Whirlwind (Figuratively similar to the wind in CO/NM right now)

This week, in general, has been a real flurry of activity on a lot of different fronts. The week started with the visit in Bevagna with my friends/the tour I did last year coming through, dinner Tues evening, then Wednesday the visit to the sports doc in Umbertide (around 60 km roundtrip) which involved getting out of the apt super early Wednesday, Thursday moving into a new apartment (so I can live with Italians and not be speaking English much as I have been), meeting up with guys on a team who I'm going to be racing for (they're so awesome, they're doing a lot of work to get me a race license and clothes for the race tomorrow), then a class gathering hosted by the Japanese students yesterday evening and today I'm finishing up the move and getting the bike ready for tomorrow. All of this along with a full class schedule, studying and training. Now to slow down and rewind a little.

Internet in my new place is significantly better than it was at the old place (actually I'm at the "old" place now). The girls (2), though there might be a 3rd, seem nice but I haven't been home there more than a few minutes yet so I don't know much. From what I can tell, cleaning isn't a huge priority to them (good and whew). They said there isn't a cleaning schedule and it sounds laid back. They both smoke and go to bed late, so it seems like the average Italian reality (totally fine with me). My camera (bedroom) is tiny compared with my last one. I will have to get creative with where to put the bike & monster bike bag. The view isn't any better or worse, but at least laundry can hang outside to dry (inside it takes close to forever...small problem when it comes to workout clothes).

Yesterday evening, the Japanese students in my class (28 students total) hosted a cool evening of Japanese food and culture. I'm guessing we have 5-6 Japanese students in the class. They wanted to share their culture with all of the other cultures (probably . Most of the class came! There were 24 of us by my count. One of the guys pointed out that it was the best party since we all knew each other...and we all spoke Italian with each other most of the night. It's the only language we all have in common and so many of us are getting to know each other better now that we have enough Italian to exchange more meaningful information. ("What do you like to drink? What's your favorite food?" Okay--I said more meaningful (we can't discuss our philosophies on life just yet...though in Italy, food and drink comprises a major part of that philosophy). My camera stayed at home, but everyone else had theirs. Will post pics as soon as they are available.

There have to be at least 13 different countries represented. People from 6 continents. Considering the major differences in our families and cultures, religions, native languages, appearances, etc., if we were all wearing a paper bag on our heads last night, you would think we were all from the same place, enjoying each other's company just as much (actually even more) than if we all were from the same town with the same background.

The picture at the top of this post was written by one of my friends in the class...it's my name written in Japanese two ways. (They have different alphabets, so I think each uses a different alphabet.) All I know is that I'm glad I was born English-speaking. I don't have the brain for complicated languages!

I talked with my language lab teacher after class yesterday. My ear is having a hard time picking up the different sounds in Italian. I can tell many of the other students aren't having as difficult of a time hearing the sounds. My guess is that it helps that they all have 2 or 3 languages, so their ears are trained a bit better. The professor promised me that in two months, I'll be "running" with the language. I can tell a huge difference since the first week of class in how I hear Italian, comprehend and talk--though I'm still at a 2-year-old level, noting this difference really helps give me energy to keep working at it and I know it's coming. Their teaching style is terrific, I think there's a lot the American school system could learn from it. Speaking of which, my 2nd homework assigned is due Monday. Write a letter to someone talking about the future.

The Future.

Yesterday in class, the teacher had us discuss what we will be doing in 5 years. I used to always be able to easily (and enthusiastically) answer the question of what I'd be doing in 5-10 years. When she asked us this, I was at a complete loss. I have finally gotten very comfortable with not knowing or trying to "engineer" my future. The feeling of letting go cannot be paralleled. There's no part of me that is concerned about the future, nor am I living like some crazy person who isn't concerned about the future (some people live for today in a reckless way). The future takes care of itself if the present is lived properly. This is my approach to things.

I don't know what the future holds, nor do I have any particular expectation for that future. Whatever happens will be for the best and I'm simply okay with that reality. Every day between now and my "future" so far has been an adventure and each great (or if not great, somehow needed) in its own way. Can't ask for much more than that.

On that note, time to get a lot accomplished today and get in a quick pre-race ride. More stories coming Sunday, probably. Tomorrow will be long and it's May 1 which is an Italian holiday (yet another reason for festivals, parties and food) as well as the Gran Fondo.

Friends

There isn't much time to blog today, unfortunately. The short story is that it was awesome to see Frank (one of my Ciclismo Classico tour guides from last summer) and meet Dana (his SO also a CC guide), both are from Denver. In fact, their guests are from Colorado, too. It was great to be able to close the loop--he was the one who told me about the Universita per Stranieri in Perugia last summer.

I decided to skip my first class (easier of the two to miss) to ride out and meet them in Bevagna. It was an early morning on the bike, but it was warm enough to be happy out there. This is a picture of all of us in the main piazza in Bevagna. 

Back to the concern of the race license for the upcoming Gran Fondo...I swung by the bike shop on the way back home and got all of the info on what I need to do. It's a small world here--one of my new cycling friends stopped by to pick up some cycling stuff while I was there. Tomorrow I'll be visiting a sports doctor to get a checkup and approval to race. Thank goodness, I don't have to worry about getting the UCI license.

Tonight was a fun pizza dinner with cycling friends and my wonderful roommate who was happy to join and help with translation. She was a fun addition and she learned a bit about racing, too. I'm picking up basic conversation, but unable to say much of anything back. It was a really good time, but I'm a little self-conscious as to how long people will be patient with me and my expressions of confusion.  (Turns out one of the guys talks faster than most Italians and has trouble slowing down...this describes me exactly with speaking English. Ha!)

Moving in with Italians can't happen soon enough (this Thursday, to be exact). I am really happy with my living situation now, but I have to be around the language constantly and practicing more than I am. It's super exciting to hear what fluency sounds like (ex: my roommate who I don't think was fluent not all that long ago, not sure, but she's good now).

When my roommate and I were talking tonight, she guessed that I'm a morning person. Yes, when one is happy with the prospect of the upcoming day, I think one is more likely to fly out of bed in the morning. If I'm still a "morning person" by the end of the summer, it'll be clear that I am on the right track to finding what I'm searching for. With any luck, when I arise early, I'll be awaking from a dream spoken entirely in beautiful Italian.

Navigating the System

There are so many things that have to be discovered anywhere when one moves someplace new. In my case this week, it's trying to figure out how to be properly licensed and registered for a Gran Fondo. It's not like there's a guide to this anywhere in existence. In Italy, 1/2 of the information seems to live on the internet. The other 1/2 is tribal knowledge: the information (appears) to exist in one person's head or a combination of a few people's heads and a paper flyer. The system here hasn't frustrated me like I hear other people being frustrated. (But I haven't tried to buy a house or do anything complicated yet, either.) Also, I don't think there's a system in the world that wouldn't be a little frustrating to someone totally new to it.

Tonight I visited the bike shop that I really like and talked to one of the mechanics who speaks English very well (my hope was that I could get by without the English, but not for this sort of information). I needed to apologize to him for not making the shop rides that he had told me about (and I had planned on attending prior to meeting the group of guys who I rode with this past weekend and last weekend). I was also hoping he could give me information about the upcoming Gran Fondo (which I absolutely can't wait for but in no way am physically ready for).  

He was super friendly and he already knew that I had found this other group to ride with. To make a long story short, the cycling world is a very tight-knit, close community. It's a family of sorts and I could already feel it here (as I've mentioned in previous posts); but this was really nice, it was heart-warming to feel that I'm not as anonymous as I was when I first arrived.

The answer about the license is that I need to talk to some other people who will be around tomorrow, so that's a priority. There's a possibility that I'll need an International UCI license (which shouldn't be a problem to get). Hopefully an interesting post tomorrow night (though there might not be time to post anything until Wednesday).

Under the Tuscan Sun, On the Tuscan Road

This weekend was a wonderful combo of good food, wine and riding. I need to be significantly better in the language by Tuesday (going out with a friend who doesn't speak English), so I need to not be blogging and spend as much time as possible studying. Right, I know this is a losing proposition, but I gotta try!

Today was a fabulous ride to Toscana & Lake Trasimeno.This is a ride I've been itching to go on, but wasn't sure of the backroads to take to the lake. It's immense and gorgeous, Wiki it, I didn't take any pictures. I was too engrossed in trying to eat crackers smothered in honey (not easy to do cleanly, let me tell you!)

The red line is the route. Awesome that without bike lanes anywhere in this country, we can pedal two abreast and cars don't have a problem with it. Motorcycles sometimes lose patience, but they figure out a way around us. I rode with the same group of guys as last Sunday. They're so much fun! Daniele was racing a Gran Fondo, so it missed the dynamic he brings to it, but definitely a great group of guys. They keep a very constant pace (though they don't sprint for town signs of which there are many) and it's really a good time out there on the road. Total: 115 km, 4 1/2 hrs. It's not enough, I want to do a Gran Fondo next weekend and they are typically ~140 km in length. Sounds like I need a license, so tomorrow I'll do a little research on that.

On the good food front: one of my roommates had a dinner party Friday night and she made pasta with a bunch of spinach and veggies to go on top. There was a Northern Italian, two British girls, my two roommates and a guy from Brazil. I'm really enjoying the cross-pollination of countries and the discussions surrounding languages and cultures.

Yesterday, my other roommate, her boyfriend and I went to a wine tasting. It was full of Umbrian wines from various vineyards throughout the region & in a lovely courtyard area. 7 euros bought us all you can drink vino and a nice wine glasss...for yesterday and today. Totally unreal. A very small wine tasting back home would cost $30 U.S. and only last a short time.

After enough wine to get my roommate and I a bit tipsy, we came home to eat. She made zucchini risotto. Seriously amazing risotto! My roommates like to cook. I do the dishes. Seems like a fair trade.

Today after the ride, I returned to the wine tasting and stayed for more hours than I like to admit. Met up with a few other students learning Italian and we tried all of the wines we didn't try yesterday (okay, not all, that's not humanly possible). After that, I high-tailed it to church. Thank goodness for the late Sunday mass.

Off to study Italian and doing some homework (we haven't been assigned anything prior to now). Hope you all have a good week!!!

Non Mi Annoio Mai in Umbria

The blog title (probably) translates to "I'm not bored in Umbria." My Italian is very elementary still so messing it all up is the norm. Here's a useful word: sbaglio. Mistake. :)

To add to the list of things I love about Italy (or at least this region) is that there are constantly fairs, markets, art, etc. going on. So much of these events are totally free and outside. I feel bad for everyone, though, the rainiest weather has been on the weekends. Yesterday and today included. 

One week every year is Settimana della Cultura (Culture Week) where state-run museums, libraries, etc. are open free to all. Yesterday, one of my roommates (majored in art history) and I went to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale dell'Umbria (it's huge). They have an immense collection of urns, gold & ammulets amongst other things. Really great exhibits. Great activity for a brutto giorno (ugly day).

Courtyard of the museum--the building you see is the museum. Monstrous!

Graveyard of ancient urns.

View from the museum window.

The Umbrian Wine Festival is also this weekend...along with another wine tasting somewhere, I understand. How can one not attend such an event? The wine here is amazing (and this is coming from a beer lover). I don't think I've had any beer here (why? It's really expensive and it's hard to find the good microbrews.) The wine in the U.S. always made me feel weird (a heaviness in my legs and tiredness immediately after drinking). Not so with the wine here. It's awesome.

 The Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo is yet another event happening this week, through the weekend. Al Gore is speaking this evening in town, not sure the topic. Staying away from U.S. politics has made me very, very happy. I will pass on tonight's talk.

There's a neat fair called "Pic & Nic" a Trevi in a nearby town (Trevi). Haven't been there, sounds nice...if it isn't raining.

Through next weekend is an amateur and pro kite flying event at yet another nearby town. With so much going on, it's hard to decide what to do and what to skip.

I'd like to understand why the incredible amount of things to do. My guesses are that it's one or a combination these: 1) Italian excuse to socialize, because Italians love to be together. 2) Excuse to eat, because Italians love good food. 3) Homes are small and possibly not where all fun things are happening, so it's important to people to get out of the house. 4) Very rural/farm-centric area. 5) TV isn't all that exciting here (I have no idea what TV is like here since mine doesn't work and I don't understand it. This definitely doesn't appear to be a TV culture, though, from what I've noticed from the homes I've been in.

Enough for now...hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!!

Word of the Day: Bo

Bo. This is a fun word in Italian that doesn't translate to English, nor can I explain it very well. Basically, it's a word that has no meaning and is used to occupy empty space in a conversation. Possibly because Italians don't like any empty space in conversations? Non so. [I don't know.]

I'm not remotely tired (it's almost 2 am here), but also not interested in blogging much. The story of the day was that it was a very nice one in class and there was time after to get 4 hours and 100km on the road....yes, the weather was that lovely and the fields are a rich, incredible green. I was attempting to meet up with one of my new bike friends (who doesn't speak English) and I made a wrong turn so we didn't meet up. Darn it. But I did find a couple new roads in the process. Seriously, no good reason to ever repeat the same ride exactly.

I ran into a group of cyclists going the same way for a few minutes, they were all heading to Foligno. It sounds like that's the place where all of the cyclists have been hiding (since they are not in Perugia). They were very nice and friendly, too. I'm sure they're serious racers, their quads had "racer" written all over them.

At the 65th km, I stopped to refuel--pizza and water. That settled quite nicely and it was not hard to get home as it usually is. I really need to work on nutrition...sports drink is sort of necessary, but I'd love to get by without it. And with that, I realize that these blog posts are becoming increasingly uninteresting with each passing day. I might start skipping days here and there, don't be concerned, I just need to write when I'm inspired to do so and when there's time. I owe a lot of people emails, and many of them need to be written in Italian, so will take quite a bit of time! As always, I really enjoy getting the personal emails from you and am so blessed to have each of you in my life!!!!!! So sorry that I can't reply to everything, but know that you totally make my day with your wonderful news and happy thoughts. :)

Bo.

Technically this Post Shouldn't Exist

Nothing to blog today...got in a great 70 km ride before class, good class (reflexive verbs were the topic of the day) and I'm tired, need sleep. Also need the weekend. Lots to do learning-wise, the weekend will be a great time for that. Also need to start planning some trips on the weekends.

Monster Giro d'Italia party waaay up north Wed night from 11pm-4am, but too far to go for it (darn!) Will be great when the tour comes through here. I'm already starting to lean towards taking 5 months of classes instead of 3 (since I want to know this language and be fluent in it). Don't have to decide until the first week in June, however. This means not traveling around as much in Europe which is something I really do want to do...maybe next summer...

Just a Regular Day

It was simply a nice day today. Started the day by visiting the oldest bar in town for a cappuccino, reviewed flashcards while standing at the bar savoring the drink (sorry, Starbucks, you are weak and flavorless next to Italian coffee). Visited a couple of historic sites in the town center and ambled off to class, meeting up with a new-to-me tiny grocery store where I bought lunch (hazelnut yogurt) on the way.

Class was good, I love what we're learning, I don't love it that I'm having issues with pronunciation. I hear the words perfectly in my head, but they come out differently. Seriously, I blame Spanish. Words and pronunciations are still bubbling up from high school Spanish so it weakens my confidence a little when I just say what comes to mind. Getting all of this settled in my head will come soon enough with all of the immersion so I'm not concerned.

The day was cloudless (this time nothing weird happened with the weather), leading to a lovely ride in the evening and a perfect sunset. The bike ride was nearly required since I really need that time to think through the Italian grammar and allow the vocab from class to settle into my brain. The intensity of class is too much to come home and not have a quality break.

Tiramisu and Vocabulario...

Today was a full day of studying, going to class, coming home (exhausted at the end of class as usual because of the intense thinking), not having any way to play since the rain came back yet again (and it was a perfect morning), so I escaped to a really neat dungeon creperia in a nearby Etruscan cave (tons of them around here) and had their homemade tiramisu (nice and strong). I huddled over the books looking up words and making flashcards. 3 hours flew by. Vocab is addictive. Hard to stop looking up words when there, staring me in the face, is yet another that I don't know and probably should.

Alright, since today didn't allow for much in the way of fab pictures, let me resurrect a few pics of the Etruscan caves. I'll be learning more about the history of these soon, but be fascinated in the meantime (wikipedia probably tells as much as I'll get out of going to the museums here, anyhow).

Someone has set up her art in one room of this massive cave. I saw this as I was descending the monstrously large scale mobili (escalators) that take pedestrians from the top of the city downward to lower parts of the city. It's a pretty awesome scene down there in the bowels of the city. For as ancient and medieval as they are, it doesn't give me that watch-your-back sort of feel.

This one is really cool because it feels like it's outside at night in the streets--yet, look up--it's just one huge room.

Totally changing the subject, but I realized that I didn't post pics from Thurs night when I went out with my classmates. They played good music and were packed at this bar at 9:30 (very, very early for establishments...they're typically totally empty at that time). Not only was it full inside, look at the scene on the street just outside:

Below is a clip that, when the song came on, I literally felt like I was time-warped back to Theta Tau (my college fraternity). It is so weird the power that music has to pull up memories that have to be dusted off a bit. (I'm not suggesting this is a great song, btw, but pretty great for those back in Eta Gamma years ago!)

From 2010-04-15

Off to play with flashcards! By the way, aside from learning past-tense today (really nice to know, I could use more tenses), we learned colors. This is like being a kindergartner all over again and I'm eating up every minute (literally and figuratively). :)

On the road with Italians

Unfortunately, today has come to an end. After a perfect day, it's hard to imagine ever having another such day. First, here's the data to establish the facts. Read on to get the insider info on experiencing a true Italian bike ride!

The Day in Data

Time: 04:52:47 Distance: 121 km Elevation Gain: 3,562 ft Calories: 4,152 C

Map:

Elevation data (look at how the ride ends!) The really big hump is riding to Montefalco (home of a great winery) out of Bevagna:

The Day as it Went Down

The ride today is a challenge to capture in words, but I'm going to try. It's too cool of an experience for you to not hear how it went down. (Read when you have time!) First, this ride happened as a result of my meeting Daniele on the road a couple of days ago. He invited me to this one. The txt msg that I got last night told me to be at a coffee shop around 8am this morning. Uh oh, no way were my shoes, arm warmers or knee warmers going to have time to dry from yesterday! Can it possibly be warm enough at that hour to consider riding? I woke up before the alarm this morning, so excited to go on a group ride (I live for group rides). A glance out my window showed blue sky, the promise of a nice day.

Getting to al Bar

Turns out the sunny, cloudless sky at my place in Perugia didn't last long. Why? This place is so high, it was above the clouds. The descent was fairly humid-cold, and there was no way to see much of anything in the thick fog (nebbia). I made a major beginner error: I started riding before the GPS could pick up the satellites so I got started on the wrong road (in my disorientation with the fog) and it took a few wrong turns before making it to where I thought I was supposed to go. Considering how much Italian I know right now, I couldn't just call Daniele for directions. Long story short, we met up and he rode me over to where the group ride was going to begin.

The Ride
For starters, I didn't know what this ride would be all about. Remember, I don't speak enough Italian to know the right words surrounding riding bikes. It's a big group of mostly older/more settled guys who have a good level of endurance (no crazy racer types except for Daniele and maybe one or two others). How far were we going to go? For some reason, I assumed it would be the standard 3 hour, 50-60 mile route. I'd had a decent breakfast, but not nearly enough food on me for the 75 mile fast-paced ride (though it had lulls in places, there were also times of severe intensity...the rollers are absolutely brutal, also).

Immediately, it was obvious the guys were cool with having me with them. They were all very friendly and we exchanged a few words: "Ciao" and "Come va?" Daniele was awesome to make sure I was doing okay and that everything was "va bene" (going well). As the ride progressed, the conversations were longer and a bit more involved. They were all really sweet and seemed particularly protective of me. Sometimes on the hills, they'd push me up (even if I wasn't sweating it), they were just offering a friendly gesture. Considering they were all in full leg warmers and jackets, they kept wanting to know if I was too cold (freddo). Honestly, it wasn't that cold out there, but the very thin wind-breaker I had with me was perfetto and worn most of the time. It took a couple of hours for the fog to burn off and a toasty warm sun was behind it. 

I'm so glad I have a story. There are the standard questions I am asked consistently: where are you from? Colorado? Ah, Colorado is very beautiful! Why are you here? Where do you live? How old are you? What do you do for a living in the US? I think I'm answering these with perfect ease at this point. I explain the family roots, family who live here now, where my family is in the US and who they are, all that. Every time I mention Bevagna, everyone perks up. It's such a little-known place to tourists, I think, and it has some sort of place in the locals hearts out here.

The ride today took us through Bevagna (not into the walled portion). It was pretty darn awesome, as we were flying past the home of my great grandfather, to be able to point and tell the guys its significance. They seemed to care. 

A note about this group (and I'm guessing this is your standard cross-section of the bike rider population): they were really warm and friendly and very talkative with each other. I was drinking in the Italian conversations, the beauty of hearing this banter, very happy, sonorous banter, almost continually throughout the insanely gorgeous Umbrian countryside.

As you read this, you might be making certain assumptions as to why they were so nice to me. Here's some food for thought: when another large group of bike riders met up with our group (wearing very different team clothes), it was awesome the kinship and brotherly love shown between everyone. At one point, there must have been 4 pairs of guys with their arms on each other's shoulders, everyone happy to see each other and unafraid of touching each other. More massive amounts of Italian flying between different parties. More people saying hi to me, too. People are simply more into showing affection and touching each other, in general, here (probably common amongst most non-US cultures). It's something I've had to get used to, but I like it so much more than the cold stay-outta-my-personal-space-or-I'll-sue-you culture found in much of the US.

Early in the ride, Daniele suggested I jump on his wheel. I do as I'm instructed when I don't know the words for putting up a reasonable argument. Off we went on a break from the group. The group chased and one guy counter-attacked. At that point, I attacked and dropped him. The entire group absolutely fell apart in laughter. That was was the thing to do to be "adopted" by these guys. Daniele beamed with pride since he had brought me to this ride. (As an aside, Daniele is far stronger than I and a few of the guys climb better than me.)

I'm wondering when I should break out my secret weapon: swapping out these really heavy puncture-less tubes for standard road tubes. Next weekend and the weekend after are local Gran Fondo races that I will probably participate in...so I'd better do it soon! Or not and save it for a "special occasion" in mid-summer when I'm fitter/stronger. Here's a shot of the group.

They mentioned frequently something about eating (different conjugations of "mangiare"). I figured we'd stop fairly soon for espresso. After thinking harder about what they were saying, they had been asking me if I had eaten anything, did I have enough calories to survive this ride? Short answer is no.

We did end up stopping once with about 40km left to go for a quick cafe, water bottle fill up and a little photo op. I picked up a teeny-little "jar" of Nutella for additional calories. The cute little spoon that comes with the espresso was perfect for spooning out the Nutella. The guys wouldn't allow me to pay for anything.

This is me with one of the guys--he went far out of his way to ride me home after the group had split up. He also knows a little English, enough that I could ask him to help me say things properly in Italian and get translations for some words. 

On a ride where I probably burned 3-4,000 calories, I ate about 300. That's how "bonk" is spelled. I would love to know the Italian word. In fact, they might have a few, just like Eskimos have multiple words for snow. The rollers really make the miles take longer and feel harder. So does the oxygen.

The Reward

After the long climb up to home (sooo close to falling off of the bike at that point), I immediately hit my favorite gelato place. Four scoops of gelato--each of a different nut flavor...there had to be some good protein in that! Went to a happy park that overlooks the city, ate it and reflected on everything. Then went home and made gnocchi.

See the little Nutella jar in the upper right-hand corner? Awwww how cute. Bimbo Nutella (bimbo means very young child in Italian).

All of this by only 3pm. The events of the rest of the day involved studying, taking a nap while basking in the sun on the stairs of the cathedral, going to church, having a dinner of eggs, veggies, black rice all mixed up together--no it doesn't have a name, and getting my new roommate: girl from Toronto, fluent in Italian, she's here on a 1-way ticket (Italian boyfriend) and she seems really cool to me.

One last note before I sign off: I think I am beginning to understand how immersion works. I could understand significantly more dialogue today than at this time last week. I'm using church as a good measuring stick since they pretty much always say the same thing and they tend to ennuncicate properly. All of the chit-chat on the bike forces me to listen intently to every sound and become more comfortable talking since I have no choice but to respond when they say something.

It's reasonable to call the ride today doing my homework. It's the most fun homework I've ever had.

Why dost thou do that, weather god?

There is a bathroom that needs to be scrubbed and clothes that need to be dried. Somehow (yet again), the blog gets priority. This is one of those days that promises little to begin and really impresses, leaving one stupefied by it all. What, pray tell, just happened?

I awoke at 10 this morning after having a late night yesterday (no crazy parties, just getting stuff done at home). It was a rainy morning and chilly, so I gave the day a little time to dry out and warm up before heading out on a ride. During this time, I studied vocabulary words, many dealing with weather. Word of the day: tempacchio. Translation: Bad weather. Vento (wind) and pioggia (rain) were among the set.

When I left, everything looked pretty fine to me with blue skies and a few scattered clouds here and there. I found yet another new road to take down the monster hill and into the countryside. There were a fair number of cyclists on the road. At one point, I was about to head in the direction I knew, but saw some cyclists ahead of me going on a different road. I decided that with the [amazing] invention of GPS, I might as well follow the cyclists since I wouldn't get lost.

One of the guys in the group was friendly and was cool to talk to (no, no English). He was drafting off of the others, but they didn't know each other. I wonder if it's an Italian thing. It's great that so far, everyone is very patient with my lack of vocabulary and brutal abuse of verbs. The group was going fairly slowly, so I was able to talk comfortably and snap some pictures. See for yourself--threatening sky? I think not!

I learned a whole new, very cycling-friendly route today by following these guys. Below is us going through Assisi.

Yeah, I'm a dork. This is a self-portrait in front of Assisi. Ga-ga gorgeous scenery! And, literally, moments before it started raining. One of the reasons why I've been completely avoiding riding on rainy days (aside from the fact that rain is typically not a lot of fun) is that I have been absolutely petrified about being on the wet roads because they can be very slick--like ice. Fortunately, since it's been raining so much lately, that probably took care of the problem (it has something to do with diesel fuel coming out of the road when the road gets wet).

The few drops of rain soon turned into a torrential downpour. 10k to ride home, all of it raining, me getting completely soaked. It wasn't cold out so it wasn't that miserable. By the time I got home, the rain wasn't bad (though it poured again after I got inside).

After a very pleasing hot shower and food (gnocchi), I set out to do some exploring in town. The rain had left for good at this point, making way for a lovely evening. Found a museum of Perugian pottery, on display in this iconic building (I think it might be the highest tower in town).

Here's a pic taken earlier in the evening--the tower can be seen in the distance.

Guided by the little helpful book I've mentioned before, I found a waaaay awesome macrobiotic place. It's all organic, very crunchy--just my style where it comes to cuisine. It's this kind of place that one would expect to find in Boulder but can't... you have to go to NYC to get the same experience. (As an aside, if you're in NYC, go to Angelica's Kitchen, it replicates my experience tonight).

The place was packed, and they seated me at the community table. YEA! A community table!!!!! Angelica's Kitchen is the only place I've found one before. Quick definition of a community table: The establishment has this large table that seats ~12. If you go alone or with one other person, and if you want, they put you here to save their space and no one eats alone.

Tonight, I had a full-on family Italian experience with a whole bunch of super friendly Italians who not only aren't my family, but they also don't know each other. Some of them knew a little English, but I tried as well as I could to speak Italian and understand them. This is a group of people who aren't thrilled by the quality of typical Italian cuisine. In itself, the topic deserves a fair amount of research on my part.

Dinner tonight: soup (not sure what was in it), and a large plate piled with brown rice with a green sauce (probably vegetables), steamed veggies--carrots, chard, cauliflower, raw salad, garbanzo beans and wheat pasta. 8 euro. Would have cost 1/2 that if I were a student (which I am) but I would also have to be two years younger. Grumble on that, but still very reasonable and what an experience!

With that, it's time to clean the bathroom, we're getting a 3rd roommate tomorrow sometime. Arrivederci!

If April showers bring May flowers, let's see some HUGE stinkin' flowers here soon!

The spring rains here have been okay with me up until today. I felt that I could properly plan rides around them and enjoy the downtime when the rain came. I was really looking forward to an epic ride today, and my dream was snatched away from me as I was walking out the door with bike in hand...my roommate came in and told me that it was chilly and raining. (This is after I'd just checked weather.com that said it was sunny and in the 60s.)

(Note the above picture was not photographed on Italian soil.)

Plan B. Change clothes, promptly head to neighborhood bar and drown sorrows in cappuccino. I spent the rest of the day writing down vocab words and I even graduated to making flashcards. I can't tell you how excited I am to learn the vocabulary and actually memorize things again. Engineering school took away my ability to memorize (thanks to cheat sheets) so it is, truly, thrilling (though difficult) to get back into this sort of learning.

As an aside, this was Google's image today. Is that just for Italians or the whole world?

I have a favor to ask of each of you. Whether or not you've already seen my Gelato Diet (click here) YouTube flick, I hope you won't mind checking it out again and please add a rating on YouTube.

I got many wonderful emails from so many of you concerning this movie, I really appreciate each of them. But for the movie to get more hits, YouTube needs to see your feedback. I created this out of my desire to thank Ciclismo Classico and the friends I met on tour for the most amazing trip I've ever been on and to illustrate how and why I fell in love with Italy--so much so that I totally changed everything in my life to be here now.

Ciclismo is currently running a video contest--the winner will get a free trip this summer (terms and conditions apply). You can be assured that if I win, you will get tons more stories and awesome images from other great places to ride in Italy! So let your feedback be heard now--the deadline is April 30, but please don't wait because this needs all of the hits it can get right now (as the ratings generate future hits).

Grazie mille from the bottom of my widdle Italian heart!

How long should a 1 L bottle of olive oil last?

I want to know what the FDA would have to say about olive oil consumption. The other day, I made a Freudian slip and described my olive oil consumption as "drinking" it. Let's just say that I don't drink, uh, I mean consume, it quite as fast as water, but it's only a tad more expensive than water, so it might as well be enjoyed. On most everything, for most meals. Tutti.

You've been patiently awaiting some sort of pictures. Here's tonight's dinner. Tortellini and pesto from the grocery store (another something that's dirt-cheap here). Also imagine steamed spinach as the 2nd course. 3rd course will probably be wine and bar food--am going out tonight. Thursday just seems like the best night to go out and my classmates aren't off traveling for the weekend. So many kids in this town go out every night. I'm just too old to party that much and survive. (Actually, I've always been "too old" to party on school nights.)

Would have loved to get good pictures from today's ride, but it turns out that after I went through Assisi and found an interesting new road to follow, a couple of lycra-clad guys (Daniele and Louie) on bikes rode up behind me so I followed their wheels until I got back home. Riding with them meant doing some sprints and keeping a very high pace at times--they didn't speak English so it was a test to see where I fall strength-wise. It also meant a mid-ride stop for a drink--red wine for Daniele, not sure what Louie had and I got orange juice. I've never seen anyone drink wine during a ride and I sure have never seen anyone down it as quickly as Daniele did!

It's rides like this that I have been hoping for the past few months and it was a real motivation to train (for this and grand fondo races). My strength is no where near where I'd like it to be, but I would have died if I had tried to keep up a racer's training schedule on top of moving here. Va bene. All is well, though, I'm strong enough to hang and attempt conversation in Italian (trust me, it's work at this point, pretty exhausting to try to catch what they're saying and think of an appropriate response--frustrating because I want to say so much but so little comes out). We exchanged enough information to know a fair amount about each other. We will ride Saturday. Woohoo!

With that, it's time to start the process of getting ready for the evening. If I were like most people here, I wouldn't even consider going out until 11:00 or later. Just too old...

Slammed

I think I enjoyed (trying) to speak Italian a little bit more when I didn't realize all of the different ways to screw everything up. Now that I'm becoming more aware of this, some serious studying time is in order, but that won't fix my newly-discovered fear of speaking it all wrong. Tomorrow is language lab, that should help. I'm really looking forward to the Italian roommates for the extra dialogue...and at least I can ask them if I'm mispronouncing words.

Right now, my roommate is having a dinner party, but I decided to skip it and just eat steamed spinach and tortellini earlier tonight. Smoke clogs my brain...and I need to study. Not many Americans in town (I rarely run into one), but there's a NJ guy in the kitchen. He's lived here for two years. He works at a bar and said he picked up the language just by doing that. I cannot fathom how anyone can do it without going to class, there are so many nuances.

The little guide book should have something to say about running here considering what they said about cycling. I ran earlier today (great way to see more cool streets and I found some pretty parks and good food shopping), but with the cars parking on sidewalks and sidewalks jumping from one side of the road to the next (and every road going either straight up or down), I'll take riding here any day over being on foot. Still, good workout since it was a bit chilly and my laundry hadn't dried yet from yesterday.

Time Flying? A Secret to Slowing it Down...

As we get older, time goes by faster and faster. My idea on why this is: once life begins to repeat itself, everything that is repetitious of a previous day or activity ends up being stored in memory as a single item. Thus, as one grows older, more and more activities turn out to be the same and time is, literally, compressed in memory--creating that time-is-flying feeling.

Simple fix to this pesky problem: uproot your life, move to somewhere else and get another profession. Easy, eh? :) Honestly, I don't see why not (if you don't have school-age kids). Packing up one's life is challenging (especially in a credit- and contract- based society like ours), admittedly, and I've been fortunate to have family helping me (to this day) wrap up a few loose ends. But once I got here, everything that I thought would be really hard has turned out to simply fall into place.

Back to the point about slowing down time: I've been gone from the US for 1 month and 4ish days. It truly feels like four months have passed. It's hard for me to imagine that I've only been in 5 total days of Italian school and haven't been in Italy for that long at all.

Every day is new, brings new people, new experiences. Every time I venture out of the house, I discover a new street that leads to an incredible vista, a useful establishment (tourist office gave me a book of bike rides today!), yummy pastry shop, chill bar or another public water fountain (no need to ever buy water here). Every single day.

Today's big adventure and success was finding a bath towel. Sad but true, I've been using a travel towel since I left hostel living. There is nothing like drying off with a terry-cloth towel and today I finally purchased one. Finding that store was sheer happiness. Next time you dry off after a shower, appreciate that towel that you've taken for granted your whole life.

The other successful adventure (but not as exciting as the towel) is that I found a new place to live! It's full of Italian students (3 or 4 others), saves me about 100 euro every month (utilities are included in the price, major stress reliever), should have better internet (this connection stinks--usually not good enough for a Skype call) and is significantly closer to school. My view is about the same (stone wall) and room is 1/2 the size of this one, but I'm a believer in small, uncomfortable bedrooms (less comfortable=more time spent out in a public place!) Bedroom = camera da letto (I learned this today in school). I've committed for 2 months so I can decide at that point whether to continue taking Italian classes or travel around a bit more in Europe. It's anyone's guess as to what I'll end up doing.

On a totally different topic, I got some questions pertaining to the last blog entry...my philosophy on dating. It's actually quite simple: I date with the intention of getting married and having a family (family may or may not include having kids--there's nothing certain about having them, even if they're really wanted). Dating is time to get to know the other person (and vice versa) and determining if this is a proper fit for a future family. Just that simple. I like the idea of how people dated back in the 50s. Go to the movies, ice cream, etc, with a variety of people until one person really stands out. Date that person solely for a few months, if all signs are good, get engaged, get married. Done. Simple.

Central Perugia is a town of one-night stands. Most young people are only temporarily here and so many are from around the world--chances are incredibly small that two people who meet here are going in the same direction (or will want to be in the same place) in the future. Italy, in general, has a reputation for being similar, but I don't know how true that is. Stereotypes can be so very wrong. From what I'm hearing others say about the United States, it's pretty shocking some of the ideas people have about it. Most of the foreigners I've met haven't been to the U.S. ever, but they assume a lot that isn't based on reality. (Nor is everything based on what they are fed from Hollywood or even the media.) In a few months, I'm sure this is a topic that will be blog-worthy. The last comment I heard that made me laugh is a girl who assumed I am an expert in gelato since Americans eat an extraordinary amount of ice creams (it's plural in some other languages).

Hello Mother, Hello Father, I am Smoking...

Make that "I am second-hand smoking." No, I don't like the smoke, but after years of staying far away from it, a few nights of smoke-filled rooms is worth it for the social aspect. It's also just one more way I'm learning to tear down my comfort zone, to get rid of that attitude of everything must be just the way I want it.

We often think we can control everything in our lives; I think Americans have that "God" mentality more than most people... Why do we put up a big fence around our home? Well, to control our space and keep it the way we made it to be (we forget that we aren't the ones who made anything or own anything...it's all on loan to us while we're alive the way I see it). I know that I need to completely remove these qualities in myself if I ever hope to be the person I need to be--for whatever purpose I am meant to have.

My roommate had a dinner party tonight so she cooked spaghetti with a very yummy sauce of olives, celery, tomato sauce, guests brought great wine and gelato. It was a fun group and good time--and particularly nice to have people here after the past week and a half when I was the only person here (my roommate had to go home for a week since someone in her family died).

This was pretty amusing, so I have to share. One of her guy friends came and within 10 minutes of meeting me asked me out on a date. He didn't want to accept no as an answer. So I shared with him my philosophy on dating. He responded, "Well then we can just be friends." Nice. I wish I could have been this straight-forward in my younger years, it would have saved a lot of wasted time. Really, as interesting as it might be to check out the dating scene, this is not the town for it. (The cool little guide book I blogged about earlier today had a whole section about dating...it helped me appreciate what the scene is all about.)

In other news, it's true what people say, full immersion language classes are exhausting. After class this afternoon, my head hurt--literally, from being stretched in every which direction. This was day #4 of class, and I can already tell my level of comprehension is way up from this time last week and I'm thinking/reading a bit faster (I still have an incredibly long way to go). Vocab is sort of floating in, it's not hard for me to remember words after learning them once or twice since it's in context and I am stressed to learn. It's a super fun pasttime to look up words and check out idioms--even though these scare me a lot since it's just so much to learn.

"An Awful City for Cyclists"

"Perugia is, simply put, an awful city for cyclists. No cycle paths, narrow roads, endless hills, cobblestone streets, lanes that end in steps and rain blowing sideways quickly put an end to most two-wheeled ambitions."

This statement comes directly from a cool little guide book that I just picked up. I understand where they're coming from--I only start and end rides here. The riding in the central part here is not great, but the location simply cannot be beat. The insane uphill at the end of the ride leaves me quaking in my cleats before starting the ascent. My eyes always burn of sweat in them by the time I get home.

The guide book is free and written by an American and Australian who tell of the great places to eat, shop, etc. Thank goodness a fellow classmate told me about this guide! I'll be a good tour guide to the city in no time. Hint, hint.

It's cool to start getting the locals recommendations on things. First recommendation from one cousin was to go to the chocolate shop and get a jar of their version of Nutella. Yes, it's better than Nutella and the ingredients are much better. While I'm on the subject, I'd been craving almond and peanut butter (staples of my American diet). Yes, I did find peanut butter, but it's expensive and has fully hydrogenated oil. So I won't eat it for any reason. Bananas are expensive, too, I haven't eaten a single one since I've been here. Surprisingly, I haven't missed them (I used to eat one or two daily back home). Add Clif Bars to the list--an addiction back home, I haven't seen or consumed one in over a month.

On that note, a pizzeria is another recommendation. That just might be dinner. Can you tell we just learned all about food in class?

Comparison of American and Italian Life -- OR NOT

As my cousin pointed out yesterday, how can one possibly compare Italian life to that in America? She really thinks the question, itself, is invalid. They are two completely different lives, that only small pieces can be considered against that of the other culture; but in doing this, everything else is left out--which is what defines the full experience of one living in a place.

If none of that made sense, mi dispiace (I'm sorry), I'm writing this even though I should be sleeping. Today was spent with more cousins, most of whom live in a nearby town; again, I'd never met any of them prior to today. It was raining all day today so it was a particularly good day for a visit. I'll say one thing about the weather here: when the forecasters say it'll rain, it does. Makes it easier to plan around it because this rain makes riding a bike (or doing much outside) close to impossible.

Capturing the moments that made yesterday and today great will not be possible as much as I am desperately wanting to do that. It's simply not feasible, in words, to tell of the feeling of comfort, of warmth, that I instantly felt with all of my family members the moment I met them all. We may be related, but I was a stranger to them prior to this weekend. They didn't even know what I looked like. For the most part, we don't speak the same language, but I don't feel the stress of not having the right thing to say; I don't feel like I need to concern myself with how I look or dress or any of that. I can simply be part of the family and I have to be content at this moment in not understanding where this odd feeling of unexpected comfort originates.

The food, like yesterday, was prepared with a supreme level of care and it was wonderful. I think the system of serving up each course one at a time is terrific--it allows the chefs in the kitchen to enjoy the food with everyone and there is a little time in between courses for digestion.

Turns out the guys who are somewhere around my age are really into cycling. That was a pleasant surprise! I was glad I took this magazine with me along with the GPS watch and bike riding pics from the Colorado National Monument. (We watched a decent portion of the Paris Roubaix, too. I'm convinced that if everyone rode bikes, we'd have world peace. And yes, Mark-mystery-blog-reader, I highly encourage the purchase of GPS. I happen to really like Garmin, not sure how it compares to others out there. It's the best purchase, aside from airline tickets to Europe, that I've made in a very long time for multiple reasons. Can't wait to try out your suggested hack! Thanks!)

The conversation was almost all Italian today, two people have a good knowledge of English so I got some translations at times, but it really forced me to pull out the little Italian I know and piece it together. There was also a lot of communication via hand waving. The full-on Italian exposure was like a week in class...and it helped emphasize to me the importance of living with Italians. Apartment shopping for May will commence tomorrow. When I got home tonight, I spent a long time at the local bar reviewing vocabulary and realizing the hundreds of mistakes I made today.

Two common questions they all asked me are: what do I do for a living? and why do I study Italian here? This has been something I've been thinking long and hard about on bike rides. The creativity flows when there's so little stress and fresh air. I'm starting to come up with some interesting ideas, but nothing that I will do anything about until I get a bit further in school. One step at a time. If the dreams I'm having at night are any indication, I need to do do something dramatically different from the 8-5, M-F desk job.

On that note, I could write a book just on the experience of today alone, but this captures enough such that the day doesn't have a chance of slipping into oblivion.

A Day in Bevagna with "New" Cousins

Today was a very cool day of visiting cousins living in a medieval town (not very far removed on the family tree). The neat thing about this visit was that this is the first time I've ever met them. I started the day at the bike shop getting my bike fixed (this was a proactive fix to prevent a shifter cable from breaking again). I absolutely adore the bike shop. Right now, they're the only people I know in this town who don't think I'm a lunatic for riding a bike. (Note, I have at least two classmates who have never once ridden a bike.) While the mechanics were fixing the bike, I got to stroll along a nice dirt trail next to a river, just a lovely place and morning.

Tomorrow is similar, I'm meeting a whole bunch of cousins who, again, aren't far removed on the tree. Pictures and stories might be coming, this is the kind of stuff that's better not blogged and I'm simply out of time.

Have been picking up Italian fairly quickly (as compared with trying to learn it in Denver), but my big limiter right now is my lack of vocabulary. I can't try out much when I don't have words that come close to what I want to say. With that, time to go stuff some words in my brain!

Note to self: Hilltowns involve hills that add up to mountains

Today was the day I was actually going to get to a destination (instead of turning around early like I've done quite a few times lately). I'm feeling pretty comfortable on the roads now and have a good sense as to how to get where I want to go. Goal today: Gubbio. On my way out of town, I ran into a cool couple who just happened to be heading to Gubbio, too. (It's universal that couples who ride bikes together are pretty much always fun to ride with and interesting to be around.) This girl is the first female road cyclist I've seen since I've been in Italy. She and her husband were unfortunately just vacationing in the area for the weekend.

Total distance: 106 km, 5,000 feet of climbing. For the record, riding at low altitude with rollers is FAR more taxing on the body than riding in the Rockies for the same duration.

I found my knight in shining armor! Also to be found in the store in the background were all things a medieval warrior would need on the battlefield. Not quite sure how they stay in business, is there a market for this stuff?

Looking back at Gubbio as I ride out of town.

This is what hay fever looks like. I've been eating lots of eucalyptus honey lately, am hoping that keeps allergies at bay. So far, no sign of any issues. And no, eucalyptus honey doesn't taste like eucalyptus. It is made from bees buzzing around eucalyptus & the honey is said to be good for sore throats.

Simply a beautiful landscape found as I was putting in a few extra miles (my form of procrastinating) before doing the ridiculous hill-climb to get home.

Dedicated to my Rock Band Friends & Anyone with a Sentimental Bone in their Body...

I heard this song tonight in the bar and it took me back to our Rock Band jam sessions. Upon logging into Facebook, I see the fantastic news about the newest (youngest/littlest) member of J-Force!!! Congrats, Christine & Matt!!!!!

Thinking about all of you guys!

A German, Turk, American and Two Swedes Walk into an Irish Bar.......

Sorry, not the beginning of a funny joke, but this describes the fun night I just had! How cool to get to know people from all over the world and compare our countries, the good, bad and our philosophies on why we all ended up here, in Italy. The evening lasted a little longer as a liter of (decent) red vino, coupled with a cheese and prosciutto plate cost a mere 10 euros. There were far more people on the streets just now (2 am here) than at 9 pm when we met up.

Just after class let out today, a lot of us hung out...gelato was on the menu for the group. I found the best pistachio gelato that I have had to date. If you want some, you'll have to come visit me. I'll buy you one or even two, if you give me a lick.

Mikael says this is a good combo--beer and gelato.

Just chillin' with some of my classmates. The new class of the day was a language lab. It's where we get to put on headphones and say stuff in Italian to the microphone...the teacher can listen to any student whenever he chooses to. It's a great exercise in actually speaking the language properly, but I found it stressful to figure out how to talk, out loud, over the din of the rest of the class doing the same thing. By the end of the class, I was fairly used to it. However, by the end of the day today, I was ready for a break.

There are lots of words and concepts to review this weekend, but I'll be splitting time between being studious and visiting family. Yes, family!!! Ciao!

Andare in Bicicletta

Found some cool new roads today...and I almost made it to a very cool little hilltown. Note to self: when going to a hilltown, expect to go up. 2 1/2 hrs on the bike, 3,200 feet of climbing. It was so toasty warm and the sky was blue. The time on the bike was spent talking to myself in Italiano. I'm a boring conversationalist at this point with my tiny Italian vocab. Good practice, but I notice that when I try to speak with anyone else, everything I was going to say comes out all wrong.
 

The teacher has been enjoying putting students on the hot seat in front of the class. The student answers (in Italian) any question the class poses. It was my turn today to field questions.

Question: Tu hai marito? (Do you have a husband?)
Answer: No, perche preferisco andare in bicicletta. (No, I prefer to ride a bike.)

It was the only thing I could figure out how to say in Italian that made some sort of logical sense. There were many other questions. One involved where my grandparents are from. I mentioned Bevagna and after class, one of the guys (from Germany) told me all about his visit there a few days ago. He couldn't say enough good things about it and showed me all of the pictures he took of it. I learned a lot about some new places to check out next time I'm there.

Today we learned verbs...and I have to go study now since it's a lot to know. Here are some shots from school:

Not something you'll find in many schools. With that, time to hit the books!

Head First

Immersion is the true sink-or-swim method of learning. From experience, I think it's a style I like, though it's always uncomfortable to some degree. Typically, discomfort (in the sense of you're not growing or moving in any direction in life if you're not being stretched) is a place I prefer. Same ol' same ol' isn't in my vocabulary. That is how I ended up in Italia, now this is the true test...can I do this?

Here's what I see of language immersion simply from judging by Day 1. The class is a grand total of ~23 students. No one else is from the U.S., a couple are older (34 and 40), most are much, much younger (like 20). I'm the only one with Italian blood. It pleases me greatly when teachers all know immediately how to spell and pronounce my name--and they all want to know about my family roots. Other countries represented: China, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Siberia, Australia, Holland, Uganda and a few I couldn't figure out because I couldn't understand them.

No one so far has a compelling reason to be here (I believe this is what Elizabeth Gilbert discovered as she was studying Italian in Rome, when she was writing "Eat, Pray, Love.") Reasons I've heard so far: the language is beautiful, love Italy, love wine, don't want to look stupid by only knowing a single language, fulfilling a requirement for school and it's something to do... I'm definitely not saying these aren't good reasons, it's just not the same typical reasons one would give for learning Spanish or English.
 
When I was looking for the classroom, I met some Swedish classmates so I ended up sitting with them. They all speak excellent English (they're raised with the language there) and are very friendly.

The day began with our warm and friendly instructor speaking all Italian (as is to be expected). The most important skill I can see that one needs to handle this kind of instruction is being able to see the patterns and how things fit in the puzzle. The teacher says (all in Italian, of course): My name is Maria. Then she asks a student what his name is. He knows to respond similarly. She starts counting, she wants us to count to 80 as we go around the room. She asks each of us our names, how to spell them and where we're from, thus we learn the alphabet. She plays a tape of native speakers telling where they're from, how old they are, that sort of thing. They speak fast, she plays the tape a couple of times. We write answers to verbal questions. We're expected to know it now. Moving along to the next thing: masculine and feminine and how to make words plural. She doesn't need to use any language but Italian and handouts with examples (a few pictures) to get the point across. Session 1 is two hours long with a break. Lunchtime is spent running around town taking care of business.

I'm very glad I've spent some time here already, I am catching a lot more of the words when people speak than I used to. Since Italian words are so easy to spell, I know when I'm hearing words I don't know--I write them down and look them up later. Easy. I feel quite sorry for people trying to learn English since there's no way this is possible. 

Session 2 is a male instructor--he comes across immediately as a tough teacher. Gulp, big difference from this morning. Wrong-o! He's got a great sense of humor and is very personable. He starts off, however, much, much faster than the morning session--he expects that for us to be in this class, we know quite a bit of the Italian basics, including how to conjugate basic verbs (grazie to my Italian friends, your lessons really came in handy!) At first I was having trouble understanding him, but by the end of class (3 hours later), I was feeling much more comfortable (he hadn't slowed down). The other students felt similarly. Coming here without knowing any of the language would have been scary. 

The school is exquisitely beautiful (especially compared with the Engineering Center at CU). The weather today was blue sky and bike-ride perfect (which I did as soon as class let out). I took some pics of school, will post them when there's time. Social stuff is starting up soon--would have gone out tonight if there hadn't been a Facebook snafu. I'll try to put up short updates (maybe not even sentences during the week) and have a bit more on weekends. Arrividerci!

Art - Inside and Out!

Turns out not everything was closed today...so I ended up spending the late afternoon at an incredible art museum in town (and it's nearly free after the student discount).

The rain finally let up and the sun poured down making for a picture-perfect sunset!

It's back to school time and I'm sooo excited to be a student again. Amazingly enough, I was able to buy a pair of shoes that are fashionable enough for my new clothes (I was sure they were, again, going to not have my size and I refuse to go too small in shoes...the first store didn't have a single pair of shoes big enough, I got lucky at the second one).

On that note, time to switch into school mode!

What to do on rainy day: Techie Challenge

Not that I exactly know what the rest of the day entails, but I do have a very nice poncho and will be going out after posting this. Please, if any geeks are reading this and have ideas, I need to hear them!

Here's the challenge: I can see from Google maps what roads I want to take to go places, but to be able to follow the directions and have a pleasant bike ride, it involves needing to turn the directions/map created by Google Maps into a course route that can be uploaded into my Garmin GPS. (As I've said before, street names are worthless along with Google route directions.)

From what I've found in researching today: Garmin's courses are XML and so long as you have latitude and longitude points, it's not difficult to simply create one's own XML course file.

The problem boils down to this, then: I want a listing of all of the necessary latitude/longitude points to create a reasonable course to follow. With these data points, all is well. In Google maps, one can right-click on a point and the lat/long coordinates are shown to the user. At this point, I just copy/paste into Excel & have formulas there take care of creating the XML file. Great--but I don't love the time that has to be spent clicking on the map and pulling off the lat/long data.

If any of you have ideas as to anything out there to solve this problem, I'll give you a virtual pat on the back. From my Google searches, I'm surprised to not find much of anything available.

I'm pleased, however, to report that this is (though time-consuming) entirely possible as I now have a course uploaded on GPS waiting for me to get to a very cool town! I'll post the ride after I successfully do it on the bike. 

Raining Gatti e Cani (Cats and Dogs) per Pasqua!

Yesterday was an absolutely lovely day, fairly opposite from the constant rain falling today. This is the first significant (like activity-stopping) weather since I've been in Italy. My plan was to go to church and then pedal to Bevagna and spend the afternoon there. Instead, I've stayed in since church and have watched Italian tv--cartoons, westerns (dubbed, it's strange in Italian) and now world news. Back to yesterday & I apologize, this isn't posted in chronological order:

Finally, here's Assisi as seen from the road yesterday:













 (Click on the picture to see it bigger.)

Also seen on the road:

I have figured it out that reading maps & trying to figure out directions (including using Google map directions) is absolutely pointless. It's just important to know which towns are close to which other towns, what's north, south, east & west, follow town signs and do whatever intuition says is most right.

When I was walking around town yesterday morning (before it was warm enough to ride), it was so much fun to walk down new roads and see where they lead. Here's a nice vista.

That's how I ended up finding the shops where I picked up some cute, inexpensive clothes. At one store, I was talked into pants that are two sizes smaller than I typically wear--but, as the guy said, it's how the Italian girls wear clothes--small. They're black pants with gold stitching and gold zippers all over. I like them a lot (no, they aren't comfortable). Let me tell you, these pants are as effective as going on a diet. Clearly, I have no intention of starving myself in the happy land of amazing food.

I've found that I really enjoy conversing with shop owners and listening to others as they shop. The proprietors want to talk to me because I have money to spend in their stores (or they're just nice people), I don't care their intention. I try to buy one small thing everywhere I go (of course, it has to be something I need), and that buys me a full experience and social opportunity.

When I was at the market yesterday buying a couple of things, the line was pretty long. I find it interesting that even when someone is buying very few things (and everyone only pays in cash), each transaction seems to take a long time. I'm not sure why this is yet. There isn't an express lane. By the time I left, the line stretched to the back of the store. Definitely Easter shoppers, but lines tend to be long and slow from what I've found so far.

Same situation at the Post Office. I needed to send in some paperwork. Take a number. Read my Italian-English dictionary. Wait. Finally they take me and I find out that the special stamp I need can only be bought at certain other post offices. Hopefully they're open tomorrow. It surprised me that every business seemed to have normal hours Friday and Saturday before Easter.

Here are pictures taken from the street fair/market, whatever it's called:

Awesome, huge olives.

Sun-dried tomatoes.

Sweets.

Cannoli--I did the taste test & the one I'd had before (that I discussed on the blog) was the best, but I'm not complaining about these. The fair runs through tomorrow. One more cannolo only if the weather holds and I have 3+ hours to burn it off!

I liked this guy--he was very friendly and generous with samples. I bought some really tasty, soft cheese from him, I wish I knew what kind it is. Something that impressed me with the people selling their wares is that after weighing the food, they would round down as to how much I owed them and I always got proper change back (sometimes more than I expected). Considering they all know I'm American (maybe Italians don't wear pony tails?), I got a very good impression of their business ethic.

At the beginning of the Easter Vigil mass, everyone gathered in the courtyard (this is standard Catholic, if you're not familiar). There was a huge fire going in a big metal container. 

Then with candles lit, everyone proceeded into the church. Not sure the significance of all of the people in the white robes (men and women).

Contrary to the way this picture looks, town was packed and loud at 1:20 am (when the Vigil mass was over). In fact, people were walking around all over with cups of beer, all ages were out. For that matter, all ages were in church, too.

Easter Sunday

This is the scene as taken from the steps of the cathedral.

Some quick observations about Sunday mass and Easter in general: I didn't see a lot of the Easter bunny in shops here, but there is some Easter bunny (particularly in chocolate form) and what's particularly popular here are these really large, hollow chocolate eggs (large like ~1 foot tall). I'd like to see what's in other towns. Here, the Perugina chocolate factory is extremely popular/famous around Italy and they produce these eggs. I'm looking forward to the free tour.

Easter colors as Easter merchandise in stores have been sterotypical pastel. However, in church, I saw almost all dark colors (blacks and browns, furs, boots). People are all very fashionable, but hair standards appear lower than clothing standards (possibly because this is a humid climate and Italian hair doesn't like humidity--I can tell you that from experience!)

The mass was beautiful, but no different in form/function from American Catholic Easter day mass. The choir was remarkably beautiful. The last song they sang was "Alleluia." Lots of people stuck around to hear the whole thing. Oh yeah, and when people wish each other Peace be with You, they often kiss on both cheeks and say "Pace." So this is very similar to the way it happens in the States except for the cheek kissing (this is commonly seen on the streets when friends greet each other, as well). The street fair is still going on today, don't know if there's anything out of the ordinary going on, I'd guess not as lots of food has been bought in the past few days, I'm sure huge feasts are being eaten!

And here's my mini-feast:

I even used the oven. I suppose the food here inspires me (ah, and I have time!) This is egg, pasta noodles, sun-dried tomatoes, bok choy, leftover rosemarino pizza with mozzarella bufala melted over it. You'll have to trust me that it was good.

Now to figure out what to do tomorrow if it continues to rain. Nice to have a day at home today! Hope you all had a very enjoyable Easter Sunday!!!