So for the update....Easter here was a little odd. Most of the weekend it managed to rain, and rain, and rain some more. Easter Saturday seemed like a normal working day, and Sunday was
also a bit non-descript. Easter Monday, or la Pasquetta, then is the day where people get together and eat out with friends, although given the terrible weather this may have been a less popular option this year. It was also the day that I relocated upstairs to the first appartment that Ginny and I shared back on the first TMC trip in 2003 - a scary prelude to the whole packing up and leaving a week later though. Still, it made studying for the exams more enjoyable - 2 minutes reading the notes, 10 minutes gazing out the window. Braving the rain, Ambar, Hannah and I met up for an Easter drink at La Tana dell'Orso in the afternoon so that we could admire the view (of course) from the back window, out over the valley. It was fun and relaxing, and Ambar gave us both Kinder Easter eggs which was a nice surprise. At 6pm, in swirling snow again, Hannah and I set off by bus to San Fortunato as I had been invited to dinner. It was so exciting!!! Their house is beautiful, reminding me somewhat of the Chevassut's house in Monniaz - maybe because of the sheer size, age and stonework. I met Hannah's aunt Caterina, her uncle 
Adolfo and 6 year old cousin Ruben, who was very keen to display his juggling skills inspired by his weekly visit to Circus School. Then, since I was a guest for dinner, he changed into a shirt, tie and jacket, as parties are a serious business, but then there was a slight altercation about the lack of a table cloth. This was eventually resolved and then Adolfo's brother Ugo also arrived to join us for dinner, which was served after watching another juggling episode of course. Dinner was delicious - pasta alla pizzaiola, followed by grilled fish or steak, and then a crostata for dessert, served around the big dining table in the middle of the kitchen, which was complete with a roaring fire upon which the secondo had been cooked. It was so nice to be part of an Italian family dinner and enjoy a bilingual evening talking about films, studies and crimes (!) - the Meredith investigation continues to dominate news here. Finally it was time to bid them farewell with Ugo giving me a lift back to Perugia on his way back to his home somewhere near Lake Trasimeno. For an Italian he also drove like a normal person - no weird swerving, talking on his mobile or smoking all at the same time. It was a shock!!!Tuesday was supposed to be a study day but the view proved difficult to resist, and of course I had to meet up with Hannah to find out how the translation exam had gone in the morning. This turned into lunch, coffee....the usual. Wednesday brought my first exam, which was on Letteratura with fabulous Fabio. Hannah went first, while the rest of us waited outside in varying states of nervousness. On second thoughts, maybe the glasses of Prosecco we gulped down in the bar just before the exam weren't such a good idea! No worries though - he seemed more nervous than we were, and since he had given us the choice of pairing up for the exam, Anya and I did ours together. I'm sure she'll eventually forgive me for making her talk about Masetto's story in the Decameron, and since we all got full marks for it, it seemed a good way to begin. On Thursday we had the exam for Contemporary Literature with Maurizio 'molto cool' Pistrelli, which I was even more nervous about - it must have showed because I only got 28/30. Disaster!!! Friday brought 3 exams - Storia del Cinema Italiano with the scary lecturer who was actually really good for the exam (we ended up talking about Peter Weir films after I said that neorealistic ones were too depressing), Storia Medievale which went for half an hour because we were having a good chat, and then finally Storia dell'Arte Medievale, where predictably il prof Lunghi did go off on many tangents but I just laughed. 30s for all 3 exams too, which is just crazy but I won't complain too loudly.
On Saturday morning the beautiful sunshine inspired a visit to Cortona - finally!!! And just because I'm leaving, things are working well. On Friday we had all managed to collect our attendance certificates from the Segreteria without drama, and then when I got to Terontola the bus driver actually waited for me to buy a ticket from the tabaccheria at the station before we set off up the hill. Cortona is small and stylish, but the gradients make Perugia seem almost flat! I wandered along the main shopping street (along with all the local residents and gaggles of tourists), browsed the street market, went to the Diocesan Museum which has a truly stunning Annunciazione by Fra' Angelico, sipped a cappuccino, admired the view as far as Lake Trasimeno, bought some of the obligatory postcards and finally jumped on the bus back to Terontola, which arrived with just enough time to buy a ticket before the train came. How convenient!!!! This meant that I had plenty of time to attempt a visit to the Post Office upon my return to Perugia. On the way there I bumped into Hannah so she came along for the adventure. Once again, just because we are leaving, the man behind the counter was hugely helpful - to the point of giving me packing tape to put my two parcels of books together so that they would be cheaper to send. It was miraculous!!! A quick visit to the Coop to get the Bellini supplies was
followed by an almost last coffee at Morlacchi, this time with Zach and Nikos. Hannah and Zach had things to sort out (Drama of the Week #43938738), Nikos once again would only talk to Zach (even after we had all had dinner at his house on Thursday night), so evidently it was time to leave them all to it. Besides, we were all meeting up a bit later, given that it was a beautiful evening, for a sit and chat on the steps, followed by a battle through the teeming crowd down Corso Vannucci to have a gelato whilst enjoying the views one more time, and then back to my place for a pre-dinner Bellini and admiration of my view session. Then it was time for dinner at Ambar's suggestion of a restaurant down a tiny lane off the Corso called 'Al Mangiar Bene'. The food was absolutely divine, which wasn't unexpected as it's part of the Slow Food Association. We all ended up having pizza, although mine was done as a calzone, filled with mozzarella, potato, onions and rosemary, with rocket dressed in olive oil scattered on the top. Yummo! This was followed by the sharing of two desserts - a tortina al limone and a slice of crostata with chocolate and ricotta, washed down with coffee. And it was a bargain....definitely on the list for future visits here. Our next visit was back to Morlacchi for Black or White Russians, more coffee etc as we waited for summer time to change over. It was also a chance to say goodbye to Mauro and Nikos, who once again was unable to speak except through Zach as his intermediary. So strange!Sunday, my last full day in Perugia, has meant packing and all the 'lasts'. In the afternoon I met up again with Hannah, Zach and Ambar to enjoy the sunshine on the steps, then it was time for
one last stroll before finally updating this post. I just looked on the BBC site and read a story about the chaos of Terminal 5, especially after both Sharon and Cathryn sent me messages about it. The new terminal has only been opened for flights for 4 days now, and today they were happy that 85% of the flights actually made it out. The 15,000 pieces of lost luggage over the last four days should be sorted out soon too... good grief! I hope they've got it sorted before my flight to Istanbul on Friday. Fingers crossed!!!! Now it's getting later and my notes for the Storia della Lingua exam with la prof Anna still haven't been opened, so I guess that's a signal that I should sign off and go and do some work. There's always tomorrow in Florence!Arrivederci Perugia!!!!
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