Napoli, Capri & Pompeii

Ciao!
This past weekend we took a group trip to Naples. We stayed in a small hotel on the same street where Prof. Balena lived. Every morning we had a cornetto and cappucino at the same cafe same restaurant every night. For lunch, we were given bagged lunches from another place down the street. It was so nice to be in Naples because we were with our professor who is from the area and he knew everyone! It reminded me of the tv show Cheers! when Norm walks into the bar and every one screams his name. Wherever we went with Prof. Balena everyone would scream "OTTA!!!". Everyone in the area was so friendly and we definitely made a lot of friends during this trip. We got to Naples around 7 on thursday night and had dinner around 8. I'm still so full from all the food we ate this weekend. Neapolitan food is amazing but they serve so much food! Thursday night we had seafood which was excellent! Naples is on the water which was what made the city beautiful. Everyone that we talked to before our trip told us to watch out for people trying to steal from us and not everyone said they liked the city. Naples doesn't have a very good reputation but Prof. Balena would always talk about how everything is better in Naples. After this weekend I have nothing negative to say about the city. Everything is definitely better in Naples. Maybe not the trash filled streets and graffiti, but everything else was amazing. After dinner thursday night we got our first experience of the city by walking around at night and seeing a lot of the history behind the city and seeing just how beautiful Naples night life is right on the water. We walked for a very long time and were all extremely exhausted when we got back to the hotel. Friday we went to Capri... which i'm going to save until the end to talk about because I have to save the best for last! Friday night we went out to dinner again and had lots of pasta and fried food. Once again, so filling. Afterwards the adults knew how tired we all were so we were able to go to bed right after dinner. Our visit to Pompeii was on Saturday and that was incredible. I had heard very little about Pompeii but remembered the most important stuff. Pompeii is full of ancient roman ruins that were uncovered after the entire city was destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. The lava didn't reach the city but the ashes and gasses killed everyone in the city immediately. Something that I still haven't gotten used to since I've been in Rome is how old everything is and imagining everyone that has walked before me in the exact same spot. Ancient emperors and kings have been to the same places I have and that astonishes me. What was extremely overwhelming in Pompeii was seeing the remains of the people that lived there. When the people perished what remained was cavities that were later found and archaeologists pumped plaster into these cavities and in certain places in pompeii you can see these plaster filled cavities. You are able to see the last seconds of a person's life and that is a very depressing sight to see. On the upside, it was very exciting to see ancient ruins and picture a lively city that was there thousands of years ago. While we were in Pompeii Prof. Balena didn't have anything to cover his bald head and so instead of having to hold a map over his head I lent him my scarf to wear as a turban. It was definitely a sight to see (I will post a photo). After Pompeii we went back to the hotel and napped before dinner. After dinner, Prof. Balena and a few of his friends took us out around town in their cars to see more of the city night life. We went to the top of a very big hill to see the city all light up. It was a gorgeous place. He told us that he was taking us to one of the most romantic places in rome. I also learned that there are two different ways to say "I love you" in italian. Prof. Balena is not only a generally happy person full of information but he is also a big romantic, which makes sense because he has a huge heart. In italian, "ti voglio bene" is what you would say to a friend or family when you wanted to say that you love them. In a relationship (boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife) you would say "ti amo". He further explained the three different ways the greeks used "I love you" but that was very confusing. Sunday we didn't have anything planed but Prof. Balena's friends took us out around the city again to show us Naples during the daytime. His friend that owned the cafe that we had been eating at opened up just for us on Sunday so we could have breakfast. For lunch we finally got to have Neapolitan pizza. To no surprise the pizza was huge and delicious. I was unable to finish mine after eating so much this weekend but I loved every bite. It was very sad to leave on Sunday and I am already looking forward to going back in the future (WHEN i get the chance, not if).
There are many reasons why I saved Capri for last but the most important one is because you save the best for last. Capri was the highlight of my weekend and I don't think I ever stopped smiling. The second we got off the ferry I fell in love with the little town. The whole place is on a hill so there was a lot of going up and down hills but I didn't mind at all. The view from the top was gorgeous and normally this is when I would be speechless but I could not stop talking about it. I kept talking about how I had never seen water so clear and so blue before. We went swimming right when we got there and it was the last thing we did before we headed home. When we were about 20 minutes away from having to meet everyone someone said "are you going to remember the time you were cold on a ferry because you were wet, or are you going to remember the last time you swam in the Mediterranean sea". I already wanted to go swimming again but that made it even more convincing. The water was so perfect that I never wanted to leave. I was acting like a child on Christmas morning the entire time I was in the water. I will still appreciate the beaches in Scituate, but nothing could come even close to how perfect the water was in Capri. The beach itself was rocky but I couldn't care less about that. One day was not enough to soak up all of the beauty in Capri. I thought it was funny because the night before at dinner we were all talking about our "best day ever" and I couldn't think of just one. Now I definitely have a best day ever. I can't think of much else to say about Capri other than the fact that it was the happiest place I have ever been in. Before I left for Rome I was told to go to Capri and I think that even if it was a scheduled trip I would've found my way there. I am so thankful for the opportunities I have been given while I am here and this was a trip that we all worked for. We cleaned our entire building from top to bottom for a week to pay for this trip and every second was worth it. I brought back with me many memories of both Capri and Naples. In Capri I bought a pretty dress for only 15 euros and in Naples I bought an infinity ring for 5 euros. I also have an obscene amount of photos from the weekend which I have gone through multiple times. On the boat ride back you could see the moon on one side and the sunset on the other side. This was the perfect ending to the day because both sides were gorgeous. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my whole life. My only wish would be to show everyone in my life Capri and hope that they would enjoy it just as much as I did. I will always remember Naples and Capri because it was extremely sentimental coming from someone who lives on the water. When we went to the beach in Capri I sat at the end of the jetty for a little bit like I would do at the Scituate Lighthouse and it had the same feeling of knowing that I was in a place that felt like home.  Now that I have gone on and on about how much I loved Capri I think its time for pictures! Also, here is a link to my facebook photo album of all my pictures from italy. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.528592480560531.1073741826.100002293525612&type=1&l=80970ad35b
Ti Voglio Bene!
One more thing I want to add... On top of enjoying this weekend so much it was also a good weekend to reflect on everything that I am thankful for in life and I hope that everyone can take time out of their day to appreciate what they have and who they have in their life that care about them. Don't ever take a day for granted and make the most of everything!

Capri!

Me at the top of a hill in Capri

view from another hill in Capri

look at how blue the water is!

more pictures from capri

Capri from the port

ti amo

the forum in pompeii

plaster cavity in pompeii

i couldn't believe how well preserved the frescos were!

pompeii amphitheater 

Naples at night! View from the top of a hill

the gang with the woman who owned the cafe

I was too anxious to eat it that I forgot to take a picture at first....

Prof. Balena

Taking a breather...

After a very busy weekend I can honestly say it is so wonderful to sit in a comfy chair and watch game 3 of the playoffs. It might not get over until late but I don't mind. This weekend the Dean of Students came to visit the Rome campus and she came with us to Orvieto on Sunday. Orvieto was gorgeous and it was such a nice day out! Definitely another one of my favorite places we have visited. She brought with her candy and peanut butter which was the best gift imaginable. Also this weekend we went to HomeBaked which is an American breakfast place nearby and it was delicious! We will definitely be spending more time there. After our trip to Orvieto we came back and went out for a really nice dinner. During the second part if the first course (more pasta) they gave us bibs to wear! I'm still not sure if it was a joke or if everyone at the restaurant gets bibs if they get a certain type of pasta. Once we got back we all had to get to work on our homework and we were all up very late. This Thursday we leave for Napoli and we will be visiting Capri while we are there. I am so excited to go! Prof. Balena cannot stop talking about how amazing Naples is and I'm sure it will love up to expectations. For now I wanted to be able to share some photos from Orvieto and bring you up to date on my busy busy life. Sidenote: 16 days till my mom and dad come to visit!!

Being able to watch the red sox was a highlight of my day

Bibs at the restaurant!

Duomo Di Orvieto

I want to live here!

Panoramic of Orvieto countryside

My week in a nutshell...

I can't believe it has almost been one month since I got here! It seems like time is flying by but I'm still enjoying every second of it. Between visiting St. Peter's Basilica twice this week, a midterm exam and napping I have had zero time to sit down and reflect on the past week. I will definitely have more time this weekend to think about everything but for right now I wanted to share a couple of things that has happened recently. 

Today: I knew I had to post something today after hearing something during class. Prof. Bonanno is away at a conference this weekend so we had Prof. Balena teaching us lit this morning. He was talking about Dante and Boccacio and mentioned a quote in italian. I do not remember the italian but it translated to something like this "Love comes to those who are gentle". I'm pretty sure thats what he said. He reminded me of when he told me that he saw me as a very motherly person that has plenty of love to share and that love comes easy to me. I really appreciated hearing this because it reminded me of my own mother. Every night before I go to bed I see my favorite picture of my mom and I from when I was a baby and it makes me so happy to think that some day I will be just like her. This thought process really had nothing to do with the Decameron that we are reading in class but it didn't matter to me. Later today we went to St. Peter's Basilica for the second time this week and it was just as thrilling as if I were seeing it for the first time. Today we focused on the religious aspect of the church rather than the art in the church like we did yesterday. Luckily the rain held off while we were waiting in line to go through security. The line was crazy! You don't have to pay to get in but you do have to stand in line for a very long time to get into the basilica. Even though I was able to sleep in last weekend I will definitely need to sleep in tomorrow to catch up for this past week. Saturday we have a day trip to Orvieto which should be fun because the Dean from Assumption will be visiting! I will post lots of pictures and post about it sometime this weekend.

Yesterday: Between Italian class and Renaissance Art class yesterday was a very LONG day. We were at our Italian class from 9:30-1 and then had a bag lunch because we were meeting our art professor at 2 at the Vatican Museum. We got back to our building around 5:50 or 6. The museum was really cool but unfortunately we had to jog through it like most of our visits to museums. The art work is absolutely stunning and I could spend hours there! After the museum we went to the Sistine Chapel. It was nothing like I expected but every single inch of it was painted and it was stunning! There were so many people there so it wasn't as quiet as expected but I was still able to appreciate being there. After that we went into the basilica which like I said earlier, was absolutely beautiful. There is so much artwork to appreciate in Rome and not one piece looks alike. One of my high points of yesterday was being able to understand everything in my Italian class. It was the first time I did not feel so lost and I loved every second of it. However, my favorite part of yesterday was last night after dinner I was talking to Prof. Balena about teaching and I finally found someone who feels the same way I do! He talked to me about how everyone has knowledge, but it is about making learning exciting and inciting people to want to learn. Talking to him about education was making me so excited for the day I finally am able to begin teaching. I want to ask him if he could email me a page he wrote about teaching because I would really like to share it and read more about the Socratic method of teaching he was talking about. It made me so happy to have someone to talk to about it!

Tuesday: For Ethics class we went to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna. When you first walk into the museum the first room has a floor entirely made up of cracked mirrors. I loved this effect because it showed how things are without any distortion done by the artist. You see yourself for who you really are while standing next to beautiful statues. The first statue I saw was of Eve and I probably stared at her for what felt like hours. She was stunning and so life like and was right there in front of me. She was looking down and so in the mirror you could see her distraught face. It was titled "Eva dopo il peccato" (Eva after the sin). There was an immediate connection I felt with her and couldn't look away. I didn't take a picture of her myself because I felt like it would ruin the moment but I will find one and post it here. Just like going to the Vatican Museum we were rushed on this trip but I plan on going back because I could've spent hours in that museum. One of the paints we saw was called "Grande Rosso" and it reminded me of reading the play Red in my Romanticism class last semester. Its hard to explain what the artwork was but it was very modern and stuck out. 

Monday: We didn't do much monday besides go to Italian class and then we stayed inside for our Renaissance Art class. So out of this whole week monday was the most relaxing but I was able to face time with friends from home which made me very happy! 

I am so happy now that I have finally been able to share with you everything that has happened this week. I feel like I am always so busy and never have a second to share my experiences! Hopefully I will get into a better routine shortly. Enjoy the pictures!

Joke from Italian class "tonight we stop United States"

From the Vatican Museum

From Vatican Museum

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica

Eva dopo il peccato

Free weekend!

Ciao!

After an extremely crazy and hectic week we finally made it to our first free weekend. Yesterday after getting a REAL American breakfast (pancakes, eggs & bacon) I headed towards sperlonga for a day trip. It's a beautiful little town that has a great beach but unfortunately the weather wasn't so great so we didn't really go to the beach. But I did out my feet in the Mediterranean Sea! On our to sperlonga it took us forever to get there because we kept running into issues. For example, the bus to the train station had to take a detour and then she we got to the train the doors were closing as we were trying to get on. Luckily the train comes every hour. Then when we got to sperlonga we had to wait a bit for the bus to the town. It was definitely worth it though! Such a gorgeous town. We made it back later last night and had my second fast-food meal in 2 days. You gotta do what you gotta do. We don't eat a lot of meat in our house which a couple of us our struggling with so we got subway the other day for lunch after barely eating anything and last night I got mcdonalds. It hit the spot. It's so nice to have a weekend to relax after a long week. The weather isn't that great but I'm sure we will make due. Hopefully I will be able to go for another run now that I have found a beautiful park to run in. Enjoy your weekend! 

sperlonga! 

Mediterranean Sea

This cat was everywhere!

Sorry its blurry- I was running

Tuscany (speechless)

Buongiorno!

Florence

I am very displeased that I haven't been able to post anything about my trip to Florence this past weekend. Since I've been back I have been either doing my homework or going to class. Yesterday we were also working on cleaning the building from top to bottom. In class this morning after reading Day 2 of the Decameron we were talking about Fortune. I can honestly say I have been gifted with Fortune after this past weekend. My fortunes ranged from seeing The David to being in a small town called Certaldo where Giovanni Bocaccio lived. I wish to begin with my favorite day of this weekend which was Saturday. Saturday morning we went to the Uffizi museum in Florence. One of the things that stuck out to me in the Uffizi museum was the painting by Botticelli "Primavera" (spring). I was unable to take a picture but I will post one that I found online. The people in this painting are Mercury, Venus and the Three Graces. I really liked this because I had never heard of the Three Graces before and seeing as there are three Grace daughters in my family it was very close to my heart. After looking it up I found out that the Three Graces are the goddesses of charm, beauty and creativity. Afterwards we got lunch and headed towards Certaldo.  Once we were there I was taken back by the beauty of this small town. There are no words to describe the scenery and the overwhelming feeling of comfort that I had while I was here. A couple of us sat down to enjoy a bottle of wine and then went about looking all over the town. There was a "Boccaccio Party" happening because it is the 700th birthday of Boccaccio so there were many different markets set up to purchase goods. I didn't purchase anything while in Certaldo but I did get gelato at "Bocaccio's Gelato". I was sad to leave here but once we got back to Florence we went out for a very nice dinner for the second night in a row. After dinner Saturday night we went to one of the piazzas nearby and got gelato and Prof. Bonanno played his guitalele for us. Friday night we had a huge dinner with people who normally didn't eat with us and it was delicious! It was so nice to enjoy a meal after an extremely long day with friends. The food here always leaves me speechless because there is no way to describe the delectable food that we are fortunate to have. During the day on Friday we were with our renaissance art professor from 10-6 going all over Florence visiting different historical places. Friday afternoon we saw Michelangelo's David and I could've stayed there for hours starting at this masterpiece. There was a copy of The David in the original place where it stood but it simply did not have the same effect as the real one. Unfortunately we were only able to stay in the museum (Academia) where the David was because we were pressed for time. In most of these places we were unable to take photographs but I very quickly got a photo of The David before I was caught by the camera police. The whole time we stayed in Florence we stayed in a convent with the sisters of the Assumpzionisti who were very kind to us. Thankfully after the first night I was able to fall asleep the next two nights because of how exhausted we all were after long days of walking around. Friday night and Saturday night we went out to dinner, like I previously said, and both nights were full of laughter and great conversation. Almost before every plate we did a toast and it always reminds me of how lucky I am to be here and have these experiences. Every morning we were up early which made the trip extremely exhausting and we barely had any free time. The ride home on sunday was spent sleeping or trying to relax. I say trying to relax because it was down pouring on our way home. Before we went back to Rome we stopped in Sienna where PRof. Bonanno did his study abroad trip when he was in college. Even though it was raining it was still a beautiful place and I wish to return there to enjoy it more. Everywhere we went this weekend is definitely some place that I have to go back to. When leaving Certaldo I said that if I never return to tuscany before I die I will be extremely disappointed. With no more words left to describe this trip I think its time for pictures... (I will probably think of more things to say as the day goes on but for now I really wanted to post about my trip in Florence because it was too remarkable to keep to myself) Enjoy!

Florentine Cathedral

This little boy's face is priceless

Panoramic of Florence

Florence

The David!

L to R: Marisa, Me, Sinead, Jenna, Devan & Shelby

Tuscany

my pictures don't begin to capture the beauty

Certaldo

Chianti Red Wine (Certaldo)

Certaldo

Sienna

Botticelli Primavera

Argo River

Sorry that this post is a little all over the place- I wasn't sure where to begin!