The Adriatic Sea

Today I had to get up early (...8:15) and get ready to go to the beach!  My house/condo only has one bathroom so I had to wait a couple of minutes until I could use it.  Before I got my bathing suit on,  I went and had breakfast.  I had cheerios, which was good because it wasn't too much food, and then I tried this thing called crostata which is like a pie, or a cookie thing with jam on it.  It's hard to explain.  Maybe a picture later.

The drive to the sea is about an hour and I fell asleep.  There are a ton of tunnels on they way there.  I was also told that we were going to visit my host Italian uncle, aunt, and cousins, and Chiara, who is one of Veronica's (my host sister who is Reno for her exchange) friends, and after today, I call her my friend too!  We walked to the camp, which is very different from American camping and I met everybody.  They were speaking a mixture of English and Italian, so it's safe to say I understood half of it.  Everybody was super nice though and we all headed to the beach.  It was very pretty, but I didn't bring my camera.  After setting up umbrellas and stuff and putting on sunscreen, well, me putting on sunscreen, we went for a stroll along the water.  Chiara, Chiara's sister, and my host italian cousin all know some english and so I would say something and they would all ask each other what it meant.  Chiara was also very good at explaining to me what I had said in Italian so that I could learn the phrase.  I think I learned the most Italian today out of all of the days I've been here (which is only 4).

The street full of campers

My host uncle's camp place

We went about half way into the water and I learned the names of some sea creatures like jelly fish (medusa), octopus (polipo), and shark (squalo), along with a myriad of other things, some of which I don't really remember.  Then we all went and sat in the shade.  We headed back to camp about 30 minutes later and had lunch.  Oh, Italian lunch! Tortellini, prosciutto, cantaloupe, bread, carrots, three different types of cake things.  Mamma mia!

Chiara and I went on a bike ride to the bar place so that Chiara could put money on her phone.  It's different than what I'm used to in the U.S.  It's basically like an itunes gift card.  You give the cashier money, and they give you a card worth that amount and you use a coin to scratch off the gray stuff that covers the code.  Then we rode/walked back to camp and met the adults at the beach again.  I was super tired, so I put my towel under the umbrella and fell asleep for who knows how long.  When I woke up, we packed up everything, went back to the camp, packed up more, and left.  This time, I didn't fall asleep on the car ride (until later at least) and I got to see the super beautiful landscape of Italy!

When we got home I hopped in the shower.  It was so confusing.  It's a bath tub, and it has a glass paneled door that folds out around the bath. (I will take a picture later because Lorena is drying her hair right now.)  They also keep their shampoo in the cupboard by the sink, which I thought was interesting, but I had my own shower stuff.  When I was out, dinner was on the table. Tonight, we had soup, which was delicious and simple.  It was just some type of watery broth with round noodles and olive oil. I also had some left over chicken, a tiny piece of pork, a piece of bread, and I finished off my strawberries.  I have also snuck in a couple of sour patch kids that I brought from home because I was craving something sour... and then sweet!

I'm going to bed early tonight because I have to get up early again tomorrow! This time, about 7:30am. Overall, today was a good day.  I met new people, I learned a lot of Italian, and I attempted to speak Italian!

Buonanotte!
~Devon