The Great Italian Adventure: Southern Edition!

Today, I'm feeling particularly blessed. We had a wonderful weekend in Pompeii, Naples, Sorrento and Capri with lots of food and lots of laughter. It's hard to believe that I have less than two weeks left here, but I'm so grateful for weekends like this that remind me of how very blessed I am. 

Something I learned about myself:

Karaoke is better with the music on. No, really. We spent Friday night in Sorrento, and after a DELICIOUS dinner we all went out on the town. Aka 80% of our program went into this one small-ish American bar and took the place over. I knew good things were going to be happening when I saw the karaoke machine. However, I was confused that everyone sounded REALLY good while they were up there singing. And then I realized that they weren’t just doing the traditional ‘play the instrumental and let the singers sing their hearts out’ they were playing the ENTIRE song, including the lyrics. I am positive that the entire room was glad that I was tuned out during Phil Collins’ ‘My Heart Will Go On’. . .

The Best Thing That I Ate:

Gnocchi. Oh my lanta, this was DELICIOUS. One of the most wonderful parts about travelling through different parts of Italy is having the opportunity to sample different local dishes. This weekend’s trip to the Bay of Naples was no different. When we had our group dinner on Friday night, we all had the traditional ‘gnocchi alla sorrentina’ aka delicious gnocchi with homemade sauce AND mozzarella. It’s no secret that I love cheese, and I was on cloud nine eating this.

The amount of pictures that I have of me eating
and laughing is almost embarassing.

An Adventure I Went On:

Capri. We had a blissfully free day on Sunday and could use it to do whatever we pleased. Since Sorrento is such an easy ferry ride away from Capri, we knew that despite the weather we needed to take advantage of this chance. After a r-o-u-g-h ferry ride, we arrived on the island of Capri and spent the better part of the day climbing up to get into town, eating a lovely lunch with some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen and shopping. Although the weather wasn’t great, it was a lot better than it could have been, and for that I am so grateful. Standing looking out into the beautiful water, you can’t help but take a deep breath and offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for the beauty that is God’s creation.

Despite the weather, ABSOLUTELY breathtaking. 

Contemplating the weather? Or just caught off guard. . .

The Craziest/Most Interesting Thing That I Saw:

Pompeii. On our way to Sorrento, we stopped off in the ancient city of Pompeii which was one of the places that I was most looking forward to seeing. I felt like pinching myself the entire time because I remember SO clearly learning about Pompeii in elementary/middle school and the craziness that was the circumstances surrounding this event hundreds of years ago. To be able to see and experience things that I have previously only learned about in textbooks is in and of itself one of the most rewarding and humbling experiences.

I so clearly remember seeing this VERY
mold of someone that died after the volcanic
eruption in a textbook. Crazy. 

This was their forum--the center of life for the citizens of Pompeii.

We took a picture of all the CUA-ers in the theater! 

We avoided most of the rain, thank goodness!