Attakid8: Living in Rome: June 2005

Ischia and Capri

So my weekend started kind of bad but it ended up being really great. We weren't supposed to get on a train to go to Naples to catch a boat to Ischia until Friday morning but on Thursday evening, we found out that Italy's transportation industry was going to go on strike starting late Thursday night until late Friday night effectively shutting down all public transportation in Italy. So we quickly packed and ran down to the train station seeing if we could get on a train earlier so that we could make it to Naples Thursday night before the strike. Well, after about two hours of waiting to find out information, we found out that the strike was cancelled and the trains would be running as normal. So, we did all of that for nothing and headed back home.

Thursday we headed to Ischia. We got to Ischia at about noon and after checking in, we went and ate, and than sat on the beach for the rest of the day. I wasn't feeling good that night so I stayed in while my roommates went out for the evening. The next day, we got up and hiked Mount Epomeo which is the highest mountain on Ischia. We than went to the beach and later had a big dinner. Sunday morning, we went to Capri in the morning.

After getting to Capri, we went to see how much it would cost to rent a boat from some of the companies there. After finding out the price, we went to go buy tickets back to Naples and think about what we wanted to do. On the way to the ticket office, we were offered to be taken on a small private boat around all of Capri for 100 Euros total. We did that and it ended up being the highlight of the weekend. Most of my pictures down below are from that boat trip. I got to see the Blue Grotto which is probably one of the best sights I have ever seen and got to swim in the sea and much more.

We quickly headed back home after the day was over and got back to Rome late. Well, that was my weekend in a nutshell. I have class early today so I have to go. Have a good day everyone.

Good Weekend

Hello everyone. This past weekend was a great weekend. However, I am tired, extremely hot, and tired right now so I will talk about it tomorrow. I just wanted to let everyone to know that I am doing well still. Oh, this is my last week of classes. I am over half way done with my trip and this week marks me being in Italy for one month.

Have a good day everyone and I hope that you enjoy the pictures I posted.

View of Capri from the boat 2

Capri

View of Capri from the boat

The Green Cave. We got to swim through this. The water here glows green from the coral on the bottom

Inside the Blue Grotto. See how the water is glowing blue. That is from the light from the sun outside bouncing off white sand on the bottom, which makes the water glow, light blue in color. It was probably one of the most amazing sights I have ever been to

Entrance to the Blue Grotto which is the one thing that most people come to Capri to see. You can only get in it through those small boats and have to lay on the bottom so get through the entrance

We hired one of these private boats for two hours and the driver took us all around the island and took us to some spots to swim

Capri from the harbor

A castle that was built on a small island connected to Ischia by a short bridge

Path we found down from the mountain which took us to another part of the island (James is on the left, Matt is on the right)

View of Ischia from the hike down from the peak

Peak of Mount Epomeo

View from the Top of Mount Epomeo

Mount Epomeo's peak is in the background. Matt is standing at the top of the picture and James is the one hiking

James, we hiked up Mount Epomeo which is the highest mountain on Ischia

Ischia from the boat coming in

Short week

Well, I haven't posted much this week because there really isn't anything to post about. I have just been doing homework and going to class. Speaking of class, I think my teachers have almost given up on classes too. They are basically reading from the book when they teach the class and there are one or two things each class that I or Matt knew that they didn't. Pretty bad, when I can read the book and know more than they do because they probably are just learning all of this as they go to by reading the book.

Classes aside, IT IS A SHORT WEEK!!!! I have a three day week this weekend. Tonight I am finishing my homework for Monday and than tomorrow morning I am taking off. James, Matt, and I are going to the islands of Ischia and Capri. Capri is a tourist trap and is supposed to be really amazing, but since it is a tourist trap we are staying on Ischia. Ischia is known for its beaches and thermal baths. Most of our time will be spent on Ischia. I think we might rent scooters for a day too. It is going to be a really great weekend hopefully. The only downfall is that we have to go through Naples again. Once again, I hate that town. It is horrible and I hope I don't get killed walking from the train station to the harbor.

Besides all of that, everything is going well. Hope all of you are doing well and are having great summers. Miss you all....have a good weekend and I will post about my weekend with pictures on Monday.

My Weekend

Sorry for not posting yesterday. It ended up being a long day and I just didn't get time to sit down and type a post.

I finally got to see a lot of Rome this past weekend. On Friday night, I went back to the Vatican and took pictures. I ended up getting rained on again so I don't know how good the pictures are going to be because there were a lot of clouds in the sky. On Saturday, I walked around Rome by myself all day. I went a lot of different places from Compo di Fiori, to Piazza Novono, to the Pantheon. I have already posted some of these pictures below. All in all it was a really good day. I got to see most of all of the final things that I wanted to see in Rome while I was here. There are still a few things that I still have to see but now I know that I will get the chance and time to see them. Oh, I finally tried gelotto on Saturday. I have to admit, that it didn't live up to the hype that was built up about it; however, it still was really really good.

While I was walking around Rome, my roommates went to the beach for the day. So when they got back, we went to a nice dinner. While there, our fourth roommate who has been hanging out with us a little more came and a two of his friends came with him. It ended up being a good dinner....expensive, but good. After dinner, we ended up hanging out on our deck for hours until we finally decided and Steve, my fourth roommate, got more of his friends willing to go out. A bunch of us ended up going to a club. We didn't leave our apartment to go until one in the morning. The club was a very very long ways away. We went to a disco tech club called the Zoo Bar. It was extremely fun. We danced and drank for about two hours and then we decided to head home. By this time our group had gotten separated and it was just my roommates and I trying to catch a taxi. Trying to get a taxi was extremely hard. We were so far south of the city that not many were coming and most of them were already occupied when they drove by. We ended up standing around and walking around for hours until I finally got a cab for everyone. By this time, I had seen the sunrise in Rome for the first time. We didn't get back to the apartment until six thirty.

Needless to say, Sunday consisted of sleeping and reading for class on Monday. However, my roommates went out again Sunday night to a free concert with some really big named bands playing. I didn't go with them, however, because I was getting up early so I could make it to the Vatican Museum.

So Monday morning, I go up early and got to the Vatican Museum a little less than an hour before it opened and the line to get in was already so long that I was about a half of a mile, literally, back from the entrance. Some of the rudest people I have ever met and have met in Rome were in that line and they were al tourists. People were cutting, pushing, and talking rudely about people. It was kind of funny at times because some people didn't think I spoke English and would be like, "Get in front of this guy" or "Make sure he doesn't cut in front of you." It made me laugh because I was just keeping my place in line and these people were fighting to get a foot ahead of me when there was about a thousand people in front of them. However, once the museum opened, the line moved really quickly. This ended up being a good and bad thing. It was good because I got into the museum rather quickly. It was a bad thing because that meant all of those people in front of me and behind me were in the museum at the same time. This made the museum unbelievably crowded. My favorite parts of the museum was the early Christian paintings 1) because they were really beautiful and 2) because they were no were near or along the way to the Sistine Chapel so there weren't too many people there. You see, the only way to go see the Chapel is to go through the museum and so most of the people just run through the rest of the museum to go see it. The tour groups were the worst because about thirty to fifty people including their tour guide would push you out of the way when you were looking at a painting or a statue so they could quickly look at it and move on. I spent about four hours in the museum and like all the museum tours ended up in the Sistine Chapel. To tell the truth, the paintings were really beautiful but the Chapel itself was less than what I thought it would be. This is probably because it was wall to wall people.

Anyways, the museum had its pros and cons but it was still a great time. After that, I went to class and than just relaxed that night because I didn't have any readings to do for today. Well, I think that catches everyone up on what I have been doing down here.

Pantheon

Can't remember the name but it is the island in the Tiber

Compo di Fiori

St. Peter's Basilica

Back to full force

As you can probably tell, I got a new battery for my digital camera. I did this just for you guys so you could see some of the places I am going to. I paid a pretty penny too for the battery so you better like the pictures.

Well, I think I said that yesterday was going to be a beautiful day out...well, it wasn't. By the time my class was over, the clouds were starting to build up. I got caught in the rain on the way home. I was thinking about just waiting the storm out in doorway but I'm glad I just hurried back to my apartment. When I got back, it started to come down really really hard and eventually it started hailing. It rained for a really long time and the streets turned into rivers. So, needless to say, I didn't get to do anything last night except for study.

Oh, speaking of studying. Letters of Credit in an international business transaction suck!!!!! It is probably the hardest stuff I have done yet. But I got myself into it so I will just have to figure all of the terms out and what they mean and stuff and how they apply.

Today marks the end of the halfway point of my classes. I only have nine class days left and then a week of finals. Which means that it is Friday!!!! I am going to go see a few things tonight and than tomorrow I am going to go to the Vatican Museum, see St. Peter's basilica, and than head down to the capital to see the Pantheon. Should be fun. I'll post the pictures and post all about it on Monday.

Have a good weekend everyone.