SNOW SNOW SNOW

It just so happens that the biggest snowfall in Florence in over twenty years happened yesterday. On the day where the vast majority of villa kids planned on leaving. Needless to say that isn't happening anymore, due to Italy's incapability of dealing with snow. We probably got around 7 inches yesterday and the town fell apart. Buses stopped running and were abandoned, cars just slipping all over the place, no taxis, trains either not showing up or 250 minutes delayed. And planes canceled. I have friends who were supposed to leave this morning but now can't leave till Monday or even Tuesday. THANKFULLY, by some miracle, I am on a flight that leaves on Sunday morning, which is good news. The Florence Airport closed this morning, but it reopened and the majority of flights are in the check in or expected phase. Which is great. However, definitely won't be at rest until I see a flight that has departed for Frankfurt. It does appear that my travel plans will go ahead as planned. I have some pictures from this blizzard up on facebook, but I'll put some on here when I'm back home. We had to walk all the way from Florence to Sesto yesterday, about a 1.5 hour walk, due to the lack of transportation. Just hope everyone can get home / back to the states by Christmas. See you all soon

CORRECTION: Might not get home Sunday. It's looking very questionable, 50-50 shot. Wish me luck

Last week in Italy

One week left. Definitely will miss all this.

Ridiculous. I honestly can't believe that I only have one week left here. I feel like I say this every semester, but this truly was the fastest semester I have ever experienced. I really don't even know what to write about right now, but I haven't posted in a long time so I figured I'd give it a go. There's really not too many plans in the works for the remander of the semester. This past Saturday a group of us spent the day in Bologna, which was a city I really wanted to get to. It was neat to see everything, and I definitely could've seen myself studying abroad there. Big college town. We capped of the day by going to a "Bloody Beetroots" concert saturday night. It was a great time. Real rowdy, and probably the best live show I've ever been to. Can't really ask for more than that.

Even though there is only a week left, I'm feeling ready to go home. Obviously there are things I'm going to miss, however, such as

Not having to walk far at all to class, 60 degree weather in December, all my friends here at the villa, the fact that I'm living in Italy, getting delicious meals made for me everyday, and many, many others.

But I'm ready. Seeing Christmas decorations up everywhere (All the streets in Florence have lights strung across them, it's really cool. I'll try to get some pictures up on Facebook in the near future) really makes me excited to get back and see friends and family for the holidays. I'm ready to drink milk again. Haven't had a glass since I've been here. I'm excited to see snow, as odd as that sounds. I'm excited to spend an entire month of winterbreak reconnecting with friends and family. I'm excited to see Steph. It's the exact definition of bitter-sweet. I'll always remember my time in Italy, the experiences I've had, the people I've met, but I'm ready to be back home. I'll be back here someday, which I'm already looking forward to. I'll write one more post before I go, or when I get back to the states. But thank you all for following my adventures in Italy. I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to share them for you. Plus now I won't have to retell everything that I've done here. You can just refer to the blog!

 By the way, our "caretakers" dog Blake passed away right after fall break. However, she just got a new puppy on Friday. This is Tessa! Shame that we only get one week with her

One of the many trees in Florence

Big tree in front of the Duomo

Runnin Around Mafia Town

Trapani, Sicily

To this day I still have no idea why we didn't go to Palermo. Last weekend a group of us decided "hey, let's go to Sicily...in November." Granted we had a good time, but it definitely wasn't the trip that we all thought it was going to be. The best part about it might have been the hotel/hostel we stayed in. There was a group of seven of us, and we basically had an apartment, with a kitchen, living room, two bathrooms, etc. all to ourselves. And right on the beach too. So that was a lot of fun, and was a big change of pace form what we were used to. What wasn't a lot of fun were two things. Well four actually
1) Really bad weather. You could tell that the air was warmer down in Sicily, but it was gloomy and windy the entire time we were there. And the nice weather was the main reason we went to Sicily to begin with
2) Ghost town. Literally. Basically everything was closed, all the time, and half of the things that were closed don't open up until Spring. And hardly anybody in Sicily spoke English. Plus their Italian accent was way different in Tuscany, so it was hard to understand them and communicate with the people
3) Palermo would have been more fun. We had two kids from the villa go to Palermo, and they said it was a lot more touristy / more things to do. They said it kind of reminded them of Vice City, which was pretty funny.
4) Lack of Mafia. Which probably was a good thing. Who knows, maybe we encountered some members without knowing it. But we did have a rule that no one could say that word (mafia) while being in Sicily, just to be on the safe side.

Beach. Best part of Trapani

What was great was the beach. It was a really cool looking beach, and the city was literally surrounded by the Mediterranean. Just being by the beach / the beach air / the beach smell was great, and very refreshing. Sicily in general kind of reminded me a lot of Mexico. A lot less touristy version, but same concept more or less. To put it in perspective. Especially during tourist season in Sicily.

Another good part of the trip was that we really had no plans. Our only set plan was to take a boat out across the Med. (30 mins or so) to the island of Favignana, since my buddy's ancestors came from that island. That island was a weird place. Guaranteed we were the only english speakers, and non-Italians in general on that island. So obviously people were not friendly and glared at us the entire time. Made me feel really uncomfortable and out of place. So needless to say we didn't stay there too long. It was kind of cool though, because that was definitely the most foreign place I've ever been to. So I'd say it was worth it. Also the boat ride out there was awesome, just being out on a boat in the Mediterannean. But back to the part of having no plans. That was great. It was super relaxing and refreshing, a nice break from Villa life, with literally nothing to do. Those are the kind of vacations I'm really starting to like. Just exploring the city and finding things you normally wouldn't come across, chatting and enjoying your time with the friends you're traveling with, and eating great food.

Far end of Trapani. You could take a cable car up those hills, but obviously it wasn't running

The food was also one of the highlights. Sicily has great food. We went to the same restaurant for dinner twice because it was that good. Each night we had wine, a big mess of Sicilian appetizers (sort of like a sampler plate that had things from crab cakes, to this really good eggplant, deep-fried prawns, and some things we had know clue of what they were). Then, both nights, I had the Sicilian Pesto. Their noodles were different, and it wasn't really pesto, but it was so good. The eggplant in Sicily, and the tomatoes, are unreal. And they included both of those, something spicy, a whole mess of Basil, and a little red sauce in this "Pesto". It was really good. Also, I was a bit daring and tried CALAMARI, CLAMS, and MUSSELS for the first time in Sicily, and liked them all. Big steps for me in the food department.

Friday night we managed to find all the Italians in Trapani. After about a half hour walk from our hostel, we got to this bar everyone told us to go to. And for good reason. It was PACKED. Honestly everyone in Trapani was there, and no one spoke english which was great. It was great because as the night goes on, and once I get a little buzzed, I'm tremendous at Italian. So I was chatting the night away with the locals. All in all, it was a vacation filled with great food, and super relaxing. But definitely go in the summertime or early fall if you were ever considering Sicily

Now, shortly before Sicily, our program went on an olive oil making demonstration, wine cellar and making tour, and a tasting out in the Tuscan countryside. Here are some pictures

Grapes drying to be made into desert wines. Best smelling room in the world

Pressed that day. Fun Fact, fresh olive oil is green. Really green

Section in the wine cellar. From 1925. Whomp