I am in Lecce!

Well, I am in the city of Lecce. It is the most beautiful city I have seen in Italy. It is way prettier than Catania and Palermo. It is soo crazy. All the buildings are white and the Centro Storico is the size of the whole city. Which is to say all the cool fancy buildings that all the tourists go to see are not downtown. IT IS THE WHOLE CITY! It is very, very pretty. Like Sciacca. There are a lot of tourists. But anywoos, Mom asked me some questions that may take up most of my thoughts.

How is your new companion? Where is he from? How long does he have left?

My new companion is named Anziano Lewis. He is from Utah County somewhere. He is a character. We get along very well. He is the Comic Book guy expert—super nice. He has a bunch of Star Wars figures that he keeps on his desk and he always quotes movies. Hehe. He is quite the character. Speaks the language almost perfectly and is a very good teacher. He has about 7 months left on his mission.

The house I am in is a 4 man house. Crazy. 

How is the city? Where do you live and what is your apartment like?

The city of Lecce is fairly big. Our apartment is a 2 minute walk from the biggest Piazza in town, and luckily the building we live in is pretty new. Most buildings here are super old…like 400 years old (very, very pretty). But old houses have a lot of problems. Our building is only like 60 years old which is pretty good. The apartment is not designed for 4 elders. It is very small and we all study in the same room and the beds practically bump up right next to each other in the bedroom. There are also not enough closets and one shower. It is super fun though.

How was your travel? How long did it take to get to Lecce and how or who did you travel with?

The travel was crazy. I had to go to Palermo on a bus. Then on a bus to Catania with about 5 others leaving the island. At that time it was about 9:00 at night and I met up with my new travel companion... Sister Fossa from Venice... Super weird having a female companion for like 24 hours... Anyhoos... We then took a night bus that lasted about 14 hours to the city of Bari in the stelletto of Italy. It was fun and I got to go on the Ferry from Messina to Reggio for one last time. I was sad. I will probably never see Sicily ever again.... Once I got to Bari I hopped a train by myself to Lecce which was 2 hours. Then the Elders were late to pick me up so I waited around the station for like 35 minutes. But it was a good experience.

Is it going to be much different than the island of Sicily.

Oh yeah. It is super weird. Sicily is “treasure island.” Everybody there is super duper nice! It’s crazy! People make eye contact with you 100% of the time on the street but here it is never. The people here are just a little colder as well. I am surprised there is that much of difference actually. Sicilians. I love them to death. I understand now how they are different. But the people here are super awesome!

I made a ton of good friends in the branch here of about 30 people. I am super happy to be here. The people were a little sad that the last person, Anzaino Del Dotto (Italian from the North of Italy), had to leave but I think I did a good job. This branch just needs a little energy. I think I can bring that.