First Night

The first night was amazing.  President Peter Mercer and his wife traveled to meet us.  After I left you last, the group and I decided to explore a bit.  We met up with Marinia (the local woman who is also our professor) and she took us around.  We asked her where we could buy wine.  Theresa and I (along with the rest of the group) bought a litre of wine and celebrated our arrival and passing of Spanish.  After hunting for the suggested bar, we gave up and plopped on the dock and got to know each other a bit more.  5 euros for a litre of wine is amazing.  Kelly and I drank the whole thing.  It was a refreshing afternoon.

After that, we all returned to the amazing apartment and changed for dinner.  That was interesting.  We walked for the first time to San Marco Square.  It was huge and amazing, breathtaking.  We met el Presidente y his wife at the "Best Western" that they were staying at.  We then walked across the ENTIRE island to dinner.

I talked with him the entire time.  He is quite and interesting individual.  He's been married to his wife for 5 years (6 days before he moved to NJ to take this job.)  He has 3 law degrees.  One from Toronto, one from London, and one from the midwest.  Smart little dude.  He treated us to apps, wine, and dinner.  It was really lovely.  I had a curry chicken rice creation.  The sauce was not too overpowering or asian and it was really nice.  For the first course, I had amazing bruscetta and fried olives.  Yummo!  On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for dessert.  I had After Eight gelato.  OH MY GOD.  I don't even have to explain the euphoria that ensued.  The creamy texture of the bliss was out of this world.  After gelato, we stopped for an after dinner drink.  My Italian is fragile and the bartender was patient.  We ended up having 5 or 6 lemoncello shots.  They're MUCH different from lemoncello in the states.  It's much more potent.

I'm completely lost in a time warp.  I've been up for what seems likes days and I quite frankly can't be awake any longer.  Tomorrow is another exiting day!