The inportance of H2O has not occured to the 21 yrold

well, it's happened again.i'm drinking more coffee than water, more wine than beer, and feeling better about life for it. i stopped judging the days by the weather, and more by how the night ends.last night, i found out about an amazing concert an hour before curtain, and it was a total adventure.rumor was that it was the last night of a festival, so i found a poster on the street, and to my surprise, the umbra orchestra was playing two of my favorite composers, Bartok and Stravinsky. for reals. besides, their names were the only ones i recognised on the poster anyway.first, i had to find the theater. like everything, it seemed like a hole in the wall- the entrance was a tinny door to a huge dark building which looked like a school. while i was waiting to purchase a student ticket, i started talking to a violin student named monica who was studying at the music conservatory in perugia, which is public. she only spoke italian, and her accent was very southern, but once i told her i'd only been studying for about a month, she spoke slower. we decided to sit together, and choose seats on the top floor, in the center, where the acoustics were the best.i went home to change, and when i returned the lobby was packed. i made my way to the theater entrance, and totally froze. the room was only about the size of a movie theater, and aside from the chairs on the ground floor, the walls were a series of box type seats, straight up to the top. on the ceiling, a fresco of angels in circling women celebrating spring hung over head, and it looked golden in the dim theater light.i found my way up the 6 or so floors of stairs, finally arriving at the "piano economia." i found my box, were some wierd italian couple who were arguing about something were sitting too. so, i guess that on paper monica and i were sitting next to each other, but in reality, there was a wall between us- she stuck her head out and around to say ciao. oh well, we tried. the lights went down, the mc introduced the show, and the musicians took their places.to me, the repertoire was odd, because the string Stravinsky pieces seemed more like Bartok, and the Bartok rhythmically seemed more like Stravinsky. maybe that just shows how composers influence each other. the music tapped into something in me that made me feel right at home, even though everything about where i was seemed like a movie.well, almost. the timpanist kept on rushing the beat. i was most impressed with the conductor, who moved more like a lizard dangling over a water fall than a man with a stick.during intermission, i got totally lost. i finally thought i'd found the right room on the right floor, but instead i ran into three really strange ladies talking to each other in the hall, who were too engrossed in what they were talking about to let me pass. so, i darted into one of the boxes, and they followed. then i realized i was in the right room on the wrong floor, they had posh velvet seats instead of a wooden bench, and these women were creeping me out.they started talking to me and i quickly fell into step with their conversation. one was a girl who was volunteering as an usher, who seemed to be sweet talking the older lady in her 70s who held herself with amazing grace- i started wishing i was her granddaughter, or somehow related to her dynasty. the third was a woman who's age i couldn't tell because she appeared to be a dwarf. she told me she studied the flute, and all about other theaters she'd been to in milan, and venice. i couldn't tell if she was the older lady's daughter, or if they were just friends. even though i figured these three women just met, they were talking like old friends. even though no one seemed to care my italian was budget, they didn't show any mercy with their italian, and were throwing around musical terms like no bodies business.the lights dimmed and this odd couple invited me to sit with them. so i did. i swear, it felt like were were right on top of the orchestra. every little movement the players made, even just their weight shifting in their chairs, was heard.at the end of the show, the four of us exchanged numbers and talked about driving out to the lake nearby Perugia sometime. i can't really imagine the four of us, a 21 year old american, the 20 something italian girl, the dwarf flutist, and an this older lady who could be a part of some ancient Italian royalty, all wearing bikinis. who knows.later on that night, i called up some Italian friends and we hung out in a small park in front of my appartment, looking at stars. i think it was a full moon, and still, we could see plenty. it just blows my mind how this town holds so many diamonds in the rough, you just have to spend enough time digging.so yeah, this one's for everybody at Mills. even on the other side of the world, the music is still the same.i have been keeping my ear to the ground for punk shows, but they're usually at private parties, like at home, where everybody knows everybody. There's a lot of radical politics in this town that aren't too friendly to any americans, for obvious reasons- a lot of people here hate americans and will judge a person based on what Bush has been up to.anyways, we'll talk politics later, this story is about the music.hope everything has been going well, write me back cause it's fun.tutti amore,megan marchps. as far as sending this to Mills professors' email addresses, I just went from memory. feel free to pass on the word that i'm having a blast

Sept 25th

last night my friend kirsten and i broke down, ordered take out pizza from
down the street, purchased two bottles of wine, and watched movies all
night. this weekend i had planed to either go to Milano, or the island of
caprie, but the weather turned into a mess, so i decided to call everything
off and take a break for a while. it's been really fun actually.
so, i might as well try and milk my trip from last weekend to Florence. it
was all last min, on thurs. night at my friend's house, the idea came up
that we should go somewhere. the plan was manuele and roberto, my italian
friends, would meet me and kristen at piazza italia to get to the bus
station at 7 am on sat. only roberto showed up, cause i guess manuele
partied too much the night before.
the train took 2 hours. when we arrived, all the hostels were full, we spent
3 hours or so finding one to take 2 ladies and a guy. it was all worth it
though, Florance is amazing.
our hostel was on the other side of the river close to downtown. that ment
that we got to know the bridges really well. my favorite was the one closest
to ponte veccio (a really famous old bridge, with homes and shops built
right on top of it!) there were little ledges where you could hop over the
main road, and sit in compleat privacy to smoke, make out, or whatever, or
just watch the river. i felt right at home when i spotted a furry creature
pattleing across the river. roberto insisted that it was just a big rat, but
i talked to some people and they said it was kinda like a river otter, which
to me ment a big aqua ferret. i took lots of pictures. i hope that roll
wasn't the one that got lost.
we then went to santa crotche (not the saint crotch!) which is one of the
major big churches where a bunch of famous dead guys are kept. for example,
michelangelo, dante,  galliaeo, and some other dudes. it was super pretty
though.
then we tried to get into the duomo, but it closed. that night we spent
forever trying to track down some stupid resturant in a tour book, to no
avail. never trust those guides. we ended up at a great spot that wasn't too
over priced though. the thing was that since florance is a major city, the
portions were americanized, meaning big, so we ended up with too much food
when we did the italian thing which is to order a bunch of tinny courses. oh
well.
the next morning, we waited in line for 4 hours to get into the uffizzi
which is the most amazing museum i've ever been into in my intire life. I
saw the venus in a half shell, (bottechelii), a bunch of carvaggios,
artemisia gentellesci, and da vinchi- i know i butcherd their names, but i
don't wanna look em up right now.  anyways, it was like a dream, and for
three hours, i talked about art in italian, about these amazing pieces i had
studied in highschool i never thought i'd see in person.
roberto hardly understands any english at all, and kirsten hardly speaks any
italian, so i had to translate a lot so that neither felt like the other was
being rude.  despite this, all of us somehow managed to keep up really good
conversations. i was really happy though when i went for a whole day, only
speaking italian. kirsten thought it was funny. she was worried about being
a third wheel cause she doesn't know italian, but i told her that was
stupid, so i tried to help her when she was looking for the right words.
practice, right?
then, we ate gellato, and somehow ended up back on the train.

i want to go back, it's really cheap to get there, even just for a day.
florence is the most romantic city i've ever seen, we watched the sun set
over the river and the sky turned golden.

this past week i went dancing a lot. it got really cold all of a sudden,
which means clubs stop using air conditioning, so your screwed every where
you go. i've been wearing the wildest cloths i wouldn't have been caught
dead wearing at home, which i think is totally fun and good for me. i've
started to really get the hang of things, i know where to get the best
corrneto al cocholate (chocolate crassant) and cappacino, where all the
vintage stores are, 3 ero pizza, and the cheapest best wine. not really the
tourist approch to things, but i think that happens when you actually live
somewhere. the shop owners start remembering your face and say hi to you in
the streets.
anyways, i've stayed away from elevators, and expierimented with chinese
take out. this next week is  my last of the intensive language classes, and
then my art classes start.
you know, it only costs less than a dollar to send a letter. no joke. if you
forgot the address, it is
megan march
the umbra institute
via dei priori, 84
06123
perugia , italy
(hint hint)
please keep me up dated on stuff - i wanna know what's going on!
tutti amore,
megan

The Storm storm was her favorit x-man character

Around 11pm two nights ago, the sky cracked open and let all hell loose.
Lightning and thunder like I've never expierenced before kept me up all
night long, I had dreams about earthquakes. So, for the past few days we've
had rain like in dinosoar movies, where all the people die. It's awesome.

I think I'm in love with my italian teacher, Anna. She's not only an amazing
teacher, she some how has managed to wear a different outfit every day that
matches compleatly. No joke.

I have another teacher who is the devil incarnate. Yesterday, everybody
decided to skip her class, and me being a total pushover and bent on
learning at least something (what else is there to do on a rainy day
anyway?) I went to her class.  During one of the breaks , however, I went
into a bar ( that's what they call cafes) with two older women in my class,
and they totally ditched me. Moral #1, don't trust older women who are over
50 and seem sweet in class, but will back stab you the first chance they
get. So, whatever, I'm independent and don't need them to get back to class.
Right? So then I went back to the room, and there was some other class in
there. They all turned around and looked at me like a total weirdo when I
opened the big creaky door.  I searched the entire pilazzo, all 5 or 6
floors, including several long stair cases, and after a half an hour, gave
up . This building is absolutly georgious, frescos you''d see in a meuseum
in every classroom, a view of the entire vally for 50+ miles out of every
window, but I swear, the building is e-v-i-l  ... So I say fuck this, and
I'm going home. My class has dissapeared, I know I just wasted 3 hours cause
she doesn't take attendence till the end of the day, and she's really boring
anyway.
I call for an elevator. It finally comes, I step in, the doors close, and
the lights go out. For the next 5 min, I'm pushing buttons in the dark, and
kicking the door. I take a deep breath and start looking for my cell phone,
so I could at least have some light- it's hard to get reception in that
icebox. Then magincally, the doors open, and I run for my life. If cars were
aiming for me on my way home, I wouldn't have noticed. The happy ending is
that I went to a party later, met some awesome people, and then went to some
other friend's house, who are italian, and spent the night talking about
everything.
Well, I thought that would be a good dramatic story to start off with. Last
weekend I went to Cinque Terre, which is a region with 5 small towns
incrusted into the shore line on the western coast. I loved the place,  but
I went with a  school group and they were a total bummer. I had no idea how
many serority girls were in this program, and that the legends are true.
The beach was absolutly amazing, everybody lays out in their bikinis on the
rocks at all hours of the day. The light there is absolutly golden-I came
back totally tan with a face full of freckels. It kind of blows my mind how
different it is here , even the sun. When I was in Rome, a huge
industrialized city, I was still able to see stars, and the full moon.
It's hard to meet punks here, because they don't really exist. There is this
one huge creepy guy with a lot of piercings and a scary looking dog that
walks around, but I'm scared to talk to him for obvious reasons. Plus, there
is no need- italians are totally fun and really liberal.
In order to get away from the before mentioned imbarassment to Americans, I
decided to learn italian really fast, and so I've been hanging out a lot
with Italians. I tried taking them to a party at the house of one of my
classmates, and they were totally creeped out, and people were really rude
to them. I try to get people in my program to speak italain to me, even just
like, ciao, come stai, and they give me a look. I still  can't get over why
people come to italy, and don't try to learn italian, or get to know
italians, and maybe, possibly, learn about the culture. Even in the dance
clubs, the prissy girls only talk shit about italians who want to dance with
them. I think this is totally insulting. I just wish they could get it
together, stop complaining, and have a good time. These are just my
observations, it's really interesting to see how people in other countrys
view americans, and why.
Allora, I'm not letting it bother me too much, I've having a blast.
I love speaking italian, the music of the language is so beautiful, no
wonder everybody here seems to be in a good mood all the time. Everybody can
pick up on the spanish accent though, I've really got to work on that. I'm
having trouble because my friends know that I speak spanish, so they will
try and speak italian, english, and spanish to me. I can't tell which words
are italain or spanish, or if I'm screwing up, because they understand
without correcting me. At least I don't feel like we're playing sherades
anymore.
I've been wanting to buy a guitar, because it's really easy to get shows
here cause there are so many bars, but the guitars are so expensive, the one
I want has an inlayed fret board with birds and flowers, but it's like 350
Euro - probably worth every penny, but quite a commitment when you're trying
to budget for the next 3 months. I'm thinking about it. I've been saving
tons of money by cooking at my house or friends houses. It's more fun too.
Plus it's italy, everything here tastes good.
I might go to Rome this weekend with some italians. They really want to go
around and see all the sights, I guess it's like living in sf and never
seeing fisherman's warf. I think the colloseum will be more interesting than
that though....
Well, I know that this one was long too, but I hope I answered all yer
questions. Please write me, I will write you back. Getting your emails makes
me really happy. I just like doing these long ones every once in a while,
plus, it's a rainy day.
love,
megan

Week Two

It's been about 2 weeks or so, and I've just finished my first full week of
classes. My brain is fried from the intensive drilling- yesterday I had 8
hours of class, and then of course last night I had to go to "the steps" to
practice......
So there's some small stories I thought you'd be interested in that I didn't
have a chance to write about last time. My english is starting to suck, I
keep getting sentence structures mixed up because all of the words are
arranged differently in italian.
Let me discribe my school. Most of the class is from Germany, and then we
have some students from all over, like Norway, Finland, England, Tokyo,
China, Sweden, and other's I can't think of. So, the teacher doesn't have a
chance in hell to talk any other language but italian. It's mind blowing to
think that one can learn Italian in Italian. But the strange thing is, I
compleatly understand my professors. They make fun of me when I slip into
Spanish, but I swear, I'm totally determined to learn Italian. I get really
excited when I meet people who speak spanish.
A couple of nights ago I met a boy from mexico city with a short red mohawk,
and we talked for ever about protests in Mexico, Communism, and I tried to
explain Aristotalism, because he was studying The Cave (by Plato?).
It's very easy to meet people in the street, but I don't think that Italian
women are as open to talking to strangers as American women. One night my
friends and I met a student from Moraco and his cousin in the street near
their house, and we ended up sitting at a table on the side of the road the
rest of the night, sharing 2 bottles of wine. It's just all about sharing
ideas, practicing the language, and observing their different mannerisms.
It's funny how american girls will travel all the way to italy to flirt with
German boys. I went to a dinner party at a friend's house a couple of nights
ago, and we all ended up drinking on the terres with her German neighbors.
In my opinion, I couldn't stand these German boys for more than 20 min. They
seemed very arrogant and drank too much. I guess the girls were just excited
to have boys to speak english too. BORING.
My appartment is very authenticly Italian. In other words, I got shafted and
every other appartment I've seen in my program has been newly remodeled, and
one doesn't have to scrape their knees on the wall when they sit on the
toilet. The shower is a ceramic bucket with a hose.
I go home after my classes and make lunch every day. Actually, sometimes I
go out with friends, but I 've really come to enjoy my time in the kitchen,
and going to various markets near my house. It's kinda like a game, because
they're all hidden, open at different times, and specialize in different
things. I've seen the wierdest foods, my favorit are cookies named "lungue
di gatto" (cat toungs) ---they looked kinda like mint milanos from Safeway.
I've started to get to know the shop owners and where things are cheap.
Oh, and about a week ago, I bartered for the first time here, for a book in
Italian about BLONDIE. I was very proud, especially since I could hardly
speak a lick of Italian. It's all about the TUDE. I'm actually really proud
of how I'm picking up the language. Last night I told a full story, very
slowly, of the first time I got drunk with my sister in Spain. However, I
can't tell if the Italian boys are laughing at my jokes, the fact I talk
like una bambina, just to be nice, or to flirt. The other day I was actually
able to carry out a full conversation with an Italian over the phone, with a
mix of italian, spanish, and english. I've found that it's better to try and
understand italian's speaking italian, instead of english, just because
their accents are so strong. Va bene, it's good.
Italian TV (ti vu) is the funniest. MTV Ero is way stylish and there's crazy
videos that make no sence.
It seems that men are able to express themselves emotionally much more here,
without homophobia, and they all dress very sharp. I like it.
This weekend I'm going on a trip to Cinque Terre (Cinque is pronounced
chinque and means 5) which is a region with five towns by the ocean. I've
heard it's really beautiful, but I still need to get a bathing suit.
It's been really hard to make it to my 8am classes every morning, because
every night the piaza fills with hundreds of kids drinking beer, and sitting
on the "steps" infront of the main church facing the large fountain. It's
like having a date with the whole town, every night. It costs nothing, and
it's way fun to get to bump into people, or meet new friends. Italians don't
really get drunk like we do in the states, or at least it seems that way
because they prefer to not act stupid.
It's hard to get fat in this town, every day is a mountain climb, which was
hard at first with the cute italian shoes I've been wearing. It just takes
practice.
ok, I know this one was long, but it's a complicated picture to paint. Your
letters totally make my day------it's very important to know what's going on
at home. Sound's like there's lots of parties and new houses to have
shows......I can't wait to get back  and see it all. I haven't gotten
homesick yet, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about you. I'm just
happy to be where I am. If only we could all party in
Italy....................
love,
megan
ps don't stop writing me back, jerks

She wears black eyeliner

I'm having a lot of fun, and I 'm really getting into my classes, but I'm
totally not mixing with my roomate. she stays up really late and I sleep
alot. I feel like I'm getting sick from not sleeping.
I keep getting all of my spanish mixed up with my italian. I've been having
dreams where I'll speak english, spanish and italian. What the fuck???

very little of this message passed the censor

i even changed into the intensive italian
track so I can continue classes after the first month. I really think I can
get this language.

Snail Mail at bottom

hey!
this is megan, and you are reading my first email to all of you i miss back
home. i forgot my address book at the appartment, so some of you might get
this one twice, but i figured you'd deal.

i first got into Rome, and stayed for two days with my friend's Matt and
Teresa. They live in an amazing appartment with an open deck ontop of their
building. The best was the scooter ride to the piaza where we spent the day
eating and drinking beer -- i was amazed at how i didn't fall off as we
passed the collessium, and a church which apparentally houses the finger of
some saint who touched christ's wound when he was resurected (creepy:)
Anyway, my adventure continued as i made my way to Perugia, where i'm living
for the next 4 months. Words cannot discribe the beauty of this city.
Perugia is a mountain town with many colleges, so there's hundreds of kids
my age from all over the world studying here. Thanks to my spanish which all
came back to me, since Italian and Spainsh are so similar, I've been able to
meet lots of italians who are really fun. There's tons of night clubs, bars,
and good food, not to mention the artistic etruscan arcitecture throughout
the whole town.
Every thing I heard about Itlian boys back home is not true. They treat
women with so much respect- it's shocking.
I feel comfortable to wear whatever I want without getting harrassed on the
streets which made me realize how much of my femininity I've been unable to
express my whole life. Of course the girls in my program and I stick
together when we go out at night, till we learn the city more, but there's
just such a different sence of awarness that's nessesary here, I feel very
safe.
My friends and I have been hanging out with some boys from southern italy
who are here for school, and we have dinner parties at our house--- they've
been teaching us how to cook.
Boys here really know how to dress- everybody does.
I share an appartment really close to the main Piaza called Piaza Noviembre,
which is the center of town. Around 10 at night, the youth of the town all
gather on the steps in front of the church to meet, drink and just hang out
till 4 in the morning. Every night. No joke. It's mind blowing to be walking
down the main street - at 11 pm, and all of the clothing stores and
resturants are still open, and there's hundreds of people in the street.
Pretty cool considering Berkeley closes down at 10pm. I'm trying to make
plans to go to the beaches in southern italy, the kids here all recomend it.
Also, I want to go back to Rome, see Venice, and Florence.
There's more that I wanted to say, like about my school where I'm taking
italian classes (which I totally love!) but i can't sit down anymore.I've
never been to a place where you can be walking down the street, start
talking to somebody from the neighborhood, and spend the rest of the night
sitting at a table at the side of the road drinking wine and talking about
adventures. I miss my ferrets, and my friends, but i'm really happy here.
I have a cell phone where I can be reached anytime that i'm not in class.
the number is
+39 3357160637, i think you might need the country code 011.
my mailing address is
the umbra institute
via dei priori, 84
06123
perugia, italy

much love, hearts,
megan
ps.
I'm going to try and write the next letter in italian, so watch out!