March 20 2016

This weekends adventure started when Nina arrived in Ragusa Thursday night. Andrea also happened to be in town so we met at the tea shop. When we got to the bus station we realized we had forgotten to take a picture and then tried our best.

For dinner we met Anna and Martina for pizza.

Friday morning, my host dad had to work in Catania, so we went with him and from there his driver, my pal Pietro took us all the up to Milazzo. Me, Pietro and Nina.

From Messina we hopped on the boat and it was only an hour until Lipari.

It was like walking into a photo from National Geographic.

Our friend Carol, from Brazil, lives in Lipari and was our tour guide for the weekend.

The streets were beautiful, and the town was tiny. Only about 10,000 people live on the Island. 

The Castle.

The window.

Lipari.

A little fishing port.

The group.

The balcony at Carol's host family's house.

Saturday, we went to the next closed Island Vulcano. As you may have guessed it is a still active volcano! At its base live about 700 daring residents. 

Flag photo.

At the top there was smoke. The volcano is very closely monitored and the last explosion was in 1888.

Embracing the smoke.

Sulfur crystals.

We had a lot of fun taking photos. It felt like being on a movie set, except the landscape was real!

At the base of the volcano, Nina and I took a dip in a natural hot spring. It was more tepid than hot, but it had natural bubbles, and if you placed your hands on the ground there were hot places.

Black sand beach!

Sunday morning we had a very nutritious breakfast of tiramisu made by Carol's 12 year old host sister Alesia. 

We took a little walk down from the house and tried skipping rocks on the water.

Ragusa, Siracusa, Lipari.

Eventually it was time to go home. Nina and I took a boat ride back to Milazzo, a bus to Messina, a bus to Catania, and then two separate buses to Siracusa and Ragusa. On the bus we saw a smoking Mount Etna after the latest explosion. It was an explosively fun weekend!

March 16 2017

Hey! I'm sorry It's been such a long time between posts. My computer charger broke, but I finally have a new one.

The other day, while walking to the computer store I witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets in Ragusa so far.

I walked to the first bridge to get a wider view. 

My friend Natasha and I (with Natasha's glasses) getting coffee! She is from Serbia and part of AFS Intercultura. We decided to sit at Cafe Roma, underneath my apartment (where Maurizio works). First Nonna, walked by and said hi on her way home from church, then Zio Aldo, then Giogio on her way to run errands, and from a distance Zio Carmello waved on his way to the gym, and Zia Liz didn't see us when she got home. It's a lot of fun to live with the whole family, 

My sister is home for spring break, so I got to Facetime with the everyone!

The hero of the week has been Zio Aldo. When the charger broke, I posted on Facebook to see if anyone had one I could borrow or knew where I should go. Zio Aldo took it upon himself and did a ton of research for me. We went to the store together and then ended up ordering one from Amazon. To celebrate our victory we went and got sandwiches together.

Sunday, I spent the whole day with the rugby team. They won both games!

Facetime with my sister and Delaney.

For Pi day at school, we spent the whole day in the auditorium and each class gave a presentation about math or science. At the end there were giant bubbles. People brought desserts but unfortunately pie has yet to become popular in Italy and was not among the selection.

Sea urchins for dinner!

My first time at the Ragusa train station, it's right near my house and I had no idea. Nina came to visit from Siracusa, and tomorrow we are heading up to the beautiful island of Lipari!

March 6 2017

I got a package from my grandma with a new party dress! I had reached a point where I have worn everything in my closet multiple times and needed a change. There's enough festivities in Ragusa!

Friday, my friend Angie was in Ragusa again and had a some time before catching the bus. She is always so sweet to call me even though we usually only have half an hour together. Of all the people in class, I've connected to her the most. 

When in Italy you always have to get pistacchio ice cream.

On our way to the ice cream shop we had to cross over the bridge like normal. We were busy talking and mid sentence I looked up and saw the beautiful color of the sky. I feel so lucky to live in such a breath taking place.

Saturday I went and saw the 14 year old rugby team play. It was a great day for rugby and as always the social after was the best part. The moms brought a ton of pizza and a whole table full of desserts.

Sunday I went down to Marina di Ragusa with a few friends from my rugby team,. I am happy to be spending more time with them and my friends from dance. 

March 2 2017

This week had been full of festivities for carnival! Saturday night the scientific school organized a costumed dance. (Martina, Raffaele (Martina's boy friend), and me!)

My costume supply was very short but I thought the overalls and plaid was good enough. One of the things that gave me a really hard time the whole week was peoples costume choices. Sicily is behind on a lot of things, and I saw a lot of racist costumes including, Native American, Arab, Geisha and Mexican.

Sunday, I went with Zia Graziella, Zio Aldo and Anna to Zio Aldo's brothers house, to celebrate finding Charlie! The sweet dog had wandered off for two days and we were all really worried until Zio Aldo found him Ragusa Ibla.

The view of Ragusa from the house! You may remember some night time pictures I had put up.

Heading down to Ibla.

I spent the rest of Sunday baking, because monday morning there was a carnival party at school and they had asked for fundraising dessert.. These are ginger cookies with orange butter cream.

I also made an apple cake.

The carnival party turned out pretty small. The dessert table was almost non-existent and to my surprise my dessert made up almost half of those brought. 

The best part of the party was the costume contest.

Monday afternoon was a beautiful sunny day in Ragusa so I spent some time drinking tea on the balcony over looking Via Roma.

I also took a walk down to look over Ibla. The afternoons can get pretty lonely but I keep myself busy.

Last minute, monday night after dance class a friend invited me to go to the big carnival party Chiaramonte. It was a ton of fun and the city center was packed with people and music. Unfortunately all the tradition aspects of the festival had been displayed Sunday night.

Still the fun doesn't stop, Tuesday night I went to go practice my salsa dancing skills with my friends from class. I was a mess but I'm hoping by the time I get back to Minneapolis I'll have some minor skills.