*Actual conversation between friends*
“What should we do next weekend?” “Wanna go to Italy?” “Absolutely.”
With minimum planning, but maximum anticipation, I grabbed a few necessities: pajamas, toothbrush, OPI’s new pink glitter nail polish just in case my new mani chipped (hey, I never claimed to be the world’s most practical packer) and off we went. In just 3 hours, we arrived in ITALY!!!
Keeping our priorities in check, we purchased gelato within five minutes of exiting the train. #SorryNotSorry. (I should tell you right now that one of the main themes of this post is…gelato)
(and more gelato)
(and even more gelato).
But back to our trip…oh yea, our first stop…Milan!
Aside from its association with the best Pepperidge Farm cookie in the whole wide world, Milan is also known as THE fashion capital of Europe. So, needless to say, I was seriously stoked just to be there. But, God was smiling on me a little extra that day because our visit just happened to be perfectly timed- IT WAS MILAN FASHION WEEK. The streets were dazzling with runway shows of the hottest designers and all the latest couture fashions (and to think I was excited just to eat an authentic Milano…)
After spending a few hours wandering the city, we boarded our connection to Cinque Terre. What is Cinque Terre you ask?
It’s the most beautiful place on the planet, that’s what.
But seriously, it looks like a giant Tumblr picture. Cinque Terre, or “The Five Lands” (thank you Google translate for making me sound informed) consists of five quaint little fishing villages….on the Italian Riviera…overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
Yup – it’s just as beautiful as you are imagining.
After taking a zillion and one pictures, (definitely a common disorder of all study abroad students), we ate dinner at a mom & pop restaurant overlooking the crystalline water. I feasted on authentic Italian gnocchi and shared a bottle of local red wine with my friends (yea – you can legally order wine at 18 here…yet one more reason Europe rocks! 😉 Another very welcomed bonus when dining overseas is that tax and tip is already factored into the price on a menu. In other words, if your dinner costs 10 euros, it really only costs 10 euros! So although the conversion rate from US dollars is less than favorable, at least you can pretend you saved money 🙂
Following dinner, we stargazed, resting on the rocks as the seawater splashed at our feet, and then – you guessed it – we ate more gelato!!! To say watching the sunset in Cinque Terre was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen would be the understatement of the century.
Spectacular? Stunning? Magnificent? Alas, even thesaruas.com can’t help me describe the beauty of this place completely.
After another round of pictures, we headed back to our hostel and prepared for our second day of living life Italian style.
I literally woke up the next morning “under the Tuscan sun” (catch the movie reference?! Ah puns…;) We quickly gathered our group together and geared up for “Cinque Terre Round Two.” Since we had only visited one of the five towns the previous night, we planned to walk through the next four on day two. We grabbed some pastries for breakfast, and headed out on our adventure!
To get from the first village to the second, you must venture along a little trail called “Via Dell’ Amore”, or the “Pathway of Love” (Google translate just keeps coming in so handy on this trip). The name is pretty self explanatory – and it might be the sweetest and most romantic spot I’ve ever seen. Along the path, hundreds of padlocks hang in testimony to the love of visiting couples and sweet sentiments are etched into walls everywhere. It literally feels as though you are wandering around Pinterest. (I couldn’t help but think it would be the perfect place to take a stroll with my future Italian pop-star boyfriend 😉
After the Via Dell’ Amore ends, you reach the second town. Which, although it seems impossible, the view is even more incredible! We stopped for lunch at an authentic pizzeria, and followed it up with, what else, gelato. As we ate, Italian musicians serenaded us. It was like a scene straight out of a movie. Stuffed full of gourmet italian, we decided to continue on to the third town.
At this juncture, I must provide you with a random, but very relevant side note: all day long I noticed that many people were dressed in pretty extensive hiking gear. I kind of thought it was odd, because after all, we were just strolling along a well-paved coastal path. I was doing just fine in a mini dress and sandals (we were taking pictures, after all!). I secretly chuckled to myself about the chosen outfits of some people, and smugly went on my way.
But, as it turns out, Karma really is you-know-what.
My friends failed to inform me that the “Walk of Cinque Terre” is actually the “Hike of Cinque Terre.” And not just any old hike either – it’s about 10 miles…UPHILL. I kid you not; I almost died (the only thing that kept me going at all was knowing there was probably gelato waiting for me at the end).
As we hiked, I’m not sure if people were staring because of my insanely poor choice of outfit, the fact that my friend Dave was carrying my Michael Kors purse for me, or that I straight up looked like I was about to pass out.
All I can say is it is a freaking miracle that I ever finished the hike. (And if I do not wake up with legs like Giselle Bundchen tomorrow, I will be thoroughly disappointed).
Upon our long awaited entrance to the third town, we jumped into the Mediterranean Sea to cool off. Yup, just straight off the path! It was amazing, and, dare I say – worth every step I took on the hike from hell (can you tell I don’t like hiking!?)
After our swim, we ate dinner at yet another precious Italian café followed by, of course, more gelato. Then it was time to walk to the next two towns, but since I really hoped to live to see them, I convinced my friends to take the train the rest of the way (diva moment…).
Relaxing momentarily after covering all five towns, we happily ran into a large group from the Florence Program that was visiting Cinque Terre too. I was literally just strolling through Italy and got to say, “Oh hey, there is one of my sorority sisters!” How cool is that?! So, we followed them over to the Pepperdine campus in Florence.
We spent the night in the Florence house (which, just like the Lausanne house, is beautiful!) The next morning we got up bright and early to see what, as they say in Italian, “Firenze” had to offer. As we walked through the city, I recognized many places I had seen before (on the Jersey Shore season they filmed in Italy…don’t judge, you know you watch it too). Unfortunately we could only admire the Duomo from the outside -which by the way is super cool and enormous- because we were wearing somewhat scantily clad outfits (inappropriate outfit choices seems to be another theme of this trip…) So our next awesome plan was to head off to see “The David.”
We waited for about two hours to see him…ugh. But along the long, organized line, lots of random kiosks are strategically placed to provide diversion while waiting. The Italian kiosk people who designed this “shop in line” concept are brilliant…I started buying things just because I was bored. 10 euros later I am now the proud owner of a David keychain and crazy “Viva Italia” sunglasses…
Finally, the doors opened and we were allowed to see the sculpture masterpiece. And guess what – it’s just as cool as it’s made out to be! So I whipped out my camera to take a picture – but turns out, no pictures are permitted. However, just like most overly enthusiastic visitors, I decided to sneak one anyways, and practically got arrested by the Italian security guards.
Making a hasty exit, we did what all guests to Italy do REPEATEDLY – went to eat! Because calories don’t count when you’re traveling, I had homemade Italian risotto followed by, need I even say, gelato.
I’m not kidding – my friends and I ate more gelato this weekend than humanely possible. We each had more than 15 scoops in 2 1/2 days. That’s so much even I, the queen of ice cream, don’t feel like eating any more for a while (And trust me, that is REALLY saying something).
Timed perfectly to the ending of my gelato cravings, it was time to board the train back to Switzerland. When we entered, to our delight, there was a legitimate party going on in our car! There was a group of approximately twenty people eating cheese, playing cards, singing, and popping a wine bottle (*correction*-popping wine bottles…they had at least 7 between them!) I forgot you could do that in Europe – (cue mental note-to-self for my next train ride). We happily joined in on their party and even tried to sing along to a few songs (which was kind of hard for me, since I can speak some Spanish, very little French, but absolutely no Italian, but hey – I tried!)
They sang very enthusiastically the entire train ride, which was truly quite entertaining. But what was even more compelling, was observing the reaction of this one really angry guy who apparently wasn’t in the mood for the serenade. He kept seeking the help of train security to quiet them down, but to no avail. The situation really highlighted the fact that we are indeed in a foreign country. In America, the party would have never been allowed at all. But in Europe, the security guard told the annoyed man, *exact quote* “I’m not stopping the party! I sing just like that when I drink too!”
Yes, Italy rocks.
Finally, a few hundred miles and a few hours later, we were back in good old Switzerland.
….But just for 3 days.
Because on Thursday, we are off to Paris 😉
