So since the last time I’ve written a blog I have done quite a few things that I should fill everyone in on. A couple weeks ago I had school holidays for two weeks and during that time I went on a trip to Italy with Rotary and then to the sea with my host parents. I went to Italy with Rotary from April 10-20 and it was really great! We were 75 exchange students from all over the world and I met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun over those 10 days. It took us about 22 hours to drive there in a bus, so we were all very tired the first day in the Vatican City. The day was very tiring and long but it was still very interesting. We got to go inside the Vatican and see the Sixteenth Chapel and everything. We had a tour guide who was really nice but who was very difficult to understand because he had a very strong Italian accent when he spoke French. After our day at the Vatican we just went back to our hotel right on the Mediterranean Sea, but we weren’t allowed to go down to the beach because in Italy it is illegal to go to a beach at night. The next day we went to Rome. We saw so many great things that day like the Coliseum, the pantheon, and the Trevi Fountain. A lot of times I just felt like it couldn’t be real that I was actually seeing all the things we saw because they are so ancient and also so famous. The Coliseum was probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen in my life. It was so big and so well preserved! It was pretty hard to imagine how old it actually is, but after watching the movie The Gladiator I could imagine the gladiators and the crowd and everything. The Trevi Fountain was very beautiful as well, but there were just so many people there it was a bit distracting. I made a wish there and also ate a gelato at what is said to be the best gelato place in Rome. It was sooo good! I already miss the ice cream in Italy!
The next day we left Rome and went first to an ancient Roman city to see the ruins. I don’t remember the name of the city but it was really cool! Some things like the amphitheatre were really well preserved and the city was huge! I’m sure it would be really easy to get lost there. After we visited the ruins we drove almost all day and then stopped at a monastery up on a mountain. The drive was very beautiful because we were just looking down at a huge valley the whole time. The monastery was very peaceful and the view from all the way up the mountain was great. After our visit there, we drove to Naples and got installed in our hotel. When we got to Naples the Rotary told the girls that we had to be careful here because it’s not safe for girls to be walking on the streets alone so we had to have at least one boy with us if we were leaving the hotel. He also told us that we wouldn’t be able to take our tour bus the next day because the mafia has a rule that says tourist buses are not allowed to drive in that area. I found all of that a little weird but oh well!
The next day was probably one of my favourite days spent in Italy. We had a tour along the Amalfi Coast and stopped in 3 little cities. The Amalfi Coast is really beautiful because it has huge cliffs and some beaches, and really clear turquoise water. We first stopped in a town called Sorrento, which is known for growing lemons. It was a very nice town with really beautiful views of the ocean. After that we drove along the coast for a while and then stopped in the town of Amalfi for lunch. It was a really sunny day and I had a lot of fun!
The next day we went to the island of Capri. I was really looking forward to going there because my host parents had told me a lot of good things about it. We had a boat tour around the whole island and then just walked around and explored. There were some really nice view points and I really like the island. It was one of the only cloudy days we had on the trip though, which kind of sucked for being at one of the most beautiful places in Italy.
The next day of the trip was spent at the ancient ruins of Pompeii, the town that was destroyed by a volcano, and also driving. The tour of Pompeii was pretty interesting and I was surprised at how many things weren’t destroyed completely and how many things they were able to discover about the ancient town. The town was actually a Greek city, not Roman so it was cool to see some of the differences between the Roman cities we had already seen. When we went to Florence the next day we had really nice weather and everything was really beautiful. We had a lot of free time so my friends and I spent our time just exploring around the city. We saw Michelangelo’s tomb in a church there, the statue of David, and the special bridge that I forget the name of. We also ran into a group of rotary exchange students from Germany on their eurotour, so we spent a bit of the afternoon with them as well. Its funny how fast exchange students become friends. After our visit in Florence we went to Pisa. We spent about half an hour there, just enough time to take a few pictures. I thought it was pretty funny that everyone goes there to take a picture and that there isn’t really anything else to do there.
Our last couple of days in Italy were spent in Venice and the islands around it called Murano and Burano. The first island we saw was Murano. We had the chance to go into a glass factory there and watch an 80-year-old man make glass figures. Murano is known for its glass so it was cool to see that. I bought some glass earrings there. After we visited Murano we took a boat to the island of Burano. It was a really cool little island and every house was painted in a bright colour. On both of those islands no cars were allowed, and that was really nice. Everyone just has boats to get around. The last day of our trip was spent in Venice. It was a really great day with amazing weather, so we were pretty lucky. After we had a little walking tour with the Rotarians we had about 6 hours of free time. I spent my free time exploring the city and walking around the canals with a group of friends. I didn’t go on a gondola ride because it was really expensive, but it was still cool to see all of the gondola boats around all of the canals. Venice was really beautiful and I really hope I can go back there sometime. I had such a great time in Italy with all of my friends from Rotary and it was a really great experience that I will never forget!
THANKS MOM AND DAD FOR THE TRIP! ☺
