Ciao Bella!

I used to think I spoke Italian… until I stayed with actual Italians :)  I’ve now been here a week in Italia, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Italians are crazy… but in the nicest sense of the term.   It’s what makes them entertaining.  Crazy drivers, crazy talkers, crazy drinkers, crazy whatever, but it makes them very fun to be around!

      I started out last week in Rome, staying in a hostel the first night, where I met Bryan from Colombia.  We laughed a bit about how stereotypically Spanish his name was, then we decided to go around Rome together.  We did all the typical touristy things: Colosseum tour, Fontana di Trevi, ate pizza and gelato, got lost about 8 times… I really do love Rome :)  The next day, I went to explore the Vatican and happened to run into Bryan again, so we decided we needed more pizza and gelato :)

      After my two days exploring Rome with my Colombian buddy, I met up with my first Couchsurfing host, which was… an experience, to say the least.  My host didn’t actually have a bed for me, or a couch for that matter.  We will call it more of a chair… right next to his bed…  He was also annoyed that I had no pillow or blankets, and didn’t find it necessary to provide me with either.  Minor details aside, he did take me to meet his friend, and they cooked me an awesome frittata with chicken and some other Italian deliciousness.  He also had me try some Slovakian spicy onion paste… blech.  Then the Hungarians arrived!  I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening at this point, since my Italian is clearly sub-par, and my host’s English was a little rusty as well… but from what I gathered, the Italian friend had lived in Hungary for a while with this guy and his sister, and they were coming to visit.  They were pretty cool… the Italians… well, they had us sit and watch them play video games for about three hours.

        The next day I went exploring some more, was told dinner would be at 8, and so I returned to my host’s flat around 7 to help him cook.  Long story short, he didn’t show up until 9, leaving me on a doorstep in some random suburb of Rome for 2 hours.  He cooked me some pasta though, which almost made up for it.  Then the Hungarians came over along with a zillion other Italians, and we went to botellón (pre-game) Italian style!  They bought liters of beer and little plastic cups and we had ourselves a little party in some piazza in front of a church.  Then they brought me and the Hungarians to what can only best be described as a rave… We were in some strange warehouse that was playing loud house music with no words, which was ok… then I noticed the dogs laying on the floor and people pouring beer on them…and then some guys tried to sell us light-up sunglasses and roses (think Portugal!), and at this point I just started laughing, because I was a little weirded out, but the Hungarians?  They looked like they might start crying.  Overall, a successful night :)

Naples

        After that I was off to Naples… I met some guy on the Metro who proposed a date that evening to go down to the sea and take pictures.   I naturally assumed he was in the Mafia and was planning on killing me and throwing my body into the sea, so needless to say, I didn’t go.  I did go on the Napoli Sotteranea tour, which takes you underground to see the ancient waterways, and I met some really fun people!  Joe and his French friend had been stationed in Naples with the Navy, and our tour guide Alessandro, was a riot with his Gerard Butler accent.  We all went out and had a hilarious night partying Napolitano style. 

Amici Italiani!

Sorrento

Positano

Amalfi

                Sad as I was to leave Naples, I am now in the beautiful small town of Sorrento.  Not too much to do here, and not too many tourists either, but the town is perched on a top of a cliff right on the Mediterranean.  I also took a bus down the coast to the villages of Amalfi and Positano… pictures can’t even capture the sheer beauty of this place.  Tomorrow I leave for Orvieto to stay with Martina.. and so continues the Italian saga.  That’s all for now!  Ciao tutti!