Bye Croatia, I'll See You Again!

Sunday, July 11

Funny things I forgot to add:
-Today on the ship (13th) I was warming up before class when all of the sudden, the crew ran out and started yelling, “Man over board! Man over board!” I kind of freaked out and went to the edge to see who fell off! It ended up being a drill and I didn’t hear the announcement that was said to everyone telling them a drill was about to happen… haha. The ship took a sharp turn and headed towards the bright orange dummy floating far away. The turn was so sharp that the pool on the deck above started flowing over to the lower deck where I was standing so I ran inside and watched the waterfall over the deck haha. It was an interesting experience.
-Another thing, when we told this one guy that we were from Texas, he said he would never go there and he acted a little freaked out. I asked him why and he said because he saw the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He doesn’t want to go there because he thinks the man is still alive and that Texas is scary because of that, hahaha we laughed so hard!
-We lost an hour last night, and I forgot. So, Shea and I woke up at 730 and somehow made it to our 8am class right on time! Impressive.

On the last day, we just wanted to relax with no plans and just see what happened. We walked around the Old City, shopped, looked at paintings on the streets, listened to musicians, and found a small patio café overlooking the Old Port. I had Fanta; everyone here drinks this stuff. I love orange juice and I love carbonated drinks, so Fanta is like Heaven. I had asparagus soup, which I have never had before, and it was great! Then I ordered a tuna salad; fresh tuna over fresh green lettuce leaves with capers and tomatoes, with olive oil on top… YUM! Shea and I sat there for a while just chatting and enjoying the moment we were in! Overlooking the port was beautiful, and I’m sure that it’s where the people stand to take pictures for postcards. When we were eating, I could hear kittens meowing. Underneath us, under the wooden deck, there was a cat and her little kittens! They were so young, they might have been born while we were sitting there because they all wouldn’t stop meowing and the mom cat was meowing loudly too! Haha ok maybe they were a few days old.. they were tiny!

After that, we went to the front of the Old City to buy a ticket to walk the walls. I forgot to explain what the Old City was. It is a small, cute village part with huge stone walls surrounding it. You can pay about 30 Kuna to walk around the edges of the walls on the top and see the best views of the Old Town and of Dubrovnik. the steps to get to the top were so steep and took forever to get to the top. Once we got to the top and stopped to catch our breath, the view took it away again! It was incredible. You could see everything. People walking all in the Old City, towers, Lokrum, houses, and everything in the water and everything surrounding the city. It took about an hour to walk all the way around, because we would stop every so often and take pictures and just soak up the view. It was definitely a must-do thing if you ever come to Dubrovnik! I don’t think a lot of SAS kids did this walk but they sure did miss out on the most amazing views that are straight from the postcards. I usually see postcards of places and think, “Hmm, that might be the view from a helicopter or an enhanced photo, there’s no way it’s that pretty.” But no, it’s that pretty. It is JUST like the postcards, but even better!! When we walked down the steep steps (which is harder going down that up), I saw a man in a Texas Tech shirt. I had to yell, “Go Tech!” Haha we started talking to them and they were an older couple on vacation and decided to come to Croatia for the summer! It was the first Tech shirt I’ve seen that was someone who was not on Semester at Sea.

After hanging out all day, just relaxing and wandering around in the Old City, it was time to head back to the ship to board. We went to the supermarket next to the ship in the port to spend the last of our Kuna on snacks. I bought a lot of gum, Fanta, and those amazing cookies Banks found! We were eating dinner on the deck as the ship was sailing away, and it was such a sad feeling! Everyone LOVED Croatia and it has been the best place for me by far. I miss it so much and I honestly want to come back or find another cool place to visit in Croatia. Seriously, I’m obsessed. I’m so glad this trip picked Dubrovnik, Croatia to stop in! Everyone was just standing by the rails, watching Croatia fade away, with the striking sunset on the Adriatic Sea. Like I said, it was really sad, but it was one of the most remarkable experiences ever and Dubrovnik is incredible.

Shea and I have an intercultural communications test tomorrow which should be pretty simple. Here on the ship, they don’t try and make you work really hard and stress about class, which is so nice. I’m learning useful information and enjoying it, while not having to stress so hard about deadlines and grades. In 2 days, we will be in Greece! I can’t wait!!!

Let Me Guess, Bruno?

Saturday, July 10

We accidentally slept past our alarm and didn’t wake up until about 10am, which was perfectly fine with me! About 8 of us headed to town to catch the ferry to Lokrum. Lokrum is a small island that is about a 10 minute ferry ride. It has cliffs, rocky beaches, a few bars, and is a giant forest wit hidden ponds that you can swim in. We got gelato while waiting to get on the ferry and sat and watched some kittens play, they were so cute and really young! Once we got to Lokrum, we started walking around and figuring out what we wanted to do. We ran into several guys from SAS and we all decided that we wanted to find cliffs to jump from. On the ferry ticket, there was a map of the island so it was pretty convenient to know where to go! We had head about the “Dead Sea”, a small pond with a rope swing and a big flat rock to hang out on. When we got there, not many people where there, but we saw a lot of peacocks and baby ones! They would walk up to us and just stare and come close to our feet, so cute. We put our stuff under some big, shady trees, laid our towels out on the rock, took pictures, then jumped in! It seemed even saltier than the ocean (which was already super salty) and it was so easy to float! It was so hot outside so it felt great to get in the cold water. The rope swing was kind of high and you had to pull yourself about 4 feet out of the water to get up to a small knot to sit on, so it was nearly impossible! We watched the guys jump off the cliffs into the pond but it was too shallow for me to try. Boys will be boys. After hanging out there for a few hours then hitting my heel on a huge rock and getting another foot injury… we started walking around trying to find some real cliffs.

We saw a few kids jumping off a 30 foot cliff and then a ladder coming out of the ocean onto the main parts of the island. Shea and I were the first ones to jump off the cliff! Everyone was a little scared, but 30 feet really isn’t high at all. It was so much fun and we jumped for hours. I have a few videos of everyone and a lot of pictures! It was a beautiful sight, and the water was that deep blue color with really pretty rocks covered in bright green plants, just like a painting! You could see the Croatia and all of the little houses with bright orange tiled roofs, along with sail boats, kayaks, and huge cruises. It was amazing and it definitely made our trip to Lokrum worth it! We were pretty warn out after a while because it got exhausting jumping, swimming against the waves, climbing up a huge ladder, and crawling back up the jagged rocks to the top to jump again… but worth it!! We took the last ferry back around 5pm and went to the ship to get ready again for our last full night out in Dubrovnik!

The other night we met a guy named Bruno (yes, another one) and his friend Tom told us how his dad owns the restaurant on the edge by the Old Harbor where we ate. When we were walking around, we saw Bruno working there. How fun is that to work at a beautiful restaurant on the edge of Croatia?! The restaurant was full so we ate at one just outside the city wall (everything is so close together here) called Dubrovka. At this restaurant, there was live music by an older man who was playing the harmonica, guitar, and singing with a back up guitarist. He had multicolored lights around him and a small white tent. This place was really nice and we sat outside on a deck that overlooked the water and the outside of the Old City lit up with big lights. He played songs such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Layla, House of the Rising Sun, and many more classics sung with a heavy accent, but fun to listen to! I ordered the seafood risotto again, of course, and it was even better this time. The bread was soft and fresh, along with the tomatoes and pesto sauce! Mmm I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Dubrovnik has a festival once a year and we happened to be there while it was going on! I’m not sure what it is for, and the locals we met didn’t really know either… While eating, we got to see a firework show that was inside the Old City. It was so relaxing to sit in the cool breeze with amazing views, while eating a delicious meal watching a firework show! Once we were finished, we walked into the Old City which was packed full of people, way more than yesterday. In the main square part, there was a huge stage with lights, it looked like a concert setting, and we thought we were heading a man sing really well with a great band playing along. When we shoved our way close enough to see, it was a woman! She was amazing and reminded us of Cher because of her deep voice. Everyone around us seemed to love her and they were all singing along. We finally found out that she is one of the most famous singers in Croatia, and here we are standing by her listening for free. It was so cool and we stood there and listened for an hour or two. After that, it was about 10pm and we wanted to go to a club called East West, which was a little past the other side of the Old City (again, about a 10 minute walk). I absolutely love how small and convenient Dubrovnik is. It has all the things necessary, doesn’t seem to crowded, and everything is in short walking distance, so you see you friends everywhere! When we got to East West, the bouncer said Americans weren’t allowed and that you had to be 21. I pretended to be 22 from Sweden and he said he’d let me in, but it was too expensive, haha. Then we all just sat on a bench that overlooked the beach that was lit up by the moon. It was perfect night weather and the stars were so bright! Next, we walked to Fuego, the only other place to go at night, and it was less crowded than the night before, thankfully. On the way there, we ran into Tom and Bruno again and they showed us how to get in for cheaper and how to get let in front of the line haha. It pays off to talk to the locals!

That’s another thing I love about this whole traveling idea- meeting locals. It helps you understand the city environment better and how they live their lives. I don’t want to act like a tourist here, I want to fit in and really see the change that I want to feel from traveling. In Spain we met locals and hung out with them at clubs and stuff and talked for a while about their country, beliefs, ways they live and do things, and anything you can imagine. In Italy we didn’t meet any locals because it was a little too scary and dirty to go out at night in Rome and Naples. I think that is why I liked Spain and Croatia so much more, I got to know locals who speak enough English and it made me feel like I got something out of being there (besides seeing great views and having the time of my life). That’s just a small thought that goes way deeper but is so hard to explain!

This trip makes me want to continue traveling and immerse myself into other cultures, meet people around the world, and stay in touch! Also, I realized that I have a talent for picking up languages and pronouncing them like they are supposed to be. In Spain, learning Spanish in the few days that I was there was such motivation to learn it more and to act on the fact that I could pick it up easily and that the locals would tell me how well I learned how to pronounce things. It’s not fun sitting in a classroom learning Spanish from an American, but when you are in a country speaking it, it can be the most fun experience of the whole trip! Opposite to what I just said, Croatian is SO hard to speak and I could barely count to ten. I kept practicing and asking our new friends and I finally got it down, but I forgot it already. They don’t use the same vocal movements and sounds made by English and Spanish words, so I was definitely not used to it. I can’t wait for other countries where I can try more languages! I didn’t realize I had such an interest in it, I guess because I’m not around it in America.

Anyways, after Fuego a big group of us walked out to the bus and we missed it (thinking it was the last one) but guess who appeared again to save us? Tom! He told us when the next bus was coming which was soon, and we were about to start the 45 minute walk back to the ship! The locals were so helpful the entire trip, basically our tour guides!

One Croatian guy was saying how he can’t wait to go to college in America because he is ready to get out of Croatia. I was telling him that to us, it’s paradise here and people would do anything to visit. He knew that we felt that way, but I guess growing up here and having it seem so normal made his country seem so casual. Then, it started making me think that way about myself. I was always wanting to go live in somewhere cooler, but America is amazing. I appreciate it so much more being away from it all and hearing foreign people all say how they want to go to America for either school, travel, or just to live there in general. This is such an amazing experience and I honestly wish all of my friends could understand it because it’s nearly impossible to explain the feelings/thoughts this trip provokes! Thanks again Mom and Dad for this opportunity, I don’t think I can every thank you enough. This is the best decision of my life and I know that it will have a positive impact on my forever. Simply unforgettable!

Kayaking in Croatia

Friday July 9th
We woke up a little later than planned and went out for the day around 1pm. When we got off of the bus, there were some guys in bright yellow shirts that said, “Ask Us About Kayaking”. We asked! Usually, they take big group of about 30 people kayaking, but we did a little talking and negotiating and got a group of 10 for less! I don’t know how that worked out so well! We walked down an alley and around some buildings and then saw this beautiful cove with a little umbrella stand and kayaks. Our guide was named Bruno and he was from Split. We asked him if Bruno was a common name and he said no, but we met 3 more! It was 2 people to a kayak and Shea and I were together. We started kayaking around the Old City walls and through rocks and cliffs. It was the most beautiful scene, just like a post card! We kayaked out to an island called Lokrum, and went all the way around it. It was about 5 miles of kayaking and I was definitely sore the next day! When we went by the island, we could see people hanging out, swimming, and jumping off cliffs. We went through some small passages around the edges of Lokrum and accidentally went by a nude beach that was full of old people, big mistake. Then we stopped at a little cove when we got back to Croatia and got out, walked around in a cave, and ate yummy bruschetta sandwiches! Some of the girls in the group went snorkeling but there were no fish so I just swam and sat on the rock staring at the amazing views! After that, we kayaked back to where we started, going along the coast and watching more people cliff jump and swim. What was fun about this was that we had a small group, the weather was perfect, it was relaxing, and we didn’t go back the way we came! I’m so glad that we did this and it was a dream come true. Kayaking around a Croatian island and swimming, how amazing does that sound?! It took about 4 hours (felt like forever, thankfully) and was well worth it! We got ice cream after, hoped on the bus, and went back to the ship to get ready for dinner and another night out!

There was a restaurant that everyone recommended (I forgot the name), so Shea, 2 girls from Baylor, and I went to go find it! It was on the Old City Port and the line was really long so we knew it was good. It didn’t take that long to get a table, to my surprise, and the service was great! There were tables everywhere and huge umbrellas covering the whole place, probably about the half the size of a football field. I noticed I compare everything in size to a football field. There was live music around the corner that we could hear, but couldn’t see. I ordered he seafood risotto, which everyone recommends, and it was extraordinary! It was kind of like rice that wasn’t fully cooked, chewy-ish (the way I love it) and a really yummy sauce with all kinds of sea creatures (cuddle fish, oysters, shrimp, scallops, squid). After hanging out and enjoying the views/people watching, we started to walk around and see what we were going to do tonight. As we were walking out of the restaurant, I was telling Shea how I wish we could find the people we met last night so we could all hang out again because it was so fun. As I was saying that and we were turning the corner, there was Tom and our new friends just standing there! It was the weirdest coincidence! Then, we saw these two guys from the ship who are really funny and goofy, Ben and Jerome, so that made the night even better. We all walked to an Irish Pub and were just listening to music and watching people walk by. We stayed there for about 2 hours and I talked to my mom for a while and caught up! After that, Payton and Banks (the two guys from Whitehouse) showed us the random villa that they found and rented. It was literally next door to this Irish Pub and in the middle of the Old City! It was about a 4 flight hike (steepest steps I’ve ever seen) to get to their villa. When we walked in, it was huge! It had all new furniture, a new kitchen, huge rooms, and a massive TV. All of the furniture was white with bright orange leather couches and the kitchen was all black. There were glass chandeliers hanging everywhere with really modern, colorful paintings. I don’t know how these guys found this amazing place! We all hung out there on the top patio that overlooked all of the Old City, it was beautiful and especially at night because all of the city lights were on and you could see the starts too!

After hanging out there for a while, we all decided to go to Fuego again because no Semester at Sea people would be overcrowding it since everyone was there the night before. When we went, it was less crowded, and actually more fun because there was room to walk around and see everyone (plus it was much cooler). After Fuego, we walked back to Bank’s villa and he discovered these delicious cookies at a supermarket called Petite Beurre, butter biscuits. The next day Shea and I bought some to put on the ship and eat on the way to Greece, haha. Around 5 am we went back to the ship (sounds late but we are all getting used to this! Everyone in Europe doesn’t go out until 12 so it makes sense).

Things about Dubrovnik:
You have to come here at least once :)
You have to ask where the trashcan is, it’s impossible to find one, which is surprising because the city is so clean.
Everyone wears blue and white stripped shirts, we saw ten in 5 minutes.
Not only are there cats everywhere, just like other countries, but there are kittens everywhere too!
Most everyone speaks good English and treat us well.
It is much nicer, cleaner, no homeless people, and SO easy to get around in.

Osojnik Village and Folk Show by day, Fuego by night

July 8: Dubrovnik, Croatia
I am obsessed with Dubrovnik. I want to vacation here for a whole summer or something. I can't explain how amazing this place is and how great the people are!

It’s been a few days since I have written! I’ve been so busy and having the best time ever in Croatia that I’ve put this off, but now I’m catching up!
On Thursday I had a trip to a village in the mountains of Croatia called Osojnik. I got to sleep in a little because the trip wasn’t until 1, and there was no time to do much before then! There were a few girls that I’ve become good friends with that were signed up for the same day trip to this village with me, which made it so much better! We got on the buses and headed up the mountain.

On the way up, we stopped on the main bridge. This bridge is massive and you can see some great views of the bay in Dubrovnik! You can also see little towns clustered together, waterways, and the ocean, of course! After sightseeing and taking a lot of pictures, we went up a windy mountainside to the village. This bus ride was just as steep and scary as the one in Anacapri, but the bus driver was slow and it made it less scary!! When we arrived, a little old man in a cute folk-ish uniform greeted us.

Our tour guide was telling us how the houses that used to be in this village were burned by the Soviets during the war, and that what we will see is fairly new, but not that nice, because it’s full of stonecutters and farmers (really nice ones!). In this village, there were fields of pumpkins, cherries, mulberry trees (to feed their silkworms), olives, and many more cool village vegetables! The houses were on top of barns, which were on top of cellars. The Osojnik people keep wine and olive oil in the cellars, and donkeys and chickens in the barns. Those are the only 2 types of animas that I saw, except for a little white friendly kitten! The village man walked us through their church and then down to where we were going to eat dinner and watch musicians perform traditional stuff. When we walked into the main place where we stayed all day, we were greeted with moonshine (which was disgusting) and yummy dried orange peels covered in sugar, I think. There were also a lot of fruits and nuts that they have from their farming. Oh my goodness, I forgot about the figs. They were to die for. I can’t explain how they were prepared because I don’t know what figs normally look like, but they were really soft and covered in a thin dough layer, with some powder stuff on it. I had so many, I should’ve bought some when I left but I was so full I didn’t think about it! We walked down to a patio where there were little grills with a fire. We were handed these long olive branches that were shaved and sharpened at the end. We had no idea what was going on! Then, they brought out small squares of bacon! It was raw and we weren’t sure if we were supposed to eat it or not, so naturally, the boys tried it. Then the village lady said some Croatian words really fast and then took the bacon from them while shaking her head and laughing. It was pretty funny. A village guy showed us how to cook the bacon over the fire using the sharpened branch (basically, he was a mime because he didn’t speak English). Once I cooked my piece of bacon, I put it on the fresh bread that was brought out, along with some kind of white cheese, it all melted together! I had so much bacon and cheese! The flavor of the bacon was unreal in how amazing it was! It was so flavorful and salty, and dripping with fat! Probably not the healthiest appetizer, but a good one!

Once we all played with the fire and took more pictures, we sat down at long wooden tables and starting drinking the wine that was made from the grapes that were hanging above us! It was really sweet, and an odd shade of green. For dinner we had pork pieces that were in a pot with a sauce that also flavored the potato slices. It was soooo good! The salad was delicious too, the tomatoes were picked right before we ate them; can’t get any fresher that that! For dessert, we has this bread thing with cinnamon butter spread on it. It was rolled up like a cinnamon roll, but it was much better and I could just tell that it was some home-made secret recipe, the good stuff.

After sitting and talking to everyone about everything possible, we all went up to the top porch where the old man (one that greeted us in the beginning) started playing some small string instrument with a bow. There were two village ladies in long blue dresses who danced around him, kind of slowly, with their arms in the air while snapping. It was pretty cool to watch and everyone started clapping along, and after about 5 minutes, everyone was dancing! It was really unique but so fun!

After that, we left and I was exhausted from eating so much and dancing. I went back, met up with Shea and all of the girls that live by us, and we went out! You have to take a bus (about 10 minutes, and 10 Kuna) to get to the main part of Dubrovnik because our ship is in the port part. We were just walking around the town and hanging out, and started talking to some locals. They told us the cool places to go so we went! It was a discotheque called Fuego, and was jam packed with Semester at Sea kids. We met one guy in general who is Croatian and plays basketball in America, and he told us a lot of fun things we should go do and see! We stayed there into the wee hours of the morning (I’m talking 5am) and then took the bus back, slept for a few hours, woke up, and went back out to see beautiful Dubrovnik!

Precious Pompeii Pups

Avatar is on! I love that movie.

Today we went to Pompeii and Sorrento! It was so fun and different; reminded me of Capri, but less expensive and bigger!
Sometimes we can go do whatever we want and not come back for days, sometimes we go on trips through the program and follow a tight schedule. Both of these options are great and I wouldn’t have it any other way! But one of the hard parts about the trips through Semester at Sea is that it usually starts super early. We got on a bus around 8am and drove 30 minutes to Pompeii. I slept on the bus ride so honestly I don’t remember the scenery, so I can’t be descriptive!

When we got off, there were stands everywhere of souvenirs, food, drinks, and most commonly, lemon stands! I guess they are known for their lemons over there? The lemons were the size of our faces! It smelt so good and everyone was buying lemon chills and lemon candy, gelato, and plain ole slices of lemon. We walked into a building where a man was carving the elegant faces into shells and jewelry pieces. I think the process is called cameo? Cameo jewelry? Anyways, it was beautiful and he was very talented. All of the jewelry was pretty expensive but luckily there was a student discount and a discount for being in a tour group, so Shea and I each bought a little necklace charm. We actually picked out the same charm out of hundreds without knowing! Once we got to look around and shop a little, we went into the gates of Pompeii. The best way I can describe it is narrow, cobblestone streets with brick walls and weeds growing out of everything. It was a little creepy knowing that so many people had died there or fled from their homes, but it was a beautiful sight. There were dogs everywhere. The dogs weren’t gross or mangy, just a little tattered and scruffy, haha. They would follow groups of people and we had about 3 follow our group! They would walk with us for a while, and when we would stop to see things and take pictures, they would sit down and wait until we started walking again! Precious Pompeii pups.
There were chariot ruts in the cobblestone from being worn down and huge rocks going across the streets at intersections. The rocks in the middle were stepping stones for when it flooded. The sides of the streets were higher than the street, which was about 6 inches lower. We walked around and saw columns, pottery, kitchens, and many more things that were left over and uncovered. There were painting on walls in the market where they had chicken and fish (according to the painting). Another amazing thing was this huge brick room, a sauna! They made their own sauna and it was for men only. There were male statues (about 3 feet tall) holding up the ceiling, bordering the walls. There was also a massage room that was very cold inside. These two rooms were right next to each other and looked the same, but were total opposite temperatures! How in the heck did they do that!! It is just incredible to see it in person and stand where they stood. There was a fountain with carvings and paintings on it where hands were washed before meals, and there were small houses with beds made out of solid rock. It was so cool and I seriously think Pompeii is one of the most unique things that I’ve seen so far. Like I said, it’s creepy in a way, but so interesting. Oh and we saw bodies that were cast in ash. The skin was obviously not there, but the bones were still in perfect contact with the entire body, and they were posed as if they were suffering. I can’t describe the weird feeling you get when you see a body made of bones that was not put back together, it was found like that. There was also a dog in bones that was solidified. It was sad but fascinating! The pottery that was found was beautiful and so were the details on the columns and walls. It is just so difficult to imagine a time that is not like ours today. It is so hard to grasp, but Pompeii let’s you do just that.

After that once-in a-lifetime experience, we headed to Sorrento for lunch and free time. It took 30 minutes or so to get there (and I slept again…) but I woke up right before the top of the mountain! The views were to die for. I can’t wait to show pictures. When we got to the top, we started roaming around and shopped for a few hours. Shea bought an apron that we saw for 3 times less than the price of the exact same one in Capri. Capri is a money trap, but worth the trip :). I bought a cute leather purse for a decent price! The owner gave me a little lemon key chain made of leather for free! The purse is pretty small, light brown, and has a metal thing on the front that says something in Italian and then ‘Made in Italy’. It’s perfect. At lunch, we had Fanta, sparkling water, pasta, ham with potatoes seasoned with rosemary (random, but delicious) and then lemon creme cake of course!! YUM. I saw a wedding going on and they were all in kilts. Someone told us that the Irish like to come to Sorrento and get married. Who knows what that’s all about! Next, we hoped on the bus and headed back to Naples, just in time for the 4th of July cookout!

Everyone was out on the deck, burger smoke filled the air, music was loud, and everyone was just having a good time! This was the first time in about a week that everyone has been on the ship at the same time. so it was nice to see people that I haven’t seen in days! Tonight we leave to Croatia so we all had to board the ship. The cookout was delightful and the cake was sooo good!! Now I have to read and study for our first test tomorrow, and classes start back up bright and early at 8am. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you are enjoying it!!
P.S. I miss the chiropractor!

4th of July!

Happy 4th of July
Today was amazing!!
Shea and I headed to the ferry to travel 45 minutes to the island of Capri! I slept the whole way because I have been so exhausted, and I take every chance I get to sleep, haha. When I woke up, we were pulling up to the island. Let me tell you, it was beautiful!! It was just like the postcards (you’ll hear me say that a lot). There was the crystal clear, bright blue water, leading up to big rocks with small boats tied to docks. There were shops and houses that climbed up the hill that were painted bright colors! It was sunny and hot, and you could see the clouds surrounding the top of mountains on Capri! We got on a bus that took us up to the very top of Capri, known as Anacapri. The bus ride up was the scariest thing of my life! It was a one-lane street, a crazy man driving super fast, cars coming head on and slamming their breaks, honking, steep edges, and sharp curves. The trip back down was just as scary. When we got to the top, there were a few cafés and shops, and mainly tourists. Capri is muchhhh nicer and cleaner than Naples. We got on a chairlift (one at a time) and rode 12 minutes up to the top. You could almost see the entire side of the island from the lift, along with boats far away in the ocean and the tops of houses and buildings below. It was breathtaking and I got some great pictures! Once we got off at the top, it was incredible. It’s not like a huge mountain top where you walk everywhere with no steep ledges or anything. No, it was a small mountain top about half the size of a football field, with rails around the edge, dropping off straight into the deep blue Tyrrhenian Sea! There were some tall mountain points of Capri that were covered by clouds, which made it look so much cooler! There was a small bar that served lemon cello (which they are known for on Capri, and we tried some and it was great!) and gelato and other snacks/drinks. We sat and hung out, took pictures, and then got back on the lift down and headed to lunch. Half way down we stopped by a random set of stairs. When we walked up, there was an outdoor restaurant full of people! The view was amazing and the food was great! We had cokes in bottles (always tastes better), ravioli and pasta with basil and tomato sauce, then fish with a salad, and then sweet cream gelato! It was very filling and relaxing. We took the bus back down to the bottom, and decided to take a boat tour. It was about 15 Euros and 10 of us piled on a hydrofoil. We toured around the island and just soaked up the sun. After rocking on waves and going at a fun speed, we went under an arch formed from the rocks, went in a cave, and saw people jumping off of cliffs. We stopped for a little while and jumped off the boat and swam! The water was such a different feeling than any water that I’ve been in. It was really salty and much easier to float. It was so clear and smooth! It was also refreshing from being in the heat. We went back, shopped around and hung out. In one of the stores, there were samples of these delicious almonds covered in toffee and chocolate. I took a handful and then later we went back and snacked on them some more. I saw a small bag of them for sale and it was 10 Euros!! I think I ate about 15 Euro worth in samples… Hehe. Then we hoped on the ferry around 4:30 and headed back to muggy Naples.

After resting a little in the cabin, we went to a restaurant close to the ship. We didn’t want to walk very far and we were starving! It was called Trattoria Medina. We had the Caprese pizza again, and it was just as good as the other place! Italy’s pizza truly tastes better than pizza from anywhere else I’ve gone! I wish I could share some to those who haven’t experienced it! We aren’t allowed to bring leftovers onto the ship, only prepackaged and sealed items :(

This is the hardest experience of my life. The way I am treated is definitely nothing I’m used to or have experienced. This is all worth every penny and minute of it, but I can’t wait to get back to America and be in my comfort zone. This trip gets you completely out of your comfort zone, even if you attempt to stay in it. I miss everyone so much! This is so hard to do and it’s only the second country. It’s only going to get harder and I hope I’m ready for it. It goes by too fast to take in!! All of these changes in clothes, food, communication, money, and the general lifestyle just shake me up and make me so scared and uncomfortable sometimes. It’s an experience that I will never forget, and the things I learn on this trip will never leave me, and I will always be grateful for what I have in America. It’s like when you go to camp, with new friends and a new schedule, you adapt to a new life and you are on your own etc., but 100 times bigger and more realistic. You get a glimpse of what the world could possible be like in other countries that we won’t even be traveling to. I can’t imagine (literally, it’s impossible) what it’s like to know what’s out there in this world unless I go and experience it for myself. Thanks Mom and Dad for making this amazing opportunity possible! It has already been a learning and growing experience and it’s only the second country!

Dear Long Lost Friend (=air conditioning)

Ah so glad to be back in the air-conditioned, clean room. I’m watching Slumdog Millionaire and Monster Inc. Lovin’ it.

This is why I love Semester at Sea: Shea and I went to breakfast on the upper deck and we sat with a random guy and girl that we have never met! Now we are all going out around Naples today! I love making new friends and getting to know everyone! Along with us, our neighbors are coming, Trevor and Ryan, from Boulder. It will be a fun group! I decide my outfit based on whom we are going with. If there are guys in the group, I can dress cuter because I won’t be afraid of being approached by creeps on the street. If guys are with us, we get left alone. If it’s just me and Shea, I try to blend in and wear stuff that is neutral-colored, because I don’t want anyone following Shea and me without guys protecting us! In Rome, two guys followed us for quite a while, so we stayed on the main street and just walked back and forth. They finally left us alone.

So this afternoon we just wandered around Naples, and checked everything out! It was a free day so we made no plans, just adventured. First, it started off with about 7 people. We walked around and found our way to town (away from the cruise ships’ port). While we were randomly walking around, probably looking lost, an old man, with really nice clothes on, walked up to us and started speaking bits of English. He was telling us to go to the top of Naples to a castle where you can see everything including Pompeii and Capri etc. He was so nice and friendly! We were thinking that he might ask for a tip once he showed us where to go, because that seems to be the expectation from everyone for us. He walked with us for about 15 minutes, all the way up to the lift that takes us to the top! He showed us where to get the tickets and explained where to get off and where to go. Right before we got onto the lift (he walked us up directly to it), we handed him a tip we gathered. He refused it and said, “No my friends, I help you!” He was so nice and we would have never found out about this or have known what to do without him! It cost 1.10 Euros, so cheap for what we saw today! We rode the lift in a little tunnel all the way to the top of the mountain, but we couldn’t see anything yet. Once we got to the top, we hoped off, and saw tons of people, cafes, and shops! It was much more of what we were looking for, unlike the base by the port. We followed some signs that led us to the entrance of Castle Elmo. Once we went through a little art museum, we went up a lot of stairs and walked the entire edge of this huge castle! We were the only ones there and we could see for miles! I could see all of Naples, the beaches, the ocean, and Mount Vesuvius! It was breathtaking, and pretty hot. We hung out on the top for an hour or so, and then headed back to the lift to take us down (the ticket was valid for 90 minutes). That was definitely the highlight of the day. The pictures we took look like the view on postcards showing the view of Naples! I wonder if any of our friends knew how to get up there or even knew it was there! If it weren’t for the kind Italian man, we would’ve missed the best view of Italy that I’ve ever seen! At one point, Shea asked him to draw his house structure (it was for a class) and I don’t think he understood. He took the paper she handed him, folded it, put it in his pocket, and said, “Niiiiice,” while smiling. We laughed so hard but we let him keep it. I wonder what he was thinking we were trying to tell him or show him… Haha.

After we came back down to the hustle and bustle (and dirtiness) of Naples, we went to a café that was outdoors, in the center of everything. It probably wasn’t the ideal place for me to eat, because no one was in it, and it was in the middle of everything (usually meaning it’s expensive, and it was). The pizzas were little round pieces of bread with tomato sauce smeared on top with a 1’ by 1’ square of mozzarella… Not my kind of pizza. The service wasn’t that great either. You can easily tell if you are unwanted, regardless of the language barrier. After that, Shea and I decided to venture on our own because the group we were with was interested in touristy things, and we just don’t like doing the normal activities. We started walking down random alleys (full of people and stores, don’t worry Mom), and walked passed fruit stands, fish markets, and cafes. There was no room for cars, just mopeds and people. We stopped at one and read the menu outside. It looked pretty good! Then, we saw a big family of locals walk in, and then some more locals. That was the deciding factor to go in; locals were flowing! Even though we were stared at by everyone, and talked about in mean tones, we sat down and tried to act like we didn’t notice. It can get so frustrating when you are absolutely sure that the people next to you are talking about you and staring at you from 5 feet away, laughing and giving mean looks, it’s still really hard to get used to, and I don’t think I’ll get used to it anyways. We just smile and try to be as nice as possible, and the nice people respond back and treat you well. We ordered the Caprese pizza (same as margarita) and it was the same price as the tiny one we had for lunch (this was our second lunch because the first one was merely a snack).  When he brought it out to us, it was HUGE!! But, I ate all of mine again, to my surprise… again. It was the best pizza I’ve had so far, and I wish I could tell others how to get there, or give them samples of what a delicious pizza this was! Shea and I sat and chatted for a while and then asked for the check. I think we are getting used to this hang out-and-chill-then-get-the-bill thing! Usually, we rush and ask for the check as we finish, but today we really took it on differently, and not intentionally! It made me feel like I was living in their lifestyle a little bit, and it was a nice change of pace! After that, we went to a lot of shops and just wandered around some more, and got yummy gelato. We started walking back to the ship and we thought we were going the right way, but we weren’t positively sure. Luckily, there were these 2 dogs sleeping on the side of a building that were in the exact same spot from when we walked away from the ship! Basically, the dogs lead us home, haha. As soon as I got back, I had to shower. Naples is very muggy, humid, hot, and your feet get covered with dirt! It’s just a gross feeling. Today was really fun and I’m sure we will go out tonight!