Italia: Day Nine

Today was really boring. We didn’t have anything scheduled except for a visit to the beach in the afternoon, so I slept in until 9:30 before going for a run around the city. I managed to get lost but locate our hotel over the roofs of all the buildings, so it wasn’t too bad.

For lunch we went to Il Pomodoro, but they didn’t have any pizza! It was really disappointing. I ended up getting French fries and chicken that might have been turkey. I’m not really sure. It was a good meal that I topped off with a Bacardi Breezer in orange that tasted like orange pop. I’ll need to look for them in the states.

We met up at the hotel afterward and headed to the beach. It took forever for the rest of the group to assemble though, so we waited for almost an hour before we actually stepped onto the bus. The ride was also long and boring. I have an allergy to the parasites that live in sand, so I started itching and breaking out with little red bumps the instant we got to the beach. I ignored it though.

Pam, Chelsea, and I went into the water. It was kind of cold, but definitely manageable. Plus it stopped the itching and now I can say that I’ve been in the Mediterranean Sea! The only problem was the bottom was kind of rocky in random places and I kept accidentally stepping on them, so we had to swim out far and tread water, but then we realized all the waves were closer inland.

The Mediterranean

The beach

When we got out, Pam and I went down to a little restaurant farther down the beach from where the group set up camp. I got a Sex on the Beach while Pam got a sandwich. When we were done, the group split up and left the beach. Pam, Chelsea, Becky, and I headed back to the hotel and I took a shower before Becky and I went to the market. It was closed though, so we ended up wandering around and trying to find some stores that were open for shopping. We only found two and I didn’t see anything in either place.

We met up with Pam and Chelsea back at the hotel and tried to go to La Cantina again for dinner, but it was closed so we ended up going down the street to Burgerlandia and getting pasta and French fries. Then we went down the street to a gelato shop, which actually turned out to be rather gross. The ice cream was really watery.

We came back to the hotel afterward and I got a slice of flipped pizza from Pomodoro on our way. We waited in the lobby for the rest of the group to assimilate for our evening meeting, but nearly all of them were late. It wasn’t us for once though, so no one could complain.

Italia: Day Seven

Our hotel in Cagliari is really nice. It has a modern design to it and we are staying in triples, so I’m rooming with Becky and Chelsea. We took a Mercedes-Benz tour bus from the airport to our hotel and then we looked around real quick before heading up to the rooms and passing out. I've been exhausted this whole trip. It’s ridiculous.

The inside of The Hotel

This morning I got up at 7 and went for a run on my own. It was nice to see some of the town before everyone else and I did really good with not getting lost and remembering all the turns I took. Sometimes I think it’s easier to pay attention when it’s just me, the wind against my face, and the music in my ears. I can tune everything else out and focus on the next step.

The breakfast was really good too. There was some amazing bread in the hotel restaurant and I had some ham and cheese as well. We had to eat quickly though so that we could catch our bus to the university of Cagliari. It turns out that the students there don’t speak very much English compared to those in Torino and the language barrier was immediately evident. They gave us a tour of the school but we couldn’t communicate with them much because of it. The only thing that I was sure about was that they wanted us to come to a concert with them tonight near our hotel. They struggled through their translated presentation as well.

A sign on the back of one of the desks

Monkey watching the presentation

The lunch was amazing though. We just ate in their cantina, or cafeteria, but the pasta was the best that I’ve tasted. The beef and bread were okay too. The only thing I didn’t like was the oil that I put on my lettuce, but I should have predicted that.

Our presentation came after lunch. It was a lot to endure. We needed a translator for the entire thing to make sure all of the students understood what we were saying. It dragged on for over two hours once you accounted for the question and answer session that followed. We got to come back to the hotel immediately afterward though, so there was relief in that.

I took a nap for an hour and woke up when my mother called to say that I still haven’t received a check for my Holocaust grant in the mail yet. It was a good rest though.

I got ready and went with Pam to dinner at the il Pomodoro restaurant down the street. They had the most amazing pizza. It was a really strange experience though because we got our food at the counter and then sat down to eat. When we were done, we had to pay for it and remind the woman what we ate.

We walked around the streets near our hotel afterward in search of a gelato shop, but we couldn’t find one so we ended up having to go to McDonald’s and get McFlurry’s to meet our day’s gelato quota. I was actually surprised by how good the brownie bit McFlurry tasted. I made it chocolate ice cream essentially by mixing in the fudge to the vanilla and just had to suffer through the bits of chocolate.

Once we were done with our meal, we hung out in the lobby of the hotel and wrote our "homework" journal entries while sitting in the bar area.