http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/farfalla/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from farfalla en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:28:47 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:28:47 +0000 After a long semester of the dark room I finally was able to show off some of my photos. Tonight was the Photo show for all the photo students...It was very fun and a bunch of people showed up...Photo was a lot harder then I thought...I have a lot more appreciation for the time and effort that goes into hand developing...enjoy. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-227506.html November just wouldn't be the same with out Thanksgiving and even though I know I will have a makeup thanksgiving I helped throw one of my own. It ended up being amazing and THANK YOU Gail for you carrot recipe. Everyone loved them and 2 people who hated carrots wanted the recipe and more. lol So we had no actual bird cause they don't sell turkeys in Italy along with cranberry sauce so Kara g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-225366.html So I have been taking this archeology class which has its interesting parts including this field trip. The whole class was bused over to Tarquinia a small Umbrian town with and site of Etruscan tombs. The Etruscans were one of the first societies that settled in the boot of Italy in around 500 BC Wow...very long time ago...Perugia and Orvieto are the two Umbrian modern Cities that were apart of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/blog-225359.html So I wanted to have a dinner party and I had the fixings to make MEATBALLS I know spaghetti and meatballs are not really Italian but that doesnrsquot stop them from being AMAZING Hanna Paige and Oreli came over and the deliciousness began Non of us made meat balls before but thanks mom for relaying meatball cooking over the phone...I think it is hilarious you and I are cooking and shopping http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-225355.html This week has been a bunch of Zach adventureshelliptonight was Pizza Workshop I was way excitedhellipI went to La Pizza Musica and a bunch of us crowded around the pizza workspacehellipThey let us learn the top secret techniques of making an amazing brick oven pizzahellipI will think about sharing the secret trickshellipI was amazed cause it takes less then 2 min to make a pizza in a 70 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-225348.html I went to the most amazing olive picking adventure with Zach and a few other students. We took a short bus to the Umbrian countryside and walked down a dirt road all the way to this beautiful olive orchard. We hiked up the hills and got to see the most beautiful view of the countryside. Zach explained the ins and outs of olives olive harvesting and the process of manufacturing olive oil. We pick http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-225336.html So randomly Matt Krystoph and I all hoped on a train on Friday to go to Assisi. It was pretty I would consider it a more touristy Perugia. In Assisi there is the 2nd most popular church the Church of St. Francis number one being the church of St. Peter in Rome. A bunch of nuns priests and other religious people make their pilgrimages here to pay homage to the mighty St. Francis. He seems lik http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Assisi/blog-221568.html Finally it is Thursday and a bunch of my friends and I went out to Shamrocks to forget our homework. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-221566.html So the weekend after Halloween there is a fair of the dead. It was down by the stadium and it was fun to see. The rides and games were way over priced but I guess that is a similarity between fairs in the States and ones here in Italy. There was one ride that spun in a circle and they had some random guy stand in the middle with out any restraints He was just trying to keep his balance. Oh man t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-221268.html Saddly there is no real Halloween in Italy....How dare them it is my favorite holiday So instead I had a class field trip to the private home of an Italian family who taught me to cook a traditional Umbrian meal with fresh seasonal ingredients. The mother Daniela was extremely nice and smart. She speaks Italian English German Spanish and a little French and works with a program to keep the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-221247.html Today Kirsten went to speakers corner where supposedly a bunch of British people bicker at each other about politics. I went off on my own and went to 4 different museums. They were all free I went to the Natural History museum and felt like a little kid going on a field trip. It was really fun to go back. There were dinosaur bones and a lot of Taxidermy animals. I was amazed by the size of the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-219547.html So Kirsten loves tea and knows a lot about it...so it was our mission to find the tea museum and have tea time. Today we ended up going to the Tower of London which was nothing like I expected. I learned a lot about the medieval history of London and saw all the crown jewels. I got to walk over the Tower of London bridge which I always assumed was London bridges. We hunted for the tea museum whic http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Covent-Garden/blog-219530.html To broaden our view of the Neatherlands we went to Den Hagg the capital. There was a vacation so most of the important buildings were closed. We had a nice restful day strolling around and had a cute lunch. There was a sign for chilli and I was really excited to have some although it ended up being a hot sandwhich. Weird Oh well I was introduced to Stroopwafels They are these caramel waffle http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/South-Holland/The-Hague/blog-219301.html So I really wanted to go biking like everyone in Amsterdam. So today we walked all around to try to find a bike rental place and pancakes. I was craving dutch pancakes since I got there. For some reason we were always passing these two places but this morning we couldn't find them. We ended up renting from a place called Damstraat...they were very reasonable. The couldn't tell us where to get pa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Zaandam/blog-219296.html After we left Eindhoven we took a flight to London. The airport was HUGE with more than 90 gates. Kirsten and I bough bus tickets to Victoria Station where we stumbled around to find how to get to our hostel in Earls square. We ended up getting tube tickets. On a side note I have to say I LOVE THE TUBE I was so impressed by the public transportation in London even better then that in Amsterdam. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Earls-Court/blog-219287.html So for all those who were wondering I am ok. To give you a brief summery Perugia is considered a college town similar to the states. There is the Perugian University for Italian students the small Umbra abroad Institute where I am studying and the Stranieri meaning foreigners which mainly consists of classes to learn Italian. The girl who was killed Meredith Kercher went to the Stranieri http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-218175.html Alright so after giving a dirty first impression of Amsterdam I would like to so you the reason why it is called the northern Venice. Amsterdam is beautiful the people are very kind I love their accents even when I was in the middle of the road and a woman on a bike yelled you're in the middle of the road it was very polite i guess you had to have been there the history is rich the ci http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-217577.html My break begins as followshellipI had to wake up at 5 catch a 530 bus to the train station and get on a train to Pisa at 615. In Florence Kirsten Matt and I almost got on a train to Siena but thankfully switched literally last min. Oh yeah Kirsten and I ran into Matt at the Perugia train station. From Pisa we got to the airport for out 1230 flight. We took Ryan airhellipwhich was actuall http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Brabant/Eindhoven/blog-217043.html Kirstens birthday became Kirstens birthday weekend. It was a lot of fun. A bunch of us went to a really good traditional Perugian restaurant. There were medieval weapons armor and gnomes. Weird huh. I tried to get a truffle dish although I think they gave me the wrong meal. Oh well. I thought it was too confusing to explain in Italian and change it. Kirsten started her afternoon a shot every half http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-215300.html The big event of the year in Perugia happend this week...EUROCHOCOLATE...actually midterms and Kirstens birthday consumed my life that I didn't go to any of the chocolate events until the end of the week. I just taste tested samples as I went to class and my apartment. I love chocolate though. I have to recommend any dark chocolate from Africa especially Madagascar. What is tricky in America is t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-215280.html