Best Weekend Yet!

This past weekend was an amazing weekend, easily the best experience so far on this trip, that only spring break will beat.

Bright and early Friday morning the buses left headed for Pompei and I ended up dozing off most of the drive. We had a lunch break before going into the historic town of Pompei so I left my camera on the bus, thinking we were getting back on the bus, which is why I don't have any Pompei photos yet. But I did borrow a camera so I'll be getting those pictures soon. Anyways, it was so awesome to see the ruins of Pompei. It's amazing all of the digging archeologists have done to uncover the ruins and there is still much to do! Pompei was a huge city, about 300,000 I believe. They even had fast food back then! They also were the first, it is believed based on carbon-dating and all that time stuff, to build an arena for gladiatorial games. The arena in Pompei looks similar to the Colosseum, but smaller. We got to walk inside it and that was so awesome. Just about as cool as walking field level in Autzen Stadium. Super cool to experience. Afterwards we made our way to the hotel and this was the view upon arrival.


The weekend forecast prior to leaving Roma did not leave much hope for the Saturday trip to Capri, but the weather was the best it had been yet! So the trip to Capri was on! (Much better than the bad-weather-alternative, a museum.) The boat ride was an hour and it felt like a plane on the inside. Upon arriving at the island, I knew it was going to be a great day. Right away, a bunch of us student piled onto a sightseeing boat and we got an hour and a half tour around the whole island. Looking up at the 1,000 foot tall cliffs jutting up out of the water was amazing. And then the water color was a gorgeous aquamarine and so clear! I took so many pictures and my camera battery died as a result. Here are pictures that I was able to take though!






After the sea-level tour, I got lunch with some friends and then we made our way up to Anacapri, one of the towns on the island. In Anacapri, you can take a chairlift up to the top of the island, which pretty much everyone did. The view from the top of the island was absolutely incredible! I was just in complete awe of the work that God's hand has created. As much as I love Tahoe and greatly enjoyed Whistler last spring, I think Capri was probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen. So beautiful and amazing. Since my camera died, here are some pictures taken by some friends.





After taking the chairlift back down, there was a huge line to take the bus back down the mountain. However, as customary in Italia, the bus never came. Buses going to the other part of the island rolled by non-stop yet the bus to the marina never came. Eventually, since time was running out until we had to be back to the marina to catch the hydrofoil back, a bunch of us decided to take the 770+ stair descent down the mountain.


Basically running for the majority of it, it took about 20 minutes to descend the mountain. My quads and knees were burning by the end of it, but it was still awesome to do! And everyone made it onto the hydrofoil in time. (By the way, Dad might enjoy this the most, but this is the wake created by the hydrofoil.)


Sunday was a museum visit in Napoli. Napoli had a much different feel to it. Personally, the piazza I ate lunch in felt almost how I would imagine Russia feeling like. I was also surprised by how dirty and run-down the town was. Here's a picture I took from the museum showing the city.


The museum was really cool. It's an archeological museum, compromised of some history of Napoli, but mostly of artifacts from Pompei. Ancient Romans were so incredible and inventive. In one of the following pictures you'll see a scale representation of Pompei (the rectangle is a section yet to be excavated), and you'll also see a real Gladiator helmet.






After the museum, the buses took us to Mount Vesuvius. The road up the mountain reminded me of highway 4 by Ebbott's pass and really made me want to go driving in the mountains. I'm not quite sure how the buses even made it up the mountain. Once we stopped, we had about a 15-20 minute hike up the mountain, but so worth it! It was a bit hazy that day so the pictures of the panorama did not come out as well as I would have hoped but it was still awesome nonetheless. The crater was so deep, much deeper than I was expecting! I didn't take any volcanic rocks, though. I didn't think of it until later.




The weekend was so awesome!! It was a much needed vacation from life in Rome and a great experience to see the beauty of God's creation and to just relax. It will be hard to beat getaway, but spring break I'm sure will.

In other news, I have booked trips to Salzburg, Austria as well as Silverstone, England. I'll be in Salzburg from the 15th to the 18th of April and then I'll be travelling to Silverstone for the FIA GT Championship race there the first weekend of May.

Hope y'all enjoyed the post. Sorry it was so long!

Love you all! Can't wait to see you!

There is Hope!

I realize I have not updated the blog in a bit and sorry everyone for that. I haven’t been up to much recently, but enough to talk about.

A week and a half ago on the 27th, I went to an awesome rugby game between Italia and Scozia (Scotland), part of the Six Nations Rugby Tournament, a tournament between Italy, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, England and France. The game was awesome and easily the best experience so far on this trip. The crowd was so passionate the whole game. I sung the Italian national anthem with a bunch of Italian guys I was sitting around. I even had my arm around the guy directly next to me. It was awesome! During the game, we would chant “Italia” but one thing I learned is that rugby, for how violent it is, is actually probably the most respectful sport I’ve watched. Italian and Scottish fans were all mixed and there was no trash talking. Regardless of which side would be kicking a field goal (or whatever it’s called in rugby), the stadium would go silent. When Italia scored a touchdown to take the lead with only 10 minutes left, the stadium went nuts in celebration! Hugs and high fives all around! The celebration continued as the game ended, but even afterwards, there was no disrespect to Scottish fans and even Italians clapped for the Scotland players. It was awesome to see.

Contrast that with the AS Roma – AC Milan game I went to this last Saturday night. Going to an AS Roma game was something I definitely wanted to do while over here, and I’m very glad I got the chance to go, but the game didn’t reach my expectations. Fellow students greatly enjoyed the game and thought the stadium showed a lot of passion and plenty of noise, but as I am used to Oregon football where the students stand the entire game and cheer the entire game, I was not prepared for almost the entire stadium to be sitting quietly during the game. If any noise was made, it would be boos or chants towards the AC Milan fans. The AC fans were in their own section with Plexiglas on either side of the section with at least a dozen empty seats and security guards between the fans and the Plexiglas. I knew soccer fans didn’t like each other, but after seeing the rugby game, I didn’t like the disrespect shown. Different breeds of fans I guess. The game also ended in a 0-0 draw, which meant it was pretty boring to not see a goal. (It reminds me of when Dad and I went to the IRL race at Fontana and there was never an accident and caution. I guess nothing exciting wants to happen when I’m there.)

Last night I read a really interesting article about Oregon football and it ties into the disrespect thing, saying that Oregon athletics and fans have lost perspective and connectedness. After seeing both sides of the spectrum now, I hope a lot of Oregon fans read the article. Here’s the link if any of you want to read it. http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/24531349-41/players-lost-perspective-welch-field.csp

Other than those games, I have not been up to much recently besides running. I have gone running four times in the last week because the weather has been nice. The last few days, though, it’s been freezing cold in the morning and in the evening. I was going to run this morning, but I woke up to it pouring rain. I really miss California weather right now. I am very much looking forward to spring break and then to being home.

Although this trip has been below expectations, I know it was God’s purpose to bring me on this trip so I could get closer to Him. Last night I couldn’t fall asleep as I had much on my mind so I put on some of my Christian music. I started with “Majestic” and then “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High” played. When “Lord Reign In Me” came on, a few tears started to form. Then “How He Loves Us” started and I cried quite a bit more. I have never had such a reaction to the music, except for when I cried a tiny bit to “The Power of Your Love” last week. God is certainly working in me right now and it is priceless to get closer to Him. God always has a plan and a purpose.

This Friday I leave for a weekend trip with the program to Napoli, Capri and Pompeii. It will be awesome to get out of town and see something new for a bit. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and share that with all of you.

I love and miss you all!