Elena's Adventures: Sicily

Hello again! I've had an extremely busy last couple of weeks, so hopefully I can catch my blog up in the next few days.

For a week in March I was given the opportunity to participate in the settimana di scambio (week of exchange) in Caltagirone, Sicily. All of the year student's are allowed to participate in this intuitive throughout Italy to gain a different perspective on Italian culture. Typically students placed in the north go to the south and vice versa. I decided to go to Sicily, though it's still the south and Italian spoken there is quite similar to my host region, because it has a very unique culture, and let's be honest, it's gorgeous. Each host chapter organizes their own activities, so you may be studying dialect or local foods depending on where you go. The Caltagirone chapter was pretty terribly organized, but my host family and fellow exchange students made it an amazing experience. We spent the majority of our time in Niscemi, a small town near Caltagirone, for their saint celebration and artichoke festival. Yes, I went to Sicily and spent my time at an artichoke festival. They are different than the ones we eat in the US and actually pretty good roasted, but I think I'm done with artichokes for a while. We spent several mornings in classrooms speaking about our experiences and then traveled during the afternoons and weekends. One week is definitely not enough time to see all that Sicily has to offer, but of what I got to experience it's an extremely beautiful and unique place.