Here I am...
I hardly know where to begin. I am now in Perugia in Italy. I've been in Rome since the 30th, but it appears there are no Internet Cafés in Rome. If there are, they're on the outskirts. It's frustrating because so much has happened, I can't remember all of it... I'll come back to elaborate. I will talk about today because it's easy to remember.
Today, we woke up early this morning and took a charter bus from Rome to Perugia. Rome is pretty flat and geographically not that different from Oklahoma. (Obviously, the plants are different... By the way, I'm using a European keyboard and the punctuation is different, so if you see a typo, it's probably because the apostophe is next to the zero at the top of the keyboard.) Perugia, on the other hand, is in a hilly area and the city overlooks a valley and then mountains. It's so hilly that they actually have public elevators and escalators to get from one part of the city to the other. The escalators were built into the old medivial part of town that used to be "buried." I'm not sure what this has to do with.
I'm having computer troubles, so hopefully I will get some pictures for y'all soon enough. Power conversion is very difficult, and I can't find a way to change my camera batteries.
Kirk, the man who's sort of our guide to getting around, met his wife and his two little kids. Blast, I need pictures of them, too. They're adorable! Kirk is a great guy. Here's a picture of him with the Borens while we were chilling outside the Vatican.
We were met at the bus station by a tour guide (I don't remember his name) who took us around Perugia. He was afraid we might get lost, but I think the city center is about the size of the OU campus. Yeah, I think I can handle it. We returned to the bus station to be picked up by our host families. Elizabeth and I worked it out to stay in the same place. The woman who picked us up is very nice, but she doesn't speak english. Our room is so cute (I need to take a picture of it at well) with a beautiful view of the mountains and the scenery on the hill. We went to an "american" restaurant today for lunch, which had amazing fries, but the burgers were just a bun with meat on it. No lettuce, tomato, pickles, or condiments. I had coconut and chocolate gelato (italian ice cream) with Elizabeth as we searched for an internet place here it town.
The differences here are subtle. You walk around and if you run into someone you say "I'm sorry" without even thinking about it. Obviously, all the buildings are completely different. If you take the elevator to the bottom floor, you'll hit 1 forgetting that Italy has a 0 floor. Coke is very expensive here, as is just about everything. However, travel is not that expensive. You can catch a train to almost any other town or city in Italy for about €20.
I haven't done much here in Perugia yet, but getting on the internet and calling my parents was a big accomplishment in terms of what I've been trying to do in the last few weeks.
I have some pictures from the Vatican, so I'll talk about it a little. Kirk is a fantastic guide, so the Borens came with us as we toured the different areas. The Vatican opens at 8:00 and closes at 1:30 p.m., so time is limited for getting in. The lines are extremely long, and though we arrived quite early, we were in line for close to an hour an a half.
(I was uploading pictures, but this computer is giving out on me...)
We saw the Sistine Chaple, the Deposition from the Cross by Caravaggio, the Transfiguration by Raffaello, the School of Athens by Raphael, the Pietà and St. Peter's Basilica. It was great because these art pieces are kinda spiffy, but I don't know anything about them. However, we had these head phones and Kirk, this dude who knows all this stuff about this artwork, is giving us private lectures about the art whole we are in the museum looking at it.
Then we goot hooked up with this super cool tour underneath the Vatican. They've been excavating underneath, finding these old pagan tombs. Well, if you know your Catholic mythology (which I do not), it is believed that the vatican is situated above St. Peter's tomb. So, digging under there was a big controversy, because if you don't find Peter's bones, you're questioning the legitimacy of the Catholic belief system. But, they do find something rather sigificant. It's a tiny little tomb with the bones of a 60 year old man. His head is missing and his feet are missing (Peter was matyred by being hung on a cross upside down, so it's likely his body was removed by chopping off his feet). On the outside of the tomb is this old writing that says "Peter is here." They've placed his bones back in the burial spot (in the really nice NASA designed boxes to preserve them), and I was able to see them. It's not a public tour in the traditional sense, but takes months of planning to get set up. It was an amazing experience to think, "This is the body of one of Christ's disciples and I'm looking at it."
Anyway, there is much more to tell, but I'm thirst, so I'm gunna jet. Tomorrow is first day of classes in Perugia. Finally, I'll be able to talk to people beyond "Grazie" and "Ciao."
Today, we woke up early this morning and took a charter bus from Rome to Perugia. Rome is pretty flat and geographically not that different from Oklahoma. (Obviously, the plants are different... By the way, I'm using a European keyboard and the punctuation is different, so if you see a typo, it's probably because the apostophe is next to the zero at the top of the keyboard.) Perugia, on the other hand, is in a hilly area and the city overlooks a valley and then mountains. It's so hilly that they actually have public elevators and escalators to get from one part of the city to the other. The escalators were built into the old medivial part of town that used to be "buried." I'm not sure what this has to do with.
I'm having computer troubles, so hopefully I will get some pictures for y'all soon enough. Power conversion is very difficult, and I can't find a way to change my camera batteries.
Kirk, the man who's sort of our guide to getting around, met his wife and his two little kids. Blast, I need pictures of them, too. They're adorable! Kirk is a great guy. Here's a picture of him with the Borens while we were chilling outside the Vatican.
We were met at the bus station by a tour guide (I don't remember his name) who took us around Perugia. He was afraid we might get lost, but I think the city center is about the size of the OU campus. Yeah, I think I can handle it. We returned to the bus station to be picked up by our host families. Elizabeth and I worked it out to stay in the same place. The woman who picked us up is very nice, but she doesn't speak english. Our room is so cute (I need to take a picture of it at well) with a beautiful view of the mountains and the scenery on the hill. We went to an "american" restaurant today for lunch, which had amazing fries, but the burgers were just a bun with meat on it. No lettuce, tomato, pickles, or condiments. I had coconut and chocolate gelato (italian ice cream) with Elizabeth as we searched for an internet place here it town.
The differences here are subtle. You walk around and if you run into someone you say "I'm sorry" without even thinking about it. Obviously, all the buildings are completely different. If you take the elevator to the bottom floor, you'll hit 1 forgetting that Italy has a 0 floor. Coke is very expensive here, as is just about everything. However, travel is not that expensive. You can catch a train to almost any other town or city in Italy for about €20.
I haven't done much here in Perugia yet, but getting on the internet and calling my parents was a big accomplishment in terms of what I've been trying to do in the last few weeks.
I have some pictures from the Vatican, so I'll talk about it a little. Kirk is a fantastic guide, so the Borens came with us as we toured the different areas. The Vatican opens at 8:00 and closes at 1:30 p.m., so time is limited for getting in. The lines are extremely long, and though we arrived quite early, we were in line for close to an hour an a half.
(I was uploading pictures, but this computer is giving out on me...)
We saw the Sistine Chaple, the Deposition from the Cross by Caravaggio, the Transfiguration by Raffaello, the School of Athens by Raphael, the Pietà and St. Peter's Basilica. It was great because these art pieces are kinda spiffy, but I don't know anything about them. However, we had these head phones and Kirk, this dude who knows all this stuff about this artwork, is giving us private lectures about the art whole we are in the museum looking at it.
Then we goot hooked up with this super cool tour underneath the Vatican. They've been excavating underneath, finding these old pagan tombs. Well, if you know your Catholic mythology (which I do not), it is believed that the vatican is situated above St. Peter's tomb. So, digging under there was a big controversy, because if you don't find Peter's bones, you're questioning the legitimacy of the Catholic belief system. But, they do find something rather sigificant. It's a tiny little tomb with the bones of a 60 year old man. His head is missing and his feet are missing (Peter was matyred by being hung on a cross upside down, so it's likely his body was removed by chopping off his feet). On the outside of the tomb is this old writing that says "Peter is here." They've placed his bones back in the burial spot (in the really nice NASA designed boxes to preserve them), and I was able to see them. It's not a public tour in the traditional sense, but takes months of planning to get set up. It was an amazing experience to think, "This is the body of one of Christ's disciples and I'm looking at it."
Anyway, there is much more to tell, but I'm thirst, so I'm gunna jet. Tomorrow is first day of classes in Perugia. Finally, I'll be able to talk to people beyond "Grazie" and "Ciao."
posted by Jesi E. at 4:38 PM
1 Comments:
I'm glad you had a safe trip! I hope you get those power and computer issues worked out - I would love to see more photos.
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