Love by Lecce: Week 2

Welcome back to the Love by Lecce series! For anyone who is new I am currently studying abroad in Italy for two months and this is the documentation of my time here. I'm still trying to figure out my schedule for these posts because I want to post about what goes one each day but I also have required posts about specific happenings and at the same time I don't want to bombard you all with only posts about Italy. I feel like that could get annoying and I have so many other post ideas too! So though I am still experimenting, today is a recap of this past week!

Friday
The weeks are going by so quickly I need to update these posts everyday because I forget what I did! Friday I went to class as usual but we were in for a treat at night! The other students and I took a bus to a town called Scorrano where a light festival was going on. We stayed out super late but the displays were so worth it. Entire structures were lit up the entire night while others danced to synchronized music. The "finale" that we got to see before we left was a mixture of fire, lights, and water. It was so busy but there was some great food and it was so pretty and such a magical night. I'm so glad I decided to go that night.

Saturday
On Saturday we visited a tomato factory and a beach which I wrote about here so go check that one out if you haven't already! Saturday night a bunch of us went out to dinner where we got some good food and played around with Snapchat's face swap way too much. We have some real weird pictures from that night. Overall it was such a lovely day!

Sunday
Sunday was a chill day. I did laundry, showered, cleaned my room a bit, got some homework done, and went to lunch with my friends Grace, Danielle, Inali, and Camila. I got my first tiramisu in Italy (my favorite food ever) which was so exciting for me. Sunday night we went out to watch the Portugal vs. France final EuroCup game.

Monday
Monday I had my first caffè leccese thanks to Coleman who suggested it. It's an espresso based beverage with a super sweet almond milk over ice. I loved it and I've been getting it basically every day since. Monday night Coleman, Grant, Levi, Sophie, Spencer, and I went to a pizzeria where we got a meter long pizza and another half meter long pizza. It was insane and we finished every single piece (mostly thanks to Grant and Coleman). It was super yummy pizza and we had such a fun, nice night. It was one of those "moments." After pizza we went to the Duomo di Lecce which is a busy and enclosed area with a cathedral and a large piazza. It's one of my favorite places in the city because of the late nights and memories made there.

Tuesday
Tuesday I saw a lot of dogs! Very eventful day for me clearly. Tuesday night though, we had our second cooking class where we made tiramisu (AH!) and gnocchi with pesto. It was so much fun to make and to see how the dessert was made since it's one of my favorites. After our cooking class I went to a place called "Fusion" with everyone: students, teachers, head of the school, literally everyone. It was a low key lush sushi place that had some great miso soup and mojitos (what I got). After that we went out for beer, but I ended up getting a slushie instead. Beer just isn't my thing, you feel?

Wednesday
Wednesday was a low key day. We were all very tired! Some people wanted to go to the beach after we got out of class but we all ended up crashing and falling asleep. I went out to dinner with some people and ended the night at the Duomo again.

Thursday
Thursday I went to school as usual but it was a special night! It was the last night for four of the guys in the program who were going home after being here for six weeks. Sophie and I got dinner before meeting up with everyone which was super delicious. After dinner we met people to get drinks and partied the night away. It was a very laid back and fun night bonding with new people and making new memories.

Friday
Friday was the last day of school for the guys leaving so we got some fruit and rustici (croissant pizzas basically) after they took their final test. All the students went out to get gelato after class to send them off. It was a relaxing day besides class, and everyone was pretty calm since no one was too happy that the guys were leaving. They're all off now to go home or to travel which sounds super fun for them!

And that catches us up for now! By the time you are all reading this at 7AM PST, it will be be 4PM where I am and I will probably be sleeping (siesta and all, you know). I think it's so funny how time differences work! Vlogs of these trips will be coming soon!