allison.schantz: **Amalfi & Pompei**

This weekend was a lot of fun!! First, my friend from Iowa, Kristen, got here on Friday. I went to Aversa and picked her up at the train station. We came back to my apartment and she got to experience first hand our power going out. We went to Aversa Friday night to get some real Italian pizza!!

Saturday morning, Kristen, me, and two other girls from my group (Krystina and Allison) left to go to the Amalfi Coast!! It took awhile to get there, but once we did it was beautiful. We had to walk over a mile to the bus stop, take the bus to Aversa, take the train to Naples, take the metro to Sorrento, then take another bus to the coast which took an hour and a half alone. I got super motion sick...it was a lot of speeding up, slowing down, BRAKES!, turns, windy roads, and more BRAKES!

We checked into our hostel then went down to the beach for awhile. It was a rocky beach (Sicily still has the best beaches so far!!) then went shopping at the markets for awhile. We actually stayed in a town called Atrani, but it was really close to Amalfi, which is where the bus dropped us off and we went to the markets.

Saturday night we went out to eat and went to bed!! Sunday morning, we got up and had free (amazing!) breakfast at the hostel and Kristen and I took the bus back to Sorrento, then on to Pompei. I had been there before during the first weekend with the rest of my group, but this time we got a audio guided tour. SO helpful and SO much better!! I actually knew what I was looking at. I realized the last time I was there, we didn't even see half the city/ruins! It was so worth it to go back.

It took us awhile to get back home, but we finally made it!! We were soo tired and soo sweaty, dusty, and gross from Pompei and the trains. At the bus stop near my base, we bought a watermelon and peaches!! The watermelon was incredibly heavy to carry back the mile and a half, but it tastes super good so I think it was worth it. :)

Kristen will leave tomorrow (Tuesday) morning around the same time I go to work. She'll go back to Rome for a few days then fly back to the states on Friday morning! She hasn't been home since February :) It's been really fun having her stay here with me!

Today I had 12 kids...it's so frustrating not having a consistent number. Friday I had 4! Camp today was interesting to say the least though...all the kids were pretty riled up for some unknown reason! Hopefully tomorrow's better :) Florence this weekend!!