"There and Back Again" a true Story by Eileen Barnes

Its been a while since I've had the effort and desire to blog, and now that its there, the lack of internet access has prevented it for a while. . . In the last two weeks I left Italy and returned, to the exact same city, and ironically, experience my fifth train ride between the bellisima Cinqueterre villages. Ellie left from Florence, so I took of in my new found 'freedom' to Gimmelwald Switzerland, known as heaven on earth. As my first experience travelling alone I was thankful to meet a lot of Americans for once! I will post pictures which will tell you more about that respite... but it might take a while!
After a fabulous visit with Heather and Justin in Germany, I took a 24 hour journey and landed in another heaven on earth- Spannocchia, Rosia, Italy. www.spannocchia.org has some pictures (not mine though). After two days of meeting 9 interns, many staff members, and hundreds of pigs, I'm feeling a bit more at home here. Farming is definitely challenging work, and the Italian style of 'who knows what's next until it happens' is sometimes a bit confusing. . . And I have learned that I am definitely not a fan of Tuscany's famous Prosciutto after spending two hours cleaning out the room where the pig legs 'cure' (get eaten by little bugs until they taste good!). Its definitely been a learning and stretching experience in many ways, from jumping into an anxiously hungry herd of pigs that weigh more than me, or figuring out how to interact in a group that has already bonded with each other for quite some time. Thankfully, I still have a week and a half to figure it out! Tonight is Pizza night, so I had best go savor some fresh wood oven baked pizza topped with fresh ingredients from the farm.