Kaithes Italy Blog

 Well. I'm back. Been back for a while, actually. I slept for about three days straight. Jet lag is no joke, that's for sure. My flights back were pretty rough, and I didn't get a lick of sleep, but I made it home with minimal delays. I'm glad to be back, honestly. There were things I missed in America. Industrial AC, ice water, the usual stuff. I thought I would miss Italian food more, but I sort of just avoided Italian food for a while, knowing I would be disappointed. Then I ate a tomato. Now I miss it real bad. Man it was nasty. Everyone loved their souvenirs, which they better, since I bought about 200 of them and they were all awesome. I think what I miss the most about Italy is just...the general atmosphere. Everyone seemed so happy and relaxed all the time. Here, everything moves so fast, and everyones always in a hurry. I also miss being able to walk everywhere. I've always been a sucker for walkable cities, and walkable cities that also have nice weather? ...

 It's my last full day here. I will certainly miss everything, but I feel satisfied with what I did here. I feel like I can go home knowing that I did everything I set out to accomplish. I had a great time, and I'll always treasure the memories I made here. The farewell lunch was fun, catching up with everyone and eating together was nice. Seeing Andrea one last time was nice too. In my opinion, the food was not as good as Emilia, the place where we had our welcome dinner, but the history of being at the foreigners club was cool, and I really liked the stuffed zucchini blossoms. I liked being able to try them because I probably wouldn't have bought them to try myself. I spent the rest of the day wandering around and just seeing my favorite sights again, and buyting the things I had remembered I wanted to buy for my friends and family. I was quite full from lunch, so I didn't eat dinner until late. Thankfully, Inn Bufalito is open quite late, and I had already decided to...

 Another compilation! This will be my favorite stuff overall, the little stories that didn't warrant entire blog posts. These are mostly little interactions with people that really stuck with me. We start off strong with the pigeon I saw in the airport, who cracked me up for no particular reason other than he was a pigeon walking around inside an airport. There was the man at Raki who, while I felt I didn't go that many times, (I think 4 in total) especially with how many people go through there a day, remembered me. And when I ordered in italian, told me I had a very nice accent. There was the woman in the cafe playing cotton eye joe who, when I told her I was from Texas, said "Oh, Yee haw?" and gave me a discount. There was the very nice woman in the Conad city who helped me buy laundry detergent, and then I randomly bumped into later and asked me if the detergent she had recommended had worked. There was when I accidently ordered my sandwich with pomeriggio instead...

Wow wow wow. Far and away, my favorite part about Italy was the food. So I thought it would be fun to make a blog post of my favorite things I ate in the last three weeks! I started off strong my first night with gnocchi alla Sorrentina. It was so good, maybe my favorite pasta dish I ate the whole trip. But, gnocchi is one of my favorite foods, so I wasn't surprised. I went to Raki for gelato several times, but my favorite flavor I tried was Mascarpone, caramel, and pine nuts. Three of my favorite things in one! I tried an Aperol spritz for the first time, which I have recently also become very popular on social media, and I LOVED it. I actually liked it more than the limoncello spritz, which surprised me. I had a delicious bruschetta, which really turned me onto the quality of the tomatoes here. Obviously every sandwich I had from the panino place next to the hotel was delicious, but my favorite had Mozzarella and capicola. I had a dish I'd never heard of called scialatielli a...

 I enjoyed our service learning opportunities immensely. The pride event was fun, and helping run check in at Sant'anna was just fine. But my favorite one we did was the afternoon we spent at the center for differently abled adults. Everyone was so nice, and it was very fulfilling to interact with them. The activities we did were also very fun. I liked the dancing, and learning the history behind it was awesome. Everything we learned about the Commedia dell'arte was fascinating as well. I was already familiar with the concept, as my dad is an actor and talks about stuff like that all the time, but learning about it in greater detail was fun! I liked doing the Pulcinella movements. I also really enjoyed the Tarantella, even if the true reason for doing it were a bit less whimsical than a spider bite. The man who taught the class was really cool, and it was nice seeing how much the staff cared for everyone. But honestly? One of the coolest things about it was the really old olive...

 The Cooking class was so much fun! Definitely one of my favorite things we've done. The very kind women who ran it were amazing, and very patient with us. They also taught us very effectively, as now I feel like I can make homemade pasta if I wish. We first made tiramisu, which was so fun, and I loved how we all got to make our own individual portions. The snacks they gave us were also very good, and their  hospitality was greatly appreciated. It really felt like we were cooking in someone's home. I was selected to help make the sauce, which was very exciting, and cooking with Patricia (I believe that was her name) was very nice. She was just such a nice, grandmotherly figure. Making the pasta was my favorite part though, as using the pasta roller and the pasta guitar was very fun. I love silly little kitchen tools. At the end, the food was SO. GOOD. I cleaned my plate so fast that the woman laughed and told me that's what she liked to see. Overall, it was such a homey, we...