Dia Quattro (June 8)

I think I’m going to get museumed out, quick. Today we had the same delightful breakfast...Yum. And I’m already hungry an hour later… ugh. 

Into Napoli on the busses it felt like the Adelphi coast. I sat on the coast side of the road, so the view was nice, but people got car sick because of the winding roads that looked like we were going to fall off at any time. Naples is one of the largest, oldest Italian cities. It was the largest in all of Europe for a long time. 

Our first stop was at Pompeii and I took about 200 pictures. They can speak better for themselves than my words can, so I posted a few below. We wandered around for about 4 hours and I started complaining so much about my back hurting that my group just stopped talking to me haha. But seriously, the cobble stones and hills… I don’t know how they did it back then. No wonder their physiques were like the ones in the statues we see today... Pompeii is the last roman city still standing. 

It was preserved from the ash by Mount Vesuvius, which erupted and killed many of the nobles and kings families that lived and vacationed here. They’d come outside of Rome to this city for their summer homes, and we saw preserved people in cases and their bones. 

It was creepy but Peter made it funny by giving MTV tours of all the papal apartments and the larger homes. We’d claim a home when we wanted it – mine had a vineyard. Every place we stop Danielle, the animated and very sweet art historian gives a schpeel on a background of history. Our first assignment was given today… we have to write an essay on a piece that speaks to us and we have to sketch it and practice truly “looking” at it. I chose the Pompeii coliseum. It was huge but I noticed a lot of really cool details on it. I took a series of photos that I’m going to turn into a panoramic when I get to Cortona. Through exploring we learned a lot about the people and the extravagance they lived in but also about how intelligent the Romans were. They already had drainage systems and their lettering and streets and organization were incredible. It was really cool to get to walk on the same streets that so much history happened on so long ago and to finally see in person many of the things I’ve learned through text books. After Pompeii we went to Naples to see the Archeological Museum. I was so tired, I didn’t really have a good attitude but we got to see some cool pieces by Titian, Raphael and Parmigianino. We have do to self-guided tours at the museums here because our group size is too large for Danielle to stop at each piece, but I think I’m going to start following her around because she knows so much and I’d much rather look at something understanding its history than to just stare at it and the quality of paint it has. Tonight after our dinner we had a schedule meeting and I realized that all of the classes I want to take work out perfectly! 

I have:

Book Arts (binding and paper making) from 1-2:50 with Switalski

Graphic Design from 3-4:50 with Spivey

Art History Wednesdays and Fridays from 5-6:50 with Danielle Carrabino

Dinner will always be at 8. In the mornings I can sleep in, work out, shower, get my homework done and sit in the classes that I find interesting. So excited, since next semester I have all 8 ams.

After our meeting, Rachel Barefoot, Mary, Hayley, Emily and a group of us went down to the ocean. It was a 20-minute walk and I had to carry a huge jug of wine that we all split for 5 euro, but it was worth it. We put our toes in the Mediterranean Sea and hung out on the beach with all the boats. We even saw an Italian proposal! The guy had strung streamers all over the lampposts and trees around and his friends set up, and scrambled away right when he and his girl walked up. She looked so surprised to see a boat all set up, heart balloons and candles in the sand with wine and glasses and a picnic basket. He gave her flowers too. It was so cute! We’re departing for Rome tomorrow, so I’m going to try to get some good travel sleep!

Night!