Day Two.

I have had many new experiences (nuova esperienza) since I have arrived in Italy! Today, I surprisingly woke up at 7:00 am! It was crazy. I was up before my host parents! So I got ready for the day, and once they woke up we ate breakfast. I had "il café con latte" (it was a shot of espresso with milk in it). I actually REALLY enjoyed it! I hate coffee, but it is better here! And they only drink a very small cup of it. It amounts to probably 6 sips or so. We drank it in a "tazza" (coffee cup). They have many cups for all the different types of drinks. A "tazza" is for coffee, a "bicchiere" is for water and soda, and a "flute" is for wine! Then we ate mini pizzas and these cream puff like treats. I also had chocolate milk in a "tazzona" which is like a big cup. Once we finished eating, Francesco and I walked through Portovenere and he showed me all the beautiful sights that I saw last night with Andrea, except this time during the day! The sea is BEAUTIFUL! It is so transparent and the color is like turquoise! It is amazing. We saw the church on the hill, and he also showed me the castle! This town in 1000 years old! IS THAT CRAZY OR WHAT?! Their summer home is a part of the first house, and the second house is behind them, and then the castle. In between the two "houses" (which are now many homes) is the  "coroggio" which is a small alley way in between the two rows of homes. It has many shops and places to eat. It is a very small street, and no cars or scooters are allowed through it. It is absolutely gorgeous. It is like from The Lizzie McGuire Movie! Fantastica.  There is also a wall around the city to keep, as he said, the "pirates" out of the city! I will upload pictures once I get to their home in La Spezia because that is where their computer is. After that we met up with some of their friends, their son, and his host family from when he stayed in Virginia! We went on my host family's boat and went to all of the five lands, also known as "Cinqueterre! It is literally as beautiful as the photos. We then stopped in the sea and swam in it for a while! They showed us some grottos and they were so cool. We also had scuba diving masks to see all the fish under us! There was even a "medusa" (jellyfish). The most shocking part to today was probably passing the nudist beach. I DIDN'T THINK THEY ACTUALLY EXISTED. well folks, they do. Luckily we didn't get close enough for me to see anything to crazy, but when we were eating lunch on the boat a lady was lying down on a surfboard with no top on, her husband behind her, and their daughter behind him! Haha it was definitely a new experience. We ate focaccia bread with ham, grapes (with the seeds), more bread with an actual fig fruit on it, and then amaretti (cookies). Everything was delicious. Once we finished eating and swimming we began to leave, but something was wrong with the "barca" (boat), so we had to take it into Vernazza (one of the five lands in Cinqueterre). We got to take a water taxi to the land and the man driving it was wearing a tiny blue speedo! Guys here wear smaller swim suits and shorter shorts compared to America. I like it was more than our "saggy pants trend" though! Anyway, once we got to Vernazza, I whipped my camera out and started taking many photos! It is so beautiful words cannot even describe. The crazy thing is that a flood ruined the city 11 months ago and it was covered in mud! It happened October 25, 2011. We learned a lot about the flood and what exactly happened. Then we looked at shops and clothing (YAY), and then I got dark chocolate gelato... OH MY GOODNESS IT IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN IN AMERICA. I ate it all (because the portion is much smaller)! Then we went back to our boat once it was fixed! After that we all came back to Portovenere to freshen up for the evening. We showered and got all dressed up to go out to eat! We then took the water taxi to the island across from Portovenere, and it is called Palmaria. The cool thing is that the water taxi was made in Venice and then brought here! It is very small, and you have to bend over to get inside of it because the ceiling is very low! I can take a picture next time we see one. We then went to the restaurant! I can't tell you half of the food we ate, but I CAN tell you everything was amazing. I do know we had lobster, shrimp, bread, many types of fish, fried vegetables, a type of spread on a piece of bread, a noodle dish with pesto, potatoes, squid, and a few other dishes. IT IS CRAZY HOW MUCH WE ATE.  There was also dessert! I had the lemon sorbet! Then people had some espresso, but I was beyond stuffed. Once we were done we went back to Portovenere and took our friends back to their boat! It is now 2:00 in the morning, I just showered, and now I am going to sleep' GOODNIGHT!