San Marino & Amalfi

I haven’t updated much about my travels, which I regret. My friends and I went on a day trip to a country called San Marino, that is surrounded by Italy. It’s a city that rests on top of a mountain, with a beautiful scenic view. Most Italians know of it however I ironically found out about it through a friend in the states who has learned about it in his Italian class. Over a period of about 3 and a half hours, switching from one train to another and then hoping a bus, we arrived and spend the day exploring the towers of San Marino, relaxing for a pizza lunch. The view was a little hazier than we were hoping, but we all agreed it was one of the coolest places in Italy that we had seen yet.

The weekend after (this past weekend) we took our final weekend-long excursion to the Amalfi coast, also known as a little piece of heaven. For those of you who have never heard of the Amalfi coast, it’s similar to the French Riviera. We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend, between the warm sunny weather, viewing some of the most stunning landscapes I’ve ever seen with friends by my side, soaking up our last days of Italy. Our first day was spent visiting Positano (all you fellow Under the Tuscan sun fans will recognize the name of this place). After managing to survive a bus ride around the windy roads on the edge of a cliff, we found ourselves in a beautiful city, situated on the edge of a mountain. It was just as beautiful as I imagined it. We spent the day cliff jumping, swimming through caves, laying in the sun and enjoying our first strawberry/lemon granitas (a popular regional icy drink). The day after we caught a ferry to the island of Capri, home to one of the natural wonders of the world known as the blue grotto. We learned that it is also the island where both Giorgio Armani and Mariah Carey have vacation homes. Upon arrival we took a tour boat around the island. We arrived at the blue grotto by boat, but when we arrived were told it could take up to 2 hours before we could go in. Some of the kids on our boat got a little fussy and tried to convince our tour guides to go back to shore. Eventually the majority switched from staying to going back. While I was really disappointed about not seeing the blue grotto, I wasn’t sure I could last 2 hours on a boat with my seasickness! It was a blessing in disguise however because instead of waiting to see the grotto, we got back to the island, and followed our tour guides to the other side of Capri, to a beach. I can’t even describe the view we saw before climbing down to the beach. I’ll let me pictures speak for themselves. We spent our last few hours eating and relaxing on the beach. The next day on our way home we stopped in Pompeii and took a two hour walking tour around the city. It wasn’t quite what I expected but interesting none the less and after those 2 hours I was ready to get back on the bus and take a long nap during our 7 hour bus ride back to Florence.

Positano

caves

Capri

"green grotto"

our walk down to the beach

I was thinking more about what I said previously, when I realized that my struggles are not better or worse than at home, only that they are different. Since I’ve overcome many of my initial struggles during the transition period from living at home to living abroad, I’ve realized how content I’ve been with myself since I’ve been here. I haven’t had to deal with the anxieties I feel at home, or the insecurities and stresses from the dramatic situations that always seem to arise at school. I haven’t had any men in my life and haven’t felt the need to impress anyone. My friends here don’t know everything about me, since we’ve only known each other for a few months, but I feel completely myself here in my natural state of happiness. Maybe it’s because I’ve been lucky to surround myself with really positive people. Maybe at home I can’t seem to escape unhealthy situations. Maybe I can’t always change what I’ve been given. I’m hoping that when I return home, I will have matured and learned to handle certain situations more wisely. My worst fear is returning home and realizing that I didn’t grow as much as I thought and my life will return to the monotonous life it once was, the one I wanted so badly to take a break from.

I’ve almost reached by 7 countdown and I feel torn about returning home. I’ve been thinking about everything I’ve experienced upon being here. All the people I’ve encountered, all the places I’ve seen, everything I’ve learned. Although I love Italy, it has been about having the chance to change the pace of my life, explore in a foreign world and learn to appreciate every change and experience I have that makes this trip so great. If you ask me if I’ll miss Italy, I’ll say sure, but what I will really miss is having the chance to live something completely new.