KT Says

Well, I suppose I should start from the very beginning because it was a long weekend! We left Thursday night at 7 pm from Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence (after, of course, grabbing a very nutritious dinner from McDonalds), and by we I mean me, Kelly, Cara, Bailey, Caitlin, Abbie, Amber, and Tanja. It was a big girls weekend! The bus ride was about 7 hours long and we had to stop by some shady, out-of-the-way train station near Rome to pick up three random girls who were coming on the trip with us (all in all, there were about 48 of us, plus two guides, on this trip). We arrived at our very nice hotel/hostel around 2:30-3 am exhausted, hungry, and dirty but we all just passed out right away so it didn’t matter.

This was the view from outside our room down into the outdoor courtyard (10 of us roomed together!). Our guides told us it wouldn’t be wise to judge future hostel stays based on this one alone, and I believe them. It was a pretty nice place; downstairs there was a bar and they served us breakfast. We could eat dinner there for only 5 euro a plate (mostly pasta) and they had a rooftop terrace for warmer weather.

We all woke up the next morning about 7:30-8 am and were out the door by 9 to get to Capri. We had to take a ferry over and it was pretty overcast, but it was worth every single second. Capri is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. Even with a cloudy sky the water looked navy blue and clear, and I could tell that the people staying on the island or living there were mighty rich, based on the number of yachts in the bay and expensive cars parked on the narrow, winding streets. First, we took a boat to the Blue Grotto, which is literally a small hole in the side of a huge cliff that opens into a dark cave.

Kelly, me, Amber, and Tanja were in a small rowboat, and the guy who was rowing the boat just told us to get down low so he could yank on the chain and pull us into the grotto. I don’t get nervous about small spaces or anything like that, but imagine having to fit a boat into that opening! It was pretty scary, but so worth it. Once you’re in, it’s a big, dark cave and you can’t see anything until you turn around to face the bright opening where the sunlight is streaming in. It shines up out of the water and it looks like there are lights below the water that are illuminating it–it’s so blue it looks like pool water. With all the men rowing the boats singing Dean Martin and their voices echoing off the cave walls it sends chills down your spine–there’s no other place like it in the world. No description can do it justice, it’s only something you can see firsthand to really understand what I’m talking about.

After that we took a tour on the bigger boat around the entire island (which isn’t very big), but it’s so beautiful. A lot of it is just green grass and trees or tan and white cliffs with cerulean waters breaking against them. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in my life (aside from Positano, which I’ll get to next!). The rock formations are amazing–I took a few pictures of natural caves, a natural arch, and a rock off the island that has an arch in it that we went under. It’s called the kissing rock and you’re supposed to kiss someone you love as you sail under it…unfortunately, I don’t love any of the girls enough to kiss them just yet, so I didn’t get to kiss under the kissing rock .

After the tour, we hiked (and I mean hiked) two miles uphill to the town of Anacapri to get lunch and walk around a bit. That’s when things got bad–it was so steep hiking uphill that a lot of our group had to stop towards the end because we hadn’t exactly had a big breakfast or a lot of water that day, and some of us were in danger of passing out. After the initial suffering, we all sat down at a nice cafe for some pizza and much needed water before setting out to do a little shopping. We took a bus further up on the island and found a cute little place with lots of little shops with Limoncello, jewelry, and clothes. I bought a pretty necklace with green stones on it and a few people bought Limoncello. One of the salesmen took a liking to Amber and I so he kept giving us free "tastes" of the Limoncello. He also gave us a lemon-chocolate bar for 4 euro instead of its original price of 8 euro, so we made a friend . We had to meet the group back down at Marina Grande, where the ferry dropped us off in the morning, to get back to Sorrento so we decided to start walking down early instead of taking a bus back. Well, that was a mistake. We walked the three or so miles down a mountain of stone steps in the pouring, drenching rain. The steps were so steep and slippery we were all afraid we would slip and fall and have no way of getting to a reliable hospital–it was very scary.

This was the view from the top where we started our trek–down where those small, teeny tiny boats are is where we had to be. Can you even see them? Yeah, I couldn’t either. Anyway, we made it down alive and rewarded ourselves with some delicious gelato (which is the most brilliant thing man ever invented) which only served to make us colder. We did make the ferry back to Sorrento, but we were all so drenched and cold that we just stayed at the hotel to eat dinner because it was still pouring outside (we would have to walk about 45 min. into town to get dinner at a restaurant). We passed out that night around 10:30, and I’m pretty sure my parents called me around 11 but I don’t think I was even conscious enough to hear my phone ring.

The next morning we didn’t have to be out of the hostel until around 10, so we were able to sleep in! After grabbing breakfast we were off to a day at the beach at Positano. The day was much sunnier and warmer than Friday so the whole group was anticipating a nice, relaxing day at the beach. Most of the girls wore bathing suits but me, Kelly, and Amber didn’t wear ours so we just planned to sit on the beach and read. We sat through a beautiful, scenic bus ride until the driver had to let us off in the middle of the road so we could walk the next mile down more steps (by this point we were ridiculously sore from the steps the day before) to get to the beach. Apparently the roads down to the actual beach were too narrow for any bus to get through. Positano is gorgeous.

I may be biased because Saturday was so much nicer and so the water was bluer, but Positano is such a cute place. It has many little shops and cafes and homes all on cliffs overlooking the ocean. If there were elevators I think it would be much nicer, but that’s just my opinion. I saw more than one elderly lady walk up and down those hills without even breaking a sweat, so I can’t really complain without feeling silly. What I didn’t do that was really stupid was wear sunscreen, and I got sunburn on my face and arms. I got it even worse on my legs, though, and last night they were purple–I called my mom in a panic thinking I had severe sun poisoning and I had very little time to live. I’ve never had or seen anyone with such bad sunburn, so I can tell you that walking to the hotel from the ferry that night was a miserable experience (because we had to shower and get ready and make that walk again to go to dinner). The restaurant we ate at was really cheap and really good though, so I can’t complain about that!

The next day we left at 11 am to go to Pompeii and that was an experience. Mt. Vesuvius erupted 2000 years ago and buried the town of Pompeii under so much ash that it wasn’t found again until about 200 years ago. Vesuvius used to be 10,000 feet high (according to Antonio, our guide) and when it erupted long ago 7,000 feet blew off the top of it. That’s amazing–nature is a stronger force than we think! So many parts of this city are still amazingly intact, like the town market, the town center, the public baths with a lot of the original marble floors, a brothel, a lot of murals, and also a few human bodies preserved in ash.

Coming back into Florence last night felt like coming home, and that was the best part. I was so glad to get on my familiar bus home and get into my familiar bed and say hi to Maria. I think going away finally made me appreciate Florence since I finally feel like I know where I’m living for the next two months. This weekend me, Kelly, Abbie, Caitlin, and Will are going to Oktoberfest in Munich for a day (9 hours on a bus there, 9 back–don’t even ask how we’re going to do that) and that’ll certainly be an experience, but that’s what’s next for my adventures! I hope you enjoyed my description of my weekend, and I suggest that everyone go to Capri and Positano and Pompeii if they can one day–they are the places where all those pictures on calendars come from! Here are links to slideshows with all the pictures I took with captions so you can get a better idea of what I saw this weekend: Sorrento and Capri, Positano, Pompeii.

Until next time!!

Ciao!
KT

Hello again!

This past Saturday a group of us went to Greve in Chianti for a wine tasting festival.  Chianti is really pretty; it’s a small region and, of course, the wine is what makes it pretty famous.  Kelly and I said goodbye to Maria before we went to catch the bus, and she said something about an umbrella—of course Kelly and I said that we’d be fine without one.  Well, now we know to never take what Maria says for granted!  As soon as we stepped off the bus at the Santa Maria Novella bus station it started to pour, and not just normal rain either: it was big, cold drops of rain.  That was okay because we were taking a bus to Chianti, and maybe it wouldn’t be raining there.  WRONG.  When the bus finally got moving after the bus driver threw a tantrum because the bus was too full (but he didn’t actually get on the bus to deliver this message to his passengers), it rained on and off.  When we arrived, we ate at a nice café with a small group of us: Pete, Mike D., Mike (don’t know his last name), Amber, Kelly, me, Cara, and Bailey.  Then we were off to try some wine!  I realized that wine really does taste different if you pay attention and savor it—so I’d say I had a nice, educational experience at Chianti this weekend!

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful, but this weekend a big group of girls (me, Kelly, Cara, Bailey, Caitlin, Abbie, Amber…I forget who else) are going to Capri and Sorrento!  Here’s a link to the website we bought the trip from: Bus2Alps Sorrento . We get tours of the blue grotto and Pompeii, a day on the beach, and a LOT of walking—plus, of course, transportation there and back, a hostel, and breakfast.  I’m going to take plenty of beautiful pictures for everyone to see.  I’m very excited because this is my first full weekend trip since I’ve been here and I think I need it (I’ve been pretty homesick off and on).  It’s always nice to be with a big group of people who you can laugh and talk with, and be yourself.

Also, I wanted to give everyone a heads up for my fall break plans: I’m going to Dublin to visit family who I’ve never met before for three nights starting October 4th, flying back to Florence on October 7th, then Kelly, me, Amber, Will, and Caitlin want to go to Venice on October 8th for the day, then all of us plus Abbie leave on October 9th for Nice, France and stay there until October 12th.  I think that’s a pretty nice plan, if I say so myself.  We’re going to Nice with the same company that is taking us to Capri—you pay a flat fee and you get the bus, hostel, some food, and tours.  No better deal than that! Bus2Alps Nice

I have class soon, so I am going to catch up on some reading before that.  I hope to have many pictures posted on Monday when I get back, so expect an e-mail then—and they will also be posted on my blog.

Ciao!
KT

In the wake of my internet catastrophe, I am now grasping at straws in terms of finding a way to post on this blog.  The internet here is not very good…and there is no tech support here at CAPA because they just sort of set up a wireless network and that’s it.  Anyway, aside from the internet crisis, I’m doing very well!  This past weekend was nice because it got me out of my homesick funk.  Friday we had to go to the Immigration Office to give our names to the Italian Government; I suppose they want to keep track of all the crazy American students let loose in the city during the school year.  Afterwards, Kelly, Taylor, Amber, and I walked around the neighborhood up by Santa Maria Novella, which is diagonally opposite in the city from our home stay.  They had a lot of shoe stores around, so I was looking for a nice pair of boots or walking shoes for when the weather gets cold (I only brought a pair of sneakers and flats with me for colder weather–and the flats give me bad blisters.  Poor planning on my part.).  I found a great pair of boots for a really cheap price, but I didn’t buy them; I sort of regret that but there’s plenty of time and plenty of places to look!
   On Saturday, Kelly, Jasmine, Mary and I went to Fiesole, this town the Etruscans built high on a mountain above Florence hundreds of years ago.  Rome conquered them and Etruscan and Roman ruins are still there today, so you can imagine how old this town is.  We (or at least Kelly and I) didn’t go for the ruins so much as the view.  And all of us came for this wine, cheese, and olive oil tasting festival that was supposed to be there that afternoon (however, no one in the town itself knew when or where it was supposed to be).
People come here just to see the crystal clear (or not, as was the case the day we went) view from the top of the mountain.  Unfortunately, it was so hot and humid that there was a haze that hung over the valley, so Kelly and I said that we’d come back in October or November again for better pictures.
   After we were done that, we had lunch in a small café and had the best pizza we’ve had so far in Italy!!  The crust was thin and perfectly crispy (Mom Mom Sullivan would appreciate this) and individual pizzas were big, so we all split two.  Finally we went to where the festival was being held (which turned out to be inside the outdoor museum with the ruins—if that makes any sense) and walked around taking pictures of some really old rocks.  They were neat, but there wasn’t really that many of them.  It was still fascinating to think that something so incredibly old was sitting right in front of me.

   Sunday I finally got to use my free Uffizi pass, and went right to the front of a long line (at least a 2 hour wait) of hot, angry tourists.  The museum is HUGE, and you have to walk up at least 4 flights of stairs to get to the galleries.  They built it that way because the Arno tends to flood and they don’t want a repeat of the Flood of 1966, where a lot of important artwork, manuscripts, and sculptures were lost.  Anyway, we went to the Renaissance Gallery because I wanted to see Sandro Botticelli’s painting The Birth of Venus for a paper I had to write for my Lit. class.  To be honest, the painting moved me more than I thought it would—even though I’ve seen it many times in books, that was nothing compared to seeing the giant canvas in person (behind a thick pane of glass).  I actually read something interesting about the painting: Venus’s neck is oddly long and her left arm is shaped funny in the painting.  Botticelli did this in order to make the perfect silhouette, but people rarely notice these things because she is so beautiful.  And she really is—it’s something that everyone should see, I think.
   This week has been fairly uneventful with classes and everything, but this weekend we’re going to the San Lorenzo market, which is supposed to be REALLY big to look around and maybe shop a little.  I really want to buy some Murano glass jewelry while I’m here.  Saturday Kelly and I and a couple other people from our group are taking a bus to the Chianti region for a wine festival (hopefully this one will be better than the one in Fiesole), and to see the rest of Tuscany.  Then, next weekend, we’re taking a trip to Capri until Sunday.  We get a bus ride there and back, a place to stay for 2 nights, breakfast, and a tour of the blue grotto and Pompeii.  I’m really excited!  Capri is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous.  We have other trips planned too, so I’ll report on them once they’re finalized—things sometimes have a habit of not working out!
  Hopefully I’ll write again soon.

Ciao!
~Katie


So I finally have a way to post on my blog!!

Aunt Sue will post for me for awhile until I can get it to work over here for myself. I’ll also send her some pictures I’ve taken so far, and if that doesn’t work I’ll send a link to Photobucket where I’ve posted all of them.
  The flight from Philly to Frankfurt took SO long…7 hours. It would have been fine if I slept but I basically spent all my time watching a bad movie without sound, reading, and trying to sleep unsuccessfully. I wasn’t really feeling anything, to be honest–I didn’t feel excited or upset or anything. My body probably went into shock that day! When we arrived in Frankfurt it was 8 or 9 am there, and I had somehow locked my phone so I couldn’t even call my mom. Finally, I got that all straightened out (after lots of grief) and sat down to wait for the flight to Florence. By this point, some kids from the group floated over to the bar in the terminal and started drinking beer. I guess they wanted to start their celebrations ASAP!
   On the plane to Florence, I looked out the window after passing out for 20 minutes (at the exact moment that the flight attendant passed by with sandwiches, mind you, so that I spent the next 7 hours starving…but anyway) and saw the Alps. I couldn’t believe it and I’m kicking myself right now for not taking a picture of them. I’ve never seen anything like it…miles and miles of blue-gray, snowcapped mountains. I hope I get to see them again–up close.
   Alright, so now onto my host mom, Maria. She is a SWEETHEART. She reminds me of Mom Mom Sullivan…if Mom Mom could only speak Italian. She helps Kelly and I with certain Italian words and we get some of what she says (I wouldn’t necessarily say most..). Like today for example, she said something about washing our clothes and something else…so Kelly and I just laid our clothes out on the bed. We figured if she left them there we’d just wash them ourselves…we’re kinda stuck, haha. She’s a great cook but Kelly and I eat way too much. It’s considered rude if you leave food leftover on your plate, so the more we eat the more she tends to give us. I am just now realizing that I am allowed to say I’m full. Last night I almost reached my breaking point: Maria gave us both a bowl of rice mixed with vegetables and some sort of sauce, which was delicious, but then she gave us a big square of this cream cheese and made us split it in half and eat it with a salad and crackers. Then she gave us an apple. I almost threw up right there because it was SO much food for me. My stomach has already been hurting with all this food, so I need to communicate with her and let her know that she might kill me. Soon I’ll get some pictures up of me and Maria.
   I started my classes on Monday: Italian, Sociology, Art History, and Lit. by and about Florentines (which is my favorite class). Sociology is really boring, but the prof is really nice. Art History could be interesting, but I’m afraid I’m going to fall asleep during it because it’s for 2 hours in the afternoon after lunch….not such a good combination. I love my Italian prof–she is SO funny. Today we were talking about birthdays to practice saying numbers, and she was talking about our horoscopes. One kid is a Scorpio and she told him that Scorpios are evil. It was pretty funny…she’s a sweetheart. My Lit. class is great—I love the prof and I love the books. Also, for most of these classes we’ll be going out into Florence to see different things and get a lot of hands on experience.
  Today is my last day for the week, so if I post anything new it’ll be on Monday. Hopefully this weekend will be fun…I’m actually spending a lot of it doing homework for Lit. I have to visit a site mentioned in the novel we just read (The Birth of Venus) and also visit one of the bridges on the Arno and make a presentation about it. I’ll post again soon!
 
PS–it would take a long time to e-mail these pictures to Aunt Sue, so I’ve decided to just post the link to the website I’ve posted them on: http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mks711/Arriving%20in%20Florence/
 
Enjoy!!
~MaryKate