Benvenuti! I arrived in Italy this past Friday, January 4th around noon Italy time.  I flew Alitalia with several other students direct from JFK to Rome and the plane ride was around 8 hours long.  Surprisingly, the plane was very hot!  During the middle of the night I thought I could be feverish, and the uncomfortable bowl-like seat I was in did not help the experience.  At some points in the night though I saw other people fan themselves so I knew I wasn’t crazy.  However, the flight was on time and we arrived safely which is most important – but doesn’t mean I still wasn’t happy to be off that flight.  On the flight we were served two meals, a light dinner and breakfast, which was appreciated.

Road on the way to Perugia – not sure what mountains are in the background.

We arrived in Rome and some staff from the Umbra Institute in Perugia (where I am taking my classes) were at the airport waiting for us.  We hopped on a bus and took a 2.5 hour drive through beautiful Italy to Perugia.  We stayed at Hotel Gio overnight for the first part of orientation and had a group dinner together.  The first plate was a pasta dish with a tomato sauce and bread.  Next was a salad served with olive oil and vinegar.  Finally, we ate a lemon chicken dinner with potatoes – it was very good! It was at this point I realized that carbonated water is common.  I’m happy tap water is safe for my own hydration/sanity (and wallet!).

The following morning we ate breakfast (buffet style) and at a designated time took a bus to our apartment in central Perugia.  I’m very happy I did not have to carry all of my luggage all over the cobblestone streets of Italy!  It’s not an easy task to pack for 4 months in only a few bags, it’s even harder to roll and carry them around.  When we arrived, we met our landlord Giuliano and his wife Luisa who were both very welcoming.  It was exciting to be able to practice my Italian with them (although it was almost necessary since they didn’t speak much English). I have 4 other lovely roommates and we share a spacious fully furnished apartment.  We were expecting a much smaller place but we have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, two living room areas (although one is technically a hallway with two couches and a table), and a kitchen. We only have to buy a few things to add to the already furnished apartment (soap, toilet paper, some cookware etc.).  There is no meal plan (which is what I’m used to at Babson) so this will be my first time buying and cooking all of my meals!

This is the kitchen – we’re lucky to have a space heater which helps make it a bit warmer.

My bedroom – I was lucky enough to get a single. There is a bathroom connected at the other side of the room.

Our living room – there are two couches, a table to the left (that you can’t see), a semi-functional TV, and several paintings, naturally.

Our central hallway (from right outside my room). There is a small living area, two bedrooms to either side, a bathroom, kitchen, and living room are all on the left.

As you can see the apartment is fully furnished but is very old so it does have its quirks.

Quirk 1: The tremendous amount of paintings covering the walls of the entire apartment. While one may think there would be a theme of sorts, there isn’t. It ranges from bloody war scenes to beautiful landscapes to portraits to religious themes. One of my personal favorites is a random scene of a hare, rooster, lobster, and salamander.
Quirk 2: The mysterious clicking sound coming from behind my bed – not sure what it is and not sure I want to know.
Quirk 3: The refrigerator door which requires a bear hug or body slam (depending on the preferred method) to close.
Quirk 4: Sub-zero temperatures. Not really, but it’s a lot colder than back home. My room in the morning and at night hovers around 15 degrees Celsius (around 59 degrees Fahrenheit). This is because the heat is regulated so that it can only be turned on 7 hours a day. However the apartment building is very old and there is little insulation. I wear my coat pretty much all of the time when I’m inside. But if you go into the kitchen, shut both doors, close the interior shutters to the windows, turn on the space heater, and cook something in the oven then leave the door open – you might just be warm enough to feel comfortable. Under all the blankets at night though it’s nice and cozy. In the morning once your feet hit the floor… it’s a different story.
Quirk 5: The couch cushions which are small mountains. The couches are potentially the lumpiest on record, but still comfortable!
Quirk 6: The single stream shower head. In the bathroom connected to my room the shower has an interesting water flow. Instead of a normal shower head which disperses water evenly, this shower head decides to converge the water all together for minimum surface area. This means that showering has become an aiming game, but luckily the shower head can be taken off as a handheld shower head. But hey, at least the water is warm (not everyone in the program can say that as of right now), even if only a quarter of my body can be warm during the shower.
Quirk 7: The orange slice shaped skylight that leads to… the attic?

Skylight to the semi-furnished attic. Unfortunately the door is locked so we can’t see all of what’s up there.

Quirk 8: Miniature appliances. Our oven is potentially easybake size, but at least it works!
Quirk 9: Potential ghost? While making our first dinner we set the table. A few minutes after pouring the wine into 5 glasses, but before eating (or drinking), only 4 glasses remained on the table…

Despite the quirks, we are happy with the apartment and especially its location. We also have WiFi which is a huge plus.  Our apartment is very close to where our classes are and considering Perugia is composed of large hills, we only have to walk out our front door to be in the center of town).

Our first homemade dinner at our apartment. To eat: Pasta with a red meat sauce with added garlic and onion. To drink: white wine. Cheers!