Fogginess

Sunday — April 15

This morning was a bit nicer in the sense that we were able to sleep in a little later. Check out was at 10, so I woke up, showered and got ready for the day. 

I didn’t really know what to expect for the day. We were going to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. When Lydia and I got to the busses, we put our suitcases underneath and walked on the bus. We had to end up sitting in the back because people took our seats, which was kind of annoying. 

The bus ride to Pompeii took about an hour or so. I seriously gave our bus driver a ton of credit because these roads were really skinny and had a lot of turns going up and down the hills. It made me nervous at some points because if we went off the cliff, it was into the ocean we go!

When we got to Pompeii we were told there was an entrance fee of €11. I didn’t understand why we had to pay money just to get into a city, but I wasn’t going to argue it. We could pay €5 for an English tour guide, but Lydia and I decided against it. 

When we went up to buy our entrance ticket, we learned that today it was free! Since it was culture week, Pompeii was free to get in to, which was awesome! I also learned since it was culture week, we would be able to get into a lot of other museums in Florence throughout the next week.

When we started walking into the city I finally realized where I was and why we had to pay. I don’t know, but for some reason I thought Pompeii was just a normal city like Naples or Sorrento. I quickly remembered learning about Pompeii in high school. It’s the city that was covered in ashes in 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. They said the ashes were about 9 feet high and covered the entire city, killing everyone. The city is preserved, and I found it fascinating that it was still standing. To think after so many years, it is still standing to day. 

Lydia and I walked around throughout the city. It was absolutely massive! Luckily, it wasn’t raining in the beginning. I soon jinxed that by mentioning it, and before we knew it, it was down pouring. My shoes were officially being thrown out before I fly home to Pittsburgh. 

At one point we ran into Lindsay, a girl who goes to Kent with us. She was with Bus2Alps and they were on their tour here. 

We also later ran into Kate, which was funny. She said they went to Amalfi on Friday and Capri on Saturday. No wonder we didn’t see them Friday. Lindsay said Bus2Alps went to Capri the same day we did, so we were surprised we didn’t run into them. Probably because we were hiding out in a cafe all day. 

The most fascinating part of the walk through Pompeii was the preservatives. There was a 17-year-old pregnant girl whose body was still in tact. It was covered in ashes and sort of looked like a mummy, but I could tell she was laying down covering herself before she died. I couldn’t imagine dying like that. 

Later when we ran into Dan and them, Dan said they saw a man who was hiding in his bathtub, which would have been really hard to see.

The entire walk around Pompeii was well-worth it, despite the rain because I love learning about history and seeing it is even more exciting.

-The Amphitheatre- 

Gina, one of the Florence For Fun leaders, told us that they have a good deal with this one restaurant where we can eat a three course meal with a drink for €12, which is pretty unheard of. She said if we were interested to meet outside of the Pompeii entrance at 1. So Lydia and I made sure we were out there by 1. 

We were led inside to our tables. Most of the Florence For Fun group was there, so there was probably over 100 of us agin. I felt like I was in a banquet hall for a wedding reception. It seemed like there were other big organization groups there too, so this place must be known for that. 

Lydia and I sat with Michelle, her boyfriend, Dan and Ryan. I feel like all we did was laugh and enjoy our time. The food service was phenomenal. It was the fastest service I’d had while being in Italy. 

Gina came over to our table at one point during lunch and asked us what our thoughts were on climbing Mt. Vesuvius. She said the leaders were going to ask everyone and if majority said they didn’t want to climb it, we would head home earlier and skip it, but if there was more in favor, then we would climb it. I had hit the point where I was just wet, cold and tired and just wanted to head home. She said we wouldn’t even have the view of the Naples bay from up top because it would be so cloudy. 

Everyone at my table felt the same way — they just wanted to go home too. I thought that would be the consensus of everyone, but it ended up not being the case.

When we got back on the buses, they said more people were in favor of climbing, so the busses headed toward Mt. Vesuvius. 

The drive up was beautiful. You could see the Naples bay and everything about the city. Soon enough though we were in a white cloud and I couldn’t see a thing. Once again, I gave our bus driver a ton of credit because these roads were extremely narrow and windy. He honked every time we made a turn to warn people if they were descending down the hill.

When we made it to the top we all climbed out. Some people stayed on the bus, which I thought was stupid. If you’re here, you may as well climb it instead of sitting on a bus for an hour. Walking up to the top was one of the most tiresome things I’ve done in a while. I thought climbing the volcano in Santorini was hard, but that was nothing compared to this. There was lava rock every where, which made it a bit more difficult to walk and it was misting and freezing because we were so high up. It was really cool though because when I would turn around to see where I had just walked from, I could see absolutely nothing because the fog was so thick.

Finally, we made it to the top. On a beautiful day, normally you would see the Naples bay. It’s supposed to be a gorgeous view, but we saw nothing by white. We were basically in a white cloud, which we ended up finding entertaining. We all kept joking about how beautiful this view was. 

We also tried looking down into the volcano, but you couldn’t see anything but white as well, which was just crazy. If I were to fall, I’d have no idea how far I’d be falling because I could barely see a a few feet down from me. 

Lydia climbed up this one rock where other people were, and when she reached the top, which really wasn’t that far up, I had to squint to see her, and she said she had to do the same with me. 

The walk up took about a total of 20 minutes and then we stayed up top for quite some time, then descended back down. Going back down was a bit difficult too because it was so steep and I didn’t want to walk to fast because it was hard to stop.

I laughed at one point and told Michelle why. I saw all of this lava rock everywhere and found it awfully similar to what mom uses to decorate our yard. It clicked that it was actual lava rock. I had a major blonde moment to say the least. 

I didn’t take any rock home with me though because Bethany told me in Santorini it’s bad luck to take it. She said her one friend took a rock from a volcano in Italy home and now every time she flies home from Italy she gets a phone call that someone died. Kind of creepy if you ask me and I can be quite superstitious. 

When we finally got back to the bus, I curled up in my seat and tried to get warm. I was all wet from the rain and cold from the mist. This was going to be a fun eight hour bus ride home!

The ride ended up going pretty fast, which was nice. We only stopped once for dinner for an hour and somehow made it home by 10:30. I was expecting to get home by midnight, so this was a pleasant surprise. 

During the ride home, I had a lot of time to think because all I was really doing was listening to my music. I realized I was slowly starting to get ready to come home. After my family left I really missed them. I never thought I would be ready to leave, but I think when the time comes I’ll be ready.

When we were taking the taxi home, I was incredibly nervous to check my email. I had no wifi this past weekend, and I knew Kristina was going to email me about the internship. When I got home, the first thing I did was get on my computer and log into my Kent email. I saw I had an email from her, and I was so nervous it was a no. If it was a no, I didn’t know what I was going to do. 

I opened it, and it said she would love to have me be a part of the Pittsburgh Magazine internship team this summer. I have never been more relieved. I squealed and jumped up and down and Lydia hugged me. I felt like a little kid. It was a HUGE weight lifted off of my shoulders. 

I told Kory to get on Skype ASAP because I wanted to tell him because it was so hard to not even tell him I was interviewing with them. I wanted to tell mom, but she was at Jon’s hockey banquet, so I knew I would have to wait until tomorrow. 

What a wonderful way to come home though. Now I was in warm, comfy clothes and I officially had plans for the summer!