I would like to introduce to you ... my new layout!

I was really excited to get a new layout on Saturday night. I spent a really long time looking for one haha. After putting it up, we went to the boys' apartment to play beer pong, but really we just threw ping pong balls everywhere and tried to block each other. It was really fun. I fell asleep at 2 AM because I was reading the Cranford Chronicles by Elizabeth Gaskell. Her novellas are definitely not as good as North and South.
I had to wake up at 5 AM! I only had three hours of sleep. And you know what I did what that three hours of sleep? I climbed mountains!
We went to the five lands, or Cinque Terre. They are these five small towns that have hiking trails in between them. Some of them are really easy. The Via D'Amore is just a path. But the last two, on the way to Monterosso, are pretty difficult. I believe the book described them as being "fit for an Olympic athlete." They were like STRAIGHT up hill. We got to Cordiglia, and it said, Complementi! You've just climbed 382 steps. The last one was the worst for about 20 minutes, but then it got really easy and fun.

I'm going to tell you my history of falling. TOMBOLA! First off, I only do it on our little gite. I don't ever do it in Florence.
So... in Rome I fell twice. Once we were walking down a sloped pathway to get to the grocery and the ground was wet. I was trying to keep up, and my feet just slid out right underneath me. In the VATICAN, however, I fell for real. I missed a step and fell down like 5 more. It hurt really bad and I didn't want to talk to anyone afterwards because it freaked me out.
In Pisa, I straight up face planted. I didn't step up and so I fell flat on my face.
In Amsterdam, I fell off the road and twisted my right ankle.
I'm sure there have been others, but those were the most memorable.

While I was climbing down a mountain, however, I tripped twice. The one place you don't want to trip, and I did it. First, I was going to take a picture of Gina. We were on a cliff side, like three feet from the edge. I tripped over Pati's foot and went sprawling forwards. I almost died.
Second, we were climbing down the path, and it was all sharp rocks so we had to be really careful about where we stepped. There were a lot of people in front of me. My ankle gives out, I'm falling forwards... and Kevin grabs me by the backpack and pulls me back up. Thank you Kevin, for saving my life. And the lives of those in front of me.
I kept having visions of my ankles giving out just at the right moment for me to fall. The emergency number was 115. I had it down. There were trails where there was only room for one person to walk, and there were no railings separating us from the Great Beyond.
Even while it was exhilirating, fun, and awesome, it was also really painful. I had to take my prescription pain killers when I got home. I twisted both ankles numerous times, but particularly the right one. The bones kept smashing together. The two most frequent sayings of Saturday for me were, "OW!" and "Oh shit shit shit!" Kevin knew that when I said the second phrase, he should watch out for my life. We thought people being behind me was safest. But then it turns out that I can trip upwards too, so being in front of me... also dangerous.

Yesterday was Daylight Savings Time here. I hate daylight savings time! Get rid of it! I miss my hour! I woke up at 2 PM instead of 1. Today I went to a different class section because I went to bed at 2 AM instead of 1 AM and woke up at 10 20 instead of 9 20. UGHHHHHH my Italian teacher is really nice though, so it worked out.
Yesterday was also the first time I managed to find the Cascine, which is the really big park here. My main problem?? I thought it was on the Oltrano (the other side of the Arno (river)) and not on my side. ...Sort of a really big problem. It was really nice though. There's like a giant flea market, a fair, big fields to play soccer. I found a tree that was MADE to sit against. It had arms and everything. I leaned against it and wrote in my travel journal and watched people playing soccer. It was a really nice day. When it started getting dark, I went to the bank of the Arno and watched the sunset and just lay down in the grass. It was probably one of the best days here.

I can't believe we have four more weeks, three more weekends, and then I am back in the United States.