In aprile: non ti scoprire. In maggio: adagio.

Buona sera from my first farm San Cassiano!

Well I arrived with relative ease, minus one connection. I had to change trains in a small town, only having fifteen minutes to so, and I hadn't yet purchased by ticket for that train. Thankfully, with a bit of luck, and a really nice girl who helped carry my bag so I could run (I must have looked panicked!) I was able to make it!

I was collected at the station by the owner of the farm, Rossana, and a fellow WWOOFer named Liz. From there we took a short drive back to the farm, which is located between two small towns, Piedimonte Matese and San Potito Sannitico. It's so beautiful here. The farm sits in a valley surrounded by mountains (which I'm hoping we get to go visit) and you can see for miles on a clear day.

On the farm they have a little bit of everything including: a massive synergistic vegetable garden, fruit trees (including olives), pigs (which I'm kind of scared of!), horses, and ducklings (they're the cutest). The farm also doubles as an agriturismo, essentially a B&B, and everything they grow they use in their restaurant. People are always coming and going for lunch and dinner and breakfast as well if they are staying in one of the rooms.

The farm is basically run by Rossana's two sons, Vittorio and Andrea, and Rossana owns their kitchen. She does most of the cooking; impressive considering the amount of people that come on average.

A typical day thus far goes something like this: wake up around 7:30 for breakfast (basically coffee), work until lunch which happens around two, relax for an hour or two, maybe head back out for a couple more hours of work and then we're free as birds until dinner at ten. Yes, I said TEN! I remember eating late last time, but I don't remember it being this late! Needless to say, the food is good. To good if you know what I mean.

The weather could not be better - the past three days have been in the mid eighties! The crazy thing is you still see Italians walking around in down jackets and pants. It's insanity! How are they not hot?! I approprialely learned this new phrase today: In aprile, non ti scoprire. In maggio, adagio.  Essentially it translate as, "In April, keep covered. In May, slowly take off layers." Italians. Who cares if it's April, it's hot!!

Well I'll leave you with that and a few pictures from around the farm. Love you all and hope everyone is doing well!

Benvenuti a Roma.

One of the many things I love about Rome is that its history is written in the architecture- and you can't help but notice it because it's everywhere you go. It's not only in the obvious places like the Colosseum, Saint Peter's Basilica and Vatican City, the Panteon...it's also in the cobble stoned streets, the plentiful piazze, the hundreds of mind boggling statues and fountains, churches, museums and everyday modern buildings that were built to include existing ruins.  It is beautiful; and the more you stop and think about the actual act of building these structures the more impressive they become. It's crazy!! I love it!!!!

I spent most of my time in Rome just "roaming" around town (ha, dad joke - sorry couldn't resist!). I befriended a couple of French boys, Tom and Sebastian, who I shared a hostel room with and tagged along with them for a day of adventuring. Tom spoke a little English and Sebastian spoke Italian so between the three of us we were able to communicate. We started or day in Vatican city for most of the day where we were surprised by a appearance from the Pope!
We could tell something was going on as we approached the piazza because of the masses of people, which also explains the bumper to bumper bus ride over. 

After the excitement of the visit died down we self toured the Basilica and decided to pay the five euros to walk five hundred some stairs to the top. I posted a couple pictures of the view and of the walk up. The higher up you climb the walls begins to slant inward towards the stair case and force you to lean sideways (you can see it in one of the pictures I posted earlier). The view from the top was 360° of Rome as far as the eye could see. Pretty rad. 

The remaining of the day we wandered around from site to site, and I revisited the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain by night with another friend I made! The following day was similar, although I was solo this time and made a conscious mistake to not bring a map. Of course I got lost and by the time I figured out where I was and how to get back to my hostel my feet had paid the price. Needless to say, I ended the day with some pretty gnarly blisties!

And that pretty much sums up Rome. Today I travel to my first farm near a small town called San Potito Sannitico.  Super excited! My fingers are crossed for a stress free day of travel...

Ciao ragazzi, a dopo!

Bella vita.

A day in pictures until I get some time to write!

God bless Dramamine.

Ciao a tutti!

I finally made it to Rome and my appropriately named hostel, Funny Palace, after a LONG day of travel! With the aide of my good friend Dramamine I blissfully slept through my first flight to JFK. Well not really blissfully, more like a half conscious, head bobbing sleep, but the important thing is I didn't get sick. And if you know me I should be thanking my lucky stars, especially considering how smoothly my international leg went.

Landing in Rome felt like reconnecting with an old friend and I was immediately overwhelmed with happiness as I was greeted by the loud, dramatic and beautiful cadences of the Italian language. I navigated the airport, bought a bus ticket, endured a thirty minute bus ride to the Termini and from there followed cobbled streets all the way to my hostel (just a five minute walk).

All in all a pretty good day of travel. Now time for a quick nap, some café and adventuring.

Much love from Roma!