Day 11 – Some Mc Donald’s & Jazz…

Thursday, July 12th

It’s so sad that our Italy trip is nearing an end! I’m really feeling the slow down to the finish (I know, usually it’s a sprint towards the finish!). Being here for almost two weeks already has gotten me really accustomed to the lazy style everyone has here in Italy – who wants to wake up early and stay awake after lunch? I’m sure I don’t want to!

To get back to the activities of the day – my only plan was to visit the last thing on my list: the Colegio del Cambio. I had seen pictures and it looks absolutely gorgeous inside. Every last inch is painted or carved intricately. It took a while to actually find the College of Exchange. I thought it would be located through the same entrance as the National Gallery (since it’s always written up as being in the same building). When we got there, the entrance room, where we purchased our tickets, was covered in beautiful wood carvings – the walls, the benches, and the ceilings. The ticket covered entrance to the College of Exchange along with the Colegio Mercanza as well. I must say, for only three rooms, as gorgeous as they were, the ticket was a bit pricey – especially since there was almost no information to go with the beautiful view. We also visited another room, located on one of the adjacent facades of the museum building, which was free of charge. It seems to be still in use as there were really comfy chairs installed as if preparing for a lecture.

The gang all went across the way, past the fountain, to see the church of San Lorenzo, but after eating my mozzarella sandwich from Nànà, I found out that my attire was not church appropriate so I stayed outside while the others enjoyed.

On our morning outing, we enjoyed one of the Jazz Festival’s events. Although the concerts don’t really begin until later in the afternoon, a marching band called “Funk Off” was dancing down the street as we were headed to the Colegio del Cambio. It was a pretty exciting event as not only a marching band passed us, but a dancing marching band!

I was already tired after this outing so I decided to go back to my room, as Mohit stayed to walk around a bit, and Pippa and Maxim went to practice. I took a nap, as usual, but woke up feeling a bit under the weather, so I didn’t get to master class until a little later. I played today! Michael seemed satisfied enough with my abilities so I guess my self-esteem bumped up a little bit. I’m playing at tomorrow’s concert so I better be ready!

After master class and before the next student recital, I made it my goal to get some McDonalds food. Who goes to another country and DOESN’T eat Mc Donald’s? I’ve been to Scotland, England, Ireland, and Spain and every trip I’ve been on, McDonalds had been a delicacy! Why should Italy be any different? The unfortunate thing about Perugia is that McDonalds isn’t centrally located like in other areas. I had to take a mini-metro from Pincetto (the highest stop) to Fontivegge (the stop where there are buses and trains). I wandered around a bit, not exactly knowing where the fast food joint was. It was actually surprisingly close to the mini-metro. Being a small person, one might be surprised of my large order of a hamburger, 4 chicken Mc Nuggets, and fries. I would have eaten there, but I wasn’t sure how I was doing on time and I didn’t want to be late to the concert! I carried the food back to Pincetto and then to the concert hall and ate in one of the back rows before the concert started. What a pig!

After finishing that, I made a stop at Nànà where I found Michael, Laura, Dr. Darnell, Vadim, and Maxim having some wine and chatting about how Gail had left. Yes, you read correctly. She was supposed to leave about a week ago and only now decided to go.

At tonight’s concert, Soon and Jason played. They were absolutely amazing! I’ll let Soon get off just this once. He had more important pieces to practice than the Schumann. I must say, everyone must have been impressed with our group because we brought really young children (Max and Jason are 9!), but they are so talented!

After the concert, I split up with the group once again and sat in Nànà to have my hot chocolate. Tonight was the first time that Christian was able to make the hot chocolate on his own without help from someone else! Before the Americans showed up, I don’t think the people at Nànà really made much hot chocolate before. It’s even become a competition between them. Martina, the girl that works there in the mornings, declares hers to be the best, but Christian just won’t allow that to stand!

Day 11 Fun Tidbits:

• I not only have my picture with Oliver, the waiter with the cool hair, but now have pictures with both Martina and Christian as well!
• The owner of Nànà is named “Lucky” Luciano and Pippa ADORES him!
• I was so tired by the time I went to bed! Mohit and Angelita kept me up until 2:30am!!!

Also read…
Day 10 – Another Concert Night!
Day 12 – Shopping with Pippa and Last Night at Nànà’s…
Great Neck Music Conservatory Visits Italy!