Sicilia, Accident, Pokémon-What a trip we had

Ok I left off on last Wednesday. On Thursday we had our program trip to Sicilia. We had to be at center of town at 7:30 AM to catch the bus which was wayyy to early for all of us. Once the bus arrived we all got on and took our seats. Mike had brought his laptop so we played Pokémon Emerald for the duration of the ride to Reggio Calabria, a town on the coast where you can take a ferry to Sicilia. Once we got to Reggio Calabria, the weather was absolutely amazing. Ruggero took us to a museum where they were restoring two ancient Greek bronze statues. After that we went and got lunch and chilled on the beach until we had to meet back up to take the bus to the ferry. The ferry ride was fun, we all went on to the top deck, hanging out in the sun and taking pictures of Calabria and Sicilia. They are only a mile apart so the ferry ride was really short. Once we arrived in Messina, the town in Sicilia on the opposite side of the crossing, it was our first view of Sicilia. I thought Messina was a very beautiful town. We went to the Duomo of Messina which was rather beautiful and then had Cannoli at a place that Ruggero, Claudio and Rita (our tour guide from Venezia came with us to Sicilia) claimed to make the best cannoli in all of Italia. They were completely right. It was the most delicious cannoli that I have had here in Italy. Absolutely amazing. After that then it was back on the bus to drive to our first hotel (and of course to play Pokémon in the interim). Our hotel for that night was absolutely gorgeous. I was in a four person room with Molly, Erin, and Casey. The room was huge, with a kitchenette and a gigantic balcony. The hotel also had a pool, gym, bar, restaurant and was right on the beach. It was fantastic. But that’s when the our luck changed. We were all just settling into the hotel, changing into our swimsuits and ready to head out to the pool/beach when one girl accidentally ran through the glass door to her room’s balcony. She cut open her leg in multiple places, one so deep it actually cut through muscle and tendon. We called the teachers and an ambulance immediately. Ruggero handled the stress of the situation beautifully but Claudio only made it worse. When he showed up, all he could say was “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.” Not helpful when people were trying to keep the girl calm because she still had shards of glass sticking out of her leg. When the ambulance came they took her with them because the cuts were so deep. Yet she still managed to somehow laugh and wave at all of us as they carried her down the hallway on a stretcher. She’s seriously one tough cookie. After they took her to the hospital, our excitement about being in Sicilia had definitely been killed. Everybody was really shaken by the accident. Some people still went to the pool and swam, but I went out to the beach and chilled on rocks to watch the sunset instead.  At dinner later, Claudio and Ruggero told us that Chelsea had to go in for minor surgery to repair the super deep cut on her leg and that she wouldn’t be released from the hospital for several days. They decided to continue with our trip though and leave Rita behind to stay with Chelsea at the hospital because we couldn’t afford to stay at this hotel multiple nights in a row. After dinner a bunch of us went out to the beach to hang out and watch the waves at night. I was still feeling a little sick from my cold still though and it was really windy so I ended up going back to the hotel room and attempted to go to sleep. Key word: attempted. Once I got to the room I could still hear everybody from the beach they were so loud. And then they got cold and decided to go play mafia in the room directly next to mine. Lovely when I’m trying to sleep. They were so noisy! The next morning we went and played on the beach for a few hours before getting back on the bus (back to Pokémon), and driving to Castellamare del Golfo, a town an hour or so past Palermo. We drove through Palermo at one point and I was really surprised by it. I expected to see a really idyllic Italian town and instead it looked like Albuquerque, New Mexico (for those of you who have never been to Albuquerque, we have nicknamed it the “armpit” of the US). Palermo just seemed very rundown and sketchy. I was glad we didn’t stop there. Castellamare del Golfo was a very beautiful town, once we got there. Sadly though, there was no real beach at our hotel, only a marina and a bunch of rocks. Our hotel was extremely nice though, 4 stars, which I was amazed that we could afford it, but I think the location, lowered the price. We decided to go explore the town and see if there was a decent beach near our hotel. We found one beach but it was extremely rocky. Two of us went swimming there anyways though because the water was really nice and the day was rather warm. After our little swim we walked back to the hotel to have dinner with everybody. All 27 of us students managed to fit into one restaurant (they just gave us the top floor). That was a really entertaining dinner. It was fun having all of us together again because we’ve all been missing each other. After dinner we discovered a bar next door to the restaurant that was having a karaoke night, which of course we were all over. We stayed there and sang many songs and had a lot of fun until late in the evening. The stares were worse here though than they ever were in Rome. I’m not sure the Sicilians knew what to make of 4 American girls singing Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” very very badly off key. Good night overall. 

 Saturday: Saturday morning we had an optional field trip with Claudio and Ruggero to a famous hilltop town in Sicilia called Erice. The weather was terrible that day and I wanted to see more of Sicilia anyways so I decided to go. Most of the other people on our program decided to go too, which definitely made the trip more fun. As soon as we got to Erice we expected a tour of some kind, but Claudio and Ruggero told us to just meet back up at that spot in 2 ½ hours so we were free to roam around the town. Erice reminded me a lot of Assisi. It was the same medieval town style complete with castles and everything. Right as we started to explore it started to drizzle a little bit. Brent, Mike, and I went to go explore the castle. The castle reminded me of all the castles in I saw in Ireland. Ancient and crumbly and surrounded by green. We tried to look out over the valley below the castle, but right as we went to do so, a huge bout of fog rolled in so thick you couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you. We stayed there for a little while when a bunch of our friends showed up and we all took a group picture. As soon as we took the picture the fog cleared and you could see for miles! It was absolutely stunning, you could see the ocean and mountains and the valley all laid out before you. After that the a couple of us went of to explore some more castle ruins and the rest of the town before grabbing some lunch. Once our trip in Erice was over, Ruggero and Claudio decided to take us to an area famous for making sea  salt. That was an interesting field trip. There were just miles of saltwater flats for miles around. We stopped at the museum for the area and it was just a total dump so after only spending half an hour there we got back on the bus and headed back to Castellamare del Golfo. We were supposed to head back to Rogliano on Sunday, but Chelsea (the girl who had the accident) wasn’t supposed to be released from the hospital until Monday so Ruggero and Claudio made the executive decision for us to stay in Sicilia one more day and drive home with Chelsea on Monday. Once we got back to our hotel we wandered around the town for a little while before all going out to dinner together again. After dinner we all went our separate ways and I hung out in my room with a ton of people watching Italy’s Got Talent (it doesn’t by the way). At least in the American version some people are talented; most of the acts on the episode we watched were absolutely ridiculous. Example: One man came out dancing in a speedo and then ripped it off to reveal a g-string thong with a bulls head covering the you know what. May I add the man was 60. Hilarious and creepy, but definitely not what I would call talent. After that I went over to another groups room to watch a movie (which no one had warned me was an awful slasher film). That was not fun. I hate movies that are gory and disgusting just for the sake of being gory and disgusting. After that I couldn’t find my roommates (who had the key) to get back in my room so Mike and I ended up playing Pokémon (naturally) until they got back.

Sunday: Free breakfast at the hotel Sunday morning before we had to pack up all our stuff and hop back on the bus. We were heading back to the hotel we had stayed at the first night near Messina. The weather was terrible so we didn’t mind spending the 4 hours on the bus (playing Pokémon the whole time of course). Once we got to Messina the weather was a little better. I was feeling totally restless from the bus ride so almost immediately after we checked into our rooms I went for a long walk on the beach exploring and just having a ridiculously fun time. Once I got back from my walk I discovered that everybody was playing a gigantic game of volleyball so I joined in. Soon we saw Claudio and Ruggero so we waved them over to join us. It was so much fun! Claudio scored so many points for our team! He was awesome! Ruggero, sadly, could not hit the ball without falling over, though he did score the winning point for his team. We played that for over an hour before a bunch of people ditched to go for a swim (it was really windy so I didn’t swim because I knew I would just be cold). After that we all had dinner together at the hotel’s restaurant. The program paid for dinner which was totally awesome. After dinner we all went out to the beach and then back inside to hang out, play games, and have a good time. Mike and I played a little Pokémon (as you’ve probably noticed we got a tad obsessed over the weekend)  and then went out to the beach to chill out and watch the ocean. It was really windy out there and out on the ocean it looked absolutely pitch black even with the waves whipping up everywhere. It was totally cool to see. Then we headed back inside to watch X-men: Wolverine Origins (Hugh Jackman is so hot in that movie) with some people and then off to bed.

Monday: Last day in Sicilia. L We were all sad about leaving Sicilia but we all felt awful for Chelsea. The hotel told us we didn’t have to check out until Chelsea was released (I think they still felt guilty about the fact that it was their glass door she had fallen through) so we spent the morning playing volleyball (which I’m absolutely terrible at by the way. I managed to hit the ball backwards off the court multiple times), swimming, and playing out on the beach.  Mike and I had an epic stick battle with giant sticks we’d found around the beach. His stick totally destroyed my stick, but it was hilarious to watch it get smashed to pieces. I think someone took pictures. We thought we were supposed to be leaving by 2pm that day, but Ruggero and Claudio ended up not being able to pick up Chelsea until 4 so we didn’t end up leaving the hotel until 5. Then it was back on the bus to Messina, then a ferry ride, then from Reggio Calabria to Rogliano. By the time we got back it was super late. Our family was waiting for us though in the main plaza when we got home. Francy came and gave me a huge hug and then we went home and had dinner because they had waited to eat for us.

Time Spent in Sicilia: 4 days

Time spent on a bus: 18 hours

Time spent playing Pokémon: 16 hours

Trip=Success