What a whirlwind it has been the past few weeks. It has been full of lots of travel and midterms. Since I last wrote for my blog posts we have been to Naples, Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii, Procida, Ischia, Venice, and London. There hasn’t been a place I haven’t liked. My favorites so far have been Procida, Venice, and London.
Procida was this beautiful little town on this island off of Naples. Gabby and I went there with her mom and when we arrived this nice, old man who owned the hotel we were staying at greeted us. When we got there it was already dark out, but he was so nervous that it was going to rain the next day that he drove us all over the island. He also brought us to this wonderful restaurant that was right on the water. There the three of us enjoyed this amazing seafood pasta and we even tried some octopus. The next morning the rain held off and we got to walk all over town. We found this beautiful gallery of paintings. The man who ran it and was the actual artist was named Luigi Nappa. He was the nicest person we have met so far on this trip. He shared his life story with us about how he used to run cruise ships and now he paints and has a fashion collection. He even gave us a recipe to a pasta dish with lemon and mint that we tried when we got home and of course it was amazing. When I was looking to buy one of his paintings for my parents he gave me a discount for four. Just the generosity and spirit of the people in this town made it absolutely incredible and one of my favorite towns.
Then Venice was a memorable trip because it was our first trip here. We found it really difficult to figure out the bus transportation because we were staying outside of Venice (it was waaay too expensive to stay in Venice). However, by the end of the trip we somehow miraculously figured it out. Venice is just one of the most beautiful places to ever exist. Just sitting by the canals and soaking in the water and the old buildings were just to die for. Also, we went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum, which was so inspiring. She was a total feminist that loved her dogs so much that she was buried next to them—which I relate to on such a personal level.
Then London was fabulous because we visited our beautiful friend Robyn. Just reconnecting with someone from Rollins was so nice. Also, figuring out directions in English was such a nice break. Just hearing English again was really startling and kind of funny. The leaves were starting to change too so spending time in the park was super fun. We even made leaf piles and played in them and just walked around taking in the fall weather.
Now, this upcoming week we are headed off on our big Fall Break trip. We are headed to Budapest, Prague, Vienna, and Krakow! We are so excited! I can’t believe we are already half way through our experience here. It has been unbelievable, life-changing, and life-giving!