The day of sights: Cinque Terre

The day started at 6am so I could make it on time to the bus that left at 6:50. We were given sack breakfast and lunch which consisted of three sandwich type substance, fruit, and a pastry. Once on the bus I snagged the back seat so I could stretch out and sleep. I could hardly sleep as we drove through the countryside though. We passed one city that Michelangelo used to visit. This town was very special because it was the mine he used to collect marble from.

Early morning bus ride view at 6:50 am

Mountain of Marble that Michelangelo used

The drive to Cinque Terre was long. I'm not sure quite how long because I fell asleep, but it took a while. Once we arrived in the main city we hoped onto a train that took us to our destination. (Yes, we paid for this one) The train only took a few moments, but it was so packed that a few people had to stand the entire way. This was the first stop out of the 5 cities were were allowed to visit.

We didn't spend much time in the first city, but all of them had amazing views. 

Could you imagine waking up every day to a fantastic view of the Mediterranean sea!? And of course I had to get the classic picture of little old Italian men sitting on a bench enjoying the day. 

Cute old Italian men

All through out the town there was little winding stairwells and passeges that would be hidden if you weren't looking for them. It was almost as if this were a magical journey I was on. I'm pretty sure we went through someone house down a stairwell. I wasn't quite sure though so I just went with it as I tried not to trip and fall down the steep stairway. At this point our large group split into smaller ones and we were off! My group jumped on the train and skipped the second city to go to the third. We were told that the second city was just a bunch of steep hills and stairs. As we got off the at the third station we had a surprise. THIS was the town with all the steep stairs. It looked like something off of Lord of the rings. It reminded me of Cirith Ungol. For those of you who don't know quite what that is, its a very very steep stair way that Frodo, Sam, and Gollum had to climb to get into Mordor undetected and destroy the one ring. We decided not to climb the stairs but to eat our lunch here and just rest for a bit in the shade. I did take a picture of the sign at the bottom however and I will count that as an accomplishment. 

The stairs we didn't climb

We then made our way to the fourth city which was also beautiful. With every stop we got closer and closer to the sea. In this one I even got splashed a little by the waves crashing over the rocks. It was a small fishing village I believe, but this one had the most tourist packed into one place. 

After touring the cities my group made their way to the train so we could reach our final stop and best stop. The beach! Its still pretty warm over here so it was a great day to jump in the water.

After a long, exciting day we made our way to the train. All of us were tired and needed sleep. I'm pretty sure we all took naps on the way back. I woke up a couple of times and took better pictures of the marble mountain mines. I also saw my first sunset in Italy. 

When we got back we all rushed into the cafe to eat dinner, because most of us were starving. After dinner I headed to bed because the next day would be an adventure in its self. 

Buononotte!

The sound of drums

-Morning

               was uneventful. It was just orientation and school stuff. 

The School

- The good stuff!

                   After a good lunch a large group decided to take a bus into the center of town. Again no one had bought a ticket so we just jumped on. No one has noticed so far, but I'm sure it will happen soon enough. Once we were in the center we stopped to change money. It's the biggest rip off I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure they took about 60% of my money. I have decided that I will just open a bank account here, because although that is the typical money change I need to survive for the next 9 months. We looked at all the shops up and down the center.Of course we stopped at another gelato shop. This one may be the best so far because the gelato is super creamy and nomalishious!

Then it happend. I heard the call. I turned to see a man dash down the street with a girl following quickly behind. I looked behind me and gasped at the sight I found. 

 I had finally found the Doctor! After my couple of minutes of geekdom I was able to move on. The rest of the evening we continued to look at the shops. We found a vintage shop where I almost bought an alligator bag but decided it was a bit too wild for me. It was decided that we would eat in the town instead of going back to the school. We stopped at this little restaurant down the street where we were serenaded by a local Italian singing opera style. Of course I had some sort of pasta. So far there has not been one day without pasta. After that we found another group at a different restaurant so we waited for them. More gelato was to be had! Thought we lost a couple of people in our group so we all walked back for a ways then turned back to get back to the bus station. At least the people who were lost were together so we didn't worry about them too much. Once everyone had arrived at the bus stop we found the lost people with much relief. The bus reached our spot then we made the way up the steep hill to the villa. Not too long after that we all went to bed so we could prepare for the next day.

A short rest

-Sunday
              The soft sound of rain reached my ears as I slowly began to wake. My window is always open now because the air outside is cool and brings relief to our slightly stuffy room. It's the only air conditioning we have during this season. After breakfast a small group got together and walked into town. We went to a little market about 45 minutes from the school. It reminded me of the I-97 sale, but much smaller. They have the flea market open every month during the third weekend. There were so many little trinkets all throughout. The best thing I saw during that trip was a small playful kitten on a leash. The path was slightly muddy and the benches were not safe to sit on. (I learned this from experience.) I decided to by a book to help me learn some Italian. It just so happens to be one of my moms favorite Disney movies, Red e Toby.        

Hopefully this well set me on the right track. A slight drizzle started as we walked back to the school. Finally a steady down pour started after we were safe inside. It was a very lazy day. Later in the afternoon we had a small tour of the town that was only about a 15 minute walk. I now know where to find the grocery store, hair place, pizza, and the post office. When we came back I was asked to meet in one of the common rooms of the girls dorm to learn a song. I was surprised I was asked to sing. Although I am extremely shy when it comes to singing in front of people I am now the only girl in the americana praise group. I hope someone else gets asked soon though. Overall the day wasn't too productive but it was a good short rest. 

The first sabbath

-The Morning
        Once I finally woke up I made my way to Sabbath school that was held in one of our dorm's common rooms. I had to borrow a dress from someone because all of my dresses were also in my carry on. The struggle is real! I had to be kind of quiet because my new roommate had just arrived the previous night and needed to sleep in. In Sabbath school we talked about God's love and change. We then walked down the steep hill to the church. It was very big and pretty. I will have pictures next time. I'm pretty sure the sermon was on the end times. I didn't really understand it, but there were a few words I understood here and there. We then had a dedication and all the theology and ACA students went upfront to have a prayer said for us. When we got back to the dorm I was told that my bag had arrived!! I ran down the four flights of stairs to the airport van outside. FINALLY!!!! I had my bag and my underwear! I unpacked that and was all set for my adventure.

-Midday
       I took my first venture into town in the afternoon. We had some of the Italians take us into the winding maze of town. I started to discover that whenever you want to go somewhere you have to walk. Drivers are crazy! I have not been hit or honked at yet, but I expect that to happen soon. I had my very first taste of real gelato. It was very yummy! I think my first flavor was cafe with little chocolate coffee shaped beans. We then made our way back towards the villa. We sang and played music out on the front steps for a while and then I came back to my room and took a much needed nap!

-Evening
         Later that day we had another scheduled trip into town for gelato. This was like a little tour for the students. I had gelato a second time that day and I believe I found my favorite. It's called bacha, basically it taste like heaven and when I think heaven I think Nutella! After we had gotten the goods we started the long walk into the center of town. It was dark, but the sight was still amazing. Towards the center of town the streets are cobble stone and it's a bit more touristy so the shops were open late. This was my first view of the city center.

 

We walked around the town for most of the night. I'm so glad I was wearing good shoes because my feet were very sore. I'm glad I was able to experience the city though. While walking through the center I noticed there were quite a bit of statues. Immediately an episode of Doctor Who popped into my head. If you have seen this particular episode you will understand why I kept my eyes wide open for most of the trip. If you have not seen the episode watch it. Life will be different for you after that. Season 3: ep 10 "Blink" Just do it.

We ended our night in town on this bridge. We watched as two girls were serenaded by a local musician. On our way back we decided that it would take too long to walk all the way back to school and so we decided to take the bus back. It was a fantastic idea except for that fact that no one had bought a ticket. The leader of our group for that night told us to just pray. Then the bus came and we all jumped on. There were about 20 of us or more all crammed onto the bus. I stuffed myself into a corner between two of my new Italian friends. I couldn't reach the bar so I held onto both of them. That was all good except for the drunk guy right in front of me. He had a very large suit case and very stinky breath. He kept talking to me and saying how full the bus was, but I didn't really know what he was saying besides that. At one point in the journey he fell right onto me. I wasn't really sure what to do so I just made a surprised face and nervously laughed while those around tried to correct his stance. Thankfully he got off on the next stop. There was a giggle of relief  from most everyone in our group that was around. We didn't have to wait too much longer before we arrived at our destination. A couple people decided to have a race up the steep hill to the villa. I thought it was crazy! So I joined in. Once we all arrived at the top we discussed what we would do the next day then parted ways and finished the long day with a good sleep. 

A new dawn

I woke several times during the night, but eventually got up around 9. The campus was so quiet and I didn't know if anyone else was here. I was pretty lost. I ventured out on my own to look for the school building. I started to walk down a steep gravel road. Once I saw it lead into town I quickly turned around and went back to the dorm. Thankfully the grounds keeper was out and about. In the best english he could he told me to go back down the hill and the school was at the end. Once I received WiFi things started to pick up. I ran into friends at southern and went exploring. We discovered that Villa Aurora has a pool! unfortunately it's empty, so perhaps we could have a riff off. Later a group of students (native and ACA) went into town to grab some gelato. YUM! I had a small cafe flavored scoop. I'm pretty sure the coffee beans were made from chocolate. There were so many flavors and by the end of this year I plan to have tried them all!

I also had my first meal here. The food has been good. Most everything is fresh, but the meal times throw me off a bit. Breakfast is at 7:20-7:35am, lunch is at 1:10pm, and dinner is at 7. There are a lot of carbs, but we walk everywhere so its not too bad.

And so the adventure begins

-The Airport

        After a fun filled adventure to the airport and some bitter sweet goodbyes I was finally on my way. I got to the baggage center and had only a few issues with my bag being over weight and my "carry on" was too big. My carry on is actually a full sized backpacking backpack. British Airways helped me out quite a bit though so in the end everything worked out. I waited in Atlanta for about an hour. After awhile I went to the check counter and asked about my bag. They said they would put it on the flight with no extra charge because the flight was so full. I thought that would be a great idea and handed my bag over. (Later I would discover that I had made the wrong choice.) Time went by pretty quickly though because I met a fellow whovian! But it turns out they were an all out geekian. Finally my plane starts to board at 9:15 pm after a short delay. Lucky for me I get a middle seat (sarcasm). I made quick friends with the Malaysian woman seated next to me. We chit-chatted on the flight while we were awake. For most of the flight I had my head tucked into a jacket for a pillow. After 7 hours we landed in London. It was pretty dreary and very cloudy. My first thought was that I had stepped into one of the Narnia books. 

-The Adventure!

        My layover didn't take long and soon I was off again! Thankfully it was only a 3 hour flight into Milan. Once there I went to baggage claim only to realize my carry on was MIA. I panicked a little because most of my money, ALL of my underwear, my camera, and other sentimental items were in that bag. I filled a claim and prayed. Through this whole trip there were many to be said, but this one was urgent. I walked out to the main lobby where I was meet by my new Italian friend Serena. When she found out what happened she drove me to one of the malls in Parma so I could buy my much needed items. After that she took me to the train station and helped me find which one to get onto. She has been the greatest help ever!! I would've been so lost without her and her family. Around 7pm or 8pm (Italian time) I got on my train and headed towards Florence or Firenze.

 I wish the pictures were better but the train moved pretty fast. I arrived at my stop after almost getting off on the wrong one. I had a whole cabin to myself. It kinda reminded me of Harry Potter when they're on the train to Hogwarts. At the train station I was met by Serena's Uncle Mossimo. He was very lively and helpful. We stopped at his wife's sandwich restaurant before heading to the school. They thought I might be hungry so they made me one in advance. Then we got back into the car and headed up to the school. I was so sleepy and it was around 10 or 11 here. I was shown my room and then I was left for the night. I'll admit I was pretty out of sorts. I felt lonely, sleepy, grumpy, and dirty. It had been a long trip so after a shower I went to bed and prayed that God would help me out. I slept in late the next day but I didn't really feel the effects of Jet-lag. 

-Conclusion

          God had seen me through my whole journey. Even though I did get frustrated many times He always found away. In the end it wasn't too bad. I made it to Italy alive and well. Thank you Jesus!

(tune in next time for part two!)