My Dear Sicilia

Once I made my decision to come back to Italy for a second semester I had some dates marked on my calendar: Groundhog Day, Earth Day, and April 10th-14th. As I am clearly joshing about the first two, I'll move right along to the last which were the dates that my program was taking everyone to Sicily. (Jury is still out on whether our tuition money was used to pay for it or it actually was free. I like the idea of it being free so let's work with that)

Every Italian I know (over 4,000), told me that Sicily is amazing. The beaches, the sites, and, of course, the food. We left Bologna early on a Thursday morning and flew into Catania. The weather was pretty hot and we had a very boring tour of the city. However, we did walk through the food market which was nuts. There was meat and fruit all over the place. Whole pigs dangling on ropes, big cuts of beef, great smelling oranges. I even think I saw a small dinosaur. I'm not sure, but I think so. Then we took a bus to a town called Siracusa. We had a big charter bus to ourselves and the bus driver, who's name was never disclosed, was a crazy cat. I am taking a risk saying this but I have to let my readers know that this man was bizzare. The only real thing I can tell you is that me and my boys named him "Joe Killer". He was the guy everyone, adults included, tried to avoid sitting next to when we ate dinner.

We stayed at a hotel in Siracusa that was cool and called Hotel Gutowski. (Seriously. Hotel Gutowski) The only problem was that my roommate, Francesco, had just got back from 2 weeks in Morocco and let's just say he was looking and feeling like the boys in The Sandlot after they take the tobacco and go to the carnival. We went and played frisbee near the water which was nice and highlighted by me almost hitting a lady no younger than 65 in the head. As I missed her by less than an inch, I pulled a Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber at the diner and turned away and pointed to someone else.

The second day in Sicily can be summed up in one word: DELICIOUS. My number one thing to do in Sicily was to have a cannoli. We went to this town called Noto which is suppose to have a cafe that has the best cannoli's in the world. It was true. I felt like I was eating a tasty cloud. The ricotta cheese was sweet, but not to sweet and had a texture that was just right. Oh man was it good. The other Sicilian food I had wanted is called an arancino which is tomato sauce with meat, rice, and carrots in a fried ball. Had a bundle of those. Good stuff.

That night we went out to dinner as a program that lasted 4 hours. No lie. There was lots of food and even an intermission so we can digest the first part and get ready for the second. That night some of us went out to this bar, recommended by the waitress, for this girls birthday. It turns out it was the only place open that night and it was pandemonium. I mean straight chaos. It was like Black Friday at Best Buy or Wal-Mart. I loved it. I was taking pictures and baby steps for about 5 minutes straight.

The next day we went to another city and that meant a new hotel. It also meant that there was a flaw in the plan. The 3 other guys in the program were placed in a triple while I was put with two other girls in another room. As I entered the room pondering how fast I could use the facilities, change clothes, and go to the beach, one of the girls took a look at the Queen bed and then the small one on the side and threw her bag on the Queen. "Looks like you got the small one" she said. "No it doesn't" I said and I threw my bag on the big one, too. I think baffled or shock would best describe the look on her face. Turns out the Queen was two twins put together so we were straight anyway.

Everyone went to the beach that was right behind our hotel and going in the water was fun. Did some body surfing (is anyone actually good at that?) and played more frisbee. The show was stolen by a little Sicilian girl who decided to chase Nick around. At first everything was cool until Nick fell down and she decided to throw sand in his face and then hair. Ouch. What can you even do about that? Throw sand back at her? Pick her up and throw her in the ocean? He just had to sit there. It was rough yet comical.

That night we went to a new hotel that was more like a bed & breakfast. It was in the suburbs at the very top of a big hill with a great view. It was very relaxing and nice. The dinner there was right up my alley. I knew we were in for a treat when each person got an antipasta plate. It had 7 different meats or vegetables on it with the best being a sauteed eggplant with meat in it. Oh boy. Best believe I asked for more of those. There was salami, prosciutto, cheese, and other foods I cannot recall. The pasta we had next was great, too. Pasta alla norma. Eggplant and tomato sauce. Then the plate of meat came out. Sausage and beef. My thing on this trip was to always be near at least one vegetarian so I could get a little extra. The vegetarians are better than the super picky one's. Vegetarians go about their business and keep it cool instead of "Oh! What's that? It looks bad. I'm going to smell it. Yuck"

First off, you shouldn't be smelling your food. Specially not in Sicily. If you need to, do it casually. Bring it close to your mouth and get a whiff. DO NOT put your big, ugly face into the plate. Also, if something doesn't look particularly appetizing to you, that's fine but keep that to yourself. As I'm going for a bite I do not want to hear what you think of it. Nor does anyone else. Just shut up and eat.

My motto for this trip was to just keep eating. I often found myself thinking: "I'm not hungry. But I'm going to eat". At dinners and lunches I would make sure to get my fill. I kept it under control but I never left hungry.

So here is to Sicilia. You lived up to the hype and provided me with some absolutely deliciousness. Salute!