Southern Italy Field Trip

We went on a school field trip for 5 days to Southern Italy. We visited a lot of ancient Roman villas, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Almafi Coast, Castellammare, Sorrento and Tivoli. We had a great time and the weather was really nice! The sun was out most of the time and we saw some really amazing sites.

Hadrian's Villa. One of the decorative pools.

Naples, Italy. I love love love Naples. Northern Italians compare the South to Africa, in which they are very prejudiced. To be honest, I found the South and Naples to be so amazing. The people are so friendly and it's so rich with culture. Granted, there is the mob presence, but there is no sign of it at all.

The weeds had heart-shaped leaves

Three course meal in Naples the first night. Alla nostra (cheers, to us)

Greek temple, Paestum.

Seren and I

Where there are vast flower fields we will take jumping pictures. It's tradition since way back on our Rome trip in Cerveteri. Andi, Seren, Sarah, Jackie, Me and Alexia.

So, Doug, our director loves this black hat of his. He tends to be a little aloof sometimes, which I probably would be too if I had to deal with 80 something crazy college kids at all hours. Anyway, he dropped his hat in the street and Adam found it and picked it up. Well, we took it from Adam and decided to have a little photo session in Doug's hat. Here's Colton's winning pose.

In front of one of the Greek temples of Paestum.

It was such a beautiful day in Paestum. We haven't seen sunlight in ohhhh about 4 months, so it was so nice laying in the sun in the flower-filled fields. Untilllll Sarah decided to tell me that there were lizards EVERYWHERE. Luckily I didn't see any, cause that would have definitely rained on my sunny parade. However, Colton and Cole came running up right after the other screaming "lizard" from behind me trying to scare me. Well, it worked. Hope they felt bad because that definitely knocked my anxiety level up 9845948 notches.

Andi and I in Pompeii; the ancient Roman city that was completely devastated and covered by Mt. Vesuvius' (in the background) eruption in 79 A.D. Pompeii is the second most visited site in Italy, along with the Vatican which is number one. At a low point in Italy's economy, it was difficult to keep up with the maintenance of Pompeii, and Disney offered to buy it from Italy, but the Pompeiian's and those who live in the region were not having it.

When Mt. Vesuvius erupted for the first time over Pompeii, it took the lives of every human and animal within its eruption radius. The ash casted the victims as they were when they died. A Pompeiian man.

This painting was above a door inside a Pompeiian brothel. Each room would have a painting describing which sexual act the woman awaiting would perform.

While we were staying in Castellammare, we took a little dinner trip to Sorrento; about 20 minutes by train. Sorrento is famous for their huge lemons and limoncello. It is such a beautiful city along the Alfmafi Coast. We didn't make it there in time to make the sunset, so we didn't get to see the coast during the day, but nevertheless, Sorrento is gorgeous.

View from our hotel veranda, Mt. Vesuvius in the background. Castellammare, Italy.

The Romans must have been little shrimps. Shawn always makes fun of me for being so short and I was proud to find that in this ancient Roman villa, I could reach the ceiling of a doorway.

This is one of the canals running through the Villa D'Este in Tivoli. This Villa was so massive and imperial. It is known for its elaborate fountains, so impressive.

C'e sole!

Villa D'Este

Outside our hotel, the Vesuvian institute in Castellammare, we found a little puppy wandering around, so we took him with us on our day trips. I'm not quite sure what his actual name is because everyone decided they were going to give him their own name so; Olee, Pinto, etc...what have you, was so presh. Made me miss Xavi and Lucy.

To sum it up, this field trip was a success. Oh, I almost forgot to mention Paolo, our little hottie archeologist tour guide that lives in Castellammare. We got to hang out a lot and he taught me how to play Briscola, a Neopolitan card game, which I loved, because I won almost every time. What can I say? I love games.

Well, it is currently midterms week. Two down so far, three more to go. I should be studying, but for some reason I cannot for the life of me bring myself to do it. It's thunderstorming in Florence right now...the thunder is super loud and the lighting is striking basically right outside my window. I can't wait for this week to be over because Sunday, it's spring break and I leave for GREECE!!! In other news, Jason's ex-girlfriend, Megan is here visiting and I just love her. She spent the night last night at our place and she, Andi and I stayed up until like 5:30a.m. talking. Sleepover of sorts.

So, I am pretty much up to date on my blogging. Shoutout to my bestie Janelle who I just discovered reads my blog. I just write it mainly for my own benefit of documenting my trip in the hopes that someone will read it. I'm so glad to know that other people are sharing this incredible journey with me :)