Ok here we go again. Picking up at Day 6.
Day 6: This was the day that we went to the island of Capri! This was probably the low point of the trip, which doesn't say much, cause it was still incredible. But I did have some issues... So to get to Capri you have to take a boat across part of the Mediterranean Sea. I mean, you don't really have a choice. Well, I have a fear of puking. It's my phobia. I'm scared to death of it. So anything could potentially cause me to throw up causes me great panic. So I was all prepared that day with my Dramamine that I took at breakfast and my instant relief pills also. Of course, I was still a little bit shaken up for it. And of course, the only day we have to take a boat, it's gross outside. It was cold and the sky was threatening to empty itself onto us. So needless to say, I was kinda freaking out. But I had no choice but to get on the boat with everyone else.
I tried very hard to keep calm. I had given my camera to Jordann to take pictures since my memory card was freaking out and we put hers in my nice Canon. I was sitting on the top of the boat talking to people and trying so very hard to stay calm. And to be honest, everything was fine for the first half hour. I was talking to people, laughing, having good conversation, and not feeling anything from the boat. Then all of the sudden, it started to move. All over the place. Ok it wasn't THAT bad, but still, it was rocking. So I, being the crazy that I am, jumped out of my seat and started jumping and running around the boat, thinking that the more I moved, the less I would feel the boat moving. But that only lasted so long before I started to REALLY freak out. So I went downstairs and ended up with the Rotary people who were trying to calm me down. And I was doing ok, but I could feel a nice anxiety attack coming on. It got worse with each rock of the boat, even though my stomach really was fine and it was all mental. Before I knew it, I was in the heat of a terrible anxiety attack and I was crying and hyperventilating a bit... One of the nice Rotary ladies gave me some anti-stress drops and we soon arrived on the shore of Capri.
The next thing on the schedule was for everyone to get on yet another boat, a smaller one, and do a tour around the island. But I knew I couldn't do it. You see, my parents had been there before and they had done that tour. And when they did it, there was a little Japanese woman on the boat who was oh so very ill, getting sick over the side of the boat the whole time. Well I had this story in my head, the anxiety attack going on in my body, and knowing the fact that I would be stuck on that boat for an hour and a half with no way of getting off, I could not do it. There was another girl, Justine, who was also sick, so one of the other Rotary ladies stayed with us on shore while the others went on the tour. We found a cafe, drank tea, and just tried to calm down. Once everyone else got back, I was sure I had made the right decision, even though I was so upset to let something like my own thoughts stop me from doing that. But apparently it was ridiculously rough and it was a very good thing that I didn't go.
We then got into more little buses and were driven up to the village of Anacapri on the island to visit. We were given free time to walk around, eat, shop, etc. We started off in a nice shop full of clothing where I bought a silk dress and a wrap gypsy skirt, despite my turning tummy. We ate at a lovely little place, even though I could not even imagine eating, even hours after I had gotten off the boat. I ate just some bread and a little bit of a salad, even though my tummy was growling. I couldn't bring myself to stomach anything else. We spent some more time just walking around and taking pictures and enjoying the beauty of the island, even though the weather wasn't very nice. We also had an encounter in a café where Oakley was charged 7 euros (or some outrageous price like that) for a Coke because we had sat down and they charge you for that. Well she didn't drink it, didn't pay for it, and we saved another woman from making the same mistake. Regardless, Savannah ended up drinking and paying for a hot chocolate.
Eventually, we met back up with the rest of the Rotary to get back in the buses and go down to another village on the island. We had more time to walk around and explore. This time, we couldn't even go into the stores, they were all so expensive. We're talking Gucci and Dolce & Gabana. But we did come across some Italians with "Free Hugs" signs, and of course we stopped to hug them all. Which was wonderful! The guys weren't too bad looking either ;)
By this point, it was time to get back on the boat to go back to the hotel... And of course, I had plenty of time to psych myself out. I made myself eat some more bread, take two "knock out" pills (to attempt to sleep through the ride) and tried very hard to stay calm, even though the weather was starting to kick up again and it was beginning to get windy. But we got on the boat, this one bigger and more stable, and I stood right in the back by the motor. It wasn't so bad. Obviously, I wasn't feeling so well and I was not tired enough to sleep, but I somehow made it through. And went back to the hotel and everything was ok.
We had dinner at the hotel, though I didn't eat much, and some of the other girls and I were so tired, we just decided to have movie night in my room. We pushed all the beds together and put on "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and crashed for a couple hours. We then went right to bed to be ready for the next day.
Day 7: Day 7 started out with us packing everything up and getting ready to go towards our next destination. We had our breakfast, took packed lunches from the hotel, packed up the bus and were off. Today, we started off with a visit to Pompeii. We all fell asleep on the way, but we went through the guided tour as energetically as we could. Though this guide was even harder to understand than the last one... The accent was impossible. But of course, Savannah and I and Jordann ended up kinda getting split off from the group so we amused ourselves. After Pompeii, we did a little shopping, I bought a ring for 30 euros (originally 45, I bargained it down) that he told me was all real and I have since found otherwise, and we got back on the bus for an afternoon of driving. This time, we all really fell asleep on the bus, only to stop at a rest stop on the highway for a break and to eat our packed lunches. Not gonna lie, they weren't very good... But I don't like fatty lunch meat. Anyways, we then got back on the bus to go to towards Tuscany and settle down at our next hotel.
We got there fairly early, at dinner, this time with four courses. We started off with little finger food appetizers, followed by pasta, of course, and then a meat and vegetables course. I wasn't very hungry and I could barely finish the pasta. And it wasn't at the same level as the other hotels. Dessert was an ice cream cake type slice of something... But I won't go into detail because it wasn't amazing like the rest. But that night, since we had time, we all decided that we wanted to go out. We had to be back by 11 30 and Rotary told us that if we were all back on time, we would get a surprise the next day. Well this was a Saturday night. So we figured there would be a club or something that we could go to. So we all got dolled up, I wore my new Capri dress and heels, and went out on the town in search of something fun to do. Well news flash, there was NOTHING. We found one bar, but way high class, too expensive, and no dancing. So we basically ended up walking around all night, looking for something to do. We did come across a discotech, but by that time it was too late to pay the 10 euro entry fee since we had to be back at 11 30. Then we found an outdoor concert type thing with a bar, but nobody wanted to stay there because the Rotary guys were there. So finally, Savannah, Minna, Maddie, a few other people and I decided to just go back to that first bar. We had a drink, had some fun, and were back in the hotel on time, ready to go to bed. We got ready for bed, disappointed, but knowing we at least had fun ourselves.
Day 8: As usual, we started off with breakfast at the hotel, and then we got on the bus and were off to Florence (Firenze), in the region of Tuscany for the morning! We got there, and wow is it beautiful. We spent the morning with Rotary, doing a tour with Andre in our four groups. We saw a lot of beautiful buildings, including one gorgeous church where various saints are buried. Of course, this started some very philosophical conversation between exchange students, which was a very good thing to have. Bonding time :)
We saw a lot of statues, including a replica of the David statue, people pretending to be statues and then making you pay them if you interact with them, government buildings, fountains, and these really cool chain barriers that were COVERED in locks that people had put, like in Rome in the first day, with the name of them and their boyfriend/girlfriend. I just love the whole concept of that... Next, we were each given 10 euros by Rotary to go find lunch and have free time. I went with Savannah and Maddie and we walked around the whole city looking for something cheap but authentic to eat. But a word to the wise, Florence is not cheap. We finally found ourselves at a nice little place, our bellies rumbling. We started off with, of course, bruschetta. This one was just tomatoes and basil and olive oil. But still, I don't understand how they make tomatoes taste SO incredible. I don't even like tomatoes... We also got a salad and a pizza to share. The pizza had ham on it too, which I typically don't like if there is not pineapple involved, but this was really delicious. Overall, we had a fantastic meal, even though it took forever to get the check... But regardless, it was wonderful.
We spent the afternoon walking around, looking around at the street vendors and making some more gift purchases. We also got gelato, of course. But I couldn't finish mine in the end, and gave it to someone else to finish. I also found a pin for my blazer that day. However, as beautiful as it was, we did have to leave eventually to meet back up with Rotary and go to our next stop: Pisa.
We drove for a while, but finally got there. They warned us that the moment we got off the bus, we would be attacked by street vendors trying to sell us jewelry, sunglasses, and who knows what else. Well they weren't kidding. That was the worst it was. But we got through the crowd to the shuttle bus to get us to Pisa. We got safely there, only to quickly realize that there really is only one thing in Pisa: the leaning tower. And the whole road that leads up to it was lined with more vendors and people calling out to us, calling us to come buy things. They called us Lady Gaga too, which I thought was especially odd as we look nothing like her... Well we did get to the tower and we definitely took our share of touristy pictures, holding up the tower, hugging it, I even did one where I have my leg around it... Classy, I know. And really, it's leaning. Like, crazy leaning. But it was cool to see, especially since it was such a nice day and it was up against a blue sky. We did not have much time there though, so we had to book it back to the shuttles to catch one back down the bus.
We then drove back to our hotel for dinner. And Rotary told us what our surprise was. Or what it was supposed to be, rather. They had planned on taking us all out to a discotech together. But the problem is that it was Sunday night and the law in Italy states that minors cannot go out on Sunday nights. And at least half of the exchange students are minors. Plus we didn't have much time. They told us that if we were majors, we could go out if we wanted to, but had to be back semi early and had to wake up at 5 30am the next morning. So in the end, the majority of us decided it was not worth it and we had a second movie night. This time, the feature film was "John Tucker Must Die". However, we had to stop it for the last ten minutes because we were so exhausted.
Part IV, the final chapter, coming soon to Emma's blog.
