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.