I almost have all the metro stops memorized from Anagnina down to Termini, the central train station in Rome, so navigating was not all that bad, but EuroAdventures was having us meet in front of a hotel five blocks down. After only a little difficulty, I found the hotel. The only problem was that I had arrived almost three hours before the designated meeting time, obviously no one was there and it was already dark outside. I opted to hang around Termini for the time-being. At least it was well-lit and there were lots of people milling about. I explored Termini for awhile until I’d walked past every shop and train terminal, then just sat and people-watched for a good two hours. I even prayed a rosary for courage (sheesh! I’m really a fraidy-cat. I’ll never survive the world like this). About twenty minutes until 10:30pm (our meeting time), I went back up the street to the hotel. Thankfully, the EuroAdventures staff and most of the students were already there. Since this was among the first three trips of the semester for EuroAdventures, they gave each student a pair of sunglasses and a wine bottle opener (might come in useful for future Romers). About half an hour later, the bus that had picked up the students from Florence arrived and picked up the Romers. I did my best to sleep as much as I could on the bus, particularly because they were watching some pretty horrible movies, and when I say horrible, I mean ipod-earbuds-are-going-in-music-is-blaring-I’m-going-to-sleep, morally objectionable and highly offensive horrible. Moral objectives set aside, I still have to wonder, why do people, particularly young students, like watching such depressing movies about the most pointless, frustrating, miserable situations that make life worse than it needs to be? I think I’ll sleep and dream of better things and turn 21, thank you very much (Yes, my birthday fell on a really cool weekend). I think we arrived at the hotel in Sorrento at about 4 in the morning. The hotel was an outdoor one with the rooms designed as bungalows. It was really charming. I ended up with two fairly decent roommates, probably the best of the bunch, both studying at John Cabot in Rome. We were kind of the “rag-tag” group.
We slept in until about ten in the morning. It was a rainy day, so EuroAdventures decided that we would play it chill today and visit Pompeii and Naples. The nice thing about EuroAdventures is that all excursions are optional. You can pretty much go wherever and do whatever you want. They just set you up with travel and rooming. I followed EuroAdventures to Pompeii and hung around town for maybe an hour while the rest of the students went into the ruins. I’d already visited Pompeii a week before, so it was no big deal skipping out on it. After my roomies came out, we headed off to Naples for lunch at the famous Pizzeria da Michele, which is packed every hour of the day, even by the locals. It’s apparently the same pizzeria where they filmed Julia Roberts eating pizza in the movie Eat Pray Love. They serve only Margherita (tomato sauce and cheese) and Marinara (tomato sauce, garlic and oregano) pizzas, but it’s literally the best pizza in the world. We waited in line for about an hour, chatting with a kind Italian man for a little while before our number was called for us to go in. After tasting such an unbelievably delicious pizza, eating any other pizza must be considered an atrocity. It was that good! And it was astonishingly filling too, despite the thinner crust.
After lunch, we headed back to Sorrento for a nap. EuroAdventures took us out as a group to eat at Terrazza delle Sirene, a very nice restaurant with a gorgeous seaside view which we couldn’t appreciate as much because it was dark out, but the far off sparkling city lights were still brilliant to see. I couldn’t afford very much and I wasn’t all that hungry after such a filling lunch, so I just ate a simple salad. Our table did get a couple of bottles of wine to share for my 21st birthday (darn, I thought that just for kicks, for once in my life I would get through my birthday with no one knowing about it, but it had to come out when I was asked my age and birth date). I guess it paid off, literally, because everyone at the table covered my tab. Everyone got a free limoncello shot too, but I took only a couple of small sips as I already had two glasses of wine. 
Limoncello is already very strong to the taste, like extremely over-sugared lemonade, and it’s not my favorite drink, so it wasn’t too disappointing to pass it up. We walked back to the hotel in the rain and went right to bed. I ended the evening with a plenty lucid mind but an ever so slight waver in my balance and slightly warped vision. I officially despise the effects of alcohol. They are the curse of alcoholic drinks. Or wait, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? *face palm* I’ll just stick with one glass limit…and avoid limoncello if I’ve had wine.
The next day was the highlight of my visit: Capri!!!! EuroAdventures took us on a 30 minute ferry to Capri, where we landed and just marveled. The colors of everything in the environment were vibrant and bright. The typical haze in the atmosphere that we had seen a week ago on the coast was minimal on Capri, so everything was much clearer and far more gorgeous than anything I had seen on the coast. It was very crowded as it was the height of the tourist season on the island, but I didn’t mind all that much. There comes a certain thrill of watching the busy streets next to a marina. I kept thinking, “I want a boat,” as I watched the boats coming and going from the harbor.
In a short while, EuroAdventures set us up on our boat tour around the island. We were only supposed to go halfway around the island and back because the water was so choppy and dangerous, but literally at the last second, conditions improved a bit giving us the opportunity to go around the entire circumference of the island. The boat trip was supposed to be something they called a “booze cruise” which the students took very seriously, but I was after an untainted experience of gazing at the glory of the island, sans alcohol, and that was exactly what I did. I even listened to my ipod to blot out the foul talk on the boat. With that setup, I was on cloud nine…and beyond. No words can describe how glorious the experience was to be sailing right alongside the jagged white limestone cliffs topped with vivid greenery. My camera couldn’t even capture the full grandeur of the seascape. And that water! That brilliant, blue water! It was too blue to be real, but OH! was it real. I was sailing in a dream…with my eyes wide open. And I didn’t have to wake up. And right there, I fell deeply in love with the ocean. I’ve always loved the ocean, but right here, that love was consummated and made unbreakable. I even said a Glory Be as the cliffs sailed past, praising the perfection of God’s creation.
We had to pass up visiting the famed Blue Grotto, the crowning jewel of Capri, because the water was too choppy and dangerous to enter. A heartbreaker, I know. We did stop to see the extremely narrow opening of the Blue Grotto (the top of the opening may have been three feet above water level) which would disappear altogether when the waves would rise up and then reappear when the waves receded. Definitely too dangerous for even a swimmer to enter let alone a boat. After more slack-jawed beauty, we made a stop at the Emerald Grotto for a swim where the water was a brilliant blue-green. I hadn’t brought a towel and the deep water looked more aggressive than I felt comfortable swimming in, so I opted not to swim, but I did stick my arm in the emerald water. I watched the majority of the other students go cliff jumping into the water, which was pretty exciting. 
After the Emerald Grotto, we continued on until we reached the Faraglioni, the most beautiful giant rock formations protruding out of the sea and towering above boats. The middle rock has a large arched opening big enough for a boat to easily pass under, which we did. I’d have to say that moment was probably the best and most magical moment of our tour. The water after that became incredibly aggressive so that our boat rocked wildly back and forth. It was ever so slightly scary, but I guess I could dub it as the most “adventurous” moment of the ride. We didn’t capsize and the water calmed down after about fifteen minutes or so.
After arriving back on the island, we had a good two hours to explore and do whatever we pleased. I explored the seaside shops again, only this time I actually entered into a whole bunch of them, then I took a very long walk along the nearby pebbly beach where waded in the glassy green water and did some sea glass hunting for souvenirs. I daresay the sea glass on Capri was nicer than the glass I’d collected from Positano. I was so in love with the water, so carried away by the waves, that I lost track of time.
I hurried back to docks to look for our group, thankfully five minutes before our ferry was scheduled to leave, but I was getting a little antsy as I did not see them. I figured they might be back near the shops where we had usually met. As I headed in that direction, I asked my guardian angel to point me to where the group was. I immediately had the notion of heading back to the docks and going in a little deeper to where the ferries were boarding passengers. I don’t know why I ignored that thought and went looking amongst the shops where the group had usually met. When I’d finally decided to follow that advice of going to where the ferries were, I looked at my ticket, which matched the time and realized that the ferry I was supposed to have boarded was already 50 yards off shore and had just departed. If I had followed my angel’s advice, I would have made it on the ferry. I could almost hear my angel sighing, “Tsk tsk! Don’t say I never told you so.” Apologizing to him (or rather “it” since angels are genderless), I quickly purchased another ticket for the very next ferry which departed 30 minutes later (16 euro?!?! Really?) Needless to say, I was pretty steamed that I had missed the group’s ferry, not so much that I was separated from them or that I was stuck on Capri (which was actually quite a thrilling idea), but that I had been irresponsible and was now having to pay for my mistake. For me, that was a serious financial blow as I was completely unprepared for it. “Hey, you live and you learn.” That’s precisely what my dad would have said with a shrug and a compassionate smile. I felt a little better at the sound of the water when the ferry took off, but was very shortly sad as I watched Capri drift away. I bid it goodbye, a tear or two escaping, but hoped that goodbye would not be forever. “Someday,” I thought. “Someday. I will return to see you once again.”
After docking, I easily made my way back to the hotel. I was already quite familiar with the main square of Sorrento as well as the path home, so finding my was a cinch. My roommates were quite relieved upon my return as were the EuroAdventure staff. I rested for a short while, dreaming of the dream I had just left behind. Later I reluctantly went out to dinner with my roomates. I say “reluctantly” because after that financial blow, I could not afford any other luxury. I joined them anyway at a nice restaurant (they’re all nice in Sorrento) with a relatively inexpensive spaghetti with tomato which was molto bene!
Sunday was the day EuroAdventures was taking us to Positano. I had already been there the week before, but I had wanted to explore it further. However, the whole weekend I had been anxious about where I would attend Sunday Mass. I would not miss my Sunday obligation for anything, no questions asked! I had previously checked out a couple of the churches there in Sorrento and took down their Mass times just in case I didn’t get the times for the churches in Positano, which I didn’t due to lack of internet. So I opted to stay behind in Sorrento alone and attend Mass there and explore the city afterward. Mass was in Italian (of course) which was interesting as it sounded like a cross between Spanish and Latin. Thankfully I sat in front of an Italian lady who spoke very loudly, so it was much easier to follow and join in the Mass responses in Italian.
After Mass, I explored the streets of Sorrento, this time by daylight. Still very charming on a Sunday morning. I stopped at two different balconies along the sea cliffs of Sorrento and ate my energy bar as I watched the vibrantly blue Mediterranean and the beaches below. After a time, I went down to the beaches and strolled along the coast, making my way to the marina and docks where we had initially left for Capri. For at least three hours I just sat and watched the water, marveling at its blue-greenness and bonding with it as the sail boats went by. I was practically looking for mermaids that were whispered to dwell in those magical waters. During my time by the sea, I decided that I would very much like to live next to water (the ocean, a river, a lake, a pond for all I care!) and own a sail boat. Maybe even live on a boat. Wouldn’t that be something! After a time, I finally went back to exploring the half of Sorrento that I had not yet explored. Every corner I turned, every shop I passed, every park I walked through gave me so much happiness and appreciation for the coast and all of creation, short of me saying, “I want to live here!” I think I explored roughly three-quarters of the entire city of Sorrento by the end of my trip (it’s not very big) and I would have finished it if I hadn’t been so hungry. I picked up a cheap roll for sustenance and ate it while standing at a new point on the sea cliffs, where I stayed for a while overlooking the afternoon coast for the very last time. As the time drew closer for me to return to the hotel to meet up with EuroAdventures to head back for Rome, I tearfully bid the sea goodbye, praying that I would one day return to see it again.
I met with EuroAdventures at the hotel and we headed off soon after. More depressing and horrible movies ensued on the way back to Rome. One movie should have been re-titled with a major cuss word and another blatantly and viciously attacked the dignity of women, so much so that I wanted to curl up and hide, praying that the guys on the bus wouldn’t see me or any other girl there as a mere object of amusement. Thankfully I found refuge in praying the rosary with Fr. Benedict Groeschel and Simonetta on my ipod and playing “asleep.” It was a nicer way of ending a bad bus ride, and to my delight, after I had prayed the rosary, the DVD started skipping and freezing up, so much so that it was unwatchable (I’m pretty sure that my guardian angel had something to do with it by infiltrating the system). Once we arrived in Rome, we dispersed and I headed back home, catching a great number of my fellow UD Romers on the bus back to campus, exchanging stories and experiences.
All in all, the Capri day made it to the top three best experiences of my life (my EWTN visit is going to be an extremely hard one to dethrone from my #1 experience.) I still sorely miss the ocean and am just itching to go back even as you read this. I fell in love with the ocean and will always return mentally to that magical place of Sorrento and Capri whenever I handle the sea glass I collected or whenever I go sailing anywhere. Glory to you, oh Lord my God, who has made all things good and beautiful!
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