have a room to myself. The comforter has big bold striped and polka dots—very Katiedid. I think it will look very much like home when I get my things thrown into the muddle. Pictures to come!

Today was my first day of class at L’Universita Stranieri. I will not tell you that it took my friend and I 30 minutes to find the building (which is about 5 minutes from our apartment). Our first class was three hours. THREE HOURS. I am exhausted. Of course I was the very first person called the professor attacked (she did not really attack me, she actually seems very kind). I did not completely devastate myself but lets just say I have quite a bit to learn and the way Italian is taught in American NOT VERY ITALIAN. The class had people from Japan, Korea, France, Pakistan and Turkey (no Italian). Most of the people are their getting real degrees; we are just getting into the cultural part. The core curriculum for my language study includes two Italian language classes, Italian lit, contemporary history, art history classes (modern, contemporary and medieval). Wow. I am pooped just looking at the week ahead.

I think I will learn more than I would ever be capable of in the US. Growth takes pain.

Well, heading off to cook some beans! I have one vegetarian roommate. YAY!

Oh, the very fist person I met when I arrived to JFK, her name is Kate and she goes to William and Mary, The worlds is small.

OH, one more thing. As we were landing in Rome (it was a long landing) I swear to my furry leopard print shoes that I saw the exact place from which the commission I just finished as inspired. I knew the area very well. It was the perfect set up of little farm castle and mountains coming together. Just a fun tidbit.

Ciao!

contact

Kate Korroch
Via dei Priori 84/86
Perugia, Italy 06123

Cell. 01139.338.850.5929