Over the weekend, my host family took me to see the great mountain of “Monte Rosa,” which is one of the Alps near Switzerland. It was the most incredible places I have EVER been. Saturday morning, we woke up at 7, took a 3 hour drive to the mountain, stopped at the market for some cheese, bread, and wine, and then arrived at the camp site at 11 o’clock. The drive up was pretty long, but it was worth it in the end because I had the most amazing time! We drove through the cutest town called “Champoluc,” and I got to sit in the front seat for part of the way so I took a whole bunch of beautiful pictures of the town and the mountains :) I posted all of my pics on facebook so check them out!! None of them are edited by the way, it’s just that beautiful here <3 There were a total of 11 of us who went on the trip: Me, Camilla, Martino, my host mom, host dad, Giulia (friend), Alberto (friend), Andrea (Camilla’s boyfriend), and three other adults (I don’t know their names).

When we arrived to the campsite, we got settled in, and then ate a HUGE lunch. I had two servings of homemade “pasta pomodori” (pasta with tomato sauce), bread with fresh cheese and salami, a whole bunch of grapes, two cups of Italian coffee, and “torte cioccolato” (chocolate cake) that Camilla made. It was so delicious but I ate way too much and had a stomach ache afterward. It’s okay it was worth it. After lunch, everyone kind of split up and did whatever they wanted. Some of the guys went hiking, the adults stayed at the campsite, and Giulia, Camilla, and I went on a hike together up the mountain. I’m not lying when I say that it was the prettiest hike I have ever been on. The trees up there were “molto belli” (very beautiful) and they were all different colors. There were light green ones, dark green, yellow, orange, I think I even saw a purple/red one haha. We hiked up to the top of one of the mountains where there was the “Lago Blu” (blue lake). It was so beautiful! I took the most beautiful pictures there because the view was amazing! It was picture perfect with the blue lake being crystal clear, gorgeous trees surrounding it, and the tall, snow-capped mountains in the background. Giulia, Camilla, and I climbed on top of a huge rock and took a whole bunch of pics. And Giulia taught me how to say “to sun tan” in Italian. It translates to “prendere in sole” which literally means “to take in the sun.” I also learned slang words like “ecco” and “dai” that are used by everyone here all the time. After the hike, we all gathered together and ate another HUGE meal! For dinner I had bread with cheese and salami again, ribs that were cooked on the barbecue, potatoes with some kind of green herb on them (I was excited because I though it was parsley like how mom makes them…but it wasn’t), “pepperoni” (bell peppers), three cups of Italian coffee, and some more of Camilla’s cake. I was SO full after but it was SO worth it because it was SO good! We didn’t end up finishing dinner until midnight, so then we went straight to bed after helping clean dishes. We all slept in sleeping bags on bunkbeds in one room. I didn’t sleep very well, probably because of the 5 cups of strong coffee I had had that day, but also because there was this one guy near me who snored really loudly the whole night! I think the others were also bothered by his snoring because I kept hearing them trying to wake him up with loud noises. I probably didn’t end up falling asleep until 3 or 4 in the morning…oh well!

The next morning we slept in till about 9, and then ate a breakfast of bread, nutella, and tea. Then we just hung out at the campsite for a couple hours. I took a walk and listened to music, and some of the guys chopped wood in preparation for winter. I then helped my host mom make lunch. For lunch I had carrots with lemon juice, salad, a rice dish with meat and vegetables mixed into it, fruit, bread, and two cups of coffee. After lunch we packed up the campsite and headed out. It took a while to pack up and clean the cabin, so we didn’t end up leaving until about 4.

The whole trip was so amazing and TOTALLY worth missing school for! I had the most amazing time and made so many memories. It was a good bonding weekend for all of us too; I think I became a lot closer with my host family and friends. I thanked my host parents for taking me up the mountain and they said we might go again in the winter! I would definitely say that it was the best day I have had so far in Italy :)