Buona sera a tutti! 

So it's been a week since I've been here and...oh my goodness...SO much has happened, I don't even know where to start, so bare with me if my train of thought seems super random :)

Our second day in Italy I moved into an apartment with my friend Julie (we took italian classes together in Boulder). We live on a small street called Via del Melo about a five minute walk from the center piazza. We're the only students from our school on our street (and probably within the couple "blocks" surrounding us) so it's definitely very different than living on the hill in boulder or in on-campus housing! It's been fun though trying to get to know our neighbors who of course speak only italian. We certainly have an interesting and homey little apartment: there's one biiig bedroom for the two of us, a living/dining room, a kitchen, and one bathroom. The furniture is definitely a little quirky and I have never seen such tiny kitchen appliances in my entire life, but the view from our balcony/windows is absolutely breathtaking. We look northeast towards the Apennine Mountain Range and I pretty much have to pinch myself every morning when I wake up and look out my window. It is definitely the highlight of the entire apartment.

If I had to describe Perugia in one word (besides "amazing," of course) it would without a doubt be HILLY. Oh my stars. One of the streets that takes us to the center piazza is a 23% incline. My legs are like noodles by the end of the day...which is probably a good thing: perhaps it will counteract all the actual noodles I've been eating since we arrived. All the hills make for amazing views of the city once you finally reach the top, but geeze-louise...they kill me. 

Difficult terrain aside, this town is amazing. It was actually built by the Etruscans and was first mentioned in writing around 310 BC (!!) so just the history alone is enough to blow your mind. Every morning I walk through a 2000+ year old arch on the way to school...just a little bit different from Boulder, CO :)

Though this probably goes without saying, we are spoiled rotten here when it comes to food (and wine). Just today I had a pizza with prosciutto and carciofi (artichokes), amazing spumante, a cappuccino, a caffe marocchino....all before 3pm. It is heaven. It's taken a little bit of effort getting used to grocery shopping though. Who knew there wouldn't be a safeway or whole foods in italy!? :) Since this is a fairly small town, we have to do the majority of our shopping at tiny hole-in-the-wall grocery stores, most of which are owned and operated by the cutest old italian women you'll ever see. Every saturday there is a huge open air market, so we're headed there tomorrow to stock up. The fresh seafood is supposed to be amazing....so perhaps it's time for me to learn how to cook. Wish me luck...

I've got to head out for now...but I promise more "blogging" is on the way. Also, check out my Picasa page...I've already uploaded tons of pictures for your enjoyment :) 

Ci Sentiamo!

Sarah