vida... e una bicicletta

Hey guys! So sorry its been a while since I updated. I find it to be harder than I had expected to keep up with this blog. Between emails, class, and traveling, my time is precious. I keep a notebook though, writing down all the fun things I have been doing and seeing so that I don’t forget to tell you anything.
So since the last time I wrote, I have done quite a few wonderful things.
I had one of the best days of my life 2 Fridays ago. My roommates and I went on the “Tuscany Bike Tour.” We met at the bridge just north of the Ponte Vecchio at 9am where we met our tour guides. They were young Scottish guys, full of vigor and excitement for the day ahead. We, on the other hand, were tired and nervous with anticipation…unsure of what we were getting ourselves into. Little did we know, we were going to come back that night ecstatic about how we will never forget that day…
Anyway, once all checked in, we piled into these old, volkswagony type vans and headed out of the now familiar city of Florence, into the hillsides of Tuscany. Sara (one of my roommates) and I got stuck in the back of the van next to this friendly guy, named Rowan from Scotland. We asked him where he was from and his name…it was only cordial as we were basically sitting on top of him! Anyway, we asked him what brought him to Florence and he replied, “well you know the guy with the gay pink sweater on?” and of course , we knew he was talking about one of our tour guides we had met earlier on the bridge…so with a smile on our faces we replied, “yes….” And he goes, “yep. That’s my brother.” It was at that moment that we knew we were going to have a fun day.
Once we were completely out of Florence, Keith (other tour guide driving our van) decided to pop a cassette, yes, a cassette, into the sterio. A few moments later, blaring from the speakers is classic 80s music. Thrilled and even more excited, the entire van starts singing along to “Lets Hear it For the Boy.” My roommate thought she would go ahead and try to hit the infamous high note in the song and had the entire van shocked! Another girl took credit for it, but we shrugged it off and laughed anyway.
After a beautiful scenic drive, we arrived in Chianti at a beautiful Castle. The first few hours of the tour were spent inside the castle, learning how they make wine and olive oil ( we of course, got to try it at the end!!). They also let us up into one of the towers for photo ops. We could see miles and miles of rolling Tuscan hills from up there. It was a sight to say the least.
After that, we were all assigned our bikes, helmets, and water bottles. We were happy to see that the bikes were all in good shape and had bags attached to them behind the seat where we could put our wallets/cameras…whatever. I know I was satisfied because I didn’t have to bring my backpack with me for the next 13 miles!
And then we were off, cycling through the countryside of Chianti. It was relaxing… invigorating… amazing.
There were a few stops along the path to take pictures and rest..and then we stopped at an authentic tuscan restaurant for lunch. By that time we were starving, so we loaded up on the food that they kept bringing out. Well, that was a bad idea. NOTE TO SELF: do not eat Italian food in abundance before getting on a bike. Haha. So to wrap it up, we finished the tour, stopped at a café for water and then biked back to the castle. It was lovely. Sad that the day was coming to an end, but happy to rest, we piled back into the vans and drove back to Florence…this time with Christmas music to carol along to… Just us American girls, a few Scottish guys, and a woman from Australia. It was quite the experience!
We ended up becoming friends with the tour guides and taking a bunch of pictures with them afterward. For some reason they were really eager to pose like cheerleaders….so if u ever see those pictures, that’s what that is all about. Two scots and an Irishman…wanting to pose like girly cheerleaders. Hey, im not arguing ;)
(side note, the guys we made friends with were Rowan and Andy Mackie, aka “the Mackie bros,” and Keith, the Irishman)

Ok so that was the bike tour on a Friday. Saturday was our resting day because the following Sunday, we headed to Cinque Terre, which means the Five Villages. I think I will butcher this if I try to explain it, so just look it up on wikipedia or something because you’ll get a better feel for what it is. I’ll try my best though…
Basically these five villages, just off the coast of the Mediterranean, are only accessible by train or foot. So we took a train to the first village, hiked the next 3, and took a ferry to the last. We were literally hiking through the mountains to get from one town to the next, cliffs and the coast to the left of us, mountains to the right. It was another breath taking experience that pictures just don’t do justice. We got really sweaty, but in my opinion, that’s how you know your having fun right? Haha. I cant speak for everyone, but I had a great time. Hiking isn’t for everyone, and I’m sure there were some people who went that weren’t expecting such an intense hike… but I was thrilled! Granted, I did wear flip flops, I found it easier to go nearly barefoot. But that’s not important to the story…
At the third village, we stopped for gelato and to spend some time on the beach. Then we got on the ferry and went to the last village and then got on a train home. It was another tiresome day, but one of the best weekends I have had yet. I got exercise. I got pictures. I got ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities. I had a lot of good thinking time. I’d say all in all, a very healthy, therapeutic weekend spent with friends.
Now you would think that after such a physical weekend, we would have went home and crashed Sunday night…psh. You would THINK. But our friends from the bike tour had called us at around 9, when we were getting back to our apartment, and asked us to hang out with them. Knowing how much fun they are and also knowing that Rowan, the brother visiting, was leaving the next day and we might not ever see him again, we had to agree. We all cleaned up and managed to look decent enough to go out with the boys. Needless to say, they were tired as well since their job is , well, biking… so that was good for us because we only hung out for a few hours before they too, wanted to call it a night. It was fun though. Rowan did impressions of Craig David and made fun of us “yanks.” They also mentioned that they thought I looked like a “wee Gloria Estefan,” which made me laugh because my grandpa used to tell me that I looked like her… They also kept calling me a “wee bit Lauren.” It was sweet. So once again, the Mackie boys and Keith didn’t fail to entertain us and show us a good time. We parted ways and THEN finally crashed so we could go to class the next day…

Those are the exciting stories for now. I have other stuff that I’ve done & seen, but I will leave you with the Highlights. I have a list started of the little things I want to share with you all...but I’ll save that for a rainy day. Until then, keep in touch! Love to all from Florence!!
Ciao amici!

~Lauren Grace

p.s. thanks for all the prayers and support! Everything has been in God’s hands so far. I can tell. I have been blessed in so many ways so far. I thank God for all these opportunities and all the new perspectives on life that He is allowing me to discover.