June 12 2017

Friday, June 9th was the first time I have ever celebrated my birthday away from home. It was a whirlwind of emotions. 

The day started off really well by getting breakfast with Giogio. Earlier that week she had been horrified to  find out that I had never tried granita (similar to a slushy or snow cone) with cream. SO for birthday breakfast we got coffee granita and the typical brioche to eat with it.

Of course we just had to walk down the stairs to go Maurizio at Cafe Roma,.

I then walked to school for the last time.

First hour I was with 5F where I have a few friends. 

I then had to pass the next two hours with my classmates, which unfortunately has never been a good situation. Each individual person has always been nice, but I have never been able to enter into the group and always feel very invisible and alone. It was especially hard because it was their last day together. They wished me happy birthday and then ignored me. It was probably the hardest part of the day.

I knew that it was also art day, but once again as an exchange student (even after 10 months) I always seem to miss information or confuse it. So after school I arrived late, and missed all the fun parts. 

At that point, I was feeling pretty down but I knew I had a package from my parents waiting at home for me. Because they didn't want me to have to put anything else in my suitcase it was full of treats to share. While calling my mom, I had a very refreshing breakdown. 

After pulling myself together, I went to my favorite sandwich place for a nice birthday lunch with Giogio, Zia Graziella, and Anna.

Unfortunately after lunch I ended up having to spend the whole afternoon by myself. I took an hour long walk in the green under the bridges, did some yoga and took a nap.

That night I met seven friends for pizza. It had been a but of a mess organizing the whole thing but in the end it was one of the best parts of my day. 

Giogio surprised me by passing my the pizzeria earlier that day and dropping off a cake! 

(I have a cute photo that is refusing to download) - the next day I spent the whole morning packing my suitcases for Eurotour and for when I come home. After lunch Giogio and I went down to Marina di Ragusa, and I met a few of the rugby girls for dinner.

We slept at the Marina house, and after waking up late, we went down to the beach and got on Giogio and Pino's boat! Two of their friends met us.

After driving for a while we stopped at a beach and threw over the anchor. We were able to touch and we carried our bag of sandwiches and umbrella to some rocks for lunch. (Once a gain I have another cute photo of us walking in the water with the bags on our heads, but I think the computer is running out of space to download.)

A giant jellyfish slowly floated by the boat!!!

Tomorrow I leave for Eurotour! The very soonest I'll be able to post again is June 30th.

June 8 2017

Friday, I met the rugby team at 5:30am to head to the airport.

 I was really happy to travel with the girls, but sometime it was a little hard. Because I don't play (because of documents and also because of all the uncalled illegal tackles that I've seen), I sometime don't feel like I am fully apart of the team. Sometimes being an exchange student I miss important information posted in the group chat. I was a little sad when I saw that everyone had borrowed matching backpacks from the boys team, and even though I had the same matching shirt, I've never been given or offered any of the other clothes the girls have (even when I've specifically asked).

In the afternoon we arrived in Milan and took the metro to the center for a quick lunch.

After two extremely hot and sweaty train rides we arrived in Calvisano! While I was quickly taking this photo a group of boys from the train window started joking with me about putting it on social media (they didn't know that I am way trendier and have a blog). 

The next day after a slow morning we started the tournament in the afternoon. In Minnesota I played 15's rugby with 30 minute halves. The girls play a very different version where they play 7's but only use half the field and play for one ten minute half.  Unfortunately during the third game, my friend Giuliana fell badly and broke her ankle and was taken to the hospital. 

After losing all four games, we got to watches the Italian Women's 15's final championship game!

Of course there is always music and dancing. 

The next day we had another four games in the morning and once again lost them all. But we had fun. 

We took another two trains and went to Verona for the evening! 

The park.

Greek amphitheater. 

The center.

Walking through the street we got to explore a bit. Giuliana was a trooper with the crutches but every once in a while the girls could see when was tires and carried her, and for a bit our coach, carried her around on his shoulders. All the tourist in Verona thought we were cute. 

We got to see Juliette's balcony! Sadly the gate to was locked and we couldn't get close.

"This was the house of the Capulets, from which Juliette went out, for whom many kind hearts mourned, and poets sang." 

I thought the red vespa was way too stereotypical italian. 

The funny thing was that we didn't get a hotel in Verona. We just decided to spend the whole night together in the piazza, hanging out. There was a drunk Austrian boy around for a while trying to flirt with all the girls, and I helped as a translator for those who spoke less english. We headed to the airport at 3:00am, and tried to sleep on the benches for an hour before our plane at 5:30. However the freezing temperature of the airport made it very difficult to sleep.

The ride home from the airport.

It was a nice few days, 

Yesterday Goigio had to run some errands in Marina and I went with her. One of my team mates lives in Marina, so we met up and went to the ice cream shop where two of our other team mates work.

Today I met three of my good friends, Mati, Ottavia and Olga at the tea shop! It's been closed for the past three weeks because the owner was getting married. 

For the summer all the teas are offered cold and they also have a new, summer menu with tons of cool items impossible to find in any other part of Ragusa. Almost all the bars/cafes serve exactly the same classic things and the sicilians like it that way. I was so surprised when Ottavia asked me if I knew what a smoothie was!  

Using my completed punch-card I got Matcha Yogurt with Strawberries, chocolate shavings and cookie bits! It was really tasty! 

June 1 2017

Wow, I really can't believe it is already June. It still feels like yesterday that I arrived in Ragusa. This period is defiantly a mixture of excitement to go home, and random realizations of the little time I have left. I try not to think about the numbers, but tomorrow I leave for a rugby tournament in Lombardia for 4, days, when I get back I have 7 days before going on Eurotour, then I have 17 days of exploring Europe before returning for my last 4 days in Ragusa. In the end it all adds up to 32 days before I set foot in Minneapolis.

For now lets talk about what has been happening!

Thursday the 23rd one of the Brazilian exchange students, Ana who has been living in Siracusa, came down to Ragusa to visit. Whenever someone visits we have my favorite lunch of typical Scaccia and focaccia from Ragusa.

We walked did a little tour of the neighborhood and walked to the cute little train station.

Ragusa!

We then met Natasa and went with her for moral support when she got a tattoo! My second time accompanying a friend to the tattoo parlar this year. 

We then met my friend Francesco (Giogio's godson), and headed down to Ragusa Ibla for the festival of San Giorgio. It's one of the most important festivals in Ragusa because San Giogio is one of the Patron saints.

I've probably posted this picture a million times, but even after 9 month the view never stops being beautiful.

The colored houses.

The start of the procession.

The small sicilian streets.

In this last period I've started to try and take even more pictures.

The start of sunset.

For the procession, the Arca santa ( the box with some remains of San Giorgio) and a statue of San Giorgio are taken from Duomo San Giorgio and taken to the Church Anime Sante Del Purgatorio. 

The Arca Santa is take into the church in a very particular way. Two lines of people all hold hands and at the end a few carry the arca santa. They then all run, and use the momentum to get the statue up the stairs and into the church where it will remain for the next two years until the next festival.

The statue then goes in the same way but then comes back out to continue the procession. This tradition is very typical of the south, because in the north it is considered very uncultured to disturb and parade the saints around.

Coming back up to Ragusa.

I'm going to miss the views.

Unfortunately Natasa had to leave earlier, and it was Francesco, Ana and I for the rest of the time.

Confetti, flags, and sparklers!

The next day Ana, and I took the bus to visit Modica. This is part of Ragusa Ibla. 

Modica is only about half a hour away by bus. 

One of the best things about Modica is the chocolate. It is made solely with cocoa and sugar, so there is no cream. It is kind of grainy and chalky but in a really good way. All the stores sell it and have a ton of free samples! 

The view.

The cathedral.

Modica.

 Giogio and Pino picked us up from the bus station in Ragusa, and we headed to the marina di Ragusa house to eat the left over scaccia and focaccia for lunch.

Ana and I took a quick little walk around the beach before catching the bus again to head back to Ragusa to rest for a bit.

For me, diciotessimo season has been over for a while and I think the last on I went to was Anna's in December. Unfortunately just after that, I got a package from my amazing grandma with a new dress! After a long wait I finally had a diciotessimo to wear it too! 

It was for Martina! My next door neighbor and really good friend.

Sunday morning, we woke up early after getting home late to go to Enna for the last district meetting. We got to me the Outbounds and unfortunately I had to say goodbye to my friends that aren't coming on Eurotour. 

Sunday night the was the last night of the San Giorgio Festival. Walking tot the bus station (for festivals the city sets up little free buses between Ragusa and Ibla)  I saw some fireworks from the bridge.

Ibla was more beautiful than I have ever seen it, full of lights and people.

Tunnel of lights leading to Piazza Duomo.

We even got some cotton candy!

The best part was the light and fireworks show accompanied by intense music centered around the church. I never wanted it to end.

Tuesday Andrea was in town (unfortunately we didn't see her when we went to Modica) and we went to the mall to do a little summer shopping before urotour.

As I was dropping Andrea off at the bus station, Natasa got off the bus! 

My host dad often gets very generous gifts from his patients, and Tuesday night he was given a platter of stuffed squid. We invited Zia Graziella, Zio Aldo, and Anna up for dinner to help us eat it.