It has been the best weekend ever! We arrived on Friday afternoon, grabbed a quick lunch, and checked into our 5 person apartment. We went exploring and then got ready for dinner. Cinque Terre is make up of 5 small cities, and you can easily use a train to get betweeen them. We stayed in Riomaggiore but traveled to Manarola for dinner! We got appetizers at a restaurant that had the most amazing view! You could see the mountains with colorful houses and the ocean looked like it went on forever. We then went to another restaurant where I ordered pesto pasta (pesto actually originated in this area of Italy so it was delicious)! We were double checking our train home during dinner and it looked like it had been canceled – my 4 friends and I were panicking because the walking path between the cities is closed due to the risk of landslides – we had to idea what to do! Our kind waiter helped us figure out a way to take the train home, but it was a very stressful few minutes!
On Saturday, we got smoothies and peanut butter banana toast at a little restaurant next to our apartment. We rode the train to Vernazza and hiked the train between there and Monterosso. The hike was treacherous but amazing! We were exhausted but the views were unforgettable – something that I will forever look back on and smile about! We finally made it to the “beach town” where we reserved an umbrella and lounge chairs. The water was really cold but refreshing! Our afternoon included swimming, a little bit of studying, and eating gelato on the beach. A lot of people on our study abroad trip also came to Cinque Terre this weekend so got to know each other a little bit better! After a long day at the beach, we came back to Riomaggiore and went to dinner.
Being in Cinque Terre has taught me how fast-paced Americans live. We seem to cram as many things as possible into one day, which doesn’t allow for as many relationships to be cultivated and furthered. It has been really cool to live in the slower pace of Italy, and see how 3 hour dinners can turn into new friendships. This is something I have admired about Cinque Terre specifically that I would love to apply to my life back in College Station. My goal is to slow down and truly get to enjoy getting to know both the old and new people in my life.