POSTCARDS FROM EUROPE: Now to play catch-up....

08/03/2005, 20:09 PM

Ok, so i know that I haven't written in a few, but I have an excuse, I was busy.... and now I will tell you what I was doing.

So, I last wrote Monday afternoon. After getting the car, we drove out to the mall and bought a bunch of groceries. We were finally able to get all that we needed in one trip because we didn't have to carry it on a bus or load it in and out of a taxi cab.

Later that night we decided to check out the outdoor theater. They were playing Finding Neverland, it was even in English. (Monday nights are English language night). It was so awesome. The movie was shown in this old ancient amphitheater. Stone seats and everything. You sat facing the valley. And when you looked up, stars, so many stars. And it was the perfect night for a movie. It was one of the best things i have experienced so far in Italy.

The next day, Tuesday, we had conversation class from 9-noon and then we went to the schools cafeteria. At the cafeteria, or MENSA, as they call it, you can get a mean with bread, a pasta/rice dish, a fruit, a salad, and a fountain drink all for 2 euros!! It is such a good deal that people from all over central Perugia, regardless if they are students/faculty, come to eat there, and the Mensa people don't care. So, I had seafood risotto (rice) as the first course. NOT, i repeat, not what i was expecting. At first, I loved the rice, and then i got what looked like a mushroom, but i am pretty sure it wasn't, although my mom thinks it was. First of all it tasted fishy. Jessica it was seafood risotto. I know, I know, but this did not look like a mushroom. It looked like a big unborn tadpole. It had what looked like 2 big covered eyes, a black curly tongue that when you pulled down looked like it was covering a mouth, and it had what looked like 2 tentacles/tails.....EEEWWWWYYYYY!!!!! Even Ruth, a friend at school said it looked like an alien baby. I will never have that rice again.....

Now you may ask, Jessica, did you make a friend??? Well yes readers, i did. Her name is Ruth. She is 18 and she is an exchange student from Australia. She is so much like my mother and me that it is scary. Same sense of humor and sarcasm even. She is a blast to hang out with and makes school a lot less boring. We bring her with us now when we do things.

Such as last night. Last night we decided to drive to Assisi. Assisi is a town west of Perugia. Its about a 20 minute drive by car or train.

In fact a train ticket to Assisi is 1 euro and 20 cents. WOW talk about a good deal. Anyway. We get there and there are big crowds of people and there are people singing on stage and then we see a huge, and i mean huge, church. That is when mom remembers that what we are seeing is the end of the peace walk. The peace walk is a walk from Perugia to Assisi for people around the world. And then they

end up at the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli for prayer, mass and also if they wish, confession. We decided to go into the church, take a look around and see what they were doing inside. We went in one of the side doors and were in awe. It was beautiful. This church has Beautiful frescos depicting the life and death of Jesus. Each fresco was done by a different painter. "The interior of the basilica is divided into three naves, with a series of

side chapels".

The photos do not even do it justice. Click them to enlarge. This is found on a site about the basilica. LINK It was so beautiful that it brought mom to tears, and all Ruth could manage to day was, "This is just sooooo beautiful".

In the center of the church is a mini chapel called the Porziuncola chapel. This is where saint Francesco died, and is also where is crypt is. The line of people from the peace march, entered the chapel and did a 3-4 minute prayer session in front of the crypt and then moved on. It was painted so beautifully.

After exploring the church we decided to go drive up to old town Assisi. The drive up was beautiful. The city is on top of a mountain and the view from atop was spectacular. We ended up driving as far as we could and then walking up a long steep path to a castle ruins. On the way up, a railing caught our eyes. It was covered in something. This something turned out to be millions of pieces of gum. Although gross, it was also cool at the same time. When we got to the castle it was getting dark, but we took a few pics which are at the end of the blog. I am inserting some pics from the web so that you can see it better.

Today during a break at school i walked up to one of the many wild cats that Rome around our school grounds. Most of the time they just run, but i approached this cat slowly and low to the ground, and amazingly it let me touching it. A touch turned into a scratch of the head, then the body and then i was able to pick him up. The moment i did this he latched on and started purring sooooo loud. It was amazing. To get a wild cat to let you pet it, let alone pick it up just doesn't happen. I was so happy. Its hard to describe the feeling i had when i accomplished that.

Other than that. That is about all that has happened. Look at the pics below and then take a glance at the news.....Ciào.

Pictures We Took

The Basilica of St. Mary