First off, apologies, mi dispiace ragazzi!
I have been farrrr too out of touch this past week, but it can be really hard between traveling all the time, class, homework, and going out. I am not complaining by any means, but I have a lot to recap so far!!
Alright so in relation to my latest post about my wine class, yes it is still amazing, and yes I had it tonight, 7 glasses of wine and 4 pages of notes down (red, white, champagne, and red sparkling wine)! Fantastico! Donato had some memorable quotes tonight too, my favorites include:
(As he sticks his entire nose into his glass) - "Alcohol is a big punch in the nose!"
"I'm very fond of smelly wine"
(We are all chatting because we're quite tipsy and to quiet us he says...) "You guyyyys, whistle whistle whistle!!"
Hahaha anyway I'm rambling, let me recap.
Last Thursday the fun really started. There is only one American food place in Firenze and it is right across from our school (rightfully so), and the owner is now our good friend, Adriano (we call him A-di). He is a club promoter in the city and knows alllll kinds of famous people and has great hookups wherever he goes, so last Thursday we decided to go out with him for a nice dinner. So that night three of my roomies, and two other girls met him and his friend Francesco for dinner at one of the nicest places in town, and got AMAZING deals on food. Seven appetizers, two bottles of red and white wine, pasta, and dessert, it was wonderful and the owner of the restaurant put us in a private room. We were there for 2 1/2 hours.
That night was great, went to a few bars after that and they had more hookups there, but the most fun of the night was me trying oh so hard to have a conversation with Francesco, his Italian buddy who is a DJ around here. He speaks ZERO English, and even with my 3 semesters of Italian, I don't know shit. Speaking is so difficult, so basically we were miming and speaking Italish (Italian/English mix) all night. He was a nice guy and I loved the opportunity to speak Italian in a real scenario!! He also saved me from a few awkward moments when creepy Italians tried to talk to me, thank god. Creepy Italian men are truly the name of the game, such a bummer.
That night led into the first legit travel weekend I had. LdM hosts travel opportunities every weekend and so that weekend we went to hike in the Italian Alps, visit Garda Lake, and Verona! At 4am on Saturday morning we were on the most crowded bus of my life, riding into the Alps! Majestic mountains and valleys like you've never seen in your life. Green valleys full of vineyards and apple orchards, and adorable, quaint towns on the hillsides. It was quite the sight, watching the sunrise on these mountains, listening to "Rock Your Soul" by Elisa. Perfection. We arrived in this small ski resort town on the foot of the mountains, met our Italian guide Marco, and set off on our 8 mile, 6 hour walking hike. Thank goodness it was walking, there were over 30 of us and the path was rocky and muddy to say the least, but it offered some of the most fantastic views. Even the best camera doesn't do it justice. And we past at least 5 waterfalls in the process. There are just these hidden gems among the mountainsides, massive falls with crevices you can sneak into. The first was the largest and we were able to fit all of us underneath the spray!
What can I say, it's the flipping Alps. THE ALPS. They're the best mountain range for a reason, these European's know their winter sports for a REASON.
But after that we parked it in a place called Trento, which is the capital of the northern region, Trentino in northern Italy. The next morning we spent in Garda Lake, my future retirement home, in all seriousness. We went to the most southern point of the lake, to the very edge of this penninsula to a city called Sirmione. Apparently it was famous in the ancient days because all of the Romans would have homes here. There is only one road to get to the heart of the city and you have to go through the gates of this GIANT castle to do so. Yes we went up into the castle of course, had a legit moat and everything! The water and the beaches were light blue and surrounding the whole lake were the Alps of course. BELLISIMA. Everyone remember the name Sirmione because it should be a spot to stop on any future European honeymoons...a secret hideaway of a town.
Next stop was none other but the city of love, Verona. The home of Romeo and Juliet according to Shakespeare. We did not spend enough time in this city because it was really a beautiful place. There was a fair going on when we got there so the streets were packed with people and performers. Near the center is the Arena where operas and concerts are still held today, even though the architecture is partly from the Roman era, as is most of the city! You can definitely decipher which are the ancient stones too, they just reek with wisdom...if that's possible to say.
And Juliet's house...ohh what to say. Well first off, no there is NO place like in the movie Letters to Juliet, no wall to stick letters. I don't know how they filmed that because there is actually a shop there and a wall of plaques describing things about Romeo and Juliet's story. Definitely a bummer to find out. But instead there was the wall of lovers...a huge tunnel filled with signatures and expressions of love written on the walls! Signed my name, there for the rest of forever. Done and done. Saw the balcony, envisioned Romeo, and that was that, ahhh AMORE!
That was travel weekend numero uno, this past weekend was more of an adventure of our own making...
And I will get to that soon enough...we are going to grab a drink but until next time,
Ciao for now,
Jessica
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