Italy

Well that was a really long break wasn't it. School has been trying to kill me lately, but enough with the excuses, let's talk about Italy! So my friend Elena, who's here in Coruña with me, has a house in Italy. Her parents were born, grew up and met in this little village in the south of Italy. They then immigrated to the United States in their 20's, but they still have family there, a house there, and visit a good amount. Since they had come to visit Elena over Easter, they decided to head directly to Italy after, and they'll be there until mid-June. Naturally this meant that we had to get our butts over to Italy. Let me say- this was not an easy feat. As always, let me explain the travel process:
1. Taxi to the train station (we had 2 giant suitcases: 1 full of Elena's winter clothes that she was leaving with her parents, another one that we were sharing for the week)
2. Train from Coruña to Santiago de Compostela
3. Taxi from the train station in Santiago to  the Airport there
4. Fly from Santiago to Barcelona, arrive around midnight.
5. 8 hour overnight layover in the Barcelona airport.
6. Fly from Barcelona to Rome
7. Fly from Rome to Lamezia
8. Drive 1hr from Lamezia to the tiny village of Mongressano

Let me say, the worst part of this was definitely the layover in Barcelona. It was so freaky too because, Barcelona is a MAJOR airport and I'm telling you, this place was deserted. Another fun fact, marble floors are cold and not comfortable at all. However all of the traveling was completely worth it. This tiny village is one of many nestled up in the mountains of Calabria. You have to swerve in zig-zags up the mountains, going through tunnels that are literally carved into the earth, and occasionally finding yourself driving across a bridge connecting mountains. The mountains were completely covered in trees, and the air was so fresh. Another thing that made the traveling worth it? The food that we encountered when we arrived. I was so confused as to why there seemed to be food for about 30, yet only 8 place settings. I guess that's Italy for you though! Every time I thought that everything was out of the kitchen and on the table, Elena's aunt or mom would go back into the kitchen and bring out something else delicious. Some food highlights from the week include some type of sausage/pepperoni that her aunt MAKES, ricotta cheese with everything, jelly filled cookies, pasta, chicken rollatini, spinach, tomato salad, mozzerella, more jelly filled cookies, gelato and cheesy-fried rice and eggplant balls. Yummmmm!
We went on a few excursions too which were fun. We went to the beach twice, once just to walk around the second time to get our tan on. We even got to go swimming in the Mediterranean Ocean. It was a little cold initially, but hey, I consider myself a nauset-beach girl. It was nothing in comparison to that. We had a minor injury when Elena stubbed her toe on a giant rock in the water, but other than that we had a great time! We also went to a church/retreat place of San Francisco (Saint Francis, possible translation?). Apparently the dude got there a few (thousand) years ago, cracked open a rock, water came bursting out of it and it hasn't stopped flowing yet. I drank some of the holy water. No miracles yet, but I'm sure mine will come soon.
Another fun part of the trip was the last day when we had a little photo-shoot. Elena's aunt makes traditional Calabrese dresses for people of the town. Apparently they're really popular for festivals, and people just like to have them because they're so traditional. They used to be what women wore for their weddings! They were gorgeous in satin or velvet, and such vibrant colors.
Elena's family was so kind and welcoming and I had such a great time. I honestly felt like I had been adopted in a a big ol' Italian family. We also had a lot of homework that we had to do while we were there, so it was nice to be in a family setting and just keep everything really relaxed. I picked up a few Italian words too given that I was the only one that wasn't able to communicate with others. Apparently my accent was really cute too, because Elena's Italian guy friends loved hearing me say words. I had no real idea what I was saying, but they just get throwing out words for me to say and then would freak out as soon as it came off my lips. I even got made into a ringtone, so now apparently when this kid receives a text message, it's me saying "butterfly" in the town dialect of Italian. It was so funny at the time!

Okay, I'm really sorry that there are no pictures in this blog, Blogger is having a problem and can't retrieve them. But this might work out to your favor, because here is the link for my facebook album and you can see all 80+ pictures from the trip!
Love ya guys! 2 weeks!