Man ist was man isst (you are what you eat)

View of Perugia from the Hostel's Porch

I really do wonder where time goes here. Already almost 3 months have passed, and I’m getting ready for Anne and Mom to visit for Thanksgiving. It’s that time of year already, time to start prepping for Christmas and for the cooking the bird. But alas, no bird for me this year, our Thanksgiving feast will probably be at an amazing Italian restaurant in Bologna. In America, we have Thanksgiving as the marker for starting Christmas decorations, but since there is no such holiday in Italy, as soon as Halloween comes and goes that lights slowly start to go up. Over the course of the last two weeks, lights and Christmas trees have been slowly popping up all over Bologna, and a tiny Christmas market just open either last week or the week before. In the beginning of November I thought it slightly ridiculous, but now, I’m really starting to like it.

The beginning of this month was very busy with travels. The first weekend of November, I embarked on a journey a bit south, into Umbria to the beautiful, medieval hill-toped town of Perugia. Six of us got up early Saturday morning, to get the cheap regional train, and for the first time in a while, I didn’t have to run to catch the train. Usually the train ride would take only 3 hours, but since we were taking the cheap train, it took about 4+ hours. At least it was a nice journey, running down the center of Italy with beautiful country side to look at.

Finally, the "moving stairs"

When we got to Perugia, we attempted to get from the station to the historic center, and instead of taking the short way, we somehow took the long way around. After a half an hour of walking, we finally found the “scale mobile” or moving stairs, to save some time and get up to the top quicker. The original plan for the weekend was one day in Perugia and Sunday at a lake that was an hour away. But after making it to the top, we all fell in love with the beauty of the town, and decided right then and there to stay Sunday in Perugia too. After checking into the hostel, we wandered for a bit, seeing the cathedral, the main square, and eventually wandering side streets. Knowing we would probably need a reservation for dinner, since there were six of us, the next goal was to find a restaurant. Perugia is known for Truffles, so our goal was to find a place where we could have truffles at a relatively low cost. We ended up eating at a cute little tattoria, where the owner was once an award winning boxer in the town. I got homemade pasta with a truffle sauce, and it was fantastic. The truffle sauce was just truffles and oil, so the flavor wasn’t lost.

Castle in Mannheim, now a univeristy

The next day, we explored the city more, starting with a pre-Christian church. It started to rain mid-morning, so we headed for the archeological museum, and spent the rest of the day there, until our stomachs were craving more food. After a pizza for lunch, we took the short way down the hill back to the station, to hopefully get a train home. I say hopefully because there was a train strike going on that day. We were very lucky that our train, at least half way to Florence, was the only one that wasn’t cancelled. We made it to Florence, but in Florence, our connecting train to Bologna was cancelled, so we had to wait 3 hours until the one at 10:30pm. So, unexpectantly, we got to tour a bit of Florence too. We planned it so we would be back at the station right before the train left, and that we did. But was the next train on time? Nope. Finally at 11:00pm we were able to get on a train back Bologna, and by that time everyone was just wishing for their warm beds.

Gate to Heidleberg

The next day, Monday November 9th, I packed up a backpack and headed to Germany with my English friend Chris. We had spontansoly booked flights a few weeks before for 0.01 euro each way. 2 cent tickets, I still wonder how that is possible. We flew into Frankfurt-Hahn with Ryanair, the amazingly cheap airline, and took a shuttle to Mannheim, where we would be staying with Maarten in his dad’s flat. The shuttle was 18euro, so we basically figured that paying that price to get to and from the airport was really the cost of the airplane. Maarten met us at the bus stop, and then we walked across Mannheim to get to his dad’s flat. It was around 1am or so by the time we got in, and then his dad offered us cheese, meat and bread for a late night snack. The next morning we leisurely got up and toured a bit of Mannheim. Maarten’s dad took us out to lunch at this amazing traditional German restaurant. It was a cozy restaurant, with big tables that were shared among the customers. As soon as we sat down, the waiter brought us a bowl of the soup of the day, which was perfect to warm up. After ordering, an unexpected salad also made its way to our table, as well as the beer-lemonade drink. Not long after the meal we ordered came out. I got some kind of leg of pork the size of my face, sauerkraut and dumplings. I ate about 1/3 of it, it was so big. But man, was it good.

Huge Meal. Yum.

After rolling out of the restaurant, Maarten, Chris and I headed to Heidelberg, a beautiful medieval town settled between mountains and a river. We walked the streets for a bit before heading up the hill to the castle that overlooks the town. After touring what we could of the castle, we went back into town to get a warm drink at the Mensa, the dining hall/union for the student’s at the University of Heidelberg. That night, after dinner, we went to Maarten’s local hangout, and got to meet other German university students.

Simon and Me!

Wednesday we got up and did breakfast at a wonderful bakery in Mannheim, where I got a very nice coffee and strudel. We had to pack up, and take everything with us as we headed back to Heidelberg, because we would be getting the shuttle back to the airport from there. We took a bit longer than we would have liked to get back into Heidelberg, and were only able to walk a few side streets before meeting my friend Simon Bach for lunch. Simon did an high school exchange program 5 or so years ago at Green Hope and was THE first chair clarinet in the band for the entire year. (At least that’s how I remember it.) We ate in the Mensa, a good meal for dirt cheap, and then walked to the river. Unfortunately, we had to end our visit short since we needed to get a 3:30 bus to the airport. But it was good to see him again. Once at the airport, we had a bit of time to kill and empty stomachs, so we ate one last German meal.


One of the outcroppings we visited for my Sed/Strat class

The rest of this month has been spent in Bologna, the only exceptions being my two field trips for my Sedimentology and Stratigraphy class. The past two Fridays we have gone to the Apinnes, the mountain range that runs down the boot of Italy. Other than that, I’ve remained in the city, trying to study for my classes. Today, Mom and Anne arrived for a long weekend, and so I could have a bit of home for Thanksgiving. They are currently sleeping because the Jetlag has really gotten to them. So it’s off to Venice this weekend.