Posts tagged Poland

It’s been a whack-o week. Totally whacko. We spent from Friday to Tuesday studying the ancient ruins in Rome. We had many group dinners together which was really nice, but touring the ruins all day every day was really exhausting. On Wednesday we picked up and went to Napoli where we sampled the original pizza (SO DELICIOUS) and saw the archaeology museum. It seems to me that Napoli is a pretty version of the Bronx, but still pretty much the Bronx. That evening we took a train to Pompeii and checked into our hotel.

The next day, Thursday, we spent all day in Pompeii which was very cool. I have pictures, but the internet here is too slow to upload right now. I got back to the hotel room and the girls I shared a room with kept asking me to get them spare blankets, to which I replied no since they are big girls. After about 30 minutes of negotiations, they agreed to give me the extra pillow in the room if I’d get them blankets. Alright, fine. I go to open the closet and A MAN JUMPS OUT. It was actually a guy from our trip but I still pretty much shrieked and ran around in circles. Well played, men, well played.

After dinner, my hotel roomies and I decide to return the favor. Two of us hide in the closet and the other two hide in the bathroom. From the closet, we hear the men successfully scared by the bathroom girls. After TWO MORE HOURS, one of the guys finally opens the closet door. He accidentally gets hit in the head by the closet door but, you know, sacrifices in the name of humor.

Friday we take the train to Ercolano, which is a city near Pompeii that has ruins that are ever better preserved. Herculaneum was the ancient beach resort town and it was covered in hot mud rather than ash. It is so well preserved, there are still wooden beams in tact, and there are bits of food and rope that have survived.

Then we take the train back to Napoli and get more delicious food. Naples is really cheap, for anyone interested in having delicious food for little money. You just have to be comfortable with whole mob thing. My friends leave for Rome at 3, but my train isn’t until 645. I just hung around the train station since I didn’t feel great about wandering around Napoli at sunset carrying a hot pink carry on and a Coach side bag.

I make it to my train with a bag of McDonalds. There are little cabins on the train, each has six seats: three on one side, three on the other. This means no laying down. I get into my cabin and there are three men and one youngish woman. Two of the guys were together so they were talking and they kept taking calls on speakerphone. To retaliate, the girl would play her music over speakers. It was really pleasant. The girl got off after a few stops and in my head I went, “Oh hellz no, I am not staying in this cabin with three men.” So, I took my stuff and walked around until I found a cabin with one other woman. After maybe three hours two more people showed up who were assigned for that cabin, but they brought a whole bon voyage crew with them so I left, thinking all of those people were meant to be sitting there. The next time I walked by there were only three people in there but I didn’t want to disturb them since they were sleeping.

I went back to my assigned cabin and a very rotund couple had joined us. I sat down and started watching a movie on my computer. The man of the couple was across from me and he stood up after eating a sandwich. The crumbs that had been resting on his stomach fell onto my keyboard so, make of that what you will. The other single guy in the cabin cracked the window but the two big dudes complained. We closed it but after about an hour I asked if we could open it again because it was like a goddamn sauna in there. I finally decided to go to sleep around 12. I strapped my documents to my body and wrapped the straps of my carry on around every limb it could reach. I was awoken at 145 by the two big dudes saying goodbye to a someone else from the train. I was closest to the door, so they were literally leaning on me to hug this guy at the door. I thought I was being robbed, they’re lucky I didn’t kick them.

At 230 my alarm went off and then I fell back asleep because I’m an idiot. By some black magic I woke back up at 250 and we arrived at Bologna Centrale at 3 am. Funny story, Bologna Centrale isn’t like Penn Station. It’s not a station where there are shops and benches. It’s just a series of tracks. HAHAHAHA good. What do you do at 3 am in a city you’ve never been to and when there are no cafes open at 3 am? You sit around. You evade the drunk man who gets into a fight with a cop. You watch the attractive Marine get onto his train. You count the seconds.

At 530 a cafe finally opened. I went in and more hahas. The outlets dont work. So, my phone dies. I had planned to spend the day visiting Bologna but I was sort of fed up and I didn’t want my mom worrying so I hopped the next bus to the airport. When I arrived at 710 am it was still dark, so I guess it was a good choice. I have been hanging out here waiting for my 420 pm flight to Krakow.

In review, I have been the same jeans and itchy sweater (bad life choice) for over 24 hours. I haven’t been able to brush my teeth. I smell from sweating out all my toxins on the sauna/train. Get me to Poland.

Recap Seville: My favorite European city thus far. It was like everything I was expecting from Venice, plus cheap food. I saw a flamenco show, drank sangria like they were stopping production, gazpacho, tapas, took a bike ride, tapas tour with my hostel, mad crazy gelato. It was incredible and beautiful and warm. The waiters were ruder than most, but still, the city was amazing. My favorite part was renting a bike because a) I needed some physical activity and b) the bike paths in Seville are so easy and clear. I went alongside the river for about two hours, went down to the park with the Plaza Espana (where I want to live forever) and then went back to my hostel and got lunch. Everything was peachy until the girl I was traveling with invited a friend of hers from Venice to come stay with us and it was like I stopped existing. Suddenly, Seville lost the rosy tint. I suppose the company around you really does effect experience.

Tomorrow, we as a class leave for Vienna at 930 AM. My sister lands in Venice at 130 PM. Really, really unfortunate. I still wish I were running the marathon on Sunday. It makes me want to cry seeing the ramps they’ve put over the bridges out by the water for the runners, I just want to be running this marathon. In Italy. With my sister. The one I trained for and told EVERYONE about. I kind of feel like a loser because I told so many people and now….nothing. I am still SO EXCITED for Courtney to run the marathon and then be here. I need some real people time. I just want to talk about something other than drinking and hook ups and gossip for five seconds. When I do something dumb, Courtney tells me to my face, I rectify it as best I can and we move on. Same goes for her. I don’t understand why this kind of normal human behavior isn’t commonly practiced amongst college students.

Anyway, we leave for Vienna, come back Tuesday. Courtney leaves the following Friday. We have an opera Sunday, then my parents arrive the next Friday. They stay till Thursday. The next day, we go to Rome for a week. Then I go to Poland for a week. Then a week off, then my best friend comes from London to stay for a week. Then 10 days till I am home. I hate to wish it away but man, I am missing New Jersey hard.