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!
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