so, carson and i are here again in Perugia for the weekend. Sara's parents came for the weekend and took us all out to dinner last night! they were really fun and they wanted to hear all about our experiences and the culture here. The three of them continued on to Siena for the weekend and Kelley and Katie went to Cinqueterre for the weekend which is 6 hours away! Angela did not go with us to Sorrento so she went this weekend with her friends who are studying in Rome. I wanted to do something this weekend not just homework and normal things so Carson and I agreed to go on a hike tomorrow in Spoleto organized by the school. It is a neighboring town and will just be a day trip, but we will get some exercise in and get to see a new beautiful place. This is probably the best because I have not been feeling well all week. I am not sick but i am definitely on the edge and havent gone out all week until last night because i had so much pent up energy. I feel basically fine today but my voice has gone which is annoying so hopefully it will be back soon!

talking to Sara's parents last night made me realize how much i have come to learn about life here in Italy so far. I love it because most of my classes are cultural classes and i find it really interesting to learn about the things that i am experiencing on a day to day basis, and it helps me understand why a lot of the things around me are happening. In my Contemporary Italian Society and my Cross Cultural Development class we have been discussing the attitudes and lifestyles of Italians who are our age. Its so weird to think about them living really completely different lives than us. the Education system here is not nearly as strong because having a degree does not cause you to have better a better salary so the motivation to continue your studies at an university is no where near as great as in the US. Also the economy of Italy does not allow families to support their children living independently, unlike the US where parents usually help or fund college students. This means that even if young adults do go to college, they usually go to the local university and live at home while studying. infact 70% of people from the ages of 20-30 years old are still living at home with their parents! especially the boys! its so different from the American lifestyle and push for independance! this also implies that most men live at home until they get married, so they move directly from one family to starting their own, with no time alone inbetween! I cannot even imagine living in a society like that, I think American boys are coddled enough as it is, I would have no tolerance for it. However I guess this is just the way of life here and the Italian women are so used to it that it does not phase them at all. I have to do research papers for all of these classes so I think it will be fun to further explore some of these issues. Carson and I are in the Contemporary Society class together and we have to write a paper together and we have chosen the topic of Modern Relationships, the public and private interactions of men and women in Italy. we are both really excited for this because we think it will help us to understand all of the crazy Italian boys we have met so far. we want to include some interviews into our paper as well because so far from talking to the men we have met the attitude towards women here is clearly different from what we are used to.

on a side note to that, I decided to ask Mauro and Zach (two young men one Italian one American who work at the Umbra Institute as tech guys and writers) how I can in Italian "don't bulls*** me" which i figure will be a very useful phrase to know considering all of these Italian men have such confidence in thier ability to romance the American girls. Mauro and Zach found this quiteeee amusing but both agreed that it would be a very useful phrase... the translation comes out to "non dire cazzata" and I used it for the first time correctly in conversation last night to one of my Italian friends, and his friends laughed and shook my hand :-) .

well its friday and 3:30 pm and i have yet to leave the apartment, thats the problem with not traveling, i have no motivation to get up and start my day which is really bad. but i am sick, so i figure i have somewhat of an excuse! anyways I will keep you posted on the rest of the weekend and also next time the Meredith Kercher murder trial, which started here on Sept 16 but not much information on the progress has been released yet. I think it will be something very important to follow, not only for my own safety but also to see the Italian responsel. I also have US news to be catching up on and I will be sending out my absentee ballot for the US election this weekend!!! ciao!