Positano and My Host Family

Ok, so here's the town I REALLY wanted to see. Positano. And there is a reason why it is so famous. Hello, because it is absolutely beautiful. And I realize that I saw that all the time - but remember where I am people. That's right. One of the most beautiful places on earth. But I have discovered some not so beautiful parts of Italy - Salerno for one of them. Our host parents are from Salerno and took us there a couple weekends ago. Which was so incredibly generous of them, and we enjoyed it. But Salerno is deceivingly beautiful from far away. Close up, it is dirty and super sketchy. We didn't really like it at all (Marie and I, that is). But on the way home to Siena, we drove all the way up the coast from Salerno to Naples. It was a gorgeous drive. So we stopped in Positano - SO happy about that.

So there's the view and then here's a picture of Marie and I in front. Oh my word, I loved it. I was also thinking of "Only You" the whole time. "Four hundred dollars from the La Sirenuse Hotel in Positano? Where is Positano? Mexico? - ITly. My wife's in ITly? What's she doing in ITly? Who's in ITly?" Anyways, I was thinking of Daddy :D

Here's just a cute picture of a restaurant I would've really liked to eat at. Amazing view.

I saw this and I just HAD to take a picture of it :D It was a clothing store with the same name as Mom. I thought it might be fate telling me that Mom and Dad will once own a villa in Positano ;) ;) Hint, Hint! Yeah, that would be amazing.

So here are Alberto (15) and Giuseppe (12) - I seriously love them. I just adore Giuseppe, he is so cute. I think I'll try and record him talking some time. You would die, it's Italian. I love it.

Boys will be boys, I guess. Right?

Then here's Benny, Giuseppe, and Alberto. I LOVE this family. They are so kind to us and treat us so so well. I seriously feel so grateful to them for everything that they do for both Marie and I. They're so kind about everything. We really lucked out with the host family. We definitely got the best one :D

Cinqueterre

So how about some more beautiful beaches? I'm really ok with that! Me and 5 other friends went to Cinqueterre for the weekend and had an amazing time! We rented this little apartment for a few days and went on a hike, ate nice dinners, swam in the ocean - you know. No big deal :D So our apartment was the top floor of that full yellow building you see on the left side. It was beautiful.

And then here's the view out of the window. It was so incredibly beautiful. And one of the best parts was falling asleep with the windows open, hearing the water crashing on the shore. It made me think of home. So the town that we stayed in was called "Riomaggiore" - the first of the 5 towns that make up Cinqueterre (meaning "Five Lands"). It's also the smallest of the 5 towns - but we loved it! It was perfect.

So we got there on a Friday evening, spent some time in Riomaggiore, and then went into "Vernazza" (4th of 5th town). We took the train that goes between the towns and spent a little time in looking around before dinner. I found this sweatshirt in one of the shops there and kinda fell in love with it. It's super cute, I'm sure you can't tell how cute it is in this picture. But it has this really cute striped collar and a embroidered knot on the front that says "Cinqueterre Italia" - totally touristy, but I didn't really care because I loved it. So here's me on the beach in Vernazza posing my new sweater.

Then on Saturday we went on the hike that goes through all of the towns. It's a pretty challenging hike at some spots, but it was so so worth it. We all loved the hike, it was beautiful. The coolest thing was seeing all the old people on this hike. I have such respect for the elderly in Italy - they really amaze me daily. But anyways, there was this scooter in one of the towns that looked like it had been there for years, honestly. There were vines growing up in the tires. So we all took pictures on it. You could tell it was a tourist thing though because it was very strategically placed in order to have a beautiful view. Good work.

And then here's just a picture of my friend Allison and I. Mainly I just put it on because I like the picture and it's fun. Oh yeah, so then after the 5 1/2 hour hike (which was truly amazing) we were all sweaty and gross. So we ended up at the beach, put our stuff on the shore, and seriously ran into the ocean. It felt so so nice to be in that cool water after a long day of hiking. It was such a good day. The trip was really incredible, I'm really glad we got to go.

The View and The Food

So here's one of MANY reasons why I have no reason to complain about my life at all. Here's the view from my window that I get to look out every day. Rough life, right? Oh my word, it is so beautiful, pictures honestly can't even do it justice. It's kind of a shame actually.

There's a pretty big ledge outside our window, and so Marie and I went out there and sat on the ledge. So here's a picture of us with the beautiful landscape in the background, which I apologize because you can't see it very well. But believe me, it's there. But we LOVE our apartment and our room. We feel very very lucky.

Next up is the tiramisu that we made. Ok, so I normally don't like this dolce at ALL, but I LOVED it when we made it. Probably because it wasn't totally soaked in alcohol or any alcohol-like substance. And it wasn't in coffee either. It's some kind of mock coffee, but it's good. Well not by itself, but in the cake. Oh my word, I will make it for you, because it is good.

And this, ladies and gentleman, if you are lucky enough to have me make this for you, you will not be left wanting, let me just tell you. This is the best chicken dish I've ever eaten. And I know that I'm hamming it up because guaranteed it will not be as good when I make it as it is in this picture and when we ate it, but whatever - it's so dang good.

And here's just a view of the kitchen that we cook in. And there's Dando in the background. I've been attempting to get a good picture of him. I WILL succeed by the time I'm done with this class. That is for sure a goal of mine.

Best Gelato In The World

Sorry it's been so dang long since I last posted. The internet at my house doesn't let me upload pictures and the internet at the school is garbage. So I finally picked a good day to bring my computer to school and upload some old/new stuff. So here are Marie and I at the place that is famous for having the "Best Gelato In The World." And believe you me - it is definitely true!

Marie and I decided to splurge when getting the best gelato and get a medium. So here's us right before we took our first bites. We took videos of our reaction to the first bite of the best gelato, but I was lucky enough to get some pictures up here, so a video would have been stretching it.

So I got coconut and bacio - 2 of my absolute favorite flavors. And I had to get them again because I had to compare it to the other kinds of coconut and bacio that I've gotten before. P.S. Bacio means "kiss" in Italian and the flavor it chocolate hazelnut. Which only makes sense to me, because both chocolate hazelnut and kisses are divine. So here's me enjoying them thoroughly.

Now we're finished, only to be left wanting more. But also satisfied at the same time. Hence the smiling :D

And here's me always trying to be artsy and always failing. But this is just a picture to show the name of the place. We will forever hold a place in our hearts for that gelateria. Too bad San Gimingnano is about an hour away... Or maybe that's a good thing....

mylifeisaverage.com

Today I came across this website: mylifeisaverage.com. It's weird how sometimes the most random things can inspire you. As I read page after page of normal people relating funny or interesting stories of their life I remembered just how great life really is. Sometimes the littlest things are what make your day spectacular. That it's the combination of all the average things that make our lives interesting. So now I'm going to make an active effort to pick out all the good things in my everyday life and remember those. Today I spent a huge part of my day being upset about 2 or 3 things. Why? Why do I let some things effect me so much? Why would I let that alter the course of my whole day? In a strange way, this website changed my perspective on life. It showed me not to take life so seriously. Lately I've been so worried about 1 particular decision, that it's kinda taken over my life. I feel a lot better now. Thank you MLIA :D

The Internet Is My Quasi-Friend

I've been waiting to update my blog for when I can post some pictures... but I'm not exactly sure when that will be. Marie and I are among the lucky ones in the whole group that actually have internet at our house. And it works great, except for that for some reason it won't let us post pictures to our blog. So the only other place where we can try it is at the school. Except for that the school's internet is completely unreliable. Especially since all the other girls are on it because that's the only place they can get it for free. There's internet cafes, but who really wants to pay a euro or euro fifty to use the internet. So all you get are my lame words to read for now.
This last weekend we went to Cinqueterre. There are many words to describe, but the 1 that's screaming in my mind is GORGEOUS! Oh my word, it was beautiful! We went on this incredible hike in between all the towns (ok, so I almost just started talking in Italian, which I guess is a good thing). Anyways, the hike took us about 5 1/2 hours. That was including rest time, eating lunch, and of course, taking a million pictures. Which I will post (hopefully soon) with some more explanation of our amazing 2-ish days there.
Right now I'm putting off Italian homework that I never seem to really understand. I'm in a class that's kinda over my head and I'm trying to stay above water, but sometimes I just get so frustrated. But I'm working on it. So usually what I do is, do all I can do before I want to die and then get to school 30 minutes early and work on it with my genius friend Annie. She seriously is amazing, I love her. She saves my life daily. And she's hilarious, so that always brightens my day. I love how Heavenly Father totally places people in your life for several reasons. She is definitely one of those people. So thank you!
This last week has been really challenging. I've been super homesick. Which I didn't really think I would suffer from just because I'm in Italy. But this experience has made me realize many things, one of them being just HOW much I love my family. I always knew, but I guess after spending an entire summer of hanging out with just the fam, I'm really missing them all. A ton. But I know that I am in one of the most amazing places in the world and I shouldn't be sad. Which it's not like I'm moping around or anything, but I guess what I'm trying to say is: Mia famiglia, I miss you TONS!!! So always remember that :D I'll hopefully post something new soon. LOVE YOU!!!!