Week 3: Fetty Wap, Hiking, and Jellyfish, Oh My!

9/9/19 – It’s Monday and everything was pretty average until around lunch. That’s when my roommate asked me if I wanted to go to the Fetty Wap concert in Florence tonight (random). I thought, why not? Other than my 9am class tomorrow. Fetty Wap used to be my ‘ish in high school. We ended up going, he didn’t come on until almost 2am, played 5 songs and was done. Finally Hannah and I got home around 3am. Luckily, I made it to my 9am the next day, no one worry. I never pictured myself seeing Fetty Wap in Florence, it was fun though.

9/10/19 – Tuesday I finally went grocery shopping again, which was much needed. I got lots of greens and fresh food, since I’m concerned I’m not getting enough nutrients on a strictly pasta diet (oops).

9/11/19 – On Wednesday I mostly worked on homework and planned my weekend trip with Hannah. This weekend we are headed to Cinque Terre, and I’m so excited. It’s supposed to be absolutely beautiful.

9/12/19 – Thursday I had my typical class, then worked on some homework. After Hannah got back from class we went for a walk around Florence to explore new areas. This time we went across the river on the “more local” side of Florence. There were some really old buildings around the Pitti Palace area. We got some cool pictures on tiny, old streets. After that we did a little shopping, then finished packing for tomorrow.

9/13/19 – We woke up around 6am to catch our train to Cinque Terre on Friday. Somehow 20+ Americans, including me and Hannah, got on the wrong train, even though it said it was the right train (still confused). Luckily, there was another train leaving at about the same time, so we just bought new tickets. We arrived in Cinque Terre at about 11:30. Cinque Terre is an area of Italy that is five towns linked together (cinque in Italian is 5), and you can actually hike all of them. We began by checking into our Airbnb. This was my first time actually staying in an Airbnb. I’ve always looked at them, never actually tried it. I was surprised because it was nicer than I was expecting, but I was prepared for the worst. We stopped for lunch at Miky’s Cantina, which had outdoor seating right on the water. I got the pesto with homemade pasta, since pesto was invented in the Liguria region of Italy, and it was supposed to be the best in the world. Oh my god, it was. They have special Ligurian basil plants, my Italian teacher told me, that grow near the rocks of the ocean, so they have a distinct flavor. It was such a good meal, it might have been my favorite since I’ve been here (but it’s so hard to decide, I don’t know). After that we started our hike from Monterosso, where we were staying, to Vernazza, the next town over. For some reason we decided to do the longest hike, which was about 2.5 hours, compared to the 40 minute hikes. Hindsight 20/20, I would have hiked the shorter ones to see more towns, and taken the train from Vernazza to Monterosso. At least we can say we did the long hike, though. Plus we got to use the excuse that we worked hard to eat whatever we wanted. It was a LOT of stairs, up and down constantly, since you were basically climbing a mountain. Everyone was prepared with their hiking shoes and walking sticks, and I was out there in my white Steve Madden sneakers (gotta look good, even on a 2 hour hike). In reality though, I just didn’t want to spend the money on hiking boots that I couldn’t fit in my suitcase home anyway. But, if you go, I would suggest bringing hiking gear, if you are going to hike. Anyway, we got to Vernazza, and it was so cute. It is a tiny port town, as most of Cinque Terre is. They are all built into the cliffs, and painted with bright colors. We looked through several shops and made our way through the town. I swear, Italian shopping is so amazing. They have such unique, cute things, and most are handmade. I could literally buy just about everything. I ended up buying some Pesto, since I loved it so much. Plus it’s a great souvenir because you can eat it! After that we took the train to Manarola. We strolled through town, and walked a little ways up the hiking trail to get an amazing view of the town. We tried heading to Corniglia, but when we got there, we realized we had to climb a LOT more stairs, since it is the only town that doesn’t reach the water. We decided our feet couldn’t handle much more, so headed back to Monterosso for dinner, instead. The only town we didn’t get to was Riomaggiore, so I guess I’ll have to come back again. We got dinner at another place on the ocean in town. I got the scampi penne this time. I wasn’t expecting whole scampi’s when it came out, though. I have never eaten scampi directly out of the shell, so hopefully I did it right. After dinner we went to bed because we were absolutely exhausted.

9/14/19 – On Saturday morning, we decided to have a beach day. We went to the beach in Monterosso and rented chairs and an umbrella for 10 euro. This time, I remembered to bring waterproof shoes, so I could walk on the rocky beach. The water here was just as clear as Amalfi. Hannah and I shared a strawberry daiquiri bucket and relaxed. In the afternoon, we decided to go water hopping to Vernazza. We jumped on the train and made our way down to the rocks on the sea. We climbed our way over rocks, into the water, and swam back to the shore. On our way back, though, Hannah felt something sting her arm. Turns out it was a jellyfish or medusa in Italian. I felt so bad for her, but lucky I didn’t get stung too. We went back to the rock with our stuff and asked the Italian lady what we should do. Her and her friend recommended something from the pharmacy, so we decided to get that instead of trying out the pee theory. We grabbed some lunch from the Lunch Box, afterwards. We built our own panini’s, with Focaccia, and they were delicious. It was potentially one of the best sandwiches I’ve had here. Focaccia was also created in the Ligurian region of Italy, so I had to try it. We hopped back on the train to Monterosso to grab our stuff to catch our train home. This time, we got on the right train, thank god.

9/15/19 – Sunday I focused on finishing my paper that is due tomorrow. Also eating everything in my fridge, since we are getting a new fridge tomorrow (but that’s another story).