Snowpocolypse

Stay indoors! Hide your children! The people of Perugia are in a panic! Why, might you ask? War? Famine? None of the above! It is snowing in Italy!

I don’t know why I just used so many exclamation points; snow is exactly what I was trying to get away from. At least my California roommate displayed some form of excitement, as exhibited by her shrieks when we woke up (she has never really seen snow). By “snow” we’re talking about a half an inch if that (it didn’t stick in some places). The snow that actually stuck is now slush. But amount does not matter to the Perugians. It is chaos!

Where's the road?!

This morning, I was particularly amused on my walk to school. The road Umbra is on had been barricaded (with a “Caution: Snow” sign). However, as I discovered early on, Italians don’t have a whole lot of regard for rules of the road. I literally observed a man drive right up to the barricade, get out of his car, move the barricade to the side of the road, and continue driving as if it hadn’t ever been there. I shouldn’t have been too surprised. Almost a month ago, on our bus ride from the Rome airport to Perugia, we were stopped at a rest stop when we saw a young Italian family smushed into a small two-door car. By smushed, I’m talking parents and two kids in the front, and five kids in the back. The little girl in the front was sitting on the dashboard. No one batted an eyelash. Good to know we’re all riding safely!

A barrier so intense that it can be moved!

Anyway, the snow presented some intense obstacles as I went about my day.  For one, I decided it would be a great idea to wear my beautiful, black, Florentine boots that I bought last weekend. Note to self: these are NOT snow boots. (But hey, beauty is pain, right? Or in this case, a potential hazard). My train of thought was that they would repel water (which was true, so point for me. Everyone else’s shoes were soaked through). This one pro did not outweigh my general embarrassment on my walk home, when I did that whole “Oh no, I’m falling backwards” thing multiple times (and barely caught myself). Right as I was about to wipe out, a man grabbed my elbow and saved my life. We proceeded to go on a date. (Just kidding. But he did save me!) A sheepish “grazie” was all I could muster. I didn’t feel too badly though; I witnessed several wipe-outs.

Beyond the snow issues, the week has gone by very quickly. I am traveling almost every weekend for the rest of the semester. However, I am spending this upcoming weekend here in Perugia. More on that in the coming days. For now, it’s a full day of classes ahead. Ciao!