Absolutely beautiful. This place is as if I have stepped into one of my dreams. The colours are so bright, and the food! The food is pura vita! I use to think Americans eat a lot, but Italians eat double what we have, however they are all so skinny, I think its because they walk a lot. I have been all over the city of Catania, Taormina, and small towns I don't know the name of. Markets are my favourite, the different foods, smells, and flavours in the air, its incredible. I went to a little market a few days ago, and bought a bunch of grapes (uvas) and its cost me seventy cents, less than one Euro. I was blown away, its so cheep to buy food here, we have breakfast at a local cafe everyday for one Euro a person. My family is so good, Mama Stefania brought me to the large outdoor market today, where they have everything you could ever imagine. They resell Gucci, Loui Vuitton, and Ray Bands for 2 to 25 Euros. It's stollen merchandise, but the poliza don't care here. They are so many people too, everywhere. I like it so much, my first day a lady opened her shop just so I could go inside and buy a pastry, she gave me a free one too. I don't speak much Italian, but I can say "Io Americano, no Italiano" and "Grazie" and a few other things like hello, goodbye, nice to meet you and such, so it's not too hard to get around. People here are either really nice, or wont bother with you. Or are overly nice, and my host mum has to tell them to back off. She is so wonderful, my whole family is just so warm and welcoming, they make me amazing food everyday, and we go out to eat at cool little restaurants and cafes a lot. The other night we went to a bar, and ordered really good beer! They don't even I.D here, and there is no law against public drinking, so I can have wine at the park with my lunch. I love it. My host papa is a wine maker, and we have the best kinds every night with dinner. The drivers here are crazy. There are not a lot of rules for driving, and no on wears a seatbelt! You can park pretty much everywhere (with a few exceptions) and people just walk out in front of cars, causal as! There is no problem with beeping, if you're driving too slow people just honk at you until you go faster. When there is traffic, and you have to wait, people just sit there and honk until the line moves. It's insane, but hilarious at the same time. I so love the architecture too, so old and detailed. There is a lot of lava stone here, from the volcano (in the picture below) and so the city is so hot because the black lava absorbs the sun, and just radiates it. I am so grateful right now, my world feels like its opening up. Today mama Stefania and I had such a good conversation about politics and school and the world, she is so smart, I love talking with her even though sometimes it's hard to communicate ideas and such. She calls her self a Communist, it cracks me up when she says it cause she is so cute. They make me espressos every day, that are seriously so freaking good I could die. My english is deteriorating right now, it's hard for me to say certain things cause I'll try and translate them into Italian and I get all muddled up. So talking to me is ridiculous! I met a lady from England today, and was having a really difficult time speaking correctly. I wish I could put how I am feeling on here, and make other people understand, it's pure joy. Italy is like a dream.
2 Comments
Tami
10/29/2015 06:05:00 am
Sienna, I love reading about your adventures! Are you with a program or how did you find a host family? How long will you be in Catania? Keep the blogs coming, I love how you share the good and bad. Feels like an authentic account. So happy you are having a wonderful time now that you are there, rested and well fed. ;) xo
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Sienna
11/3/2015 06:30:20 am
I am currently staying with Hismael's family (the Italian boy that was in Vail last year with Rotary) but for the rest of my time in Europe, I am using a program called Workaway.info. It's a great website that you only pay like 25 Euros and have contact info for people all over the wold that need help on their farm, babysitting, rebuilding houses or anything else! I'll link it here > https://www.workaway.info/
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