First Impressions

January 6, 2008

The last three days seemed combined into a blur of coming and going, sleeping and eating… and walking. Lots of walking. I can’t remember which day is which and it seems as though it’s been quite longer than just three days.

So I will start at the beginning and feel free to skim what you’d like to. And please take a break from this what I predict to be very long blog.

I will begin at the very beginning actually four or five days ago. I got on my first plane flight at 6am on Thursday morning at LAX. It was a very interesting experience. Sad to see my mother cry as I walked away. But… other than that feeling… I suppose I could only describe the rest as interesting.

I was very indifferent during the fight… I had no particular excitement, I do remember being a bit scared at times. Not because of the plane ride (which I really thought was pretty fun, although only my 4 hour flight to DC—the 8 hour flight to Rome was dreadful) but because of the feeling that tore a hole in my gut—there would be no one I knew waiting for me on the other end of the airport. Because of this, I was glad that I had a Bible devotion to keep up with and I did all of that on the plane. Thankfully it took up a lot of time as it also put me at ease. I will share some of what I found soon… right now I would like to get on with the story though…

On my plane ride to DC I sat by a nun. It really made me happy when I saw this, because I was worried I’d sit by some weirdo-man. As we began to take off and the lights dimmed, she opened up her small book of prayers and I opened up my tan/maroon bible and I wished that someone would take a picture of us. The flight felt rather short and it was very enjoyable. I killed time in Dulles and waited to leave for Rome. This time around I sat by a nice guy who reminded me of Hurley from LOST, only a smaller version. He was pretty nice and read a whole book on the flight over. We didn’t really talk until we actually began flying over Rome and we watched a sunrise from the plane at 7am Friday (the next day). He was going to Rome to talk to some teachers about coordinating some programs between them and the US. I didn’t really catch what he was talking about exactly… but I didn’t want to ask too many questions. This whole time alone at airports and on airplanes I felt very untrusting of absolutely everyone I encountered. I’m not usually that kind of person… but with all the stories/people I’ve talked to… one can’t help but be paranoid about everything. I still had a fear leaving home alone. I wished that anyone, just anyone that I knew would pop up and come to my rescue by deciding to come to Italy with me… preferable male… because I just feel safer around them. I feel like they could really protect me. With another woman… not so much.

Anyways enough about that. The plane finally landed in Rome and Hurley and I parted with a “good luck.” With my North Face on my back and compact pillow tucked under my arm, I brought out the instructions that Umbra and Arcadia sent me about what to do at the airport. I remember that when I received the packet in the mail I skimmed the airport instructions thinking, “aw perfect, they got em all step by step, I’ll know exactly what to do when I get there.”

Oh how wrong I was.

Besides those who had just gotten off the flight with me, the FCO seemed like an abandoned rat maze. I had absolutely NO IDEA where to go or what to do, and my stupid packet instructions only talked about some stupid tourist card that I was supposed to receive on the flight (which, by the way, I never did.) So I decided to follow the crowd. Once the crowd split somewhere between a fork I choose to follow the crowd that looked like fellow study abroad students. They hopped on some kind of train/subway that reminded me of the BART in San Fran but smaller and used for the airport. I was skeptical about this, since I didn’t know where it was going to take me, but I decided to pick my head up and follow a friend’s advice on Europe, “just pretend that you know what you are doing and you’ll be okay.” Turns out they seemed to lead me right. I had to follow some arrows for “arrivals” and “baggage” only it was in Italian and pretty easy to figure out. I got to customs or wherever it is that they check your passport and I found a girl with the same baggage tag as me! Finally another Arcadia student! I quickly asked her if she was studying in Perugia and she was. I cannot begin to explain how much my fears suddenly subsided once I found Ashley. Suddenly things were okay and I could laugh a little bit.

We got our bags, met up with Umbrian Staff, hopped on buses for the 2 hour trip to Perugia… yadda yadda. I could not sleep through all of the bus ride though… and whipped out my camera. I’ve never been to a European country and it was simply fascinating to see the different road signs and the absolute truth in how BEAUTIFUL Italy is. Beautiful isn’t even the word. It’s like a trip to Yosemite for some. Beautiful is the closest word that will describe Italy. But it doesn’t nearly sum up the truth.

Perugia is not at all what I pictured it to be… only a thousand times better. It is a historical-hill top-(hilly like San Francisco and Hollywood)-University town. The buildings are old and gorgeous. The streets are so narrow it always feels like you are walking in an alley. However both pedestrians and cars share the streets which often scares me. The cars here are tiny to fit onto these small roads. Most all buildings in Perugia are 3 or more stories high. You can’t see the top of anything unless you crank your neck back. It is amazing. The cobblestoned streets are precious and only add to the character of this town. It’s so old and classy and sophisticated, everything is, even the people, life, food, and dress. The last few days have been very wet. I plan to get some good Italian boots soon. I can’t tell you how sick I am of walking into our apartment with water in my flats and damp jeans up to my knees.

Oh, and let me tell you about our apartment. GORGEOUS!!! My roommates and I certainly lucked out with an AMAZING apartment very central to the town. It’s close to absolutely everything. We first moved into our apartments on Saturday morning. You can imagine all the squeals and jumping up and down we did once Tyler opened it up for us. There is a balcony in the second bedroom with amazing views from every window of the red roof top town. Living in Italy is so simple, yet it looks so good. Everything in our apartment is simple and so classy at the same time. I want to design my house like this. With exception for our midget sized kitchen (one person at a time only, two if you are strategically placed) I could not ask for anything better.

My roommates and I got to know the city yesterday as we had orientation. We ate at the best Italian Deli ever, which every student knows about PARMA. I got my first taste of having to use the Italian language (I made Tina go first and then repeated what she said) and I got my first taste of something I will be talking a lot about—Italian food. Not knowing how to say much else only, “un panino” and “salami” and “pesto” my sandwich was plain but more delicious than anything in the US. (More on that later.)

NOTE:: (As I was ordering in PARMA, they had a radio playing. Guess who I heard? American music Regina Spektor’s Fidelity. I can’t tell you how odd it was to hear that song as I knew where I was… Perugia, Italy… so many thousands of miles away from where I’m used to hearing that song. Simply amazing that her music would be played there.)

Also an AMAZING peach drink that I took a guess on. And guess what? It was delicious!!

Later that night we bought some groceries and had some GREAT Italian pizza. (okay enough about food, sorry)

The next day (today Sunday) we woke up and went for some “coffee Americano” for 1 euro! And I promise you… it beats every starbucks coffee every made. I was forced to down my cup, which I felt was a crime, and I’m sure the coffee man was looking at me at a sad and disappointed way, as I had no time to appreciate it. We headed to the Arcadia set field trip for the day to an old rustic Umbrian farm. They are a full circle farm which means that everything they grow, eat, package, and sell there. They also find use for everything, and hardly have to throw out things. (Kinda hard to explain)

Okay, actually here is where I’ll stop. I’m tired and it is 1230. I know that in the states I go to bed a lot later but I’m really tired now and all my roommates are asleep. I will continue when I can about the Umbrian farm, life in Italy, and the differences between the Italian culture and American culture. I especially want to write about the differences between the men and women… very interesting.

Now as I lay back into this living room couch, I smell a hint of cigarettes… a very common smell in Italy. Back in the states, cigarette smell grosses me out but here, the smell is oddly comforting and I savor it.

P.S. I'll add LOTS more pictures as soon as I can.