Catching up: calcio and seaside hiking

Heeeeeeey there. Hi. It’s been a while. A really long while. Sorry! I hope I didn’t lose you! These past few weeks have been pretty business as usual with a few adventures thrown in here and there. Ok, I am lying. Honestly, everyday still feels like an adventure to me, and since I am almost three-fourths of the way done with my European sojourn, I don’t think that will change. These past few weeks have included:

Going to Parma (I’ll go ahead and fill you in. There’s not much in Parma. But there is Parmesan cheese. And it’s really really good. SHOCKER. But yeah, it was good enough to be worth the hour-long train ride there and back. I had Parmaggiano style risotto and it was heeeavenly)

Bologna/Inter soccer game

Starting my internship (teaching English to an elementary school class and a middle school class)

Halloween

Cinque terre trip

Florence

Rebecca and Kristin visiting

A few weeks ago we got our program directors to agree to get us tickets to a soccer game at the stadium here in Bologna. It was sweet. Okay what it actually was was really cold and rainy BUT still an experience. The fans are pazzi (crazy). They are constantly yelling (man are they masters of swearing) and waving flags. Most of the things they did I am pretty sure would be illegal in any stadium in the US (like setting off colored smoke bombs and a cannon at random intervals) which was casual. We got tickets in the “rowdy” section but we weren’t really in the thick of the crazy fans (probably safer). I did enjoy the two ladies sitting behind us though. They had some attitude! Constantly shouting “DAI! DAI!” (come on!) and “vafaculo!” (I will let you look that one up) which was appropriately Italian. Oh and the hand gestures! There must be some little conductor in all of their heads because they are all able to  throw their arms in a frustrated manner at the exact same time. It’s beautiful. Anyways I found myself watching the fans more than the actual game and then I stopped being able to feel my toes so we decided to leave a little early. The rest of the fans stayed strong though. Respect.

Halloween was a few days later, but it goes largely unnoticed in Italy. However, most of my friends here are from the University of Wisconsin Madison so they were not about to let Halloween slide. So basically we all dressed up and pretended that we were in America for the night. My friend Emily and I planned on going as US presidents but then our costumes turned out more like The Blues Brothers (which I was fine with. We looked super chill.)

Next day? CINQUE TERRE!!!

We set a leisurely departure time for Cinque Terre of 2:30 pm, giving ourselves plenty of time to recover from our Halloween shenanigans and pack and everything. Right? Nope. Still ended up running to the train station just because we can’t bring our Italian selves to be on time anymore. Because you literally never have to be “on time” for anything here. Except for trains. Not that the trains are reliable. They sometimes leave twenty minutes late, sometimes a little early. You really just never know. So anyways, we sprinted to the train station and then ended up having plenty of time. We just have to keep it exciting! After a long but beautiful train ride through the country side (mountains and rivers and fields, oh my! I was surprisingly reminded of Colorado for a lot of the ride. We passed over some really large rivers, which I was not expecting) we arrived in Cinque Terre without any problems.

Another lie. After three successful transfers we ended up missing our final stop. After a little panic, we only had to wait about 10 minutes for a train going back the other way and instead of being early for our hostel check in we waltzed in right on time. Tutto al posto.

You should know that this trip was marked with little mishaps as mentioned above. Like a lot of them. But it was still one of the best weekends I have had here, if not one of the best I have ever had. Can’t take the good without the bad I guess.

Our hostel was actually more of an apartment meant for like four people that fit 8. Luckily we were seven and we all like each other so it was perfect for us! Dinner was pretty much the only item on the agenda and after wandering around for quite some time we found a lovely place right by the sea and I got a pesto pasta in a region that is known for its pesto. This was a big deal for me. Pesto is pretty much my lifeline- and this was probably the best I have ever had. Sorry, Central Market pesto, you finally met your match. After a little exploring by the marina we went crashed way earlier than our young college-attending selves would like to admit.

Friday morning we woke up bright and early for our full day of hiking. Nothing could stop us!! Except, yep, you guessed it…. We went into the office for the national park and asked for tickets only to be told “all the trails are closed today” and that we couldn’t take any train between cities because someone had died on the train. Or been hit by one. Or the guy who drives the drain died. It was really unclear. Shocked into silence, we left.

And that was the end of our trip.

Not really. Five minutes later Emily and I went back inside and she told us that the more difficult trail was still open, we just had to take the train to the next city to start it.

Okay. Perfect. Totally the opposite of what was said the first time but LET’S GO. So we went. And it was lovely. When we got to the second city we were greeted by the incredibly beautiful sea. Shouldn’t even attempt to describe it.I will just put my pictures (even though they hardly do it justice either). However, in order to complete the image, one must know that the waves were tremendously loud. I don’t know why Neptune was so angry, but boy he was. Oh and also the smell. But I think everyone has their favorite sea smell. So you can just imagine that too. Lots of salt, lots of freshness, and lots of greenery. Okay.

 Our only other mishap of the day was that when we got to the second city we had no idea where the trail started. So we headed to the sea, because obviously why wouldn’t we it’s so pretty. But that trail was blocked. So we wandered some more and found ourselves in the middle of  some gardens/vineyards on the side of a hill with no trail in site. Whoops. After adjusting our aim a little we hiked for the whole rest of the day through vineyards, up mountains, along the coast, through olive groves, over rocks and up more hills. Add in a picnic lunch by the shore, one of the best gelatos I have had in Italy so far (maybe because it was by far the most deserved), countless movie quotes from Jurassic Park and Madagascar (thanks, Lauren), some made up songs, and a meeting with the nicest couple from Neenah, Wisconsin (the same town as two of my friends that we were with, Lauren and Monica. They knew Monica’s dad and uncle. Smalllll world) and you pretty much have our day. As for the evening: teamwork produced salad and pasta carbonara, and cards all night long. I mean, until the girl talk took over and then we passed out.

On Saturday we only had one more city to hike to so we took a train to the fourth city (the one we ended with on Friday) and then hiked to the fifth. The weather was a contradiction to the day before. Friday was abundant sunshine and blossoming flowers whereas Saturday was low-lying fog and mysterious lush greens. Best of both worlds, in my opinion. I really will just let the pictures do the talking. After a much harder hike (probably because we were feeling the one from the day before. Or because it started going uphill and I don’t think it ever stopped) we made it to the final city feeling very accomplished. And it was just in the nick of time because fifteen minutes later it dropped about ten degrees and started raining. So naturally we took this as our cue to go the beach and frolic in the sea. (by the way, mom, I knew it was on the Mediterranean, I just couldn’t remember which subdivision it was. It’s the Ligurian, by the way). This decision may have resulted in shivering all the way home but, as always, #noregrets.

Final mishap of the trip? Totally not our fault. One of our trains was, in typical Italian style, late. So we missed our transfer in La Spezia- so we were stuck there for two hours waiting for the next train. Our wandering around La Spezia caused Lauren to deem it the “Hollywood of Italy”. I think the jury is still out on that one. But after a donut and some more cards in a bar, we finallyyyyy got on our way home. OH I lied there was one more mishap. During one of our transfers we went to the platform that was indicated on the screen. Right at the time of departure a voice came on the overhead speaker and said something that none of us paid attention to. That is, until people near us started running. Luckily Emily looked over and saw like two platforms away “Bologna”- aka our train. Running to catch a train? Become a regular hobby of ours. This time it was validated because we made it with about 30 seconds to spare. Those tricky Italians! Always changing things last minute, keeping things exciting.

Basically, by that night we could not have been happier to be back in Bologna, nor more grateful for an incredible weekend by the sea.

Stay tuned because really soon I am going to post about my classes and my teaching job because I swear I go to class and have a whole lot to read. Like all the time. I just took two tests this week, which I think both went fairly well weeeeeee!