Amalfi Coast

Hello all! I don't know if you have seen my pictures from facebook, but I went to the Amalfi Coast this past weekend and it was nothing short of AMAZING! We left Thursday night around 6:30 by coach and arrived in Sorrento around 1:30 in the morning. The drive there was incredible once we got to the coast, all of the towns and villages that sat along the mountainside were all lit up and the water looked like glass, it was gorgeous. But once we got to Napoli(Naples) there was trash everywhere! Apparently the mafia has some sort of deal going on with the garbage men, so the garbage men don't collect any of the trash and its just everywhere..sick! Besides that, our hotel was pretty good and they served us breakfast and dinner the whole time we were there(of course, not gluten free. I feel like a diva over here constantly asking for special food haha)
So the first day(Friday), we got up really early and started walking down to the marina with our entire group to catch the 9 am ferry to Capri. Capri was amazing, it was everything that you imagine and now I understand why everyone raves about it. We took a boat tour around the island that also brought us to the Blue Grotto. It was really cool, but definitely not worth the 11.50 euro it costs for about 10 minutes inside. We couldn't even swim because there was an absurd amount of jelly fish, some of which are apparently deadly so I decided to stay in the boat for my own sake. Plus, you had to pay an extra 5 euro to swim if you really wanted to. The boat tour overall was amazing, the sides of the mountains were incredible and the water was crystal clear. Once we got back to the boat dock, we walked across the island to the beach(70's all weekend) where me and my friend Tay completely passed out for a good 2 hours haha. After our nap sesh, we walked back over the island to get the ferry back to Sorrento where our dinner was awaiting us! (Risotto al Pomodoro for me!)
The second day was by far the best day of this whole study abroad experience. We took a private coach to the other side of the coast to a town called Positano and the drive there made me a little nauseous. It was the curviest road right on the edge of the cliffs and our bus driver didn't seem to be phased by the fact that its a straight shot down haha. Once we got there we walked down to the beach and a group of about 15 of us rented a boat for an hour and a half with a driver/tour guide which only cost us 10 euro each. He took us to a spot around the corner from the Positano where people are able to cliff jump and swim. Cliff jumping was so much fun and the water was crystal clear and so blue that you could see all the way down to the bottom, and the best part...no fish! haha
After we swam and did some jumping for about 45 minutes we got back on the boat with Gino(our driver)and he basically took us around the area with the music blasting, it was like spring break all over again. Then he took us to another spot where there was a cave that we were able to swim through, it was unreal. It had the same effect as the Blue Grotto, the water was basically glowing and it was just incredible, there are really no words to accurately describe the whole experience. After the boat, we just laid out on the beach and soaked in the rays(got a little burnt haha). We left Positano around 6 and I really just did not want to leave. Its the most beautiful place I have ever been and mark my words, I am going back.

Sunday was our last day and we spent it in Pompei and Mt. Vesuvius. Pompei was really interesting to learn about and to see a village that was inhabited around the 4th century way before Roman empire, it was unreal. The amazing part is that only 80% of Pompei has been excavated and there is still 20% waiting to be uncovered(it is still covered in volcanic ash from the explosion of Mt. Vesuvius). Then the bus brought us from Pompei up to Mt. Vesuvius where we were able to climb to the top and look over all of Napoli and look into the volcano. Once again, it was just amazing. Looking into the volcano it brought me back to my fantastic geology days and I loved it, I surprisingly remembered a lot from that class. Who would have thought rocks for jock would have come in handy? After about an hour and a half at the mountain, we got back on the bus and headed back to Firenze.

This past weekend was by far the best experience I have had, maybe in my entire life, and I will seriously always remember it. But now its back into school mode, projects after projects after projects..they wont quit! Midterms are in about a week and a half, then I am off to Ireland and Scotland for 11 days for my fall break with 3 other girls. A couple things on our agenda right now are: a 3 day tour of the Isle of Sky in Scotland, pub crawls in both Edinburgh and Dublin,a tour of both the Guinness Factory and the old Jameson Distillery, tour where P.S. I love you and Braveheart were filmed, a bike tour of Dublin and best of all...Halloween festivities in the city where it all originated, Dublin! But, all of that is still a presentation and 5 midterms away. And this weekend is another full one: Friday- me, Tay and our other friend Brett are doing a bike tour of Tuscany. Saturday- day trip with out program to Sienna and San Gimangano and Sunday- day trip with our program to Assisi; the hometown of St. Francis founder of the Franciscans! So exciting!
Well that is all from Firenze (minus all of the terrorist attack threats in Europe that everyone is freaking out about) miss and love you all!

Ciao!