523....524....the longest hike of my life. (cinque terre!)

Ciao! I am sorry to all my readers that I have been MIA since last weekend! I went to Cinque Terre last weekend, and I was SWAMPED with school as soon as I got back. I had two papers due yesterday morning, and a midterm today! It's no wonder why they call this the "summer sprint". I thought I wasn't sleeping at home...I get about 5 hours a night here. There's so much to do and see, and I don't want to miss out on anything. I also did a day trip to Marostica on Monday, went to Asolo last night (where the graduate campus is) and I am heading to Bassano del Grappa tonight. Look up these small mountain towns- especially Asolo. It has so much history. I wish CIMBA had something other than an MBA, because I would TOTALLY do it. I have so many things to tell, so I think it will be best if I go by pictures...

This is just slightly random. Yes, it is a picture of a sandwich, but more accurately, the best sandwich of my life. We have a little one stop shop here in Paderno, called a Tabacchi (sp?) They make these fantastic sandwiches with all fresh cheeses and bread. So yummy. As great as the cafeteria food is, it does get old..

I wasn't sure if I had ever posted a picture of some views of the campus. This is looking out my window to the courtyard and another dorm room.

This is looking out towards the town of Paderno del Grappa...BEAUTIFUL mountains in the background- makes me miss Colorado.

So the first weekend we decided to go to Cinque Terre. Because we are all poor college kids, we usually opt to stay in hostels. This place only 20E a night, and it really wasn't a bad first hostel experience! Abbey and I were in one room with two other CIMBA girls, and Janani, Emily, Maddie and Ashley were in the other.

We all got there and settled and were STARVING from the 5 hour bus ride over. We went to the only restaurant in town, and ordered, yet of course, pasta and wine. We all had fettuchini with homemade pesto- it was to die for. I'm lookin a little rough from traveling at this point...

The next morning we took the 930am shuttle to the first town of Riomaggorio (sp?) This town just felt so Italian to me :) We decided that we were going to do the hike through all five towns, and this was the first stop. When we first got there it was raining, but an hour later it was sunny and beautiful.

The first trail was super easy. It was all along the coast and so beautiful. I felt like such a tourist taking pictures of all the views, but then I saw this local old guy just doing his every day life...fishing on the rocks. I love it.

But, then again, I am such a tourist. This is Monaralo...a pretty famous spot for pictures. Look at the colors of the houses and the water. It would be a great spot for a honeymoon! The next part of the hike was....well, truly terrible. I consider myself in shape, and I was DYING. The trail was from Monaralo to Corniglia, and on the map it was literally a vertical line straight up. I lost track of how many steps after 600. And of course, it was noon and the sun was blazing down of us. We had no food, no water, and zero motivation. It was tough. To rub salt in the wound, we were getting passed by old people with hiking sticks and big backpacks on. Whatever. Also, you will notice that I did not document that part of our journey...no chance in hell. I was inventing new curse words with every step. Yikes.

But we finally made it up the vertical part and into the flat part....in all it took us two hours to get from the second village to the third village. I met this little guy on the flat part- at least he got a smile out of me.

So see that town wayyyyyyy down there?? YEAH, I HIKED ALL THE WAY UP THAT FREAKING MOUNTAIN. In hindsight, I basically feel like a beast. I'm lookin pretty wilty at this point.

Also, the trail was poorly, poorly marked. Just like my adventures of sign spotting in Venice, this was just the same if not worse. The red and white stripe painted on random objects signified the trail, and Janani and I were super excited to spot another one. Also, on the backside of the mountain, it began to rain. I slipped and slid and cursed my way down the shoddy rocky ledges they call steps. Phew. We were all exhausted and ravenous at this point, and we were super happy to have made it to Corniglia. The trail was actually ruined by a mudslide connected villages 3 and 4, so we had to take a train to number 4, Vernezzo. I didn't complain too much about having not to hike...darn.

We were SO stoked to get our pizza- I'm pretty sure we inhaled it.

The hike from Vernezzo to the last town wasn't too bad...The picture above is an example of the damage of the mudslides. If you google Cinque Terre, you'll see that Corniglia and Vernezzo got hit the hardest. So terrible =/

This is looking over the town of Vernezzo. I do believe the picture I posted last week of Cinque Terre was exactly this spot. If you can't tell, the weather hadn't cleared up one bit.

But wow, what a view. And look how high up I am! Also, see the farthest village away??? Yeah, I hiked from there. No big deal.

When we spotted the beach, I think I may have shed a tear of happiness. God was looking out for us too, because within five minutes of arriving, the weather was beautiful. Time to get this girls toes in the water!

The FREEZING ICE COLD water! But, hey, it was so so worth it. 

Then, as if I hadn't had enough hiking, I decided to trek up this rock to get this awesome picture. The guy in the orange shirt is named Ivan. He's our Canadian friend that just joined our group back in Corniglia. How he put up with 4 whining girls on the trails I don't understand. He was a great travel buddy though!

So we all actually ended up falling asleep on the beach- thats how tired we were! We woke up around 630, got some gelatto, then walked back into the town of Monterreso- the 5th village of Cinque Terre. We said our goodbyes to Ivan, then headed back to the beach for dinner. We sat on a balcony overlooking the ocean and had a glass of wine and panani's, then looked at the time. 10 minutes until our train! We booked it to the train station, and waited in line to get our tickets. We watched our first train arrive and leave when we were next in line.....sweet. So we jumped out of line, looked at the map, and made a new game plan. We just needed to get back to our hostel. We got back in line, which of course was longer, and watched our SECOND train leave. We literally had one more option, so I went to figure it out while the other girls stayed in line. We did get it figured out, and made it back to our hostel in one piece. Actually, we met up with some other CIMBA people on the train that were actually in our hostel, and ended up crashing the only bar in Biassa, the tiny town our hostel was in. It was a great night.

.....And then this. Yep, that is a condom machine. I just really didn't know what to say. The next day we went to La Spezia to shop and chill to wait for the bus to pick us up. I ended up buying jeans, a dress, a cardigan, and a swimsuit for 60E, which is a great deal!

Every town, no matter was size, is always so unique. Look at the details on the building on the left. Craziness. It makes me wonder why architecture like this never happened in the US. Its a pity.

I am dead tired at this point and haven't packed for my travel weekend ( I leave tomorrow) orrrrrr done my readings for class. Yikes. There are literally not enough hours in the day. But hey, at least I'm in Italy! I am heading to Rome for the weekend with Ashley and Janani, and I am sure I will have PLENTY of more pictures to come. I did a few other day trips this week to small towns in the Paderno area, and I may include those pictures on the next blog. Ciao!