Today we got to meet our Italian students that we will be working with for the next two weeks! They are all so nice and speak English really well. We split off into our project teams and the Italian students took us on a tour of Ancona. They did a great job of showing us around!

Later today we went to Lorento and visited a cathedral. The significance of this cathedral is to visit the "Lady of Loreto". Their lady (the virgin Mary) is black in Loreto. The story behind this is because angels flew the statue here from Nazareth and candles were always lit when she was placed in the cathedral. The burning smoke from the cathedral eventually turned the lady black. She acts as a protector for those of Loreto.

After our visit to Loreto, we traveled to Sirolo, where we had what the Italians call "Happy Hour". Here, if you buy one drink, you get a ton of free appetizers. Either served to you or buffet style. We ate with the Italian students and drank lots of wine!

Later that evening we went to Portonovo and had what seafood lovers would think to be an AMAZING meal. Taylor is allergic to shellfish and I do not particular care for shellfish so we did not partake in some of the meal. I (Nicole) did my best to try everything and the taste seemed to get better after numerous glasses of wine.

We ended the night by having the Italians take us out to a club that was on the water. It was so funny to see their idea of a party. First of all, they dance like 50 year old women. Second, all they listen to is American 80s music. We enjoyed actually teaching them the lyrics and participating in dancing like fools---all while drinking, of course.