LaurenNicole

Okay, i know...i know, i've been slacking. And this should really be a blog about ferrara or roma, but is going to instead be a small little rant (not even really a rant but an observation)...and the apparent internal temperature of americans versus italians. it is currently 70 degrees. which, in the US, means tank tops, shorts, skirts, sundresses and sandals....to italians that still means long sleeves, boots, and jackets. i wore a tank top under my lightest coat (a trench) with jeans and flats...and was sweating by the time i got back from the grocery store carrying everything (its a 10 minute walk, but still) while watching italians, some of whom were in what looked like WINTER coats. i dont understand. well, i guess i sort of do. given the lack of air conditioning in ... read more

By this day we had pretty much exhausted Taormina and had heard good things about Catania, so we decided to take the hour bus ride there. Everyone who said good things about Catanialied. Catania is probably the one place I left in Italy and says that I have absolutely no desire to go back to. Now, i am sure it is probably nice if you live there. but for tourists it is not a good city. especially if the weather isn't nice. It took an hour for us to even find the main duomo, which was pretty, but not necessarily pretty enough that it was worth the trip. There was a food market right around the corner that probably would have been cool except it was a fish market and the smell of fish makes me ... read more

So I was the big pusher of going to Taormina during spring break. i had gone there five years ago and absolutely loved it. i went in high school and absolutely fell in love with the town. it was the first place we stopped on our tour and after a hellish day of traveling that included a flight that got overbooked and everyone's luggage being lost, we woke up to a ridiculously gorgeous view and spent the day roaming around this wonderful town. Clearly, it was a necessary place for me to revisit. Our first day was a complete wash--it poured the entire day--and after a small breakdown after reading the weather report (rain ALLL week)--i woke up to sun and gleefully ran through our cold hostel room (clearly this hostel was not prepared for cold ... read more

So last day of Napoli. This was our only completely free day and originally we were thinking of going to Capri, but the weather was bad and the seas were rough and choppy and therefore was not a good idea. The day started with an early morning because Vanessa, Lia, Tamar and I had to go to the station to secure a ticket for our night train to Sicily (yes: there are trains to Sicily). Since it was a night train and Napoli wasn't the safest area, nor was Sicily, we decided that the best option would be to see if we could get a private cabin that we could lock. Obviously the ticket would be more expensive but it was worth. Luckily, there were no problems at the station and we were able to get ... read more

We woke up this morning (Saturday) to the beautiful SUN. it was unfortunately windy (Italy had begun a freak weather pattern and the weather in the South was colder than it should have been...and no one was really prepared for the cold and didnt have the right clothes). but we were so excited about the sun that we ran to shore..across from our hotel, and waited for Giuliana there to take photos (knowing the tardiness of many of us, Giuliana told us to be outside and ready 15 minutes before the bus was coming to get us...so we had plenty of time for ocean pictures). The agenda for that day was to go to Pompeii, the city that was destroyed by ridiculously strong eruption of Mt. Vesuvius (the eruption was so strong that it blew OFF ... read more