To Quote Christopher Walken:

I love spaghetti. And I like to cook spaghetti. And I used to eat it every day. I weighed thirty pounds more than I do now. You can’t – you can’t do that.
– Christopher Walken from Love, Eat, Cook 

Daytrips the Past Two Weekends

Assisi

Last weekend my roommate and I went to Assisi as a day trip to check out the town 30 minutes away from our school here in Perugia, Italy. It was a sort of run through of the train system here in Italy and understanding how they all worked so that we had a better understanding of it for future/longer trips.  I LOVE the Italian train system. You can buy a ticket to practically anywhere in Italy, for the most I have seen to be is 50 euros, and you can use that ticket once anytime between the day you got it and 3 months after the day of purchase. To buy the ticket you can go up to a ticket counter and speak in Italian to the man at the desk (not an ideal option for non-fluent speakers such as myself) or you can go to these self-service machines like the ones now at the movie theaters in the US that let you buy your ticket electronically there or an ATM. These electronic machines can be used in almost any language, which I love because there are so few times in Italy that I have been able to speak only outside of my apartment. The only trick is that when you want to use a ticket you have purchased for that route, you have to validate it at a train station the day of. This means you have to put your ticket in a machine, there are dozens of them at larger train stations and a few at smaller ones, and it will stamp your ticket with the date. This means that your ticket is good for that day only and to use one-way.

So my ticket from Perugia to Assisi was 2.50 euro which I think it very affordable, and we jumped on a train around 11:30 pm and got to Assisi’s train station around 12:00 pm.  The only thing in our way was the huge hill to get from the train station to the top of the “mountain” where the town of Assisi lies. Instead of buying a bus ticket to get to the top, my roommate and I already came dressed prepared for a pasta and pizza calorie killing hike up the mountain. Let me tell you, it was an amazing workout. We stopped for a water break halfway and were both sweating when we reached the top. I’m sure the bus would have been pretty cheap and the more touristy option, but we wanted to see how the climb up was and hadn’t worked out in awhile so accepted the challenge. After leaving Assisi we both agreed we are so glad that we didn’t do the bus route up because we think we appreciated the town so much more because we earned it by just getting there.

at the top of the climb

Because  I went to Catholic school for 12 years, the Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi absolutely amazed me. When you walk in the cathedral is definitely bigger and of more grandeur than your average church at home – but it wasn’t at all what I expected. I thought it would be adorned in more lavish attire and have paintings basically “dripping” in gold. For those of you who don’t know very much about St. Francis, he started the Franciscan order of friars who believe that you should rid yourself of all wealth and riches and live as simply as possible following the way of the Lord. Therefore, it made sense that the main floor of St. Francis’s Basilica was not as fancy – I guess as a lack for a better word. His tomb site is open to visitors below the main floor and I hope everyone reading this is able to visit this place, it is absolutely magical. You go downstairs into what seems like a dungeon and there is this Twilight Zone effect where everything frozen in time back in the 13th century. There are candles and lanterns everywhere and in the center of the room is this great big cement like column which has an opening with St. Francis’s tomb inside lifted up above the ground. It is absolutely amazing. It is absolutely silent in this room with pews to pray scattered around and everyone is just in complete awe being there. I talked to someone in Assisi after this experience, and he said he does not consider himself a religious person nor necessarily always believe in God and such. But he said that when he visits that tomb, this immense and powerful feeling comes over him and he is overcome by belief. It is one of those things in life that is so hard to put into words because of how mind blowing the experience is.

After visiting the tomb, I ventured to the second floor of the Basilica and it took my breath away. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been in, in my entire life. It is much more grand than the main floor and houses the most beautiful and colorful fresco paintings all over its walls and ceilings it is unbelievable to comprehend that you are actually seeing these things.

I do not have any pictures of the inside of the Basilica because photography is prohibited. I actually do not have a problem with this, because pictures cannot contain the experience of actually going to and visiting this amazing church. I was not able to visit the Cathedral of St. Clare because my roommate and I were short on time after having lunch to make the next train back; but I will most likely go back with a school trip in a few weeks and will report back. I would also like to make a shout-out to my Aunt Mary’s class in Springfield, PA who are following my blog and go to St. Francis of Assisi school!

The Papal Basilica of San Francesco, Assisi

Me in Assisi

Pisa: So far my favorite place

Tower of Pisa

Now everyone, I am in love with Pisa. It is by far my favorite place in Europe – so far. I cannot really explain it very well but the town is just so cute and bustling about and everyone is so friendly. I just really loved our day trip there. They have this stretch of shops anywhere from H&M to Foot Locker, and many Italian boutiques and eateries. All the buildings were painted in these bright warm colors and the weather there was fantastic! I go to school in Perugia Italy and it’s usually in the high 30s or low 40s here. In Pisa I did not check the temperature but as you can see in this picture I took off my winter jacket and sweater because it felt like high 50s, maybe even 60s!

beautiful buildings in Pisa

It was actually so funny, while my roommates and I were taking pictures with the Tower, this group of boys from Gonzaga introduced themselves to us because we were one of the only people there speaking English and asked if we could take their picture. Shout-out to my sister who goes to St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia, I immediately knew Gonzaga because it is a Jesuit school just like St. Joe’s.

Anyway, I am also in love with Pisa for another reason other than its climate: gelato. Final shout-out to my Aunt Kara who told me that I need to eat as much gelato during my time here. Man oh man was that good advice. I have had some stellar gelato here so far in Italy but nothing comes close to the one I had in Pisa.

the best thing ever

My friends, this masterpiece consists of half tiramisu and half coffee flavored gelato. When I tell you this was the best thing I have and will probably ever eat, I absolutely stand by that. It was the best 3.50 euros I will ever spend and has been my best purchase on this Earth. As you probably could tell from my past posts, I clearly love food. But I mean how can you not? And when you’re in a country like Italy, everyone is a foodie.

Well folks, that’s all for now! This weekend I am traveling to Paris and could not be any more excited – I seriously still cannot believe I am able to do all these amazing things here this semester. Some things still haven’t hit me and everyday I am blown away by something new. So with my 20 years of experience at life in hand I would like to give a word of advice: Go for it. I don’t care what it is or who you are or where you’re from. If you want to do something with good cause, do it. Life is too short to regret missing out on opportunities.  Get out of your comfort zone and do something that makes you happy. I am trying each and every day to do something different and new and daring to get as much out of this experience as possible; and each time I do so it has been extremely rewarding.

So my final note is, and in the words of a popular brand of athletic wear, “Just Do It”.