So I am a bit behind, mainly because internet access has been limited since arriving in Bologna, which is quite annoying considering we are studying at a very large university. Anyways, back up to Friday…I was in Positano then, on the Amalfi Coast. I was supposed to be heading to Salerno on Friday, but had heard that there wasn’t a whole lot to do there, so when Michelle suggested that I join her for a day trip to Capri, I decided I would flip and coin and make the decision that way. Coin said yes, so we quickly got ready and headed down to the ferries at the very bottom of Positano. A million steps later and slightly sweaty, we made the ferry. It was a beautiful day to be out on a boat and I quite enjoyed the Mediterranean air. We arrived at the island of Capri and I have to admit, first impression, not so great. The marina area isn’t nearly as beautiful as the Positano marina and I had fairly high expectations from the reputation of Capri around the world. So we dropped my luggage at a storage place and then headed to the bus stop to go to Anacapri, the town where Michelle had a place for the night. We waited and waited and were starting to think it would be another bus adventure like the day before. So we decided that we would take the Funicular up to Capri town and bus from there. Well, lesson in patience, the bus arrived right then. So we ran back and hopped on. The drive to Anacapri is a little crazy – busy, skinny roads perched on the edges of sheer cliffs. When we made it to Anacapri, I was delighted to see how cute the place was. Michelle phones the place where she was staying to come pick us up and we sat down to wait. After waiting awhile, and having not learned our lesson, we decided we would take one of the really cool roofless taxis to the place, well, just as we pulled away in the taxi, the guy from the villa place showed up. We got the taxi to stop and switched vehicles. Many lessons in patience for me.
After we got Michelle all settled in, we caught the bus down to one of Capri’s more famous sights – the Blue Grotto. Apparently it is amazing and shines this crazy blue, however, I wasn’t going to spend €11 for a 4 minute boat ride in and out. The real reason we were there was to go for a swim at the public swimming spot. When we got there, we realized that it wasn’t the glorious beach we were really expecting, rather a sharp cliff area where the local kids were doing crazy flips and dives off the rocks into the water. We finally got the courage to get in (the waves were crashing quite hard against the rocks) and I have to admit, I wasn’t totally comfortable in the very dark and what appeared to be very deep water. Even Michelle, from Australia, admitted she was a little uncomfortable. However, we floated around for a bit, and were becoming a bit more comfortable. Then I felt something on my leg, right above my knee. It was a prickly sensation, but I wasn’t really sure what it was and I wasn’t about to be a wimp. About 3 minutes later, Michelle yelped that she had been stung by a jelly. Well, we were out of the water pretty fast after that. When we got out, I went over to one of the Italian moms and asked if there were jellyfish in the water and she said not usually, but then looked at my leg and said yeah, that was a medusa (which is now my second favourite Italian word). She said something to the boys and I’ve never seen an exodus from the water occur so fast. So, while we were feeling sorry for ourselves, this poor Finnish guy showed us his injury – sting marks all the way down the side of his body – obviously from when he jumped in with his hands over his head. Anyways, it stung for quite some time and was radiating heat, but after and hour and a bit, the swelling was down and it wasn’t bothering me so much.
caught the bus back to Anacapri and grabbed some lunch. We then took a little one seater chairlift up to the top of Monte Solaro, the highest point on Capri at a whopping 589m. The view was amazing, looking down on both Capri Town and Anacapri. The clouds were rolling beneath us and we took the opportunity for a number of photos. A trip back down the chairlift, a gelato and then a quick goodbye. I waited for the bus, but, again, was getting impatient and concerned that I wouldn’t make the ferry to Salerno. I convinced 3 others to get a taxi with me and I have to say, my impatience paid off this time as I still had to run to catch the ferry. I made it and then had a long, wonderful ride to Salerno.
The night in Salerno was uneventful and the next morning was a little rushed to get to the train to head to Bologna to start my IR program there.
Upon arriving in Bologna, I put everything in my room – so nice to not be in a dorm – and then decided I would explore the city a bit. When I went downstairs, there were two guys from the program who were heading into the centre of town, so I joined them. Ben is a military officer from North Carolina and Bimal is a human rights worker from Nepal working in Bangkok. We wandered into town and decided to head up the Torre degli Asinelli, the tallest of Bologna’s many, many towers. It was built between 1109 and 1119 and currently leans 1.3 m off vertical. There are 498 steps to the top and I have to admit, there were moments that the vertigo was kicking in. I eventually made it to the top and was awarded with amazing views of the city and the famous red-tiled roofs. It also allowed me to orient myself in the city and get a little better grasp on where things are. After returning to solid ground, we wandered around the Piazza Maggiore, including losing Bimal for a bit, which was a little unnerving when he speaks no Italian and his English is really only passable to a native English speaker. Anyways, while having a quick bite to eat, we watched this (what I think) cool thing. There is this man who brings a stool to the Piazza. He will make a little speech about the politics or whatever of the area, or the country. Then other people can take turns to respond to his speech. I really liked the civic engagement of it all and that people were talking about the ideas and such. Ben speaks Italian, so he could help me with some of what they were talking about. It was entertaining.
When we got back to the hotel, I got to meet my roommate Elisa, who is from Italy. She went to Bologna for her undergraduate and is now doing graduate work at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
So I am a bit behind, mainly because internet access has been limited since arriving in Bologna, which is quite annoying considering we are studying at a very large university. Anyways, back up to Friday…I was in Positano then, on the Amalfi Coast. I was supposed to be heading to Salerno on Friday, but had heard that there wasn’t a whole lot to do there, so when Michelle suggested that I join her for a day trip to Capri, I decided I would flip and coin and make the decision that way. Coin said yes, so we quickly got ready and headed down to the ferries at the very bottom of Positano. A million steps later and slightly sweaty, we made the ferry. It was a beautiful day to be out on a boat and I quite enjoyed the Mediterranean air. We arrived at the island of Capri and I have to admit, first impression, not so great. The marina area isn’t nearly as beautiful as the Positano marina and I had fairly high expectations from the reputation of Capri around the world. So we dropped my luggage at a storage place and then headed to the bus stop to go to Anacapri, the town where Michelle had a place for the night. We waited and waited and were starting to think it would be another bus adventure like the day before. So we decided that we would take the Funicular up to Capri town and bus from there. Well, lesson in patience, the bus arrived right then. So we ran back and hopped on. The drive to Anacapri is a little crazy – busy, skinny roads perched on the edges of sheer cliffs. When we made it to Anacapri, I was delighted to see how cute the place was. Michelle phones the place where she was staying to come pick us up and we sat down to wait. After waiting awhile, and having not learned our lesson, we decided we would take one of the really cool roofless taxis to the place, well, just as we pulled away in the taxi, the guy from the villa place showed up. We got the taxi to stop and switched vehicles. Many lessons in patience for me.
After we got Michelle all settled in, we caught the bus down to one of Capri’s more famous sights – the Blue Grotto. Apparently it is amazing and shines this crazy blue, however, I wasn’t going to spend €11 for a 4 minute boat ride in and out. The real reason we were there was to go for a swim at the public swimming spot. When we got there, we realized that it wasn’t the glorious beach we were really expecting, rather a sharp cliff area where the local kids were doing crazy flips and dives off the rocks into the water. We finally got the courage to get in (the waves were crashing quite hard against the rocks) and I have to admit, I wasn’t totally comfortable in the very dark and what appeared to be very deep water. Even Michelle, from Australia, admitted she was a little uncomfortable. However, we floated around for a bit, and were becoming a bit more comfortable. Then I felt something on my leg, right above my knee. It was a prickly sensation, but I wasn’t really sure what it was and I wasn’t about to be a wimp. About 3 minutes later, Michelle yelped that she had been stung by a jelly. Well, we were out of the water pretty fast after that. When we got out, I went over to one of the Italian moms and asked if there were jellyfish in the water and she said not usually, but then looked at my leg and said yeah, that was a medusa (which is now my second favourite Italian word). She said something to the boys and I’ve never seen an exodus from the water occur so fast. So, while we were feeling sorry for ourselves, this poor Finnish guy showed us his injury – sting marks all the way down the side of his body – obviously from when he jumped in with his hands over his head. Anyways, it stung for quite some time and was radiating heat, but after and hour and a bit, the swelling was down and it wasn’t bothering me so much.
caught the bus back to Anacapri and grabbed some lunch. We then took a little one seater chairlift up to the top of Monte Solaro, the highest point on Capri at a whopping 589m. The view was amazing, looking down on both Capri Town and Anacapri. The clouds were rolling beneath us and we took the opportunity for a number of photos. A trip back down the chairlift, a gelato and then a quick goodbye. I waited for the bus, but, again, was getting impatient and concerned that I wouldn’t make the ferry to Salerno. I convinced 3 others to get a taxi with me and I have to say, my impatience paid off this time as I still had to run to catch the ferry. I made it and then had a long, wonderful ride to Salerno.
The night in Salerno was uneventful and the next morning was a little rushed to get to the train to head to Bologna to start my IR program there.
Upon arriving in Bologna, I put everything in my room – so nice to not be in a dorm – and then decided I would explore the city a bit. When I went downstairs, there were two guys from the program who were heading into the centre of town, so I joined them. Ben is a military officer from North Carolina and Bimal is a human rights worker from Nepal working in Bangkok. We wandered into town and decided to head up the Torre degli Asinelli, the tallest of Bologna’s many, many towers. It was built between 1109 and 1119 and currently leans 1.3 m off vertical. There are 498 steps to the top and I have to admit, there were moments that the vertigo was kicking in. I eventually made it to the top and was awarded with amazing views of the city and the famous red-tiled roofs. It also allowed me to orient myself in the city and get a little better grasp on where things are. After returning to solid ground, we wandered around the Piazza Maggiore, including losing Bimal for a bit, which was a little unnerving when he speaks no Italian and his English is really only passable to a native English speaker. Anyways, while having a quick bite to eat, we watched this (what I think) cool thing. There is this man who brings a stool to the Piazza. He will make a little speech about the politics or whatever of the area, or the country. Then other people can take turns to respond to his speech. I really liked the civic engagement of it all and that people were talking about the ideas and such. Ben speaks Italian, so he could help me with some of what they were talking about. It was entertaining.
When we got back to the hotel, I got to meet my roommate Elisa, who is from Italy. She went to Bologna for her undergraduate and is now doing graduate work at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
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