Side note: I almost started outright crying over my pizza today. That's how bad I am hahaha even my favorite pizza can set me off.
You know you truly love something when even seeing a stupid buzzfeed list of the "39 best things about study abroad in italy" makes you tear up because you know you'll be leaving soon. This happened the other day because Shannon....I mean Shauna ;) and Rebeca posted it.
Anyway, my time here is quickly dwindling and I will be on a plane back to the US in 2 short days. I have really loved it here with my family and all my new friends. Hopefully, this group will be better at meeting up than my other group. We have really had so much fun together. But until I leave I will make Italia Appreciation Posts. So San Galgano was the first Gothic style church in Tuscany and it was used pretty regularly, then it fell into disuse for some reason I don't really know and at one point there was a storm and the tower fell down making the roof cave in and then it was abandoned. Now people can come see it and a small hermitage of Saint Galgano very close to it where there is the real life sword in the stone. We were able to go visit the church because some friends of our said they would be willing to take us. It was a really fantastic day and we had a lot of fun. The countryside where this church is tucked away is truly beautiful and I'll be sorry to leave Tuscany in a week.
So most of the group left for Venice,and since I've already been and it wasn't my favorite place I decided to stay close to Siena. Chris, Rebeca, and I spend yesterday afternoon in San Gimignano where they have the World Champ gelato shop. I am not ashamed to say that I had gelato 4 times that day. It is my new record. 9 flavors/scoops in one day. I skipped lunch and went running to try and compensate for all the sugar hahaha. #TwerkingInTuscany It rained for a bit but it actually turned out to be a good thing because it made the blisteringly hot day into a relatively decent day .
This most recent weekend we were still craving the beach so we went to the beach closest to Siena in Castiglione a Pescaia or Something. I can’t quite remember the name. But it was beautiful and we had a fun afternoon there. We did the beach trip right after exploring the bottini of Siena. The bottini is a network of underground tunnels that house a bunch of waterways that flow throughout the city supplying water to all the public fountains.
Anyway going to the beach afterwards was great. I really love the ocean. I can’t really describe how much I love the ocean actually. I love the sound of the roaring water as it crashes into the shore and sweeps the rocks or sand back with it. I love the sounds of all the people enjoying the beach and the water. I love swimming in the cold water just to jump back out and sit under the hot sun. .... I just love the whole experience. So not this most recent weekend, but the one before that I went back to one of my most favorite places on earth. I made it back to Cinque Terre. The place was just as beautiful as I remembered and I had a great time. The group dynamics were a bit frustrating from time to time but overall we had a really good time together. On the last day we broke off into little groups to do what we were most interested in. I ended up on my own and I had a lot of fun. I went snorkeling and swimming in Riomaggiore, got gelato, got some souvenirs and basically just hung out in the town while I ate deep fried calamari. A good end to a great weekend.
Many more photos to follow :D |
AuthorA girl with big dreams, crazy ideas, and plans to make it all happen. Archives
September 2015
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