Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum

Since soon after I arrived in Italy I've been taking part in an Italian night-class which is run by the community for foreign immigrants. Ida and I had been attending the classes twice a week and recently our friend Madi (USA) who is in Cesena with Rotary has started going along with us. A while back our teacher Monica told us there was a trip to Napoli planned and we would also get to go to Pompeii! This was a dream come true for me because I have always wanted to visit Pompeii because I can remember my Grandma telling me about it when I was younger. All three of us signed up and it was an amazing, fast-paced weekend that I'll never forget.

I liked Naples as a city - sure it was dirty and crowded just like people say but it had something special about it. Many of the streets were super narrow and as well as the streams of people pouring through each one there were Vespas trying to get through. It was hectic but hectically, interestingly, beautiful if that makes sense... hahaha.

Pompeii and Herculaneum were my favourite parts of the whole trip because I'd dreamt about visiting them even before going to Italy. It was incredible to hear the history and see it all in person. At Herculaneum there were even skeletons left exactly where they had been found - in a cellar type area where people had gone to hide when Vesuvius was erupting!

Coincidentally at Pompeii Madi saw one of the other Rotary students from her town in the US! It was so unbelievable when we heard someone yell out "MADI" from behind us. The boy told us that there were also Kiwi Rotary students so I got to meet them too. It turns out they were all of the Rotary students who were on exchange in Belgium and were on a trip to Italy at the time.