World, Come at Me Bro!: Where did the pirate go for a weekend in Italy? Barrrrrrga

WARNING: Lots of pics to follow. And stories to go with them.

So, about a week ago, I woke up at 5:15 in the morning to go for a little metro and bus ride, and ended up at the “Paris” Beauvais Airport where I decided to take a plane to Pisa, Italy. I put Paris in quotes there because the super-budget airline, RyanAir, flies out of the airport and calls it Paris so that it will get more business. In reality, it is necessary to take a bus for at least an hour from the western edge of Paris to get there; definitely not still in Paris. Also, the trip was entirely planned, as funny and convincing as the first sentences may seem.

Anywho, I arrived in Pisa last Friday, happy to get out of Paris and the large amounts of work I associated it with, due to my hellacious week where everything I procrastinated on was due. In Pisa, I had to take a train to meet up with friends in a nearby city/town/walled-fortress called Lucca, but decided to wait a train or two and explore Pisa. My plan was to find the Leaning Tower, but it is a sizeable city and I am too proud/stubborn to ask anyone, so fat chance I was just going to happen upon a monument. But, as it turns out, I walked in one direction for a while and when I went to turn around, a church caught my eye, so I walked towards it. Out of nowhere, the Leaning Tower appeared, large and in charge, and just like that, I found it.

There you are, tricky tower.

Satisfied with my expert navigation, I took the train to Lucca (there were mountains + there aren’t mountains anywhere near Paris = I was happy). I arrived in Lucca and found my fwends. It was a Pomona in Europe gathering, including people studying in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and England. We took quite the leisurely bike ride around the city walls of Lucca (not a big city, so it took us about a half hour including pic stops), and after eating way too much delicious Italian candy, passed out on the bus ride to Barga, an even smaller town in the mountainous countryside of Italy, where most of them had been staying in a villa for the past week. Honestly, I just jumped on the villa bandwagon for a few days, and it was the best decision EVER. The first night, Marco, who is part Italian and studying in Florence, taught us how to make homemade pasta as we shared funny stories about our respective abroad countries. After some admittedly bizarre dreams that involved being shot at, I woke up and walked out on the balcony of this Italian villa I was casually crashing at for the weekend. The view was a mix between a Lord of the Rings landscape and a Bob Ross painting:

Nothing like a weekend acting like a 75 year old retiree...

After much more chilling and even more eating, we left on Easter Sunday, full of food and without a single stress in the world. My flight home consisted of some great views and some great naps.

Italian coastline WHY MUST YOU TAUNT ME

Paris, upon return, was a bit cloudy, and besides missing an amazing home cooked Easter meal with my family at home, I already missed the hills of Barga. But, Tuesday rolled around and I met a couple of friends on the Seine, where it was raining. Thanks to the power of friendship (?), though, it magically became sunny and we waltzed around the Tuilleries Garden. Spring has arrived in Paris, and as my friend Phoebe said, “People should not even be allowed to visit Paris in the winter. It was made for the spring.” The green trees and the blue skies mix so well with the light/white buildings, and it is getting increasingly more difficult to be inside for more than two seconds. Although all my tests and papers went well, I will try not to procrastinate the next time, but with Paris like this, it is bound to happen…