Hey!

Just checking in. Things are going really well in Perugia. I am starting to get the hang of my apartment, despite the fact that I keep on turning all of my laundry blue in the washing machine and flooding the bathroom. I really like the people here too - there are a lot of interesting characters in this city. I love walking up to the store or to class, because as soon as you leave, you see all these people that are so typically Italy. Butchers, bakers, nuns staring out stone windows, old men with canes arguing. It's great. There is a girl who plays the flute, the same song all day, every day, and it makes dogs follow her around and then go to sleep. There is a crazy old man in a tuxedo who looks like the guy from Back to the Future who plays the accordion. There is an old balloon-maker who tries to hug you when you walk by. There are the men who try to sell you roses and bags and books in the street, and the women who look like they just stepped off a runway in their heels and their dresses. There is the old man with the white beard and hat that I always watch because he walks in the same direction every day and watches everyone and reminds me of a writer.

I have probably said all this before, I just like this town. I don't know if I will ever feel completely at home in Italy, but if you have to live somewhere, this is a nice place to do it.

I've gotten into a routine, sort of. I had my first classes this week. My professors are really cool. I am taking Italian, Archaeology, The History of Early Christianity (Colleen I sound like you) and Global Business Cultures. My business professor is one of the smartest people I have ever met. He is this old British guy and he is always swearing and cursing and calling people "s***s," but he is old and British, so it's okay. He makes you think. He makes me feel okay about taking the class, even though I am the opposite of a businessperson. We took a personality test today called the Briggs-Meyers test, and mine was really, creepily accurate. So I like that class. The other ones are interesting too.

But anyway, I've got a great schedule. Class doesn't start until 11am, but my roommmate has class at 8:45 and I'm a pretty light sleeper, so I usually hang out in bed for a while. Then I get up and go to this cafe near my school building and sit outside with my computer. I get a cappuccino or an espresso (yes, I like espresso now...weird) and go online and read the news, which is kind of an old-man thing to do I think, but I have always meant to start reading the news every day, and it's a pretty good way to start the day. On Mondays/Wed I have three classes with breaks in between until 5pm. On Tuesdays?Thurs I only have two classes, so I am done at 1:30. I found the athletic track in Perugia, which is great. Tracks are great because they make me feel so comfortable. No one is there to bother you; everyone is just there to run and work on their own things, because no one comes to a track except to go running. No one is stealing your bags or being creepy, and you sort of get to focus your mind a little. I hurt my knee a couple of weeks ago, and it's been bothering me when I go to the track, and I can't really ask a doctor about it, so I'm trying to figure out how to fix it myself. It's one of those things that just keeps on coming back, and it hurts a lotttt, so I think I'll take a break this weekend and then try running maybe every other day or so. Who knows.

This weekend we are going to a place called Cinque Terre, where you can hike on these gorgeous cliffs between five fishing villages. I am going on Saturday. Friday, I'm going to a lake near here with some girls from Northeastern, which should be nice. So I think it'll be a really good weekend. I'll put up some pictures.

Miss everyone. I still miss home tons - hope everything is going good! Leave me something, tell me how you all are.

<3