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.

Day 11: Bone Chruch

So Sunday is our free day but we had the option of going to a bone Church. I decided to go because i thought it was going to be cool, and I did not want to have a bit of free time in Rome. We took to train to Rome, and the Metro to the Bone Church. We got showed where to meet and got sent off for a bit to find lunch. Taylor, Mikayla and I wandered around a bit, then we sat down at a restaurant. Turns out a lot of the others were there as well. 

The service was really good, also there was a variety of food. I got spaghetti with tomato sauce and a Spirit. I really enjoyed my spaghetti, it was something I really wanted to try in Italy!

The Bone Church actually wasn't as odd as I thought. The bone church was bones of monks and the made patterns and each room was just filled with a tone of bones. It was actually really neat. After we went to St. Clemens. This was an underground museum. I did not find it the most fun or interesting but I still looked around.

After we had the option of going back early or staying in Rome, I decided to come back early since I was super tired. On the train ride back it was hard to get comfortable since I got a sunburn from the day before at the beach. As soon as I hit the bed when I got back to my room, I was out like a light.

When I woke up it was nearly time for dinner. We were having dinner at Allan's. We had pasta, pizza, bruschetta, cheeses and sliced meats. I really enjoyed the bruschetta and the pasta! Also as a treat we got taken out for gelato as well after dinner.

After dinner Liana and I went to look around at the market. As well as going to my review restaurant to get some photos. Within a short time we were both extremely tired and went back to the hotel for bed.

My lunch

Outside the Bone Church

Outside St. Clemons

Walking the streets

Day 10: Mediterranean Sea

We got up bright and early to head to the beach for the day. We hopped on the bus and had about an hour ride until we arrived at the beach. The beach was a lot nicer than the ones back home. The workers also set up enough beds in one spot for all of us to stay as a group, which I thought was sweet.

The day went by really slow, a fair bit of people took a nap on the beach, which was not the best idea. I tanned and listened to my music for about an hour. I also worked on my journal for a little bit. For the rest of the time at the beach, I tried to find some shells. I found a lot of flat smooth rocks, that would be perfect for skipping stones. As well as being in the water. I found the water a bit cold at first but once you got fully in the water it was nice and warm. A bunch of us passed a ball around, other than getting the salt water in your mouth, it was great fun. After passing the ball around for a bit, we got informed we were leaving in 15 minutes. I got out of the water, packed up my stuff and headed to the change rooms which was where we were meeting.

When we all met up, we counted off and then headed to the bus, which we had to wait a few minutes for. When the bus arrived we ran into a little problem, the driver wanted all the sand off of us, which this was a big pain in the rear end! Thankfully we had some water to rinse off, but it was still difficult since we were just at a beach & covered in sand. When we finally got the sand off to make the driver happy, and everyone was on the bus, we headed home.

When we came back to the hotel, we had a short time until dinner. I took a little rest and got changed as well. Dinner, I did not enjoy all that much. Due to the heat from the beach, I was not feeling the best so I did not eat all that much. Dinner was mostly greasy food, we had what seemed like an endless amount of pizza, deep fried rice, cheese and olive, and what seemed like mashed potato battered then deep fried. After dinner, I got fruity gelato to cool me down. I also headed to bed when we got back to the hotel as well.

The Mediterranean Sea

 The relaxing sound of the waves crashing to the shore. The feeling of hot sand under my feet. The smell of salt water in the air. This place is the ultimate relaxation, until you get sun burnt.

The beach got a lot of people

 

Writing in the sand

Day 9: The Vatican

Today we went to the Vatican, the only country you can go in without a passport!

We took the train to Rome like always, and took the metro near the Vatican. we had sometime to grab some lunch. I got strawberry and Oreo geloto. Not the best combination but both flavors were pretty tasty. After getting geloto, I went to the convenience store just down the street. What do you know, the juice I had in Costa Rica and have been searching for was in that store! I was so happy to find the Guanabana nectar juice. I honestly love it and it tastes so good, I savored every last drop of it. After we met up with Jill and she explain to us that we will have two guides at the Vatican, a sweet heart and shows the arts or one that talks about blood and guts.

When we got to the Vatican, I went with the guide who was a sweetheart, Maggie. We went through and seen many different things from sculptures, to maps. Everything was so detailed, even the ceilings! I really enjoyed every moment in the Vatican, until the Sistine Chapel. When I walked in the Sistine Chapel, my jaw almost hit the floor. I have heard some much about the Sistine, as well as Michelangelo and specifically the most famous point of focus 'The Creation of Man'. Seeing his work in person was unbelievable. I could not contain my emotions, I began to tear up in the Sistine Chapel.

When we got back we were on our on for dinner and for the rest of the night. I got sauce and cheese, one of my favourites so far! After I went out and got strawberry geloto!

For the rest of the night, it was quite relaxing. Walking the busy street of the market area and enjoying the view as well. Also as a late snack, I got strawberry & banana gelato!

My gelato I got before the Vatican

My Juice I found!

Panorama of St. Peter's Basilica

Day 8: Swimming in a Volcano!

Today was a enjoyable day. We boarded the bus early to go visit an site of an old theater. It was a 15 minute drive up a mountain, and then a 5 minute walk up hill. The site itself wasn't too impressive but the view was pretty amazing. We spent about 20 minutes going over the history of the theater we were sitting on and then got showed an arch and water wells.

After we left to go to the town of Nemi, the town of strawberries. I thought this little town was really beautiful. The air was filled with the smell of strawberries. Everywhere you went there was some sort of food that was strawberry related. While in Nemi, I got a strawberry tart, which the berries were so much sweeter than the ones we get back home. The strawberries from Nemi may be small but they have a big flavor. The town is also perched on top of a hill, so you can look out over many other villas. I would love to live in this town just because of my love of strawberries is that strong; Also the town is that stunningly beautiful.

We stopped a little restaurant on the side of the road for lunch. We had bread, bruschetta, porchetta, meats, grilled vegetables, and pasta. There was so much pasta, but I was in love with it, I wanted pasta so badly.

After leaving from lunch, we were heading to a lake to go swim for an hour or two. The bus ride was a bit freaky, you could see a huge drop beside the road. The lake was actually an inactive volcano crater. When we arrived we took about 20 minutes trying to find a non-private beach; In the end we all ended up chipping in 2 euro to be on a private beach with chairs and umbrellas. The water was quite nice and the area we were in wasn't too crowded either. I went swimming for a little bit and watched the chicken fights. I also took a few photos and tanned for 30 minutes, then it was time to leave.

When we got back to Frascati, I took a little nap. When I woke up, I went shopping for a little bit and got some geloto and came back to the hotel to work on my blog.

Streets of Nemi

Strawberry tart from Nemi

The Volcano Crater

At the lake!

Day 7: Cooking at Allan's

Today was the second day of cooking and it was my turn to go with 10 others to Allan's to cook.

We had to leave at 8:15am to head to Allan's to meet up with him to go shopping. We went to the market to get fresh vegetables, meats, and pasta. When we got back to the restaurant, Hanna and I cut pasta for our snack. Allan showed us how to roll, cut, and lift up the dough. After, we got started on the lemon dessert by peeling the skin off the lemons. After we were done, we put the lemon and sugar in a food processor, after blending it with eggs, butter and lemon juice. The mixture was then heated and let to cool. When cooled it was scooped into bowls, cream and a cherry was put on top.

For our snack we had the noodles with prosciutto and egg mixed in. I did not enjoy it all that much but I still tried it.

Before everyone arrived, I help set the table. When everyone arrived, I took our meal outside which was pasta with vegetables and potato, eggplant with cheese, and lamb, garnished with potato and eggplant skins. As well as the lemon dessert Hanna and I made. The meal was really good, I loved the pasta, but the eggplant was not the best. The dessert was really sweet, but I couldn't enjoy it too much because shortly before my lip piercing fell out, and I was worried the hole would close.

After we had to clean up, wash and put away dishes, then Paul took the 11 of us out for geloto. We had the rest of the day off. Liana and I, went shopping around Frascati. We looked in a few clothing stores and got biscotti from a bakery. Later, we went for dinner at Cantina Simonetti. I got pasta in a tomato sauce and Liana got pasta in a creamy white sauce with pepper. We both enjoyed our pasta a lot, and the servers were really friendly. Our server in specific, did not speak much english but he really tried his best to communicate with us. It was a great meal over all.

After dinner, I was full and really tired so we headed back to the hotel. I took some time to upload photos and chat with people from back home then went to bed.

Lemon Dessert

Our lunch we made

My pasta

Liana's pasta

Day 6: Community Kitchen

Today was the first day of cooking but I was one of the 33 not cooking. So in the morning, I was doing more team and leadership building games. The games were concentrated on good and bad stress, but were still pretty fun. We walked up to the park and had to communicate to do the one activity.

Shortly later, we went to Allan's to have lunch that was cooked and served to us by our friends. We had chicken seasoned with rosemary, pasta and vegetables. For dessert was a strawberry creme buréleé, the dessert was delicious.

When I headed back from lunch, I showered and got changed for going to the community kitchen. I headed down to the train station with the other 21 of us volunteering and listened to music on the way to Rome. We took a bus from the train station to the community kitchen. I was a little nervous to volunteer there. I did enjoy the experience a lot though. I got to talk to some locals and here their stores and giveback to the wonderful country.

When we got back to Frascati, Liana and I went to get some supper and geloto since we haven't ate yet. For supper we grabbed pizza, I prosciutto and cheese, which I enjoyed. For geloto, I had chocolate and stracitella, which is like cookies n' cream. After we went to the grocery store and got some snacks for the night.

Community kitchen

View outside the bus window

Day 5: Collosseum

I was really excited for today. We took the train into Rome and took the metro to meet up with Jill and Molly once again. They took us to the Collosseum, which was partially under construction but did not take away from the wow factor. I thought the Collosseum was stunning, but apparently it is collossaly ugly. I did not agreed with this but I guess thats peoples opinion. After, we went to old ruins and looked at a few chruches. For some chruches they dug down and the doors to inside the church was a few feet below the surface. There was so much history in just one place.

Shortly after, we had free time to explore Rome. Taylor, Nicole, Mikayla, Olivia and I, got our maps from Josh and headed out to explore. We stopped in a few touristy shops. I got a sweater and some keychains. We wandered back near the Trevi Fountain from the other day. We also watch one of the people do spray paint art. I thought it was insane what they can do within a short time. For lunch I stopped and grabbed pizza, again. I got sauce and cheese pizza once again, but this time the sauce was a bit different, it had a little spice to it, which I enjoyed a lot. Shortly later, we headed back near the Collosseum, hopped on the metro and went back to the train station.

At the train station we still had about an hour until we had to meet up with everyone else. Taylor wanted to go get books from the book store and so did I, so us five headed there. After checking out, we headed to our meeting spot and waited patiently for the rest of the group to come, while keeping a careful eye on the board for our platform number. When everyone got there and our platform number came up, we walked quickly down to the platform and boarded the train.

While on the train, I sat and enjoyed my music. I enjoyed my music alot more than normal because I barely had listened to any since I left Canada. The train ride seemed slow and it made me really tired, so I took a quick nap on the train.

We had dinner at Allan's that night. It was a Venezuelan style meal. It consisted of rice and beans, beef with a sauce with the perfect blend of spices, cornbread, closlaw, and a fried plantain. For dessert we had a cornbread bar that had the texture of cake, and smelled like carrot cake. We also got a little cup of icing that had a bit of netmeg. I really enjoyed the meal alot, it was very good.

For the short time I had until curfew, I showered and looked around in the market.

Collosseum

Venezuelan meal

Our very yummy dessert

Day 4: Free Day

We have a free day once a week but we may have an acitivity too that won't take up much of the day. In the morning we had team building with iRob. We did a few games that took some thinking and some leadership. As well as everyone found out the answer to iRobs riddle about the poison pill. We also got a new riddle about the light switchs.

After the acitivities, I headed back to the hotel to get money for lunch. Once again, I got pizza for lunch. This time I got sauce and cheese pizza. This pizza I really enjoyed. After, I headed back to the hotel to upload photos and talk with family back home until dinner.

Dinner was at a different resturant and personally I did not like as much. We had different cold meats and cheeses, as well as fried veggies. The cheeses I was okay with, but not my favorite. The meats, I tried but I didn't like the best. The vegetables, I also did not like too much either. After we were all done eating though was the best part. About half of us started telling jokes and riddles and it was quite fun to watch and try to figure out some of them. For the rest of the night, I got geloto and then headed to my room to organize my space in my room.

Meat & Cheese

Activities at the park with iRob

Heading out for activities

Day 3: First Day in Rome

In the morning I struggled getting out of bed from jetlag and being so tired, but I forced myself to get up. When I got up, I got dressed and headed down for breakfast. For breakfast there was bread, some meats, some cheeses and a few pastries, peaches, apricots, and cereal. I had bread and some peaches. After breakfast we went to a sitting area outside and talked about course expectations. The expectations seemed quite simple to follow through with. Shortly after, we were heading down the stairs to go to the train station, to take the train to Rome. We got our tickets, vaildated them, and then waited for the train. This was my first time in a long time riding a train. The seats were quite comfortable, but it was a little hot in the train. I opened the window, and as soon as we started moving it started to cool down.

The ride to Rome was quite nice to see the different scenery around. We passed by an airport which I thought was pretty cool to watch the planes land and take off. When we got to the train station, there were swarms of people, but we managed to get through the station and to where were meeting our tour guides, Jill and Molly. They both went over things you need to watch for, such a pickpocketors. We boarded the number 40 bus and took it down past the Wedding Cake building and got dropped off on a busy street. We split into two groups and headed out for lunch. My group went to a pizzaria, I decided to try a meat and cheese pizza. The meat was a little spicy but I enjoyed it. After lunch we headed out to see the Fountain of The Four Rivers. Also we went and seen the Panthenon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. I thought it was amazing to see all these four famous sights, even though the Trevi Fountain was under construction. On the way to the Spanish Steps, we also stopped to fill up our water bottles at some taps that had clean water flowing through, which honestly I wish we had in Canada. We had some time to take some pictures at the Spanish Steps and then we said goodbye to Molly and Jill.

We took the metro back to the train station which was interesting. We got warned about pickpockets, and keep our bags infront of us while riding the metro. It was three stops until we got to the train station. During the ride on the metro, I found it hard to stay balanced from the speed, even while holding on to the bar. When we got to the train station, we found we had missed our train and had an hour to go to explore and look in stores at the station. Taylor and I went to a book store and found books in English! Knowing Taylor, we were there for most the hour then went to our meeting spot. At our meeting spot, I got a chocolate muffin and Fruitella(Italian version of Starburst) to snack on. Once we got our platform number, we headed there and hopped aboard the train. I fell asleep on the way back to Frascati.

When we got back to Frascati, it was nearly dinner time, so I headed up to my room to get changed. After I headed downstairs to meet with the group before heading to Allan's for dinner. For dinner we had salad that had cheese and tomato in it. Also zuchenni flower stuffed with ricotta cheese wrapped in prochetto. The next course was beef with a sauce overtop and rice with cheese.

Later on that night, Taylor & I explored Frascati. We also took some photos and did some light painting.

Waiting for the train to come

Taylor excited to go to Rome

Light painting photo

Day 1&2: Airport & Arrival

I woke up at 9:30am excited to leave for my adventures in Italy. I took a few hours to get my final packing done and to clean up. Cleaning was the last thing I wanted to do the day I was leaving, especially cleaning the litter box (ew), but it had to be done. I showered and got dressed, and I said goodbye to my kitten and my two dogs, off we went to go pick up Taylor before heading to the airport. When we got to Taylors house at 2:00pm, we gave him a few minutes to say goodbye to his parents and we were finally off to the airport!

The ride down to Toronto was a bit boring, except for my dads reaction to realizing he almost turned in the wrong lane. When we got to the drop off zone, my parents helped Taylor and I get our stuff out of the trunk, told us have fun and have a safe trip, said final goodbyes and left. We got to the airport about an hour early, so we both looked for where we thought we were meeting, and explored around a bit. After exploring for about 15 minutes, we found a spot to sit down, pulled out my laptop and surfed the web for a little bit until Nicole got to the airport. Nicole showed up within 20 minutes of us sitting down, after she did we went to go find our group. We found our group and then had to go through security.

Once we were all through security and customs, we headed off to our gate and sat down at some tables that had iPads on them for us to use. We got an introduction, got our numbers to count off so we can make sure we have everyone, and then were set free to look around and maybe get a snack. During the whole introduction, my carry-on backpack broke. There was already a tear in the side, but both zippers came completely off and I could not get them back on. So I had to go find a place to get a new bag. Thankfully Taylor and I spotted a place earlier after going through customs. The new bag was a little expensive but I still got it just because I would rather have one that won't break anymore.

I got back to the gate where Mrs. Durnin was safely keeping my broken bag. I grabbed the broken one and my new one and started transferring my stuff into my new bag. After I grabbed snacks for the plane and waited patiencly to board.

When I boarded the plane, it was a little squished but I managed to find my seat. The whole plane ride was not the most exciting, I could not sleep nor did I enjoy the inflight movies. I just listened to music, chatted with Taylor, and tried to sleep. The dinner we were served was pretty good for my first airplane meal. It was chicken in a spicey sauce, rice, veggies, a roll and a piece of fudge. After the dinner I contiuned what I was doing before. I maybe got 30 minute sleep at most within 4 hours of being on the plane, but when I woke up we were about 1-2 hours away. Also, breakfast was served. Breakfast was a fruit cup, apple struddel and orange juice. It wasn't to bad for a breakfast. For the rest of the flight I watched the TV screens to see where we were and enjoyed my music.

The landing wasn't the smoothest but wasn't too bumpy either. When I stepped out of the plane, I was expecting it to be a lot hotter, but it was a decent temperture. We got on a bus that took us over to the arrival area, grouped up and got our luggage. Before we left the airport to find our bus to the hotel, we numbered off to mae sure everyone was there and left for the bus.

The bus ride to Frascati was about 30-45 minutes. During the ride Josh & Paul went over expectations and rules. During the ride as well gave us some time to see whats different outside in Italy compared to Canada. When we arrived in Frascati, we had a short little walk to our hotel Cacciani. When we got in the hotel, we got our room numbers, headed up and unpacked.

We had a bit of free time to explore the town and grab a bite before dinner. I got a potatoe and cheese pizza from a little pizzaira. It was not the best tasting but I still tried it. I explored around Frascati with new friends Eric and Evan. We headed back shortly after to met up with the rest of the group to get a tour of Frascati. We walked around and stopped by a little bakery and got a taste of Italian biscotti. We kept walking and came to tables that you can look out over Rome. Turns out this is where we were having dinner. We were having bruschetta, pasta, and pizza. It was a really good first meal and the sunset over Rome was beautiful.
After supper, I headed out to the market with a few people and looked around. When I came back to my room I shortly headed to bed.  

One of the main market areas

Sunset over Rome

Mountains from the plane window

Our dinner setting at Allan's resturant 

Sunset down the streets of Frascati

Loving the buildings, so different.