Two weeks left!

After coming back from Capri, Laura and I took my mom to karaoke night at scholars.  We tried to coax her with a couple of drinks to get up on stage and sing but no luck :(  Max and I sang Chicken Fried by the Zac Brown Band and we were definitely the best singers that night.

 Helen and Katy

 Rasella Girls

 Random Italian men that asked me to sing with them

 All the girls on the trip

 We started a countdown, we rip a piece of paper off every day that goes by and throw it across the room. 11 days left!


 We had to go back to class the following week.  Laura and I dread our five hour class more than anything, so to make the week go by a little faster, we usually try to go out one night a week to a bar.  Last week we went to the Drunken Ship, where I met a couple of guys from Scotland and chugged beer with them!  I have Bethlehem to thank for that!


This past weekend, Laura and I made plans with my friends from England to meet up in Palma Mallorca.  It's an island in Spain where a lot of people from England go on their 'holiday'.  There was a mistake while booking our tickets and we accidentally got a flight to Ibiza.. the island right next to Mallorca.  I've always wanted to go to Ibiza, and my friend Aaron went there while he was in Germany, he told me how much he loved it so we decided still go and just visit Mallorca by a ferry.  After we were all packed and ready to go, I got a call from my mom saying there were no ferries. My parents were in Las Vegas, making it a nine hour time difference so planing this trip on my own last minute was the most stressful thing ever.  I found a flight to Mallorca that worked and booked it, Laura went to book hers and they sold out! We decided to still go to Ibiza, once we got to the airport I talked to the ticket desk for Veuling Airlines and she got Laura a ticket to Mallorca!  I was so relieved, everything for this trip was going wrong. 

 On the flight to Ibiza, the guy sitting next to us kept trying to give us bites of his sandwiches and ask where we were staying in Ibiza.  I kept thinking of Taken, especially when he told us his apartment was too big and had a lot of extra room.  He asked for our numbers,  I thought the sequel of taken was beginning.  Laura and me got away though, we were a lot smarter than Liam Neeson's daughter.  When we got to Ibiza, we had six hours till our next flight to Mallorca.  So we ran and got a taxi, checked into our hotel (thanks to the best mom on the planet) showered and caught our flight to Mallorca.

When we got to Mallorca, we got in touch with Ben and found out their flight had engine problems and turned around back to Manchester! Laura and I were stuck in Palma Mallorca with no hotel or anything to go to.  We finally heard that their flight would arrive at 3am, so Laura and I slept like homeless people in the airport till 3am. 

Hating airports...

We eventually met up with Ben and nine of his friends... I haven't been able to see them in almost over two years so I was so glad I was able to visit.  We had so much fun with them for the two days and  the town of Mallorca was absolutely crazy. I've never seen anything like it,  all the of the clubs and bars were opened till 6am on the same strip and each one was packed with people. Everyone visiting the island was from England,  they all dress up for their stag dos and the women... just don't really wear anything.

I broke my camera on the beach so I have barely any pictures to show!

on the beach in Mallorca, Sam and Laura about to start their swim to that far away Island.  And they made it!  This is the last picture before my camera broke :(



Ibiza!

Ben's brother Sam took a lot more pictures...if I can get him to send them I will post them on here!

Now there are only two weeks left, we have our goodbye lunch with the entire group tomorrow and our impossible final exam with five different conjugations on Thursday.  It's going to be a long week :(

No Pasta, No Pizza

For our last night in Terracina, my mom, Laura and I went out to eat at a restaurant, we ordered white wine and pizza, so she could try how different it is over here. The wine was soo good, the pizza...not so much. I could be biased though, I am so sick of pasta and pizza. I never want to see either of the P's again.






Our trip to Naples from Terracina was a lot easier than we expected. We woke up at 5, caught a bus around 6 and then took a train to Naples around 730. Getting off the train, my mom mentioned the unemployment rate in Naples, the city was absolutely disgusting. There was trash piled up everywhere, there was trash covering the floor of stores, and the amount of homeless people we saw was ridiculous. We caught a taxi and checked into a hostel called Hostel Bella Capri which was right by the port of Naples, so getting on a ferry for any of the Islands was super easy.




Laura in the hostel

This was my first hostel, it wasn't anything like what Imagined it to be. It was kind of gross, and I didn't want to touch the comforter on the bed but the rest of the hostel was pretty nice. The place had free wifi, free breakfast and we had our own bathroom too. There were a lot of backpackers staying there, we met some from Hungary.



Boat ride to Capri !

We left for Capri around 930am, which got us to the island early but even then it was still so crowded with tourists. I think the main attraction tourists go to see in Capri is the Blue Grotto, so there were huge lines for boat rides everywhere. My mom got us a private boat ride through a company called Whales Capri, our driver's name was Antonio who spoke only a little bit of English but was so nice!



















The boat ride was at 12 and lasted till about 330. He took us all around the island, showing us all the famous mansions, grottos, coves and beaches. He took us to the Blue Grotto first, which was absolutely crazy. There were men everywhere on little boats coming to pick people up to take them into the grotto. To get into the small cave, you had to lay on your back so if the waves lifted the boat on to the roof of the opening, you wouldn't hit your head. As soon as it was our turn to enter the grotto we laid on our backs, it was so scary seeing the rocks come just inches away from your face! Once in the grotto it was so beautiful, there is just one opening so the light shining through the entrance made the water a really pretty glowing blue. The boats inside the grotto circled around a couple of times while singing in Italian, their voices echoed throughout the cave making it sound really cool.



















We weren't able to go swimming because it was so crowded, but if I ever come back to Capri I definitely want to jump in

The next couple of stops on our boat ride were of famous houses, cliffs that looked like elephants, turtles, and even the Virgin Mary. My favorite part of the boat tour was when Antonio took us to the Green Grotto, he told us we could jump in if we wanted and swim through it. Laura and I jumped off the boat and swam under gigantic rocks through a cave that was just as pretty as the Blue Grotto. The water was glowing light green and was absolutely freezing, me and Laura tried to stop in the middle to take a picture but almost sank to the bottom while trying. We swam through to the other side and he met us there to pick us up. It was so much fun, the water was so clear but so colorful...I want to come back to Capri just to do that again.





















The last two stops were the White Grotto and a little man sitting on a rock that welcomes everyone entering the island. When you pass by him, you are supposed to say Ciao!















After the tour we went up to the town of Capri, we saw a wedding and had Coladas right by the marina :)




















So good!




Drinking a CapriSun under Capri














On Sunday, we decided to scratch our Amalfi Coast plans and visit the island called Ischia. It is the same distance as Naples to Capri, and we heard the beaches were beautiful there. We caught a 1030 ferry and took a taxi to the island's most famous beach called Maronti. It was so nice!







This island really reminded my mom and I of Tortola, BVI with the hillside houses and beautiful beaches.








Was a lot less touristy than Capri




Now back to Rome :( another test on Thursday. Two weeks of class left, then a trip to Rhodes, Greece!

Location:Naples, Capri and Ischia