Excursions

It has been so hard to try to think of words to describe all the things I have seen.  A picture can’t capture it all, and I think only few are given the gift to describe sights and feelings into words.  I will do my very best.  Before I came, when I though of Italy, snapshots ran through my mind.  Colorful houses, markets with meats and cheeses, Mo-peds everywhere, and a slower paced lifestyle.  Although I am not even to Florence yet, my vision of Italy has already been proven right.  I went to the Cinque Terra on Saturday with the rest of the 85 students in my program.  They told us to wear hiking shoes and bring a bathing suit.  The Cinque Terra is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  It is made up of five different towns, each with their own characteristics.  You can either choose to hike to each or to go by train, filling hardcore and slightly athletic, I chose to hike.  It was crazy! You hike from city to city, so you get to enjoy the sites and rest after each portion, but after reaching the fourth city and almost twisting my ankle I decided to call it quits and take the train to the 5^th town.  I fell in love with this place.   Its colorful, lively, people hang their clothing on string to dry, really funky doorknobs, fantastic food, ocean view at every angle, and narrow streets.  It was sooooo hot, especially hiking it, so just pretend I have a cuter outfit on in all the pictures, because at the time I didn’t care!

            The next adventure we went to was to a city by the name of Lucca.  On Tuesday we took a bus and had guided tours through the cathedrals and town.  It had some great shopping and gorgeous architecture.  I learned a lot on this trip, about the cathedrals and some of my history from last year was coming back to me!  What made this trip even better was that my teacher, Giovanna, came with us after a lot of peer pressuring! She is such a funny lady and even though she is not that great at speaking English, I feel like she is my friend.  She even invited me to come visit here at her home in Potenza, Italy!  (She is the one in the pictures with the pink shirt that says “catch my dreams” haha!) We had to climb this huge tower, and I think I realized I might be afraid of heights! It was so worth it though because it gave us a view of the entire city. 

            The next adventure was Torre Del Lago and the Leaning Tower of Pisa!  The only thing that we did in Torre Del Lago was, visit Giacomo Puccini’s house.  I’m not a huge opera person, but we did study some of his music in my music class at Point Loma so it made it interesting.  The house was quaint and antique looking.  There was a room dedicated to guns with dead bird bodies and a moose head on the wall! He also had his own little church, where he and his entire family were buried inside the walls.  After that we headed to the tower of Pisa.  It leans waayyyyyy more than pictures make it look like.  It was so funny to watch everyone do the cliché picture of them holding up the tower, not just Americans, but also Italians, Asians, French, and all sorts of people! There are two cathedrals next to it that we went into.  They were amazing!!! Our tour guide knew so much about the architecture and really gave us a lot of facts about the inside of the building and its history. 

             Sorry that was a lot, but I just wanted to catch up before I get to Florence! I have my oral final on Friday and the written on Saturday and we leave that day to Florence and move in!  I am so ready to be there. Lido has been great, but I am excited to be unpacked, meet Tosca, and start planning some weekend trips! Thanks for all your comments it really makes my day to see them.  Yours prayers have been awesome! Grazie mille! Ti amo!!!!! Ciao J