Pompeii

This was our bus driver on the way to Chiusi. Chiusi is about... an hour away from Montepulciano but it's the nearest train station. The buses and trains are all run by the government, and they run really well. On time, they're clean, they're comfortable. It's not like riding in a charter coach, but they're nice and they're cheap. I'm still getting the hang of reading a bus schedule. The thing that made me laugh is most of the drivers wear sort of casual clothes, a button up work shirt with the bus logo on it, stuff like that. But that morning we managed to get The Transporter!



This is the view of Vesuvius from our hotel in Vico Equinse. Equinse is sort of a small town between Napoli and Sorrento. I liked it mostly for the view and the fact the train station was about 20 feet from the hotel. My knee is a lot better but I spent five hours hoofing it around in Pompeii on Saturday and I was really, really happy for the short walk when I got home. Of course, once you got into the room you had to deal with the murderous angel paintings and the PINK walls. I won't post the pictures I took of the room for public safety- they might harm your eyes.



This is Vesuvius from inside Pompeii. I couldn't help but think at this angle it looked smug.



This is Kayla. She's one of my downstairs roommates. She's probably the most awesome person on the trip. Since I busted my knee she's been taking care of me, offering her shoulder to lean on, walking slowly with me when we go through a historical site since some of the teachers pretty much run through them. Her mom is a nurse, so she already knew some of the physical therapy things I have to do for my knee, so she's been helping me with them. She also cooks for us when we're too lazy or tired to. And her cooking skills makes me look like one of those "I could burn boiling water" types.

Ok, now for the big surprise! This weekend, starting Thursday afternoon, is our free weekend where we can go do whatever we want. I'm going to... London! Before everyone starts panicking about money, Europe still has about five million air plane companies which means really competitive pricing- even better than the heyday of $39 dollar flights in America. As long as you're flying within the EU flights are pretty cheap, and if you fly at weird times the flights are even cheaper... And sometimes free. I'm not making that up. My flight to London is free. My flight back is the one I'm paying for, and if I could have got a different time it could have probably been free too, but I had to plan for the train and bus schedules here in Italy. So, as soon as classes are over tomorrow I'm hoofing it down to the bus station, which will take me to the train station, which will take me to Rome Termini (the main train station in Rome) where I'll catch a bus to the airport, and then... London!