Italia

I suppose I should write about my trip to Italy now, but there is just so much to say! I'll try to cut it down to just the good and interesting stuff, but brace yourself... this could be a long one.

I arrived in Venice several hours before my mom and grandma, so I figured out how to get to our bed and breakfast (after a slight period of wandering around). What amazed me was that I had to take a BOAT. Now I knew that Venice had canals and everything, but for some reason I thought it would be more like Amsterdam, that had roads AND canals. But no. The only public transportation you can find in Venice is either a water taxi or a water bus (which I thought of more as a "boat metro"), and then you can walk. NO CARS ANYWHERE. Which makes sense because I can bet you that there are probably a total of 2 roads that cars could actually FIT on, and even then they would be trapped and not be able to drive more than a handful of meters. Most of the time while walking around I could stretch out my arms and touch both buildings on either side of me. Which was actually pretty cool!

Anyways, so I went to the bed and breakfast and took a shower and SLEPT, then went out to the boat stop where I thought my mom and grandma would show up. It took more than an hour of me waiting there, but FINALLY I saw them, and it was like a freaking movie. I saw them appearing through the crowd and then they saw me and I saw them and I had a huge smile and started walking towards them, and it was just so movie-esque that I had to slow-mo movie star run to them the last part of it, which just made us laugh and then I was hugging my mom! It was sooo great to see her, and my grandma. I think my mom started crying a little bit and I was actually surprised that I didn't, but I was close. So then I took my moms hand and led them towards our bed and breakfast, and then since we were all starving we went and had dinner on the big canal. It was so pretty. Then we walked around for a little while but we were all so tired that we went to bed early. The next day was spent just walking around and enjoying Venice. It is SO pretty, especially when the sun is shining! We took a boat down the main canal and just looked at all the beautiful and brightly-colored palaces, and the Rialto Bridge, and ended at San Marcos Cathedral. Inside it is all gold mosaics and the floor is so intricately done in more mosaics that my mom couldn't stop staring at it. After San Marcos we ended up in the shopping district, where we found this store called "Accessorize" (which I've been to before in London), that's like a more AWESOME and classy Claire's. And we spent a long time in here trying on hats and purses and earrings and looking in the mirror and laughing... generally acting like teenage girls, until the woman behind the counter started glaring at us. So we quickly bought our chosen items and left. Also, Venice is very famous for it's glasswork, so I bought this really beautiful ring as well.

I think then we bought a bottle of wine and went back to our bed and breakfast, and I had a suspicion that the place had a terrace on the roof, and I was right! So we happily went up many flights of stairs and spent the afternoon talking and drinking wine and eating chocolate on the terrace. It was so fun to be able to finally catch up with them and just BE with my mom and grandma. I missed them!

I also soon found out that I would be "Navigator" on this trip. I find it easy to place myself in comparison to where I have been before, and even in Venice it only took me a few times to know where we were and how to get to certain places. Several times my grandma or mom would start walking one direction, and I would have to re-direct them. Once my grandma left the hotel in Florence and turned left, a way we had never gone before, convinced that was the way to go, and I said, "Grandma! We've walked this way like 5 times now!" and she just laughed and turned to follow me. I swear, if I hadn't been there, they would have been lost half the time! It also made me feel quite important and knowledgable, so that was nice too! ;)

The next day we headed to the Cinque Terre, which are these five BEAUTIFUL coast towns on the west side of Italy. It is very mountainous and hilly there, so there is a train between all the towns... and there are also trails to hike! The first day we just went to Vernazza, the town that we were staying in, and of course ate some pizza and bought a bottle of wine and drank it right next to the ocean. The next day we got the train and started in the first town and began the hikes. The path between the first two towns was VERY easy, and it was actually called "The Pathway of Love" because it was the first path ever built between any of the towns, so suddenly there were twice as many people to choose from for a marriage partner! And so young people would meet on this path and be able to see each other. Also there are padlocks along the entire path, wherever a padlock can be placed. I guess if two people go to a romantic spot and close a padlock there together, it's good luck. Kind of cute!

In the next town we took a detour to a winery up in the hills, which was really fun! The woman let us try several white wines and a sweet wine. When we finally made it back down to the village, we realized that the pathway between this town and the next one was closed, so we took the train. In the next down, we had lunch. The waiter asked is if we wanted beer, so we said Yes, of course! And then he asked, "How many bottles?" And we looked at each other, and said, "Umm, three, of course..." And he gave us a strange look but went and got the bottles anyways. When he came back, he brought us HUGE bottles of beer! And opened them right away so that we couldn't object! Two would have been PLENTY, and we now realized the reason for his look. Another unexpected cultural hiccup that we could laugh about.

The next path between this town and the town we were staying in was a bit strenuous, so grandma took the train and mom and I went ahead on foot. It was a little difficult, but it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! SO GREEN and lush and it went really high on the hill so we could see so far out to the ocean and look back on the town. We had a great time! And we got some good exercise to work off some of that pizza and pasta and beer. When we got back to our room, our legs were actually shaking a little bit from going up and down so many stairs, so we had a quick rest and then took the train to the last town. We of course brought a bottle of wine, and this town actually had a beach, so my mom finally got to touch the Mediterranean Sea for the first time! I know that that has always been a dream of hers, so it was really great to be a part of it. After walking around in the water a little bit, we opened the bottle of wine and sat in the sand and just watched the ocean and talked and soaked in the sun. It was perfect.

The next day we went to Florence, which was cool too! It was nice because we actually got a tour, so we learned about the Medici family and about how life was back then, and many other interesting things. Florence is pretty cool! The first day when we were having lunch, I noticed that the women sitting next to us were Spanish. I hadn't realized that I was missing speaking Spanish until I heard them, and then I DESPERATELY wanted to talk to them! So when I noticed they were done with their meal, I turned towards them and told them we had just arrived and was wondering if they had any suggestions on where to go. One of the women instantly whipped out a map and began telling me all the places we should go, with the other women piping in and adding tips. Soon I learned that they were teachers, there with a group of 80 students from their school. As we were having the conversation I looked over at my mom and grandma, because I felt a little bad that they couldn't participate as much as I could, and my mom looked so impressed! It was actually pretty cool to be able to show her my Spanish skills, because I dont think she had ever really seen me speak Spanish before. Then we realized that one of the women was an English teacher, so then they all began talking. And one of the women invited me to her house, if I was ever going to be in the north of Spain. Of course. I love how open Spanish people are :) But anyways, Florence was great! We saw many beautiful things and walked to the top of a hill to see it from above. The Duomo is so impressive... probably the biggest cathedral I've ever seen in my life. We went and toured this huge palace, and of course, ate pizza again. We also went to see David, that huge statue by Michelangelo. It really was amazing, the detail was so intricate... but my grandma, my mom, and I found ourselves reverting to quite an immature and middle-school-esque state of mind as we critiqued Michelangelo on his choice on the size of Davids "endowment" in relation to his huge hand size. Soon I had to divert us to another area as we doubled over in giggles... we seemed to be disurbing the real art lovers with our childish behaviour.

The next day we rented a car (with some difficulties at first, but thankfully it all worked out) and began our adventures driving around Tuscany. After MORE difficulties that included a motorcycle race and crazy Italian drivers, we finally ended up in Cortona. It, again, was beautiful! Cortona is a town set on top of a very high hill. Its small but so quaint and cute. And what made it even better was our bed and breakfast, where Paola took great care of us and placed us in our unique room... it had a tower! There was a small discrete door that opened up to a narrow spiral stone staircase that went up four stories, and of course there was a terrace at the top, with an AMAZING view!! We spent a lot of time up there with wine and snacks, enjoying the sunshine and the view of the valley below. In Cortona we also hiked to the top of the hill where a church and the fortress were, and we did a little shopping in town and of course wine tasting. I also discovered in Cortona that Italian and Spanish have enough similarities that I can actually have a very rough conversation while Paola's mother spoke to us in Italian and I translated (what I could understand) and responded in Spanish... her mother was very insistant in continuing with the conversation even though she could see I was struggling, but we seemed to actually communicate quite well considering we were speaking two different languages!

The next day we traveled to several little towns before ending up in Siena for the night. Over the few days while we were staying in Siena, we went to Montepulciano (and if you're a Twilight fan, its actually where the scene in New Moon was filmed as Bella runs across the square to save Edward), Pienza, and Volterra (yes, more Twilight stuff... I didn't see any vampires though!). Siena was okay, but we mostly just went there to eat in the evening and spent most of our time in the main plaza.

For our last few days we discovered a small, cute beach town on the east coast. The beach itself wasn't all that great, but the town was adorable! And it was more like a modern Italian town, with large roads with trees on either side, a nice downtown and harbor area, neighborhoods, a boardwalk with beach bars, and lots of restaurants and hotels (that were mostly closed as it wasn't yet tourist season). It looked like it would be a great place to visit in the summer. One of the days we rented bikes from our hotel and rode around for the morning, to the harbor, on the boardwalk, etc. It was so fun! I haven't ridden a bike since last summer! Our last night in that town we splurged, and instead of drinking our normal wine, we got mojitos and bar hopped a little bit.

And finally, we headed back to Venice for one last night before they flew out the next morning. Stupidly, we tried to DRIVE into Venice, which was so stressful and confusing that I'm surprised we actually didn't turn around and just drive back to the hotel. We did eventually figure out where to park, and ended up eating dinner at the same place we had eaten the first night we were there. It was a nice wrap-up of our trip. The next morning I went with them to the airport and it was so sad to say goodbye! I watched them go through security and then turned to go find the bus that would take me from the airport into Venice. For awhile I was just sad and didn't want to do anything, but I figured I should take advantage of being in Venice for a few more days. So I got on a boat to one of the islands, but while there I just felt trapped and sad and upset, so I got back on the boat and went back into Venice, where I was able to check in to my hostel and borrow a book from them. I spent the afternoon reading... it was so relaxing after so much travelling. That night, the hostel had a free diner at 8:00 for everyone, which was the PERFECT way to meet a ton of new people! I made new friends from Venezuela, Wales, Tennessee, Australia, Brazil, and many other countries around the world. And because the first question anyone asks in a hostel is "Where are you from?" rather than "What's your name?" everyone had a nickname based on where they were from. We had Aussie, Tennessee, Texas, Welsh, and Bruno (from Brazil. His name was just too awesome to pass up), among other people. We all went out that night, and at one point we were told we couldn't go into one of the clubs, and Texas yelled, "It's because we're American, isn't it!" to which I had to grab her shoulders and calm her down, while resisting the urg to shake some sense into her. But in all it was really fun making new friends! The next day Tennessee, the Aussie and I stood on the balcony of our hostel and just people watched for HOURS, and eventually I started taking pictures of tourists because they were so funny. And our buliding was pretty, so whenever we saw someone pointing a camera in our direction we would make ridiculous faces so that when they are going through their pictures later, they will look in the background and see us and start laughing... or at least we hope that's what they do!

Anyways, I'm so sorry this was so long! Hopefully it was entertaining enough for you and I hope you didn't get too bored. Another post about Laurie and Lisa's visit to Spain should be coming soon, in case you want to read more :)

Presa Iberica

I feel the need to write one more post before my big adventure to Italy which begins on Saturday (2 days from now!) when I leave for Seville to stay the night before my flight at 6:30am. First off, I am so excited to see my mom again that I get jittery every time I think about it, and spending a week exploring Italy with her and my grandma is going to be absolutely amazing! I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for me living in Spain, this type of vacation wouldn't have happened for the three of us so I am just so thankful that I have this opportunity.

It seems that Spain doesn't have four seasons, but two. It took about one week for the weather to turn from cold and wearing sweaters to quite warm and wearing tank-tops. And I know from here on out it's just going to get hotter, and I'm happy that I'm leaving in June before the REAL hell hits in July and August, where they say that it's almost impossible to leave your house, it's so hot. Our first very nice day was last Friday... Magda and I went over to Roberts apartment to firstly use his oven to make crepes for all of us, and also to enjoy his wonderful balcony. I looked around the apartment at one point and was amused at the fact that I was spending the day in an apartment with one American girl, one Polish girl, one Irish guy and one French guy. It was so diverse but we were having an excellent time, drinking tinto de verano, sitting out on the balcony soaking up the sun, and eventually eating the crepes Magda so nicely made us. Tomorrow I think we're going to head over again to use his oven and make a chocolate cake (Magda just got the recipe from her mom). I've really enjoyed staying in Priego for the past month and getting to spend time with these great people. But from here on out, I am busy every weekend! First Italy, and then Laurie and Lisa come to visit me and we're going to explore Almeria, and then the next weekend Granada, and then after that I'm going to Nerja (a town on the coast) with one of my American friends here in Priego, and then Julie comes and we're going to Granada and then traveling to Barcelona and Lisbon, and then we spend one Saturday night in Priego while I pack and have some sort of goodbye party, and then I go home! I have a feeling its going to go very fast from here on out, but I'm excited for every bit of it.

This week went surprisingly fast... I finished up one of my private classes because the students I was having class with have their exam next week and then my services are no longer needed. My other classes are continuing though, and I'm planning to have my four 9-year-olds perform Little Red Riding Hood first for Laurie and Lisa, and then for Julie when she comes. They are super excited about it and I think it will be good practice for them, reading and pronouncing English words while acting out a play. Today after class their moms were in the kitchen and they invited me to stay for a cup of coffee... I love feeling a part of this community. Last week I was walking through the town at the hour where EVERYONE likes to "dar un paseo," which means that people take a walk through the main street of town just to see if anyone they know is out so that they can stop and talk. And I ended up seeing a ton of people that I knew, including one of my students, a couple people from my conversation class, and three out of my four nine-year-olds. I was walking across the plaza of the city hall where there were many people sitting having a drink at the tables, and the kids were playing soccer or just messing around like normal, when suddenly I spotted my girls and they saw me and started squealing and ran over to me and gave me a hug and started talking to me in Spanish and were generally very excited. It was so sweet, and it felt really nice to be able to walk around this town and recognize some people and actually be able to stop and talk to others. I love feeling like a part of this community, and I really wish that this kind of thing would happen more in Oregon... but oh well. I'm just glad that it's at least happened here.

And finally, I would like to end today with a story about the dinner I had tonight. Magda and I returned to the place where we found some AMAZING steak, and ordered it again... it did not disappoint us! We were happily eating our salad, presa iberica (the steak), and our french fries, when suddenly we realized that we were both very full, and we still had about a third of our steak on each of our plates. This would not be a problem in the US... we would simply have to ask for a to-go box, and then be on our way. But not in Spain. People don't take food home in Spain. If you don't finish your food, you leave it there. And being an American, I was shocked at this. ("WHAT?! You don't take home your extra food?! What a waste of money!") But in Spain it's just not done. But we were so full that all Magda could say was, "Whoa" on repeat, and I was wishing I could have fit a pair of sweatpants in my bag (I kept thinking about Joey on Friends when he had to eat that whole Thanksgiving turkey... he kept saying in my head, "Why am I wearing JEANS? I need my sweatpants! Stupid!" and "I'm getting the meat sweats" as he dabbed his forehead with his napkin). And we began talking to our steaks saying things like, "Don't worry steak" and "I won't leave you here alone." So I had Magda look out for the waiter, and when she said he wasn't looking, we quickly put our leftover steaks on our napkins and wrapped them up safely and put them in our purses. And oddly I feel proud that I can now say, "I've had a steak in my purse." So then we quickly paid for our meal and went the 30 feet back to our apartment and laughed as we told our Spanish roommate Maria what we had done, who then relayed it to her mother with whom she was talking to on the phone at the time. But we were proud of ourselves for saving our PRECIOUS steaks and being able to enjoy them at a later date.

Anyways, I hope you all are doing well! I will be back in the US in two months from yesterday! Mostly I'm excited but I have many adventures to look forward to until then. :)