Day 8: Swimming!

I cannot believe that it has been a week already. Time is going too fast and all too soon it will be time to say goodbye and I know that I'm not ready for that. This trip has already been such an amazing experience.

Today we got up at 8 and had a light breakfast of juice before driving back into the city to go for a swim in the sea. In front of the castle of Acicastello is a wide expansion of black lava rock that you can climb down and sit on. We did that and set our towels on the smoothest spot we could find. If you look straight up you can see the castle looming above you.












The rocks, since that are made from lava, are very uneven and sharp. It is hard to climb over them without ripping your feet up.






It's a surreal experience when you first jump into the water. Besides being freezing, the water is gorgeous and DEEP. It's a ledge of rock and then nothing; just a vast expanse of water. I never thought i would be treading water while looking up at a castle like it was a normal thing. I was the second one in just after Giancarlo because the others were chicken and come on... I wanted to try it.















Once all the kids were in, we decided to swim to the other side of the channel and climb up on the rocks there. I don't have a picture of us doing it but we did and made it back safely. Here's a picture of the other side we swam to:



Climbing back out was one of the harder tasks as there was no easy way to climb back on the rocks. The current was strong and continuously pushed against you forcing you into the rock instead of out. I obtained many battle wounds trying.



As we dried off we drank plenty of water to rinse the salt from our mouths and I took pictures of everything.









Next it was time for breakfast and we decided on a place in the square to enjoy our granitas.









Joining the local kids for a game of soccer was our way of burning off all the sugar we just ate.



Back in the parking garage I appreciated some local street art before we headed back home.



The afternoon was relaxing. I chilled in the boys room with them and took a nap.









Quinn suggested we go to Davide's house so we did. The boys played sports for a little bit before Mattia and Quinn went off to play video games and Federico, Davide, and I chilled in the living room. Davide played the piano and both of them tried to teach me Italian.

We went home at 7 to be there in time for the party. Giancarlo and Mariella invited a lot of friends over and it was crazy and loud and fun. We played ping pong before eventually locking ourselves upstairs to escape the little children.












We hung out until about midnight when everyone left and we finally went to sleep.