Its been almost a month since I’ve updated our blog. I’m not going to lie, I haven’t had a chance to sit down and designate a chunk of time to get our travels down on paper. When I left the states, I thought I’d be blogging several times a week, instead of once a month. However, I am currently on a 2 hour plane ride watching the sun rise over the Swiss Alps while headed to Oslo, Norway for the weekend. What a perfect opportunity to update everyone. (especially because no one on my plane speaks English and therefore can’t read over my shoulder, my biggest pet peeve when using my laptop on the plane)
Our weekend trip to Sicily (Oct 1-3) with our program was basically a never ending cycle of meals. I think my stomach must have expanded three sizes this weekend (thank god for my gym membership). We ate our way through the weekend, with feasts at local restaurants and ranches near Siracusa, on the eastern coast of Sicily. Upon our arrival in Sicily, our guide greeted us, complete with his Gucci sunglasses and SAI program t-shirt and bag. He had just landed form Milan and told us we had to wait for the students from Rome before getting on our way. We checked into the hotel and headed straight to dinner. Our group dinner consisted of various Sicilian delicacies, such as grilled eggplant and rice balls. There was plenty of bread and wine to go around as well. The waiters brought out dish after dish, finally ending the meal with a lemon sorbet to cleanse the palate. We didn’t realize how much food there would be, so we made a mental note not to eat everything at the beginning of the meal the next day and pace ourselves. And I quote, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
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| Sicilian Sunset |
Our next day in Siracusa began with a trip to the local market. Our tour guide brought us around to different stands (my favorite being the fish stand of course), ending with a cheese and dessert tasting. We then boarded a bus to take us out to the Pantalica Ranch for surprise, surprise, meal #93845 of our trip. After another round of food, we basked in the sun and waited out our food comas. That evening, we got a group to go to the rooftop bar at the Grand Hotel Ortiga for drinks and apperitivo before meeting our group for dinner. After taking in the gorgeous view (and some Bellinis) we headed to what seemed like our sixth meal that day. The next morning we headed to the Siracusa Archeological Park, where we saw the Theatro Greco and various other ruins. Before no time, we were headed back to the airport. A trip with Sicily is not complete without a cannoli, and we heard through the grapevine that there was an excellent bakery in the airport. Cannoli in hand, we headed back to beautiful Firenze.
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| Lindsay, Pam, and I in a cave at the park |
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| Teatro Greco |
I guess this is the ironically appropriate time to talk about the gym Jenny, Noelle, and I joined. Our gym is called “Swan Gymnastics Center” and is only a five minute walk from our apartment. It a great activity to do in between class and dinner, since we usually eat around 8 or 9 at night. There is no place to compare this gym to in the states. There is only 1 elliptical, 4 treadmills, and 8 bikes, in addition to plenty of weight machines for those macho Italian men. We usually head to the gym and go on a machine before taking one of the many classes offered. We’ve tried “Fit Boxe” (kickboxing,) “GAG” (arms and legs), and Total Body. The best part about the classes are the remixes, including our new found Replay mashup. We usually stand out like sore thumbs in our Nike shorts and bright tank tops amongst what seems to be the Italian work out uniform of black pants and a t-shirt. The best part about the gym is the owner, who sits on his laptop on Facebook all day and plays 90’s throwback music videos on the flatscreen TV. We’ve seen everything from Britney Spear’s “Oops I did it Again” to Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out.” Needless to say, there’s no need for an iPod or magazine. The environment of the gym provides entertainment in itself.
On Wednesday after our weekend in Sicily, we were graced by the presence of Carolyn and Lauren and their friends from London Maggie and Ashley! The girls had just finished finals for their program and were on their whirlwind tour of Italy before starting their internships. After they hiked Cinque Terre early Wednesday morning, we met up for dinner at none other than Francescovini. We introduced them to some real Italian food, including Vivoli, or “Pam’s Gelato Shop.” The girls were exhausted, but got up early the next morning to head to the leather market and the Duomo, where we said “ciao” and they were off to Roma!
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| Playing tourist at the Duomo with C&L |
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