5 Terre, Heaven on Earth!

I spent my last weekend of my time as a student in Italy in Cinque Terre. And I decided I liked it even more than Amalfi Coast trip! My friend Ellen and I spent 2 days and 1 night in Monterosso Al Mare, the beach town and the 5th town of Cinque Terre. My friend Paige, another Gopher joined us the first day. We ate some pesto and mozzarella foccacia, had some gelato and then boated to the first town called Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore has really great colorful buildings all stacked close together. We walked from Riomaggiore to the next town, it started with a M but I can't seem to remember the name. Regardless, we did the walk of love together and reminisced about our time spent in Italy. The end verdict? We love the people from Minnesota and we love the city of Florence.

The next day Ellen and I were on a mission to hike! Recovering from my awful sinus infection, I was motivated and ready to kick some butt hitting as many towns as I could! Unfortunately, the main trail was closed. Of course! It was a beautiful day, but it was closed because it rained a week before...didn't make much sense. Our other option was to take one of the three unmarked trails, hike an hour and a half straight up hill, then hike another hour and a half straight downhill to reach the city directly next to Monterosso. We started to hike it, but it only took about 5 minutes of deciding that we would rather veg out and enjoy ourselves. Who were we kidding to think we could be athletic after stuffing our faces with Italian pastries and pastas and pizzas these last four months?? We ended up having a great day boating to Vernazza for only 3 euros and we ended up loving that town! Regardless of our lack of hiking we then headed home later that day. Monterosso has a great beach, would've like to spent more time there. I don't think a day trip would've been enough here, glad I spent the night.

Ellen is again, for the 50th time, my foodie friend. We split a dinner of black home made pasta (made with squid ink I believe), curry, zucchini and prawns. We also tried fish ravioli, which was really delicious and not as weird as it sounds.

I realize I have not vented a whole lot on this blog, which is probably a good thing. Here are a list of things I will miss, and things I will not miss. Might I add the things I will not miss are things I have taken with a grain a salt, and made me appreciate what I have at home!

It has hit me since I have been here that when I go home, I will not be 21. Normally this isn't a problem, however I am obsessed with great quality wine for cheap!!!! So even when I am 21 I will be whining (no pun intending) that my glass of wine costs $8 and that it tastes like Franzia. Italy has spoiled me in so many ways...this being one of them.

What I will miss...list could go on forever....1 euro cappuccinos, walking everywhere, affordable amazing no preservative food, my cute apartment, traveling the world every weekend, class once a week, markets...everywhere, lack of technology-no need for a cell phone, letting my undies dry any where and everywhere and have it be perfectly acceptable, Pino my man who makes my paninos, hearing people speaking a beautiful language everywhere I go...again the list could go on.

What I won't miss...crusty jeans because I don't have a dryer, creeper Italian & Albanian men, grocery shopping multiple times a week, slow internet, my feet are ALWAYS dirty, and cobblestone streets. I would say this list is definitely much shorter.

My parents have arrived! I have spent barely any time with them since I have had finals and they were in Cinque Terre this week! I will try to keep writing until May 2nd about family stories and situations that have happened while traveling with my family.

Lemons, Sun, and Mount Vesuvius!

This past weekend I traveled to the Amalfi Coast for my birthday! It was really fun. We stayed in Sorrento but we spent the days in Positano, Capri, and Pompeii. I went with the same group of girls I traveled with last weekend, a mix of U of M girls and Colorado Boulder girls. We went through Florence for Fun a student travel group and we ended up staying in a 4 star hotel which was a really nice change from hostels.

We arrived on Thursday night after a long ride there since our bus got hit by a car...everyone was alright but it definitely delayed the trip! It was cute too because the bus sang happy birthday to me at midnight.  We took a day trip to Positano. Positano is a little beach town with lots of shopping, restaurants and really beautiful scenic beaches. We had amazing Neapolitan style pizza and relaxed on the beach with Peroni beers. That night we went to a local bar to celebrate my birthday. Other people from my program were at the same place, they played some fun music and overall I had a really fun night! Another girl was there who was turning 21 and we were wearing the same dress which was really ironic, we had to take a picture together.

The next day we went to Capri. We took a boat tour and saw the Blue Grotto which apparently is one of the 7 wonders of the world. We looked it up and are not quite sure if this is true, but it was really amazing to see. Capri was also so beautiful! Definitely really touristy but I loved being in little beach towns. It was really relaxing. We also had a limoncello tasting, I tried meloncello, cream limoncello and regular limoncello. All were delicious! Also, the Amalfi coast is also famous for their granitas and citrus fruits. So we had lots of lemon and orange granitas during our stay, they were soo good! The two girls leading our trip bought me a little bottle of limoncello for my birthday too, which was really nice of them.

Climbing Mount Vesuvius

On Sunday we traveled to Pompeii. We had a really cute old Italian man tour guide who brought us through the old, historical city. He was really fascinated by the brothels they had during this time and showed us exactly where they were. I felt like we talked about brothels for a lot of the time but we all thought it was funny. It was really interesting to see the 3 bodies and a dog that were on display. They were covered in rock materials but almost all had there hands covering their mouths and eyes to protect them from the gas that swarmed the city. After that we climbed Mount Vesuvius! I didn't know what to expect climbing or seeing what the volcano looks like but it was really cool. All of us felt really out of shape as we saw babies and old men and women climbing vesuvius, as all of us young girls were panting the entire way. The view was really spectacular and it felt good to get in some exercise and see a famous historical site!

We had great weather all weekend sunny with a light breeze and I didn't even get sunburned! It is now really coming to the end of my time here and it's starting to be a scary thought. My psychology teacher says we will never be the same person again after studying abroad. I am anxious to see my friends and family, but I know I will miss Italy more than ever. I might have to take up my chances to go to Belcastro in the summer from now on. My parents arrive in one week! I will be spending this Saturday and Sunday in Cinque Terre. I found a really great price for a private apartment in the city of Monterrosso Al Mare and I am really excited, I will be traveling with my friend Ellen (fellow foodie as she likes to say). My next post will be my last as a student, but I might share some stories and photos of my time traveling with my parents to visit my family in Italy. Can't believe it's almost over! Anyone want to join me in Europe next time??

Right now I unfortunately am sick with probably the worst sinus infection ever. I have been staying in at night, and doing homework has been hard to focus on. Finals next week too! I am going to a doctor to get antibiotics so I am hopefully better by Saturday when I leave for Cinque Terre.

I also got a chance last night (Tuesday) to go out to dinner with my 72 year old Italian landlord and his wife. They have been more than kind to us bringing us desserts or gifts throughout the semester so we thought we had to take them out! It was great seeing them interact together, and they even challenged us to only speak in Italian for part of the time! They are so wonderful and have lived through a lot of Italian history, it was great to hear their stories. I will definitely miss Franco but he did give us his email address so we can stay in contact for next time I come to Florence.

Well, I am off to the doctor now...lets hope I get better soon!

La Sangria Familia...BARCELONA

I spent this last weekend in Barcelona and loved every minute of it! The weather was beautiful, sunny everyday! A little too sunny at times considering we all got so sun burned and walked around the city looking like lobster tourists. I went with ten girls, which was a lot of fun. It was a group of girls I hadn't traveled with yet and I really had a lot of fun getting to know new people even within the last weeks of the program. I was also so thrilled because I met up with my friend Madie, from the U of M who is studying in London at one of the clubs. I was so happy about this since I didn't get a chance to visit her, it was so amazing seeing her!

On the first day we hung out at the beach and walked around the city a lot. We had a paella dinner and lots and lots of sangria which is a delicious fruit and wine drink. Late afternoon (on almost everyday I think) we had a siesta. Yes, you heard right. I knew that I couldn't go to Barcelona without experiencing their beach night life....which might I add the locals stay out until 6 am. I realize I do not have the stamina to be able to do that or study abroad in a city like Barcelona! We didn't make it out even close to that late, but it was fun to be able to go out, dance and have a good time. Plus, we were celebrating my friend Devon's 21st birthday. The next day we did a Gaudi tour around Barcelona which was really amazing. La Segrada Familia is the unfinished incredible Gaudi church. We didn't go inside because of time and money but it was great to hear stories about it, it was the last work of Gaudi before he died. He also knew he wouldn't finish it so he left tons of drawings for people to keep his work going. The whole tour was free and he told us really amazing pieces of information. Did you know George Lucas was inspired by chimney's on one of Gaudi's designs for the look of the Stormtrooper's in Star Wars? Thought my dad would enjoy knowing that.

 

One of my favorite things in Barcelona besides the beach and the food and all the Gaudi was the market La Boqueria (spelling). It was fabulous! I liked it because it had a lot of fresh fruit juices and mixed fruit cups, something you don't find much of in Italy. It was so delicious and so cheap! We wanted to go back there for lunch one day but it was closed, we were happy to have seen it while we did.

Again, the food was amazing. I was told a lot of things are fried but I didn't find that true. I had a lot of seafood, paella, different types of salads, and tapas! Tapas are their form of appetizers. These are what I heard was fried, but we ordered a lot of seafood, potatas bravas (potatoes with a paprika-garlic mayo type topping--so delicious but probably horrible for you...), and sauteed vegetables! I found most things to be quite healthy. We kept looking for churros, but I think they are more popular in Madrid. We also laughed at all the gelato stores because they can never live up to Italy gelato!

We spent 4 nights in Spain which was a long time. Usually, everyone is ready to go home to Florence by Sunday but we wanted to stay we loved it so much! It definitely felt like vacation though, probably because I associated vacation + hot weather together. I am now so much more curious about places like Sevilla, Toledo and Madrid that I have heard great things about and want to see all of Spain. Next weekend I will be going to the Amalfi Coast which is Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri and I cannot wait! I am hoping for beautiful weather and I am especially excited because it is my birthday! The days are diminishing while I am here and it's getting sad...not looking forward to going home broke and jobless. So that's why I have to enjoy it while it lasts and at least I have my parents to join me after my program ends. I am really really looking forward to that. Adios Amigos! Now I have to go back to saying Ciao...all these language changes make my brain hurt!