Our Weekend in Sorrento!

Friday, March 20^th – Sunday, March 22^nd

This weekend in Sorrento was possibly the best weekend so far! As soon as we got off the train in Sorrento, I knew I would be a place that I will have to return in the future. It was so relaxing and beautiful and almost made me sad because I wasn’t able to experience it all with the people I love. (All the more reason I just have to come back one day!)

On Friday morning, we got up and took the early train into Rome, much to everyone’s dismay who had stayed up late to finish their midterm papers! From Termini, we took a fast train to Naples and then got the local train from Naples to Sorrento. The train ride was beautiful, yet slightly depressing because the surrounding area is one of the lowest income areas in Italy. It seemed strange to be raveling through some of the most beautiful landscape I had ever seen filled with poverty-stricken homes and cities. There really were some amazing views however, mountains, Mount Vesuvius, the coast, and row after row of all natural lemon and orange trees!

Once we arrived in Sorrento, we checked into our hotel, the Ulissi Deluxe Hostel, and got right back on the train to head back to Pompeii for our guided tour of the ancient ruins. When we got there, we met up with our awesome tour guide, Johnny, who was both and architect and an author, as well as a hilarious guide for our adventure in Pompeii. I have always thought of Pompeii as one little area that had been preserved by ashes when Mount Vesuvius erupted thousands of years ago. But the truth is, the ancient city of Pompeii is massive! (170 acres of massive). We were there for almost two hours and barely scratched the surface of the city itself. During our time there however, we did get to see the amphitheater, which was probably my favorite area, along with the city center and the temple of Apollo. What I found to be truly incredible from everything that Johnny told us was that almost one-third of Pompeii is still being excavated! He said the information about Pompeii and the history of it is always changing due to the ever-changing evidence that is found from new excavation sites.

Friday night after our afternoon in Pompeii, we went to dinner together at a restaurant called Il Lione Rosso. And let me just say, one thing about Sorrento that was truly the best anywhere we have been so far, was the food! For dinner, I had bruschetta, mushroom ravioli, and some amazing veal with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes! I have to say that it was the best meal I have ever eaten! If that wasn’t enough, on our way back to the hotel Danilo showed us his favorite gelato place in Italy called Primavera! They literally had every flavor of gelato you could have imagined and again, it was really the best of the best!

On Saturday we were originally going to take a boat to the island of Capri, but due to the questionable weather, we decided to take a trip to Positano instead. And at first, I was a little disappointed because I had been really excited about going to visit Capri, but Positano was most definitely the best replacement for Capri we could have picked. After having a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, we went to the train station to take a bus to Positano. Little did we know, the bus ride was going to be an adventure in itself! The only way I can possibly describe the ride is this: Imagine a tiny, two-lane road, winding not only through the hairpin turns of enormous rocky cliffs, but right along the coast as well… then imagine making that trip in a massive tour bus! Sadly, sitting in the back of the bus may not have been my best decision ever, and after the 40-minute ride, I was definitely ready to get out in the fresh air!

Despite the thrilling (and slightly sickening) ride, Positano was amazing. I saw sights that were more beautiful than anything I have ever seen before. We enjoyed the beautiful day (it was 65 and sunny) first, by making our way down through the little beachy town to the shore. Naturally, I had my shoes off within about two minutes and had my feet in the ice cold water not long after. The beach itself was made from smooth black stones, which against the deep turquoise water, looked absolutely amazing. Mixed in with the stones were tons of pieces of sea glass; blues, greens, yellows, ambers, and white, and needless to say, my pockets were weighed down with it all. After an hour or so by the water, we went back up to a cute outdoor restaurant called Ristorante Le Tre Sorelle that was right along the beach. I got a margarita pizza with buffalo mozzarella, which was simple yet delicious!!! Hands down the best pizza I have ever eaten. We enjoyed our wonderful meal together and explored some shops on our way back up through town. Even though none of us wanted to leave, we had to catch a bus back to Sorrento, and luckily this time I got to sit in the very front. And while it was lucky because I didn’t get sick, it was almost worse, because I was terrified for all of the poor little Fiats that almost got annihilated by our tour bus.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Sorrento, going into all of the little shops, eating gelato, and buying all sorts of lemon products! Sorrento is known for their lemons so practically every other store we passed was selling something made from lemons. Limoncello, lemon cream, lemon soap, lemon oil, lemon-covered almonds dark chocolate covered lemon peels, lemons, lemons, and more lemons! Sorrento is also known for terracotta pottery so we got to see some beautiful terracotta art as well. On Saturday night, we had another wonderful dinner together and afterwards, some of us went out to get a few drinks at the local bars. We stopped in a few, but ended up spending most of the night in this Irish Pub we found. Ironically enough, we were in Sorrento, in an Irish pub, and yet every person in the bar (other than the adorable Italian bar tenders Mario and Giovanni) was American! We met a very sweet couple from California, two older women who claimed they graduated high school with Tupac, and a group of about ten college guys from Nebraska. The guys from Nebraska turned on the March Madness games and as if the whole night had not been ironic enough, Ohio State was playing Nebraska… Needless to say, it turned into a pretty fun night!

After an amazing weekend in Sorrento, I had to say goodbye on Sunday as we returned to Rome. I must admit, it was the hardest place so far to have to leave, and even coming back to Rome Home was a little less exciting because I wasn’t ready for the weekend to be over! Sorrento is somewhere I know I must return sometime in my future, and hopefully sooner rather than later. You know it is an amazing place when you’re sad to return to Rome. I never thought I’d be saying that!! I must admit, I think I have officially been bitten by the travel bug...

Week Five GL 350

“And so, taking the long way home through the market I slow my pace down. It doesn't come naturally. My legs are programmed to trot briskly and my arms to pump up and down like pistons, but I force myself to stroll past the stalls and pavement cafes. To enjoy just being somewhere, rather than rushing from somewhere, to somewhere. Inhaling deep lungfuls of air, instead of my usual shallow breaths. I take a moment to just stop and look around me. And smile to myself. For the first time in a long time, I can, quite literally, smell the coffee.” – Alexandra Potter

Sometimes, it just does a person good to relax. Everybody needs that time when they can unwind, reduce their stress level, and simply take a break from the burdens of a busy life. Designated leisure time however, is not always easy to come by because it can mean something different for every single person depending on things like interests, culture, upbringing, or nationality. Regardless of what you specifically classify as “leisure,” as Potter writes, it is anything that makes you slow down, enjoy life, and “smell the coffee.”

Typically, leisure time in America is few and far between. We live in a high-paced society that has some of the longest working hours in the world. So when Americans do get leisure time, it usually consists of a quick (and highly inadequate) unwinding before getting right back to work and doing the same thing all over the very next day. While in theory, leisure in America has the general idea of relaxation after a long day, leisure in America is often confused to be synonymous with using technology, watching tv, or playing electronic games. Also, American leisure is usually done at home or in a designated “leisure” area such as a sporting event, an amusement park, a movie theater, or any location that people congregate for some form of entertainment.  And while these things are typically considered as leisurely to the average American, other cultures have quite a different view on leisure time.

In Italy, leisure is something that is not only more widely accepted, but something that is incorporated into every-day life and even planned on a daily basis. Italians incorporate leisure into their lives in many ways. One of these ways is through the daily siesta time that is a recognized break in the middle of the day that most shops and restaurants observe by shutting down, going home to relax, and usually returning a few hours later to finish out the rest of the work day. Another difference in the Italian form of leisure is that there are designated leisure areas located almost everywhere. As Wharton describes, Italy consists of many streets, piazzas, and parks that are filled with people who go there to relax, like the Borghese Gardens for example. She writes that, at the Gardens, “The human scene plays as uninterrupted Roman theater. Strolling grandmothers and daughters, fathers teaching sons to ride bikes, romping dogs, red-hot lovers, friends arm-in-arm…” This description of relaxation at the Gardens is applicable not only to this location in Italy, but other leisure areas as well. As Potter writes, sometimes the best leisure comes from taking in a beautiful view. Wharton also writes, “The wildly Baroque garden behind the Villa d’Este gushes with amazing fountains, the mythological statues surprising you at every step you take down the steep and beautifully cultivated paths.”

While both American and Italian cultures consist of forms of leisure, there is a very different approach to how the leisure is achieved. Italian leisure usually includes everyday activities and relaxation incorporated into life. The leisure is so ingrained into the Italian culture in fact that sometimes Italians do not even recognize it any more, because it is so normal. As Barzini writes, “the sulphurous gleams of a scirocco dawn when fishing boats hang like pallid spectres upon the skyline: there are thousands of joys like these, but the natives do not see them, although, to please foreigners, they sometimes pretend to…” The difference between leisure in America is that it almost always has to be planned, where as in Italy, relaxation can come from anywhere and anything around you.

Week Five SOC 490

“The only thing you can really control is how you react to things out of your control.” – Bassam Tarazi

One does not always get to choose what happens in life. There are plenty of things that happen that are simply what we consider to be out of our control. For example, being born with a terminal or chronic illness, learning habits or ideas from our parents, getting into a terrible car accident, how we meet someone new, or becoming the victim of a crime. Some people may refer to these things as being the result of fate, or destiny, or occurring simply by chance. Certainly we all have our own free will which means we are able to respond to any situation however we want, but there are just certain things over which we cannot possibly have complete control. And while out health might not be fate per say, we do certainly do not have control over every aspect of it.

Similar to Tarazi’s quote though, one aspect we can control about our health is how we react or respond to it. We do have control over things such as what we choose to do to prevent some health problems, and in turn, what we do to cause certain health problems. Things in our control related to our health include things like getting enough exercise, making healthy eating decisions, and avoiding habits that are bad for us. Other things in our control include making poor health decisions that might cause things like hypertension, diabetes, or cancers. Goodman writes about these kinds of decisions when he talks about the variation in life expectancy. He argues that these choices are the reason for the variations, “These differences are thought to reflect such lifestyle choices such as diet, exercise, and smoking.” But there is only so much that can be done as a response to a health problem. While someone who was born “healthy” could make choices to harm that health, they also have the chance of contracting a disease that is out of their control. For someone who was born with a life-long illness or disability-related disease, getting that illness was out of his or her control, and regardless to how he or she responds to it, they will have it forever. They had no choice in preventing it or causing it, they did not have control.

Along the same lines, it is written in Gaudium that, “While a few enjoy very great power of choice, the majority are deprived of almost all possibility of action on their own initiative and responsibility.” Even though Gaudium writes on economics, this idea can be applied to our health as well. Similar to the way Gaudium argues that many are deprived of their power when it comes to money, it is not very different when it comes to power over our health. Whether it is a predetermined path, a life-long disease or disability, or a hereditary illness, there are many components to our health that we do not and cannot choose. There are very few, if any of us, who actually have complete control over our health.

The Aqueducts of Rome

Thursday, March 19^th

Today we took the early train into the city for our group tour of the Rome Aqueducts! Our tour guide Margarita, was very knowledgeable and lead us on a great tour of the Parco degli Aquedotti, the Park of the Aqueducts. The Aqueduct Park is a public park in Rome that is part of the Appian Way Regional Park, which means it is a protected area in Rome. We learned so much about how the aqueducts were built and how they work, as well as how they were targeted by barbarians over the centuries because destroying the water source to Rome was the one way to take the city. 

After the Aqueduct tour, we went to our homestay orientation. As a part of our Global Learning class, we have all been paired up and assigned to a host family that will be housing us all of next week! We will be having breakfast and dinner with our host family as well as staying at their home every night. We will still have class and a few site visits during the days next week, but aside from that we will truly be living like Romans do! It is both exciting and a little scary, however I know it will be a great experience for all of us to get the real feeling of Italian culture in Rome.

After spending the beautiful day in Rome, we came back to have dinner on campus and had a progressive euchre tournament before we all went to bed. After our euchre games were over, I got all packed and ready to go to Sorrento for the weekend! We leave tomorrow morning, and I could not be more excited!!

Midterm Week!

Wednesday, March 18^th

Due to the rainy weather and the fact that all of us had way too much work left to do on our midterm papers, Professor and Danilo gave us a day off from classes yesterday so that we could get caught up on our work. And after a few solid hours of working on the paper, I’m finally done!

On Wednesday morning, we had Italian class in town in Castel Gandolfo! Danilo had us practice how to order our cappuccinos and breakfast, and he also taught us how to introduce ourselves, say our age, and where we are from, and also how to ask questions in order to have a conversation with someone. As usual, he had us practice by letting us go into the deep end! (Luckily, people in Castel Gandolfo are very kind and understanding!!) He had each of us practice by speaking to Italians who live in town and for the most part, we all did really well! It was surprisingly helpful because they were all very sweet, and pleased that us Americans were trying to learn their language. We ended up meeting some very wonderful people… One lady even asked to take a group picture with us!

After Italian, we grabbed lunch at the local Tabacchi store and headed back to campus! We got another free afternoon so that we could finish up any work we had left to do, or even go into the city if we wanted to before dinner. It was a very relaxing afternoon and after dinner we had a movie night and watched The Terminal… which was very appropriate with us being in a foreign country and having experienced a lot of similar struggles.