First Post!

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This is my first post on my first ever blog. I don't know if anyone will read this, or if it will never be seen. I would appreciate comments just to know someone is seeing this! I am a Jounalism/Mass Communication major and have always been into writing. I tend to ramble alot and I promise I can't promise to avoid doing it in this blog 😊

So, how did I end up here in Perugia, Italy? I wish the story had more substance than it actually does. Instead, it was more suggested to me by my dad. It started as a "Claire, I saw that there is a meeting about studying abroad in Perugia for Spring 2012..it's at this room at this time. And you really, really should go."

I didn't say no. I had friends complaining that their majors wouldn't allow them to go abroad since they needed to be in the US to complete specific requirements. I had other friends almost or completely finished with college telling me it was the one thing they wish they did while they were in school. I was completely available to go so..why not? The meeting was boring and I thought everyone who went the previous year that talked kind of seemed full of them self, ("I'm so well traveled, I did all these things while you've been stuck at St. Bonaventure!") but I continued with the application process.

Time went on and before I knew it I had my parents printing out all this necessary paperwork that needed to be filled out for the passport, visa and application processes. I just went with the flow and did what had to be done. I got my passport, got my visa and got accepted to the program. Check, check and check! The semester flew by, as they always do, and before I knew it I was saying goodbye to some of my best friends at school knowing I would not see them until April, at least.

"3 months and 22 days," is what I kept repeating as I was packing. For a country that I learned "dresses for the season not the weather," I just knew I had to throw in everything. 96 pounds and 4 bags later, I was off to Newark to catch a flight that was delayed that morning out of Syracuse. After a 7h 45min plane ride where I watched a movie, unsucessfully tried to sleep for more than 5 minutes, and watched the little screen in front of me tell me exactly where we were on a map (the last hour was horrendous. We were delirious!) we landed!!

Now I am moved into my apartment located on a street right off the center of the city of Perugia. I have two roomates that I knew from school at home, Carrie and Abby. Our apartment is adorable, but by law only allowed 7 hours of heat a day so we do a lot of complaining about being cold. Today was the last day of my week of Intensive Italian. It was incredibly frustrating, my 5 years of French did more harm than good, and I'm happy it's over.

I haven't done anything really worthy of sharing quite yet, but I am going to Assisi on Sunday with the 6 of us students and our professor and his wife who all came from my school in the US, St. Bonaventure. Then I will have things to share 😊 Thank you for reading, I hope to be back on here soon.

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Comments

[deleted_46288]

Welcome Claire!
On behalf of the moderators here at Travelblog, I would like to welcome you to the site. I hope you have a great time in Italy! Nick :)

[Patricia]

I love Perugia
Ciao Claire! Spero che tu stia bene a Perugia e tu non abbia molto freddo! I thought I would try out a bit of Italian with you. I adore Perugia and I have been coming here since 2007. I am currently here, but only for a couple of more days. There are lots of great places to see in the Umbrian region, by bus and by train. Perugia is a great place to practice your Italian since there are people from all regions here in the city. It can take a bit of time to find an authentic Perugino/a, otherwise know as DOC, in reference to the truly very good wines. I hope you enjoy your stay in Italy and fall in love with Perugia and the Umbrian region. You may find that all days here don't go as well as you'd like. It's okay because those days will pass. You're a brave young woman for bringing all you brought with you. It's not easy to carry that much from planes to buses or trains. Divertiti!!