A day at the beach!

On Friday, April 30th, Korissa, Cara, Sydney, Steph, Caroline, and I (and later joined by Reid, Everett, Teo, and Daria) took a day trip to Santa Marinella on the Italian coast which was reachable by train in about 40 minutes. The beach was absolutely gorgeous, and it was a great day to enjoy it. I thought I would share a few pictures and stories from our trip!






Caroline, Sydney, Steph, Korissa, and I decided to challenge ourselves and swim out to rocks located about a football field's length out in the water. Once we reached them, it was not easy to climb up primarily because of the dozens and dozens of sea urchins that were covering the rocks. Sydney and Steph managed to get up first while Caroline and I had a more difficult time. We finally persevered but not after multiple attempted paths trying to dodge the sea urchins. Korissa was a few minutes behind, because she swam back to the beach to get Steph's waterproof camera. Unfortunately, when she was climbing up, she stepped directly on an urchin! Ouch. Actually, we all ended up finding cuts and scrapes on our bodies. Steph had a cut on the top of our foot, and Caroline and I had ones on our hands. Cara, Reid, and Everett joined us a little while later, and we thought it was going to be hilarious watching them try to climb the rocks (Steph even had the video function on her camera ready), but they got up with ease! I'm not sure why we had a substantially hard time, and they did not!!

Stephanie and Sydney on the rocks.

If you look closely, you can see Caroline
and me struggling to get up!

Finally made it!

Damage control on Korissa's foot

Cuts on our hands from the sea urchins

Everett, Reid, and Cara joining us

The girls and Ev

Back into the water!

I bet it would hurt if you stepped on that...

We spent a good hour or so on the rocks and then swam back. When we got back to the beach, Reid dug a huge hole claiming that he was trying to "get to China". I reminded him that, not only would digging all the way through the core of the Earth from America not land you in China (but instead somewhere in the middle of the ocean), but we were in Italy so it would have to lead you somewhere else... the Pacific perhaps?

Reid's hole to "China"

We left later with some great memories and sunburns!

The Amalfi Coast

Pompeii

Steph, Korissa, Sydney, and I journeyed to the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy on April 22nd! This was an organized trip with Bus2Alps, the company that also took us to Venice. We had a promotional code for 10% off because of the bus disaster so we decided to take advantage and see a little more of the country before we left.

We departed Rome Thursday night at around 8 PM and arrived at our hostel, 7 Hostel, at around midnight. 7 Hostel was ranked 8th best in the world, and it definitely was deserving! I swear that every hostel I have stayed at this semester has been extremely legit; before I left for Europe, I was expecting hostels to be shady, gross, and dangerous, but I was proved wrong.

The itinerary for the trip consisted of Capri on Friday, Positano on Saturday, and Pompeii on Sunday. However, the weather report predicted rain for Friday, so they switched it up and took us to Pompeii, where it wasn't a big deal if it rained, on Friday instead.

We left our hostel early on Friday morning and took an hour bus ride to the ancient city of Pompeii that was buried in ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Usually entrance to the site is 11 euro, but it was free the weekend we went. We had the option of paying 10 euro for a two-hour guided tour of the city, but we opted for the 5 euro audio tour instead. We figured that we would rather move at our own pace.

After we spent a good portion of the day wandering around Pompeii, the four of us ate (what else but) pizza for lunch. Naples, the birthplace of pizza, is also on the Amalfi Coast. Throughout the semester, we were seriously considering taking the train down to "Napoli" just to have some pizza then taking the train right back up to Rome. I'm pretty upset that we never did, because I heard that the pizza in Naples is unreal and how often do you get the chance to eat food at the place it was invented?! Oh well. Next trip to Italy will definitely include a stop in Naples.

Audio tour guides

Can you spot Mt. Vesuvius in the back?

Well, that's unfortunate...

Poor puppy dog :(

On Friday night, the Bus2Alps tour guides from both the Rome and Florence groups took us to a restaurant near our hostel in downtown Sorrento. Afterward, the whole group of us went to a bar for drinks and dancing!

Positano

On Saturday, April 24th, we had an early start to Positano! After a continental breakfast at the hostel consisting of croissants and cereal, we departed for the beach. The main attraction to Positano through Bus2Alps is cliff jumping. However, our tour guide, Amanda, broke the unfortunate news to us when we got there: because of rough water conditions, we weren't able to take the boats out. BOOHOO. Everyone was really disappointed but what can ya do? We had been relaxing on the beach for about six hours when it started to rain -- just as we were about to leave. Good timing.

Beautiful!

I wish I was that talented...

Saturday night, the hostel sponsored a "Mexican Food Night" and discounted drinks at the hostel bar. I was pretty excited when the menu offered beef tacos; however, my excitement quickly turned to sheer disappointment when the dish that they claimed to be a beef taco was actually strips of steak in a flour tortilla (I HATE steak). Sydney was my savior for the night, because she traded her chicken quesadilla for my dinner. Moral of the story: do not trust Mexican food at a hostel in Italy!

The hostel also brought in a band for the night, and we hung out for a little bit listening to the music. There was surprisingly a lot of locals at the hostel bar; I wonder if hanging out at 7Hostel is what a typical Saturday night for Amalfi residents is.

Capri

Capri was my favorite place that we visited during our Amalfi Coast trip! April 25th (happy 21 and a half birthday to me!) began with a 45 minute boat tour around the island. We were supposed to venture into the Blue Grotto (aka the Grotta Azzura) but, again, the water conditions were too rough. UGH! I was really looking forward to it too. To get to the Blue Grotto, you must lie down on a boat as it passes through a low opening. Once you get through the passage, you find yourself in a cave with a gorgeous blue reflection created by the sunlight passing through the water. I was definitely more disappointed that we did not get to do this than the cliff jumping in Positano. We were able to see the Green Grotto which was still pretty cool.

Green Grotto

We spent the day exploring the island, tasting Limoncello (the Amalfi Coast's signature after-dinner liquor drink), frolicking through the Gardens of Augustus, and shopping for souvenirs. Steph, Sydney, and I also took a ride up the chairlifts to Mount Solaro, where we got great views of the Gulf of Naples and Anacapri. I was terrified on the way up; I had a pretty hard grip on that chair and found myself closing my eyes for probably half of the ride. However, it was worth it when we reached the top, although it was very chilly! I was expecting the ride down the chairlifts to be even worse, but it wasn't at all! It was actually quite enjoyable -- I loved it!

Gardens of Augustus in Capri

Chairlifts to the top of Capri!

View of Capri from the chairlift

At the top of Mount Solaro

Mid-afternoon, we got back on the boat and saw the rest of the island including multi-million dollar mansions belonging to the owner of Ferrari and the owner of the Florentine soccer club. A highlight of the tour was the "Tunnel of Love" where you are supposed to kiss your loved one as you pass through ensuring that you'll be in love forever. I knew little about Capri before my trip, but I did recognize this!

"Tunnel of Love"

We left the Amalfi Coast at around 7 PM and got back to Home Sweet Rome at 11ish. It was a great weekend!