Sicily

This morning we woke early and caught the bus to the Perugia airport. It's a tiny little port that takes five minutes to get through security.

We boarded or flight and now I write to you from our bus in Sicily. Just driving through the streets to get to the port, the north and south are very different. I can't put my finger on it quite yet. But there is something.

We just passed a little market, fresh vegetables and fruits. The most interesting aspect was up the street a man was selling fish out of his car. Hatch open-whole fish for sale. We then got to the port and waited for the ferry. We had plenty of time for Susanne to snap these photos!



Finally, our ferry arrived and we were own our way to the little island of Favignana. 

While we were on the ferry, we met two American students studying in Rome.  As we stepped off the ferry, we took in the beautiful view.

 It just so happened that those two Americans were staying at the same place. We followed them to our hotel. Along the way we passed the local, fresh catch of the day fish stands. Then there were many gelaterias, restaurants advertising fresh fish, and so many people chatting on the street. 

We found out hotel! It is beautiful. It reminds me of Greece with the white buildings and blue details. 

After getting settled we went for lunch. We picked a restaurant that was in the heart of the little town. It was a tiny little place that fit three big parties comfortably -two groups of Italians and us. While we choose our dish I couldn't help but notice the table next to ours. The waiter came out with a platter of fish. The man picked his fish and the waiter took it back for the cook to prepare. I've never seen anything like this. 

As curious I am about the Italians, we can't walk down the street without being stared at. Especially since we believe it's beautiful here, while many are still in winter coats and we have shorts and dresses on! 

After lunch we walked and ventured to a beach.

 




It was too windy for a swim or even lying out but we had ourselves a photo-shoot. I did not take any of them, but my friend Abe helped us. 

Later we walked back to the center of town for gelato. It was delicious. My goal is try all of them but I'm sure that won’t happen. Then we walked back to our hotel to sunbathe and prepare dinner. We had pasta and played cards the rest of the night. 

On Saturday, we had a slow start but well worth it. Each of us wore our most beach weather clothes. Myself, I tried on my new dress that I will wear for graduation. I hope it is OK!

Today, we went to a different beach and made a friend. A dog named Otis.



 (I named him. This was a name of a dog I wanted when I was younger after my first dog past. I even printed a flyer out and stuck it to the front door hoping my dad would say yes. He didn't.) Anyway, I don't know why but Otis liked us as soon as we sat down. At first we thought he was cute that was until he started barking at every passing car.

After talking about friends, music, sports and how we changed from studying abroad, we went back to the room to make lunch. Pasta again. From that, many of us were exhausted. I guess doing nothing really takes it out of you! So we are all napping. I'm so bad at naps- always have so I'm searching for music, writing, texting... Guess I should wake them soon. 

Everyone ended up enjoying a three to four hour nap. Upon waking we went and had a gelato as our appetizer.

Then we went to a cute restaurant. It was kind of empty but by the end of our meal, it was packed. We each had a pizza.Plus, Asia and I split calamari. It was delicious! One of my favorites! I had it for the first time in December.

Later we went home to finish our snacks and drink our gallon of water! Literally, we bought so much water for the beach we needed to finish it because you can't take it on the flight. 

So, we are now flying over Rome on our way to Perugia. It won't be much longer. 

So just update... I am finished with classes. This week is something called special events week. There are review sessions and many student presentations.  It's kind of like a week of nonsense but we must attend. So my week looks like a bit studying and spending many nights with my friends. Today, I am going to finish my letter of interest, go shopping, finish a paper, and have dinner with my favorite Italian. It sounds like I'll accomplish so much today. Fingers crossed! I don't have a review session until 1:45 tomorrow so plenty of time to sleep. I probably won't take any more big trips but my next big post will be when my grandma and aunts arrive! I don't know why but every other sentence this weekend reminded me of my grandmothers. My friends are now saying fibber and lolly-gagging. Plus they know the traditional Sunday dinner.