I didn't enjoy Naples as much as I had hoped, and I was slowly starting to think that Italy wasn't going to meet my expectations and then we moved over to Civitavetcchia...and I'm absolutely in love with it. But before I get there I need to tell you all about my last and favorite day in Naples, which was July 4th. I got to hike Mount Vesuvius and it was the most spectacular view I've seen in my life, argueably better than the view from Capri. I tried to upload pictures today but so many people were using the internet that it wouldn't go, so I did try. :( Mt. Vesuvius was awesome. It was a nature park first, so I finally got to get out of the city and away from so many people for a while. It got pretty busy as we were climbing down because it was 11ish when we were leaving, but it was relatively empty until then. I'm pretty bummed they cancelled the hike I was supposed to do in Tuscany now, I loved having nature time. A lot of people complained about the difficulty of the hike, but really you only hike the last 600 feet. Which on a 3600 foot mountain isn't that much. It was different from what I'm used to hiking because it was all just up instead of the Appalachian stuff I'm used to which is more winding of up and down both ways. I loved it though, my friend Katie and I started singing the national anthem and a bunch of other americans that happened to be there plus other SASers joined in, and people from other countries cheered us on. So that was fun. It was kinda cool because the mountain had a high humidity level, especially since half the time we were IN a cloud...pretty much moving humidity. But it was nice because the water in the cloud was cool so it felt good, and thankfully we went in the morning before it got to be too hot. Today was much cooler than yesterday, probably about 80 verses Capri which was a little over 90. I miss having a pool, this one is always full of people, and I like to go in the evening and they close it up by 6 at night. They threw us a fourth of july barbecue after my trip to Mount Vesuvius with real charcoal grills, that I'm convinced they should use every day. They had burgers, hot dogs, potatoe salad, baked beans (that I put on my weiner of course) and yummy icecream. Also the best lemonade I've ever had. They also played American classics like Journey, and Billy Joel, and then they'd play some country and some patriotic stuff. They also had flags everywhere and such. Another cruise ship was near by and there were some Americans on it who were chearing for every new song it was pretty funny. The couple of Italians that were on board were pretty impressed actually. Idk, it was just fun to feel American again for a while. That night we came over to (what we have now nicknamed Civy because we can't pronounce it haha) Civy of which is a "city" similar to Meadville. Basically it's Meadville on the ocean, it didn't even feel like a port town until today when tons of people were loading onto cruise ships and such. Until then it was relatively quiet and there are actual Italians who only speak Italian. In four days I have learned a significant amount, much more than I learned in Naples where it was hard to find people to talk to. I want to save up to come back in the near future. There was a restaurant right outside of where we were docked with the nicest bartender named Arnoldo. The first thing I did here of course was a trip to Rome. We spent the day there, and I absolutely loved it. I am glad however that I went on a Tuesday, it was incredibly crowded. I was glad to see the museum, I saw the she-wolf and some original Caravvagio's. Then a group of about four of us walked over to the Colosseum, which is impossiblle to capture in pictures. It's funny because the thicker the crowd got the closer you knew you were to a monument. Then we went up to the fontana di Trevi, Trevi Fountain. Then we ate lunch, I had proscuitto and melon along with half of my friends pizza she couldn't eat alone, with an amazing cappucino. Then we had to meet back up with our tour guide and headed back. It was a short trip, but for this time of year it was the cheapest and best way to do it. Don't worry, i made sure to do the coin toss. That night is when I met the awesome bartender. He's a jolly old fellow, and I will really miss him. Through an array of events i ended up meeting this guy named Fabbio of whom I ended up spending all of my evenings here with. He taught me quite a bit of Italian and kept taking me places where he could get free stuff, and he bought me wine and such. It was really fun, and not scary because my tour guide actually knew him. He was her friends son. The next day though I spent the whole day up near Florence in Siena and San Gimagnino. Siena was interesting because they have two big bareback horse races a summer, one had just finished a few days before we arrived so each area of the town were flying their flags. Especially the "goose" section which had just won the race. Driving through Tuscany was a definite favorite of mine, the sunflowers are just amazing. I had relatively forgotten about Fabbio, figuring I wouldn't find him again but when I got back from my trip he was at the restaurant that Arnoldo works at. So I took my stuff back on the ship and met up with him there, and i spent time with him last night as well. Unfortunately he works until 7 at night and we have to be back on the ship by 6 so I won't see him today. Hopefully I'll have a pen pal now, that will help keep me motivated to learn more Italian. I was getting pretty good at it, but after a few more countries I think I might lose some of it. I'm definitely better at learning it this way than trying to study it in a book, I'm starting to hate my spanish class. He gives us far too much work to do in comparison to other classes. Yesterday I just spent the day wandering around Civy with my friend Jeff, we layed out on a few rocks for a while, and I bought a phone card and talked to my mom for a while. I will try and call her again today. Then since Fabbio is a fisherman he had a restaurant owner friend of his make us a special dinner. We had this awesome shrimp and homemade spaghetti, then these giant shrimp-lobster things that were firegrilled and amazing. Also we had the best Tiramasu ever. They had a really good white wine that we drank, and Limoncello is becoming one of my favorite drinks. They have a lot of it here since Capri is right here. They have GIANT lemons there. There's this little carnival next to the water that him and I went to, and then today I just went to the internet cafe and worked on homework. I'm sad to leave but I'm excited to see what the other countries have to offer. Croatia is next after a couple days at sea. We will arrive in Dubrovnik on Monday the 11th. I hope all is well :)
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