September 15-16th

So yesterday was saturday, I slept in a bit, but not too much. Then I went to school to get some work done, but of course I got talking with Mustafa and got none done, but did get some more movies. I skyped a bit with grandma, Sierra, Earl and papa which was really nice, I miss them so much! Then the school closed down at 5 so Jessi, Jason, Mustafa and I went to the Palazzo della Signoria so that Mustafa and I could get our drawing homework done with. Then we all headed to the library to use the internet, but the internet wasnt working so Jessi and I left, Jason and Mustafa stayed to work on their italian homework. Jessi and I decided to go get an appertivo, which was our first time doing it. An appertivo is like a small buffet dinner special that most restaurants do so people just getting off of work can grab something to eat before heading home to cook their actual dinners. You just pay one down price and you get a drink and all you can eat food, the place we went to was only 8 euro and the food was so good. The place we went to also had free wifi so we hung out there for a while before we got really tired and headed back to the apartment. By the time we got back it was about 8:30pm, and Tess and Jordan were still not back from Capri (which they stayed overnight because it was raining and they didnt feel like traveling). We phoned them and decided to meet them at the station at 9:30 so we could all buy our tickets for our Cinque Terre trip on Sunday. So that all went well and we all headed back and crashed for the night, we were all exhausted.
So today was soooooo much fun!! I woke up at 6 so I could grab a shower and be totally ready for our trip, our train was scheduled to leave at 7:45am. We didnt leave the house till 7:20 so when we got there we had some confusion with what track to go to and ended up getting on the train just as the doors were closing. The train ride was really long and it got really crowded when we got closer to the Cinque Terre's. We all decided to get off at Vernazza and explore since it is Jessi's favorite of the towns and I had heard great things from grandma about it. I loved it! the little rock beach was so cute, but also fun cause you got to climb all those rocks up and down and stand on them in the water. Unfortunately because of the recent landslide all the caves that you could go into were blocked by rocks so we couldnt swim into them. The water was amazingly blue and you could see down a good 50-60 feet and it looked only a few feet from the surface. It was beautiful. Then we decided to head to Monterosso. We got there and tried these ice drinks that were pretty good but of course I had to try something new and I didnt really like my flavor (I had chosen mint but it was a really sweet fake flavor). Then we just walked around and did a little window shopping in both the new town and the old one. Then we stopped for lunch/dinner at this little restaurant that Jessi loves because of the salmon pasta she always gets there. It was really good food, I got the Gnochetti della Casa which was gnocchi with shrimp in a red basil sauce that was amazing!! We all tried each other's dish and they all tasted amazing. After lunch we headed back to the free beach and on the way we got gelato (of course) I got chocolate and raspberry and it was so good! When we got to the free beach we set up our stuff and then Jessi and I got in the water. We swam for a bit and then we climbed up this rock that was a good six feet out of the water and we jumped off. Three times each. It was so much fun!!! such an adrenaline rush! and Jordan was safe on the beach taking photos of us jumping off. I so want to do it again!!! then we just sun bathed till we had to go catch our train. When we got on the train it was so jammed packed that you could barely even stand, luckily we had found some seats so we were spared from the mosh-pit. So after La Spezia everyone kinda vacated the train and we all regrouped so we were all sitting together, but turns out that the train was going to make one more stop at this little station and that was the end of its run.... so we were stuck there. Thankfully though there was a train coming to the station that was heading to Florence so we just waited an hour for the train to come. While we were waiting there was this older guy who came to ask which platform was for Milan and we told him which one but then he hung out with us for a bit and I was so proud of my italian speaking. I managed to talk to him, all in italian, and tell him that we were students from America that were studying in Florence and when he said that he was from Morocco I told him that the King of Morocco's nephew lived on my street in America (but I didnt know the word for nephew so I just said brother). And he actually understood what I was saying!! Then he had to leave cause his train came in, and we only had to wait like 20 more min till our train pulled in as well. It was kinda fun hanging at the train station, even though we had nothing to do and didnt know where we were, we just sat on the ground and talked and listened to music. We didnt get into Florence till about 9pm and we all just wanted to get home and take showers and have something small to eat. So we all showered and made something small, I just made some pasta and ate a banana, then I did my italian homework that I forgot to do yesterday (mainly cause I was really tired after dinner). So all in all a really really really amazing day. I'm thinking that maybe next weekend if it is still warm out I will return and just stay in Vernazza all day (cause I like that one the best), but thats probably not going to happen cause I know Mustafa and Jason want to go to Rome next weekend and I'll probably end up going with them cause I do want to go to Rome and then I'll have people to go with. Who knows :) and I also tossed around the idea of maybe going to Egypt during my vacation weeks but Jessi reminded me of all the shit that is going down over there with Libya and the recent assassination of the American representative there, so probably not gonna end up going but hopefully in the spring they will have settled a bit so that I could go and see the pyramids!!!