Day Seventeen.

Today I woke up at 11:00 am. I was exhausted from this past week, and especially from last night! I got ready quickly because Daniela and her mom were picking me up at 12:00 pm to go to the festa! I ate some meat on bread for breakfast, and then left! Vezzano is in the mountains, so it was a crazy ride to where it is located! There are many curves, and the streets here are so small! It is always interesting to be in the car or scooter, that's for sure! Once we arrived we walked to where the festival was occuring! We got some food, ate, and then they showed me the city! I took tons of photos, and they are all on facebook! It is such a beautiful city (well, all of Italy is beautiful), and the mountains are AMAZING. The pictures do not do them justice! We then sat down for a little bit because there are so many hills and so many steps there! I definitely got my daily workout. There was delicious food everywhere (which I loved), and also a lot of cool little tents selling a variety of items (jewelry, wood work, etc). After sitting for a while, we walked to San Michele, and that is where Daniela's mom (my second host mom) bought me the horse shoe for good luck! I like it a lot, and I put it on my bag (like a keychain). Then we walked back down to see Marta (Daniela's sister) walk in the parade! She is hilarious, and I love her so much! She is also so nice to me haha. It was cool because all the people of the town wore clothing from many years ago, so I enjoyed seeing the attire! Each little village had their own group of people. It was fun to hear them chant and yell things to show pride for their village haha. After the parade, we walked back up to where the grape smashing was going to occur! First, we got some ice cream pops (obviously I got chocolate haha). Then we went and sat on a ledge right above where it was going to happen! Daniela, Marta, and their mom was trying to explain to me what it was but for some reason I couldn't understand all of it because they kept saying that they were going to "urinate" after they smashed the grapes so that they could win. I was like "UH WE WATCH THEM PEE?!" and then they said "NOOOO!" haha it was hilarious. So then this guy we were sitting near explained it to me in English, but I still didn't fully understand the peeing thing. I just said "OH OKAY HO CAPITO!" ( it means "I understand") except I really didn't haha. OH WELL. Then we watched them race to smash the grapes! It was SO much fun, and it was hilarious to watch them stomp so quickly. I was cracking up haha. After 3 villages had gone, we had to go because I had to get home for a dinner at my host family's friends' home! I changed because I had been sweating so much from walking around a ton (especially in jeans). Then we headed over to their home at 8:00 pm! It was GORGEOUS. The wife was British, so she spoke English (which was fun)! There were also about 12 or 13 other people, so it was a big dinner! The table was so long, I loved it! Their home looked like the giant Italian homes in the movies. They also had a huge stone grill and a pool! I loved their house haha. They had so many people over because one of their friends (who was present) had caught a GIANT tuna fish (illegally, they said), and he said it was too good of an opportunity to pass up! So we had tuna and about 50 other foods! It was all, of course, amazing. Then for dessert, TORTA DI CIOCCOLATA! All I could say was "oh molto buona, mi piace MOLTO!" (oh so yummy, I like it a lot!). There were also other desserts like a ginger cake, some nut cake, mini ice cream cones, and then another type of torta. I ate it all! After dinner they had coffee (not me), and then we talked for a while. I was so exhausted though that I was trying so hard not to fall asleep! When we left for dinner I was thinking "oh we will probably be home by 10:00 pm, so I can sleep a lot tonight" haha I was so wrong. We didnt get home until 11:00 pm, and I was SO TIRED. I went straight to bed when we got home haha. Now time to enjoy another day here in Italy! GOODBYE FOR NOW!