In July 2001 I had the chance to study at the University of Urbino in Italy (Regione Marche). I fell in love with everything about the town and the surrounding area. I would have loved to have stayed for both 3-week sessions … but I could only stay for one (*pout*).
I had a lot of fun venturing off around Urbino, whether alone or with the friends that I made. Here you will find pictures of my adventures in Italy with some explanations as you go along. ENJOY!
P.S. – To those that were there (and you know who you are!) what do you say about a reunion in 2011 in La Piazza Della Republica?!
After a loooong flight, we landed in Milano. There, we had enough time to grab our belongings, and get them out to the bus, make phone calls (if needed), quickly have a ciggarette, and hop on the bus. Then it was off to Stressa. I lovingly refer to this as “recooperating day”. We all got the chance to relax and stretch after the flight. I ran to the pharmacy to get shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste. I didn’t want to take them with me just in case something spilled on my luggage on the way there.
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After a quick settling in (and a recap of the past hours onto the video camera), Gina, Ben & I decided to go exploring. After a loooooong walk down the main road, we hoped in the “sky cab” (or whatever it’s called) and headed up the mountain. The picture (taken by Ben) is the little alpine village that we found at the very top. What was the weirdest thing … other than 2 dogs, one guy, some crazy driver, and the family of four we went up the |
| The picture below is the view off the back terrace for braccio no3 from the first floor (which was where I stayed). | The people from Villanova who "took over" the terrace next to mine had a collection of wine bottle and a lot of broken glass on the floor. Needless to say .. it was probably the ONLY place in Urbino I never went barefoot! | |
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Every Saturday there’s an open air market at the Piazza at the top of Via Raffaelo.
One of the guys from Villa Nova bought a rooster. The damn thing crowed all morning long. One day, Dom got sick of hearing it. So, he grabbed a blanket, hunted down the rooster
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and caught it. Then he put the bundle on the back of a moped and drove it a kilometre or two away and let it go. Steve bought a baby duck at the market. He named it Aflac (HAHAHA). The thing was sooo damn cute! He couldn’t bring him back to the states though. So, he left it with one of the professors at the university as a pet for his two little daughters. What made it REALLY funny, was when the 3week people were on the plane coming home. In between movies they showed music videos, a comedy show, and some comercials. One of them was for Aflac and ½ of us from the 3 week group all yelled out “AFLAC” Let’s just say that a lot of people on the plane looked at us kind of funny after that! |
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While we were in Urbino, we took sightseeing trips as a group. The only one I went on was the one we took to San Leo, San Marino, & Gradara. The fortress in San Leo was really beautiful, with the exception of the dungeon. It was almost surreal being down there while the guide told us what went on there. In this picture you can see the outer building. Top row: Dom, Luka, and Danielle |
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The rest of the town was beautiful too. This is a church in San Leo that was built on the ruins of a Pagan temple (shame on you people!!). I wanted to go inside and see what Pagan things were still there … but, I wasn’t allowed in. Not because of my necklace … but because I didn’t have anything to cover my shoulders with. |
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Next it was off to San Marino. One day I got to class early (amazing isn’t it!!), and there on the table next to the vending machines where pamphlet about the Ren Fest that was going on in San Marino one of the weekends we were there. A group of us had discussed going .. but it just so happened to be the weekend the group was going. (*yay!*). Once we got off the bus, we all split up to explore. Steve & I went in search of a place to go get our passports stamped. Then we wandered around the shops and stuff. At one point we ran into Ben. He had the perfect spot to get this picture from a café window.
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| Steve & I spent a lot of our time in San Marino looking for a place to get our passports stamped. That, in itself, was an adventure. Then we had some guy ask us for an American coin. Apparently, the people in San Marino are big on colecting money from all over the place (just like me). | |
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Before leaving San Marino, Steve & I stopped at the liqour store & the grocery store and made our selves Jack & Coke by the litre. Let’s just say that it made for an interesting bus ride to Gradara. One was because we weren’t allowed to drink on the bus (heeheehee) and two because we made them overly strong and decided to share a little with Danielle & Alexis. By the time we reached Gradara, we all had a good buzz going. |
| L-to-R: Nicole, Danielle, Alexis, Walter, Rosetta, Myself, Steve & Ben | |
| On the 18th, a group of us went to the beach at Pesaro. By the time we walked from the bus to the “Free beach” we didn’t have that much time to soak up the sun. We got the last bus back into Urbino, had dinner, got ready and it was Party Time!!! | |
| We all went out to celebrate Sam’s 21st birthday. We all started at Noi e Voi Then made our way up to Gula After midnight, we celebrated my 25th birthday. Man! Did I get drunk! Ben found a cake at one of the café’s back in the Piazza and brought it to the bar. Some random Italian guy saw the cake and got happy about it. So I gave him some and he started shouting “Appy Boord-Dee” at me! * LOL * Dom, Danielle, & I were the last of the bunch to leave. Let’s just say that the 15 minute walk back to the dorms turned out to be a rather drunken 45 minute walk back! We got back at about 4a.m. and headed down braccio no.1 where Dom lived. He went up to his room, but Danielle & I stayed on the bench to watch the video of the walk home. We were playing it so loud and laughing so loud that Dom yelled at us … but we didn’t care. I got back to my room around 5a.m. and stupid me, I layed down and passed out. LUCKILY, I woke up .. not in time to make the bus, but with enough time for the front desk guy to call a cab to take me to the train station. I DID NOT want to miss my plane to Denmark! |
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Still sober, but buzzing |
Walter, Danielle, Dom, Ben, Me, Danielle, & Gina |
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Ok, we FINALLY left the Piazza & headed down. Dom had to stop and mail out postcards. Danielle had to stroke the mailbox. And, I had to get it ALL on video. Then Dom took my camera & got a picture of us. |
| After I came back from Denmark, I had about 1 week left. I wasn’t the only one who was only staying for the entire 6 weeks. A few days before we all had to leave, Rosetta set me up with an appointment to get my hair done. It turned out awesome! And .. what would have cost me close to 200 or so dollars here in the states .. only cost about $34 there! That night we all made our way down to the Chinese restaurant and had a big dinner. Not everyone went … but it was a really nice sized group. Afterwards, the braccio 1 guys had a Toga party. Even some of the Italian students came (that is … only the bravest showed .. the craziest actually stayed!) |
 Here’s some of our group with some people from another college playing “Flip Cup”. Basically, it a REALLY quick way to get drunk! |
Chelsea & Dom
I guess he was the Ghetto Toga that night
j/k sweety
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The City of Urbino
© 1997 - 2002 lj@liteshadows.com
My trip to Italy in 1999
My trip to Denmark in 2001