Day 30: Thank goodness for friends

Date: 6-19-13

I know, I know, I haven't updated in far too long. I wrote so many blog posts on Saturday morning that I got tired and procrastinated the rest. I finally have a stable internet connection though so I will put this neglected blog out of its misery.

The saddest part of the trip may be the day before you actually leave. You kniow what is coming up and have no way to stop it, desperately clinging to the hope that the night will last forever and tomorrow won't come. It never works although at the time the night seemed to stretch into infinity.

The day was fairly normal. We woke up at normal time and had breakfast as a family before heading down to the sea for a swim. We joked around with the surfboard and each other. Fabrizio joined us as well as two twelve year old girls from Austria. We were all pretty tired when we got out and changed before getting into the car for last time granitas. We had to drive into nearby Brucoli to purchase these delicacies for lunch.

I got chocolate, as usual. After eating, we wandered over to a castle that served as a jail. We weren't able to enter so we just hung around in the small square while Sofia played on the small playground.

There was nobody there. When I mean nobody, I mean that it was eerily empty. The only other person there was an old man and his smelly dog. The sun was hot so we drove back. I opted to stay back while Quinn Federico, and Mattia went on a walk. I joined them at the sea awhile later and talked to Giulia and her mom while the boys swam. When they finished, Luca joined us and we went on a walk that involved looping several times around the neighborhod. The Austrian girls followed us most of the way, always disappearing in a fit of giggles when we (Mattia) looked at them. We had fun staying just ahead of them and talking to their companion, a young boy named Edward.

At dinner time, I found out that all our beach friends were coming over for a goodbye dinner. Alberto (I'm not sure if I mentioned that he is Fabrizio's older brother and Simona's boyfriend), Fabrizio, Luca, and Giulia came. We had Italian hotdogs and a night to remember.

It's hard explaining how much the night meant to me. All these people had become family to me even though I had known them for less than a week. These videos are the best I have to describe our night:

I obviously couldn't capture everything or else I would have. I thought that these short clips gave a small taste of what our time together was like. We played Uno for awhile but that didn't last long because we were all very competitive and wanted to win.

I remember at one point we decided to go on a walk and sure enough the Austrian girls were out waiting for us. We talked to them for a little bit before the boys (hyped on gelato) took some crazy pictures.

 

I asked Giancarlo to take a nicer photo of us later.

(Giulia, me, Alberto, Fabrizio, Mattia, Federico, Quinn, Luca)

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Giulia, Luca, and their families. Soon after we bid adieu to Fabrizio and Alberto as well and that was the last time we saw our beach friends. Already saddened, Mattia finally broke the news that he would not be traveling back into Catania with us the next day. Prepared to not see him for awhile, we said our goodnights to him before going to bed.