Sorrento

We spent the weekend before last (the 29th and the 30th) in the town of Sorrento, on the southern tip of the Bay of Naples. We piled onto a bus at eight thirty in the morning, greeted by everyone's favorite busdriver, Giuseppe, and headed off on a three hour bus ride to Naples. We arrived in Naples, and spent a whirlwind six hours seeing as much as we could (see my dad's post below for more details). We then got back on the bus for a two hour drive to Sorrento. Driving around the bay, we saw one of the more beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. As we wound our way along the streets, shifting between closely packed houses and scenic views of the Mediterranean with the sun sinking lower and lower, reflecting bright orange off the water, we were informed by David Dawson-Vasquez, the program director, that there was an Irish pub and a karaoke night at another local bar.


We checked into the hotel, and were told we had a half hour until dinner. The half hour was largely spent discovering that we all had balconies that connected to each other. When we were finished on the balcony, it was time for dinner, so we all headed up to the dining room, where I sat with three of the students, Tom, AJ, and Betsy. Denis sat at a table with three other students, and Sophie decided to stay with our parents. Dinner was a huge, multi-course affair, consisting of pasta, chicken, potatoes and dessert. As dinner drew to a close, I asked if I could go with the students to the karaoke bar. They said sure, and so a half hour or so later, we all followed David into town.

It turned out that there wasn't actually karaoke that night, but we had a good time anyway. The next morning, we woke up and went to Pompeii (See Denis' entry below for more details). When we came back, we decided not to try and catch a ferry to the nearby island of Capri, and instead enjoyed a leisurely lunch with David, and then went for a walk down to the shore. While Denis only got a little wet playing in the sand, Sophie felt a need to wade into the painfully cold Mediterranean, and got her pants thoroughly wet before we went into town to look at some of the inlaid woodwork that Sorrento is famous for. We then went to Mass in one of the coldest churches I have ever been in. Despite the cold, Sophie, Denis, and I all kept nodding off during the homily. After Mass, we went back to the hotel in time for Sophie to change, and went up to dinner.

At dinner, our family dispersed among the students. Tom, Betsy, and I were once again sitting at the same table, and we were joined towards the end of the meal by Sophie. After dinner, we went back to our rooms, where we watched part of a House episode, dubbed in Italian. I then went down to another room, and hung out with the students for a few hours, while the rest of my family went to sleep.

The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and went to the bufala farm (see Sophie's entry below for more details),before turning home.As we drove back to Rome, I realized how much I had enjoyed the last few days. I don't know if it was the beautiful, peaceful town, or the fact that I was able to hang out with people who were not family members, spoke English, and were between the ages of fifteen and thirty, or some of both, but I think that it was the best couple of days I have spent since we came to Italy.

Thomas

The Vatican and Borghese Gardens

A few days ago we went to St. Peter's and the Vatican museum.

St. Peter's was impressive as always,

We saw alot of cool things at the Vatican museum.

including this map of Italy.

and the School of Athens

My dad got yelled at for taking this picture of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

There were alot of cool statues.

The next day we went to the Borghese museum and gardens. The museum used to be the palace of Cardinal Borghese, who was a big patron of Bernini and Caravaggio. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the museum, so we don't have any pictures to post, but everything was amazing.

After the museum, we went for a walk in the Borghese gardens.

We rented a couple of pedal carts, and rode around in them for a while before heading home.

-Thomas

American Football in Rome

As I said in a previous entry, I am playing American football here in Rome. I discovered this team when I was trying to find something to do to get out of the house, and I googled "american football in rome." I came up with a website for the Roma Gladiatori, which is Rome's professional American football team.

I was able to determine that there was an under 21 and under 17 team in addition to the professional team, but I was lost after that. So my mom sat down and tried to figure out what the site said. We eventually got the email address of the coach for the under 17 team and sent him an email explaining that I was an American living in Rome and, if it was possible, I would like to play on the under 17 team. We received a call within an hour of sending the email, and were told that they would love it if I would play with them. I mentioned the fact that I had never actually played football on a team before, but that didn't seem to matter.

We were given directions to the sports complex, which we discovered was some distance away, and were told that I could come to practice that night at eight. We left soon after and finally got to the field after taking a bus, a train, a metro, and walking a couple of blocks from the metro stop to the complex.

When we got there, we met Fabrizio, who is the head coach and speaks English because he is a pilot, and flies to America on a regular basis. We stayed for a while, and I lost any apprehension I had about playing when a linebacker raced through to the quarterback, grabbed him by the helmet, swung him around in a circle, and threw him down on the ground, not realizing that he had committed a blatant foul. I guess knowing what a facemask is is something most people on a football team in America take for granted.

Anyway, I have been really enjoying practice, and I have some sort of scrimmage on the twenty-fourth, so I'll give an update then.

I got a cellphone! (finally)

I got a cellphone for my birthday!

Thomas

St. Paul's (and Football)

Today we had to get up at 7:00 (1:00 a.m. American time) to go to St. Paul's Basilica. While it was not my ideal time to go visit a church, it ended up being pretty interesting. The courtyard outside the basilica has an imposing staue of St. Paul standing in the middle of it with a sword.

David Dawson-Vasquez, the director of the Rome program and our tour guide for the day, tells us that the sword represents the fact that he had his head chopped off, but Denis still thinks he looks like he wants to chop our heads off.

We then enter the actual basilica, where we are all temporarily awed by the huge ceiling and rows upon rows of stone pillars

Our attention is quickly diverted to a small desk where we are all recieving little radios, which are connected to a microphone attached to David's headset. We all fumble with them and try to figure out whether they are working or not for a couple of minutes. Then about five of us go back to get new ones, and hurry to catch up to the group. My attention is immediately caught by the imposing statue of St.Paul and his large, flowing Gandalf beard.

I try and take several pictures then, but the light is to bad. (I eventually come back later and take this picture using my mom's head as a place to rest the camera.) We then hurry to catch up to the rest of the group, where we learn a little but about the cieling

We then move on to the relic chapel (where they keep all the relics.) and see the chains that held St. Paul while he was imprisoned. After that, we go out into the cloister, where the monks walk and pray.

We take a few more pictures and then head back into the main part of the basilica, take a picture of the holy doors, and leave.

I had a very eventful day, which I will not lay out in detail here, but the short story is that it turns out that I am going to be playing American football, of all sports, while I am here, but it is now 12:30 in the morning, so I will give more details about this tomorrow.

-Thomas

Jetlagged and Hungry

This is going to be alot shorter than everybody else's entries because there is not much to say that hasn't already been said. A combination of jetlag and eating every meal two or three hours later than I normally would has left me completely devoid of any thoughts that would possibly interest anybody, so I think I will end this post here.

-Thomas