Saying Goodbye to San Lorenzo

I have made amazing friends and learned so much in the small town of San Lorenzo. Tomorrow I am setting out to see more of Europe, I am sad to leave but I cannot wait for everything yet to come and all the things I have yet to experience.
This weekend was absolutely wonderful. We went to this insane wine festival in Casarsa, it was somewhat like a fair. The rides were absolutely ridiculous, they would never be allowed in America, think about your time at a fair minus the workers going around and checking to make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened, rides with no seatbelts whatsoever, rides starting with people still standing up! It was unlike anything I have ever seen, apparently no one is worried about lawsuits...I am sure you have all seen the ride at a fair that consists of one cage with seating on one side and one on the opposite side and they swing opposite directions back and forth like a pendulum and eventually they swing all the way upside down, leaving passengers suspended upside down for moments at a time...the Italian version of this ride adds a cage, a literal cage, on the ends of the seated areas where passengers stand! Yes, they stand and use the bars to hold themselves in place and dangle as the ride goes back and forth. Never never never in America, it was intense...
On Saturday we went to a lovely park and had a picnic and took lots of pictures. Pete and Amanda are the lovely couple in the photos, and my darling Kait is the beautiful girl in most of my pictures. I will miss these three so much. It is crazy how close we have all gotten during the last month...We got all dressed up that night for graduation, it was small and very personal.
Today, Kait and I visited the small town of Sacille to visit Emma. I have neglected to mention Emma in the past because every time I try to write about her I am overwhelmed with a wave of emotion. I feel there is so much to say and no possible way to put it in words that truly express this woman and the place she will forever inhibit in my memory. Kait and I formed a special bond with this woman and we have spent many Saturdays going to listen to her share her wisdom, her experiences and her thoughts on life looking back. Today was a rough day saying goodbye, but Emma would say, "It is life, all part of life..."
I will have limited access to any type of communication so...if you do not hear from me I apologize:( I will try to update the blog here and there when I can. I am headed to Ireland tomorrow, then Scotland, Spain, France, Germany and I will end my travels back here in Italy. If you don't see the photos right away, fear not, I will post them all when I return to the states on May 25! Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you all have a good month.

I

MISS

YOU

Erick and I have this thing for trees, especially single trees...you know the ones that stand out because they are all alone, like whatever took out everything around them somehow just passed them by or their forest just deserted them...making them seem mysterious and out of place...We decided, one day we are going to take a road trip for no other reason than to take pictures of single trees...I can't wait...
Erick, these are some trees that reminded me of you in different places all over Italy, one is in the metro station in Rome, it is a sign and I have no idea what it is for, another is in the Roman Forum. I will see you soon my dearest boy:)

Spring

Spring in San Lorenzo, Italy has been so much more than all my time in every other part of this country. The quiet walks through the vineyards and the moments spent in the sunshine have pulled so many of my emotions to the surface. The silent scenes that play right outside the walls of our school are enough to steal anyone's breath, from the vineyards to the magnificent alps to the tiny flowers that line every dirt road...it's all ridiculously full of life and beauty.

Erick told me about a conversation he had with his little second cousin Chayce last night, it made me smile. I thought you all would enjoy it as well.

Chayce: Hi Erick!
Erick: Hey bro how's it going?
Chayce: Good, did you hear about the earthquake in Italy?
Erick: Yeah man that was pretty scary...
Chayce: Yeah is your girlfriend ok?
Erick: Yeah she didn't even feel it she is pretty far away from where it happened.
Chayce: Good! Because a lot of people died and a lot of people were injured. I hope that if she was in it she would be injured and not dead.
Erick: Yeah I would hate for her to die.
Chayce: Yeah then you'd have to find a new one.

I am really thankful Erick doesn't have to find a new one:)

Ok...MALTA

Wow there are so many things I could say about Malta it will never be forgotten and definitely tops the charts for spring break experiences.
The flight to Malta was my first with Ryanair, the cheapest airline ever. It was hilarious. There is no line to get on the plane just a huge group of people crowding around the door and when the attendants open them there is just a mad rush for the plane, people running out to the plane! When was the last time you ran out to a plane? In America everyone is playing it so cool and walking to their spots, not on Ryanair...Italians are not loud, and this flight was the loudest two hours ever on a plane. It could have been the group of school kids occupying half the aircraft, but it was so loud the entire time! Everyone cheered after take-off and landing and although most of them did not speak English they were all singing "We Are The Champions", so funny!
After arriving in the airport, we went straight to tourist information to figure out how we were going to get to our hotel on the other side of the island. Earlier a woman from the hotel told us that there was no public transportation from the airport, she totally lied...the public transportation was amazing! It did of course take us a lot longer than a taxi would have, around two hours actually, but we rode for around a dollar in the most amazing vintage buses. When we went outside to the bus stop we assumed the huge thing parked there was some sort of sign to just represent where to board, no it was our bus and the coolest bus I will ever ride in. We got in and paid the bus driver, which took forever because everyone pays and he does the math and gives out the change to every person. Then he cranked it up and proceeded to drive down the left side of the most crowded streets and curviest roads, it was quite the ride and we loved every minute.
We stayed in an amazing hotel, with three pools and the best breakfast buffet of all time, with tons of fruit, hence the pictures of my many left-0ver melon and orange peels. A waiter came up to me one morning and took my plate and said in broken English, "you must really like fruit..." It was somewhat embarrassing, we stuffed ourselves at breakfast, because we didn't want to spend money on food for the rest of the day. Sitting in the dining hall was amazing because I love to people-watch and being there I watched dozens of different kinds of people and listened to so many different languages, it was beautiful.
We seriously lounged around so much, me more so than anyone else, I am literally so completely "touristed" out and this past week was exactly what I needed. We just laid out by the pool and walked to the markets whenever we wanted fruit or snacks. One day we hiked around to this beach which we were convinced Mari had discovered, it was in reality a public beach and the route we took completely unneccessary but it was an adventure and well worth the hike. I think that if I had not been able to lay around and catch up on sleep, there would be no way I could travel for the four weeks after school is done. I am so thankful so very very thankful.
We sang karaoke one night, which was so great. Another night we stumbled across an amazing local band who covered songs by Oasis, Coldplay and Snow Patrol, they were really great and we ended up hanging out with them afterwards. We talked into the wee hours of the night about the crazy Maltese drivers, the America they percieve and the parts they have seen and the pieces of Malta we missed out on because we relaxed too much, we all decided we had to return to Malta one day...
So we all returned with sad faces to Italy on Saturday. Two hours on a vintage bus, two hours on another stuffed crazy plane, twenty minutes to the train station in Venice, two hours on the train and a forty minute walk from Casarsa to our little town of San Lorenzo, we returned to our routine.
How crazy that we were sad about returning to Italy? Who gets sad about returning to Italy? We are spoiled, I am spoiled and my routine is a routine that involves living in a foreign country, which at times can be ridiculously exhausting, but who knows if I will ever get this opportunity again...

Malta Pictures...

I will write as soon as I get the chance! We are diving right into another class...Kill me.