Sicilia!

On Thursday after Italian class, I returned to the apartment to finish packing and after calling Liz to pick up some grocery necessities (Nutella, bread, and cookies) we were off to the bus stop. The bus was a little late coming, but we made it to the train station with no problem and met Jackie who had bought our tickets to Rome. We had only bought the one train ticket, our overnight ticket, to Palermo and were planning on buying the rest at the Rome station. However, by the time we got there (about a 3 hour ride) the train was a little later than planned and we ended up just boarding our sleeper train.
Notte Treno
Now, I've been on an overnight train before, but it was very different, as we got into our little couchette car and saw no beds at all. I instantly freaked but realized they must fold out from the wall. There was a woman and a man sitting in our car which was also weird because we distinctly requested "donna" or female, for our sleeper car. The man was speaking English and obviously very lost and the woman, who was Italian, looked annoyed with him and pretty much asked him to leave, and then we told him to find one of the Trenitalia workers outside to help him find his car- the cars were all out of order, but still... it was the donna car.

(Jackie and Liz on the Night Train)

So we sat in our little car and made sandwiches and then the woman showed us how to pull the beds down and use the lights and close the door (it was not as easy as it sounds). The Trenitalia worker people kept coming in and randomly giving us things: first it was sheets and pillows, then this little package with a toilet seat cover, moist towelette and paper slippers, and then these little plastic containers of water.
Liz and I took bottom bunks and Jackie slept on the top, although I'm not sure how much most of us slept. I spent a good amount of time staring out the window at all the towns we were passing by (Naples looked gross) and checking the time. We had figured out the time we'd possibly be passing through the last town before the train was loaded on the boats (or however they do it) so I had set my alarm for 3am. Sure enough, around that time the train was going back and forth on the track and there were weird noises and all of a sudden we were kind of hoisted into this giant white metal room, which I realized was the ship. All the trains just kind of slid right into place as there were train tracks on the boat and each car went side by side into the giant room. After a few minutes, I woke up Liz (who had been asking me if we were on the boat at every stop we came to) and Jackie and we headed outside of the car. There were stairs leading up to the deck and we climbed up and saw people sitting in their cars and wandering around the boat as well.

(to the sea?)

(a train on the ferry)(Liz and I on the deck)

It was a giant ferry, and we were all in our pajamas- I bet the Italians loved that one. We took some pictures out on the dock, got some drinks and snacks, and then headed back down to sleep.
Palermo
We arrived in Palermo around 8:00am and went right to the ticket office to buy train tickets for the rest of the trip. After that, we headed off in the direction of our hostel, to see where it was and if we could possibly drop our stuff off. After a quick cafe stop and some neccessary southern pastries (I think they put ricotta cheese in everything) and window shopping we found the hostel, which was down a sketchy street and had the smallest door ever. The hostel was up a few flights of stairs, and when we arrived the girls working the desk were so nice and led us into their little sitting room and turned on the tv for us (more like a giant projection tv) and brought us coffee, tea, and water. Then they let us in our room early- what a great room! and told us how to get to the beach, that they could order us pizza later for our room, and gave us a few restaurant recommendations (which we never actually used)... basically the nicest hostel ever!
So we left the hostel ready for exploring the sights of Palermo and then hitting the Tyrrhrenian sea!
We wandered down the street looking for the main piazzas that were listed in the packet that the girls at the hostel gave us. One of which we found first and it had a giant fountain and was surrounded by a few governmental buildings and a giant church.
We went inside the one church and it was beautiful, very gothic and spanish-- in fact, most of Palermo reminded me of a few of the Spanish cities I had visited (exactly four years ago I realized).
There were tons of little shops along the road we were walking on, also many palm trees, and possibly bullet holes (no I didn't get any pictures of mob bosses- although I think I may have seen a bunch of them at a park playing "chess"). We found another main church, (hopefully I will fill in the names of all of these when I get the chance) and took some pictures of the pretty exterior before going in.

(so many palm trees!)

After walking around a bit more and getting some lunch we realized we had gone in the completely wrong way of the bus stop that the girl at the hostel had told us. However, we were near a church that was on the list of things to do in every guide book on Palermo, so we decided to pay to see the mosiacs, which ended up being mostly covered by scaffolding.
However, what we could see was really cool, and then we continued on and ended up getting a tour of the current Sicilian government offices and old palace. That was pretty cool. Then it was beach time.
We ended up taking a bus to the bus stop that the girl had told us about since we were so far away to begin with (we had bought tickets earlier at a bus station while checking lines and such) and boarded the bus for the beach. The bus took us down one of the most popular shopping streets in Palermo which we visited later. Then it took some interesting turns and we were in what looked like a natural wildlife reserve. There were trees and hills and goats? Then all of a sudden you could see the water.
While on the train to Palermo, you could see the sea the entire way, but then when we arrived it was gone. The bus came down a bit of a hill and we could see a cute little beach town with beach houses and a cement walkway and little shops and a boardwalk thing closed due to the season. However, we got off the bus and headed right for the empty beach- probably empty because the water was cold! But it was nice, and the sand was pretty and had tons of interesting sea shells. We hung out there for a while, enjoying the landscapes, the sea was surrounded by the mountains and little towns up in the hills, which was really different from all of the other oceans and seas that I've been to.
After spending a good amount of time on the beach we decided to head back, we waited for the bus and then took it back to the shopping street where we wandered around looking at the shops before heading back to the hostel. On the way we passed by a procession for Good Friday which reminded me of when I was in Barcelona exactly four years ago- weird right?
The woman there ordered the pizza for us and let us go back to our room, coming to get us when it arrived, it was really nice, almost like room service, and totally different from every other hostel we'd stayed at. They even let us use whatever we needed from their little kitchen, plates and silverware and etc. We had a nice pizza dinner (second time eating pizza in Sicily)-- the pizza there is different, the sauce is really good and crust is a lot heavier, it really reminds me of home. However, I am definetely used to the thinner crust now and will have a really hard time eating pizza at home and not missing real thin crust delicious Italian pizza.
But anyway, the next morning we planned on waking up in time for the stores to open to do a little quick shopping before catching our next train to Taormina.
Taormina
After boarding our nice Estar train to Taormina, we found our little train room which had two men and a woman already sitting in their seats. The two men were really funny and one would point out the window excitedly and show the other one something and the woman kept laughing at us because we were making nutella sandwiches and then putting nutella on our cookies. There were a ton of people travelling, obviously because of Easter- there were also boy scouts and girl scouts? Some kind of weird mixed troop thing, and they were all on our train. The train ride to Taormina was quite possibly one of the most beautiful train rides I have ever been on. Unfortunately, I didn't have a window seat, but I kept getting up to look out the window. We were basically passing by the Sicilian countryside on one side and the sea on the other. It was gorgeous. At times it felt like the train tracks were leaning toward the sea and that we were all going to just fall into the blue water. But that didn't happen. So about 3.5 hours and one train switch later we found ourselves in the Taormina-Giardini train station, which wasn't exactly in Taormina. We stood around at the bus stop along with a few other confused people, until the bus showed up. Then we took the bus up a long windy road way up into the hills- you could see tons of ocean towns and little islands out in the water, it was beautiful.
We arrived at the bus station and started walking and following the signs for our hostel, the only hostel in the town. It was a good 20 minute walk to our hostel from the center of town, and it was a pretty cute little place with a common room and free breakfast. We were only there for a night and the next day we paid a euro each to store our luggage- not bad. However, compared to the hostel from the previous night it was nowhere near as nice.
After dropping our stuff off (and making a few clothes changes and such also because it was raining) we headed out to the center of town for a quick lunch and to see all the shops and the Greco Teatro- Greek Theatre.
It was a very relaxing day, and there seemed to be a ton of tourists around (apparently cruise ships stop in Taormina?) and we ambled our way through the shops that sold random things made from lava ash and random cute souvenirs. I finally had a cannoli and it was so good- but it was so cheesy (they put ricotta in everything in the south), so it was pretty different than in the US. Liz and I also got popcorn from a little street vendor which was good since I haven't had any since I left the states. Weird little food things like that I miss- popcorn, pretzels, those were always my college staples- now it's Nutella wraps!

So, the Greek Theatre (above) was really neat, it had fantastic views of the shoreline and the town of Taormina. They actually still use it for live shows which would be amazing to see. We wandered around there and took a bunch of pictures before leaving and walking around to see more shops. Then we followed our guide book's suggestions and went to a pretty nice restaurant that was right over the water. It wasn't too expensive considering we were sitting outside in a covered area and there was music and dancing. Jackie and I both got fish, although Jackie's was a full fish- head, eyes, mouth, tail- you name it.
Liz and I were a little freaked out. My spaghetti and clams were really good and we had some traditional Sicilian desserts, one of which was almost like apple pie except it had a honey coating- it was so good!
After eating dinner we decided to take the ski lift/cable car thing (The Finuvia- see above) down to the beach. That was an interesting ride-- once down at the beach we had no idea where to go, and there was no one around. We walked around a bit and then found a sign that said "to the beach" and we followed it into something that looked like a sewer.. it was a little scary.
We found "the beach" which was more like a marina, it had lots of boats and we decided this isn't the beach we had seen from the bus and we headed back up to take the cable car back up to our hostel since it was late and we were tired.
The next morning we woke up in time for a free breakfast and to check out and store our luggage. We got dressed up and went to a church we had found the day before. However, we had left early and the mass (like everything in Italy) was late to start. We sat out in front of a little cafe and Jackie had a spumenta? which is basically like an iced coffee only the strongest iced coffee I've ever tasted (the south is the only place you can get iced anything really) and Liz had fresh squeezed blood orange juice that was really good.
After the first mass got out we went to stand in front of the church and we went in and got seats in a pew. The church was so crowded with people that not everyone could fit and people were standing in the aisles and overflowing out to the street. It was weird too because when the priest came processing in, he just walked around the people standing in the aisles. Also, a lot of people didn't stay for the whole mass which is a lot like home, except some of these people didn't even stay for the eucharist- which I found really strange. They just got up and left as if they had enough God for the day. Perhaps they were tourists, there were a lot of people just randomly in church, like ourselves, except we stayed for the whole mass- which was quite enjoyable. I liked trying to figure out what the homily was about (the whole mass was in Italian except they translated the gospel and there was one random sentence in english during prayers). The priest was fun to watch and there was even a baptism during the mass.
After Easter mass we went down one of the other streets that we hadn't walked down the previous day. We poked in a lot of shops and then came to a small piazza at the end which had a nice view of the water and a few cafes. We ended up eating in one cafe outside for lunch and had personal pizzas. Again, the crust was a lot heavier, but not as heavy as the one in Palermo. It was also really crispy and I really like Sicilian sauce, it reminds me of the sauce from a place we go by where my Nana lives in Sayreville.
After shopping we headed back to the hostel to change into beach clothes and head down to the beach! We took the Funivia down and this time found the signs for Isola Bella, or beautiful island which was indeed quite beautiful!
To get there you had to walk down stairs through a wild life protected reserve. The beach didn't have sand like the one in Palermo, everything was rocks and it was really hard to walk on. There were also little islands way out in the water that we could see, but everyone was on Isola Bella. You could also rent boats and go see the grottos but we decided to just find a nice spot on the island and put our blankets out. We went into the water, but like Palermo the water was still chilly. It was fun though, there were large rocky surfaces out on the water that had strange green kelp or some kind of seaweed on them that was like a giant green mossy carpet and felt really weird to walk on. We stayed out on the island for a few hours before heading back to the mainland up on the hill. Our train back to Rome wasn't until 10pm so we started looking for a place to eat dinner. Unfortunately, because it was such a touristy town most of the restaurants were expensive. Also, because it was Easter there were tons of people out walking around and eating dinner- which is REALLY strange because we thought everything would be closed down since Italy is such a catholic country. Anyway, we wandered down a side street and found a pretty cute litle restaurant where I had homemade pasta that was really thick and wide- I don't remember the name, and it was served with some kind of eggplant tomato sauce- it was really good. Eggplant is also big in the south which is exciting because I love eggplant! After eating dinner we headed back to the hostel to change and grab all our stuff. Then we walked the long long walk for the last time back to the center where we caught the bus to the train station.
Notte Treno Part Due
So we had already bought our train tickets and for the past few days had been worrying about the fact that on the ticket it said 6 person couchette which didn't seem possible because there was no way to fit 6 people in one of those rooms and have one bed for each person- it's only possible to have 4 beds. So we boarded the train and sure enough it was the same set up with 4 beds but there was no one else there. We asked one of the Trenitalia workers when they came around if anyone else would be in there with us but we had trouble understanding him (along with every single person in the south- their accent and word choice is really different than the northern italians). After a stop, he came back and there was another person sharing our room, but only one other woman. Then she randomly left to go be with her friends on the train and it was just the three of us. That was nice, except the train was a lot older and not as nice as the first train we had been on. There were weird seatbelts that hung from the ceiling that were supposed to "hold you in" on the top--- I slept on a bottom bunk again. The train was also really cold, and I kept waking up, although I did get more sleep on the way home than I did on the way to Palermo on the first night.
We arrived in Rome around 8 in the morning and then took our last train back to Perugia-- the trains were packed! The monday after Easter in Italy is a countrywide holiday called Pasquetta which is like little Easter, and everyone usually goes somewhere on holiday with their friends or family like the beach, or the city, or in our case, Perugia. TONS of people got off the train, TONS of people were on the bus back up to the top of the center, I have NEVER seen that many people before. It is obviously the start of tourist season because ever since we've been back I've seen tour after tour through my amazing town and seeing people walk around lost gazing at the Etruscan arches that I pass by every day on the way to class. I've given directions to tons of people, who assume I am Italian (which is a fun feeling) and it's getting annoying to have the streets so crowded.
What's left?
This weekend I will be going on the school trip to Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast which I am SO excited about. It's nice because we don't have to plan anything and we just take the bus, get dinners, have tours, and etc. Plus, the area looks gorgeous, another sea for me to put my feet in! I just hope there aren't tons of tourists there either!
This is my last week of classes which is also really strange. It's weird that it's all going to be over so soon and that I won't see any of this every again, unless I come back. But even my professors and some of my fellow students that I am so used to seeing every single day- even the random people on the street who I have begun to recognize on a daily basis. I will miss every single thing about this study abroad experience. It will be strange to have to go to Elon next semester and readjust to the whole American way of life after living here in Italy. I will definetely miss this lifestyle so much, I really dislike the way we do things as Americans and I really hope to continue to live like an Italian as much as I can, even in America. Especially foodwise, I will miss the food so much.
I am excited to see my family and friends and everything else I miss (mom have the apple pie ready!) but it is still hard to accept that in a few weeks I will be flying back home to the United States.
But enough of that! There are still a few weeks left and I am going to make the most of them. I am trying to get to Ravenna, Rimini, Gubbio, a Perugia soccer game, and a few other random things before leaving- so wish me luck and I will be talking to you all soon!