Southern Italy!

Wow! What an amazing week. We just got back from our Southern Italy trip, and it was so much fun. We left early on Tuesday morning at six. I will never again doubt that I will be left in Rome. Just as my watch was showing 5:57, my roommate and I walk out of the elevator to see our two buses rolling away. Dont worry, they saw us, but never again will I be less than 10 minutes early for anything.

The first place we went was Pompeii. I loved it! I have always heard and seen pictures from Pompeii, but you really cant imagine it, until you are actually there. I had a presentation on the Stabian Baths in Pompeii for Art History, and just my luck, they are closed. So while the rest of my classmates are sitting on a curb, I am standing up in front of a gate trying to describe different rooms to them. All the while other people walk by and try to look behind me to see what on earth I am standing in front of a gate giving a presentation. Haha. It was a really good time. After getting back to the hotel in Naples, we decided to go and find something to eat, only to pass out from exhaustion.

On Wednesday, we started the day early again at 6:45 for breakfast. This was the day that we went on the Amalfi drive. It was soo pretty, although sitting in the back of the bus with all the twists and turns did make me feel a little carsick. Haha. We stopped in Amalfi for about an hour and a half, which was not enough time to explore, but it was still fun though. We ended up in Paestum, which is an old Greek city, with really well preserved temples. Some other girls had reports there for Art History and Archeology.

That night back in Naples, we decided to go explore our area and look for a place to eat. Unfortunantly, our hotel we were staying at was not located in the best part of town, because it was picked based on location to the toll road and the fact that it could accomodate all 50 of us. We eventually got pizza and made friends with the waiters, who we tried our best to speak in Italian with.

On Thursday, we went to the Archeological museum, which is one of the only nice parts of Naples, not counting the Capodemonte museum which used to be a palace for the kings and queens of Naples, that we went to on Friday. Also on Thursday, we went to Cuma, which is the location of the Sibyl in the book The Aeneid that we had just finished in Mythology.

On Saturday, we went to Capri, which was a lot of fun. The weather was really nice, although it had been windy. The previous two days, boats had not gone to Capri. We were lucky that we got to go, however, it did mean that the water was still very choppy. At first this was fun, kind of like a rollercoaster ride...but then it just never ended. I thought that the boat ride was going to be about 15 minutes at max, but it was actually more like an hour. A lot of us did not make it over without getting sick...I will admit, I was one of the unlucky ones. Once we got there, and had some Sprite to settle our stomaches, we had the best time. There are tons of really fun shops. We also took a bus to Anacapri and then took a one person chairlift to the top of the mountain. It was the most beautiful view I have ever seen.

The way back to Naples was a lot better than the ride there. We met a soccer team that had just won a game against Capri. It was so much fun trying to speak Italian with them. As long as I kept talking, and did not think about the rocking of the boat, I was fine.

Right after we arrived in Naples, we got back on our buses and headed back to Rome. It was an amazing week, but I was really glad to be back in Rome!