That was one CRAZY Italian weekend......Part 1

WOW. There is nothing else to say. No words could justify the experiences and people that I have already had and met in just the first 5 days that we have been here!!! So many of you have messaged me wanting details and I apologize for not keeping you up-to-date!! Since Thursday, or since we arrived basically, we have been going NON-STOP!! There is SO much to do and see, and we just can't let these opportunities pass us. So, with that being said, let me bring you up-to-date as best I can:

Sidenote: My days are really running together, so for my own sake, I'm going to "think out loud" if you will. :)

We of course arrived on Wednesday evening, January 7th, around 9PM. We probably didn't get into bed that night until around 2 AM and we spent that time getting to know the other students that were already here, checking out the Villa, unpacking, and drinking espressos.

Thursday, January 8th:

We slept in until about 11:45 AM but awoke very quickly to take a quick walk around our neighborhood, Castelletto (which means, "many castles..." and there are MANY castles around us...it is truly remarkable. There is one DIRECTLY beside us. They are mostly circa 15th/16th century. Beautiful.) because we had to be back by 1 PM for lunch.

Lunch is prepared and served by our cook, Angelina everday at 1 PM. We MUST be here for this; not that I would ever miss a meal!! So we only had about 1 hour on this particular morning to "explore," but we did see some incredible sights and captured some great pictures. I can't wait to share pictures of all the STEEP stairs around us; and YES....we walk each and every single one about 5 times a day. It's the craziest thing I've ever done.

Anywho, we had lunch, which was delicious (as every meal I have had so far has been and I don't doubt that every other one will be anything but). After lunch the whole lot of us went out into the city to see if we could find our way around. When you come down the mountain from our neighborhood into the city, it is a lot of streets; more specifically narrow streets or alley streets. These streets are lined with little shops, whether it be commercial, cafés, restaurants, or the butcher. They wind through and through, and we walked and walked. We also managed to find an amazing bakery that Leslee -another student- and I were scoping out for their fine chocolates!! :) We explored the streets until it got dark and we then headed BACK up the hill to our Villa. 

When we returned, we had dinner. During the week, Angelina prepares dinner after lunch, and we are responsible for heating it up to eat in the evenings because she leaves to go home. Dinner was, of course, amazing and afterwards the entire class (all 18 of us) sat around for hours talking and getting to know one another, sharing our previous experiences.

Everyone is so incredibly nice and friendly. You never know what you're going to get coming into experiences like this, but I've already made some really great friends!!! :)

 

     

Beautiful sights in Genoa!!