Yesterday I had my first midterm (in Italian). I feel that it went well, but I still have a couple more coming up that I need to study for and papers that will be due soon, so it feels more like I'm going to school here, in Italy of all places. It still hasn't sunk in yet.
It's been rather cold here for the past few days - about 35 degrees. It's certainly a lot warmer than back home, but still surprising since I had gotten used to 45 degree weather. It actually snowed twice! The first time all I saw was about a 3 foot round area lightly dusted in snow in the piazza outside my window. The next time, which was actually just a couple of days ago, there was a little over a quarter inch of snow covering most of Perugia. It was funny to see all the native Perugians in their heavy winter gear in order to weather the deep snow while I was thinking about how it's probably 20 degrees plus wind chill back home and I'm sure it's snowed several times by now.
This morning we took another go at a tour of the Perugian chocolate factory. This time it was actually successful and we weren't thrown off the bus by the bus driver on the way there. I even came home with about 15 free samples of Baci and other assorted chocolates that I had stuffed in my jacket pockets before leaving. The tour was very interesting. They brought us along a raised walkway through the factory. Unfortunately much of the production line was closed for the season and we're not allowed to see the part where they make the chocolate before it gets poured into the moulds, however, we were able to see large amounts of chocolate riding along conveyor belts and being wrapped and boxed up and the entire factory smelled like a warm brownie, so it was fully worth the trek out there (plus all the free samples of course).
Friday, February 20, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Chocolate
Classes are going well. Midterms and projects are starting to come in, though. I have my Italian midterm next week and a couple others soon after that. I'm not too worried about Italian. Most of the grammar is easy, so I'll just need to focus on memorizing more vocab. The other midterm in my history class should be interesting as he wants us to know a bunch of dates, but the material is interesting and the teacher is very nice. Yesterday I finished editing my pictures for my first photography project, so I'll have to see how she grades. Since we get to choose what our topics are for our future projects, hopefully it'll be more interesting than 200 pictures of the same object.
So today we decided to attempt to go on a tour of the Perugina chocolate factory, about a half hour from the city center. I called ahead a few days ago and made a reservation for a free English speaking tour today at 3:00. We found out that there's a bus, the R bus, that brings you relatively close to the factory and there was a bus that left at 2:10. We arrived at the bus station at 2:00 and waited for the bus to arrive. When it did, we got on and asked the driver politely in Italian if he knew which station we should get off at for the Perugina chocolate factory. He told us that we the bus doesn't go right to the factory, only near it, and he promptly left the bus. A little confused but assuming we'd figure things out, we went and took a seat. A few minutes later he came back on the bus and came over to us and angrily told us that if we were in a hurry we should take the H bus. We responded thank you, but we weren't in a hurry, so we'd just stay on this bus. He returned to the front of the bus and a few more minutes later, right before he was about to leave, he called me up to the front of the bus and started yelling that we should get off his bus and take the H bus. He wasn't leaving with us on it. Not knowing how to respond, we went over to the H bus stop and, right as the bus we were just on pulled away, we saw that the bus had left 10 minutes ago. I'm not sure if something was just lost in translation, but he seemed to be a very angry Italian man. I then went over to the small bus ticket booth and asked them if they knew which bus I should take to get to the Perugina chocolate factory, to which they responded the R bus, which is the one we were thrown off of. A bit distraught, I called the chocolate factory to try to explain and see if it would be all right if we were a few minutes late. It was not. We decided to try to go anyway since we had already swiped our bus ticket. Half an hour later, another R bus arrived, luckily with a different driver, and we headed off. About 20 minutes later, we realized that none of the stops were labeled and nothing was ever being announced, so I went over to the bus driver and asked him if he knew when we would arrive at the San Sista stop (the people on the phone had told me that would be the best stop). He said that we had passed it, but we would be looping around soon and would be back at that stop in about 15 minutes. He even said he would signal to us when to get off the bus. So we finally were able to get off at the San Sista stop and proceeded to walk, basically down a highway, in the direction of the Perugina factory. This was at 4:10. About 10 minute later, we arrived, 2 hours after we started our journey, at the factory. Right in front of the factory was an evidentally unknown bus stop, this one for the I buses. Inside we inquired if we were too late to catch a tour, in any language. Unfortunately, we were, the last tour was at 3:30, but the worker offered us some free chocolates and said we could watch a short movie in English about the factory. After eating our fill of free Baci and other assorted chocolates, we headed back out and caught the bus back to the city center 4 hours after we started. Now that we know what we're doing, we'll have to make a reservation for another weekend. Unfortunately no cameras are allowed in the factory.
So today we decided to attempt to go on a tour of the Perugina chocolate factory, about a half hour from the city center. I called ahead a few days ago and made a reservation for a free English speaking tour today at 3:00. We found out that there's a bus, the R bus, that brings you relatively close to the factory and there was a bus that left at 2:10. We arrived at the bus station at 2:00 and waited for the bus to arrive. When it did, we got on and asked the driver politely in Italian if he knew which station we should get off at for the Perugina chocolate factory. He told us that we the bus doesn't go right to the factory, only near it, and he promptly left the bus. A little confused but assuming we'd figure things out, we went and took a seat. A few minutes later he came back on the bus and came over to us and angrily told us that if we were in a hurry we should take the H bus. We responded thank you, but we weren't in a hurry, so we'd just stay on this bus. He returned to the front of the bus and a few more minutes later, right before he was about to leave, he called me up to the front of the bus and started yelling that we should get off his bus and take the H bus. He wasn't leaving with us on it. Not knowing how to respond, we went over to the H bus stop and, right as the bus we were just on pulled away, we saw that the bus had left 10 minutes ago. I'm not sure if something was just lost in translation, but he seemed to be a very angry Italian man. I then went over to the small bus ticket booth and asked them if they knew which bus I should take to get to the Perugina chocolate factory, to which they responded the R bus, which is the one we were thrown off of. A bit distraught, I called the chocolate factory to try to explain and see if it would be all right if we were a few minutes late. It was not. We decided to try to go anyway since we had already swiped our bus ticket. Half an hour later, another R bus arrived, luckily with a different driver, and we headed off. About 20 minutes later, we realized that none of the stops were labeled and nothing was ever being announced, so I went over to the bus driver and asked him if he knew when we would arrive at the San Sista stop (the people on the phone had told me that would be the best stop). He said that we had passed it, but we would be looping around soon and would be back at that stop in about 15 minutes. He even said he would signal to us when to get off the bus. So we finally were able to get off at the San Sista stop and proceeded to walk, basically down a highway, in the direction of the Perugina factory. This was at 4:10. About 10 minute later, we arrived, 2 hours after we started our journey, at the factory. Right in front of the factory was an evidentally unknown bus stop, this one for the I buses. Inside we inquired if we were too late to catch a tour, in any language. Unfortunately, we were, the last tour was at 3:30, but the worker offered us some free chocolates and said we could watch a short movie in English about the factory. After eating our fill of free Baci and other assorted chocolates, we headed back out and caught the bus back to the city center 4 hours after we started. Now that we know what we're doing, we'll have to make a reservation for another weekend. Unfortunately no cameras are allowed in the factory.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Last Friday Erin, Liz, Krista and I went to Assisi, which is just a 20 minute train ride followed by a 5 minute bus ride from Perguia. It was a beautiful city, a bit cleaner than Perugia, and there were churches basically on every street. Everywhere we looked we saw a sign pointing in the direction of a different church. It was a bit more touristy than Perugia, but still had a very small city feel. I believe it actually is a good bit smaller than Perguia. While we were outside of the Basilica of St. Francis, a nun, who later told us that she lived near by, came up to us and offered to take our picture. After taking one, she decided to move us around in attempt to get better pictures. It was quite a funny experience. From the top of a wall near the Basilica there were beautiful vistas of the surrounding countryside. Perguia is somewhere in the distance there.
A view of the countryside.
Another view.
The Basilica of St. Francis.
There was also a castle/fortress on the top of the hill that we didn't quite make it to. Hopefully we'll have a chance to go back and see if we can make it up there.
Something was a bit lost in translation (porcini mushrooms have become porky mushrooms).
A view of the countryside.
Another view.
The Basilica of St. Francis.
There was also a castle/fortress on the top of the hill that we didn't quite make it to. Hopefully we'll have a chance to go back and see if we can make it up there.
Something was a bit lost in translation (porcini mushrooms have become porky mushrooms).
I also had my first project for photography class, which was to take 200 pictures of one object. I chose a water spigot in the piazza near my apartment. Last class we put the pictures on the photography lab computers and we'll start working on our six favorites next week. Unfortunately the pictures look a lot more dull and less sharp after I have uploaded them, but there are a couple attached below.
I have a few papers to work on this weekend. One, my photography paper on Henri Cartier-Bresson, I have started and hope to mostly finish by this weekend. We also have to present an in-class presentation on the photographer, so I will get working on that. Neither paper is due soon, but I want to make sure to get them done so I have other weekends free. Next Saturday, my Contemporary Italy class is actually going to Sienna for the day. I will update more regarding that once it has happened.
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