First impressions

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The last time I talked to anyone in the United States I sat on the floor in the airport in New York. I recognized that the group of people sitting together who were about my age were probably headed to Perugia as well. They were almost all from Elon University in North Carolina, which was terrifying. The flight was uncomfortable, and I had a hard time sleeping. I think my favorite part was seeing a couple of the boys in my group smile to each other when they heard the stewardess offer wine to everyone with the meal. We made it to Zurich, which is beautiful. I think I'm going to have to visit Switzerland someday, because landing there was a great way to begin a trip in Europe. We flew from Zurich to Rome, then bussed from Rome to Perugia. My first impression of Italy was not as positive. I was certainly excited to be here, but there was a lot of construction and it wasn't breathtakingly beautiful. When we got to the country it started to look a little more like I had imagined. I got to use my first Italian on that leg of the journey. "Io vorrei un'acqua naturale. Piccola. Grazie." Exciting stuff.
The outskirts of Perugia aren't as incredible to look at either. We did drive through Deruta (Mom, there are tons of ceramics stores/factories, don't worry, I'll be sure to go back). Once we got settled into the hotel we stayed in last night we had a dinner. It was nice to chat with some people, but I'm being really shy around some of the people from the program. I don't know what it is exactly, but around some of them I'm funny and outgoing, but others are sort of intimidating and I shrink back into my own awkwardness. I'm finding that pretty frustrating. It's also hard to be the only person from Macalester, and the only Nebraskan. I miss people I have common experiences with. Oh well.
In the later evening tons of people went to the center of town to the piazza. There were so many people down there, and it was beautiful, much closer to what I had imagined and hoped for. We went to a pub called "Merlin's Pub" down in a very old building. I have a hard time believing those places even exist. Everything down there feels so old. I met a lot of other people from the program that night, and that was good for me as well. On the way back I was with one other girl and we got a little lost. I had to ask for directions to the hotel from a few guys working at a nightclub who didn't speak English. We made it back with no problems. It was all in all a very successful evening.

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Photos

first night
This picture is from the street the first night in Perugia.