cinque terre, i'll conquer you...not the other way around.

A bunch of went to Cinque Terre which is made of five small times along the coast of the Ligurian Sea. There is a 13 km (8 mi) footpath connecting all of them. Along this up and down and winding around path, there is this great view of the sea. You really get pretty high up there (and I am strictly talking about the height kind of high). The countryside is full of vineyards and random hillside houses. We decided that "Life is like Cinque Terre. It's full of ups-and downs." And there were plenty of those on the hike.

The first day, we spent playing on the beaches of Monterosso (which is has one of the largest free beaches).

As soon as we got there, I decided I needed a beer. In Italy, there is not an abundance of relatively inexpensive beer. (I am a college student. What do you expect?) Wine is, obviously, more plentiful here. While I love a good glass of wine (surely, I got that from my mother), every once and awhile I need a beer. Plus, I was on a beach. Nothing seemed like a better idea than laying out with a beer in my hand. So, Maggie and I did just that even though you can't tell I am from the picture below:


After a few hours, we hopped the train to Riomaggiore where we would start the hike the next morning. But first, we were hungry. Actually some of us were "starving". So we find this cute little restaurant where we ended up watching the sunset. It wasn't open for dinner but we sat there drinking wine and eating appetizers till 7:30 when dinner started.

(sunset at dinnertime)

In the end, we finished multiple liters of wine and a whole lot of food. The 6 hours there provided us with some good entertainment as well. We met this drunk couple from New Jersey. They were pretty funny (and a little crazy). The husband did ask who was from Nebraska anymore when I told him about my hometown. Then he complimented Omaha Steaks (he admitted to never even having them) and hugged me. It was interesting. Whatever, he bonded with the Boston College kids so all was well.

(some of the group with the New Jersey couple)

Then we went back to the hostel to find out two other guys would be sleeping there as well. Here is where the story gets good. San Diego and I stayed up having pillow talk until one of the guys came in and told us to stop talking. Then, the two mysterious roommates came back from the bar. I wasn't able to really sleep that much for three reasons: one of the random guys snored a lot, one of their beds crashed, and there was the most vicious cat fight outside our windows at 5 am.

That didn't stop us from waking up at 8 am to begin the day. After grabbing some breakfast and filling up on our water supply, we started off on our adventure. There was a sign on the hike that said no high heels. I thought it was kind of funny. Who hikes in high heels anyways?



The first town we got to was Manarola. From there was Corniglia and then Vernazza (where we stopped for some food - a hamburger, yum!) until we finally got back to Monterosso to lay on the beach and relax in the cool, blue water. But this took some time to get there. Below are just some pictures of the different towns:

(Vernazza)

(Corniglia...I think...)

(Riomaggiore)

Everyone was so friendly as we passed by them! I practiced my "Ciao!", "Buon Giorno!" (good day!), and "Prego!" (you're welcome!).

One of my favorite moments of the trip is when one of the grape pickers (for one of the vineyards) asked us where we were from and said more or less: "mama mia! you american? schwarzenegger is the man! no obama, go schwarzenegger!" I almost peed my pants with laughter. You have to love Italian's love of American politics.

I felt like a rockstar when we finally finished. Yes, the rocky theme song was sung as we got into the last town. We were all so sweaty and gross at the end. The ocean was just yelling for us to jump in. So we did.

(the girls at the the finish -- the boys left us during the last leg)

The next morning, I was surprised to learn that my body was allowing me to move around. (Thanks, body!) Weekend is dubbed as successful. 47 points for me! (I don't really know if I am even keeping track of any of these points but I continue to allocate them to the appropriate winners.)

My first full week of school starts tomorrow. I anticipate nothing but good things, like getting lost trying to find my classes. But, hey, that happens to me even at the U of I.