Singin' In The Rain!

Alright, so clearly blogging on a regular basis isn't exactly one of my strengths, but I'm going to keep trying! This past weekend I went back to Cinque Terre because we went with my API program the weekend before and it was just so amazing I had to see it again! This time, however, it wasn't exactly warm and sunny. It was actually POURING rain! But even though this was the case, I have 3 and a half months in Italy, and the only way to do it is to make the best of every situation. So that is exactly what we did! I wrote in my journal after hiking up Riomaggiore yesterday, so I will copy that into here:

"I am sitting on a bench outside of this cute little church overlooking the Mediterranean. It is absolutely stunning. We woke up this morning in our hostel in Riomaggiore (one of the Cinque Terre). The hostle served its purpose, I was ready for the worst and it really wasn't bad at all. I mean, I made a few jokes about possibly getting scabies from the blankets, but aside from that it was fine. Last night we ate dinner at a tratoria. I shared pesto pasta and muscles and spaghetti with Tre and washed that down with a nice glass of white wine. For dessert I split a chocolate and creme pastry as well as a fruit torte with Jill. It was all delicious! Earlier in the day I had chocolate, vanilla, and mint gelato and shared a slice of the most amazing pesto pissa with Jill. So basically, the weekend has been full of incredible food. Yesterday was quite an adventure. We were supposed to take the 7:20 am train, but missed it and came back for the 9:50 am one. Took that to La Spezia, and then had to take a separate train to Cinque Terre. Meanwhile its absolutely pelting us outside. Luckily I threw in my rain jacket last minute or I would have been a less happy camper. Anyway, I was starving so during the lay over I went with Andy and Linda to get a kabob in the town. Its funny, I wouldn't expect it, but there are so many kabob places around here. After missing the train we were supposed to take, again, we took the next one. It is an understatement to say that the Italian train system is confusing. We made a few random friends who shared in our frustration though. When we finally made it to Riomaggiore we took some rainy pictures and walked around and laughed a lot at our luck. Danny left his phone on one of the trains. Whenever we needed a bathroom they were no where to be found. But for some reason we still managed to keep our spirits up :) It was just a great group of people I guess. We met some Canadians who saved up money for the past 4 years and are traveling all over the world for an entire year. That really inspired me to want to do the same! It would be quite amazing. I'm learning so much from just living in a different country. We woke up this morning, threw on my clothes from yesterday, and checked out of the hostle. I got a creme croissant, hot chocolate, banana, and water for breakfast and then we all headed up the terre. We just kept walking up until we hit a trail that we hike up for about an hour and a half. It was absolutely gorgeous! It is very humid, probably because of all the rain, but not too hot. Just perfect I think :) Wow, the sun is peeking through the clouds right now and there is a wonderful little breeze going. I am so sweaty and wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Haven't showerd or shaved my legs. Am not wearing any make up and have lots of pimples. But I don't care one bit! I feel fantastic and beautiful :)"

We ended up hiking down after that and stopping by Vernazza on the train before heading back home. It really was a great weekend! I did a lot of thinking and also had some good conversations with the people I was with. I am exhausted, but also thrilled that I decided to go for the weekend.  Tomorrow I would really like to be productive because today I spent putting up all my pictures and drawing and writing. It was relaxing, but I didn't do much and I don't like that. I guess I needed a day like this though. Anyway, I am off! Ciao!