Fourth Week in Sorrento!

This week in Italy has been amazing! I hiked a mountain on Wednesday and travelled to Florence this weekend. It actually rained a couple times this week and was overcast in Florence so the weather wasn’t too hot. When I hiked Monte Faito the weather was perfect! I spent Monday in Sorrento. I had class and finished up the final touches on my research project about the geology and geography of the Bay of Naples. On Tuesday, I got some much needed rest in the morning then went to class in the afternoon. Tuesday was the first day of the Sorrento tours for Paloma’s class. I got to lecture a little on river erosion at the Valley of the Mills. I did most of my lecturing on Thursday though during the second part of the tour.

Wednesday was so much fun! It started off kind of rough, but I was determined to climb Monte Faito. Paloma took 6 of us up the mountain, but to get to the trail we had to take the Circumvesuviana to Vico Equense then take an hour bus ride. I got severely motion sick and ended up throwing up on the bus. I was not about to let that bus ride be for nothing though (and I felt less sick after I threw up). The hike was gorgeous and very well shaded due to the forest up there. A lot of the trail felt like hiking through North Carolina. We all decided to eat our sandwiches up on the top and the view was so worth the trek! From the top you could see a 360 degree view of the Bay of Naples and all the way down Monti Lattari to Capri. Hands down the coolest place I've ever eaten lunch.

Thursday was the last day of Paloma’s class. :( I got to talk about rocks and volcanoes during the second part of the Sorrento tour which was so fun! I also did a little magic trick with some floating pumice I got on top of Monte Faito. After class Sydney and I went to the Cameo shop Jolie and Siona took us to on their part of the Sorrento tour. I ended up getting a siren cameo pendant because the name Sorrento comes from the word for siren. For dinner, Emory, Syd, Francesca, Hannah and I took Paloma out to dinner because that was our last night with her. I'm really sad she is not staying the whole 5 weeks. After dinner I went down to Marina Grande for the Sant'Anna festivities. The Marina was the busiest I've ever seen it. The fireworks for Sant’Anna were going off for 25 minutes straight and there was also a 10-15 minute drone show along with the fireworks. The fourth floor terrace at the dorm was the perfect spot to see the fireworks! 

On Friday, Syd, Hannah, Francesca and I took a high speed train from Naples to Florence after the marine bio field trip. Florence was incredible and my first experience in Northern Italy. I got to climb to the top of the Duomo (and the bell tower), walk across the Ponte Vecchio, explore the Uffizi and watch the sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo. I couldn't tell if Florence was less touristy than Sorrento or just a bigger city/touristy in a different way. Florence felt more authentically Italian to me than Sorrento does. When first arriving in Sorrento, I was so excited to be in Italy, I hadn't really noticed how performative the city is. Through spending time in Sorrento this past month and the information I learned from the guest speakers I understand now that Sorrento is mostly built for tourists and is meant to reflect the ideal of Southern Italy. Anyway, I had an awesome time in Florence this weekend and I'm really glad it allowed me the opportunity to experience a different part of Italian culture.