Papal Conclave 2013

The papal conclave to elect a new pope began on Wednesday as the last of the cardinals arrived on Monday. The Sistine Chapel closed, and the chimney was installed on top of the roof. The first ballot session was held that night around 7 pm, and Anna, Alex and I decided to go. The likelihood of a pope being elected on the first ballot was slim to none, but I thought it would be just as cool to be there, even seeing the black smoke come out of the chimney.

There were news reporters from all different countries everywhere, and whenever people heard us speaking English, American newscasters would come up to us and interview us. Mostly minor stations, but it was all pretty cool. They always asked us who we thought would be the pope, and I honestly had no idea. We had been reading up on all the different cardinals who were believed to be front-runners, but in these lists they always included Cardinal Dolan, though likable and the cardinal from New York, was probably not going to get it considering he was just made a cardinal recently. So I wasn’t sure whether even to trust these articles. Besides, no one really knows what goes on in the conclaves.

Giant screens were set up so that even if you couldn’t see the chimney from where you were standing (it was kind of tiny anyway), anyone could see the smoke pour out right when it happened. It was a little rainy but we managed to stick it out through the crowd, and as 7 pm came and went we got a little anxious. It was around 7:40 pm when suddenly the crowd gasped, and black smoke came pouring out of the chimney. At first it was almost grey, and my stomach dropped, but then it was clearly black. I was still excited to have been there for the first vote! We headed home, still feeling the adrenaline from being down in St. Peter’s Square for that.

The next day, we had a site visit to St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, the church where St. Paul is buried. Me and Anna had been there that morning for the 7 am Stations mass, and had to trek back there for class at 9:30. The only thing anyone could talk about was the pope, and the election. Professor Gondreau asked anyone if they had the “Pope Alarm” app, so that we would know right away if we had to start running down to the Vatican. There was a ballot at 10:30 am that morning and noon. Luckily, nothing happened for the first ballot of the morning, and because it had been passed on that there would be no smoke at all unless a pope was elected (they saved the ballots for the next vote and would put them in if there was supposed to be black smoke), we raced over to the Vatican after class to catch the smoke at noon. We got there at exactly noon, and were told that the black smoke had actually gone up really early, at 11:40 am. Looks like they don’t do anything according to schedule in Italy…

Anna, Alex, and I skipped Italian that night to make it to St. Peter’s Square for the first evening vote at 5:30 pm, and everyone met us there. There was a steady drizzle, and it was really difficult to navigate around everyone because of the massive amounts of umbrellas. There was also significantly more people in the square, and the air had a feeling of excitement. A lot of people from CEA ended up meeting up with us, as well as everyone who had gone to their later Italian classes. The smoke didn’t go up, and everyone waited and chatted. We met a newscaster and cameraman from Houston, and they talked to us for a while. Danielle lives in Houston, so she told her mom to be sure to watch the news there. It was 7 pm and everyone was just starting to get excited, but me and Anna were kind of expecting the smoke to go up later, as it had done the night before. About five minutes later, everyone gasped and yelled again, and we looked up to see white smoke billowing from the chimney. Everyone started screaming and jumping and cheering—it was a wild scene, and not something you would expect from a bunch of Catholics. We all looked at each other and everyone started running, and me and Anna followed Ben, dodging umbrellas and people. We ended up getting really up close. Everyone was screaming and yelling and cheering, and even though there was still rain falling, once everyone was packed in up near St. Peter’s, most people courteously put their umbrellas away. Anna took some pretty entertaining videos of our initial reactions and everyone else around us. There were people standing on roofs all over the Vatican, and I could not get over how close we were—almost as close as you could possibly get before the small steps leading into the Basilica.

We waited for about an hour, and in the meantime a band marched across the front of St. Peter’s. At one point, the curtain where the pope was to step out moved a little and the whole crowd went nuts… it was pretty funny. Finally, three people walked out of the door and in Latin, announced something that literally no one understood in the crowd around me. Then these Spanish people in the crowd started yelling, “PAPA FRANCESCO!”, repeating it over and over again. Ben, Anna and I just kept looking at each other, because none of us recognized that name. The three of us joked that at that point, the whole world knew who the pope was expect the people actually in the Vatican Square that night. Francesco was definitely not a name of any of the well-known cardinals. Finally, someone passed around a newspaper with all of the cardinals’ pictures and names, and the man next to us translated to us in English that it was the cardinal from Argentina. I was actually surprised, because I had heard a lot about the cardinals from Milan, Ghana, and Canada, but nothing about one from Buenos Aires. Finally, the cardinals all filed out on the balconies next to the center balcony, and all dressed in white, he addressed the crowd. Instead of the normal immediate blessing of the crowd, he instead asked us all to pray for him. He made a few jokes (which we couldn’t translate) and made the crowd laugh, but from what I later found out about what he said, he seemed like a pretty cool guy.

The atmosphere was crazy, and everyone was packed in together in the rain listening to the new pope. I couldn’t believe that I had witnessed the entire thing, from black smoke to white smoke to actually watching with my own eyes the pope walk out for the first time ever. When the pope went back inside, I took Anna’s hand and dodged through the crowd. There were masses of people all trying to leave St. Peter’s Square, and there were masses of people surrounding the Vatican for miles. We just needed to get ahead of them. So with my crowd-dodging skills, we laced in and out of the crowd until we were a little more comfortable. There was absolutely no way that we could get on any form of public transportation—the roads would all be clogged—so we decided to head to Scholar’s Pub for nachos and a beer to toast the new pope. We weren’t gonna be able to make it home anytime soon anyway. So, along with thousands of other Romans that night, we walked through the streets and crossed the bridge to the city center. There were just hoards of people everywhere on the streets, and we had been told ahead of time that if we decided to go to the conclave and the pope was actually elected, we would 100% have to trek home.

We got into the pub, having lost Alex and Danielle hours ago, and ordered a big order of nachos and fries and two Stella’s. As we got our beer, Danielle and Alex appeared out of nowhere! They had the same idea as us apparently, so we all sat together and ate and watched the one TV that the rugby game wasn’t blaring on, that was actually broadcasting news of the pope. Finally, we figured out that people had been yelling “Francesco” because he had taken on the name Pope Francis I. He was also the first Jesuit pope ever, had a degree in chemical engineering, and his parents were actually Italian immigrants.

We were so relieved that the pope had been elected that night, as we were off to London the next morning and wouldn’t have been able to be a part of it! It would’ve been terrible if we had been living in Rome and just simply weren’t in town the biggest weekend of (probably) the year!

Down South in Sicily

Since we had an open weekend for March 8th, Danielle, Alex and I decided to take a weekend trip to Sicily. After doing some research on where to go (the island is actually quite big), I decided that we should stay in Palermo. There was a lot to see just in case the weather was bad and we couldn't make it to the beach.

We took the overnight train on that Thursday. When we got on (this time with plenty of time to spare compared to our nightmare in Paris), and were pleasantly surprised with the accommodations. We each had our own beds, with sheets and a pillow, and even had a little private sink with three little packets containing face towels and various necessities. The guy who checked our tickets came around and handed out water bottles, and when he saw Danielle opening a bottle of wine, we jokingly offered him a cup. Unfortunately, he accepted.

Awesome.

Braving the overnight train

He sat in our little compartment for like twenty minutes, turning into a huge annoyance. 1) He was kind of old, and started to creep me out a little. Why was he drinking wine with a bunch of 20 years olds? 2) My bed was the one that turned into a couch, so that's where he sat while I squished myself into the corner to avoid sitting near him and 3) He didn't speak any English. So communication became an effort on our part, and we started glancing at each other, trying to figure out a way to get him to leave. Finally, he got up and left, but continued to walk by and stop in for the next hour. We shut and locked our door, and before went to bed Danielle was trying to figure out if the door in our room was actually a bathroom. You could lock it from the outside as well, so we were confused and couldn't get it open. When she took a step outside of the room, she discovered that the door connected our room to the ticket guy's room! Kind of like a hotel, where if there are two families next to each other, you can choose to both unlock the door. We hurried up and locked our side. For the next nine or so hours, whenever we hit a bump on the tracks and the door shook, I pictured him trying to get into our room...

Famous Sicilian cannoli

I think that I pictured myself getting much more sleep on the train than I actually did. The train made so much noise, so we would shut the window. Then it would get extremely hot, so we'd have to open the window again. We woke up around 9 am and washed our faces and brushed our teeth in the personal sink. The bathroom in the hallway was actually disgusting, and I don't know what I would have done if we didn't have that sink.

We got off the train around 10 am, and after having a little trouble figuring out which direction we had to go in, I led them to the hotel. We were actually right on the Quattro Conti, a famous point in the city, and right across the street from the Fountain Pretoria, a controversial and famous fountain decked out in nude statues.

We checked into the hotel and freshened up a little, then headed out to find something for breakfast. We stopped in a big open cafe, where we got cappuccinos and cannoli (Sicily did invent the cannoli, after all). We decided to head over to the Catacombe dei Cappuchin first. Even though it sounds really morbid, it is apparently a really popular tourist attraction in Palmero. When we got there, we walked through the wrong entrance and ended up in this cemetery where all the tombs were grey marble and above ground, covered in flowers and pictures. It was actually really pretty. After walking out, we turned around the corner and saw that the catacombs were closed between 12:30 and 3 pm- we had just missed it. The sun was finally coming out though, and after our rain-soaked trek up the streets of Palermo, we didn't mind walking around a little to find a restaurant to pass the time.

I don't know how there aren't more (or even one!) sit-down restaurants near this main part of Palermo, but we ended up walking forever to find someplace that wasn't a "bar" (remember bar = cafe). Finally, after passing some fresh fish markets all over, we found a place that we could sit down at. The prices were pretty decent, and me and Alex split an order of bruschetta and then each ordered this thing that was kind of like a calzone but lighter. It didn't end up being very good, but we comforted ourselves with Sicilian wine. I actually felt like I was on vacation in just my t-shirt, and having to put on sunglasses at lunch.

Port in Palermo

We made it to the catacombs after lunch and were actually really disturbed. The bodies were actually well-preserved, with their original clothing on them... some even had hair still. They were either laid out in little coves or actually hung up on the wall. I have to admit, the idea does sound super inhumane, but these people actually wanted to be preserved and displayed (well, maybe not displayed to this extent). Wealthy Sicilians would put it in their will that they wanted to go through with this, and sometimes even had clauses requiring their loved ones to change their clothing after certain periods of time. The tradition was begun by the Cappuchin monks to preserve their bodies. By far the creepiest thing was the body of a two year old little girl who had passed away in 1920. Her body was preserved so much so that she looked like a doll. Her body was the last to be preserved in the catacomb.

After leaving, we were all a little shook up. We had paid three euros to get in, and though I was determined to go through the whole thing, I removed myself from the actual reality of what I was seeing and I kind of just looped through without thinking about it. I still prefer not to think too hard about it.

We walked back to our hotel and on the way, got to witness a lot of cool architecture and bridges. Sicily has huge African and Arabian influences, both from its location and proximity to Africa, as well as who inhabited and conquered the land over the past centuries. The sun was shining brightly and it had gotten pretty warm out, so I led us down to the port where we walked around for a few hours. We stopped in a cafe for a quick snack, and then headed back to the hotel again to change for dinner.

We didn't have any definite dinner plans, so we walked down the street and found a bunch of really fun cobblestone and music-filled streets that led to a ton of restaurants where people were all sitting outside. We went into one of the tents and decided to do apertivo, where you order a drink and then get to eat whatever you want from the buffet. There was all kinds of risotto, pesto pasta, quinoa and lots of other good stuff. The tent was stuffed with people eating and drinking, and the different colored lights made it feel like a club. Danielle and Alex decided to go out after, but because it was already 12:30 am, I decided to just go to bed. I wanted to be able to wake up early and tour and still get a full beach day in the next day! The girls ended up coming back really late, so I was pretty happy that I stayed in. In combination with being sick earlier in the week, I wanted to get a good night's sleep.

We left the hotel the next morning around 10:15 am, and I led us to the Mercato di Ballero in the bright warm sunshine. One of the most famous markets in Italy, it boasted all kinds of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, and cheeses, and especially fish. It was definitely my favorite part of the trip to Sicily. We wandered around and the vendors all called out to us, trying to get us to test their cheeses or buy fruit. We agreed to try this man's strawberries, and he dipped them in this homemade whipped cream for us. We bought enough for the three of us to take to the beach, and wandered along until we found a place that had a ton of fresh cheese. We got a bunch of slices of swiss, and then picked up some bread at another vendor. Alex got a ton of olives for herself, and even though I don't like olives, they even looked good to me. At one point, while we were waiting for the man to give us the fresh slices of cheese, we looked at all the fish at the next vendor over. The buckets of shrimp were literally still moving, and the squid and octopus in this makeshift pen on the table were moving around the surface.

Enjoying my fresh strawberries

After regretfully leaving the market, we trekked through the city to the bus stop to get to Mondello Beach. We didn't know how or where to get tickets, so we just hopped on nervously and hoped the bus driver wouldn't check. He didn't, and many other people seemed to do the same, so whatever. The bus ride took about twenty minutes, and we went up a cliff, passing goats and farmland and then coming back down. As the beach started to come into view, I was getting so excited. The setting was so beautiful, surrounded by cliffs with bright blue water. Luckily, the temperature felt like it was around (or maybe a little cooler than) 70 degrees, so laid out our towels and got down to our bathing suits. I checked the water, and it was freezing, but there was a good number of people actually in the water! Beyond the swimmers, there were windsurfers all over.

We laid out for a little, trying to get some color, and a cute little puppy ran up to us, followed by the puppy's owner. The older man sat in the sand near us for a little, talking to us about where we from. He told us that he had lectured at Columbia in New York, and that he worked on operations for aerospace industries (I think?). His English wasn't always perfect and came across as disjointed, but he was pretty nice and we asked him if he knew of any good places to get seafood. That was when he got a little creepy, offering to drive us back to Palermo in the afternoon and telling us that there wasn't any good seafood on the beach. He also asked us to meet him at a restaurant in Palermo at 7:45 and asked where we were staying, but I told him I forgot the name of the hotel and we played dumb. I also brought up that we were meeting up with a bunch of other people that night, so we would have to see (lies). He finally got up and walked away, and we went down to the water to take pictures. Again he appeared and offered to take them.

By that point, the clouds had kind of started to roll in and the wind was whipping so hard that the sand stung. We decided to head down to a strip of boardwalk, and luckily he had left. Compared to American beach towns, finding a place off the beach that offered some kind of seafood or fried seafood was actually kind of hard, and made me kind of miss the States. Sounds stupid, but I kept comparing it to the American beaches I knew and loved. Finally, we found a little stand that had a bunch of fresh seafood, and Alex and I got a plate of fried calamari and Danielle got a swordfish sandwich that was a little too fishy for my taste. It actually started raining at that point, so we headed inside for the girls to get gelato, and I asked a guy how to get to the bus stop that takes us back to Palermo.

While on the bus ride back to Palermo, we were entertained by a baby in a stroller in front of us, and jokingly harassed by a group of boys that seemed to range in age from 12 to 16. I don't think that they realized I knew they were talking about us in Italian. My Italian's bad, but come on, I've been in Italy for three months now. They were sitting behind us, and when they started mocking us and saying that we were "bella," I turned around and said, "Grazie, bambini," (Thank you, children), and they all burst out in laughter. When we got off the bus, they even followed us down the street for a little, but they were harmless and we were laughing.

Teatro Massimo

On the way home we passed the place where they shot the last scene of The Godfather, Teatro Massimo. The roots of the Italian Mafia are in Sicily, especially Palermo, and still exist and exert influence today.

We got back to the hotel and I hopped in the shower. While Danielle napped, me and Alex went to mass at the church next to the hotel, a famous cathedral whose name escapes me now... I should probably look that up. The mass was in Italian but I tried to follow along. The priest seemed like a cool guy- he was African and had dreadlocks. Mass went well except for my Eucharist experience. Although I've been to mass in Rome almost every week, I haven't adopted the way of taking communion directly into my mouth, as every Italian does. I still just hold out my hands. On this particular occasion, for some reason I decided to try it, and it amounted to perhaps the most awkward moment I've ever had at church. I got confused and didn't know when to say "Amen," and as the Eucharist was still on my tongue I had to mumble it and the woman looked to confused, and I was confused. Oops. I wandered back to my pew and told Alex and we started laughing when I told her that I was never doing that again.

Mondello Beach

After mass, we got dressed for dinner and went to a place down the street that kind of reminded us of our beloved little Gran Sasso. Unfortunately, it was so popular for locals that the owner didn't have any tables. When we asked how long he thought it would be, he regretfully shrugged and didn't know what to tell us. In Italy, people linger at their tables with wine and dessert and coffee more so than the States, and there's not usually a way to estimate that, especially in these local family-owned places. So we went down to the next corner, a little disappointed because it had look so good in there. We found a place pretty similar down the next side street and were seated right away. We ordered a bottle of the house red wine and the favorite antipasto on the menu. It was only 10 euros, and we got to try all of the local delicacies of Palermo, including these rolled up eggplant parm things (delicious) and what we think was pickled salmon (that was left on the plate after I almost gagged). There was also mixes of cheese and vegetables and fried things that were all really delicious. Then we all got our meals: Alex got a seafood risotto with a ton of oysters and clams, Danielle got this fettucine with whole lobster and what looked like crayfish (?) on top with some shrimp, and I got a lemon shrimp risotto. Mine was really delicious, and everyone else's looked good, too. The seafood was a little different, and Danielle' lobster looked a little strange. It kind of made me miss home again for some reason.

We ended up going back to the hotel around 11 pm, and although Danielle wanted to go out, all passed out in our beds because we were so exhausted. I even fell asleep in my clothes, and had to wake up at 2 am to get out of them! We woke up the next morning and headed to the train station, where we picked up some croissants and a cappuccino on the way. I ended up being chatted up by the ticket guy and an Italian man next to me, both of whom seemed to want to practice their English with me, even though I just wanted to read my book. They asked where I was from, and the ticket guy, who could barely speak English, told me the only thing that he knew about New York State was the movie The Express, which was his favorite movie. I started laughing and told him that I was from Syracuse, and lived right outside the city, and that my boyfriend and friends went to school there. He asked if Peter was a football player and I told him, no, lacrosse, which started a whole new conversation. They literally had no idea what lacrosse was, and I unsuccessfully tried to explain it to them. At one point, I realized the guy thought I was talking about darts. I eventually gave up and waited for them to kind of walk away, and for the next ten hours, didn't take my headphones out in fear that someone would try to talk to me. At one point, the train entered onto a ferry where we crossed over the ocean and back over to mainland Italy. When we finally arrived back in Rome, I was kind of happy.

I loved Sicily and was really glad I went there, but I doubt I'll ever go back to Palermo in my life. It was the kind of thing that once I saw it, I saw it. The beaches were nice, but were comparable to the ones in America. In fact, I decided that I liked the ones in the States better. However, Sicily is a huge island and there are many other places to go on it, including Lampedusa, which has the #1 rated beach in the world, according to tripadvisor.com, which is called Rabbit Beach. I would definitely be up for traveling to a different part of Sicily at one point. Palermo is now on my list of travels, and I think that for now, I'm happy with it being on there once.

Mercato di Ballero

Mercato di Ballero

Mondello Beach

Florence and Cinque Terre

CEA actually planned a day trip on Friday, March 1st for us, so we went and extended it out the whole weekend so I could see Catherine, Maureen, Shelby and Lucie! So many people to see in Florence.. I felt like everyone I knew was there in one weekend.

We went to Gran Sasso, our favorite restaurant across the street, the night before and I got the best meal I've had there so far: seafood risotto ahhhhh. This time the owner gave us free dessert wine and biscotti. Love it.

Another illegal picture

We woke up bright and early to meet the rest of CEA at the train station outside the Nike store, and then hung out on the short train ride to Florence. We were pumped because Mario, our goofy Italian professor, was also joining the trip. Professor Massini (I love her but her tours are tooooo long) was there to show us around. We got to the train station in Florence and immediately set off on a tour. I honestly kind of zoned out on a lot of it and just took in how cute Florence was. We went to see the David and other notable Michelangelo statues. The David was unreal, and I was actually floored at how huge it was. I had never pictured it that big. Michelangelo, being Michelangelo of course, created this statue differently than David had ever been portrayed before. Instead of the usual victorious David, usually with Goliath's head after the battle, Michelangelo created the statue of the David right before the battle took place. He captured a sense of nervousness and tension as David was holding the stone in his hand, along with his slingshot slung over his arm. He was also carved with massive hands and a large head, because of the perspective that the statue was originally meant to be seen at (supposed to be placed quite high up). Like the Sistine Chapel, there were people yelling "NO FOTO!" at everyone, but of course we all got photos. Then we moved on to some other unfinished statues by Michelangelo that actually probably looked cooler than if they had been completed.

Oh hey Luc

We went to the Duomo next, and as Professor Massini was discussing it, I heard someone yelling, "CHRISTINE! CHRISTINE!" I looked up and there was Lucie, dangling out of her apartment window. Her apartment was literally right next to the Duomo! She came down and said hi, and we decided to meet up later for dinner.

When we left, Professor Massini brought us on a tour of the rest of the area and I have to say I really didn't listen. Finally, they brought us all to lunch at a place called Il Gatto e La Volpe. It was family style, and first we got served these delicious doughy bread crust things that almost seemed like they weren't fully cooked... sooo good. Then they brought out the antipasto, full of things like mozzarella, prosciutto, eggplant, zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, and all kinds of different meats. Then, they brought out the pasta, and by that point I was full to the point of feeling sick. Although everyone was delicious.

Margaritas!

Shelby and Maureen picked me, Anna, and Katherine up at the restaurant so that we could leave our stuff at Shelby's apartment. We hung out for a little and then went and got iced coffees and shopped around at a few stores. Then we went back and made plans for dinner. We decided to go to a Mexican place, Tijuana, for happy hour drinks and dinner, and then Lucie was going to have us all over before we left for the club. We each ordered two margaritas (only 4 euros each!), and I got a blue one and an orange one. The blue one was "on the rocks" and literally tasted like I was sipping a shot of tequila. That one took me a while. Me and Anna split the vegetarian fajitas (Friday on Lent!), which were actually really good.

Just a casual beer at the Duomo

We headed back to Shelby's apartment and sipped our classy wine juice boxes, which were actually gross, and headed over to Lucie's. I promised my friend Claire, who was staying with girls that lived in Lucie's building, that I would shotgun outside the Duomo with her... check that off my bucket list. Let's just say I lost miserably, Claire beasted it, and I wasted half a Heineken. We went back up to Lucie's and there were a ton of people there which was a blast. We headed over to the club 21 around midnight I think. I literally felt like half of Providence College was in attendance, along with some of my closest friends from home. It was really weird but awesome. I actually managed to stay at the club longer than most times I go clubbing (probably because of everyone there) and then decided to leave with Maureen, Shelby and Anna. Maureen brought us to the "secret bakery," where a guy literally sells baked goods outside the back door of the store. Maureen explained to me that it's probably so secretive (and probably illegal) because the guy is commissioned to make this stuff for other bakeries, so all of it gets shipped out in the morning. Basically, he's selling stuff that isn't his. There was a small group gathered outside, but we were constantly being told to be quiet so that no one would find out what he was doing. He came out and took our order, and I asked for a ciocolatto cornetto, basically a chocolate croissant.

The next morning we woke up around 10 am and after all of us showered, we headed down for another iced coffee. Maureen and Shelby took us through the outdoor market that had tons of leather goods and other stuff, and then inside the huge fresh food market. It was full of meats, cheese, spices, fruits and vegetables.. literally anything you could want. I know that we have one down the street in Rome, but I still haven't gone- gotta get on that...

Since Catherine was getting in around 3 pm, we decided to go to lunch. Both Maureen and Katherine's older siblings had said that Antica Noe was literally the best place to go to lunch, so we had to try it out. The place was really small, kind of deli-like, and had some tables outside. I got the #9, a french baguette with turkey, brie, roasted onions and some kind of spicy sauce. It was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life... literally did not want to finish it. I have to go back there if I ever make it back to Florence. Then Maureen and Shelby went to get Catherine, and me, Anna and Katherine ran into Alex and her friend from home getting ready to climb to the top of the Duomo.

The Duomo climb was less stairs than the St. Peter's Dome climb, but for some reason it was much harder. Also, you constantly had to let people get past you to come back down. Finally, neat the top, when I could feel the sun on my head, I saw this woman's feet in front of me. "Excuse me! Excuse me! I need to get down! I'm having a panic attack!" I quickly jumped up and out of the little staircase, making it to the top level, to let her get by. Just as she took one step on the really steep stairs, she lost her balance and fell down the rest of the stairs until this man threw his phone down to stop her. If Katherine hadn't been standing completely to the side, this woman would have taken her down with her. I felt really bad for the woman, but as the girls met me at the top, we all just kind of looked at each other and didn't know what to say, so we just laughed it off. We took a bunch of pictures at the top, and for some reason it was definitely scarier than St. Peter's Dome. The floor had this kind of downward slant to it that kind of felt like I was slipping downwards.

When we made it back down, we met Catherine and the girls at Shelby's apartment- it was almost 4 pm already, and we wanted to make it to the famous Piazza del Michelangelo for the sunset. So we set off to a grocery store on the way, where we picked up personal bottles of prosecco, some French bread, and brie. Trekking up the hill to the piazza was probably the most exercise I've gotten abroad, besides the two dome climbs. Finally, we made it to the top, and the view was incredible. We could see everything in Florence. There was a man playing music to everyone sitting on the steps, and eventually more and more people that we knew kept showing up. After the sunset, we headed back down to get ready for our dinner reservations at Dante's.

I ordered a salmon and zucchini pasta that was really delicious, but I think my favorite thing to eat was what Maureen ordered- some kind of Tuscan soup with lots of veggies and little pieces of bread soaked in the broth. Dante's also serves unlimited wine for students at dinner, so we ordered both the red and white. The white was actually disgusting, and tasted like bad tap water. The red was fine, so I stuck with that. Dante, the owner, ended up coming and sitting down with us. He ordered us two rounds of limoncello shots, and by the end of the night, we were all trying to get the waiters to take the limoncello shots, too. Let's just say everyone really took advantage of the free wine and shots, and by the time we got home from dinner at 12:30 am, no one even made it out to the apparent "pre-game" karaoke bar, or even the club for after that.

Swordfish!

Me, Katherine and Anna met Danielle at the train station at around 7 am, and got on our train to Cinque Terre. After having done some research, I realized it would have been cool to be able to hike across all five towns, however, it was just impossible with the amount of time we had. So I picked one of the most high-rated towns, Vernazza, for us to visit for a few hours. It was so cute. When the train pulled in, all we had to do was walk down the street and we were near all the little restaurants, and then right up to the water. There were boats in the streets, some half covered, waiting for summer, and all of the buildings were bright pastels of pink and yellow and orange. We walked around and took pictures, and then walked back up the dirt/cobbled street to a little restaurant that looked like it had good seafood. I felt like I was on vacation. The girls all ordered forms of seafood pasta, and I got the swordfish. They gave me a giant piece, but I have to say that I ate most of it because it was so good!  After, we walked back down by the water and climbed a giant staircase to get better views. During the summer, a restaurant is open at the top of the cliffs, but even though it wasn't open, we got to still go out on the terrace that was set up. We headed back down to check out the church on the water. It was really pretty on the inside, kind of cold and medieval-looking, with more Gothic architecture. It had giant windows that looked out directly onto the water and definitely would have been a pretty place to go to mass to!

We left the church in search of gelato, found it, and basked in the sun for a few hours on some rocks in and ledges up against the water. The weather was absolutely beautiful, too. After an hour, we had to head back to the main station La Spezia, and hopped on the Vernazza local train. The ride back was four hours, so we were able to snack and catch up on a little sleep before we got home.

I literally couldn't limit the Cinque Terre pictures, so here are just a "few":