Welcome back! This week was a special one because not only did I get to stay in Italy for the entire week, but Sage also came to Florence to visit! Sage and I have been friends ever since we played club volleyball together our sophomore year of high school. Since we went to different high schools, we haven’t gotten a lot of chances to make new memories; we often spend our time together at home catching up on the last several months at a time. We truly are long distance best friends; this is the most time we’ve gotten to spend together in a long time. We started Monday, March 18 off with going out for coffee in which I was supposed to do a homework assignment but never actually opened my laptop… After we closed out the caffe we picked up some hugo spritzes to go and went to dinner at Osteria Santo Spirito, which has the BEST gnocchi I’ve ever had in my entire life. Obviously I introduced Sage to Sbrino, the best gelato place.

Tuesday started off with a trip to our favorite brunch place, Melalucea, with Liv and her family. It was so much fun getting to meet her sister and mom and spending time with them. The cinnamon rolls obviously never disappoint… After my class we sat down and planned Wednesday, becoming really excited in the process. Lunch was next on our to-do list, so we walked over to Gustapanino, located in Santo Spirito Square. Sage was living the full experience with outgoing Italian waiters, as our host playfully slammed down the wooden menus and scared the life out of me. She experienced her first Italian panini while we shared a bottle of wine. With the sun out, the lively square, and good food, it was easy to sit there for several hours as we continued to talk (we had months to catch up on still.) I still couldn’t believe that she was sitting across from me because it is so rare that we are in the same place for more than a couple hours at a time. We have basically been virtual friends for 3 years at this point! We wandered the streets of my neighborhood afterwards, stopping at Friends Pub to relive the glory of St. Patrick’s Day with a pint, before heading over to Gino’s Bakery for Sage to taste an Italian cannoli. Obviously, it was amazing, and obviously we both got 2 because neither of us could decide what flavor to get. She picked out the pistachio and original, while I got the nutella and original. We both agreed that the original is the way to go, with just the sweet ricotta filling and chocolate chips. Continuing to wander around, we stopped for another bottle of wine at this tiny, adorable, hole-in-the-wall bistrot. The staff members were incredibly friendly, bringing us out traditional Italian snacks, like anchovies? I was kind of skeptical at first, but Sage is super adventurous with food so she urged me to try it (except she doesn’t like potato chips?) Honestly, they weren’t that bad and began to grow on me, but they did taste like the way Lake Michigan smells… After closing out the bistrot, we hustled home because I actually had a paper to write about Italian street food. I grinded that out before we set out to Hidden Pub, a little pub near my apartment. We were some of the only people in there, but of course we still made our own fun and then ended the night meeting up with Maddie at Reverse Bar across the river.

Wednesday started bright and early at 6 AM, both of us running on 3 hours of sleep, as we quickly got ready and hustled over to the train station. When I say hustled, I mean that we actually had to break out in a run because we were cutting it a little close… We admittedly did struggle to figure out which platform our train was arriving to, but thanks to a kind Italian woman who told us the platforms changed, we made it. Just like that we were on our way to Cinque Terre! The train ride took about 3 hours, with a transfer in Pisa. We arrived in Monterosso around 10:30 AM and were immediately in awe of the scenery around us. I keep thinking that I can’t imagine seeing anything more beautiful than the last trip I take, and yet here we are. The water was a radiant turquoise color with rugged hills lining the coast. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 colorful coastal villages, with hiking paths connecting all of them. Whenever I need someone to hike with, Sage has always been my first call. As 2 nature lovers, we were stoked to experience an Italian hike, a nice escape from the city atmosphere of Florence. Starting in Monterosso after a cappuccino, we began the trail to the neighboring town, Vernazza. We had read online that the hike was challenging, but we dismissed it, confident in our athleticism. We may have dismissed it too soon because let me tell you, that ascent was no joke. There were hundreds of stairs that we took on the way up into the hills; we were dripping sweat almost immediately. It also didn’t help that Sage was wearing a backpack that was STUFFED with all of our belongings that added probably another 20 pounds on her back. Somehow we kept getting stuck in this same pack of people: an older couple, 2 people from one of my classes in Florence, and a group of teenage girls that were playing American party music? No matter how many times we passed them or were passed, we always found each other again. Despite the stairs, the hike was unreal and it felt good to be challenged. There were several small waterfalls that we passed along the way, stopping to feel the cool water. Lemon trees lined the paths, only adding to the incredible view of the Ligurian Sea, green hills, and colorful villas. I tried to breathe as much of the fresh air as possible, used to the city stink. The sun was out and shining, making the mid-60’s feel even warmer. The weather for hiking could not have been more perfect. Having hiked many, many times before, you would think we would be more prepared, but Sage and I forgot one crucial thing: water. We were both so incredibly thirsty near the end that the last 30 minutes were spent power-walking. I mean, our legs were literally shaking on the descent because of the extreme thirst. The hike was between 3-4 miles, taking us a couple hours. We made it into Vernazza, the cutest Italian village. The buildings were pink, yellow, orange, and red. Built right on the coast, it felt like we were transported to summer when we arrived. The first thing we did was obviously ran to buy the biggest waters we could find, along with Powerade. We sat on the coast to soak up the sun and enjoy our beverages. The beach wasn’t the best for swimming, so we decided to find something to eat while walking around. Since we were all gross in our hiking clothes, we settled on grabbing a cone of street food. The cone consisted of fried shrimp, calamari, and anchovies. We sat by the water for a few minutes before things went downhill. I think I had eaten one shrimp and one calamari, Sage the same, before a seagull literally flew directly at us. Naturally, Sage threw the cone and we jumped out of the way. A PACK of seagulls and pigeons attacked the area and literally ate every. last. bite. Including the paper cone. Not only was our food non-existent, the commotion of it all had the entire square turned and laughing. At least we provided some entertainment…

After a spritz or two we hopped back on a 5 minute train ride to Monterosso. The beach was more suited for swimming here, so we soaked in the last couple hours of sunlight by forcing ourselves to jump in the water. It was FREEZING. Similar to Lake Michigan, it was a polar plunge for sure. We met another study abroad student who was from New York but studying in Germany. She promised us that we would get used to it (we didn’t.) After giving it a fair shot, we ran back to our towels and begged the little sunlight that was left to warm us up. Once the sun was sufficiently weaker, we threw our clothes on and began the hunt for food, which was pretty unsuccessful since it was 4:30 PM… Most places don’t open until 7 PM. We settled on some street fish and chips with Coronas. In the moment it was pretty good, but we felt kind of icky after eating it. We sadly boarded our train back home, wishing we were spending the night. If you do visit, I recommend just booking a place for the night so you can explore the other towns as well. Plus, if you’re anything like us, you’ll never want to leave. We arrived back home around 9:30 PM and suffered through an extremely mid-dinner. The restaurant was definitely a tourist trap because they offered pizza with pineapple on it… something an authentic place would never dare to do.

After sleeping in a little bit on Thursday, we started the day at my favorite coffee shop, La Cite, to journal and enjoy some coffee. We decided to have a fun Florence day, heading over to a plaza for some pasta and spritzes. My pesto pasta was amazing, with fresh cherry tomatoes and parmesan. Once we were entirely too full, Boboli Gardens was next on our list. Having not been yet, I was super excited to see what the hype was about. We took a round-about way, forcing us to hike up some steep Tuscan hills, but eventually made it in and beat the line at the usual entrance. The Boboli Gardens are attached to the Pitti Palace, otherwise known as one of the palaces that the Medici family (extremely rich Florence bankers that funded the Renaissance) lived in. It served as original inspiration for many European courts to come. I mean, these gardens are insane. Standing at 111 acres, they stretch on for what feels like forever. These are truly an escape out of the city. We wandered around before laying down on a field smothered with wildflowers surrounding a fountain. We soaked up the beautiful weather by reading, journaling, people-watching, and just relishing in the birds chirping and breeze rustling the trees. That moment was pure bliss and I had a huge moment of gratefulness to be not only in Florence but for Sage being there. After exploring the gardens some more, we walked over to Loggia, a rooftop bar, for some drinks with Natalie and Maddie. The views are stunning, the sun was setting, and my Sauvignon Blanc was crisp. After a quick stop at Spiritum, the cutest cocktail lounge, Sage and I stopped for pizza at Tamero. When we stepped outside after, a sudden storm had begun? I had yet to experience thunder and lightning in Florence, yet there we were. We rushed home and had a Lana Del Ray listening party while we got ready. Maddie came over before we went to Hidden Pub, chatting with locals for a little bit before ending the night at XO, a club. Sage and I decided to bike home around 4 AM…

On Friday we decided to visit a winery in Tuscany, except instead of doing a tour we wanted to wing it. Putting the directions in our map, we hopped on the public bus and rode that for about 25 minutes away into the hills. Being the rookies we are, we were so confused about the bus we were supposed to take and ended up nearly missing it because we were at the wrong stop. Thanks to a host at a nearby restaurant, we made it on. After getting off at the right bus stop, we truly were in a deserted area. There was one road around that winded through the hills, so we started our journey on foot to Luiano Winery. After a mile long slightly uphill walk, we arrived with some blisters and an (almost) sprained ankle. We made the most of it by listening to Still Woozy’s new song and Hozier’s new EP. However, the 25 minute walk was worth it because the view was gorgeous and they had a perfect table with our name on it. The sommelier told us it would be “a shame” if we didn’t do the tasting, causing us to abandon our original plan of just getting lunch and one of their bottles. We tried 4 wines, 3 Chianti Classicos and 1 Super Tuscan. They brought us out traditional Tuscan food, such as pappa al pomodoro and salsiccia sausage on bread. I had never tried any of the snacks before, much to our server’s disappointment, and they were amazing. The sommelier even asked us if we were from cold weather… Claiming she could tell based on our paleness (yes thank you Wisconsin has done a number on us.) After a short tour around the property and cellar, Sage and I just sat and enjoyed the warm weather and view. When it started to push towards 5 PM, their closing time, we knew we had to go catch the 4:45 bus. However, due to the state of our feet, we were convinced that we could persuade one of the workers to give us a short lift down to the bottom of the hill with one of their jeeps. Let’s just say that we did indeed end up making the 25 minute walk back down. We were absolutely positive we missed the bus and came to terms with sitting at the stop for another hour while we waited for the next bus. To our surprise, the bus ended up coming a minute after we arrived at the stop and we miraculously made our bus and headed back to Florence.

We walked around Florence some more, eating fresh strawberries and oranges from the market, stopping at the famous wine window (where they hand you a glass to go out of a tiny window), and then running into Maddie on the street. We spontaneously decided to see where the night took us and went to our usual spot, Hidden Pub. From there my cousins Natalie and Anna, as well as Anna’s boyfriend Michael, met up with us and we chatted until going to dinner at Osteria Santo Spirito once again. Sage and I closed out the night by going to Spiritum one more time (they were playing Lana Del Ray we couldn’t help it.)

I had to part with Sage on Saturday to attend a class field trip to Montalcino, Montepulciano, and Pienza with Lauren. Admittedly, most of our day was spent on the bus, as Montalcino was 2 hours away and the other towns were about 40 minutes from there. We walked around the towns, admiring the stunning views and learning the history. We even got to do a wine tasting in Montepulciano, trying Brunello, a high-quality Tuscan wine. I also enjoyed trying their Pecorino, which is a cheese they’re known for. I could definitely taste the increased quality from the local sheep milk production. After a long trek home, Sage, Lauren and I met our friends Maggie and Lily for apertivo, dinner, and gelato. Spending good time with friends was the perfect way to end the week.

Sage really pushed me to go with the flow this week and it was SO much fun getting to spend a ton of time together. We definitely have unending memories from the week :)

See you next week!

Week 9: Sage in Town!

Madeline Cesarz

Week 9: Sage in Town!

Week 10: Morocco

Week 8: Ireland Festivities

Madeline Cesarz