Days 1-7 - Sardegna and Sicilia

I'm on day 7 of backpacking through Europe. The first few days were absolutely exhausting because we were traveling every day while at the same time getting used to traveling without having a home base. It's a very different feeling traveling now that I know I'm not going "Home" at the end of the weekend. In fact, I won't be "Home" for another two months. And in two months I'll be returning to my "Home" that I won't have seen for 188 days.

The first five nights of my travels I slept in five different beds. Alghero, Olbia, Cagliari, Trapani, Palermo. Started in the north of the Italian island of Sardegna and made my way south to Sicilia, where I am now. I'm currently spending my third night in Palermo, and couldn't be happier about it. It has been so good just to stay put for a little bit. The first five days took a lot out of us. From now on, we'll be spending two nights in most places. Tomorrow night I'll be sleeping on a night train from Palermo to Napoli. We'll have two nights there, checking out Capri and Pompei. Then I'll spend the next night sleeping on a ferry from Ancona, Italy to Zadar, Croatia. Pretty excited about that part of the plan. But enough of the probable future, how about what I've already done.

Sardegna was amazing. Although first day we were there was a bit of a bust. We wanted to get to the beautiful beaches of Stintino via bus, but it was Sunday in Italy. If you don't know what that means, it means it's nearly impossible to do anything or get anywhere. We spent most of the day waiting for buses until finally we took a taxi to the next town over so we could take a train to Olbia where we were sleeping that night.

My favorite part about traveling is being open to new experiences. Once we finally made it to our B&B in Olbia, we met with the owner Edoardo and got settled in. He told us that there was a festival going on in the city that evening for the patron saint of the town. He explained to us how to get there and introduced us to the only one other guy staying at our B&B. Chris from Hamburg, Germany. We went out to dinner and made our way over to the local festival. To break it down, it was basically just an open market next to a big open concert next to a traveling carnival. To put it simply, it was awesome. We rode a haunted house ride and another ride that I'm absolutely certain would never pass safety regulations in the States. Easily the most fun I've had on a carnival ride since I was a wee lad. Felt like I was going to fly off.

Yesterday in Palermo we were planning on taking a ferry ride to the island of Ustica, the source of my Italian heritage. It was a bust. There was too much wind out on the water and the ferries weren't running. Then we tried to catch a train to Agrigento to check out some ancient temple ruins but that failed too. Italian train strike. However, the day wasn't a total failure. We walked around the city and explored.We stumbled into the local opera house to check it out and realized we could see the opera that was playing that night for 20 Euro. It was so amazing. The opera was Der König Kandaules. I looked up the synopsis beforehand because I knew there was no way I was going to be able to understand an opera sung in German. However, during the show there was a screen that offered a translation to Italian that I was able to understand most of.

Today I made it to the island of Ustica. It was amazing. Such a beautiful place. I found the cemetery and saw some old tombstones with "Mancuso" written on them. It was a very moving experience to see where some of my ancestors came from. After passing through the cemetery we proceeded to walk around the entire island. It took about two and a half hours to walk around the entire thing.

I'm so excited for the next few weeks of my travels. I can't wait to go to Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria. Em Parker will be meeting up with me in Vienna, we're going to have so much fun. Partypartyparty.

Shout out to my amazing friend Cecilia Fernandez! I love you Ceci, stay strong and get well soon!

The Final Torino Chronicle

I'm sitting here in my Torino apartment, ready to go, and counting the minutes until I go to catch the train to make my way to Sardegna. I've got everything I'll need (hopefully) packed into my large backpacking backpack and my smaller Dakine school backpack. This day came faster than I would have ever expected, and it is a quite bittersweet moment. I've had such an amazing time over the past four months. Seeing places I had only dreamed of seeing. Making new friends and meeting people from all different places and backgrounds. Learning a new language in one semester better than I had ever thought possible. The last four months are so indescribable that it is almost frustrating. I wish I could explain it. I've learned so much, about myself and about the world that I live in.

Last night was my final night in Torino. I couldn't have asked for a better send off. I started the night with a few of my best friends, and we went out for aperitivo. Aperitivo is similar to the Spanish "Tapas" but different. Aperitivo is a relatively new piece of Northern Italian culture. The way it works is you go to an Aperitivo restaurant, walk up to the bar, buy a drink, then help yourself to a buffet of appetizers. It is a very social event and is very different from traditional Italian dinners. So, last night I went out to my favorite Aperitivo place and hung out there for about an hour and a half and stuffed my face with DELICIOUS Italian food. I'm a little disappointed actually, because I was only introduced to this particular Aperitivo place just this last week. I went there for the first time on Wednesday night and knew that I needed to go back for my last meal in Torino (Mom this is where I'll be taking you to dinner when we're back in Torino in 2 months.)  We were four people sitting at an 8 person table, and it was crowded last night, so we ended up sharing a table with a group of three Italian women. We sat at that table for about an hour just talking about the city, where we're from, the wine they were drinking, the White Russians we were drinking, and about Juventus (the local Torino soccer team that recently won the league title). The cool thing about it was that the conversation was entirely in Italian. I could have never imagined that I would have been able to do something like that four months ago. It's amazes me how much one can learn in 4 months.

After Aperitivo I met up with some more friends over in Piazza San Carlo. There were probably around fifteen of us. We sipped on wine, reminisced about the semester, played charades, and just enjoyed each other's company. Some of our Italian friends that own the local Panino place on our street came and joined us as well. Ohhh man they make the BEST panini. My older brother can attest to that. I'm going to miss the food on Via Mazzini so much.

After hanging out in Piazza San Carlo until about 12:30 or so, we headed over to a pub called Texas Rangers. Nearly everyone from my program was there. It was a really fun time. Had to say goodbye to some of my best friends. It was really sad and there were plenty of tears. I hope to see many of them again someday.

Right now I'm looking at hostels and places to stay in Sardegna and Sicilia, the first two stops on my expedition. I've had such a sensational time living here and getting to spend time with the people that I did. But now, my life in Torino is behind me. My bags are packed and I'm ready for the next chapter of my life.