Day Twenty Three ~ Saturday, May 18

Another lazy morning, which is looking to be the pattern here in Italy. Hollis came by around 8 to let people know about breakfast. I was down around 8:45. A combination of cold/continental breakfast and hot eggs and bacon, breakfast was very filling.
We then went for a morning hike. It was chilly and the sky was overcast, but we pushed on anyway. After hiking for a little over an hour on the road, we took a break, which then turned into lunch.
A group played hacky sack, the chefs made lunch, and the rest of us just shivered and waited for food.
The food was solid, as always. We went through it quickly, because we were all getting cold from not moving. At this point, we split into two groups. Some people wanted to keep going. They pushed on until they hit snow. An epic snowball fight ensued, and a few snowmen were bred only to be killed moments later.
The rest of us went back to town. I decided, as I was given the opportunity to go back, I didn’t want to push myself on asphalt that was hurting my feet and inadequate layers, including a lack of a rain coat. I decided hiking farther was not worth my unhappiness.
So I went back to the hotel, took a nap, did some writing and warmed up. When everyone came back, we enjoyed a couple hours to just hang out together. We had evening meeting and program before heading off to dinner.
Dinner (for me) was an extremely large mushroom pizza. It was delicious! And that was the day.

-Joseph Bruner