the first long weekend...
...was crazy. A lot more crazy than what I am used to.
My roommates, Jessica, Caroline and I went to Lucca/Viareggio this past weekend. We caught the train Friday morning and were in Lucca by 4:00pm. After successfully finding our hostel, we went out to rent bikes to ride up along the Medieval walls that surround the city. I was a bit apprehensive about the idea at first, mainly because I hadnàt ridden a bike in ages, but it turned out the be really fun. The views from the walls were beautiful, and we spent a pleasent hour cruising along.
Part of the reason we came to Lucca was because Caroline has family friends who live there, so she got in touch with them, and they invited us to their house for dinner. Their house was enormous and beautiful, with grape vines and olive trees in the back yard. The mother made us a real three course Italian dinner, consisting of: a variation of my beloved spaghetti carbonara, steak, and this awesome spinach cake (that is not made with sugar but it still really sweet and really good). Wine, cheese and break abounded, and all the food was delicious. We all spoke a mixture of Italian and English- they all knew English very well, since they have visited the States numerous times, but wanted us to practice our Italian, which we did, sort of. After dinner, the father and the daughter took us to the next town, Montecarlo, for a drink, and then drove us back to our hostel. After making plans with Elisa, the daughter, to meet up again the next night, we all collapsed into bed.
The next morning, we caught a bus to Viareggio, where the beach is. It was absolutely gorgeous, with the mountains all around us to the back and the ocean all in front. It was really nice to just lie there, relaxing and soaking up the sun. We got back to Lucca around 5. We all showered and got ready to go out, though Elisa wasn't meeting us till 9. Since we couldn't wait that long, we headed out and found a cute little wine bar where we ordered some antipasti- a salami and cheese plate and some bruschetta- as well as a glass of wine for each. Our actual dinner with Elisa was fantastic. She took us to the best pizza place in town, where we gobbled up two huge pizze as well as some kind of fried bean thing, which was really good.
After dinner, we met up with Ilaria, Elisa's sister, and her boyfriend, and with one of Elisa's best friends, Francesco. Then we hit the town. They drove us to a place that had a long strip consisting only of bars. It was cool, but by this point I was exhausted and really ready to get into bed. However, everyone else was too ready to stay out all night, and that's exactly what we did. The other girls were drinking and dancing, Sara hooked up with Francesco, and I sat there, tired and lonely, till about 4 am, when we headed to a bar that was miraculously still open to have "breakfast." By this point I was really angry and just dead to the world. I didn't really care that I was "experiencing Italian life"- why do I want to experience it if I'm not going to enjoy it at all. So that was a bit rough. We got back around 5am, fell asleep, got up at 9 and headed to the train to get back to Orvieto.
I feel that if I had been with my friends from Oberlin, I probably would have had a bit more fun, just because I know them inside and out, just like they do me. I just felt a bit awkward around the other girls, since I don't really drink and they were all pretty smashed. Plus I was exhausted from Thursday and Friday night, and, as all my friends know, I don't function well when sleep deprived.
I dont want everyone to think that I had an awful time, cuz I didn't; I just would have done a few things differently.
This week should be really fun though. Tomorrow we are going to see the caves and Tiberius' villa at Sperlonga, and the on Friday we are going to Parrano to go spelunking. I can't wait! Then Chris is coming up this weekend and we are going to spend some nice, quiet, relaxing time together. I can't wait. :-)
-ciao
[edit] So I guess I should mention that on Thursday night we all went out to a bar and I met Peter Roodhouse, WALNUT HILLS CLASS OF 2006!!!!! It was really freaky, sinec we're in freakin' Orvieto. So yeah. Cool beans.
My roommates, Jessica, Caroline and I went to Lucca/Viareggio this past weekend. We caught the train Friday morning and were in Lucca by 4:00pm. After successfully finding our hostel, we went out to rent bikes to ride up along the Medieval walls that surround the city. I was a bit apprehensive about the idea at first, mainly because I hadnàt ridden a bike in ages, but it turned out the be really fun. The views from the walls were beautiful, and we spent a pleasent hour cruising along.
Part of the reason we came to Lucca was because Caroline has family friends who live there, so she got in touch with them, and they invited us to their house for dinner. Their house was enormous and beautiful, with grape vines and olive trees in the back yard. The mother made us a real three course Italian dinner, consisting of: a variation of my beloved spaghetti carbonara, steak, and this awesome spinach cake (that is not made with sugar but it still really sweet and really good). Wine, cheese and break abounded, and all the food was delicious. We all spoke a mixture of Italian and English- they all knew English very well, since they have visited the States numerous times, but wanted us to practice our Italian, which we did, sort of. After dinner, the father and the daughter took us to the next town, Montecarlo, for a drink, and then drove us back to our hostel. After making plans with Elisa, the daughter, to meet up again the next night, we all collapsed into bed.
The next morning, we caught a bus to Viareggio, where the beach is. It was absolutely gorgeous, with the mountains all around us to the back and the ocean all in front. It was really nice to just lie there, relaxing and soaking up the sun. We got back to Lucca around 5. We all showered and got ready to go out, though Elisa wasn't meeting us till 9. Since we couldn't wait that long, we headed out and found a cute little wine bar where we ordered some antipasti- a salami and cheese plate and some bruschetta- as well as a glass of wine for each. Our actual dinner with Elisa was fantastic. She took us to the best pizza place in town, where we gobbled up two huge pizze as well as some kind of fried bean thing, which was really good.
After dinner, we met up with Ilaria, Elisa's sister, and her boyfriend, and with one of Elisa's best friends, Francesco. Then we hit the town. They drove us to a place that had a long strip consisting only of bars. It was cool, but by this point I was exhausted and really ready to get into bed. However, everyone else was too ready to stay out all night, and that's exactly what we did. The other girls were drinking and dancing, Sara hooked up with Francesco, and I sat there, tired and lonely, till about 4 am, when we headed to a bar that was miraculously still open to have "breakfast." By this point I was really angry and just dead to the world. I didn't really care that I was "experiencing Italian life"- why do I want to experience it if I'm not going to enjoy it at all. So that was a bit rough. We got back around 5am, fell asleep, got up at 9 and headed to the train to get back to Orvieto.
I feel that if I had been with my friends from Oberlin, I probably would have had a bit more fun, just because I know them inside and out, just like they do me. I just felt a bit awkward around the other girls, since I don't really drink and they were all pretty smashed. Plus I was exhausted from Thursday and Friday night, and, as all my friends know, I don't function well when sleep deprived.
I dont want everyone to think that I had an awful time, cuz I didn't; I just would have done a few things differently.
This week should be really fun though. Tomorrow we are going to see the caves and Tiberius' villa at Sperlonga, and the on Friday we are going to Parrano to go spelunking. I can't wait! Then Chris is coming up this weekend and we are going to spend some nice, quiet, relaxing time together. I can't wait. :-)
-ciao
[edit] So I guess I should mention that on Thursday night we all went out to a bar and I met Peter Roodhouse, WALNUT HILLS CLASS OF 2006!!!!! It was really freaky, sinec we're in freakin' Orvieto. So yeah. Cool beans.