09 June 2009

The Looking Glass


It looks as though it may be a while before I actually get the opportunity and bandwidth to load my videos, so I am going to try some photos. First, a little background on how I do the blogs, or how I try to do the blogs.

 

At school internet is the most precious commodity and currently only three people can access the wireless at a time. In Italy you don’t just get a universal password and then log on, oh no that would be waaaaaay too easy. In Italy (more particularly in Amelia) you have to get this personalized random log-in and password that comes on this credit card looking item. The 20 cards that my school ordered a while ago need to travel from a town that is about an hour away, sadly we have no idea when they will actually arrive. So in the meantime we all share the log-in’s and it very much limits the amount of time I can sit online.

 

In order to get around the time constraint I have decided to start typing the blog the night ahead and then just posting it when I arrive at school and can get my hands on an access card.  Hopefully this will work much better and I can update you a bit more often!

 

I have a list of things I want to fill you in on (such as the fieldtrip to Rome, the wine festival, the flag throwers and drummers that practice outside my window at midnight, etc) however I am going to start with my apartment in pictures. Again… I really hope the pictures make it online!


This is the view from my front door. Now don’t be fooled, this is not an Ikea catalogue, it is my apartment. You are surprised aren’t you? You were expecting ruins? Me too! I have been very pleasantly surprised. The monstrosity in the majority of the picture is my drying table. Oh yeah, we do things old school over here! I wash my clothes then I have to hang/drape them to dry. I moved it inside because it was starting to look a bit rainy outside.

Moving on, this is my shelving system. I took the liberty of printing out some of my family and friends (you might recognize yourself) and buying some cardboard frames so that I could see your smiling faces!

 



Next, in no particular order, you have my bed, my bathroom, my bedroom with the door to my terrace and bathroom and a shot of my wardrobe/closet.

 

The next series are photos I have taken either of my terrace or of the view from my terrace. This one is of my terrace.

 






Then you have Bar Leonardi. In Italy, bar does not necessarily mean drinking bar it is more like a cafĂ©. Every morning I walk down and order a caffe latte… Starbucks wishes they could make a caffe latte like this! Bar Leonardi is also quite the hangout for Italians of all ages, all of the ages seem to shy away from going to bed early so I typically have lots of people out there until about 3am. Additionally this is pretty much the intersection of the two main roads in Amelia, so I get lots of fun motorcycle revving to wake me up in the morning.

 

Next you have the church (with the belltower and clock). The belltower chimes every hour and every half hour. I love the bells!

 

The white illuminated archway is the Porta Romana. There are only 4 doors into the Old City and this is the main one. I walk through this everyday to get to class.

 

Speaking of class, the white building here is the archaeological museum. My classes are held in the city library, which is behind this building.

 

Ok… I have to go to bed. More later! Ciao!