I felt very, very energetic today and overall it was a wonderful day! I started out my morning bright and early to be able to eat breakfast and catch the bus on time. Today felt like a no-makeup kinda day so that’s what I did. We went down to the hotel and ate our meals and everyone was talking about last night’s extraordinary dance party. A lot of people came up to me and complimented my dancing and that made me happy.

After breakfast, we all boarded on the bus to head to a small medieval village called San Gimignano. The bus ride was maybe an hour or two and I did end up taking a nap…but as soon as I got off the bus I did some cartwheels to wake me up and I was up and running again! Cartwheels are such fun. I’m glad someone figured out how to do them, ha!

I really liked that village. As you traveled down its main road, there were a bunch of cute little shops. I stopped at a couple of them and bought a bracelet and I also got an amethyst stone as well as a turquoise peace sign that had the word peace on it in English and Italian. I love it! I can’t wait to add it to my wall shelf when I get home.

We only had about two hours to roam around the small village so it was mainly just a walk but everywhere in the village it was so quiet and peaceful. We were there early in the morning so there weren’t a lot of people and it was nice to not be around so many people. The breeze felt amazing and I felt so refreshed being there. My heart felt light and my worries seemed far.

We climbed all the way to the top of the village and the view was marvelous. I loved every minute of it.

When it was time to head back down to get on the bus, we had to sit and wait a little bit for everyone to arrive. So while we were waiting, our main tour guide started teaching me the Italian numbers. Some of them are very similar to the Spanish numbers and even the language as a whole has a lot of words that are similar in the Spanish language.

Finally, we all got on the bus and I was headed to my first ever wine tasting! The area was only about twenty minutes away and that may have been our shortest bus ride…

They had horses around the whole farm and it was so pretty. I really wanted to ride one of the horses deep down but I knew that we were not there to do that. But! I did get to taste a lot of wines. 7 different kinds to be exact…and the world was a little funnier and a little more hazy after that. But good thing they had water and food for us and a bathroom.. but I will say it might’ve been a mistake to have a wine tasting and then right after have to be on the bus for 6 hours straight. But maybe that’s just me.

The bus ride was good though. I listened to music and took quite a few naps. But when I woke up from one of them I really had to go to the bathroom and when I looked at the time we were only an hour into the ride. So I went up to ask about the restroom and the bus driver told me that we had 20 minutes until our next stop. Still, I don’t know if that stop was specifically for me or if it was planned but all I can say is: thank god it did happen.

When we arrived back at our hotel it was absolutely chaotic. There were so many more people there coming in for the Feast and our whole bus group had to check-in, give them our passports, and get our room and luggage. It was crazy and after that 6-hour trip I just wanted to go back to the room. But news came that it was time for dinner.

We went into the dining hall and the amount of people there was crazy. I think I overheard someone say that there were 250 people here for the feast this year. I got very overwhelmed by all of the people to be honest. It seemed like everyone already knew each other and I didn’t know anyone other than the people who were on my bus and that’s only about 30 of us. I didn’t eat as much as I normally have been in Italy because I think I finally figured out what my stomach can handle here.

I headed up to my hotel room early and started practicing my choir music. We have our first meeting at 8:30 in the morning and I hope it ends up going alright. I still don’t know what we are doing whether it be singing or going over pronunciation but hopefully both.

I really want to meet new people here and create relationships with the people I meet and to have a good time with everyone so hopefully that dream comes true!

Laurel ❤

Uncategorized Europe travel