Frenzied in the most relaxed way possible...
Trip Start
Aug 20, 2008
1
8
16
Trip End
Dec 20, 2008
Cinque Terre,
Italian Riviera,
Italy
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Jessica was gone to the French Riviera to celebrate 4 years with her boyfriend (lucky girl!), so Caryn, Carli & I did a few things together this weekend. My roommates are amazing, I still can't believe how much I lucked out. I hear other girls at my school constantly talking crap about their roommates and am happy that I have no impulse to do the same :)
Friday our school hosted a free wine tasting trip at a Chianti Farm. It's really funny how the Italians operate... organization and planning just aren't a big deal. We weren't given any prior information about this trip whatsoever, we didn't know where exactly we were going, how far away it was, how long we'd be gone... they pretty much just told us to show up at a meeting point to get on the bus
Cinque Terre Hike
. It's just funny because in the US, they would probably have detailed itineraries for us & some paperwork, etc. Anyway, it makes living here a little more adventurous. So about 80 of us got on some buses, and about an hour later we ended up at the top of a hill at some 12th century castle which is now a vineyard/winery. They gave us a little tour of the castle and then led us into a dining room. None of us had eaten lunch so we scarfed down every available piece of bread and cheese in the vicinity. We tasted 1 white wine, 2 red wines, and a dessert wine... I don't know much about wine, but I kind of only liked the white one (which is sad because the red ones were supposedly reaallllyy nice wines famous in Tuscany). Afterward they herded us back on the buses. A lot of the other students had too much to drink and one girl threw up on the other bus... and I'm pretty sure every Italian person was shaking their head at the stupid Americans. This aside, it was a fun little trip. Saturday night we went to a soccer game (or "Calcio" as it is called here)... Fiorentina vs Genoa. It was a cool experience because I had never been to a pro soccer game before. Earlier that day we went around to the vendors and bought some purple gear to fit in with the fans. Also earlier that day, there was another parade on our street for who knows what. Everyone was dressed in Renaissance clothing, and there were some guys twirling flags. Okay. Back to the soccer game. Our seats were right down next to the field, so we were close to the players. The Genoa fans were put inside this giant cage and were going nuuuts the whole time, singing and waving flags around.. and when Fiorentina got a goal, our fans were taunting them from outside the cage like they were zoo animals. Oh yea, the half time show... three guys wheeled out a GIANT carton of milk and plopped it on the field. Ten minutes later, they wheeled the milk off the field. It was quite the show. I'm guessing that either Mukki milk was the sponsor, or the Italians really love their "latte".
On Sunday, a bunch of us signed up for an excursion to Cinque Terre, which are 5 little coastal towns a few hours away. They were gorgeouuussss! There is a hiking trail connecting all the towns, and it basically runs right along the cliff overlooking the sea. We hiked the first three trails, and the 3rd one was pretty challenging... kind of an awakening to how out of shape I am lol. Luckily we were able to stroll the next town, try out the famous pesto (mmmm), sit near the beach and relax. A ferry took us to the 5th town where we ate dinner with our guides, who by the way were sooo weird, but in a very entertaining way. We had about a 10 minute conversation about buying houses in Narnia. Anyway, it was a beautiful, perfect day in a beautiful, perfect location!
Time is flying by so fast. I can't believe I left home over a month ago. I'm already worried about how soon I will have to wake up from this dream. I already know October is going to be gone in the blink of an eye because I have trips planned for every single weekend. Jess and I are thinking of going to Venice this friday, hooray! Gondola time!
Classes are going great... although still having a hard time with Intermediate Italian. Today I had to give a "show & tell" presentation to the class in Italian (memorized) about one of my hobbies, blegh. I LOOOVE my oil painting class... worth the outrageous class fee. Probably couldn't keep it up once I get home though, oil paints are absurdly expensive. Tomorrow for Art History we are taking a field trip to the Church of San Miniato.
That about covers it for now, until next time, arrivaderciiiii <3
Photos: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071606&l=fa631&id=35805155
