I’m back in Ireland after two weeks in Italy, and it somehow seems to have gotten even colder while I was away. Italy was wonderful, and it was so great to be able to wear shorts after three months of pants! I had been to Italy a few years ago, and I knew that I wanted to go back for my break. I flew into Venice on Thursday October 27th, and four of my friends in the CAPA program arrived the next day. We spent all day exploring Venice. My favorite part was definitely the gondola ride. The next day, two of them left with me for Cinque Terre, probably my favorite place on Earth. We spent the next day exploring all of the five towns and lounging at the beach. It was wonderful being able to be in a bathing suit… I hadn’t been swimming since August. After that, our next stop was Florence, where I showed my friends masterpieces of Renaissance art such as Michaelangelo’s David and paintings by Botticelli. Unfortunately, we parted ways the next day. They were going to Barcelona to meet up with some other people, and so I continued to Rome alone. Rome is another one of my favorite places, and it was great exploring places I remembered from my previous trip while also discovering new ones. I spent two full days there and then went south to Naples. I had never been to Naples before, and I was excited to go somewhere new. The highlight of Naples, and possibly even the entire trip, was the Cimitero delle Fontanelle, an ancient ossuary in the caves above Naples. It was filled with thousands and thousands of bones and skeletons. I’ve never been anywhere like it. It was definitely an eerie experience, but also fascinating. Sadly, I returned home on Monday. I was actually very homesick for Ireland and was glad to go home. But, I do miss the warm weather and amazing pasta. It’s true, there really is no better food than Italian food!
