Ciao Italia

Bormio

On December 17 2011, Carson, Asia, Kate and I took a long train ride and a long bus ride up into the mountains, to the beautiful Bormio. Located north of Lecco, only a couple of hours from Tirano, Bormio is home to natural baths, fed by hot springs. Bormio boasts the Old Baths and the New Baths, with the Old Baths being over two thousand years old and an old retreat for the Ancient Romans, and a handful of famous people such as Leonardo da Vinci. As we sat on the train listening to Christmas music and laughing hysterically, spots of snow started appearing on the sides of the train tracks, finally some evidence of the winter which had been slyly hiding from our view in Lecco. The snow kept on accumulating until we descended at Tirano and ran to catch our bus. The bus was ridiculously delayed during the voyage due to a terrible accident that held up traffic for a long time, but eventually we made it to Bormio where we descended, frolicked in the snow for a few minutes and jumped in a taxi to take us up to the baths. We shared a taxi with a scary pair of women – they had furry Russian style hats and were practically clones of each other (except one was wearing pink and the other purple), who left us at the New Baths. We continued onto the Old Baths where, upon arrival, we were handed delicious tisane tea with a whole assortment of delicious fruits enhancing its flavour. After paying the fee and giving them our names, we were given a pair of flip flops and a bathrobe, and proceeded to change into our bathers and donned our robes like the luxurious celebrities we are. We headed to the first bath, which was a hot cave followed by another cave with hot water in which we waded in and sat in for a while, and finally a freezing cold bath where we had to partially immerse ourselves in. We spent six hours moving between baths and saunas – highlights include the massaging waterfalls, the massage pools, the mud bath, the boiling hot saunas (which were around 70 degrees Celsius!), more tisane tea, and the outdoor panoramic pool. The panoramic pool was literally outdoors, and while we sat under a hot tap looking over the beautiful valley, it started to snow! It was absolutely gorgeous. There were also a set of Roman baths, which definitely looked old! It was strange getting there, though, because we had to walk outside while it was snowing, through the snow, in our robes and flip flops to get to them. It felt unnatural walking outside wearing so little clothing and with wet hair, but we didn’t get cold! At the end of the day we felt amazing and took long hot showers, using all of the free beauty products and then getting changed back into our regular clothing. All in all, it was a fantastic day and definitely something I would recommend!

Tagged: bormiobagni vecchi

Cruise ship!

Okay, so back on track. ish.

From 10-12 November, the entire District 2040 embarked on a cruise from La Spezia, lasting two nights where we hung out in the Mediterranean. The vessel was a large sailing boat called Nave Italy, run by the Italian Navy and manned by a crew of Italians, mostly from the South. The Southern Italians are so awesome! They have such a good sense of humour and they’re so lovely and tanned. Tara and I found our future husband ;).

Basically, we took a long lovely Hogwarts-looking train all the way to La Spezia. It was an amazing train filled with crazy thoughts, dubstep and raves complete with a strobe light. When we got to La Spezia, we took an army bus to the docks and jumped on our amazing boat. Over the two days, we did Step class by sunset, had some great conversations with the crew, had lots of deep & meaningful conversations, climbed 20m up the mast, danced and pulled ropes. The moon was full for our second night, and the sky was clear and gorgeous. The days were warm and sunny, and we all had a lovely time filled with food and cards and laughter and fun! It was such an amazing experience, we are so, so lucky to have gotten the opportunity :)

I got some amazing photos and really bonded with the other exchange students. E’ stato bellissimo!