Florence, Day 10

My day can be summed up in 3 words: beach, sunburn, gelato.

A group of us left the station in Florence at 8:57 this morning, on a train headed to the seaside town of Cecina. Cecina is on the west coast of Italy, about two hours south of Florence. Personally, I enjoyed the train ride - there were some very pretty views of the countryside and, once we got a little closer to Cecina, the Mediterranean.

So I can officially say that I have swum in the Mediterranean. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Once we got off the train, we had a half hour walk from the train station to the beachfront - but again, I thought it was pleasant, we were on a tree-lined avenue (pictured below) the whole time.

Stock photo of Viale della Repubblica

While on the way, the rest of the girls wanted to stop and grab a few snacks and some cheap towels at supermercato, so Ian and I (being the intrepid adventurers that we are) blazed the trail ahead and snagged the group a pretty prime spot on the beach. The others final joined us and all seven of us set up our towels in a little circle. Sunbathing, pictures, swimming, eating, chatting, and relaxing ensued.

Look! I'm at the Mediterranean!

(L to R) Isa, Ian, and me

The paying section of the beach; colorful, but not as fun
as the free section we went to!

Awkwardly awesome statue near our spot.

After a lunch of sandwiches (which we packed and brought from Florence), Ian and I were still hungry, so we took a walk down the boardwalk in search of more cheap food. We ended up getting gelato (that's right, it was daily gelato time) at this little open-air café. We both tried a flavor that we didn't recognize: for me, chocolate and "cookie," which did actually turn out to be cookie flavored, and chocolate and "bounty" for Ian. We still don't know what "bounty" was, but it tasted phenomenal. We also found a pizza by the slice shop that gave us a piece of margherita pizza that was, no joke, as big as my head for € 1.30. Pretty sweet deal.

I got myself a pretty brutal sunburn while in Cecina, but I also scored a watch-tan, so I figure it evens out.

The train-ride back to Florence was an experience for all of us. I'd also like to take this opportunity to tell you all that everything I heard about the Italian train system was a total lie for the Florence-Cecina line. The train was A. on time, B. clean, C. air-conditioned, and D. had pretty comfy seats. Once we made it back to Florence, Isa, Ian, Gretchen, and I grabbed more gelato (because, hello, daily gelato time is all the time). I had mixed berry (or frutti di Bosco), but it was pretty icy, so that was disappointing.

Back at the apartment, we were treated to a dinner of pasta, prosciutto and cheese with crusty bread, and fruit. My host mom saw my sunburn and immediately was all over me, feeling the temperature of my skin and telling me (all in Italian) about a sun cream she has that I had to use after dinner. That's the nice thing about the host families so far. They have, pretty much across the board, gone out of their way  to make sure we're all taken care of. The food that I'm being given every night is really good, my bedroom is actually pretty large, and I have a really nice lady looking out for me (seriously, she forced this bottle of sol crema into my hands).

After dinner, I sat down and did my Italian homework and then skyped with my parents, which was really nice. It was really good to see them and hear their voices. Emailing is great and all, but there's something about actually talking to your parents that feels really, really good. Thanks, Mom and Dad!