They made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

I went to Sicily this weekend. For those of you who don't know the movie The Godfather, the title of this post comes from that movie - modified of course. Google it if you're still confused.

So meeting time on Friday morning was at 4a.m. in front of school. I therefore did not decide to sleep because I wasn't going to wake up. SO I went out. It was a good time.

I made it to school on time and passed out promptly after getting onto the bus. I slept all the way to the Pisa airport and then essentially the entire time we were waiting at the airport. Our RyanAir flight to Trapani was also not a memory of mine seeing as how I was unconscious for that as well. Arrival in Trapani was probably around 9:30 /10 am - I don't remember.

Anyhow, we headed up to the ancient city of Edice which is about 5,000 feet above sea level. Real high. It was pouring rain and we all got beyond soaked. We took refuge in a pastry shop and restaurant where we started out with really amazing cannolis and ricotta pastries before heading to the old Norman castle. After goofing off at the castle and taking tons of pictures, we headed back to the restaurant for lunch. The cous cous that we all got was REALLY good. I started hanging out with Maggie, Alex, Julie, and Laura which was super fun. They're crazy. I hurt my hip while jumping around everywhere in the rain - it was bound to happen eventually.

After that we headed off to Segesta which is an ancient temple and theater site. It was fantastically gorgeous. The theater area was flooded and while I was standing near the edge, Andrea decided to fake push me in. That was fun. I squeaked. Starr said I talked loud enough all the time anyway that I didn't need the acoustics from the theater to help me. Despite all that I still had a blast there.

We started out for Corleone (yes, for you Godfather buffs - Corleone) where our hotel was. The fields and the views were breathtaking. I felt like I was in an Italian trance. I roomed with Laura, Maddie, and Kate. Dinner was fun. We played stupid mind games and accidentally ate anchoives or sardines - we're not quite sure. I passed out as soon as I got to the room.

Saturday morning we were up really early. During breakfast we got a history on the Mafia and a current update from Professor Piombino. We then went to Cinesi to meet the brother of a guy named Peppino Impastoti who resisted the Mafia through public communication. It was intense.

From there we went to Monreale where there is this really, really, really old Cathedral and cloister. There were cool mosaics there. Other than that the CANNOLIS WERE THE BEST IN THE WORLD. I had two. Yepp, I'm a fattie. Whatever.

After that we went to the site of the 1947 Mafia massacre on the farmers of the Albanian village. There were three survivors who recounted their stories. It was really heavy stuff. It was weird to contrast the gorgeous landscapes with that horrible event.

We went to dinner at some really remote restaurant that was really good. Our waiter's name was Roberto. He was our age and really cool. It was great food and great wine. The guys who work on the farming cooperative that we were supposed to farm with offered to take us out for the night in Corleone so we accepted. I just kind of talked to them and practiced my Italian for a while. It's tough to talk to them because the Sicilian dialect is SO MUCH DIFFERENT than standard Italian. I went right to bed when I got back.

We had to be up at 6 to hit the road. We ate breakfast quickly and then went to the grape fields where we were supposed to form. It was gorgeous and the grapes looked so good. From there we headed to Palermo and me, Julie, Maggie, and Alex were singing the entire way probably ticking off everyone on the bus - but that's okay.

We saw a bunch of old churches and building things that really don't have too much significance to talk about. We had a really amazing lunch in Palermo at the second oldest restaurant in Italy called Antica Foccaceria San Francesco. They guy who owned it refused to pay the Mafia's protection fee and was therefore, literally, in mortal danger. He now has 5 Carabinieri - the equivalent of Secret Service - with him at all times to protect his life. The Mafia is still a big, big problem around here. I'll probably post on that later this week.

Our train left at 4pm. We had sleeper cabins. It was a really cool experience to take a train along the Sicilian coast. In order to get the train to the mainland the broke the cars apart and put them on a ferry and rejoined them on the other side. SO COOL. I roomed with Laura and Maddie. We slept and were woken up right as we were pulling into the station at 7am this morning.

Although the professor that I had class with at 9am was on the trip with us, class was not cancelled. So I was at school by 815am and proceeded to go about my daily routine. Classes were fine today. I chilled with Beth for a super long time. My theater workshop went well this evening as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this obscenely long post!!!

You rock - all of you.