A Weekend on the Coast: Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri, Naples

After Rome, our class took a half-day trip to Pompeii to tour the ruins. I really thought Pompeii was a much smaller town, but my goodness it was so much bigger than I expected. I actually got lost walking around the place. Also, it was raining while we were there which sucked for us but at the same time we got to experience how their drainage system worked which was really cool. I think the rain might have been worth it just for that.

A bath inside a Pompeii bathhouse. Apparently they used to do very interesting things in these baths.... other than bathing.

Alex serving us ladies at the bar, whoop!

If  you remember earlier, I broke my boots in Rome and had to buy new shoes. These are pretty appropriate for Pompeii, yeah?

Oh, yeah, we visited a brothel. This was one of the many pictures that were inside the brothel.

Of course, when anyone visits Pompeii, they want to see the people. But after seeing it, it makes me really sad. These are actual people in the moment that the eruption occurred. This particular one really got to me. You can really see the fear in the pose and I can't imagine how scared everyone was.

After Pompeii, I made a very spontaneous impromptu trip with a couple friends (CeCe, Kristie, and Chris) to Sorrento, Capri and Naples. Coincidentally, Shenell, Tessa and Kirstie booked the same hotel we were staying at!

Sorrento was beautiful. The bread actually had salt and the shops were so nice and cheap.

Mostly we made a bunch of cappuccinos and bought tons of limoncello, which is their specialty in these areas.

On Saturday, we took a ferry to Capri. I have never ridden a boat before, and not even thinking about how motion sick I can get, I was super duper excited to try it out for the first time. We decided to sit outside instead of inside for a better scenic view.

Look at me, all happy before the boat started moving!

Okay, so here comes the disgusting anecdote. I get motion sickness like no other mother, and before I realized how my inner ear was not playing games with me today, Chris escorted me inside the boat and afterward I threw up in a plastic baggie (ew, I know, but you need  to know my pain!) and had the worst pangs in my tummy. Oh, and it was stormy and so the waters were very choppy. GREAT.

After a long dreadful 30 minute hell-trip, we got off at the bottom of Capri and the tour guide needed us to get on a bus so we could get ourselves up to Anacapri. Um, say what? After my friends convinced me that I should take the bus ride because I would be bored out of my mind down here, I again endured a stupid ride up Capri and my friends did their best to keep me calm (and keep my stomach calm too). 

After we got off, the boat, they gave me some meds and made me eat pasta with butter (look at my sad face) because I couldn't eat anything acidic but to my contrary it was actual really really good... who know butter and pasta?!

We explored Anacapri and then later took the bus again to Capritown.

A perfume museum/factory/shop - they make "capri designer" perfumes!

The views were one of the most beautiful views I did ever see. And it was cloudy and stormy. I can't imagine how it would look in the summertime. Although I am glad I didn't go in the summer because there would be so many tourists and no room. It was pretty much empty in Capri which was nice to see it in all its glory and not in all its ... tourists.

After spending Friday and Saturday in Sorrento, we took the train back to Castig but stopped in Naples for lunch. I really wanted to do some exploring in Naples, but with our time limit (trains are funky on Sundays) we could only get lunch and walk back to the train.

We were in the STRAIGHT GHETTO.Just kidding. But the streets were really dirty.

(photo taken from Kristie)

After a very confusing long and scary walk, we made our way to a pizzeria (because when in Naples, EAT PIZZA) and had the best pizza I've ever had. It was called the "Stella" because of its star shape design. The middle of the pizza was cut and folded in four pieces with ricotta cheese stuffed in it and a caprese salad in the empty part. There was four sections of "stuff:" mushrooms, ham, sausage and pepperoni  Oh. My.Goodness. It was the most beautiful and elaborate pizza I ever had.

It was a really nice weekend. I couldn't believe that I hit FOUR cities in just one weekend. But like I've said before, a day is just not enough time to explore a whole town, no matter how small. But I am grateful that I can even visit and see these cities, something that would be extremely difficult for me to do back at home.

Until next time!

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. ” -Robert Louis Stevenson

When in Rome, Roam!

I know, the title is very cheesy, but it's true! Our program includes week long trips aside from the "Wednesday trips" and our first was to Rome. We spent three days there and visited as many monuments and museums as we possibly could. And let me tell you, MUSEUM FATIGUE AT ITS FINEST. I even broke my boot. We go hard in Rome, ya know.

The first day, we had a mini tour of all the sites, such as the Trevi, Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon. Basically the tour was to help us navigate around Rome by ourselves. The next two days, we toured the aforementioned places more intensively, went to the Capuchin monastery, Colosseum, Forum, Vatican City (Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum and St. Peters) and a Chinese restaurant (worth mentioning because it was the best decision ever). 

Can I just state that everyone in Rome dresses so incredibly well? I couldn't help wanting to snap photos of everyone! And if you look closely at the street, the cobblestone is, well, actually cobblestone. It was so rough and uneven compared to every other city I've been to. This is probably why my boot decided it needed to talk to me (my cheesy way of saying that my shoe broke apart from my sole).

The beautiful pietà of Michelangelo. Sadly it was in a glass box because some idiot decided to take a hammer to it some years ago.

A postcard of one of the tombs inside the Capucin Monastery (taken from Flickr)

The monastery was one of my favorite places we visited in Rome. The idea of "Momento Mori" and skulls  in Italy are so prevalent everywhere we go. There is a sign that reads "What you are we used to be, what we are now you will be," which is, although a tad morbid, so completely true. The use of human skeletons, and skeletal parts as "decor" is supposed to represent the idea that they are still being useful to their order and to God after they die. But to me, it also shows how fragile and even useless our physical body is compared to our spiritual soul. My body is nothing after death but my soul is what remains in tact and complete. 

CAT SANCTUARY!

I just want to let everyone know that I creeped on this beautiful couple taking their wedding photos at the Forum. I will cry myself to sleep now.

Fun fact: At the forum, we "performed" the Aggie War Hymn for our tour guide. I HAD SO MUCH AGGIE PRIDE DURING AND AFTER. There were so many tourists that stopped, were either in awe or in shock, and snapped pictures/videos of us. Being the Aggie that I am, it was one of my favorite moments in Rome and maybe even in Italy so far.

The Trevi at night is beautiful. There was a seagull just strutting in the fountain. I think he enjoyed his picture being taken!



Not that I can ever be tired of Italian food, we all felt like we needed a much needed break. We discovered this Chinese restaurant and I got fried pork dumplings, white rice and orange duck. All I can say is YUM and that I really miss my mother's home cooking.

Rome is very peculiar to me. When I was first there two years ago, I noticed that there was two sides of Rome, the modern every day life of Rome and then the ancient historical Rome. It's odd to see the two mix, but they mix well together. I wouldn't know how it would feel to be a Roman, to live perpetually in a state of history yet continue to live presently. Everywhere you turn, you are reminded of your past. It's definitely a very interesting city.

Until next time!

"Rome - the city of visible history, where the past of a whole hemisphere seems moving in funeral procession..." - George Eliot

Third Week Updates: Orvieto,Valentine's Day, Pizza Making

Gambino game crazy

After our tour at the duomo of Orvieto, we ate lunch at a little Pasticceria bar and I had a spinach/cheese panino because I couldn't have meat. I was skeptical at first because I've never been a big fan of spinach but it was actually super yummy. We then got some sweets to eat the next day (Valentine's day).Also, ceramics in Orvieto are beautiful. I got a couple mugs as souvenirs.

Happy Valentine's Day! Or as they say, boun san valentino! Shenell and I organized a mini- valentine's tea party in substitution for a valentine's day back in the States. We had pastries and finger sandwiches and of course, tea.

On Saturday, we went to a pizza making class! Mostly, we learned how to make bread.

The agriturismo was beautiful. The bread came out smelling so good and the pizzas definitely tasted homemade. The most surprising pizza (and unique) was the tuna and onion pizza. I was worried that the onions would really overpower the pizza but strangely it was so perfect! Never would have thought to put fish on a pizza, the italians think of everything!

Until next time!

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore”
-Dean Martin

Lent in Italy

In preparing for Lent, I've told you all about the carnevale celebrations that go on before Ash Wednesday. This Tuesday was "Fat Tuesday," "Mardi gras" or "Martedi grasso" in Italy. After dinner, the gang and I got ready for the costume party that Bar La Posta was hosting. I dressed up as a pirate, Shenell as Ke$ha, Alice as a wood nymph and Dezi as a magician. We realized that us girls could potentially have shown up as Captain Hook (me), Tiger Lily(Shenell) and Tinker Bell (Alice)!

It was a lot of fun. I'm always surprised by how amazing these Italian teens' English are and then I realize how much American pop culture(ex: music) is transfused here to begin with.. of course they know English better than I know Italian! I was happy to be able to dance to the songs I was familiar with back home, but it would have been nice to be more immersed with Italian music.

On Wednesday, we went to Orvieto for our weekly field trip (Heads up: next week is Rome, I'm excited!) and mainly focused on the Duomo di Orvieto. It has defintely been my favorite duomo so far (I've only really seen about three or four so I can't be absolute yet, but it sure does take the cake) perhaps because of it's aesthetic beauty or the fact that I really appreciated the historical value that the tour guide emphasized to us. I think about anything can be interesting if told correctly or if one focused on the things that would interest that audience most. Muara (the guide), was really great at doing so. I wish I could show you pictures of the interior, but we were not allowed to take any.

The newest chapel in the duomo was beautiful. Signorelli painted very frightening Last Judgement depictions that apparently inspired Michelangelo's Last judgement. Fun fact: Signorelli depicted his ex-girlfriend as a prostitute and also in hell strapped on a demon. FUN STUFF. So the moral is - don't upset an artist because his revenge is eternal!

I went to Ash Wednesday mass for the first time ever (I think I've gone once as a child, but I can't really recall that) and my first Italian mass. It was extremely cold because there was no central heating unit. It was hard to follow for obvious reasons (I can barely follow mass in Vietnamese let alone Italian which I don't know that well) but at the same time so similar to english/vietnamese mass that I could understand what was happening.

I decided to give up gossiping (which has shown to be very hard to define, but I know what I should say and what I shouldn't repeat, if that makes sense), talking negatively about others and kiwis (Dezi and I are always fighting for the kiwi during lunch and dinner, so I thought I would be a fun thing to give up so others could eat it).

Forward to Friday. I had woke up (late for class- whoops) to the idea that I could try and fast today instead of just giving up meat for the day. I don't plan for it to be a reoccurring thing, but it was just one of those "in-the-moment" decisions that I felt I was compelled to follow. I was surprised that I did not feel much hunger pains through out the day at all. God was very good to me. I got a lot of reading done that I have been avoiding (The Picture of Dorian Gray) and caught up on journaling. It got a lot more difficult after dinner but at midnight I treated myself to a Rocchio pizza at the pirate bar (4 cheese, sausage and other goodness) and some of Cece's delicious nutella pizza (WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT TO MAKE SUCH A CONCOCTION).



I will let you all know how Lent is going in these next several weeks.

Until next time!

 To change and to change for the better are two different things.

          - German proverb.