Intruding but the Good Kind

Hi Friends!
My next day in Italy was pretty fun. I got to sleep in which is something I hardly ever do but after my long trip, it was much needed. Allison and I then went a meandered around town. Another thing I noticed was that all the stores were closed. It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon so that seemed weird. Allison then explained to me that the Italians are like the Spanish; they each take really long lunch breaks. This wasn't really an issue since I wasn't planning on buying anything that day but poor Allison was looking for a mask to wear for Carnevale.

Without my knowing it, I picked the absolute BEST time to visit Italy. Once a year they celebrate Carnevale which is from what I gather kind of like Mardi Gra in America mixed with Halloween except without all the beads and candy. It's like a week long festival and I was there in the prime time of it all. That night Allison and I were heading to Prato (the ski resort in the mountains) which was bound to be full of festivities. I luckily bought a mask in Colorado on a whim when I went shopping so it worked out nicely. Allison and her friends couldn't decide on what they were gonna do. I was told to wear something 80's and then they were gonna dress up like the Ninja Turtles and I had to be Shredder (No thanks! I don't wanna be a rat, I'll stick with my cool new mask. Haha!) It ended up Allison's Au Pair friends kind of bailed out on that idea too leaving Allison costumeless. So as we were  perusing the streets, she was looking for a mask but alas the stores were closed. Worsties.

We did see some really cool churches in town. One right by Allison's place was literally the smallest church EVER! It was about the size of my bedroom at home but we couldn't get in there because it was locked. I always feel that thats weird. Churches being locked. What if I needed to yell "SANCTUARY!" like what people used to do in the old days? I'd be locked out thats what! The ones we could go in were beautiful of course full of marble, domed ceilings and multiple paintings of Jesus throughout his life. We did feel bad about wanting to take pictures while people were in there praying and confessing and what have you soooo we waited until they left to have our photos ops but mostly because we didn't want to look like tourists, which we weren't. Hahah!

Allison and I then went and picked up Mattia at school. His school was a cute little school that kind of looked like a church. Allison told me that there was a playground around back but we couldn't get to it because of the snow. HA! I laugh at snow! I did have to coerce Allison into the idea. She then became afarid that the Nuns would come out and yell at us (in Italian) to get off the swings but I kinda thought that would be funny which made me secretly want o do it even more. I however didn't want to embarass Allison. With my job it's nice because if I do something dumb or embarassing it doesn't matter because I leave wherever I'm at in a couple of days. This isn't the case for Allison so I tried to respect that. I still think it would be funny to see an angry Nun. . . .

After we picked up Mattia, we walked back to Allison's and waited for the Nonne (The Grandparents) to pick us all up and head to Prato. The Nonni were sooooo sweet! I just wanted to hug them all the time. I didn't really understand what they said half the time but I appreciated the Grandpa trying to speak English to include me. :) We then drove up the most crookedest path up a mountain which seemed like a oneway street. Not very safe if you ask me but I thought was still cool looking at all the mountains covered in snow. Allison then showed me her place there in Prato which had this cute 60's cabin type feel to it. I thought the beds were the best. She has two bunk beds all to herself and she described it just right in her blog, it DID feel like the seven dwarfs should be sleeping there! (Only a few would have to sleep somewhere else. There were just four beds but thats just a technicality.)

What I thought was so cool was the GIANT icicles hanging outside Allison's balcony. They were so big they were like a wall. Nuts. We then went upsatirs to join the family for dinner. Nonna (the Grandmother) fixed us all a yummy pasta. It was green and looked like little larva but it wasn't so that made it cool. :) Allison and I then went to go hang out with some of her friends that night.

Remember how I said I felt like I was intruding on Allison's life? I definitely felt like that whenever we all hung out. Please don't think that I mean this in a negative way because I don't. It was a lot of fun to hear all about what the Au Pair drama was compared to our Tour Actor drama that happens between us teams. It was also nice to not be asked the same questions that we get asked every week that deal with our job. I certainly don't mind those questions when I'm at homestays and stuff but this was different. I liked being a fly on the wall just taking in the whole atmosphere. It was very chill. Later that night Allison and I crawled into our little fairy tale beds and went right to sleep. Well as right to sleep as two excited little Gills could be. We would try to sleep and then we would get caught up in talking about something silly. Haha!

Thats just Gills for you. : ) 

 -Jen