Pompeii

Today I was on a train from Vico Equense to Pompeii. I looked out the window, and I saw a young man walking down the sidewalk sporting a shirt that read (I kid you not): "pussy forever." Am I missing some sort of Italian translation here, or is this kid for real? Yesterday I stood outside of a church in Portofino. I saw a young girl on a field trip with her middle school wearing a hat that said "get money" in huge graffiti letters. I wanted to ask her if she was even old enough to get a job or if she understood the concept of income. I know I didn't at that age. All I lived for was chuck-e-cheese tokens and Pokemon trading cards. These were my form of currency at age 10. Also, I might clarify, I was not familiar with the term "pussy" (excuse my language.)

Though, yes, I automatically judged these two individuals for their despicable taste in clothing and morals, I have definitely seen them before. I've seen them in many different people I know in the United States. The bold teenager who wears vulgar shirts that he finds in the back of Spencer's. The one who disregards everything his parents have ever said to him ever. Or the little punk middle schooler that thinks he or she is the hottest thing since lava in a toaster oven. I guess it was a relief of sorts to see that these little pests aren't just an American trend. They're everywhere. In my imagination, I saw Italy as a glamorous place full of two types of people: well behaved, beautiful, brown-eyed angels who bake bread and harvest grape vines and the scary, intriguing mafia dudes from The Godfather. My imagination is pretty limited, if you can't tell. 

All this is to say that, yes, Italy and America are two different worlds. But I find a little comfort in knowing that at least we share one common element: little fiends of society. So that's just my little fun tidbit for the day. Food for thought. Since I can't share the Italian food with you, the least I can do is give you a nice thought to chomp on. 

Now to the stuff you actually care about-- what I did today. Class at 9 (a writing workshop). My essay was in this first group of critiques. Basically that means everyone reads your essay and we talk about its good and bad qualities in class. Because I'm an English major, I'm used to this sort of critique, but I think some people are pretty scared... It's kind of funny actually. So without sounding too proud or arrogant, I'll just say that everyone liked my essay and it got chosen to be posted on the class blog for all of the parents to read. After some editing, of course... 

After class we had two hours of free time for lunch, during which I ran in the city and did some exercise in my room. Turns out that was a mistake because we spent about 6 hours walking around in Pompeii this afternoon. We initially had a tour guide, but Dr. Letteri didn't care for him too much. To make a long story short, he sent the guy packing after about 45 minutes. The whole scene was pretty dramatic... Letteri got in his face and told him exactly what was gonna happen: "if you don't like being hired for a 4 hour tour, then you can just leave after 2 hours and I'll take over. Better yet, just leave now. We don't need you." All of us girls, so dainty and innocent, had to turn away, embarrassed of the display. Inside, however, I was cheering. I couldn't understand a single word of the guide's thick Italian accent. So once he left, we just split up with our professors and conquered the tour on our own. To put Pompeii in a nutshell: it's a bunch of really old stuff (older than the bible) that was buried under a bunch of hot stuff back in 79 AD. Now it's just a bunch of broken stuff that's being restored and fixed. There is 6 hours in two sentences for you. My synopsis skills are impeccable. 

By 7 o'clock, my feet were numb and I wanted nothing but a chair and a foot rest and maybe some water. Dinner was at the hotel at 7:30. Fish and potatoes. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it about a 5. But it did the trick for sure. After dinner, me and 10 other girls walked down to an outdoor cafe and spent about 3 hours just goofing off and telling stories. These are my favorite moments of traveling... I love to see all these people outside of their usual furman element and in another sort of world where they don't have to pretend to fit any mold. We are all foreigners in a new place, and we can all be whoever we want. It's a refreshing thing to watch.