Ciao Roma!

This is it. This is my last day of school, my final exam, the end of what's been an almost unexplainable 5 weeks in Rome. Tonight Francesca and I are meeting Travis and Jordan at the train station and leaving for Munich. We'll take the night train and stay in Munich for 3 days, then take another night train to Paris and stay there for 3 days, and then have one final night in Roma before flying back to the United States. There's a lot that's going to be going on in the next 9 days and I doubt I'll be able to write again. I mean it is Roma: The Blog, not Roma, Munich, and Paris: The Blog. That would just be too much. Still there are a lot of final thoughts I wanted to...type down before I left.

It's a weird feeling right now. On one hand I'm so sad to be leaving Rome. It's an amazing place and I still feel like I haven't done nearly as much as I wanted, but am happy with what I did. I am going to miss the people I've become so close with. I'm going to miss the lifestyle, the food, my apartment, ..........basically living in Rome. It's not an experience I'd ever thought I'd get and one that went way too fast. I think I've learned SO much in this extremely short amount of time. Not just about ancient rome, etruscans, and Italian (but I definitely have learned a lot there), but about culture, about people, about myself, and about life. It all sounds kind of silly if you've never done study abroad or something like it, but if you have it's easy to understand. To put yourself out of your comfort zone and into another world is, um, different for everyone I guess. For me it was scary, it was definitely not easy, and there were times when I wasn't exactly sure what I had gotten myself into. Those were the times I feel like I learned so much about myself, about who I was and how I want to be. At the same time, however, it was amazing, fun, gratifying, and unexplainably good. The adventures I went on, the people I met, the places and things I saw I would never trade for anything. I learned even more about people, I experienced and saw things first hand I'd only ever read about. I really like to think I lived here to the fullest and exactly how I wanted to. It's important to learn from everything whether good or bad, it's important to take it all in. This whole experience only makes me want to travel more, to see more, and to do more. I want to go beyond the tourist experience and really go out and experience other cultures. It opens your eyes to so many things and I hope everyone gets to travel in some way in their lifetime. It's so important, and I really realize that now. My mom and dad always used to tell my sister and I that we had to travel now while we were young and go out and do life. They were so right. It's amazing how wise your parents can be hahahahahaha. This was such a short amount of time and I can only imagine how much more you'd get out of it for longer. I guess it's hard for me to put down exactly how this trip was for me, or describe it in a way that justifies it. I just keep repeating vague statements that leave things more confusing than they originally were. If this leaves you feeling cheated out of a good blog I would always love to talk about it, and could probably do a better job in non virtual life.

As for leaving. It's odd. I still have 9 days of more of a vacation. No more studying just going out and enjoying everything!! I am too excited to do that to really take in that it's over. I'm sure that last day in Rome it will hit me, but as for now I'm so excited! I know it's going to go even faster than these 5 weeks did. Don't get me wrong about going home either! There are a million things that I miss from home. It's really made me appreciate what I do have at home. I miss not having to pay to go to the bathroom, I miss stores being open all night, I miss air conditioning (although I really can't talk because we don't have it at home, but just in the general sense), I miss all kinds of different foods, I miss dryers, and mostly I miss people. I miss my family and my friends so much. It's nice to know that that is what I'm going back to and makes leaving a lot easier. I'm pretty sure this whole blog is the definition of a bittersweet end hahaha. For everyone who read this, or just looked at the pictures, or maybe just clicked on it thank you for reading. For everyone who's supported me and helped me thank you so much. Hahaha I had to throw those in there even if it sounded too deep and weird for me. It needed to be done.

I guess that's it. I'm not sure how to end this. Hopefully soon there will be other blogs or continuations in other travels. For now.

Arrivederci Roma!

A Name Would Not Do This Weekend Justice

I don't have much time right now. I think that's a great way to start off any blog, it makes it seem more urgent. It's something I bet a spy or secret agent might say if they were to blog about their life. I think I would read that blog. The reality of the situation is that I really don't have much time, I have class in 35 minutes and I'm one of those 'bloggers' that takes far too much time writing one of these. So now to get to the point, my weekend.

I'm not sure how well this blog will go in really explaining my weekend. I loved it, so so much. It's not that the other weekends weren't as great or as awesome, I just felt on this one that at all times I was having fun. There wasn't really a low point at all and how many times can you say that about anything? I will no longer keep you in suspense of where I went on this adventure. I traveled to Sorrento, Capri, Anacapri, Positano, Naples, and Pompeii. That is a lot for one weekend and I thought it would be overwhelming but I was wrong in that assumption.

The trip was organized through Bus 2 Alps Tours, I signed up online a while ago and it was definitely the most expensive trip I went on but so worth it. Thursday a bunch of JCU students met at Termini Station at 8 to get the bus to Sorrento. There were about 40 of us all together. I don't know if that counts the Florence people (they were already on the bus so we went as an even bigger group) or just us, but it was a lot. It took about 3 hours to get to Sorrento with a stop for dinner where I bought Gummy Bears. In Italy for reasons I don't really get I am obsessed with Gummy Bears. I sat with AnneGray and we shared the feast watching Iron Man. Hahaha, we got to Sorrento at around midnight. We stayed in a hostel called Seven Hostel and it was so amazing. On the bottom floor there was a bar/club and restuarant. We stayed on the second floor in a dorm style room with 8 beds and a community bathroom. That might not sound awesome but it was. It's a really modern hostel and very clean with extreme air conditioning so I was sooo content. On the roof there was another bar area with tables, couches, chairs etc to sit and lounge. The hostel is pretty tall so it looked out over Sorrento which is beautiful. We pretty much just crashed that night because we had to be up, have eaten breakfast, and ready to go at 8. Somehow we all made it...on time.

Friday we left for Capri. We took a bus about 20 minutes to a boat and it took us on a small 2 hour tour of the coast of Capri...also to Capri because it's an Island. So the boat is pretty important. On the way we stopped in a place called the Blue Grotto. We all payed 10.50 € to go from our sort of bigger to very small row boats that only 4 could fit on. We had to lay on the floor of the boat all on top of each other because the entrance to the Blue Grotto is only about 3 feet tall...maybe? I think so. Anyway. Once you're in the cave you just notice that it's dark. After you take a second it's not completely dark the water glows fluorescent blue. It's something about the way the rocks reflect the light outside of the cave but it's awesome! It really is so cool to see something like that. It was a really short ride but I loved it so was okay with how much I paid.

The water...is blue

We got onto the semi-bigger boat and headed for Capri. We got there and took a 15 minute break before we started a hike up the mountain. Somehow in 7 of us got lost. It was a weird way to get lost. We could see the line....we were in the line/group. We stopped to wait for I can't remember what and all turned back to follow the group and lost them. They were like ninjas running away from the other less cool ninjas. So we took a second to try and figure out where we were and called the tour guide, Simon (who was from Austrailia and semi creepy but all together not a bad guy) and he said sorry you'll probably never find us. Which is always so encouraging. Jameson for some reason had directions to find them so we made our own way. It was of course ridiculously hot but the walk up really wasn't too bad. We finally caught up with them at the top and immidately had to keep going. We got to the bus station to head to anacapri, another town on the island. It was a tiny little bus with WAY too many people on it. Luckily everyone was soaked in sweat so it wasn't completely disgusting being smushed in such a small space. That was a bad attempt at sarcasm. Anyway, we made it to anacapri and he let us do whatever we really wanted for a few hours.

Our little hike up the mountain

A group of us: Heather, Laura, Pearl, Lauren, Christina, Annie, AnneGray, Claire, and I went and grabbed lunch. Then we took a chair lift up another mountain to get a good view of everything. The chair lift was awesome for the simple reason that it meant I didn't have to walk up the mountain so that was great. It also had some amazing views too. We took pictures and hung out at the top for a while then chair-lifted it back down. I called my parents to brag about what I was doing. I know, how thoughtful hahhaha. It was good to talk to them though. We got back and did some quick shopping then grabbed a bus back to Capri to meet up with the group. We took the boat back to Sorrento and everyone showered and napped because we were gross and tired.

Chairrrr lift



Capri <3

Then there was a group dinner at 8:30. Again, by some miracle we all made it on time except for Josh Jones who slept through. I don't know how that happened but he made it by taxi eventually. I'm sure you all understand that. We went to a restaurant and the same group mentioned above and I all ate a ton and drank a lot of wine. I also got a banana split for the first time in my life and was very glad I made that choice. After a lot of confusion over the check (because they don't do seperate checks here which always makes it so difficult) we headed to a Karaoke Bar. When you hear the word Karaoke Bar I'm sure you associate it with an amazing night. If you don't I really think you should reconsider and start doing so. We had many drinks and danced for a few hours. We sang Wanna Be (sp?) by spice girls and danced to the YMCA, which is still a big hit over here. I think we all sang wayyy more than we planned to but it was such a great time. We caught a taxi back and went home and crashed.

Love these girls! I will miss them :-(

We woke up at 10 on Saturday, yay for sleeping in. Got on another bus and headed to Positano. It was a longer ride but pretty intense. It's one of those mountain roads so it's curvy and the bus drivers must have more guts than...other less skilled drivers. The views were great though. We got dropped off on the top-ish of the mountain and walked a longggg way downhill. It was so hot though that we were just as gross as if it were uphill. We split up and planned to meet again at 1:15 for a boat ride. The group, as I will call them from now on, got rafts and headed for the beach. Rafts were a GREAT idea. It was really too hot to lay out but laying in the water was amazing. So relaxing. I did burn my feet trying to get back to the towel. After this trip is done I owe my feet a big apology.

Positano. My favorite.

We swam and loved life for an hour and a half and then met up for the boat. The boat of greatness. All of the JCU group got on and the boat took us to a cliff jumping place. I've never cliff jumped before. First I did the 8 ft jump and that was easy, it was a lot of fun. Then I was more daring and did the 15ft jump and loved that one too. Then Annie and I were trying to be super heroes and decided we'd do the 33 ft jump. Take a moment now and think about how high 33 ft is. It's high. It was crazy to be up there and decide you want to jump down. So I did and first I was scared, then I loved it, then my knee kicked out just slightly and I thought...hmm this is not good (because you have to pencil jump in or it's not good). Then I was still falling and thinking this was a poor choice in decisions. I had enough time to think about all that again and why I hadn't hit the water yet, how far of a fall it was and then whoosh. I hit kind of funny, not as bad as it could of been hahaha but enough to bruise my body hahaha. I still loved it though, that's probably weird but I'm so happy I did it. I love doing things like that, forcing yourself out of your comfort zone, it was awesome.

This is not a great picture of the cliff jumping. I was jumping so I couldn't really control that. On the top right you can see, sort of, the 33 ft. Where the people are standing is the 8 ft. That's the best picture I could pull off.

Next the boat took us to a cave that you could swim through and out the other side. My friend Pearl is terrified of swimming so it took a lot, but we convinced her to throw on a life jacket, get onto a raft, and a few of us would pull her. There was kind of a strong tide but it wasn't too bad. Half way through the other girl got tired and switched to get on a raft, she ended up kicking me in the chest and I am also bruised from that. Hahahaha, this all sounds so traumatic but it really was all funny to me. We laughed about it and kept swimming. I've never swam through a cave before but it was amazing. The water in the Mediterranean, if I haven't said it before, is crystal clear. You can see all the way down to the bottom. It's beautiful. I've never been in water like that before, and even though I'm not a fan of salt water I loved it so much I got used to it. We jumped back on the boat and the next stop was another cave. This one you could only swim into but it was really similar to the Blue Grotto, but more teal. So....a teal grotto hahaha. The water was cold and there was coral all over, but again...I loved it. I felt very, ummmm, pirate-esque. Hahahahah I don't really know why but I'm allowed to feel how I want. After the cave we again headed back to the boat and went back to Positano. I was tired so I laid out for a while but when I got to hot met up with the group and went to some of the shops. We were all tired so we caught a ferry back to Sorrento. On the way back we had perfect views of the Almalfi Coast. Everything over there is just so pretty. Some of the mountains are surrounded by clouds and the cliffs are...well it's the rough part here where I have to describe how amazing it is. I guess I hope you all can go here sometime so you really understand because this is a poor excuse for explination hahaha.

The water is all like this. I love that.

So we got back to Sorrento did the usual shower and nap. Then woke up and went down to the bar/restaurant for Mexican fiesta night. It was more Mexican food Italian style so it wasn't what I would really consider Mexican but sometimes a change is good. We mostly eat only pasta or pizza so a break can be nice, even though I do love the food. Then we headed up to the roof for drinks and lounging. I was reallllly sore from that day so I just relaxed, looked out over sorrento, made a couple phone calls and loved life. That was our last night in Sorrento and it was the perfect end to that portion of the trip.



Sunday we had to be packed and out the door at 11, so again some sleep in time and everyone made it! Hahaha. It was something like an hour maybe to Pompeii which is in Naples. Naples is...an odd city. Definitely not my favorite. It's pretty dirty, kind of sketchy, but I only saw one side of it. We had a tourist meal which is where they say pizza or spaghetti and serve everyone that with french fries hahaha. Then we paid 20 € for a guided tour through Pompeii. That was a great idea because I know otherwise I would have had no idea what I was looking at. It was a REALLY hot day and there's very little shade there but it was still an amazing city. Everything is so preserved it does feel like you're stepping back in time. The craziest part to me was seeing the plaster casts. When they found pompeii some a few thousand of the people who didn't flee were covered in ash. Their bodies decomposed but the ash made a shell. They filled that with plaster so there were casts made. A lot of teeth, or nails on them and all of them include the skeletons. It's so weird though because you can see exactly how they were when they died, what they were doing. It's...weird. It was like looking into the last moments of someone's life and how terrible that must have been. There was one man who was sitting in a corner covering his mouth to try and protect himself from the gas which...redundant I know...was weird. To be there and see that was an experience in itself.

...unexplainable.

We also got to see the shops and bars and houses they lived in which were really nice. Along with some baths and the red light district. Hahaha, there the art is well preserved and in the brothel houses the pornagraphic paintings are so clear. Hahaha basically we saw a lot of ancient porn. After the tour we did some shopping and headed back to the bus. It was a long ride home with bad movies (bad santa and part of tropic thunder) but nice to be back in Roma. It seriously does feel like home now.

In sign language 'Love P-o-m-p-e-i-i'

Ancient porn hahahahhahahahahha! ...I'm mature.

This brings me to my next point, it's my last week in Rome!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it's almost over. It's such a weird feeling. To be so sad about leaving but at the same time so excited to see everyone again. I finally understand the meaning of bittersweet. I'm not done yet so I'm not going to write a post on all my thoughts there just yet there's still so much to do.

Katie and her mom got here yesterday and it was SO great to see them. It made me realize how great that last trip to Munich and Paris is going to be. It's starting to get down to that and I'm really looking forward to it. Last night Francesca, Jerry, Cole, the group, Maureen, Tyler, Steve and I went on the spanish steps pub crawl. I've never done that either but that was SUCH a good time hahahaha. That's all there is to say about that.

It's the last week....I'm going to go enjoy every minute :-)

Ciao!
Anna