Swimming in the Adriatic...

Sorry it's taken me so long to post a new blog. I know that some of you are devout readers and it upsets you to arrive at my page and find that I haven't updated....so sorry. This week has been crazy though because I have had midterms...yikes! But everything is good and now I'm here to catch you up on my life.

Yesterday I went on the best Excursion of my life. Most of the excursions are fun...but this one takes the cake. We began our morning on a 7:15 am bus ride to Loreto. This is a fairly small town with a few things to do, but our main stop was at a church that houses the Black Madonna. For those of you that don't know, apparently the house that the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her that she was expecting baby Jesus is in this church along with the Black Madonna. Many people (including Mother Teresa) visited this spot for many years because miracles have happened there....and people still visit to this day. It was an amazing experience to be in that room and one of the most beautiful churches. We walked around the town a little more and then headed to Sirolo where we had the option of going down the the Adriatic Sea...

When we arrived down to the bottom of this huge hit, we were walking on the shores of the Adriatic. It was a warm 60 degree afternoon and all of my friends and I headed over to the shores. I couldn't believe that I was there...it was beautiful. We adventured around on the rock and climbed up on this limestone-ish rock that slide straight into the Sea. Even in tennis shoes it was really hard to keep your balance. Whitney and I were holding a conversation until we heard our friend Clark start yelling. At that moment we turned to see him failing his arms attempting to stay above the water. Yes...he had slipped into the Sea with all of his clothes on. Luckily two of my other guy friends were down near him, and they yanked him out pretty quick. Clark said the water was cold.

After our 20 minute hike back up the mountain-hill...we boarded the bus and went to lunch in Frasassi. Most of our lunches are really good but everyone was so hungry from our trip to the Sea that it was the best lunch we had had so far. After lunch Filiaberto took us to a cave. Now if someone tells you that you are going to a cave...I think of slimy walls that don't have much of anything interesting about them. However, this cave was amazing. The only horrible thing was that we weren't supposed to take pictures....but my friend John did, so I will upload those soon. Anyways, we walked around there for a while and listened to her tell us that it was discovered in the early 70's and they have been preserving since it was found. The walls and pillars are amazing and I loved every minute of it. After we left, we started head to a different part of the town where we got to go wine tasting. This was my first Italian wine tasting experience. We learned how to sniff, look and taste the wine to its fullest, and surprisingly enough...it was very interesting. I think I'm starting to become sort of an expert...haha..

We arrived home in Macerata around 8 pm where I went and got pizza with my friends and reminisced about the day. It was an amazing experience.

This week we're going to Florence (Wednesday), so if you could all keep my group and me in your prayers, I would really appreciate it. I love and miss you all!!

Audrey