Benvenuti al sud

My last post was all about "you're only young once", but since that weekend I have felt anything but young. Getting such little sleep came back and slapped me in the face with quite a vengeance. Be it bronchitis or just one of the worth cough/colds I have ever had, this sickness is still lingering a week later. Needless to say, traveling was made a bit more difficult and uncomfortable due to the incessant hacking up of my lungs. I survived, though! I guess I am young enough, after all.

My weekend started the second I turned in my quiz on Thursday, after taking in just 5 minutes along with 4 other classmates. We all had the same flight to Sicily that would be leaving from Pisa shortly after and our wonderful teacher began the quiz a bit early so that we might be able to catch our train to Pisa (our program is SO strict about rules. They wouldn't let us take the quiz during break while under supervision. So lame sometimes). So we threw our quizzes down, grabbed our filled backpacks, and ran out the door. We kept running until we were at the train station. I can't even begin to explain how horrible we must have looked to these ever-poised Italians who leisurely walk the streets. Five clearly American girls hurling themselves between groups of people in the hot sun, with huge turtle backpacks on, laughing hysterically and one barely breathing because she is coughing so hard (can you guess who that one was?). We were fortunate, though, and even made the bus we thought would be impossible to make. This bus made things so much more convenient and as the sweat dripped down our faces and our clothes stuck to our bodies, we caught our breathe and sat down for the next hour in the lovely muggy bus. We had time to spare in Pisa and made it to the plane with no problems. The flight was only 1 hour and 10 minutes, and with the view of the coast of Italy and the sea below, I was so incredibly happy to be headed to the south of Italy!

As we approached Palermo, a huge bank of fog/clouds was hovering over the city. This definitely didn't fit well with the picture we had of "SICILY" in our minds. Everything was dark and a bit eerie looking. We took yet another bus into the actual city center of Palermo and eventually found our hostel. Again, our original ideas of Sicily were proven wrong when we were met with a city that had very dirty streets, kind of scary looking people, tons of cars, and when we entered upon entering our hostel there was a huge pile of dirt/debris just in front of the doorway. Was this the right place?? We climbed many stairs to the top of this run-down building and lo and behold a sign for our hostel met us! We entered and Giuseppe (the owner) met us with his weird accent and a little too enthusiastic self. He sat us down, showed us places to see in Palermo, talked and talked and talked, and then gave us our keys. Our group had booked separately so we weren't in the same room, but Anna and I were in a 4 person room (2 bunkbeds) with 2 random girls.

Random side note about hostels: This was my first "real" ie "cheap" hostel and I learned so much from the experience! I talked with so many other people my age who are all traveling for different reasons and to different, unique places. I asked endless questions and received a lot of advice and encouragement for my travels this summer. I am going to really enjoy meeting so many more people like this! Everyone is just automatically so warm and welcoming, not quick to judge, and they are just so relaxed and have a different outlook on life. This will definitely be the only time in my life I'll be able to experience this kind of thing.

So after checking into the hostel, getting all settled, yada yada, we all went out to a restaurant Giuseppe recommended with a LOT of really good seafood (supposedly) called "Salvos". Most of us were STARVING and in bad moods because Palermo wasn't all we thought it would be (so far). We wandered around and arrived a bit early to the restaurant, but it was okay. They seated us outside on this really great, local street where we were not only able to see them grilling our food but also got a wonderful view of this southern italian culture surrounding this street. They ate their seafood (I had pasta with shrimp, it wasn't so bad considering I hate seafood) and oh my gosh, the bread in Sicily is SO much better than in Florence (in Florence they don't but salt in their bread and here there is not only salt but sesame seeds galore). Everyone was so satisfied, the wine was flowing, and we even got some free limoncello for dessert! We stayed there for a few wonderful hours and then meandered to a bar across the street that had a live band playing. A few of us got some beers, we listened for a while, examined the Italians surrounding us, and then slowly walked back to our hostel where we cuddled up in our NOISY beds (with plastic lining around the mattress) but fluffy comforters. I had multiple cough attacks throughout the night and woke up about once every hour (and felt pretty horrible in the morning, sickness wise) but was determined to have a GREAT day in Sicily, hoping it would finally live up to our expectations.

We woke up relatively early the next morning to adventure off on a day trip to the city of Agrigento (pretty much on the other side of Sicily) to see some ruins! Biggest bummer of this trip was the long bus ride both there and back (2 hours each way). It did offer beautiful views and I luckily slept some of the ride (as well as coughed and coughed) but once we arrived it was well worth it! We took a little city bus ride to the actual ruins, found out we had to pay 10 euros to see the ruins (our cheap mindsets were NOT happy and we debated for much too long on if we should actually pay it), climbed around these centuries old rocks, took tons of picture, tanned our white Florence skin on the mountain top with very high temperatures and tons of son, and enjoyed the view of this other side of Sicily (and it's coast) below. What a view and experience! Anna and I decided to take the earlier bus home to meet up with the rest of the girls coming in that day. We departed ways, I picked up one of the best panini's of my life (for only 2 euros and I ordered completely in Italian), and we hopped back on the bus. Oh forgot to mention! I had my first Arancini that morning for breakfast and OH MY GOSH. So incredibly good. Think fried breaded ball thing filled with risotto, cheese, sometimes meet, and a yummy sauce.

Side note about the food in Sicily: it beats Florence (and the north in general) by far. Okay, the food is MUCH MUCH worse for you, yes, but it's so tasty and what the Italian food experience should be. I had canoli's (of course, they originated in Sicily after all), arancini, cassette, kebabs (okay not really Italian but still so good and all over the place), seafood that I wasn't the biggest fan of, ice cream sandwich-brioche things, really good pizza, and yummy pasta dishes!

So Anna and I re-arrived at our hostel and were so happy to see Vicky, Christine, Jazmine, and Cristina! The hostel had a much different vibe all of a sudden and we socialized a ton with everyone else. I was so happy, having so much fun in that moment. We scuffled over to a famous cafe called "Bar Touring" for our first canolis! YUMMMMMMMM. We ate them on a dirty, sketch fountain outside but the scenery did not matter in that moment. At all. This treat was to be our dinner as we headed back to our hostel for "sangria night", something the hostel owner absolutely insisted we join in on. It was the funniest scene ever. A really long table was set up in the kitchen area, with 4 pitches of his "special" sangria set up along the table. Everyone at the hostel (I think maybe 20 of us) sat along the table with our personalized cups and proceeded to play very American drinking games while Giuseppe explained them (usually wrongly) in his broken english through a megaphone. What a joke! We actually had a lot of fun while meeting all the people in our hostel and of course getting a slight buzz from the yummy sangria. A couple hours later we headed to the "hip" piazza where there were TONS of people packed in one area. Beers were 1.50 and everyone was just hanging out, chatting away in the middle of the street at midnight. Such Italians! I left a little earlier with some girls because I was exhausted and didn't want to jinx my slightly better cough any longer.

We woke up, grabbed another canoli for breakfast, and strolled the amazing and veryyy longgg and insanely CHEAP market nearby. It was just lovely! Another thing about Sicily: everything is dirt cheap! The food, the souvenirs, the transportation, everything! My teacher said it is because Sicily is a very poor city (a friend said it's because in the south their mindset is different and they'd rather become friends with people than make money) but I don't mind either way. I got a new pair of really cute sandals for 5 euros and lots of souvenirs! We spent about 2 hours here, talking with many locals in ITALIAN (another side note: I spoke more Italian here than ever before. I felt like I understood most everything and could actually speak back. I definitely gained a lot of courage to now speak Italian more often) and then we hopped on our bus to a beach called "Mondello" just 20 minutes away. What a place!!! It was like Hawaii, only much, much better. The water was crystal clear and ac qua colored (okay maybe not as warm as Hawaii, but it's March, come on), the sand was clean and soft, the beach itself was PACKED with Italians, and the shops nearby were adorable and sold extremely yummy food. The feeling of this beach was just so authentic and I feel like we really got a look into how actual Italians spend their time, not just tourists. Here I ate the yummiest pizza (only 1.50!!) and had the best dessert of my life. Gelato in a brioche (pastry) with whipped cream and toppings on top! Yu-um! The weather was unfortunately not as warm as we had hoped and as the day went on it got a bit cloudier. I would have still gone in the water if I had a suit (this SB water has me prepared) but in about 4 hours we were chilled and ready to depart the lovely, magical beach. We hopped on a veryyyy crowded filled with all Italians (again) and I tiredly enjoyed listening to their enthusiastic conversations and analyzing how they socialized. So different than in the US!

After Mondello we were all beyond exhausted from the sun so we came back to the hostel and took a very nice nap. I, unfortunately, woke up feeling very sick and did not want to go out. But I forced myself (last night in Sicily, gotta do it) and lazily/effortlessly got ready for dinner. We all headed over to another recommended restaurant known for its very cheap, but good, food and after waiting 20 minutes in the RAIN, finally got seated. The waiter, Valerio, immediately took a liking to us (turns out other friends in the program who went the week before had met him and he remembered them, he even still had their names/numbers in his pocket. Kind of strange, no?). He constantly came over to chat with us, bring us free limoncello, and even bought us all tulips! He only spoke in Italian but I had such a fun time actually understanding him and attempting to have a conversation back! The dinner lasted a good 3 hours and most of us were happy, but exhausted by this point. The tired ones (me included) headed back to the hostel at around midnight and passed out. The others had a crazy night, supposedly, that involved getting to ride on a vespa (so jealous)! I am glad I slept, though, because we had to wake up at 5:30am (oh yeah, there was also the time change this day so we lost another hour) to catch the bus to get our plane to go home.

Sunday was a day filled with traveling and sleeping for odd periods here and there. The traveling part of traveling is starting to get old and all of the transfers between different modes of transportation really suck. To be optimistic, though, at least they have so many options for a traveler like me! Unlike in the U.S. We got back home at around noon and proceeded to finish homework, get rest, and do all that Sunday fun stuff.

I was glad to be back in Florence, but also so sad to leave the amazing culture/people/food of the south. They are just so kind there (I never felt threatened in any way) and they care so much about relationships. They live off of what is necessary (and don't need extra things), they pride themselves on close friendships, and they just live their lives how they want. In Florence people are often cold (but once you get to know them they make you their friend for life), and they definitely believe in having material goods. The touristy aspect of Florence is starting to wear on me as well (by the Duomo there are PACKS of people constantly) but I try to avoid those areas as much as possible.

On the bright side, the weather this week is in the 70s!!!! Hallelujah! Time to break out my dresses (without leggings and boots!!) and get my tan on.

Until later. Ciao ciao

YOLO

Yet another insanely crazy weekend. The theme presented in the last blog entry of YOLO (you only live once) could be applied even more appropriately to this weekend. I've been thinking a lot about how I really only am this young and able to go on these crazy adventures right NOW. I need to remind myself that some day I won't be able to get 2 hours of sleep and then hop on a train at 5am and still enjoy myself. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and "forced" myself to take a weekend trip to Rimini with a few friends, knowing it would be a little crazier than I was used to. I don't think I'll ever use the word "force" again, though, because I would gladly hop on the opportunity to relive this weekend over and over!

Okay so now to talk about Thursday (a day that now seems 5 weeks ago). Let me pull through my many memories for a second, okay, got it! Well I went back to Wednesday, actually, because that is when I had my written final for Level 2 of Italian. It went okay, not as great as I had hoped, but I'm content with my grade. Thursday was the oral final, I happened to be first AGAIN, and I happened to be extremely nervous AGAIN, but it was over within 5 minutes and it was officially the weekend! And I officially have Italian level 2 (20 weeks worth back at Santa Cruz) under my belt. Go me!

So Thursday night I took Christine and Vicky with me to meet up with Martina and her friends. We trekked over to an area of town undiscovered and had an amazing apperativo with good food and such good drinks. Their 3 guy friends met up with us at one point and they were HILARIOUS! It is so nice to meet actual Italian guys who are normal (ie not the creepy one's at clubs) and we had a great time talking in a mangled combination of English and Italian while comparing our two cultures. After this, we took them to the "American" end-of-finals party some girls were throwing. I felt like I had showed up with 20 bottles of champagne or something, everyone was so happy to see these Italians. They were taught American drinking games and I'm pretty sure everyone, well at least the boys, had a BLAST. The night went by quickly and after a quick drop in to a horrible club, we arrived back home at around 3am.

We are students, we are cheap, we don't need sleep, so of course we take the 5am train to Rimini because it is only 11 euro instead of 30! After a 20 minute nap I very groggily crawled out of bed, grabbed my stuff, walked out into the crisp morning/night desolate air and streets with Anna and Christine and arrived at the emptiest train station I have ever seen. We met up with two other girls, Sam and Alexis, and hopped on our empty train. We each took up two seats and slept like babies. Until 40 kids came on all going to school. We quickly woke up to their chatting and were extremely embarrassed . We had "AMERICAN" written all over our faces. The rest of the train ride was uneventful but we did pass through some gorgeous hills and after a quick transfer, we arrived in Rimini at around 8am! From here, everyone grabbed a coffee and we waited to board another 1 hour long bus ride to take us up to the COUNTRY (the third smallest in the world, to be exact) of San Marino. This gem of a place was discovered the day before when a classmate mentioned we should look into it. I am so glad for that person because this country was amazing!! The windy drive up to this mountain was not so fun, but once we arrived we were met with spectacular views below and ancient castle towers above. We spent a good 3 hours there climbing every tour and taking millions of pictures before finally grabbing a snack and heading back to the bus (side note: my detective skills have led me to assume this country does not have strong laws because some things in the windows were....interesting...to say the least). We slept like rocks on the way down (remember we were surviving off of maybe 1 hour total of sleep) and groggily woke up and figured out the bus system in Rimini. We made it to our hostel without any problem and were amazed as the bus zoomed by the coast. The only place I can compare it to is Santa Monica, or the muscle beach area. Others said it reminded them of Miami. There were bars/rides all along the sand and miles of miles of this sand stretched out ahead. It was curious, though, because there seemed to be no one around. Hm....

After checking into our hostel and setting everything down, we stole a cheat and laid out on the sand. This beach was nowhere near as nice as the last, but it sufficed. I slept and never even touched the water (sad) but we maybe saw a total of 10 people out on this huge stretch of beach. Definitely not high season. Definitely not warm enough. Definitely not the best idea to go to Rimini in the middle of March. Oh well, it was still an adventure! As the sun was lowering and our bodies were chilling, we decided to leave the sand and return to nap at our hostel before our "crazy night" (Rimini is known for its nightlife, apparently). Hold up, let's back up for a second. Before this we were insanely hungry and as we roamed the desolate, ghost streets of Rimini, we found not one single that was selling food at 5pm. NOT ONE PLACE. So we napped with grumbling tummies. When I woke up at about 9pm I was in a horrible mood. It felt as if I was waking up at 5am and being forced to get ready and run a marathon or something. I seriously contemplated just staying in my bed and not going out. No one would let that happen, though, so we got all dolled up and headed downstairs to use the computer and figure out which club to hit up.

Surprise, surprise, NO club was open!!! It being off season and all, most clubs were under construction or getting ready for summer season. It was so sad to hear this and as we sulked in the corner, the owner of our hostel came up to us and asked why we were so sad. We explained, he called up his friend, and got us on a list for a club called "Peter Pan" in the nearby city of Riccione. Thank you thank you thank you! After hitting up the one open bar around the corner and listening to old italian men sing karaoke and the young bartender try to make us his girlfriend, the 5 of us split the cab fare to Riccione and arrived at around midnight. It was way too early. The list we were on was not open until 1am, so we used our pleading American faces to talk with the bouncers and after around 10 minutes they let us in. We paid 10 euros for a drink at the bar and stared in absolute wonder at the most gorgeous, elegant Italians dining just feet away. Now THIS was a club. We slowly sipped our drinks feeling very AMERICAN in our jeans, without heels to add on to that, and out of nowhere a fashion show started! Everyone crowded around and I felt as if I was either on some sort of drug or I was in a strange movie. Where was I?? A fashion show in the middle of a huge club with beautiful people all speaking Italian around me? Not so bad, I'd say. Within a few minutes after the show, the fog machines started cranking away, the DJ in his sequenced jacket and wonderful accent started shouting away, the beautiful people started swaying away, and we joined right in on the party! The night seemed to go by in the blink of an eye but the 5 of us thoroughly enjoyed meeting Italians who actually thought we were Italian (apparently Americans dont often go there) and dancing to some pretty good music. We taxi'd it back to the hostel at around 4am and conked out for around 4 hours.

After some free breakfast, some more bus/train rides, and some walking, we were back in our apartment (it was also St. Patty's day, btw!). I showered, napped, got ready, and then headed out with the group to see the Fiorentina vs Juventus soccer match. We were adorned in purple, with the teams scarf proudly visible, and after being warned that this match was the most rivalrous match of the season, we carefully made our way through the huge crowds of people and past yummy smelling vendors until we arrived to the horrible unorganized crowd of people trying to get into the stadium. Eventually we found our seats and we were SURROUNDED by crazy Italian people all in purple as well who used weird hand gestures, yelled sure-to-be obscene sayings to the other team, and all left with 30 minutes still to go because Fiorentina was losing 0-5. Poor Florence :(

It was a wonderful experience but the lack of sleep thing was really catching up to me so we made the long walk home and crashed for a good 12 hours. The next day was spent cleaning our apartment until we could see our reflections in every surface because we had apartment inspections the following week (we just had it, btw, and we passed with flying colors, yay!).

One sad thing that happened just yesterday (Monday) was that we heard a horrible domestic violence taking place. We are on the top of our building and from our kitchen, with the windows closed, we could clearly hear someone at the bottom floor screaming, shouting, sobbing, and being shoved into the window. We called the police and our program directors right away, and after talking to the police ourselves and discovering that "it was a father and son fighting and the mom was just trying to stop them" the situation was over. I still don't believe it. But what can you do? The cops didn't make it a big deal at all and I think that because we were American they thought we were over-exaggerating as well. We will definitely keep our ears peeled for more of that, though. Such a horrible thing to hear.

Sicily is this coming weekend and I am beyond excited to soak up some sun and play in crystal clear water!!!

Ciao!

Wine, Biking, Beach

Is it already time to write another blog entry?? An entire week has already gone by? What the heck!!! I don't think I'll ever properly understand time. I need to constantly remind myself to live in the PRESENT because it is much too easy to get hung up on what used to be and what is to come. If I think about the whole issue of time too much, I will start to panic. Okay time to change the subject!

Quick week recap: volunteering went as usual and I am really loving these kids, I was supposed to meet with Martina but she confused Tuesday with Thursday so instead I just had a nice walk around Florence alone (which was so needed and lovely), I made some good dinners with some seasoning that my mom sent me, mmmm nothing too exciting (we randomly discovered popcorn kernels here and my apartment is constantly popping away).

Thursday we took our weekly quiz, of course, and then all had a guest speaker come and talk to us about a book he wrote. He spoke mainly in Italian and I was both happy with what I could understand and frustrated with all that I still couldn't. This day, March 8th, was Festa Della Donna in Italy. What a wonderful day for us women!!! They really celebrate this "holiday" here and everyone gives each other these yellow flowers called "mimose". Many of the museums around town offer free admission for women and train rides were even buy 1 get 1 ride free! I felt so special just being a woman on this day :) Vicky, Christine and I all got ready and went to an apperativo at this place called "soul kitchen" in the Santa Croce area (where all the locals hang out, man is it poppin!). We were there at like 9:30 pm and what happens is you by a drink for 7 euro and get this AMAZING (unlimited) food for free! This place is by far the best apperativo I have ever been to, with truly authentic Italian food such as amazing pizza's, soup's, bread's, meats, potatoes, salads, etc, etc. I had myself a pina colada and was truly content. We all ate WAY too much, unfortunately, and we waddled over to a pub called "Shot's Cafe" to meet up with a bunch of other girls from our program. We went earlier than usual because Festa Della Donna festivities were about to start! The entire night felt like one huge city-wide bachelorette party and I LOVED it!! At shot's cafe there were male models who let girls take shots off of their abs (don't faint yet, mom, I didn't do it), and there were ladies of all ages participating! This was one of the first nights I saw actual Italian ladies going a little crazy (they are usually very reserved with their alcohol), but it was extremely entertaining to watch. Girl power! We did our usual Astor and Twice combo, which was so fun for a little bit. At one point a group of about 15 of us dominated the dance floor and we were having the time of our lives jamming to great music and making up funny dance moves. About 20 minutes later, all of Italy decided to join and all you could do was jump up and down. So not fun. We ended the night soon after this but still happily walked home. Oh! Almost forgot! On our walk back, Stella told us that there was a rumored 2am bakery around the corner. Say what?! Our noses led the way and before you knew it, we came across a random door in a random small alleyway with a random line of mostly American students waiting behind it. A guy would stick his head out the door, collect the euro, and repay you with a yummy chocolate croissant or sugary donut thing. You have to be careful though, because if you are too loud the neighbors around will throw water down on you :) Oh, Italians...

Friday started with the ritual walking-up-after-noon thing, but I quickly threw on some clothes and met up with a group of girls at a place called "The Diner". This is an all American food place and man, it was just what I needed! We all hard core grubbed on omelettes and french fries and ketchup and AVOCADO (it was gross) and pancakes and orange juice. Man, was I stuffed (story of my life lately....need to work on that!). YOLO (you only live once) has become the theme of our lives here in Italy. It really makes you feel good about anything. Anywho! We made a beeline for some gelato (YOLO) and then began to walk it all off. Amanda, Emily, Stella and I sat on the steps of the Duomo for a while and soaked up the sun and chatted away. Amanda and I then walked back towards our places and decided to take a quick detour and sit along this cement area smack dab in the middle of the Arno. I had seen it recently because the water levels are low and I am so glad we actually made it over there. The graffiti surrounding the area was actually beautiful and the sun, the water, the sounds, and the views all came together majestically. Amanda and I had a nice, long heart to heart and after climbing over the walls and plopping down on a busy side street, we parted ways. I was nicely sunburnt after this and took some time to rest back at home. Knowing that I had to wake up early the next day, I decided to stay in that night. It was nice because people met at our place so I still go to talk with them and socialize, but I skipped out on the crazy-pub-crawl scene.

Saturday, the day I had been waiting for most! Chianti bike/wine tour here we come!!! Our group of 8 (me, Anna, Christine, Alexis, Sam, Austin, Scott, Robin) met up at around 9am and headed over the the office. We met our 2 tour guides who we originally thought were Australian but were in reality Scottish and British (James and Jason), signed in, grabbed a snack at a nearby bar, and then hopped in a van with another couple our age. This couple was so nice and we made fast friends with them. The ride to Chianti was about 30 minutes long and I could my eyes were glued out of the window. I didn't even want to blink!!! We first passed above Florence and had that amazing view, and then drove through rolling vineyards and castles and trees and rivers and pretty much everything thing you think of when you hear the word "Tuscany". Jason was our driver, and he was so cute and nice (his accent didn't hurt either)! We arrived at the castle first and then about 15 others joined us. We had a little tour throughout the wine making parts of the castle and heard some history on the wine they make there, how long the castle has been there (since the 1100's. Apparently a Duke and Duchess still live there!), and some sciency parts of the wine making process itself. There were barrels upon barrels upon barrels of wine around each corner and we even learned how olive oil was made! We hiked on up to the tower of the castle and were met with BREATHTAKING, unrealistic views of Tuscany. It honestly took me breath away and I needed a good 5 minutes to find it again. Only downside of the day: the WIND!!! Curse you wind! Needless to say, my hair was a perfect birds nest by the end of the day. We headed back down the castle stairs (how cool is it that I can even say that??) and were greeted by a lovely array of bread with olive oil and wine glasses galore. We were all smiles as we cheered to ourselves, merrily sipped our wine, and stuffed bread down our throats (best olive oil I have EVER had. It was even green!). After chilling in the courtyard for a while and taking pics, we were led to a room to purchase wine/oil and I bought a bottle of the red we had tasted. It was actually pretty good (I am still a white wine person myself, but I'm expanding).

Time to hop on our bikes! I was assigned to "Ooma Loompa" and as soon as I sat down I felt like I was back at home! (P.S. We even got a free water bottle out of this) I MISS BIKE RIDING! Yes, dad, I do!! A lot of the people on this tour hadn't ridden a bike in like 7 or more years and I was astounded. Needless to say, I was in the front with the guide and Scott as the rest of em trailed behind (okay, not that far behind, but still). We coasted through vineyard after vineyard, castle after castle, adorable cottage after cottage, farm after farm, spectacular view after view, trees after trees, shining sun after sun, and gusting wind after gusting wind. There were some slight inclines here and there, but overall the ride was a cinch (I am used to my dads marathon bike rides, so...). At one point, I was coasting down a large hill with the sun shining down from above, and miles of vineyards splayed beneath me, and I couldn't help but smile my biggest smile and even shed a few tears. It was that beautiful. After a couple hours we stopped at a very random house with chickens running around in the front and kids playing outside that was actually a restaurant. The owners were the epitome of Italian and they were so incredibly kind to us. We were fed salad, pasta, bread, wine galore, dessert, and coffee. We we were all pretty famished at this point so our plates were licked clean and there was not one drop of wine left. The conversation was flowing and it was an amazingly wonderful lunch with each other, new friends, and our cute bike guides.

After lunch we hopped back on our bikes for the not-as-fun part of the ride. We rode for about 30 minutes on a slight incline, busier rode, that still offered beautiful views but where the wind was whipping around us like crazy. Note: Many of us bike riders were highly tipsy at this point. I don't understand how they get away with letting people hop on bikes after this! Everyone was all over the rode. What a sight to see! It was quite funny, though, and I would do it again and again. We came to the largest hill of the ride (they warned us that even highly experienced bikers have trouble) so we had the option of throwing our bikes on the van and hopping in for the ride up. We were all still very stuffed so we said yes without any hesitation. A few athletic types rode the hill, and made it, and said it really wasn't that hard, but whatevs, I'll do it next time! After this we had a small rest at a cafe' and then finished our bike ride off. It was extremely sad to see your castle come back into view but I knew the time had to come eventually. This tour was beyond what I had expected and even though it was a tiny bit more expensive than just normal wine tasting, it was DEFINITELY worth it (others who did just the wine tasting didn't have a very good time)! We all rode back in the van with very sore bottoms, burnt faces, and full stomachs. I spent the rest of the night soaking in a bath and resting. It was quite nice!

Onto the next day! We rustled our roommates out of bed (they had gotten back at 4am the night before) and headed over the the train station to meet up with the rest of our group, most of the people who went on the bike ride together. We picked up our tickets for Rosignano, mildly panicked when we couldn't figure out the train number, ran over to our platform and hopped on about 1 minute before it took off. The ride was almost 2 hours but part of it was along the OCEAN (or the SEA I should say), and I was heavily reminded of the ride from Santa Cruz back home. The feelings were so odd and strange to have in Italy! My whole life I have either lived 5 minutes away from the ocean or with a view of the ocean at all times so I hadn't realized how much I had missed it and its calming effects. We arrived in the cute little beach town, got lost for a few minutes, and then found signs pointing to "Mare". Before you knew it, we were seeing Turquoise! We passed a run-down farm with chickens everywhere, adorable houses and wide streets with palm trees, and trees galore, before finally arriving at the sand. There was a canal type thing with the bluest, most clearest water I have ever seen and it had a few boats with fishing gear within the canal. We crossed a small bridge and then voila! We were on the sand! We all ran screaming for the water as we frantically threw off our shoes. It was cold, of course, but if I had had a suit with me I definitely would have gone in. The beach itself was relatively empty and as we went crazy taking pictures and exclaiming over the color of the water, the feeling of the sand, I am sure the Italians were looking at us with weary expressions. We set up "camp" aka a sheet from home and laid down basking in the sun and exchanging stories. Scott is such a crack up!

After a walk down the beach, some more water and picture time, and some playing in the white, vanilla bean sand, it was getting mighty cold and our train departure time was quickly approaching. After picking up a quick gelato on the way out, we discovered our train was delayed by 35 minutes so we were stuck shivering to death on the small platform. When it finally came there were no more problems and making our transfer in Pisa went smoothly as well. The train hours were spent gossiping and sharing wonderfully funny stories that I will never forget. What fun people! With our butts still rather sore, and sand in every crevice of our bodies, we scuffled on home and into our beds (it was already 9pm by the time we finally got home).

Such a glorious weekend spent in the surrounding areas of Florence! I think these are the trips I will remember most. They are filled with the least amount of stress and the most amount of surprise and awe. It was spent with some really amazing people and it brought me to a very happy place. We are already planning next weekends encore trip, so I can't wait for that!

Wish me luck on Italian Level 2 finals this week! Eek, that was quick!!

Ciao ciao!

Il Compleanno Fine Settimana

A normal week night here in Florence, for me, is often spent at home finishing up homework assignments, studying, cooking meals or catching up with friends and family. This week, however, my housemates and I decided to branch out of our little bubble and experience the always-present night life of Florence. We only have 2 months left in this amazingly beautiful city and we can't let one day go to waste just because of a stupid final the next day (okay that was a lie. A few days here and there might be wasted away).

Last Monday, Christine and I ventured out to find "The Odeon", a theatre that plays American movies with Italian subtitles. I was thrilled to hear that The Artist was showing, so we got a bit dolled up (going out in public without makeup on is a huge no-no!! Santa Cruz did not prepare me for this), and strolled through the empty and calm, wonderful open streets. I love Florence without the crowds and zooming cars. The theatre was amazing! It was an actual theatre for say, an Opera, and the seats were extremely cushiony. I could not get over the theatre and the feeling and the differences between this and American movie theaters (there are no popcorn machines, for example, but there is a coffee bar, of course!). The movie was AMAZING and Christine and I tapped dance all the way back to our apartment.

On Tuesday I volunteered at a library for a UNICEF event that brought awareness to children about their rights. For two hours we taught Italian children around 9 years of age about their rights and then made costumes for them. They memorized their lines to either "Cinderella" or "Hansel and Gretel" and did mini presentations at the end of the class. I had such a blast!! Even though it was difficult to have a full conversation with them, we could definitely understand each other and time really flew by. The library we were in was absolutely adorable, by the way, with changing colors and butterfly and flower paintings on the walls. This was also the first time I drove in a car!!! Kirste, the director of the program I volunteer for, drove the volunteers to the library and it was such a fun experience. I seriously doubt I would ever be able to drive here. People are crazy!!!

Wednesday night we stayed in and crammed for our weekly Thursday quiz/test/or midterm (yes EVERY Thursday we have one or the other) and then headed on over to our new favorite bar just around the corner called "One-Eyed Jacks" for Christine's 21st Birthday at midnight!! The bartender was the nicest guy and he kept creating different fun shots for us all to try and he even joined us for a few of them! I don't know how many everyone had (I only allowed myself two and man were they yummy) but in the end it all only cost us 5 euros!! That price is unseen here in Florence. With slightly less sleep than normal, Thursday's class went by slowly. We had a visit to nearby Pitti Palace where we got to go to a costume museum and describe what we saw with our new vocab! I love out of class activities! When we came back we had our test and voila', the day was already finished!

Thursday night was sure to be crazy because everyone was going out for Christine's Bday!! We all got ready and had our favorite Gusta Pizza for dinner, had some limoncello, stopped by One-Eyed Jack's once again, and then headed to our friends' apartment. It was so fun to have everyone together there and after an hour of hanging out we walked down their stairs to the ever famous "Shots Cafe". There is a famous drink here inappropriately called "boobs" which is served to you on fire! Pretty cool stuff, I must say. After this stop we headed close by to the bar/discoteca sort of place called "Astor" (for all you Jersey Shore fans, they came here often). The rest of our program was here celebrating another birthday and we all danced together and had a jolly old time. Next stop: Niyema pub for 20 minutes. Next and final stop: Twice Discoteca. I will not be going here again. It is FREE to go (so all us cheap students go) but the guys here are so creepy and just gross! Anna and I danced with crazy birthday girl Christine for a good couple of hours but pretty soon we were over these men and the crazy foreigners everywhere. I need to find somewhere much more local, and fast! With Christine wedged between us, we all made the looooong walk back to our apartment. We tucked the Birthday girl in and all jumped into best and quickly fell asleep.

We all slept in very late on Friday (we got back at 4 am the "night" before) and spent the rest of the day having a much needed "lazy day" filled with movies and reading books for FUN and lounging. On Saturday morning Anna and I walked to Michelangelo hill once again and she lent me her nice camera to snap away at everything around! It was nice walking and just soaking in everything, instead of speed walking to our next destination without a spare minute to notice things. We then met up with some girls on our Renaissance class and visisted the Museo di San Marco, an old monastery with amazing cells that we could walk inside! I still can't get over that we are able to visit these places that we learn about in our textbook. It is so unreal!!! After this we went to Santa Croce and hung out with the locals, listening to wonderful italian musicians play away. I felt like I was in a scene from "Eat, Pray, Love" and I felt such a warmth in my heart as the physical sun shined down on me. That night we had some yummy Indian food in an area we had yet to discover and polished the night off with gelato. I got to Skype with my entire family at Jessica's birthday party and that made my weekend. I was passed, virtually, from person to person and just hearing everyone's voices and seeing their faces plastered a smile on my face that followed me into my dreams. Happy Birthday once again Jess!!! I wish I could have been there for it!

On Sunday I did my loads of homework (of course) and took it easy. I had to prepare for an Italian presentation, which is now over with and went fine, thank God, and I over-stressed like always.

Another weekend spent in my "hometown" that has filled some space in my hear. Come portrei mai lasciarti, Italia?

Ciao!