Un Viaggio Italiano: Pompeii, Sorrento, e Capri

For my first excursion with LdM, my school here, I went on a fun-filled 2 day trip to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri. I feel like I am running out of proper adjectives to describe my trips here, and I don't want them to all sound the same, but I cannot express enough how insanely fascinating and worthwhile this trip especially was! I got to witness a bit of history, see an Italian beach town glow in the night, taste the most amazing Lemoncello of my life, and explore one of the most beautiful, paradise islands I've ever seen.

I'm not going to lie, the whole trip was entirely exhausting. I also knew absolutely no one going in, and it was interesting how I came about making friends all over again. It all started out with me walking to the train station at 5:30AM in order to meet up with everyone and leave at 6AM. YUCK. It was about a 5 hour drive to Pompeii, and we stopped at some super expensive (of course) gas station for brunch. Luckily, I was smart enough to pack my own food and probably saved a good amount of Euro on the trip because of that. Finally, after much road tripping with a dead iPod, we made it to Pompeii.

Everyone has heard and learned about Pompeii sometime in their lifetime, but many aren't so fortunate to be able to see it with their own eyes. It's the tiny city in southern Italy (near Naples) that got absolutely destroyed by this volcano called Mt. Vesuvius back in 79 AD. It wasn't discovered until 1749, and since it has been found it has lead much insight to the life of the city at the height of the Roman Empire. It was so neat to walk through the ruins and finally see everything with my own eyes. I didn't realize how HUGE the excavation site was...our group had a tour guide and the time there was almost 3 hours! It was interesting, especially to see the crazy brothel houses and dead bodies covered in ash, but I could've done just as well without the scorching heat. I was warned that it would be hot and lots of walking to be done, so I came well prepared with a huge bottle of water and my running shoes. Some people there wore tennis shoes and nice clothes...really? Not smart one bit. Anyways, I took a ton of pictures, which now that I look at them, they all look the same.

After that tour, we hopped back on the bus and headed off to Sorrento. We were dropped off at our 4 star hotel, which had AIR CONDITIONING (Hallelujah!), a beautiful lobby/bar area, and was close to the downtown area/beach. We were given a few hours of free time and our fancy hotel dinner was prepared for us at 7. We had a delicious and homemade 3 course meal, which was definitely filling and satisfying for the night. After dinner we were taken to a Lemoncello factory, where we were given free samples of many different flavors of Lemoncello. For those of you who don't know, Lemoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur that is mainly produced in Southern Italy, pretty much the exact/perfect location of where we were! It was delicious, and neat to learn how it is made here. My roommates for the trip, Christine and Amanda, and I explored downtown Sorrento and bought gifts for ourselves and for others. We called it an early night, due to full tummies and much exhaustion from Pompeii.

The next morning was another early one-breakfast (provided by the hotel) started at 7AM and we had to be ready to leave at 8AM. At 845AM, we took a boat to the Island of Capri, which was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. Once we got there, our group took another smaller boat which showed us around the island. We got to see the island from every view, and our group leader told us all the good places to go to and what to see. We rode over to the Blue Grotto, which is this amazing little cave that you must take a small boat into. Because the water in this area is so blue and clear, the light coming in from the outside reflects this amazing blue color that cannot be reproduced. It was definitely one of my favorite parts on this trip. After that, our boat drove more around the island and the boat guy let us jump in the water. Such a relief! The water felt perfect and I felt the energy of the waves around me. It made me realize how much I miss being in the water again! Our boat also went past these 3 kodak moment rocks (honestly this whole experience reminded me of Lord of the Rings) and there's a hole in the middle rock called the "Lovers' Path." When you go through this tunnel, you are supposed to kiss the one you love (or hug your best friends) and eternal luck shall come to you! Haha, what a cheeseball.

When we returned to the island, our group was let free for 5-6 hours to explore the island, which was awesome. My roommates and I met some new people, which turned into a group of about 8 of us, and we explored the island together. It was difficult trying to navigate around because there are so many different towns on the island, and we all hardly speak any ounce of Italian. We figured out how to take a bus to Annicapri, the town with the chair lift that would take us to the highest peak of the island. After a quick lunch, most of us went on this chair lift. It was insanely crazy! We all sat in single chairs and it was a 15 minute ride up to the top. As we got higher, the view got better. You had to be careful of your things because if you dropped anything, you wouldn't get it back! Once we got to the top, the view was indescribable. We were IN the clouds, first off, and you could see everything. The huge rocks we passed by with the lovers' tunnel? Those looked like chicken nuggets from this view. Sadly, my camera decided to die during the end of our time up there, so that's when my pictures stop. We spent some time exploring up there and taking pictures for about 20 minutes, and then we decided to head back, as it was being close to the time of departure.

Once again, we all got onto a boat that this time took us to Naples, where our bus was waiting to pick us up and take us back for a long 5 hour journey to Florence. We spend maybe 10-15 minutes in Naples, and I am glad to say that 10-15 minutes was good enough for me. That place looked disgusting. Trash everywhere. Run down buildings. It looked like a scene out of Grand Theft Auto, the video game where you shoot people and destroy a city. It also doesn't help that much of the Italian mafia lives there. Also, somehow a rumor got around that we were going to eat dinner here, so none of us grabbed any snacks. Needless to say, it felt like a century getting back to Florence with hungry stomachs and tired students, most of them getting very cranky and whiney.

I am really glad I went on the trip, because it definitely was a great experience, and those kind of activities we did would be hard to book on my own. The next day (Monday) I had class and went to the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine to see the Brancacci Chapel, where the Masachio frescoes ("Tribute Money," "Expulsion of Adam and Eve," etc.). The cost was 4 euros and I "had a time limit of 15 minutes," but that fact is such a joke. I walk in this gorgeous and empty church, and the security guard is listening to his iPod and slowly falling asleep. I stood in there for 30 minutes, looking at all the frescoes and taking in the moment. I never realized how huge "Tribute Money" was! I have learned so much about it in school, and it looks widely different than I have ever seen it portrayed. THAT'S WHY YOU GO TO ART MUSEUMS. And actually spend time looking at a piece. I promise, it's entirely worthwhile. ;)

Tonight, I have my Pairing Food and Wine cooking class, which is probably the best class I take here at LdM. The teacher is incredible, a Florentine who knows his way around the kitchen, and is able to multitask more than any man I've ever met. He's also incredibly hilarious. I switched into that class after switching out of international art business, and it was definitely the best decision I've made here so far. I will be learning so much from it, and I can't wait to bring my skills back home and cook for everyone I love!

Alright, here's the pictures you've been waiting for! Enjoy :)