That Bastille Song

Day 12 - Pompeii 

I set my alarm for 6:20 to shower before we had to be on the bus at 7:30. The breakfast at the hotel usually consists of yogurt, cereal and croissants that are filled with orange jam that no one likes. They are slowly learning what the group likes (such as we only like natural water, not fizzy water) and today they didn’t put any jam in the croissants. We boarded the bus, and this time I had a seat all to myself! The bus ride was horrible – I was so motion sick, I couldn’t wait to get off. It took a few hours to get to Pompeii, but luckily there was beautiful scenery on the way. It was so neat, we were up so high in the mountains that one part you couldn’t see out the window because it was just a big cloud, and we were literally in the cloud. We got to Pompeii and waited for our tour guide, who has her master’s degree in architecture from Harvard. The city of Pompeii was buried by six meters of ash in 79 AD (no lava.) The last eruption was in 1944. Five tribes arrived in Pompeii and founded the city, it had a port before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Now, the water is five kilometers away. The city is huge, 66 hectors and is impossible to do in one day, only 45 hectors are excavated, they are still working on recovering the rest. First we saw the amphitheatre, the oldest theatre in Roman history, which Pink Floyd and Andrea Bochelli have played. We walked the ruins, she showed us a poor man’s house, and a rich man’s house. She showed us the difference between houses and shops, as the shops have a sliding door. Then she showed us the bathhouse, the ‘red light district’ which included the famous prostitute house with very graphic illustrations. She also pointed out a sign of a certain body part shape that pointed towards the prostitute house. We ended the tour with hen we saw Mount Vesouvious – the volcano that nearly destroyed the city. For some reason, I have had allergy symptoms during the trip, which were especially prominent in Pompeii. The tour lasted for a few hours then we all went to a restaurant for lunch. I had gnocchi and fries for lunch, and peach iced tea – my favourite! After lunch we loaded back on the bus to the Amalfi coast and Sorrento. The bus driver stopped for us to take a picture of the coast, then we had an hour and a half to wander around. We walked to a spot to take some pictures, and then decided to do some shopping. During the bus ride I noticed that a few of the salons had Kerestase hair product in the window, which I have been looking for in Canada and the United States for a year and made sure I got some! We got some limoncello, as Sorrento is known for producing it. Shannon and I also stopped to get a nutella and banana crepe, it was good but it is much better in Paris! Then we headed back to the bus for our 4 and a half hour ride to Sulmona. We got back to the hotel at 10 pm, and they had a buffet for us where the best options were pizza and salad. The only salad dressing they use here is either oil or vingar, I really miss the salad dressing at home.  

Peach Iced Tea

Gnocchi

In the clouds - can't even see outside

Ampitheatre

In the ruins

Rich person's house 

Amalfi coast

Crepe

One Dollar Wine

Day 12 

Woke up so tired today, even though I didn’t start teaching until 10:30. It was a nice sunny day in Sulmona for once, usually our walk to school consists of rain. We had grade 4 class again, and we taught them the lesson on street signs as we hadn’t taught this class the lesson yet. Unlike the previous lesson, we couldn’t take these students outside to play red light green light, so instead we created a BINGO game with street signs and played that with them. It took them a while to understand the concept of BINGO. After that class, we had grade 3’s for the first time, so did name tags with them and the human body lesson. There was another Sara in this class too! They love singing songs like head and shoulders, and playing Simon Says. Those two hours went by fast, which was nice! We finished at 12:30 and went to the cafeteria for lunch. They gave us a tiny portion of fries, plain risotto soup and tuna. After lunch we met up with Kelly and Shannon, and went to the mall as most stores in downtown Sulmona were closing for siesta. Of course it started raining too when we started walking. The weather in this town is so bipolar, it is sunny for some of the day, then it rains and clears up. Luckily, I usually carry my umbrella with me for that very reason. The mall stays open during siesta so we decided to go there to get some lunch and do some more shopping. I got a slice of pizza as I learned from last time, a small pizza is more like a large pizza in Canada and way too much food. We went back to the penny market after the mall, and Shannon and I got a 1 dollar carton of wine, couldn’t pass that up! We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed off to some stores. On the way I went to the bank machine to try taking money out for the first time since I got here as I was getting low on cash. I tried and just before I thought my money would come out, the machine said “please contact your bank.” I first thought maybe I either don’t have enough money in that account to take out the amount I wanted, so I tried a smaller amount and it told me the same message. I couldn’t believe it – I went through all the right steps and had the bank put in a note saying that I would be away. We went back to the hotel so I could Facetime home and get someone in Canada to call the bank for me to try and figure it out. In the meantime we went shopping at a few stores then came back for dinner. Dinner was really good tonight! First course was gnocchi, which as ususal is always good. Second course was a caprese salad – mozzarella cheese and tomatoes. Then dessert was a chocolate cheesecake that was so rich and smooth! I was told to get the operator and explain that I need to make a collect call to Canada and the bank would sort it out. I had Kylee come with me after dinner to the payphone to make the call. It wouldn’t work, and at this point I was getting so frustrated and upset that it wasn’t working out. I came back to the hotel and one of the trip coordinators, Jenny found me upset in the hallway and helped me try and figure it out. I would have to buy a cheap phone card as the payphones here only use phone cards, not coins. After all the frustration, Shannon and I decided to get into our wine and everyone was going out so I decided to join. We went to the first bar, and people were having shots of absinthe, which I definitely did not partake in. It was a really fun night, just relaxing and exploring the city and hanging out with the con-ed group. Justin, Steph and I came in at 12:00 and I went right to bed as tomorrow would be a long day.

Too happy about 1 dollar wine

Gnocchi

Caprese salad

Yummy dessert

The girls 

Nicole, Amanda, Me and Lynne

Day Off

Day 11 

I was waken up by a phone call from the woman at the front desk saying that I had an outside call, which was the teacher from the private school. She asked me to get a hold of the 3 girls teaching at the private school as they took books back to the hotel that they need right away. I was so confused as to why they called our room? Today was our day off from teaching so we got to sleep in. Kylee and I got dressed and went out shopping with Melissa, Alex and Michelle as we were all off for the day/morning. It seems that everyone got Birkenstock sandals on this trip as they are a big cheaper in Italy than in Canada. I went to this sports store and got a pair of sweatpants (Legea brand) that we see everyone wearing in Sulmona. Then we walked to a nice restaurant for lunch that was recommended to Melissa, which was right past the main piazza. It was kind of hidden away, and you had to walk through a little gated area and through a path to get to the restaurant. We ate outside on the closed in patio and it was just beautiful and so secluded. We all ordered French fries and I saw ravioli on the menu with ricotta cheese and thought I would like it. Once they served me my meal, I immediately smelled the horrible odor and knew I couldn’t eat it. It turns out that the sauce was a truffle mushroom sauce, and was very disgusting. I’m glad I got French fries, but at least I tried something new and know I know. Everyone else’s meals were really good though! There were three other tables of people on the patio. One group was from St. George, Ontario and they said they read about us (the Canadian teaching group) in the newspaper. They have a condo in Sulmona and come once a year. Then the other group was from Florida on vacation, and there were two men from New Jersey, and the man said he had family here and is trying to research his family tree. After lunch we walked back as Melissa and Michelle had to teach the adult school at 3:00, and Alex, Kylee, Brianna, Steph, Laura, Erika, Danielle, Blaire and I took the shuttle to the other hotel to go swimming and tanning as they have a pool. We just found out today that it was possible get a shuttle to the hotel. We came back at around 5:00, Kylee and I attempted to wash our clothes. We bought string from the market as a clothesline, and our clothes severely drooped once we hung them on the line. We went for dinner and had plain pasta with penne noodles, and second course was veal, so I chose the cheese plate instead. I opted out for dinner and instead went for Gelato with Kylee, Shannon, Justin, Melissa, Alex and Michelle. 

Never order this meal! It even looks disgusting

Beautiful pool

Clothesline

Canada In Italy

Day 10

Today was the day that Kylee, Alex and I had to get evaluated from one of the Nipissing teachers on the trip. We decided to take a cab to the primary school, as again it was raining this morning and we wanted to make sure we were set for our evaluation. The man didn’t have any idea where the school was and said oh senoritias, like oh girls that he thought we were stupid. It is a small town and the only primary school so I don’t know how he didn’t know where it was. We arrived at the school early and set up the classroom for our big lesson. There was a smart board in the classroom so we got the teacher to work it for us and we connected the slideshow presentation on Canada. Kylee started with the introduction of our names and the kid’s names again as most of the kids weren’t there when we taught them Monday. Then I explained our Canadian anthem and we played a YouTube video and got the kids to sing along to it as we handed out bookmarks with lyrics on it. Next Alex started the slideshow and went through the provinces, sports, food (we handed out peanut butter for them to try) and I went over the money and we showed them some Canadian money we had. We played the Canada in my pocket song, which they loved. To end the slideshow I went over the Canadian animals and ended with the moose. We sang, “There was a great big moose” song with the kids – which again they loved. Alex did a little quiz at the end where the kids had to say the name of what the picture was such as Niagara Falls. Kylee explained the craft, which was a Canadian flag, and we had them write five things they learned on the back. To finish the lesson we asked them what they learned about Canada and then they wanted us to sing the moose song again. We had the same class again for the second hour (9:30 – 10:30) so we did a lesson on street signs that we prepared the night before. I found a poem on street signs and Kylee wrote it out on chart paper, so we went over the poem with the kids and got them to repeat it after we said it. The classroom had a door outside so we took them outdoors to a basketball court and played red light, green light. Then we did the hokey pokey with them, as lots of the kids didn’t know their left from right. They had so much fun and made us do it again. Another difference I have noticed from Canada is that the children in Italy are so much more willing to participate in songs and activities that may be seen as childish. They love singing songs, especially if the songs have actions! Then I led an activity where the children had to tell me the directions to get from certain places that we made on chart paper. We made BINGO cards with street signs on it, but couldn’t photocopy them before the lesson so ended up not doing that part. Instead we had them copy the poem in their notebooks and the teacher had them complete an activity in their workbooks with directions. Most of the work the students do is out of their workbooklets and they don’t write on blank paper, they have a notebook for what they write down their work. 

Our huge (small) pizza

What I now know is non-alcoholic beer

We left class and walked to the market, as it is only open Wednesdays and Saturdays and on Saturday we will be in Pompeii the entire day. The market somewhat reminded me of St. Jacobs, there was lots of fruit stands and some cheese, meat and seafood stands, and then some random clothing (some cheap some decent) and other trinkets and jewelry. We wandered around for a bit and went into some shops. I got a mug with Sulmona on it for Nana at one of the souvenir shops. Wherever we go, people always stare at us, we do stand out from them as we wear skirts and sandals. We walked back to the hotel and changed into pants as it was getting cooler and then walked to the penny market to pick up more snacks. I got some things to bring home and then got what I thought was a .85 cent 6 bottle pack of beer, but later realized it was non-alcoholic and it was absolutely disgusting. After the supermarket we went to the mall and were starving so we went to the mall across the road to get lunch. Kylee and I both ordered a mini margherita pizza with fries and a drink. When we got the meal we had them package the one pizza up as it was enormous and we realized we could split one and take the other home. 

Market 

My dinner and wine

We shopped around the mall after we ate, I got a little purse/clutch for 10 euro. Then we walked back to the hotel and hung out in Alex/Christina/Melissa/Michelle’s room for a bit. Christina, Kylee, Alex and I went out back of the hotel to tan for a bit and it was so hot we weren’t out there for long. Kylee and I came in and organized our room as it was a disaster and we hadn’t had time to actually unpack and organize our things since we’ve been in Sulmona and we finally had the time and wanted to make use of it. Then we got ready and went upstairs at 7:00 to take the first shuttle to the other hotel. We were somewhat forced to go to the other hotel as it was the owner of the two hotel’s (Santacroce) birthday and he was having a celebration at the other hotel and we would go there for a buffet dinner. We had to take a shuttle (a van that seats 8 people) to the other cab. The cab driver was insane and drove way past the speed limit, cutting people off and passing cars when we were pretty certain that it was a no passing lane. It seems that people make up their own driving rules in Italy. The other hotel was so nice, it had a pool and gorgeous flowers and patio section. We didn’t realize that the buffet and events was outside so everyone was freezing as it was chilly at night and most people didn’t dress for outdoors. Luckily, I ate a big before so I wasn’t that hungry, but everyone at my table was starving and we had to wait until almost 9:00 for them to serve dinner. I got a little glass of champagne to go with my dinner, and a few pieces of bread and bruschetta for dinner because most of the food was meat or something we didn’t know. A lot of the group had to get up early the next morning to teach, and still plan their lesson, so one van load was able to leave at about 10:30, and I made sure I was on the first van ride back to the hotel as I was freezing! 

I Lika Dogs

Day 9

It rained again this morning, but luckily I thought to bring an umbrella with me on the trip. We started at 10:30 and taught back-to-back grade 4 classes. Our first lesson to the grade 4 class was our Canada lesson that we are using for our evaluation, so it was a run-through today. It went extremely well!  It was kind of nerve wracking as Maria, Jenny, and two girls who came on the trip watched us teach our second block which was animals when they were full of energy and a little wild. When we went though the names at the beginning the one little boy was like “My Name is Lorenzo and I like Alex.” It was hilarious, all the kids were laughing. The kids all wanted our autographs too which was funny. Next we had lunch, which was soup today. After lunch we taught all three grade 5 classes in the afternoon – they were crazy. We mostly worked on conversation with the grade 5s and verbs and played charades with the verbs. They spoke English really well, and talked to us about music. They all wanted to hold our hands too. We walked back to the hotel and were completely exhausted from the long day. We lesson planned for the rest of the week until dinner. Shannon and I both really wanted a hot chocolate for dinner because we heard they are really good, so we paid 1 euro each and got a hot chocolate at the bar in the lobby. It was so delicious and so creamy! During dinner we all laughed at the Kenya trip, joking that they wouldn’t be drinking wine like us. First course was spicy pasta, which wasn’t very good. Second course was two pieces of pizza – the first was mostly tomato and the second was a white pizza with garlic sauce and ended with tiramisu for dessert. After dinner, Kylee, Alex and I went to Jenny’s room to go over our lesson plan that she is evaluating tomorrow. She seemed to really like it! 

Grade 4 kids

Grade 4 student with his Canada flag we made

Kids asking for my autograph

Lunch

Gorgeous view

Hot chocolate

First Day Teaching!

Day 8

Kylee and I woke up at about 8:40 as we had to teach at 10:30 and were quiet since our roommates were still sleeping as they started at 11:30. The other girls in Primaria met us at the front door and we all walked to the school together. We walked really fast since it was raining out and our things were starting to get wet. We arrived at the school and met with out teacher again,  M. Ventresca who knew a bit of English, but was not fluent. She was really nice and tried to be as helpful as possible. We had grade 4 class first and the kids were so excited to see us! It felt like we were famous because everywhere we walked in the school, the kids would wave and smile at us. We really stood out too. We walked into our first class and the kids were having a kind of celebration because one of the students had their communion. There was cake, pizza, and some other strange looking treats. Elena insisted we take some food and the kids surrounded the three of us bombarding us with questions they had. The children all spoke English pretty well! One boy asked us if we all had boyfriends and then after in Italian he said “ALL SINGLE!!” They asked us what our favourite animals were, our ages, and if we had sisters of brother. They also asked us surnames - they say surnames instead of last names and I told the girls my last name and they had no idea. I felt like saying to the children, that’s how I feel about your names, as I have no idea how to pronounce most of them. The students all learn British English, so they all speak very proper. For our first class, I did the introductions, Alex Kylee and I all said our names and I explained to them how we flew on an airplane all the way from Canada to teach them. Then we got them to say their name and one thing about them. It was funny because there was a student named Sara, which had the exact same spelling as I do. Elena explained how Sara is a popular name in Italy, and asked if I was Italian, which I am clearly not! Some of the common names were Lorenzo, Gaia, Lorenza, Francesco, Frederica, Alberto, and Sara! Next we went over the animals. Last night we prepped some drawings of animals for the lesson. We had the children repeat the name of the animal after us. Then we sang Old McDonald had a farm, the children already knew the song but in English, so they sang some of it with us. Elena would translate what we were saying to the children in Italian, so they understood what we were trying to do. We played charades with animals next. They kids absolutely loved it. There is no classroom management with the teachers in Italy, they are so loud, and the teacher just talks over them and will yell at them. That was one big difference from teaching in Canada compared to Italy. Charades took up a big part of the hour because every child had a turn and it was a pretty big class. After charades was done, we handed out bookmarks that had the Canadian anthem on them and the kids wanted us to sing O Canada to them. We went through their books. They have a workbook which is just pieces of blank paper, they have an exercise book which is kind of like a textbook with space for them to fill in answers and they have a textbook. The books they have are theirs that they paid for, and are more of a little journal than a Canadian textbook. 

After we finished in that class, we headed to our other grade 4 class. This class only had six students in it, usually there are 18, but the teacher explained there were many absent because of communion. This class was a lot quieter than the previous one. We planned the same lesson, but had the students write the animals in their workbooks and draw a picture beside it. The students are all very artsy and take their time drawing precise pictures, instead of Canada where they just do a quick drawing. The kids don’t have cubbies and instead put their backpacks on the back of their chairs. Also, some classes have SMART boards, while others just have a small easel with a chalkboard. The walls are covered with posters though. 

After that class we had lunch at 12:30. We sat in the lunchroom with the kids this time. We had some sort of egg flat thing, which I didn’t eat, peas, blood oranges, a bun, penne with pesto and water again. The kids were extremely loud and were never told to be quiet. Even in the lunch rooms the kids would come up to us and just stare as they were so fascinated. 

After we ate lunch we had a break until we had to teach at 2:30. Kylee, Alex and I mostly just lesson planned and relaxed. We were already so exhausted and had only taught 2 classes! Once it hit 2:30, we looked for our class and it took us a while to actually find it. We were in grade 3 this time, and again we did our introduction and went around the class with names and 1 favourite thing. This class had a Sara in it. We decided to do a signal for the students to be quiet as it was chaotic trying to get their attention in the morning. I explained to students that your finger on your mouth means quiet. Then we explained the ticket reward system. I brought Canadian pins and pencils, and we got Canada flags and leis as prizes for the students so when a student was quiet we would give them a ticket and then we would draw names at the end of the day. For this class, we prepped a poster of the human body and labeled different parts. We went over the different parts and had them repeat it after us. Then we asked them to point out the different parts. We sang “head and shoulders knees and toes” with them and they already knew it so they thought it was fun. Next we played Simon Says and they also had a blast with it! The teacher had to explain in Italian how to play the game as they didn’t understand after we explained it, but they quickly caught on. After the game we had them copy the poster into their notebooks and they we drew names for the rewards and gave out 3 prizes. For the students who didn’t get any prizes we gave them the O Canada book marks, and this class wanted us to sing the Canadian anthem to them so we did then we got them to sing the Italian anthem. 

We left and went to our last class of the day at 3:30 – 4:30. We did the same lesson plan for a smaller grade 3 class. We walked home, the day cleared up and it was nice and sunny. Alex, Kylee and I lesson planned for Tuesday and then went to dinner. For dinner first course was pasta with tomato sauce, second course was beans and carrots with a toasted ham (bacon) and cheese sandwich thing that was surprisingly good and then we had another piece cake for dessert again. We came back to the room and had a meeting with Jenny and the other Primaria students and went to bed. 

First course pasta

Delicious dinner

Lunch at the school 

Grade 3 Students in their cute blue smocks

Lazy Sunday

Day 7

I woke up and looked at my cell phone and realized it was 12:00 pm! We were all shocked that we slept in so late, but we really needed to catch up on our rest. We got ready and walked over to the penny market to grab some snacks for the week. It was about a 10 minute walk, but we decided to go to the mall across the street before getting groceries. The mall was a disappointment, there weren't very many stores and the stores they did have weren't my kind of style. We went to one store that reminded us of a not as good version of Target's clothing, Kylee ended up getting a tank top, and I tried on a dress but decided not to get it. We met up with a few other people, and all walked to the supermarket across the street together but it was closed for the siesta and would re-open at 3:00. We were starving so we decided to get lunch downtown. We walked to a pizza place and were all craving some protein and chicken, so we all ended up getting breaded chicken and potato wedges. After lunch we went to the gelato place across the street and I got half Kinder and half Bacche which tastes like Ferreros. It was so good! We went back to the hotel to change and put some warmer clothes on as it was getting cool out, then headed back to the penny market as it had re-opened. I got some juice boxes, pringles, a nutella to go, apples, bandaids which I desperately needed, and a little cooler, which all came to about 7 Euros. Everything is so cheap here!

Nutella To Go - Nutella, Cookie sticks and peach iced tea 

We came back to the hotel and had a meeting with all the people in Primaria, on what we were teaching tomorrow because it was our first day in the schools. The group was feeling so stressed out as we didn't know what to expect or how to teach English to Italian children. We met with our advisor Jenny, and she put us more to ease by explaining to have more fun games and activities than lessons. Kylee, Alex and I are teaching grade 3 and 4 tomorrow, and planned lessons on body parts for grade 3, and animals for grade 4. Again, I am so glad I switched to Primaria, as the Media group has to teach British English which is more difficult. Tonight's dinner was lasagna, and salad. They don't have regular salad dressing here so i've had to use red wine vinegar which is quite tangy. Then for dessert we had gelato which was pistachio and some flavour I couldn't determine. After dinner the Primaria group came back to my room and did more lesson planning.

Best lasagna ever!! 

Gelato

Beautiful day in Pescara

Day 6

I made sure I had everything ready the night before for our beach day in Pescara as we had to get up early to take the train. I woke up at 7:50 and quickly ate breakfast again and got my stuff together to leave. We were warned that the walk to the train station was at least 20 minutes, and the train left at 8:49 so we left at about 8:30 to give us enough time to get to the station. Maria gave us directions to the station, but we just walked the four of us so weren't 100 percent on where to go. During the walk I had to ask an Italian man and woman where the train station was. He didn't understand a word I said, so I said Pescara and he immediately figured out what I meant and pointed us in the right direction. Everyone is so friendly and always tries to help the best they can despite the language barrier. We got to the train station just in time and got our tickets and got on the train.

Pescara Beach

Once we got to the station, it was about 10:00 am, as the train came later than the expected time. We walked straight and passed a number of clothing stores to the beach. It was funny that everyone always stares at us probably because we are wearing t-shirts and shorts, whereas all the Italians are wearing sweaters and jeans because they think it is cold (I was sweating.) I wore my new fedora hat that I got in Venice which was a good idea as it was so bright and sunny out.

Shannon and I were the first ones in the water because we were both so warm, the water was cool at first but it got warmer. There weren't many people swimming either because the water was so cold. We all tanned for a while and then a bunch of us were hungry so we went and got pizza from a little restaurant beside the beach.

Roomies

Margherita Pizza

After lunch we split off and Kylee, Shannon, Kelly and I decided to walk around to some of the shops. We went to Bershka and Pimkie, which are stores that I remember from my trips to France and Greece. I ended up getting a striped shirt from Pimkie, then we headed back to the beach. One thing I love about Europe is that the tax is included in the price, so what you see is what you pay. In Canada and the USA you have to add tax, so you always pay more than what you see on the pricetag. The rest of the group joined us at this time and we all just spent a relaxing day at the beautiful beach. At about 3:30 we decided to head back to take the 4:30 train, as the ride back was an hour and thirty minutes and we wanted enough time to shower and get ready for our dinner at 7:30. We walked back and stopped to get stamps (each stamp was 2 euros!) and we went to this awesome makeup store called Kiko, which had really inexpensive makeup. I bought a bright pink nail polish for $1.50 as my manicure came off. We got grenitas (creamier slushies) that were absolutely delicious and so refreshing after a hot day on the beach.

Watermelon and "Baby Blu" Grenita (delicious!)

We got on the train and had a nice talk with another girl in the Primaria group during the long hour and a half ride. Another great part of this trip is getting to know people who I've never talked to before. Once we got back got ready for dinner. First course was a delicious spaghetti and meatballs. Angela told us that the noodles were special to this area, although they just looked like regular spaghetti noodles to me. Second course was either veal or a plate of ham and cheese. I don't eat veal, so I got ham and cheese and there were some carrots and green beans which were good, and they gave us a bowl of salad to share at the table. They don't really eat a lot of vegetables in Italy I guess, because the portions of vegetables they give us are so small. It was Angela's birthday, so the chef at the hotel made her a tiramisu cake and we all sang happy birthday to her.

Our table we sit at

Spaghetti and 2 tiny meatballs

Angela blowing out the candle

Tiramisu

We hung out at the hotel, and Shannon and I got ready to go out with some of the girls to the bar they went to the night before. I drank my Bellini drink which was yummy, then a few of the girls and I walked to the bar. The bar was not what I was expecting it to be, as it was more of a Mexican vibe than Italian. It was so hot in the bar, so Shannon and I didn't decide to stay long. We went at around 11:30, and it was happy hour so that meant buy one get one free!! I got a Rosinni (a strawberry Belinni) and a regular peach Belinni. It was nice to talk to the girls I went with because I hadn't really talked to them ever before. Shannon and I walked back to the hotel room and hung out for a bit then went to bed.

My drinks 

Sulmona at night