quick week review, and SICILY!!

Ciao a tutti! Once again, it’s been a long and crazy week. Apologies as always for the late update. From now on, I will be in Rome (besides a night trip to Tuscany and a long weekend trip to Greece), so the updates will be more frequent, I promise!

Quick overview of the beginning of the week:

MONDAY: I was feeling a little better (finally), but had an appointment at the American clinic so I decided it would be best to go and get checked out. My mom went with me. It was a great clinic, good to know for the next month in case anything else happens! The doctor said that I was at the end of a minor case of E. Coli. He said it was pretty typical to catch something like this after a trip to Morocco. He gave me some intense meds that I have been taking and feel almost all back to normal now (a week later). I get tired very easily, but other than that no tummy aches! YAY! I had to skip photography because of the appointment, so I emailed my professor and he told me that he cancelled class anyway because he had a stomach virus as well. Perfecto!

Sophia, my mom, Toni, Silvana, Michele and I at Le Fate

My mom and I walked around Trastevere some, picked up my meds, visited San Francisco a Ripa with the Healeys (Dave and Becky are visiting with my mom this week!) and got to see some relics which was interesting, then went out to dinner at Le Fate. This is a famous restaurant in Rome with traditional Roman food. Mmm. We met Dave’s relatives there who we would be staying with in Sicily the next weekend! Silvana, Toni, (the parents) and Sophia (the sister) were visiting Michele (the son) who is studying in Rome. I’d tried to meet up with him a few times but he’s in Medical School and is very busy with his studies. It was a fabulous dinner! I had to be careful what I ate because I was still recovering, but Silvana didn’t understand (she only speaks Italian) and kept feeding me more and more and more. It was wonderful - a peek at what our weekend in Sicily would be like! I went back to my apartment that evening and caught up on some sleep.

Dinner with the nuns!

TUESDAY: My big class day! I headed to Piazza del Popolo for my on-site. The whole class was there on time, but our professor was nowhere to be found. After 30 minutes, someone called her to see what the deal was. She was so surprised that we were all there - “Didn’t you see the message?? Class is cancelled today!” Apparently she wrote something online or on-campus, but no one in the class saw it! Oops! That freed up my morning a lot. I went back to the apartment, made a little lunch, then rested and washed a bunch of clothes. 

At 2:15 I headed to painting class to finish up the figure painting. After class, my mom met me at my apartment and we hung out for awhile. The internet wasn’t working well at the hotel, so she got to check her email which was good. That night for dinner, we walked to a restaurant near my apartment to meet Dave, Becky, and some nuns that they knew who worked at the Vatican. Cool! I was excited because I’d never met a nun. I didn’t really know what to expect. It was so neat because the 3 nuns that we met were really cool and so open, interesting, and just normal people. They had stories of their travels all over the world, we listened to when and why they decided to become sisters, and learned a lot about their lifestyle. It was so interesting. They invited me to go to Palm Sunday with them at the Vatican if they could find an extra ticket for me, which would be such an amazing experience!! They also want me to come over to teach them yoga haha. They asked, “can we wear our habits?” I told them I could work around that. I hope it works out, that would be an interesting story to tell:) I slept at the hotel that night since Wednesday my only class wasn’t until 2:15.

WEDNESDAY: The visitors headed to Florence for the day and left me with the key to the hotel. Magnifico! I slept in, meditated, ran some on the treadmill downstairs, sat in the sauna, took a nice long hot shower, and did a great yoga practice. By the time I finished pampering myself, it was almost time for class! I headed to fresco and worked on my wall. We’re in the final stages now, so it’s pretty much a race to finish our walls in time. Wednesday we worked on our columns. I only have to do my main centerpiece (which should take about 3 classes), then I’ll be all done! After class, I went back to the apartment and packed up for Sicily. I had a nice and quiet night at the apartment. It was good to be back. I miss Rome when I’m away for so long! But Thursday I would be off again. Oooh the life of a European...

practically a swiss guard...

THURSDAY: I met my mom at St. Peter’s for a Scavi tour - a special tour that they have a very very limited number of tickets for. Dave had talked to the nuns that we went to dinner with and they squeezed us into the tour with some tickets they found. The Scavi tour takes you down under the Vatican to view the excavations they are doing there. It was really fascinating. There were pagan and Christian graves from 2000 years ago!! We also saw St. Peter’s tomb, which was neat. After the tour, I took my mom to Old Bridge (a must-do in Rome), then we headed over to the art building so that I could show her where I do all my work! She got to see my fresco, photo lab, and paintings. It was fun! We walked to the Pantheon afterwards for an outdoor lunch with a view. It was a great afternoon:) We ate up then headed back to her hotel to get ready for Sicily!

SICILY!

homemade meatballs with my
favorite sicilian dessert
in the background

Toni picked us up at the airport and took us straight to his and Silvana’s house for a lovely dinner. OH MY GOODNESS. This weekend was like a food marathon. You literally can’t say no to them because they get offended and just dump more food on your plate. At the same time, it’s absolutely delicious so you just stuff yourself full and deal with it haha. This is what I learned after that first night. We arrived and there were 2 huge plates of cheese on the table, with Toni’s home made olives. I was starving, so we ate alot of that. Silvana brought out literally the best lasagna I have ever tasted in my entire life. It was so rich, and so sweet, and so perfecto! I was stuffed after that because we thought that was all that there was. Nope.

Next came plates full of freshly made meatballs, and after THAT desert! AH!! How do these people stay skinny?? It was all absolutely amazing. We finished dinner, then Toni and Silvana took us to their guest apartments. They had one apartment for Becky and Dave and another for me and my mom, but they wanted to be all together. Silvana and Toni wouldn’t let that happen (Sicilians are very stubborn and offer us sooo much!), so after they left my mom and I snuck back downstairs to stay in the extra room in Dave and Becky’s apartment haha. Toni and Silvana weren’t too happy when they found out, but they slowly accepted it:)

the whole crew with rosalio di cannola in Monreale

Friday we spent the day traveling around Sicily. In the morning, Silvana and Toni took us all to Monreale. This was a beautiful little mountain town where the famous Sicilian church is located. Toni explained everything to me and my mom, while Dave and Becky walked around taking lots of pictures. Dave was excited because he just wrote a book about Sicily and there was a sculpture in the church that he referenced. It was really beautiful! My mom and I climbed up to the top of the church for a gorgeous view of the coast. 


Afterwards, we headed to Palermo for a nice (small) lunch - we were still full from last night! We went to a restaurant that Dave had actually seen on a show on Food Network because they were famous for their spleen and lungs (no thank you!) called Antica Focacceria San Francesco. We had panelle, crocche. I stuck with a caprese salad and eggplant. They ordered us some cannolis for dessert. The sweets here are TO DIE FOR, especially they ones with ricotta cheese. Yum yum yum.

my mom and i with the cooker of the spleen and lungs!
EW.

I was pretty exhausted from the day, so Toni drove Dave and I back to the apartment to rest up while the moms went shopping some more. They shopped ALL DAY LONG, and finally met us back at our room a few hours later. For dinner, we went to Toni and Silvana’s again. We told them that we can’t eat as much every meal because our tummies would explode, so tonight we just had 4 courses (“just”...really??).


It was really amazing, though. Silvana is an excellent cook. We had the cheeses, bread, and olives again, then Silvana brought out homemade linguini with clams. It was incredible. We got the recipe from her so when I get home I can make you all a traditional Sicilian meal! After dinner was dessert again, and some fresh fruit. Mmmm. A few other relatives stopped by to chat, so we got back to the apartment around 1am and slept very well after all our food!

silvana's yummy pasta!

Saturday was a more relaxing day. We went to a small town in the morning for the moms to finish their platter shopping (they were looking for nice Sicilian plates to take home). I took a bunch of pictures at the fountain outside, and tried lots of fresh veggies that Silvana picked up at a market there. Afterwards, Silvana drove my mom and I to Scopello to see the famous cliffs - that's where they've filmed lots of movies (like the part in Ocean's 12) and it was magnificent. We took some photos there, then were on our way to the traditional Sicilian meal in the mountains of Sicily. It was about an hour drive, and we were literally in the middle of nowhere. Dave, Becky, my mom, and Toni were in one car, and I went with Silvana, Sergio, and Maria (more of Dave's relatives). Their car was all English speaking, while mine was only Italian! AH! I was practically fluent by the time we got to the restaurant haha. It's hard to SPEAK the language for me, but I can understand most of what they say. They just speak so fast!

yoga in segesta

We got the restaurant and ate and ate and ate. It was probably around a 20 course meal - and we skipped the first course! SO. MUCH. FOOD. It was amazing, but I definitely had to pace myself. I'm not going to need to eat for the rest of the month!! Let's see..we had eggplant, zucchini, pork, quail egg, sheep, meatballs, potatoes, ribs, artichokes, califlower, snails, tomatoes, bread, olives, stuffed mushrooms, proscuitto, kabobs, AND SO MUCH MORE. I can't even remember everything. It was all fantastic, but I really couldn't move afterwards. We were there for over 3 hours, just eating nonstop. Whenever I said "no thanks", Silvana or Toni would yell "MANGA MANGA MANGA!!!!" (eat, eat, eat!!!). Haha oh goodness. We told them for dinner we didn't want anything at all!

silvana tried yoga
on the beach

My mom and I visited Segesta after lunch with Tony and Silvana, while everyone else headed home. Segesta is a beautiful place in Sicily where there are 2000 year old temples and amphitheaters that you can walk around and explore. It was gorgeous! Toni and Silvana were exhausted after lunch, so they pointed us in the right direction and  took a nice long nap in the car. My mom and I walked up to the temple and looked around, then took a bus to the amphitheater. It was a beautiful day, with the flowers such gorgeous colors and the weather perfecto - I even got a little sunburnt! I did some yoga in the 2000 year old architecture, we talked and walked, and then headed back down on the bus (it was only about 2 miles). Silvana took us to the beach and we walked along the water, picking up pretty shells and sea glass:) 

dinner at maria and sergio's

We went back to the apartment and didn't have too much time before we were picked up once again and on our way. It's funny because we would just get shuttled around without ever knowing where we were going! It was great to not have to worry about anything and just go with the flow. Tony and Silvana took us up to Sergio and Maria's mountain house for dinner. Dinner?? After our 4 hour lunch?? AH. They promised it wouldn't be too much food (as they always said), then brought out a couple huge pizzas and oodles and oodles of Sicilian desserts - cannoli, sfincia san giuseppe, cassata siciliana, cassatelle...SO GREAT. Once again, I was stuffed. Even after their "small" meal! We sat around after dinner and Tony brought out his guitar for some singing. We sang some traditional Sicilian songs, then they moved on to Beatles, "New York, New York", and "We are the Champions" haha - the only American songs they knew! It was lots of fun:)

sicily with my momma :)

Sunday was a relaxing day in Castellamare (where we were staying). Dave, Becky, and my mom woke up early to go to mass at Dave's family church, but I slept in some which was nice! I woke up around 10:30 and did a nice, long, much needed yoga and meditation practice for a couple hours. By the time I got out of the shower, the parents were all home from church. We ate a big 3 hour long lunch (again) at the restaurant next to our apartment. Dave treated the whole Buffa family that showed up - about 20 people! It was lots of fun to meet some new people in Dave's family. It was crazy - there were tons of people all around me speaking THREE different languages! Since Italian is so close to Spanish, Becky was talking to one girl in Spanish (she's fluent), then Tony was talking to us in English with a couple other relatives, and the rest were speaking Italian or Sicilian! It was so chaotic - the Italian way:) We ate and ate once again. Lots of seafood today because we were right beside the bay. Mmmmm:)

Afterwards we packed up and headed to Tony and Silvana's one more time to print out our boarding passes for the flight back to Roma. We get in laaaate tonight, then have a special tour of the Vatican archives and restoration projects at 8am (ah so early!) - it'll definitely be worth the early wake-up though. The Healeys and my mom leave Tuesday morning, so I have one more day with them. I'm excited for photo tomorrow to develop my Morocco, Turkey, and Sicily pictures!!