Cinque Terre

I first off want to apologize for not updating my blog recently. I spent three nights and four days in Riomaggiore, Italy. I had an amazing weekend in this beautiful town nestled on the hills of one of Italy’s more beautiful natural parks, Cinque Terre. I took the train from Milan to Monterosso and then transferred to Riomaggiore. Cinque Terre is composed of 7 beautiful towns. The towns are La Spezia, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernaza, Moneterossa and Levanto. Each town has its own unique characteristics and where stunning. These villages where created by peasant farmers hundreds of years ago and have not grown much since. The towns have been carved into the rocks on the sea. Some of the towns are perched up on top of a mountains cliff overlooking the city. I have many photos but most of them are on a friend’s camera. I will contact this person and get a hold of those photos. I stayed in a hostel called Cinque Terre Holidays. It was just ok. It was fine for being an inexpensive hostel, but next time I will search elsewhere for a hostel. I am sure I can find a better hostel for the same or less money. The room I was originally in had seven other males who where all friends and from Australia. They were very nice and I was talking to them about their travels and where they plan on going. Three of the friends will travel in total for six months. I was taken aback when I asked how long it took them to save for the entire trip. One of the three kids said, “Oh, yeah, we saved up money for about six months”. I don’t know what kind of jobs they have that in six months they can save up to survive on the road consistently for another six months. I am sure they are having their parents pay a huge portion of the trip. I don’t really care how they are affording it but I just felt like he was suggesting I was stupid if he thought I would believe his bogus story. Getting back to my main point of this blog, I met three wonderful people in Riomaggiore. These three people lived below me in the hostel. I was on the third floor and they were on the second. The three people where three sisters from Barcelona, Spain. Their names are Nuria, Roser and Mireia. They all are one year apart in age, the oldest being 29. I met them in a very funny way actually. I was walking out of my hostel building and one of the sisters asked me if I had electricity in my room. Of course I had electricity in my room and asked if they problem was in the part of the room or in their entire hostel room (kitchen/dinning room, bedroom, bathroom). She said it was just in the bathroom and that while she was blow drying her hair the electricity turned off. I knew that she probably blew a fuse and they hostel workers fixed the fuse and the lights went back on. Since I am traveling alone I hung around making conversation and waited to see if any other of her friends would be coming outside. I saw two other females walk outside and I started talking to them too. To make a long story short I ended up becoming best friends with these three girls. I did not know how old they where till I asked them what they do for a living and I was told, a lawyer, school teacher and a nutritionist. I knew right away that they were much older than me. I didn’t mind I just did not want them to think I was a little kid and not take me seriously when I am almost a decade younger than the oldest sister. I hung out with the three sisters for three days and three nights. I had a great time hanging out with them and they really liked me. They actually invited me to sleep on their spare bed in their private hostel room so I would not have to stay in the 8 bedroom room and pay 25 Euros for an extra night. This was a really nice gesture and I knew that when they offered me to stay with them that they trusted me and enjoyed my company. They even took me out to dinner last night. It was an incredible dinner on the ocean. We had a great meal of seafood and pasta and a huge seafood dish, baked in a huge ceramic pot, and two bottles of wine. It was amazing. To make the night better off in the distance there was a Beatles concert (they actually sounded really good), and a pretty good firework show following the concert. The dinner was expensive and I wanted to pay my share but the sisters insisted that it was my last night and that they wanted to treat me to a special dinner before I left. I hope to remain in contact with these three Spanish girls and I made sure to get all of their contact info before I left. The oldest sister even offered me to stay in her apartment in Barcelona for free while I am in the city. I will text or email her to see if I can arrange for that to occur. This encounter has really opened my eyes to the types of people that you can meet in the simplest of places, and develop potentially a long lasting relationship. I invited all three of the sisters to come stay with me in Philly or New York. I hope that they can visit the U.S.A. and I can somehow return the hospitality that they showed me onto them. During the three days that I was in Riomaggiore I spent a lot of time thinking. I had dinner alone for two of the nights and watched the sunset on the ocean. It is truly a special thing to see and really makes you think about life and want you want in your future.
I have decided that I will pursue French classes again. I will take French class this fall at Drexel. My schedule already has 17 credits so this might be a problem. I can always take an online version with something like Rosetta stone. My friend Daryl who I met in Prague told me that he has a copy of Rosetta stone that will allow you to view and learn every language they offer. I will follow up and ask him about this. I also want to volunteer for the Peace Corps after college for one year. I really want to volunteer and get out and see the world. This is a great opportunity to learn another culture, add something unique to my resume, and help people who really need help. I will start the application process and figure out what I need to do to make this happen.
I did not take that many photos during my stay in Riomaggiore because my camera ran out of batteries. I took any photos on my friends camera and I will get them from her. I am writing this from the train that I am taking to Florence. I so far have had a great time traveling and it is amazing. I like how people I meet seem to think that an American traveling alone is something amazing. I guess they don’t imagine Americans being so ambitious and traveling so far away from home by themselves. That’s just makes me unique and I like talking and hearing peoples perceptions on American. I really want to explore American more. I have not traveled around America and it is a shame. There are so many beautiful things to see and I would like to see my own country before I go out and explore the rest of the world. I will try and go on road trips of long weekend trips to various parts of the country. It really is not as expensive as you may think if you plan ahead. Planning ahead and finding the good deals would be crucial for this to happen.
After I go to Florence I will head over to Rome and then into France. Since my encounter with my three Spanish friends I really want to go to Spain and experience the culture. It was interesting to hear how these three people felt about the country and how different the north of Spain is from the south of Spain.
I would like to come back to Europe with one friend. It is fun traveling alone but sometimes it is strange being alone in certain places in which everyone else is with friends.
I will write more later as I know that I will have internet connection in the hostel I will stay at in Florence. I actually have not booked a hostel in Florence. I will just wing it when I get there. Hopefully it all turns out well.
Turns out the hostel I am in does not have wifi. Sucks. I am at an internet cafe posting this.