I don't quite remember where I need to start off from, but I'll just pick up at the 4-day group excursion!
So we left on a Sunday morning bright and early and took a coach bus to Pisa. One of the Italian language teachers is from there so she was able to take us around the city and tell us interesting stuff about the history, etc. Of course we hung around the Leaning Tower quite a bit (but oooohwee are there a lot of tourists there. like A TON. like SO MANY asians...check out my photo album haha) but the weather wasn't really cooperative and it would randomly start pouring rain on and off. Kind of annoying. We got to go inside the Battistero (baptistry) and that was cool because the place has perfect pitch and this woman came in and sang notes and made her own chords because each note would last so long...I enjoyed it. Later we got some free time to walk around and explore on our own but Pisa was just kind of dirty and not that exciting. Later in the afternoon we took the bus to the coastal town of Viareggio where we would be sleeping for the next three nights.
Viareggio is a hoppin' summer beach town. Key word: summer. Since it was already the end of September when we arrived there, there were basically no people and no bars/dance clubs to go to at night...that was a slight bummer. But luckily we were usually pretty tired from sight seeing and exploring throughout the day, oh and we were mostly all in food comas after dinner (more on that later) so sleeping sounded good by about 11:00pm.
So the second day was a free day in Viareggio. Once again, the weather was being a brat and it rained basically the whole morning. My friend Sophia and I went out walking anyways because we didn't want to be stuck in the hotel. We found the weekly market and although we had to dodge huge raindrops, we managed to enjoy ourselves. We also went and walked a little on the beach and watched the crazy surfers and wind-surfers who were taking advantage of the huge waves courtesy of the cold and wind. After lunch, the sky cleared a little and the whole group got to hang out on the beach for a bit. Some crazies decided to swim but I just stayed back and photographed (they felt sickly in a few days...) and then we went to dinner as a group to a local pizzeria.
We thought that when "Pizzeria" was on the itinerary it would be just like other nights when we've had group pizza sessions and everyone would fight to get more slices of zza. No no no. We started off with antipasti (hello appetizers.) and there were like 10 different things to try. Yum. Naturally everyone had filled up on bread when we initially arrived as well. So finally when the pizzas came, we thought we were going to die. Everyone got a hugeeee personal pizza. So completely unnecessary (we should have just shared!) and that was probably one of the ONLY times in my life I had to stop eating food because if I didn't i would have exploded. It was a sad moment because food to me is never a negative thing (shoutout to the EATING TEAM/WLBs ghp07 babyyyy). After dinner we walked around looking for a bar or anywhere to hang out but there was literally nothing open (we think the program picked this place on purpose so we would stay out of trouble...hmm...) so I just went to bed.
Day three we got up and (mmm hotel breakfast was delicious just throwin that out therrr) took a bus to a town called La Spezia where we then took a train to the Cinque Terre! So I've been looking forward to going to Cinque Terre for a verrrrrry long time. The weather was still on and off crappitos but I was pumped anyways. Once we arrived, we walked from Riomaggiore (town 1) to Manarola (town 2) as a group on the Via dell'Amore (sappy but cute with all these Love Locks attached wherever you could imagine... again look at my pics so you know what i'm talking about) and after that we had the rest of the day to explore on our own. Me and a group of 4 other girls decided we wanted to do some hiking so we set off into the hills (because the coastal trails were closed due to the rain...roar) and just started walking without really knowing where we were going. After lots of uphillness, we reached a town (who's name started with a V and is relatively unimportant because its not on the water) and took a water break. We then started the descent down to the town of Corniglia (town 3 of the "Five Lands"). We went downhill for a looong time (did you know that you get shakey legs after doing that because you've been trying to brace yourself for so long? fact.) and then ate lunch in Corniglia. We trained it over to Monterosso (town 5...we skipped town 4 cuz we sort of ran short on time) and hit up the beach where most of our other program friends were hanging out because they decided to be lazy all day and not go hiking. Again, it was way too cold in my opinion to swim so I just picked out pretty rocks and took pictures while everyone else caught colds and coughs oh wait i mean went swimming in the ocean. On the way back to Viareggio we stopped for dinner at a restaurant that I don't actually know the name of and there were 5 courses. FIVE. ljfalwkjefaljal fooooooooood and wineeeeeee. deliciousness with soups and pastas and bread and meat and dessert and goodness.
On the last day, we packed up all our stuff and went to a small town called Lucca. Lucca was actually built as a town to defend Pisa wayyyy back in those years when everyone was attacking everyone. Turns out, Lucca is a lot cuter and prettier than Pisa is (BURN!) and everyone rides around on bicycles. It looks a lot like Siena but without all the hills and with slightly wider streets so the sun gets in them and makes the town so bright and warm. Most of the day I walked around with Sophia and Maegan and we explored and enjoyed the sun while picnic-ing on the ancient walls around the city.
So that was the trip! It was cool to get to see the coast and some different parts of Italia that I may not have ventured to on my own.
When we got back, our regular classes started up. I think I said this in the last post, but I'm not sure so deal with the repetition or be my guest and skip this part! I'm taking History of Italian Cinema, History of Italian Emigration to the Americas, History of Italian Cuisine, and still continuing on with my Italian Language course (which, by the way, i got a 100% on my 3week intensive italian final exam... WHAT WHAT!?!?!!?). I'm still adjusting to the new schedule because all the classes start at different times and are only on some days and not the other so it's a little confusing.
This past weekend on Saturday we took a day trip to the Tuscan Coast and of course it wasn't sunny. But we hiked to this secluded beach and played beach soccer (MVP right hereeee call me Messi if you please) and then since we got hot and sweaty we swam and played volleyball in the ocean! I know, swimming in the ocean on October 1 is crazy talk! But I did it and it was great :) After the beach we went and visited the cute beach town of Castiglione della Pescaia.
Yesterday after class I went and volunteered at a special education center for adults. It was so fun and we played games and danced around to classical music with them for three hours. I'll probably start going every Monday now! It's very cool to be able to help out around Siena even without knowing the language completely.
Now I'm just trying to get used to the fact that it gets dark at like 7pm already and I know that means cold is coming and I'm scareddd. I'm not a huge Cold fan. (Shoutout to Melina for sending me some of my winter clothes in a box from Paris!) I'm also trying to figure out my plans for some of the breaks I have and that's always difficult with money for tickets and hostels and food and all that jazz. Other than that, I'm just enjoying the Italian ways... I people watch a lot....hence the title of this post. I'm not even joking, if they don't own a wiener dog (and by that I mean dachshound) then they own another variety of "long" dog. Must be the latest fad?
Here's the link to my Excursion Photo Album! I'm pretty proud of it :)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037342&id=1120590434&l=fa2016b321
Miss you all almost as much as peanut butter or taking showers standing up!
Ciao,
Bella Gabriella
