Blogs from Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe - page 36

I've been going pretty much non-stop for the last five or six days. I can't sleep well and I've been doing so much that I haven't stopped to write down a thing. Well, and while that's not entirely true, I would really prefer to reorganize my thoughts before jotting them down in this little forum. Bacco, God of Wine, was worshipped this weekend at the Medeval Festival in Monteveglio and I had an incredible experience. I was immersed in rich culture and thrown in with all the young people in the town- who after hours and hours of drinking seemed to forget that I was the American girl, and its been a blast. There is a girl Ilaria that I've made good friends with. She is an artist and we have lots of passions in common. ... read more

Evo è! 1, 2, 3, 4... Evo è, più forte! EVO è! 1, 2, 3... EVO è! 1, 2, 3, 4, aspetta...EVO è! We practiced and listened to a disorganized older gentleman tell us Ragazzi! Ascolti! Ragazzi! Basta, silenzio! Imagine the entire town of Monteveglio and surrounding hamlets' population of 15-25 year olds (totaling 20?) all dressed in costume, faces painted, becoming more intoxicated as the litres and bottles of wine get passed from person to person. They swear at the authority figure and call eachother profane but endearing names. The girls chat in slurred Bolognese accents. Not but a few hours ago I met some of these people and now we form a comraderie by dancing and screaming. It started after my 8 km hike during the rainy Friday afternoon. I couldn't stand to be ... read more

I slept until 9 this morning. Saw my first black scorpion climb out from under the steps in my room before I went but for espresso. I couldn’t have slept longer because I am anxious to have a nice day off in Bologna. Got my things ready and Paola dropped me off in Crespellano to catch the train. ... read more

Today was clumsy. My hands hurt from the work and I cannot physically write so. I took my computer upstairs and sat with Serena while she watched anime in Italian. ... read more

We headed out on the 12:25pm train to La Spezia from Riomaggiore. Was sad to see the cliffs and sea disappear. We had about an hour to kill till our train to Parma and I hate to say that Richard and I violated one of our cardinal rules here at this train station. We ate at McDonald's. We had just gotten kind of sick of eating pasta and pizza in a continuous rotation with a gelato sometimes in bewteen. I'll admit it though, it felt good to be in warm embrace of the Golden Arches. Caught the train to Parma. We passed through the mountains that pretty much divide Italy in half vertically, almost like its spine. It reminded me of the US, because after we had finished going through the mountains, it was nothing ... read more