Home Sweet Home

I made it back home safe and sound. It's nice to be back and see my family and friends, but I'm already itching to go back for another adventure. I'm not sure when that will be, but you can be sure that when it happens, you'll be able to read all about it right here, on this very same blog. Lucky you!

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 small villages all a total of 9km apart. From south to north the villages are: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. They are all beautiful and filled with homes built into the cliffs lining the seaside. There were some pretty breath-taking views and some of the clearest water I've ever seen. There is a hiking trail connecting the villages (which I hiked!) or you can take a train between them.

Riomaggiore: I stayed in this village, it felt like one of the bigger ones, but I'm not really sure. It had a nice collection of restaurants and the beach wasn't too crowded. My hostel was also only 1 staircase away from the water, so that was a definitely plus as well. It offered a great spot to sit and hang out with the people I met in my hostel at night.

Manarola: Probably my second favorite village. It was one of the smaller ones, but filled with shops and restaurants. I walked here to have dinner and watch the sunset my first night in the area.

Corniglia: This is the village that I explored the least. It is the only one not on the water and almost everything is further uphill than the train station. I blame my laziness for me never discovering what Corniglia has to offer.

Vernazza: My favorite village. The perfect size and home to the best gelato shop and bakery I found of the region. It felt more unique than the other villages with a large boat dock and what looked like the remains of a fortress.

Monterosso: My least favorite village, and also the only village with sandy beaches (the other beaches just have rocks). It feels like pure tourism here...I'll pass.

I met a lot of people that had been to Cinque Terre, some as many as 40 years ago. I don't konw much of the story behind it, but it was a great place. It's small enough to feel like a house and you run into the same people over and over again, which makes it really easy to meet people. Check out some photos:

Cinque Terre

On the road again...Venice!

Well, I made it back from Italy safe and sound. I keep telling myself that it's good that I'm home, I missed my family and friends and now I get to see them, so it's good. But I miss Italy, the scenery, the food, the vacation-ish lifestyle. It was definitely a good summer.

After leaving the Seppi's I went to Venice and Cinque Terre, below you'll find a brief recap of each destination and some photos. Enjoy!

Venice: Amazing. I love me a city by the water and well, it doesn't get more on the water than Venice. When I first arrived, I was shocked by all of the tourists; I realized I was pretty isolated from that portion of Italy as I was staying with a family and saw Rome with a local. The city itself was beautiful. I can't imagine living there though...parts of it seemed very surreal...like have a house without a porch, just a boat dock leading to your front door. I met some great people in my hostel and celebrated my birthday with some sambuca and an uncrowded night stroll on the Rialto Bridge.

While I was in Venice, I got to attend one of the world's largest art festivals, the Beinnale. I also took a short trip to Murano, the glass blowing island (very disappointing because you don't really get to see a creative glass blowing demonstration, just some guys making fruit, and catering to tourists. ) And also to Burano, the lace making island (where you don't actually see lace being made, but row after row of every color of house).

Check out some pictures:

Venice

And so begins the next adventure

Today was my last day of teaching, my last day in Terlano, and my last day in this beautiful region of Italy. I have about a week left before my plane heads back to the States so I thought I would check out some of the other beautiful, amazing places Italy has to offer.

But before I go on about the details of what's to come, I think it would be apt to reflect a bit on what a large majority of my summer has be focused on. Teaching English to a 13 year old boy was great. We played a lot of games. There were more games of speed than I can count, among other card games, various writing games, and a whole lot of "20 questions" and "Would you rather...". We watched an entire season of the Simpsons, in English, along with several other movies. It takes a lot of variety to keep a boy who's 13 interested in learning all summer long. Don't get me wrong, there were days where I couldn't do anything to make him sit still and listen, but overall I think it went very well.

And I couldn't have asked for more from the entire Seppi family. They were great hosts.

Next, I'm off to Venice for a few days and then Cinque Terre for a few. I'm thrilled to have the chance to see these pictaresque cities are just a beautiful in person. I'm not going to be using my laptop for the next week, but I'll be sure to post pictures and stories as soon as I can, so sit tight.

One other very exciting piece of news: I recently got nominated for the Peace Corp!!! Basically what that means is that they found a place for me to go and a job for me to do, but can't tell me too many details because nobody's quite sure when I'll be invited to go do some great things. But its the next step in a potential next adventure. I'm not sure about the timeline for anything, but I'll be sure to keep everyone up to date. Exciting, right?!

Ciao!

Rovereto, Italy -- Day trip!

Today was my final day off from teaching. With only 3 days left in this region of Italy, I thought I should make the most of it. After browsing through my guide book, I found a tiny town that was begging to be explored.

Ok, well it wasn't quite that dramatic, but give me a break.

Rovereto is a tiny town an hour train ride south of Bolzano. The main reason I went was for the Modern Art Museum. I'm a sucker for some good modern art and let me tell you, today I wasn't disappointed.

The museum itself was a bit small, but the arcitechture of the building was great. Check out this shot of the dome 'ceiling' over the main enterance. The rest of the enterance was done in a dark stone with a simple fountain in the middle.

And here are a couple pictures of the town:

I hope everything is going great back home!
Laura

Mountain Cabin

Hi Everyone,
A couple days ago, Paul and I went up to his family's tiny (read: one room plus loft and outhouse) mountain cabin just outside of Corvara, Italy. The cabin was surrounded by mountains...and not just any mountains, but some of the most beautiful peaks in the world, the Dolomites. You can read more about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomites.

There are pictures again, that you can see to try to grasp what I'm talking about. But I didn't take too many on this over night adventure.

On the drive up Thursday, the weather was gorgeous with clear blue skies. Every time I looked out my window the views just seemed to be better than the last. I have never seen anything like that before.

After driving for about an hour Thursday night, we parked the car and hiked for about 30 minutes up to the cabin (see photos). A storm was rolling in behind us, which only made the scenery more dramatic. Looking forward we saw blue skies and welcoming mountains, and behind we saw gray clouds that made for a pretty, but slightly unnerving sunset.

Friday, the weather left a lot to be desired; it was incredibly foggy. We took a funicular up a peak over 2000m high and you could barely see 10m past your hand from the top. During the hike down, the first half or so was through tunnels that were formed during WWI. It was pitch black without a flashlight, but one of the coolest experiences ever. The second half was done outside. On the way down, we passed a couple groups of people who were rock climbing their way up to the top from the bottom. So cool.

Check out the pictures!

Mountain Cabin

I have about a week and a half of teaching left and then I'm off to Venice and Cinque Terre! My time here are flown by; it definitely does not feel like I've been out of the US for almost a month already.

Until next time, stay safe and have fun!

Rome!

Hi everyone,
I got back from Rome a couple days ago and it was amazing. I did a bunch of sight seeing that I think the pictures in this album can explain much better than I can.

Rome: July 2009

If you ever make it to Rome, I would highly suggest going with a local. My friend Paul attends university there and took me around on his motorbike the entire week. How great is that! It gave me a great mix of touristy (Read: Colosseum) and nice finds (Read: roof-top terrace party and fresh, milky Mozzarella di Bufala.)

The days were packed and hot but enjoyable. My favorite sites were the Pantheon and this orange grove/garden on a hill overlooking the city. I cannot wait to go back.

Tomorrow, after teaching (I have Friday off this week) I'm off to do some hiking in a naturally gorgeous part, a UNESCO Natural Heritage Site, of Northern Italy. Can't wait!!

The Mountain House

This past weekend, I went up with the Seppi's to their house in the mountains. In the past, families used to spend the entire summer in their mountain house because it was too hot in the valley to be comfortable. Now, however, most families just go up for a week or two at a time in the summer.

The house we stayed in has been in the Seppi family for over 100 years. It was built by the family several generations ago and continues to be used. It was a gorgeous wooden house, built in a traditional mountain village style. Everything up there looked incredibly picturesque.

Here's a picture of the village from the balcony of the house.

Just beyond the house, was a path leading into a forest. The forest looked exactly like something out of a fairy tale. On Sunday, we walked through the forest to a lake to lay out, relax and go for a swim. Everything was so clean, well kept and unlike anything I had seen before. This picture does not do the forest justice, but it was similar to that for the entire hike to the lake.

Here's a closer picture of the mountains from the earlier post. They were so beautiful, and close. It was only a 2-3 hour hike up one of them from the house we stayed in. Unfortunately, the weather didn't allow us to do so...it was raining the first day we were there.


The house had apricot trees growing around it and we were there just at the beginning of apricot season. A bowl of fresh apricots were picked and so delicious.

That's one thing I've noticed since being here. A lot of the products used in the kitchen come from the Seppi's region of Italy or someplace in Italy. Everything tastes so fresh and flavorful...the freshly grate parmesan, the fruity olive oil, the newly picked apricots, apples, and peaches...it's got me thinking this is the way we should all eat all the time.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Rome!!!!

Quick Mountain House Preview

I took this pictures at the soccer match tonight. Do you see those two little peaks to the left side of the mountain/hill in the distance? That's were I'm going tomorrow. I can't wait.

Adventures all over.

Most days I go for a bike ride down a path along this river. I know I've mentioned these rides before but they are a nice break for me. I go alone. It gives me time to reflect and recharge to make the most of my time here in Italy. There are usually quite a few other bikers on the path. For the most part, people in this region of Italy are pretty active and athletic.

However, yesterday I didn't really feel like biking, so I took a little hike/run up to an old castle. I completely regret not bringing my camera. The Seppi's village is in a valley, kind of like what you see across the river. As you drive up the hill, their house is about half-two thirds up that hill. On a neighboring hill is an old castle that I can see from my bike rides everyday.

Paul gave me great directions, drew me a map and after a quick 15 minute trail run I was to the castle. And boy, were the views amazing. You could see the entire village, Terlano, that the Seppi's live in as well as many neighboring villages and farms.

While I was wandering around what was left of the castle (I'll grab a picture of it soon to show you guys), I tried to imagine what it would have been like to live there. I couldn't. Life would have been so incredibly different.

Tonight I'm off to a futbol/soccer match with Paul and Andy. Tomorrow I'm going to a mountain house with the family for a long weekend and then I'm off to Rome, and potentially some days at the seaside, with Paul for a week! Life is so good right now. I hope it's great for all of you too!

Apples!

Ah, week 2. Things are going great and I'm starting to get into the grove...I mean groove. There are apple orchards everywhere here so please excuse my confusion.

Ok, bad joke, sorry.

The rows upon rows of the apple trees was one of the first things I noticed when I got here. But it took me a while to realize what I was looking at. The fruit looked like apples, but the trees they are growing on didn't look like normal apple trees to me. I asked Paul about it and he explained that this region of Italy produces a lot of the apples for all over the area and to increase production, the farmers forced their trees to grow upwards. The trees you see here produce as many apples as what I was picturing, but in a much smaller space.

And here is a picture of what an entire orchard looks like:


Picture this for kilometer after kilometer on one side and a river on the other and you have a pretty good idea of what I get to see on my bike rides. Pretty amazing.

I hope you're all having a great day! The weather here was hot but not humid and a little windy, so very nice. Everything else was great as well...I went into the city this morning after my museli (kind of like granola, but not crunchy) and came back to play with and teach Andy. This afternoon we were out by the pool enjoying the weather. We had dinner outside and are just lounging around in the evening. A great day.

It's already Friday?!

Hello everyone!
Italy is lovely. The weather has been pretty nice so far. We've had a couple small, short rain showers and some clouds, but overall not too hot, not too cold.

Teaching Andy is going well. We still play a lot of card games and wii, but we've also started playing ping-pong and 20 questions. I'm also going through the house, room by room, to help him work on his vocab. He seems to be enjoying it so life is good. :) And he's also reading an English Goosebumps book.

I'm teaching Andy 6 days a week and yesterday was my day off. The Seppi's live in a small village outside of Bolzano so yesterday I met Paul and some of his friends at a nice little cafe in the city. After lunch, I took the train back to his house and went on a bike ride on a path near the river; the path was lined with the most amazing scenery. This part of Italy produces a lot of wine and tons of apples. Everywhere you look there are apples and grapes growing and a lot of people who live in this region are farmers.

Tonight for dinner we had bbq chicken which was a real treat for the family and a taste of home for me. And this beautiful picture was taken from their terrace a couple hours after dinner. Goodnight!

Around town

The main square in Bolzano.


A church in the main square of Bolzano.


A park in Bolzano.

Hello from Italy

Hi everyone,
It seems like so much has happened since I left Chicago, and it's only been two days.

Andy (the boy I'm teaching English to) is great, as is the entire family. We play a lot of card games and wii because the weather has been a little hit or miss since I've been here. It's been overcast and rainy so not too much to do outside. However, I've heard it was supposed to be sunny today and when I woke up this morning it was! Hopefully we'll get to do a bit outside.

And their house is absolutely amazing. It's located in a valley surrounded by mountains. I'm in complete awe. Pictures to come soon, I promise.

And the food, wow. Nori (Paul's mom) is an incredible cook. She's made a lot of dishes specific to this region of Italy, some with pasta, others with meat, and some with veg as the main component, all delicious.

I'll probably write again this afternoon, because this post is very short, but I want to let everyone know that I don't have a very strong internet connection in my room. This will probably make it a bit more difficult to update the blog and post pictures because I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do before I go to bed at night. I'm still figuring out how much free time I have during the day. And it also means that we'll have to set up skype chats because I won't just leave it signed on. :( [but really, if that's the most disappointing thing about this trip, I don't have too much to complain about to be honest :)]

Miss you guys!

Good Morning Switzerland!

Good Morning everyone! I made it safely to Zurich, Switzerland after an 8 hour flight from Chicago. I'm now waiting in the airport, thank you 2.5 hour layover, before boarding my plane to Munich, Germany. From Munich,I'll be traveling into Italy; it's about a 2.5 hour drive. Here's a photo out the airport window of Zurich (I hope the weather in Italy is better!):

My flight over was good. I sat next to a woman who will be presenting a portable medical device with the ability to perform 70-80% of the things done in a doctor's office remotely and it's run off solar panels so the procedures can be done anywhere(!) to the WHO. It's pretty amazing stuff. The food was typical airplane quality and I tried to sleep a bit, but I'll probably have to grab a coffee before the drive to Italy.

Sorry this post is a bit boring, I promise they will get more exciting so stay tuned!

Around this time tomorrow, I'll be in Italy!

I'm all packed and ready to go. In about 7 hours I'll be boarding the plane and well on my way to Italy. The city I'll be living in is Bolzano. It's in the northern region right below Austria. This youtube video gives you a little visual description of what awaits: Bolzano, South Tirol, Italy -- just a warning, its a little different than Wisconsin or North Carolina!

You read it here first!

Welcome to my blog. I'm glad you came, it's nice to have you here. I hope you enjoy reading, dreaming, and maybe even drooling at times, about all of the fun I'm having on my latest adventure. I wish you all could be with me every step of the way, but until you grab a plane ticket, my descriptions of all the amazing architecture, incredible food, and fantastic wanderings will have to hold you over.

Haha, but in all seriousness, I'm extremely fortunate to have the opportunities I've had in my life. And I'm happy to be able to share them with all of you. So, enjoy!