13

The weekend in Elba was fantastic. The island is quite the pain to get to though. We left on a 5.30am train and then caught a 9am ferry from a tiny little port city. The ferry ride took about an hour.

Of course the first thing we did was go to the beach. Again it was a rocky beach, but it was beautiful. The ocean is so clear over the rocks. It was also a perfect temperature - cold, but refreshing. A bunch of us just spent the day lounging. At some point a couple of the guys went to get some wine. I shared a bottle of Prosecco (which was delicious) with a few people. One of the girls who traveled with my group decided it would be a great idea to drink a liter and a half of wine. Needless to say I'm not her biggest fan at the moment. Seriously? How stupid can you be? We had to carry her back to the hotel after she passed out on the beach - and she fought us the entire way. I was talking to one of her friends in the program yesterday who said this was apparently what she does every weekend. Are you kidding me? That's not fun at all, for her or for the people who have to put up with her. The next morning when we had to tell her what she had done (she blacked out before she even finished the wine) she just laughed. No "I'm sorry" or "Thank you guys so much for taking care of me." Just haha.

So not funny. And so not hanging out with her ever again.

Anyway the other five of us went out to dinner and ate like starving hyenas. Seriously. Appetizers, pasta, four bottles of water, three baskets of bread, and even dessert. I have no idea why we were all ravenous. I'm pretty sure we scared the restaurant people with the sheer amount of food put away by five girls.

The next morning we got up and rented scooters (like Vespa-type things). It was amazing. I drove one of them with a friend behind me and had the most fantastic time. There's nothing like the feeling of speeding down the road, wind everywhere. It's a bit scary with all the cars on the road passing you, but going up and down the mountains was so cool. I'm going to have to own a Vespa one day.

Very dangerous though. We rented three of them for the six of us, and my Vespa was the only one brought back in the same condition that we got it in. I sped ahead to the beach, leaving the others a bit behind, which turned out to be a fantastic thing. They were almost at the beach when they got somewhat lost. One (driven by a girl who was so careful and cautious) pulled off the side of the road to look at the map, and the other slammed into it from behind - going so far as to go on top of it and topple both over onto the girls from the first one. The only way it could've happened is if the second Vespa driver accidentaly used the throttle instead of the brake. Of course, she won't even admit that the crash was her fault, causing the two on the first Vespa to have to pay a hundred Euros each for damage to the scooter (thank go we took out crash insurance - it would have been 500 Euros otherwise). The second scooter even left the first scooter and went to the beach. What is wrong with people? How hard is it to say "I'm sorry" and even "Are you okay? I saw the scooters fall on you." I just don't understand at all.

So the second scooter went off towards the beach. Karma bit them from behind though, and they got into another crash on the way there. Serves them right. Seriously. They each had to pay a hundred Euros too. It's something, but doesn't make up for the blameless ones on the other scooter having to pay.

I had fun at the beach though with my friend on our cool and crashless scooter. More power to me for being an awesome driver. Sort of anyway. With some more practice I really could be.

Anyway I forgot to mention before all the crash drama that we visited Napoleon's former house on Elba. It's way up on a hill (is anything in this country not a hike up a hill?). Kind of a small house, especially for someone who formerly ruled the country, but absolutely beautiful gardens and views of the ocean. I'd happily be exiled somewhere like Elba. Much better than wherever off the coast of Scotland that they exiled him the second time. Bad move, that Hundred Days thing Napoleon. Power is not worth a permanent trip to the coast of Scotland. I'd probably be dead within a week. The two pictures here are of the house and garden.

I would say Sunday was a less adventurous day, but that's not really true. We spent the morning at the beach again before catching a ferry back to the mainland at 1.40pm for a 3.30 train. The train never came. I found out when I got back that it didn't come because the early morning train had broken down and couldn't be fixed quickly. Too bad the train station couldn't tell us. They had shut the ticket office that day because they changed the train schedule. That day. Really? We had to wait for a bus to some tiny town nearby. The bus never came. Or the one after. Or even the one after that. Two people managed to take a taxi to the town to catch a train to Pisa and then Florence, but some annoying other Americans stole our other taxi. Which left us waiting for a 6.45pm train. I have never spent that much time in a train station before. Luckily the area with the ferry tickets had a shop to buy food, so we were able to eat. So annoying though. We finally got back to Florence at 9.45pm.

I got good news when I came back though - the rude roommate left for the US Saturday and isn't coming back. The technical excuse is that her uncle is sick with Crohn's, but neither I nor my other roommate believe that, though it's the story we're putting out because it's what she told us. Circumstances are suspicious, because the night before she had been talking with my other roommate and saying how much she hated the program and the people here, etc. She spent Saturday shopping before leaving. If it was really a family emergeny, I think she would have done everything in her power to get out of the country as soon as possible.

Whatever, it's fine with me. There's actually space in the room now. And I don't have to worry about my stuff. No more using my shampoo, my razor, my roommates facewash. No more sex while we're in the room. No more refusal to turn the A/C off despite the temperature reaching the point where it's too cold for me to even sleep. No rude comments about having a coughing fit in the middle of the night (she seriously said to me: "You should stop coughing. You'll give yourself a sore throat." yes thanks for the advice, I had wondered about whether coughing was good for me).

Maybe you didn't get the vibe, but I'm pretty damn pleased about it. This solves a lot of problems.