Last weekend was our school’s optional trip to Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri, and Naples. I was excited because it was my last weekend of traveling and it allowed for time to be spent with some of my favorite people. But I hated it! I hated the fact that I bonded with even more people in my program. I hated the fact that Sorrento and Capri were the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited. I hated the fact that I had so much fun. I hated all of this because it made it that much more difficult to leave this amazing country with these phenomenal people from my program.

We left Perugia at 6:15 early Friday morning. While waiting for the bus I was pooped on by a pigeon, so I figured that was a good sign for an awesome weekend. The bus ride was about 5 hours to Pompeii. When we arrived we had a private tour of the ancient city ruined by a volcanic eruption from Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Vesuvius is still in the background of the ancient city. It doesn’t peak as high now, but its shadow still lingers over the ruins. You can also see the new modern city of Pompeii in the background in the opposite direction of Mt. Vesuvius. Some images that will always remain with me are the preserved victims of Pompeii. Bodies were preserved in mud (preservation was made possible because of the deoxygenated mud that didn’t allow oxygen to decompose the body). The expression on the victims’ faces and their body positioning really got to me. The exact moment they experienced their death is when their bodies were captured in the mud produced by volcanic reactions.

After only being in Pompeii for a few hours, we headed to Sorrento. Sorrento is this gorgeous little city on the water next to the Amalfi Coast. Our hotel had an incredible view of the sea, and that night we just drank wine by the water. Everything felt perfect, but the real fun didn’t start until the next day.

Saturday morning we all took a 30-minute ferry ride to the island of Capri. When the ferry rode up to the port in Capri I thought I was in some mythical place. It looked like something out of fairytale because it was this unexplainable magnificence like something I’ve never seen before. The island was pretty small compared to the more famous islands of Italy: Sardinia and Sicily. The island itself was like a large mountain range and a lot of rocky cliffs, but even the Romans found a home in Capri. There were ancient Roman ruins at the very top of the island that overlooked a sea of blue bliss. Even the founder of the Gerber baby products built a mansion on top of the island, which came with an incredible view.

About 20 of us from the same program got to take a private boat ride around the island. It was great being on a boat, in a beautiful place, and with some of the people that I love the most. We bonded even more, we laughed, we cried about the good times we had this semester, and some people even took a dip in the freezing cold water.

Capri is well known for their Blue Grotto. The Blue Grotto is a small cave that allows minimal sunlight to enter through. This miniscule amount of sunlight creates an illuminating reflection from the water that displays a sight that you can only see to believe. The boat let us off right in front of the entrance to the Blue Grotto. Five of us then got on an even smaller boat in order to enter the Blue Grotto. The cost to enter the cave is a ridiculous 13 euros, but once you enter you don’t regret it one bit. We had to all lay on top of each other in a horizontal position as we entered the cave. The entry hole to the cave is unbelievably small and even though we were lying down our heads almost scraped the top of the rocky cave. The cave was much smaller than I expected, but the reflection of the translucent blue water sparkled in my eyes. I didn’t even feel like I was on this planet anymore. It reminded me of the planet Pandora in Avatar. It was just so outlandish but all so exquisite. Our Blue Grotto boat driver even serenaded us with a beautiful Italian ballad that echoed through the cave, and everything was tranquil.

Capri was everything! Out of all of my adventures it probably was my favorite place. I knew that nothing could ever beat that experience. The next morning we had to leave the perfection that was Sorrento and Capri. We took an hour bus ride to our last stop: Naples. For this leg of the trip we had our own personal tour guides. One of the guides joined us early in the morning in Sorrento. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted from the day before that I fell asleep while she talked all the way from Sorrento to Naples. I’m sure I missed something important, but that nap just felt too good. When we arrived in Naples we picked up our other tour guide who is a native of Naples. Both gave intriguing lectures on the city, but once again I found myself coming in and out of consciousness while trying to fight exhaustion. We were finally let off the bus to find what was on everybody’s mind: some Neapolitan pizza. Naples is the home of pizza, and we were not disappointed.

Our journey in Naples didn’t last long, but that might’ve been for the best. Naples was the most congested place I’ve ever visited. Maybe it was just me but it was worse than any day in New York City or Rome. Surprisingly, Naples was my least favorite city that we ventured to during the school trip, but I’m glad I went.

On the 5-hour bus ride back to Perugia there was a lot of quiet time. I can only imagine what everyone else on the bus was thinking, but for me it was a great time to reminisce. I looked at everyone who surrounded me and realized how much I was going to miss traveling, but the thing I was going to miss the most was traveling with all of these people…all of these new friends…all of these people I now consider family. Although we are all extremely different and come from many different places around the world, we had 2 things in common: We called Perugia our home for the past 4 months, and we all fell in love with the adventure it brought us. And for that I am forever grateful.

Location: Naples, Italy