Trovavo Paradiso

This weekend I heeded some advice from other people who have been to Italy and planned a trip to Cinque Terre in the Liguria province where it is apparently perfect temperature all year round. We hit it at the exact right moment, right at the end of “high season” for the tourists, but when the temperatures were in the high 70’s to low 80’s all weekend, warm enough to swim in the Mediterranean, and not intense enough to lie on the beach for two days straight without sunscreen and not get burned!
I will definitely post pictures because I can’t even describe how beautiful it is there, five towns that cling to the cliffs over the sea and you can walk between all of them on paths, find little rock coves to sunbathe in, or just jump into the Ligurian Sea (I think it is the Ligurian, or the Mediterranean, or whatever they are all connected anyway). Our spontaneous weekend turned out perfectly with us finding a three bedroom apartment for rent in the tiniest town of Riomaggiore for only 150 euros (which split between 9 girls was cheaper than any hostel). We made our own dinner for the night of fresh pasta and pesto, salad, peach slices wrapped in prosciutto, chocolate, wine, strawberries and mascarpone. It was a really amazing night and we definitely all bonded.
Riomaggiore doesn’t really have an actual beach but we found a huge rock jetty of these giant flat marble stones and brought a lunch out there and just laid around and jumped in the sea when we felt like it. Sunday we took the train to the largest of the five towns, Monterosso, which is more touristy but has actual sand beaches as well. Katherine and I got home late last night exhausted and covered in a fine layer of Mediterranean sea salt.
I slept incredibly well, remembering how much lying on the beach can take it out of you, and woke up this morning for my first day of the real semester. I went to three classes today: our required stylistics course, Italian literature, and the history of Florence. All of them were amazing and I was reminded during my literature class how much I love my major and the reason I am so in love with Italian literature. Learning about these things that I have been passionate about for so long in the language I have slowly been falling in love with is incredible. Sorry if it sounds like I am writing a college essay here but I’m really happy that I am enjoying even the academic aspect of being here. I will only have class three days a week at the Smith Center this semester, and don’t start auditing my University of Florence class for another couple weeks. Every time I look at the date I can’t believe how fast the time has been going, I’m coming up on my one month mark but still feel like I could spend the entire year here traveling as much as I have been and not see it all.
I feel as if I am getting more comfortable with the language, although every time I have a grammar lesson I realize how much I still don’t quite understand, and I also am getting much better at navigating the city and the transportation systems. It has also been difficult keeping in contact with people from home with the lack of available wireless here, which is proving a bit frustrating, but slowly I am figuring things out. Right now I am sitting outside of a café that lets you use their wireless if you buy something, Katherine and I had some cappuccinos, but there are also a lot of students bumming the wireless on the sidewalk next to us. I can’t wait for my family and friends who are coming to visit me this year so I can show them such an amazing place. I hope this blog is proving useful and/or interesting for you guys, and if any of you have questions or want to drop me a line you can email me anytime! maggie.mertens@gmail.com
Ciao!