November 7th, I embarked on a journey to Italy! The night before I left (at 1 am), I realized that the bus I was planning on taking to the airport (which was 2 hours away), was no longer in service. Feeling awful and almost in a panic, I had to wake up my host sister, Marie, to let her know they may have to drive me to the airport because there was no other option of getting there on-time. Having to wake up at 6 the next morning, after getting maybe 4 hours of sleep, she willingly drove me to the airport. I seriously could not thank her enough... And that was the beginning of my journey :)
I flew into Pisa, Italy and had to take a train to Levanto, which is about 2 hours north of Pisa along the Mediterranean coast in the Cinque Terre region. I got of the plane, waited for my luggage, and found the ticket booth where I could by my train ticket. After purchasing my ticket, the woman at the counter said "you have 1 minute to catch your train, you better hurry," without mentioning any direction as to where the train was. Thanks, lady. I took off running to find the train, came to a parking lot, turned around, and there was the train about 100 yards away. Again, I took of running- luggage, purse, and winter coat in hand. I got to the train, asked someone if it was the right one (in english obviously, without even thinking that whoever I spoke to may not have a clue what I'm saying). They nodded so I jumped on. The doors closed. Close call!
I was so excited to get to Levanto! I could not wait to be back with all my fellow students on the trip. We were required to be there by November 8th, but me and a few other students got there early so we could do some hiking. The hostel we stayed in was nice and really close to the beach. The Mediterranean is really beautiful, and the weather was fairly warm. This is my favorite kind of environment :)
The next day, me and the other students who arrived early went hiking up on the cliffs/mountains that run along the coast. The first half was literally all up hill- made up by a combination of steps, gravel road, and narrow, rocky paths. Got our work-out in that morning! But the view was stunning and completely worth while. Pictures don't do it justice.
By the end of the following day, the rest of the students had arrived. It was like a big reunion; we hadn't seen each other in 2 months. Even though the only time we had really ever spent together was the first week in Paris (wow, weird to think it was that long ago), it was so great to see familiar faces. We went out for dinner as a group that night, the night after that, and the following night, when we had the option of doing our own thing. I love being in the company of these people.
The other days while there (November 9th, 10th, and 11th), we had meetings in the morning as a group. The afternoons we had free time. Wednesday, the 10th, me and a few other girls went down to the beach. There were a bunch of surfers; the waves were huge! It was fun to watch them. There was a pier (or something like it) that went out into the sea. Me and two other girls decided it would be fun walk out on it. We got drenched. It might have been a little dangerous, being that the waves where so high and we were standing basically on concrete laid on rock. But the thrill of it was so fun!
So those are some of the highlighted stories from this leg of the trip. There's a lot more I could expand on but that will be left for when I get home. :) Next stop: Rome!
"It is God to whom and with we travel, and while He is he end of our journey, He is also at every stopping place."- Elizabeth Elliot
