Sybilla Oritur

I'm a student pursuing a doctoral degree in late medieval history. My main interests include but are not limited to Latin, Italian, cultural theory, educational curriculum, historiography, cognitive processes, language-theory, gender relations and THE WESTERN CANON (mwahaha); i am not particularly interesting, avant-garde or risque; My main hobbies include the exciting activities of cooking, baking, going to the gym, eating green apple-caramel lollipops, restaurant reviewing and acting as child-like and sassy as possible. I keep these entries from the years of my life - no matter how i feel about them today - available because i find it useful to revisit events i now interpret differently. My name is heather, i'm of Montreal and i was born in the nefarious, ominous year 1984.

Sybil’s Leaves 2009: A Walk Through Perugia

July 15, 2009
I spent most of Wednesday reading Persuasion on the grass outside Templo San’Angelo, planning day trips and cooking. This seems like the perfect opportunity to provide an overview of the guided tour led by an art historian affiliated with the Universita per Straniere that I was privileged to tag along for on Tuesday.

We [...]

Sybil’s Leaves 2009: One Naught Gelato Flavour and Two Concerts

July 13-14, 2009

I was rather lazy on Monday after another night plagued with bad dreams (this time I was talking to Bryan all night – odd) and made a salad of cannellini beans, tuna and corn during the day, but once Bryan was out of class we scampered down our street – Via della Cometa [...]

Sybil’s Leaves 2009: Italian Sunset Highlights

I wish that i could find the motivation to wake up in the morning for sunrises - the closest i have come thus far was a close-call to a nuit-blanche spent reading Stranger in a Strange Land. Finally in possession of my photos from Rome and now inspired to start being a shutterbug in Perugia, [...]

Sybil’s Leaves 2009: Out-and-About At Long Last

Although i have been touring Perugia and Umbria by day, my evenings before this week-end had been devoted mostly to chatting with friends back home, watching streamed television and reading. After Friday’s successful trip to the Umbria Jazz box office, i worked up the courage to correct that and have been enjoying more of Perugia’s [...]

Sybil’s Leaves 2009: Thunderstorms, Nuns, Greek Mythology and more Ruins

I had too much to drink last night (thanks to SOMEONE monopolizing me on skype while i was celebrating finally finding a bottle-opener, reloading my internet key and buying groceries) and woke up at 5am. I would have expected this to be a sign of a poor day - but things righted themselves when i [...]

Sybil’s Leaves 2009: A Little Reconnaissance

July 5, 2009
Sundays are still days of rest in Italy. Almost all stores are closed (including my favourite cafeteria) and church bells sound on the hour. Nevertheless, I kept myself occupied with reconnaissance work. Michelle, who lives in the apartment below ours, and I went for a long walk in a new direction to find [...]

Sybil’s Leaves 2009: A good pot of tea

July 2-4, 2009
The nicest thing about having a month to spend in Perugia is knowing that despite feeling under-the-weather Friday and hiding from the outside world behind my shuttered windows, I have not unwittingly deprived myself too much of the experience. Around 8pm I finally left the house (there is so much to be said [...]

Sybil’s Leaves 2009: In The Midst of a Historical Novel

July 1, 2009
Bryan truly outdid himself in the arrangements for our apartment in Perugia and I am basking in the glory of his well-laid plans, sitting at the kitchen table with the sun pouring in through our window out onto the medieval streets and convent below.
After a 2.5 hour train ride broken up speaking to [...]

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