a taste of la dolce vitta

friends! i am so sorry; an update is long overdue! it's been on my mind to post on the blog for a few weeks already but i've been on the move nonstop, collecting awesome stories, acquaintances, and adventures to tell you guys about! i think last time i wrote i was in italy, about to embark on a little tour of the west coast. and tour i did! being a tourist always makes me a bit uneasy, but i met some great friends along the way and we had ourselves some good laughs and had a few interesting encounters.
the island of ischia was laidback and picturesque as hell. i mostly hung out with two sweet Swiss girls from Bern, although i did have a random escapade with an italian islander named Lorenzo. he whisked me off on his scooter, showed me the sights, invited me to eat a hearty post-easter meal with the whole famiglia (complete with homemade wine from their vineyards and buffalo mozzarela!), and took me to a secret hot spring hidden deep in the stone cliff, a few steps from the sea. divine. there were also a few drunken nights with a few crazy canadians and an american marijuana grower frim boulder. good times.
from there i moved on to rome, expecting the worst - tourist traps, loud traffic, all those city things i despise. but! i was pleasantly surprised by the eternal city: beautiful piazzas, calming fountains, street serenades, gelato (so much gelatooo), streets lined with laundry hanging to dry over your head, random roman ruins at every turn... Roma quickly stole my heart. and i made some new friends!- Sima, a sweet Iranian girl studying theater in brussels, and two Swedish engineers from Stockholm.
after rome, it was onward to cinque terre, a spattering of five tiny villages tucked away in these impossible oceanside cliffs, threatening to fall into the sea at any moment! i spent three days walking between the towns, hiking amongst acres of terraced vineyards and tanned farmers, and laying on rocks by the sea like a little lizard. the village i stayed in was manarola, and in my hostel i made friends with an 18 year old canadian guy who i wished so badly was five years older, a portlander (oregon! sorry destry) of russian origin, and TONS of aussies.
from manarola, i spent a night on the boat (my dad had sailed it back up to la spezia in the meantime) and then headed back up to france via a rideshare that i found online. i've been staying with my friends here in Grenoble for about two weeks now, enjoying the mountain air, sleep, and quality time with a family that is quickly feeling like my own. i spent last weekend in germany with friends i met in Ecuador. they took me to their weekend house in the bavarian alps, just on the border with austria, and made me try all sorts of crazy sausages and, of course, beer. can't complain (bout the beer). it was a beautiful weekend, and we even spent an evening in a casino! my first gambling experience, and unfortunately i didn't have any of that beginners luck. oh well, it was in a castle and they gave us free champagne.
now, laura (my french friend!) and i are getting ready for our own little getaway; tomorrow we leave for a week of hiking in Corsica! i am so very excited. corsica is a little island that has meant a lot to my family (my dad sent much of his youth and early twenties sailing there, and then running a sailing school) and yet i've never been. it sounds like a beautiful island, although the weather isn't sounding to great at the moment. we'll seeee.

meanwhile, i have been thinking about you all so much during these travels. you give me strength, no matter where i am in the world.
feeling lucky, with love-
carmella