What were you grateful for this week?
My awesome host family. 

What was the most challenging part of this week?
Some things that happened back home. 
 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.

This week was my host girl’s 2nd birthday! The family threw a HUGE party for her and it was all peppa pig themed — it was any two year olds dream haha. I helped supervise the bubble blowing station and I was informed that the person who was supposed to dress up as peppa pig actually didn’t fit in the outfit haha so guess who got to dress up as peppa pig! It was actually pretty fun, it wasnt too hot in the costume either. 

 

Tell us about your week!
This week my host family took me on vacation with them to Sicily, an island in Southern Italy! It was BEAUTIFUL first we went to Mt. Etna on Monday and I hiked the world’s second most active volcano!
After Etna we took the car and drove to Cefalu, but on the way there we stopped in a small village called Petralia Soprana, which is kind of like a small italian version of Bruges in Belgium, the old medieval feeling is still there and all the buildings were still preserved. It was on top of a mountain too, so its super isolated from the world. Definitely not somewhere I would have gone without meeting my host family, it’s one of those rare hidden gems.
 

After that we drove the rest of the way to Cefalu, which is a coastal town. The water there was so blue and so clear it was breathtaking. The beach was actual sand, not little rocks, it was so so amazing. Honestly it was probably the first real beach I’ve been to and it did not disappoint. 

 

My host parents were so awesome they were just like go out and do what you want! So when I wasn’t with them I would go and visit the shops and get souvenirs and of course gelato. One of the days in Cefalu we hiked the mountain behind the place we were staying because there were ancient ruins up there like a castle and a temple, etc. The hike up there was a little rough, not going to lie my face was as red as a tomato and it was so dang hot outside but it was good when we got up there.

Friday we got back and it was my day off so I just went to Naples to hang out and see some of the non-touristy places there! I went to the Santa Chiara church and Galleria Umberto. Also there while I was walking down one of the streets I ran into some more missionaries haha; small world I keep running into them wherever I go it’s pretty funny.