The next day (7/3) was incredible! We climbed Mount Etna!! (Now, I can cross that off my bucket list-SCORE!) It was the honestly the greatest thing I've ever done! We had two guides, Massimo and Guiseppe (so Italian, right?!), who were so knowledgable about the mountain and the different lava flows.
We hiked up the mountain, then down a hillside of ash, sliding the whole way. It was amazing! We then walked across the Bove valley, which is a giant lava flow, comparable to walking across the surface of the moon. Definitely exhausting, but honestly priceless!
Sunday, of course, was the Fourth of July, so we had a VERY American party on the terrace of one of our apartments, complete with hot dogs, fried potatoes, watermelon and beer. What's more American than that?! We then proceeded to have a dance party on the terrace, which was completely hilarious!
Unfortunately, we had to head back to class on Monday (7/5), but not for long. Gervaso, one of the boys in the program, had a rental car for the day, as he was in Rome for the weekend, so a few of us decided that a road trip was necessary. My roommate (and Italian love) Tonilynn, and the other two boys, Enzo and Dino, decided to skip our Conversation class and we hit the road in a Fiat Panda. We listened to music and cruised down the Italian highway, until we came upon San Lorenzo, which was the most gorgeous beach I have ever seen in my life. The sand was so white and the water was so clear. It was surreal! We got a few Moretti beers and relaxed all afternoon before eating dinner along the water and hitting up Avola and buying some wine on the way back to Siracusa!
The week of classes was fairly uneventful, ending with midterms Thursday. On Friday (7/9) we traveled across Sicily to Palermo for a tour by an Addio Pizzo guide. Addio Pizzo has a network of businesses that do not pay Pizzo, the protection money to Casa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia. It was definitely an interesting tour, but we didn't get much time to see the city itself. On the way back to Siracusa, we stopped at Cefalù, a beautiful rocky beach, for a swim.
This past Saturday, a group of us went to Fontaine Bianche, a beach about a twenty minute bus ride away. I went snorkling for the first time there, and swam through a giant school of beautiful fish! This whole trip has been entirely breathtaking!
Sunday was relaxing, as I just hung out and did homework near the water. I completly forgot to put on sunscreen before going out to the water though, and because of that, I got so sunburnt that I had sun poisoning! I am feeling much better now, so its all good!!
Today (7/13), we went to Saint John's Catacombs in Siracusa for our culture class. It was really a neat history lesson! More updates to come soon!! <3
