La Settimana 21/30

Monday, 20.5.13:

Sarah and Adrian slept at my place. We got up around 10 am and went to Morlacchi to have breakfast. I love these cornetti! And the Latte Macchiato! *hach* By accident we ran into Ginni and Elena and we asked them if they would like to come with us to the mensa later for lunch. So we had a totally normal day like in the good old days: Lunch in the mensa, time chilling around and in the evening we went to the chinese together with Markus, Arek and Angelika. It was so nice to have a visiter here. We hang up in my room talking about many things. But still a 24hour-visit is passing by so quickly. I wished I had more visiters here :(

Sarah and me in the mensa!

Tuesday, 21.5.13:

Sarah and Adrian caught the bus to Brescia at 6.30 am. So we got up very early to say them Goodbye! But we will see each other again. For sure! The rest of the day I stayed at home watching TV. It was raining all day and my mood is so bad the last days...

Wedesday, 22.5.13:

I got up late and went to the supermarket. They had Hofbräuhaus in offer. When I came back I had lunch and went together with friends to the faculty where Vita was organizing a film presentation. The professor who was doing the intruduction was so incredible drunk! I thought my friends were joking when they told me. Before he asked for my age and why I came there without a guy? Excuse me?? After 20 minutes he felt asleep during the film. So awkward!

Thursday, 23.5.13:

Yesterday in the afternoon came our landlord to tell us that tomorrow would come a photographer to take pictures of our flat. Imagine something like this in Germany: He didn't ask if it was ok that the photographer would come or what time would fit for us. No he just said, tomorrow someone will come here, so please clean up a bit until then. When I asked for the time they would come: Afternoon until there is light outside. Aha. Thank you very much for this information.
So we spend the hole day cleaning the apartment and our rooms and - obviously because we are in Italy - he came by in the afternoon telling us that today it will not work. They will come next week. Ah. Ok. So you think we will clean up next week again like this? NO WAY! Angelika suggested that I could take the photos with my nice camera so that at least we didn't clean up for nothing. In the end we gave him the 35 photos with pictures of our flat and he was quite happy that we even named them - because he didn't know the rooms... sometimes I miss german "ordnung".

Other happenings of the day: I dropped some postcards, I got wet because a car drove too fast through a puddle and I ate my favorite mushrooms for lunch.

Friday, 24.5.13:

I used to "cazzeggiare" the hole day :D I love this word.
I started a new TV series: Hart of Dixie. Very nice show! I guess I will watch more of it the next days :D

Saturday, 25.5.13:

Vita destroyed a hole package of eggs in the kitchen. Fortunately we had still enough eggs to do a nice Carbonara :) This time I even forced her to add cream :D
So crazy weather here the last days. The hole day it is windy, cold and rainy and then exact at 6 pm. the sun is coming out. What the hell? In the afternoon Arek and me went out to book a table for the Champions League Final Bayern München against Borussia Dortmund. I came back home totally wet. I hate this weather!

So tonight was the champions League Final. We went to Joyce Pub to see the match and afterwards to the Birthday Party of Johanna. It was an awesome party! But unfortunately too many woman. Something is wrong here in Perugia ;)

Arek, me and Satu at Johanna's Birthday Party

Satu, Angelika, Johanna and Vita on Johanna's Birthday Party 

Sunday, 26.5.13:

Hangover Day! Vita and me were cooking nice pasta for lunch. In the evening I skyped with some friends. I love our lazy sundays!

Rainy days in Perugia, but fortunately the indians are there to sell you umbrellas

58 days to go

58 days to go. Weird feeling. On the one hand I want to be home right now. With my friends and my family. I miss random stuff like my pans at home in my kitchen. Or my supermarket. Or my plants (Benny <3). But on the other hand I'm scared to go home. Scared because I know I will miss Perugia and all my friends here so much. When I left in August I knew I will see all my friends again because I would be back after some months but here I will probably see a lot of people never ever again in my life and that upsets me.
But I'm also scared because I don't know what expects me at home. What has changend during one year? Who is in a relationship and has no time now anymore for me. Who is writting their Master thesis? Some friends didn't write me at all while I was abroad and even forgot my birthday. I think I'm not able to forget that. At some point it's just enough. Some of them I already kicked out on Facebook.

I mean friendship is something you should appreciate and try to work on. In german we have a proverb: "Freundschaft ist wie eine Pflanze. Man muss sie gießen damit sie wächst" (Friendship is like a plant. You have to water it so it can grow). And I really believe in that. If someone is not interested in watering this plant then go to hell! I will find others who will water it willingly.

So here I am now sitting in my room while it is raining and I'm quite confused. One year ago things were weird as well: Leaving everything you know for an adventure. Don't know exactly where to go, how to survive and totally alone in a country where you can't really speak the language. I still know how I told a friend who went for 6 months to Mexico last february that this will be the adventure of his life. Actually at that time I was not just thinking about him but about my adventure as well. And now this adventure goes to end - still slowly because there are 58 days to go - but it will end soon enough.
So what did I expect of this adventure and what didi I get? Difficult questions. And I guess I will answer them another time. But I thing it's a lot what I experienced here during the last months. I would not say I'm a totally different person but still I think I changed somehow. I learnd so much stuff, I grew up and became even more self-confident. So I guess this Annie  now could handle a lot of other situations as well which are coming now or will come in the future. 

La Settimana 20/13

Monday, 13.5.13:

I had classes at 10 am and good student that I am I have been there even if there is no compulsory attendance. So I learnd a lot about the system of mills in the medieval Perugia. Well interesting is something else :P
I cooked togehter with Vita and Markus our favorite dish: Pasta Melanzane and the rest of the day I stayed home. The weather was shitty - can you believe that? I mean I'm studying here in ITALY and the weather the last days was incredible bad. No sun, wind, but at least 20 something degree :) So well actually I should stop complaining :D

Tuesday, 14.5.13:

I had classes again at 10 am and woke up even a bit earlier cause the lesson took place in the archive of S. Pietro - the oldest church here in Perugia. I'm always impressed how bad the people here (historians or archivists?!!) take care for old documents! No proper closet for them, no air condition, nothing. I mean Italy has the most important roman and medieval documents and they just don't care. I hope it's 'just' because of the money, cause otherwise I'm not able to respect historians or archivists here anymore!
After classes Giovanni called and Markus and I went to the parc in front of S. Francesco enjoying some sun. And of cause I got a sunburn... Karma, bitch! :)

Wednesday, 15.5.13:

I had classes at 10 am again. I went home and received the message that one of the girls with whom we wanted to do a 3-day-trip to tuscany to the seaside was ill and was not going to come with us. To cheer me up Markus and me went to eat a pizza at Mediteranea. This pizza always works. Best pizza in the world!! :)
After that we had a little walk through the city. At 4 pm we met Marie, the other girl who wanted to go to the trip with us and we decided while we were drinking an awesome cappucino that maybe it is better if we will change our ideas for the trip. Not only because of the one girl, but also because of the shitty weather. I mean  what's the sense to go to the beach when it is raining all day? And Pisa in rain I had already in Decembre and it was horrible.
In the evening I booked a flight to Sicily with the girls here. Can't wait to go there 28th June!!!

Thursday, 16.5.13

Today I got my result of the medieval history written exam from last week. At least I passed but the grade is ridiculous --> see my last entry
Today is such a shitty day. I hate nearly everything. Fortunately we went out to have Apperativo in Morlacchi with some friends. Gimme food and alcohol and the evening is made :D

Apperativo in Morlacchi

Friday, 17.5.13:

Markus, Marie and me wet to Pisa and Lucca today. Even if I have already been in Pisa it was definetly worth to go there a second time just because it did't rain. Pisa wins the price for the most boring town in Italy  so far, but it is always a pleasure to see all those tourists with their gestures when they try to hold the tower. But I'm not better. I did the same :D

Lucca was a real nugget. A small beautiful medieval town with nice piazze and churches! On the way back we got some problems with Trenitalia but at least we arrived at Perugia at 23.20 :) I have never been so glad to arrive at Perugia like on that day!

When we came home there was a big party in the kitchen: The Pony Party by Irene. But actually all of them were already so drunk that it was pointless for me to try to reach their level. I was tired and bushed and went to my room after one hour :)

Saturday, 18.5.13:

Hangoverday for everyone except me :)
I got up at 12 am and went out to lounge in the sun - alone, because everybody else was sleeping or studying. But I had my book and some music and I enjoyed to be on my own.

In the evening I decided on the spur of the moment to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. I called some friends and in the end we had a lot of fun.

Sunday, 19.5.13: 

Sarah came in the evening!!!! Together with Adrian! So glad to have them back! Unfortunately they just stayed till Tuesday morning but it was so nice to be together again! So we went to the stairs to catch some last shaftes of sunlight and later we went to Lunabar for Apperativo. Like in the good old days! Later Vita, Alessia and Markus joined us and we decided to go to Trottamondo. Nice evening!

Marie and Markus in Pisa

The Leaning Tower

NY?? I don't think so.... :D

Lucca - Piazza Amfiteatro

Marie and Markus

the awesome Leaning Tower Pic :)

crazy kids

Erasmus Bonus??!

Acutally I don't know what I expected. Many people say they don't do Erasmus because they are afraid to get bad marks or that it is not possible that the courses are credited. I always though, who cares? It will work somehow! You just have to learn the content of the course and the language will work somehow as well because the profs know that you are not a native speaker. So don't worry and just do it because it's an awesome experience and everything! 

But after 9 months and 2 exams I can say: I was wrong! It all depends on the prof. And I wasn't so lucky with mine. I mean come on you just can't apply the same standarts with italians and non-italians neither in an oral exam, nor in a written one! Gosh, I'm angry! Maybe it's because none of the profs is able to speak a foreign language! Professor!!! In a university!!! How is that possible I ask myself? No wonder they don't appreciate foreigners speaking their language because most of them don't even know what it means to speak a foreign language! You are coming here, living abroad and in the beginning your italian isn't perfect. Nearly nobody speaks your language (of course not!) and most of the people are not even able to speak english!!! World language! And of course it's always the fault of others: The school, the teachers, the education system in Italy. But learning a language is exhausting! It's nothing that comes from alone, it's work and I fucking demand from them that they at least appreciate it a bit!
There are as well the profs who give directy the best marks, that's not what I'm asking for! It's not fair either. But at least give someone a mark which is ok when the content of the answers was right. That's all I'm asking for.

So you see: Erasmus and living abroad is not just fun. Somtimes it's so frustrating! But at least I can say: Now I have holidays! Just two exams in june and july to go and I fucking will enjoy this summer here! Tomorrow Pisa and Lucca! Can't wait! :D

Life so far

Welcome to a typical summer/spring day in my life:
I had lessons in the morning and since then I'm enjoying the sun with my friends. Best time of my life!

Actually the last months were incredible: End of february the semester started again, I have a new flatmate, I met so many new and awesome people. Even if I miss all my old friends from here who just stayed one semester or who graduated and went away: Life in Perugia is always the same and still totally different. We are studying, drinking, partying and travelling and I fucking love it! :D

MARCH

In march my parents finally came here and we spent six beautiful days together in Rome, Perugia, Florence and Assisi. It was so nice to have them here! I was in Bologna with Marta, Arek and Kasia and with Almut, Markus and Marta I was at the Conklave in Rome. I saw the Pope!!! Memories I will never forget! 
End of march I went home with Vita, my italian flatmate, to celebrate Easter with her family in the south. We visited Naples, Salerno and Pompei  I always wanted to go there! All in all a great month. I travelled a lot and met so many new people I will never forget! 

APRIL

Till the 6th April I stayed in the south and when we came back by bus Sarah picked us up. It was so great to have her here again. She stayed till the 18th April and I can't wait to see her again next week! In the middle of the month it was my birthday and it was so weird to celebrate it without my friends from home and my family. But honestly I can't complain: We had a great dinner the day before drinking wine till 0.30 a.m. (even if I can't remember everything) and the next day Satu, a finish friend who had also birthday on this day and me were doing a big party at her place. I just can say: Thank you guys! You made this day so special to me!
End of april was the International Journalism Festival for that I was working for as a volunteer. It was an incredible impressive experience to interview and meet so many interesting people: The internet guru of Barrack Obama Harper Reed or war reporters who are working in Egypt and Syria. I was working for the web radio and we were a small but nice group of 7 people (5 italians, 1 portuguese and me). It was strange and daunting to talk in italian on air. But fortunately I didn't do that too often! 

MAY

So now we have nearly the middle of may and I just have 9 weeks left here in Perugia. This sounds so weird.  But to tell the truth I'm a bit homesick. More and more I dream to go through the streets in Bonn: My supermarket, my university, my Rhine! But I guess it will be hard to live in Germany again. Even if I hate the italian organisation (can I even say ORGANISATION???) I think I will plan things less than before, be late, will miss the sun and the spontaneity. So I count on my friends at home to help to get used to the "german life" again, even though some of them forgot my birthday. But it's always like this, isn't it? Out of sight, out of mind...

So what shall I do with the rest of this beautiful day? I already have told everyone in the flat that I'm writting a new blog entry. And I just want to say: I hate you too, guys! :D Life without you will be so different! <3

with Arek and Kasia in Bologna

Breakfast in Bologna

Pope in Bologna

Conklave, baby! 

Vatican

Conklave - new media everywhere

Trip to Cortona with Lorenzo, Giulia, Silvia, Jacopo, me, Barbara and Markus

Party in our kitchen

"Tanz in den Mai" on the terrace of Almut, Marie and Johanna

Caro and me <3

Caro in Rome

family trip to Florence <3

Temple in Paestum 

Paestum

At the seaside in the south

Vita and me looking for a way through Pompeji

Martera

Martera by dawn

dead people in Pompeji

Crossing roman streets - asian style

Markus, Sarah, me, Claudia, Almut and Giovanni on my birthday party

Birthday girls: Satu and me

Picnic!

Picnic in the parc

Interviewing James Ball, The Guardian

All volunteers of the festival

my flatmates!