Italy! (and the journey there)

Buongiorno!!!

So far, one word and one word only can describe my 2 days in Italy: FINALLY. I left Croatia at 11pm on the 22nd, and arrived in Amalfi, Italy at 11pm on the 23rd. It literally took me 24 hours to get here.

I took a ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari, Italy. The trip was overnight and the total sailing time would be just under 9 hours. I figured I could sleep on the boat. Wrong. I went outside because the day had been 100 degrees and I was dying from the heat. As the boat took off into the Adriatic it got colder and colder. I put on two pairs of pants. Nothing. Three sweaters. Nope. Socks? Again, not even a teeny bit better... Get the picture? And my lovely new friend Maurry from Scotland was sleeping peacefully on the wooden deck (having sweetly given me the elevated seat) in his toasty sleeping bag. I was insanely jealous. I sat starting at him like a psycho debating whether or not to wake him and ask to crawl in for about 15 minutes before regaining my senses. So I went inside figuring I would sleep on the floor, but everyone else seemed to have gotten the same idea. People were sleeping on the stairs, in the halls, on the bar. It was actually kind of funny, but at the time I just wanted to sleep. So I ended up back on the actual deck of the boat to escape the wind, but of course it started to rain (as it always seems to do just for me!). But at six in the morning when I gave up trying to sleep the sun came up and out and I was rewarded with a perfect and peaceful view of the sun rising over the Adriatic Sea.

We finally docked in Bari where it was incredibly hot and it ended up being one extreme or the other that day. My entire left side of my body was covered in red spots, broken blood vessels, and scrapes from lying on the wood for so long. My plan was originally to take the train from Bari to Solerno, where I would find my hostel (supposedly) but the boat docked 4 minutes too late and I missed my train. I overheard an America talking who was going to Naples (in the same vicinity of Solerno) and was taking a bus. However, to catch the bus we had to take a train. In the opposite direction. And Solerno? I watched the city pass me by, like a drooling dog, my face plastered to the window. By the time I actually reached Solerno, I had taken 2 buses and 2 trains. Both Bari and Naples were the most disgusting places I have ever seen. I will spare you the ugly details as I know it is my beautiful experiences you want to hear about, but lets put it this way: the smell of noodles will haunt my dreams forever.

Once in Solerno I was informed it was another hour long bus ride to Amalfi! And the bus had to travel up winding roads that were uncomfortably close to the craggy rocks and ocean below. Two hours, an upset stomach, and FIVE Italian boys (seriously, boys. This seems to be a reoccurring problem with me) later I was in Atrani, a cute little village next to Amalfi. Supposedly, I had to just follow the signs to get to the hostel, but that wasn't the case either. Phone calls, policemen, and lots of stairs finally got me to the hostel, where I passed out immediately after arriving.

This morning, I woke to find myself in a gorgeous little Italian town, with the hostel practically right on the water. The location was great, the hostel... not so much. Kind of wet and musty, but I spent my first couple hours here outside instead, lying on the beach trying to get my pasty skin to actually look like an Italian's. I spent 2 hours in a cafe, drinking Coke (which I never do, but for some reason Coke is really good in Europe) and zoning out. I wrote a little in my travel journal and generally just relaxed and tried to get over the horrors of the previous day. Now, I am actually in Amalfi, a 15 minute walk UP a massive mountain, but it was a very pretty walk: lots of clear water and grand buildings with peeling paint. Not much is here actually except for lots of beach and tourist shops. So I decided to catch up on email by paying a ridiculous amount of money to use this computer. I'll probably spend the rest of the night sitting in another cafe and eating pasta. The one great thing about Europe, besides the Coke, has been the cafes. I really haven't seen a lot of museums or monuments, but I've been having lots of great dates with myself, comfortably watching people, drinking really great coffee, and meeting interesting people. I've already met an American engineer named Frank who was my company to Naples, a Canadian English teacher named Sandra, a crazy Norwegian named Isaac who hasn't been home in months and works just so he can afford to stop working and travel the world . There's also Rachel and Pip, two girls met in two different hostels who were also travelling alone and a pleasure to be around. And of course, Maurry, my Scotland gentleman with the sleeping bag.

Arrivederci!