did ya miss me?

---

Well, well, well, it seems that I have mildly failed on the Blog expose of mine. Or it could be thought of as a success that I was having SUCH a good time that I just couldn’t fit it the time. Or we could think about the reality of the situation…who really thought that I was going to make it all the way through? If any of you said yes, Kudos to you!

As of now I am recovering from a violent fever that left me sleepless for two days, so while everyone is out downtown for our last week, I am a pale, medicated student. As awful as it sounds, this is the first time I have been alone since my arrival, and my alone time is greatly valued. Therefore I look at tonight as beneficial for my well being.

These weeks have flown by, yes; there were slow days every now and then. Between schoolwork, projects, group activities, side trips from the group activities, and much wine drinking and eating, I cannot believe it has been 6 weeks.
While many of my peers felt the need to drown their nights with bottles of vodka, and fill their days as zombies with hangovers, I felt that my time spent here was worthwhile. Turin is a city. Unless I am scoring it big in the bank I will never (probably shouldn’t say never, for all I know my next job could be in LA) find myself purchasing a living space in a city. Public transportation in Italy is like most of the Italians, they are never on time nor do they feel the need to be. Thank the Lord that the city installed a metro. No driver needed here, just a smart computer to get from point a to b.
My favorite times have been outside of the city walls, and noise. My top 3 would have to be the local winery in the Piemonte Country side, my daylong Cinque Terre hike, and my recent adventurous white water rafting trip.

I booked our Hostel for Cinque Terre from a suggestion from one of Nikki’s friends. The spot turned out to be amazing. Riomaggiore is the smallest of the 5 cities and the last spot on the hike. We trained there the first night from Santa Margharita and got up early on Friday morning for a wonderful day head. I can’t forget the delicious Lobster Linguine we had. The ENTIRE lobster was included. The pasta was cooked perfectly, and their house white wine paired to my liking.
Thinking back on that Friday makes my heartbeat a tad faster, I am an easy one to please with good weather and beautiful scenery. One of the hikes was closed, so I made the executive decision for the group that we should take the “trekking” trial. Megan maybe wanted to kill me once or twice, but it was worth it. Looking to the left gorgeous aqua blue ocean that went off into the horizon, and on the right mountains filled trees and vineyards? My Nikes, gym shorts and a t-shirt? HELLO HEAVEN!
We stopped in all the little towns, walked in the overpriced gift shops, marveled at ALL of the tourist. I met a famous artist from Palm Springs, or she told me she was. I gave her my bench spot and told her to have a nice day.
After he headed to the train station because we were staying in a town called Biassa, which is located 10 minutes from La Spezia. I thought this would be an easy find, but after getting of the train in La Spezia I realized I wrote down the name and number for the place but forgot the address. Not very bright. We did have a cell phone; I called and got limited directions to the bus. The bus stop wasn’t labeled but I had written down times saying it should come every hour. It was 15 minutes late…standard. We met a boy from…he was from somewhere, who told us were to get off. We honestly might not of ever made if not, the bus headed for the hills and I thought it was supposed to be a short ride. Guess these things happen for a reason ☺.
The hostel is about the only thing going on in the town of Biassa, along with the trattoria. It made our dinning decision easy. The hostel was clean, with hot water, just the thing needed after hiking.
All of the dining establishments in Italy open earliest, 7 pm. We had some time to kill, we thought…hum…in Italy....oh yes, WINE! We walked down to a market ran by an old women. We picked out 2 bottles and then tried to communicate that we wanted cheese from her display. She looked at the bottle and then picked up a wheel, of what I couldn’t tell you, but hey she looked like she had it all going on. She REALLY did, the cheese was outstanding and it made for a great appetizer watching the sunset over the valley ahead of us.
We were the first ones to the Trattoria at 7:30…but we couldn’t wait any longer. The waiters spoke a tad of English, but the coolest part of the place was the oven! It was used to cook a dish that they said was a specialty of the area. It was these large pasta discs topped each with a fresh sauce, pesto, cheese, and mushroom. Nikki and I split that along with a mouthwatering steak topped with mushrooms. I went to bed very satisfied that night.

Rafting was a last minute decision I made. It was money I didn’t think I would do in Italy, but in the end it occurred to me that I could buy something to make me remember this trip, or I could DO something to make me remember this trip. Whelp, I did it. I went with two girls I didn’t really know and ended up having the BEST time. I had been to the Aosta Valley before, and loved it so knew I was in for a treat. The place was located as the last stop after 3 train changes, right under Mont Blanc. This mountain is the highest in Italy, and is always covered in snow. Did I mention that it was glacier water we would be rafting in? No? Well it was going to be a little different that the Salmon.
So I have a bone to pick with who ever said that Italian men were supposed to be dreamy. Because they are not. They are small, skinny, smelly, just down right inappropriate humans. Well all except for David.
David was the 6 foot, mid to upper 40 year old man that owned the Totem Adventure Company we rafted with. 20 years of experience rafting, and safety classes have done his body well. Anyways…he was a dream, so nice and so was his staff. After a safety class they suited us up with wet suits and booties!!
I don’t even know how to explain my time on the river, for those of you who have rafted know, and those of you who haven’t….well….sorry. We loved it so much we paid on the spot for them to take us up higher to for more. We were the only three of the group of 10. We took a smaller boat and an instructor with us; David let us know that we might all be, “taking a swim on this one.” I thought it was an invitation for a good time. We made it. Drenched in water, tired, and SO HAPPY. They had outdoor showers with hot water and hot tea and biscuits waiting for us after we changed. David treated us to wine from the valley after…3 bottles later, his other guides offered to have us stay in their apartment, because we were laughing about how we were going to have to run to the train. They said it was roomy. As tempting as this offer was, we said our goodbyes, SPRINTED to our train and slept all the way home on the train. Had to be back for 9 am class!

---