Monday: Recuperation
After a long weekend full of walking in 94 degree heat with high humidity, some rest and relaxation was just what I needed. Luckily I had the day off of classes, so other than the grocery store in the morning, I decided not to leave the dorm all day. This actually came in handy since I ended up getting most of my 2,500 word research paper for History of the Mafia finished! I know what you’re all thinking: why does she spend so much time indoors while she’s in Italy? Well, the best part about living in Italy is that I can enjoy all the beauty even from the kitchen!
Tuesday: Field Trip to Pompeii
Like I said last week, my Archaeology course mostly focuses on Pompeii. Why would it not, considering Mt. Vesuvius is about a 40 minute train ride from school? One of the best parts of this class is that we get to go on a field trip to Pompeii with our professor, who also happens to be an actual archaeologist. She also knows so much about basically everything that she’s able to give tours around the sites for her students. She’s literally the kind of woman all girls should strive to be like: happy, healthy, and totally rocking it in her field of work.
Anyway, she brought us to Pompeii and gave us a tour of all the best spots to see, including the body casts, the amphitheater, a beautiful garden of a home, the baths, and the main square. Walking around in the sun looking at old, half-ruined buildings all day may sound boring, but it was one of the most interesting things I’ve done my entire time in Italy! Knowing a background history before and being able to learn more to add to my knowledge makes seeing these ruins seem so unreal.
After Pompeii, we took a bus to Herculaneum, another city that was hidden underneath the volcanic material from the 79AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. While this one is much less known than Pompeii, it actually is so interesting! While Pompeii was covered by the ash, Herculaneum was burnt from a blazing cloud and then filled in by lahar, which is basically a mudslide from the volcanic material mixing with rain. When it was eventually discovered, only 15 skeletons were found, so archaeologists originally thought the city had already been abandoned. It wasn’t until they found the boat dock filled with 300 skeletons in the 1980s that they realized most of the city had been hiding hoping to eventually get helped by passing ships.
To end the trip, we went to Villa Oplontis, an ancient Roman villa used for holidays by the family of Emperor Nero’s second wife and her family. Being in between Pompeii and Herculaneum, this area got a mix of both disasters from the eruption. This Villa is obviously royal when looking at its decorative paintings on the walls. There was even a pool larger than Olympic size in the yard. The palace was so large to begin with, but there is actually more to it than can be dug up because it extends under what is now a modern main road that cannot be dug up. While it is such a tragedy what happened to everyone during this eruption, I wouldn’t mind having a Villa of my own like Oplontis!
Wednesday: Class and Presentations
Wednesday I had both of my classes scheduled. Luckily, we watched videos on Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius in Archaeology and gave presentations for the entirety of History of the Mafia. After a whole three hours of listening to everyone talk about different types of organized crime in the world, a delicious, home cooked dinner and beautiful night views felt perfectly fulfilling and relaxing.
Thursday: Girls Night
Since everyone had class and internships Thursday, none of our friends got to see one another for most of the day. So that night, we decided we would have a nice girls night. Which of course included getting dressed up for dinner and going out.. and of course plenty of pictures!
Friday: Field Trip and Traveling
One main difference between college classes at Akron and in Italy is all the field trips. Friday I had my third field trip, this time to a villa in a town about 20 minutes outside of Naples. This place used to be run by the Camorra for different events and meetings, until a new company confiscated it. This new company, Libera (meaning Free), works to give children at risk of poverty or criminalistic actions different options for life in order I keep them from getting involved in the criminal activity of the Camorra. They provide after school programs, chorus, orchestra, theater, and so many other activities. They also give food to families, as well as clothing and other essentials, medical care, law advice, a pharmacy, and anything else necessary and possibly. Everything they do is free of charge to the children and families in need. All of the workers are also simply volunteering their time to help the community. Touring and hearing about this center may be boring for some, but it is actually such a beautiful and interesting thing. Knowing people care this much and give this much to the community is such an inspirational thing.
After the trip, my roommate Erin and I, along with a few other girls from class, went to Naples. We all had a few hours to kill before the rest of our travels continued, so we went for pizza to keep ourselves busy, full, and happy!
We then headed back to the train station to catch our trains to Florence for the weekend! By the time we made it to the city and dropped our stuff off at the airbnb, it was already 11:00pm! Erin, Caitlyn and I were so hungry but everything with food was closing. We finally found a wine bar that served food earlier in the evening and convinced them to stay open a little later for us. A candlelit dinner with Chardonnay, tortellini and creme brûlée was perfect for the three of us right before bed!
Saturday: Wine Tour in Tuscany
Bus2alps is a company that does tours throughout different areas of Europe for college students who are abroad. A large group of us from Sorrento booked a wine tour through them that brought us to Tuscany for two different winery visits and a stop in a beautiful little village. Our first stop was a winery with four tastings and some bread and cheese to snack on. The view was so picturesque, we got some of the best pictures up there!
Next we went to the small village-like town of San Gimignano, which is the location Twilight: New Moon was filmed! There was amazing gelato (Blackberry Lavendar and Lychee Rose were my flavor choices) and an amazing view overlooking Tuscany in all directions!
Our final stop was to a different vineyard for a tasting of 8 different wines, and a three course meal featuring “Gramma’s Lasagna with Truffle Oil,” which was literally heaven! The vineyards were so beautiful, giving us the perfect opportunity for photos!
After our tour, we went back to Florence and had dinner together as a large group of girls from Sorrento. As much as I love the food here, I’m more thankful for the friendships this trip has given me. It’s so nice to have gotten to close so quickly with people from all over America and have them feel like family while mine is far away.
Sunday: Travel and Celebrations
Sunday morning and early afternoon was spent on trains heading home to Sorrento, but the late afternoon was much more fun! It was Elizabeth’s, one of the girls living in the dorms at school, birthday! So we attempted to make her a cake in celebration!