The best gelato in the WORLD

Was I seriously in Spain just one week ago? It feels lifetimes have passed since that wonderful week!

Before I get into the hefty sharing of every detail since that week (I am trying SO hard to be more brief but I think it's just never going to be possible for me, oh well), I just gotta mention how CRAZY time is again!!!! I have 2 weeks from today until I am on a plane to Holland where I will rest up for a good week and then start my crazy travel-around-Europe summer. Two. Weeks.

TWO WEEKS!!!

I can't get over it. I feel like I am scrambling, trying to find a secret way to make time slow down, a secret way to absorb every detail and never forget it, a secret way to preserve all of my thoughts and feelings and memories, a secret way to rewind time so that I can sit in my window overlooking the colorful houses of Italy below and the hills ahead for when I need the peace and happiness they bring, a secret way to remember this language just as the Italian around me speak it, a secret way to just never forget a single thing. If only.

My roommates and I had a "family dinner" last night (our first ever, we can't believe it took us so long) and during this 2 hour dinner, while sitting around our cute little table in our Italian kitchen where we are 90% of the time, we shared our feelings and just how much we have all grown since January. It is amazing the things I have learned from this experience about people, culture, and life in general. I won't go into too much detail yet (save that for when the program is actually over), but I just am in such disbelief that it went so quickly.

Okay now for the meat! We had class on Tuesday and Wednesday as usual and on Thursday we got the lovely surprise (well not really a surprise, we knew it was going to happen) of attending a cooking class with our class! Our class, by the way, has grown so close and all 15 of us are so comfortable with each other and I sincerely enjoy waking up every morning and learning Italian for 3 hours everyday with them. It goes by so quickly (usually) and it is quite gratifying. So attending a cooking class with all of them was even more of a blast! We went to a culinary school in Florence where we received aprons and recipes and were then led to the coolest room with stainless steel counters equipped with pretty much everything you need for baking. Our cooking instructor led us through the three recipes (Risotto, Chicken Cacciatore, and Biscotti) in Italian and we were separated into our groups. I was on the Biscotti team and it was definitely a fun one to make! We got to use our hands to mix and the kitchen was definitely bustling as everyone began to make their dishes. It took about 2 hours total to finish all of the dishes and, as a class, we gathered around a long table and pigged out! Everything tasted AMAZINGLY (I think our biscotti was the best, of course) and even though it was only 10:30 in the morning, it was a great experience. Our teacher, Francesca, loved the food as well and she is seriously the cutest lady ever!!! I am going to miss having her as a teacher soooo much. Wow.

The rest of Thursday was spent relaxing (the entire week it had been raining and actually still is currently) and then meeting up with some girls for Margheritas! We went to the only Mexican food place around, funnily called "Tiajuana", and had the most amazing margheritas (my mango one was to die for) and some surprisingly yummy nachos with actual GUACAMOLE! Oh man, I miss Mexican food soooo much right now!

On Friday we had a stupid makeup class (they can't let us have even 2 days off, it's so lame!) which actually turned out to be incredibly fun because we played Twister and learned commands so we basically got to order people around in our class all day long. What fun! That night we went to a friends house where we made a music video to One Direction's "One Thing", had some yummy food, sang karaoke at a great bar called Red Garter, and arrived home at 3:30 in the morning!

Saturday was our programs last planned trip to the towns of San Rimignano and Siena. We had to be at the bus station by 8am (that was a tough one) and it happened to be POURING outside. I have been stubborn this trip and went all winter without purchasing an umbrella so I just can't let myself do it now for the probably 2 more days total of rain we will have. Long story short, all I had was my rain jacket to protect me from the downfall. We first arrived in San Rimignano where we had 2 hours to explore as we pleased. This town is ADORABLE and even though it's tiny, it has tons of charm and wonderful views of Tuscany. I wish it had been sunny so badly!! I explored with Anna, Scott and Kayla and we took random turns which led us to the prettiest garden with the best lookout. We had a blast taking our time discovering random things and it was quite magical. I can't talk about San Rimignano without mentioning that it has the best gelato place in the WORLD! I am serious now. It has literally been voted that like every year and they are not lying! We had gelato in the beginning and at the end and every single flavor was packed with amazingess and yumminess. My favorite was the white chocolate flavor and the "curva fiesole" flavor. I am so glad I don't live there, though, because that would be extremely dangerous.

After another 45 minute bus ride, we arrived in Siena where it was STILL pouring and I was still shuffling from person to person, sharing their umbrella with them. It was hard to really SEE Siena because of the weather and I really do wish to go back and explore more. We had a few hours to get lunch (our program director pointed us in the direction of this great trattoria where the food was amaaaaazing, the wine was delicious, and the bread was unlimited. We sat in a covered area outside and the sounds of the rain lovingly joined us for lunch) and after being a bit hurried along by the waiters, we went in search for some more shelter. We happened upon this adorable wine store where the owner, a 30 something year old woman, gave us free cheese and bread with our glass of wine and talked to us for a good hour in Italian. She was one of the nicest people I have met here and it was great being able to communicate with her so well. After that we ventured out in the rain where our entire program met again and proceeded to have a 2 hour tour of Siena. Thank GOODNESS most of it was inside the government building or the duomo or another church. It was still a tad bit miserable (I started to get extremely tired at this point) but I was able to enjoy most of it. My favorite part was the end where in a sort of random church, the actual head and thumb of St. Catherine is held. You can see it pretty darn well and it is a bit disturbing. But cool. We hopped back on the buses about an hour early (everyone just wanted to go home by this point), hurried back to our warm and inviting houses, and then my housemates and I had a little movie night together. Such a wonderful, and tiring and rainy, day!

Yesterday, Sunday, was another catch up day with a movie thrown in there, an adorable farmers market visit, and COOKING! Our family dinner consisted of Spinach and Pesto and Ricotta Lasagna, bruschetta, and tiramisu! Yummay! It was a great time with lots of laughs and memories. I finished the night by booking mine and Katie's plane ticket to GREECE (finally!!!) and working on a paper until pretty late. That's life!

Two more weeks. Here we go!