"If this is Italy, and my ass is Venice..."

Wow, I haven’t posted for a full week. I think that’s the longest I’ve gone without writing during my whole time here. Sorry, I’ve kept busy. Not sure with what really, but apparently I have. Alright, let’s get right into it then.

We left bright and early Friday morning for our weekend in Sicily. Before leaving, Marilena tried to send a ridiculous amount of food with me. It got to the point where I had a full sack lunch packed, and as she kept putting more snacks in the bag I had to follwe her and put them back. But when we saw everyone at the bus station, they all had their own gigantic bags of food too, it was pretty comical. At 7:20am, Sara, Faith and I were all on the little train to take us from Rogliano to the next town over to pick up the bus. Once in this town, called Piano Lago, I decided to use the station bathroom while waiting for the bus. When I opened the outdoor bathroom door, I saw this massive black spider crawl across the floor. Of course I flipped out. Then I called Sarah, literally on my cell phone because she wasn’t in earshot, and had her come over to play man and kill it for me. I stood outside the bathroom and listened while she killed the little bugger, from what I heard it took at least 7 whacks with her shoe. Told you it was big…

The bus ride was pretty uneventful. At the southern tip of Italy we had to take a ferry across to Sicily, and it felt like going to Bainbridge on a school bus. Molto déjà vu. It only took about 15 minutes, but in that time we all got off the bus and went on deck. A few of us went to the front of the boat for some extreme wind. It was like being in a wind tunnel, my clothes were blowing off and after a while I couldn’t see or breathe. I could also lean about 45 degrees forward and the wind held me up. Afterward, my hair has never been so tangled, I think I ripped about half of it out of my head while trying to comb it out later.
Once we got off the bus in Taormina, a hill town in eastern Sicily, it was a real bitch trying to get to our hostel. First we had to take a small bus the rest of the way up the hill into the actual town. Then we got lost looking for the city bus station. Once we finally made it onto one of those buses, we took it down the hill to the next town over called Giardini Naxos. Our hostel was sufficient, but evidently way out of the way of everything.

As soon as we all got our rooms, a few of us walked to the supermercato. We didn’t realize that a 1 kilometer walk to the supermercato would be as long as it was. And I don’t know what it is about Sicily, but we have never been honked at so much as there. Not even in Rome. Literally every other car honked or yelled things at us. It actually annoyed the hell out of me.

After our little trip for groceries, we all crashed and took a nap. This was followed by a massive dinner. We came back and I was so full I couldn’t move. Faith joked about going out to the balcony and throwing up into the boat parked below. This then became an ongoing joke for the weekend.

Saturday morning we woke up early to go with Christina to Mt. Etna. Because the universe hates me, and I guess knows that we’re from Seattle, it rained all day Saturday. But for some reason we wanted to see Etna regardless, so we got on the bus we had taken from Taormina the previous day. Of course we miss our stop, and instead just ride it all the way into Taormina to chill and get breakfast. This worked out, since we spent the rest of the day in Taormina and forgot Etna. We did some shopping, rode this wire gondola deal (called a funivia in Italian) which had a great view minus the rain. We then had a great lunch at what was said to be the best restaurant in town. Finally we finished the day by checking out the Greek amphitheater there. By then the rain was off and on, and while off the view was incredible. But I was absolutely spent at that point and really just wanted to go home.

On the bus back, I had the best moment. Taormina is kind of a touristy town, especially for Germans. While on the bus a British couple got on and started asking the driver where some hotel was. The driver of course didn’t speak English, and could only answer them in Italian. The couple looked so freaked out, so I leaned forward and translated for them what he had said. I was so proud of myself and my Italian. Then when we got off, I let them know this was their stop and what direction to go. Seriously, I felt pretty accomplished.

Once we finally made it back to the hostel, we all decided to take a little rest. I was still full from the massive lunch with no plans on eating dinner, and so were the rest of them. That is how our rest turned into sleep. We were asleep by nine. Faith woke up at 3, couldn’t get back to sleep, then at 5 asked if I wanted to walk with her to see the sun rise. Of course I said no :) I did go the next morning though, don’t worry. Anyways, that’s how we party: sightseeing then in bed by nine. Pathetic.

The next morning we slept in, went to the grocery store and bought snacks, then hit the beach. We chilled there, got some sun. While on the beach, Faith tried to explain to me where some Italian town was, and used her leg as a map. I believe the exact quote was "if this is Italy, and my ass is Venice, it's right here." I about died laughing, the quote of the weekend for me! The water was too cold and rough to swim in, so instead I dipped my feet in when I got hot. We then went back to the beach for dinner; we specifically chose this restaurant because there was garlic bread on the menu. It wasn’t even very good garlic bread, but the rest of the food was pretty decent. We ordered cocktails, and got some seriously strong pina coldas. Then I got the first full, complete meal I’ve eaten at a restaurant while in Italy: swordfish served with French fries and salad. It was glorious. We finished the evening with some tiramisu.

Back at the hostel, we chilled up on the roof for a while looking at the stars and fireworks. I’m not sure why there were so many distant fireworks, I can only assume from festivals for saints and whatnot. Then while on the roof, we thought we heard a mouse scurrying around; of course we flipped out. We tested the theory by throwing one of our Pringles near a hole we saw and waiting for something to pop out. Nothing ever did.

The next day, Monday, was the day we went back. Basically took all the same buses in reverse. I was pretty ready to get back to my routine, but when we were on the ferry floating away from that beautiful island I didn’t want to leave anymore. I’m definitely going back at some point and exploring more.

When I finally got home to Rogliano, I showered and did homework and went to bed. Nothing more exciting than that.