Day 18-21: Heading back to our Italian Home Town and Back to Canada

Today we left Florence to go back home to Frascati! It was a long bus ride and when we arrived at our new hotel everyone settled in quite nicely. We took advantage of the pool and went for a swim as well as took some time to relax in our rooms. For the last few days we were about a 20 minute walk from the main part of Frascati that we used to be in.

One of the days we also had the opption of going to Pompeii but I decided not to go so I could catch up on some well needed sleep! :) Also, I wanted to pack up a bit since we were leaving in a few day. Over these last few days we took the time to finish up our group projects, hung out with everyone, as well as get in those last memories of Italy!

On our last night we all had dinner family style! Everyone got dressed up and we enjoyed our last meal at Allan's, after dinner we had a scavenger hunt and enjoyed our last taste of gelato! The morning we said farewell to Frascati and we were off to the airport to go back home!

Many memories were made,
Memories that won't be forgotten,
From gelato runs to running for selfies,
Every single person was once a stranger,
Now we are all a family.

ITALY 2014 WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN

Day 17: Pisa & Lucca

Selfie Saturday ft. Leaning Tower of Pisa

Today the day seemed really slow but was really fun. We started with an hour and a half bus ride to Pisa. We had to walk a few minutes to get to the tower but it was worth it. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is absolutely mind blowing in person. It is crazy to see the tower on such a lean and still has been standing for so many years.We had some time to take some photos and grab souvenirs if we would like. I of course took this opportunity to take some photos as well as get some pins to add to my collection. We also got a group photo and selfies with random strangers again.

After we took a quick bus ride to Lucca. Lucca is a smaller town and was a lot quieter and not as busy. We took a walk to the square of the town and then had some time to explore. Liana, Nicole & I grabbed pizza and looked at some souvenir shops. By the time we were done at the shop it was time to head back.

Pizza from Lucca

The bus ride felt like forever on the way back. When we arrived in Florence, I got to my room and got my geocaching stuff and went out Geocaching with Mark. We found all three caches and I reached 100 caches! After when we got back I started packing. Within a bit of time I realized it was time for dinner. Dinner was at a restaurant and we had lasagna and Tiamusu. I did not enjoy the Tiamusu but I did enjoy the lasagna very much. When I came back to the hotel I started packing again, taking frequent breaks, so it took me awhile. By the end of the night after many breaks and a shower, I was finally all packed to leave for Frascati!

Day 16: Venice

The day started off with taking a bullet train to Venice from Florence. The train ride was quite fun. When we arrived we had a few minutes for photos and then we had to board our taxi boat. It was a short ride to where we were getting off. We found ourselfs in real Venice. Not the Venice everyone knows for tourism, in the calm quiet parts of Venice. We weaved our way through the streets slowly getting into the tourist area.

After the tour we had some free time. Most people went on a Gondola, but I didn't. We found some soveniors, wandered the streets of Venice, got gelato, and got dinner. For dinner I got spaghetti with tomatoe sauce and it was really delicious. 

Spaghetti

Later we returned to meet up with the rest of the group. Not sure who started the new game but we were doing selfies with random strangers. It was quite interesting to watch people's reactions. Shortly after we took the boat taxi back and hopped on our train back to Florence. 

View from a bridge

Day 15: Siena

We took a bus to Siena. Personally at first glance Siena looked like a medieval town, but hearing the stories behind the town made it that much better. We got taken around the town and told about the history.

Siena is known for the horse races. 10 of the 17 districts race around the main square. The district who wins, put their flags up all over their part of the town, every night theres a celebration party and this goes on for until the next race and there is a new winner.

After the tour we had some free time. Jenna, Taylor, Nicole, Mikayla and I went out for lunch. I had pizza, so did Nicole and mikalya. Jenna got pasta and Taylor got soup. It was a really good meal. After we looked in a few shops and got a few soveniors. I got a few pins and a map. We then finally met up with out group. 

On the way back to the bus I had the chance to talk to Molly, our tour guide. She was telling me about being a guide and I was telling her about how that was one of my possible career choices I wanted to do. She told me it was a great career to do, as well as what I would have to do in order to have that career. I really enjoyed our conversation about that.

After our bus ride back to Florence, we left for dinner. We went to the first American style diner in the Tuscany region. I am 99.9% everyone enjoyed this meal, since we wanted a small break from Italian food. We had a limit of 15€ if we went over we had to pay extra, so we had our own choice of what to eat. I got a strawberry banana smoothie, bacon (REAL CANADIAN BACON) cheeseburger with fries. I honestly could not finish it all, but it was completely amazing. The smoothie was defiantly fresh and burger was defiantly delicious. 

My bacon cheeseburger

Smoothie

Day 14: Free Day in Florence

Today was a pretty relaxed day in Florence today. We were allowed to sleep in until 9:30am which I defiantly needed. At 9:30am we had to check in with iRob and work on our assignments.

I will admit it took me a bit to actually get to work, but the wifi being slow was part of that problem as well. I looked up some information on my topic for my presentation and wrote it down by hand since the wifi kept kicking off. I got a good hour or two into my group presentation, as well as worked on my restaurant review.

Once we were allowed to leave for lunch, Liana, Taylor, Donovan and I headed out. We looked around for a bit but we found a sit in restaurant, so we decided to go there. It was a nice little place. For lunch Liana and I split a cheese pizza, Taylor got a ham and cheese omelette, and Donovan got a closed pizza (like a panzarotti). For the first meal on our own in Florence, I would say it was pretty good. When we got the bill, it was actually quite difficult to pay, since we were all trying pay for our own and we had no small bills. We eventually made it work and quickly headed back since we were already running close to when we had to be back.

We got back about 10 minutes late, but turns out we weren't the only ones late. iRob was late as well, everyone was there waiting to show their work to him so they could leave again. I personally wanted to stay back and work on my projects since the wifi would be a bit faster, but I could barely stay awake; So I tried to take a nap. Taking a nap didn't work out so well, some started weed whacking outside, after a few minutes of laying down.

Eventually, it was time to head out for dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant, I realized it wasn't going to be Italian food. I was really happy about that because I needed a break from it. The place we were at was an American style diner. I got a bacon cheese burger with fries and strawberry banana smoothie. For the burger we had to option to have REAL CANADIAN BACON or porketta. Of course everyone wanted Canadian bacon. Honestly, the meal was amazing and I could tell the smoothie was made from fresh ingredients as well, which is good.

After dinner, some of us went to a book store and looked around. Also looked at a few booths on the way back to the hotel. For the rest of the night, I never did to much except write this blog, and run to go get some snacks. I finally got fresh fruit! I think that is enough about my day for tonight, goodnight!

Beautiful streets of Florence

Day 13: Off to Florence!

This day started off, sleeping in about 15 minutes before we had to get out of our rooms. When I got out of bed, I quickly got my final packing done and brought my luggage down to the breakfast area where everyone was. When I got down there, we got told we had an hour to get something to eat or get some snacks for the ride. Honestly, I did not move from the spot that I sat in when I got down there. I was determined to get a fair bit of my blogging done before we left for Florence. We also said thank you to the staff at the hotel and gave them their tip money. Shortly later, we headed out of the hotel to go wait for the bus, which we still had to wait another 20 minutes for.

The bus ride to Florence felt long. We stopped to get lunch at a Chef Express. During the 3 hour trip to Florence, a fair bit of people slept, but we also had some presentations going on as well over the PA system of the bus. I did eventually take a little nap, and when I woke up the scenery outside my window was just beautiful. I quickly pulled out my camera and snapped a few shots.

Within a short time of waking up we arrived in Florence! It took us a bit of time to get to near where we were staying but we made it. We had about an hour to settle in our rooms until we left for an orientation tour around Florence. I did not do a whole lot, other than unpack. 

The orientation tour took about an hour and a half. We got told the history of Florence and seen a copy of the statue of David, originally done by Michelangelo. As well as some churches, a few statues and one of the oldest bridges. After, Josh lead us back to the hotel.

We had 5 minutes when we got back before we left for dinner. Turns out dinner was right around the corner from hotel. We had pasta with tomato sauce, turkey and potatoes. For the first meal in Florence, I enjoyed it a lot. 

For the rest of the night, I continued getting settled into my room, as well as blogging some more. Nicole, Kirsten, Austin, Liana and I left for a few minutes to go find snacks as well. We found a store that had a bit of everything, grabbed what we needed and headed back.

Strawberry and Lemon gelato I got on orientation tour

First pasta in Florence

The view I woke up to on the bus.

Turkey and potatoes for dinner!

Day 12: Work Day

Today we did not necessarily have anything planned. It was more of a work day except there 11 more went to Allan's restaurant to cook with him for lunch. The rest of us did a team building activity, as well as pick up trash at the park. I think the team bonding activities are wonderful to do, it gets all of us to communicate with each other. As well as become a whole instead of feeling left out. Picking up trash was also a great but not the most enjoyable experience. It was a great feeling to clean up the community that is our home base for the trip, but some of the things we found were pretty disturbing. One person even found human poop. After we were done cleaning up trash, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for lunch at Allan's.

Lunch was made by 11 of our friends. Lunch consisted of Caesar salad, rice with cheese, potatoes and porketta. The porketta was made that morning. A butcher came in and showed the 11 of them how to make the porketta. The meal was very good and we also had dessert. For dessert we had Tiramisu. This was like a cake with thick cream in between.

Getting back to the hotel, everyone was working on their assignments. Not the best way to spend your last day in Frascati, but after being there for 10 days, I did not want to go out. Also I wanted to work on my assignments. I spent a few hours working on my blog and doing a bit of research on my presentation. As well as chatting with Donovan a bit about the trip so far.

Later on, Liana & I headed out for dinner. We were originally going to the restaurant she wanted to do for her review assignment, but we got informed it was closed on Mondays. We wandered around looking for a new place. I suggested going a bit further from where we normally are because then the restaurant most likely won't be taken, and that's exactly what we did.

We found a place called 'Gente Di Notte', we got shown to our seats right away. The service was quite friendly and they also had a menu in english. I did not enjoy my bruschetta too much. The server gave me a dessert menu, knowing I did not enjoy my food. The dessert menu was in Italian and our server could tell I did not understand, nor did they have it in english. The server took the menu, typed it into translator and printed off what it was in english for us, it was very sweet of him. Liana and I shared the dessert which was a chocolate coconut lava cake. It was delicious. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

Tiar

The meal cooked by our friends.
Potatoes, rice and porketta.

Our dessert at 'Gente Di Notte'

My very good looking but not most tasty bruschetta.