Acutally, that's not true. I wasn't laughing when I had to be at the piazza at 6:30 on Friday morning (two of my roommates, who were also on the trip, weren't either). After a four hour ride, we arrived in Herculeum, one of the small towns destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. It was almost eighty degrees, so we could eat outside and really enjoy the sunshine. We saw tons of cool lizards in the grass too!
That night, we had a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant. We were so pampered. The owner personally catered to us and was so gracious with the "no meat on Friday club" (woot Catholicism!) We had pasta with fresh vegetables from the region, eggplant parm, ministrone soup, and tiramisu for dessert. My favorite part of the dinner was bonding with my classmates. I had never really talked to several fellow students intensely, and I definitely formed some friendships throughout the weekend. Friendship is always built on shared experiences, and, if you're me, these shared experiences often revolve around me doing something dumb. Remember that game where you would tap on the bottom of a cup and then flip it over and clap and such? Well someone at the end of the table started doing it with a wine glass. I, of course, was extremely enthusiastic to relive this childhood game. A little too enthusiastic. I proceeded to forget that there was water in this glass, and flipped it over. Yup. Luckily, I'm a talented spiller and it didn't even get on me or anyone else. Just the tablecloth. Not bad. And then two other girls accidently did the same thing! Classic Maria.
We were up bright and early the next morning for Pompeii. This place was stunning. There is nothing quite like being amongst buildings that have withstood 2,000 years.
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| Temple of Isis |
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| Gladiator.. |
When we first arrived, we were greeted by the sweetest dogs in the world!
Pompeii had so many fascinating stories behind it. Being young adults, certain stories stuck more than others. For example, when people wanted their togas washed, they would bring them to the "laundromat" who would soak them in a combination mixture of urine (?!) and water. I guess it was because urine contains ammonia. Hmm.
Our professor, Gianpiero, is both intentionally and unintentionally hilarious. He took us to the brothels of Pompeii. Not sure I was ready for the detailed artwork on the walls (I'll leave the content of said artwork to your imagination...it was remarkably well preserved) but needless to say we laughed about it for the rest of the day.
On a more serious note, it was really sad to see the "plaster people." Bodies of some of the volcano's victims were on display, and you could actually see the anxiety and anguish in their faces.
Oh, and Vesuvius just casually started smoking when we were there. Volcanoes do that, but this lead to Gianpiero's discourse on how exactly the citizens of Pompeii died. Suffocation mainly. Some were knocked out by falling rocks. In Herculeum, their brains literally boiled. Comforting! Luckily, I'm still alive and kicking.
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| It's gonna blow!! |
We spent that afternoon in Almalfi. Nausea-inducing roads aside, there were NO bad views here!
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| Roomies |
The best lemon sorbet ever! (Almalfi is known for lemons).
Sunday I had the best pizza ever in Naples! I shouldn't have been surprised. Naples is an whack in the senses. So many sights, sounds, and people are everywhere. Cars, vespas, motorcycles, and pedestrians share the narrow roads, which makes for some potential hazards. I even saw children riding motorcycles, three or four people piled behind the driver...again, road safety guys!
I have just about one month left here, and I'm not at all ready to leave. Unfortunately, I'm being bombarded with papers and assignments these last weeks. There are definitely some great trips in the meantime, but I know time will fly!
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