Perugia, Tivoli, & Siena

Ciao friends, sorry it has been a while!

This past weekend most of our group decided to head to Perugia (Northeast from Orvieto) for one night. We had heard the nightlife there was crazy and wanted to experience it for ourselves. We had no problem gettin there, even with the train change, but we did have quite a difficult time finding our hostel once we were in Perugia. We asked many people how to get there (even the information booth) but no one could give us good directions. We went one way after talking to a nice lady who worked at a cafe, only to be led up a hill through trees and bushes. Another lady told us to go back down the hill we had just climbed and go a different route. We must've asked 5 different people how to get there until someone finally gave us directions we were able to follow. It was weird because the hostel we were staying in is the major youth hostel of Perugia, so we were surprised no one knew how to get there. However, once we got to the driveway, it was stunning! A LONG cobblestone driveway led up to this huge hostel that looked morelike a nice hotel or mansion! We booked two rooms which were right next to each other and very clean (except for the two spiders I found above my bed....EWW)!

After getting settled in, we took the minimetro (a tiny little metro that rides tracks above the city and stops at 6 different popular locations...we all decided it looked like something out of The Jetsons) to the main part of Perugia with all the shops. It was freezing! Not just because of the temperature, but the wind was blowing like crazy, making it way colder than it should've been. We walked around for a while, ran into 5 Americans who happened to be staying in the same hostel as us, and got pizza. After we were minutes away from frostbites, we took the minimetro back to our hostel and started getting ready to go to a club called Cantiere 21. During the time it took for all 6 girls to get ready in our room, it started to get really hot. So of course, we opened the windows. BAD IDEA. Minutes after opening the window this huge bug came flying into our room, freaking all of us out. We were all screaming and running around. One girl thought it'd be a good idea to turn the light off, so it would fly back out the window. It seemed like a smart idea, but it wasn't. She said it had left, but as soon as we turned the lights back on i felt and heard it right by my head! I freaked out, running around and flailing my arms all the way to the other room. We asked one of the guys we were with to come kill it. Luckily he was able to find it and kill it. He was also the one who had killed the spiders above my bed earlier that night- my hero. After our bug scare, everyone was ready to go to Cantiere 21.

This club was in the middle of NOWEHRE! we took a cab ride there (the only way to get there) and tried to go inside right after arriving. Unfortunately for us, this club is an upscale restaurant until 12 or 1 a.m. The bouncers were going to make us wait outside for 2 hours until it was "club time". I'm not sure what happened or if the bouncer just had a change of heart, but he let us in after 10 minutes of us begging, and there was no cover charge! We were all starving by the time we got inside since we had eaten many hours before, and decided to befriend some Italians at a table right by us. A few of them left their dinner early, so me and Colleen snatched their seats. They still had 2 courses left that we got to eat! First I got a delicious pasta dish, and following that was STEAK!!!!! YAY!!!!! It was so nice to eat some red meat since we haven't bought any yet because of the price. It was so good. After that the dinner people filed out and the music started to shake the walls...aka..."Club Time"!

We danced the night away and hung out with our new American friends from the hostel. Once we tried to leave, however, the bouncers wouldn't let us. We couldn't figure out why or what they were saying. Eventually, Colleen was able to duck behind a few taller people and slip out the door. I, on the other hand, am way too tall to pull off that sort of thing and he caught me as soon as I tried to sneak out. I noticed that the people who had just left handed him a small ticket that said "exit" on it. I remembered we had been give "entrance" ones when we first came in. That's when I finally realized what he had been saying. The only way to leave the club was to go to the bar, hand them your entrance ticket, and buy a drink for 15 euros. Only then would you get the "exit" ticket. Well, that explained why there was no cover charge, but I hadn't bought a single drink and I was not about to! So I went back to my best friend the bouncer and tried to sell him this story of how I had tried to leave throught the back patio (there was one...I wasn't making it up) but the bouncer there took my ticket and sent me back inside to go out the front door. I told the bouncer I had already paid my 15 euros but the other bouncer had taken my ticket! He wasn't buying it. Time to amp up the acting. I started to get really sad, trying to get a little sympathy, when Colleen stuck her head inside (she had been waiting for me, unsure of what to do) and tried telling them that I was with her. Seeing as how she had already given them her ticket (haha, sucker!) I was clearly not lying, and the bouncer let me go! VICTORY! We were so proud of ourselves for getting 2 free courses of pasta and steak and hours of dancing, all without having to pay the 15 euros! After all that fighting with the bouncer, we went back to the hostel with some of our other roommates and called it a night.

On Sunday, our group went on a field trip to Tivoli with Alba (our beautiful director over here who is our pretend mom for the 3 months). Tivoli has two famous places: Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este. First we went to Hadrian's Villa. Hadrian was the old emperor who had built the villa as his official residency. To say this place is huge is an understatement. He had so many ponds, pools, buildings and houses. Anyone living in his villa back then would've been set for life. It is full of lush fields of trees, beautiful paths that snake through the grasses, and ponds completed with imitation Greek statues. Hadrian is said to have been very fond of Greek culture, so when he built his villa, he built it to resemble that of Greek structures and monuments. Walking through the ruins and hearing all the stories was amazing, but once it came to 12:30, we were all starving for lunch. We drove into town to find a place to eat.

After lunch, we went to Villa d'Este (my personal favorite). This villa was created by Ippolito d'Este, after his great disappointment of failing to become the next Pope. He took it upon himself to create the most beautiful garden. And I must say, he succeeded. This garden is the largest garden I have ever seen, filled with many fountains, including the Water Organ Fountain and many paths that wind around the grounds. Even in the winter, this place is breathtaking. There's not much I can say, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Yesterday we had a field trip to Siena. I have heard from many people that it is an absolutely stunning place. Maybe it's because it reminds me of a bigger Orvieto, or because we were inside museums or cathedrals all day, but I wasn't blown away. Don't get me wrong, the city center "Piazza del Campo" is beautiful with it's slanting, circular ground in the middle of the square with tons of restaurants and shops, as well as the Town Hall surrounding it. Colleen and I really enjoyed sitting there in the sun eating our gelato during our break. But other than that Piazza, everything else seemed a bit..."been there, done that". The Duomo there looks very similar to the Orvieto Duomo on the outside, althought the Siena Duomo is much more magnificent on the inside. The streets are just like those of Orvieto, except a little bit wider and busier. I had looked up the weather before we left and it said it was supposed to be 42 degrees Farenheit, but once again, the wind made it feel much colder. I had even bundled up but my entire body was still frozen! Because of that, it was miserable if we were outside. The sun made it a little better, but it was still really cold. By the time we got on our bus to go home, all of our teeth were chattering and everyone had their scarves pulled up around their heads like turbans. Siena was beautiful though, but not as breathtaking as I had imagined it would be.

The next three weeks are going to be crazy! This weekend we have our first 2 day trip to Milan. Lucky for us, this week(end) is Milan's Women's Fashion Week! We are all going crazy finding cute stuff to wear. The following weekend is Carnivale, which is like a mix between Halloween and Mardi Gras. Pretty much, Carnivale is a weeklong party with costumes. A bunch of us are going to Venice for it, which is said to be the best place in Italy to celebrate Carnivale. The next week is our Spring Break! Colleen, her friend Brittany, and I are going to head north to London and Paris for the week. I am so excited! I've been feeling sick lately so I'm going to try and get lots of rest before and in between these crazy weeks ahead. I can't wait to share all of my adventures with you all! Until then, ciao!