Week 5

Most of my weeks so far have felt slow, and I've felt like time was endless to do all the things I wanted. However, this was one of the first weeks were time has seemed to speed up. On Monday I got to work on a lot of watercolor techniques in my Drawing on Location class which was so much fun! I usually hate watercolor but I've been able to learn a lot of techniques which make it more enjoyable. I also had my first mid-term this week in History of the Mafia. I was nervous at first, but I ended up getting an A! History has always been my worst subject, so it had been no nice to be able to learn about a culture through history and truly understand the material.

Then on Thursday, my Marine Biology class went on a field trip to Ieranto Bay, where we got to snorkel and kayak. We had to hike down the side if the mountain to get to the bay which took about an hour. But the views were worth the sweat! While snorkeling I got to swim near so many jellyfish, hold a sea cucumber, and touch corals. We also got to snorkel through a crack within the side of the mountain which had all kinds of organisms. After snorkeling, we did the kayak. I did a double kayak with my best friend Bella! During this tour we got to go into two different caves, one of which had a blue gratto. After not being able to do the blue gratto in Capri last week due to weather, I was excited to see a blue gratto near Sorrento. This gratto was very small and not known to the tourist. We were able to swim into the cave and go into the entrance of the gratto. The gratto is a fluorescent-like blue due to the way the sunlight from the cave entrance shines off of the blue water, creating a glowing effect. After we finished, as had a small break to eat and relax before the lecture. A seagull stole my sandwich so I just sunbathed until lecture. After lecture we hiked back up the mountain where I was eventually able to find a snack.

After the field trip was over, my friends and I had to hurry back to Sorrento and grab our bags to head to the airport. We were on a crunch for time so we would not miss our flight. Luckily, we got through the airport and to our gate with plenty of time to spare. WE WERE HEADED TO PALARMO, SICILY. This trip was to celebrate Lauren's 19th birthday! We flew into Palermo that night and spent the weekend in a hostel. Pretty much as soon as we arrived, we went to bed. The next morning we spent the day just walking around Palarmo. We ended up finding a huge street market that was selling all kinds of foods, drinks, and souvenirs. We also tried the Cannoli's, which are supposed to be the best in Sicily. We got them at Cannoli and Co, which allows you to customize your cannoli and they make and fill it fresh to order. I have had many cannoli's before so I wasn't expecting this one to be any different, but it was the best cannoli I have ever had. After having a snack, we then went to the Capuchin Catacombs, which was interesting. It was a little weird because they didn't give us any history about the people inside, so we had no idea why and who was buried there. All the hallways contained real bodies, of all ages and stages of decomposition. After the catacombs, we were all a little drained, so we went back to the hostel to chill for a bit. Once we were all refreshed, we got dressed up and went out to dinner. At dinner I got Pasta alla Norna. which was so delicious and my favorite drink, a limoncello spritz. The restaurant was located in this cute little garden area near the main square. After dinner we went down the main street that had all kinds if shops, restaurants, and bars. We stumbled across this jazz club and restaurants called MAK Mixology. It was the cutest little place ever! There were all kinds of people from all over the world of all ages just coming together to enjoy the music. I got a Moscow Mule which came in a painted clay pot. We realized nobody was dancing when listening to the music, so my friends and I got up and started a dance party. So everyone was on the floor dancing to the jazz music!

After our dance party was over, we went down the main street and saw all kinds of street performers and vendors. One vendor was selling jewlery from Mexico and we quickly becaome friends with the 4 owners of the items. They made us all handmade, matching wire rings, in exchange for 2 beers! So we took the deal, and now all have friendship rings made in Palarmo. We also all bought a I "heart" Palarmo T-shirt. Then we decided to go to this bar we had see previously in the day called My Dream An Pub. The guy there was super nice and served us some very tasty and cheap drinks. Since it was Lauren's birthday, we wanted to go out and celebrate the way the local would, A STREET PARTY! Many of the locals there do not go to the clubs, but they go to the street to drink and dance. We found one of the main street where these parties happened and joined in on the fun. Blocks and blocks of the street were just full of hundreds and hundreds of people. I met many local Italians and we all danced the night away, until 4AM. At one point they even played Maneskin!!! Then we went back to the hostel and crashed.

The next morning was our last full day in Palermo, so we went to Mondello beach. Catching the bus to Mondello was one of the hardest things to do. It took us about an hour just to get to the right bus stop after asking about 5 different people for directions. Eventually we got to Mondello and it was one of the best beaches I have ever been to. The sand was so perfectly soft and the water was the bluest of blue. You could walk out forever into the water and still touch the bottom, which was nice. I also accidently feel asleep on the beach for a bit so I definitely felt rested after. Once the sun started setting, we decided to get dinner at some random Italian restaurant overlooking the water. I got a spicy salami pizza and dipped my crust in balsamic vinegar (which has become my new obsession). After dinner we then went for gelato and I tried a new flavor, watermelon, and I ordered in Italian! Then we went to catch the bus and assumed we would get on the same stop we got off of, but we were wrong. We ended up chasing the bus we were supposed to get on, but they never stopped for us. Finally we found the correct stop and were able to get on the bus back to our area and went to our hostel. The next morning we got breakfast and headed to the airport, back to Sorrento. Although I was sad to go back, I was glad I got to experience Sicily. I fell in love with that party of Italy and the culture there. Although Sorrento is in southern Italy, Sicily was such a different culture and I really enjoyed getting to know the people there.