Second Week in Sorrento!

From Sunday to Saturday, week two in southern Italy has been packed full of excursions and new experiences. The first excursion this week was to Amalfi and Ravello. These places were gorgeous and terraced on cliffs over the sea. Upon looking closer though, I was able to see the impacts of over-tourism on the environment. Consumerism, pollution and marine damage from boats were all impacts I noticed while walking around Amalfi. And like Sorrento, Amalfi seemed very geared towards tourists which took away some of the authenticity. While these observations are quite negative, I did have an amazing time there. It was just an interesting experience for me to dig a little deeper and challenge myself to look beyond surface level. Monday thru Thursday I was busy with class and local adventures around Sorrento. I visited the rest of my sites for my research project and learned so much more about the geology and geography of the Bay of Naples area. I also collected some rocks as examples to show the class during the tour of our research projects.

Friday was the excursion to Herculaneum (and Vico Equense). The whole experience of visiting the ruins of Herculaneum was surreal. A couple semesters ago I took a class about Pompeii and Herculaneum at UF and to be able to see everything I learned about in class was incredible! I only wish I could've spent more time there. Vico Equense was an informal afternoon adventure on Friday, but so much fun. I got to eat pizza that was a meter long and test my endurance on stairs (so many stairs). The pathway to the beach was gorgeous, but we started on top of a very large cliff and needed to walk down a very steep (very long path full of stairs, which we then had to walk up). My calves were definitely burning by the end of it. So worth it though, because the beach was gorgeous and the water felt so good in the heat.

Saturday was the marine bio trip to Ieranto Bay. The hike back up from the bay also tested my endurance with stairs. Over about half a mile, I went up ~500 feet in elevation. The field trip was so much fun and like the other field trips this week it helped me to look a little closer and notice things I would not have seen otherwise. The kayaking portion of the field trip was great for my research project because the cliffs around the bay were mostly made of limestone and small caves in the cliffs were created through erosion by the sea. The snorkeling part of the trip was where I think I learned the most though. Upon looking at the sea floor and all the life on the rocks (substrate) I didn't really know what I was looking at. Professor Sgambati picked up a starfish and a sea cucumber off the bottom that I didn’t even see due to their camouflage. After that I was looking at the sea floor more intentionally. I learned that starfish will appear to change color as you bring them up near the surface because of the light wavelength absorption. On the bottom they appear brown to help with camouflage, but up near the surface they are bright red because red light only penetrates the ocean near the water surface.

One thing I've noticed this week is that American convenience culture is a real thing. I've heard many times that America is a convenient place, but I don't think I've ever been faced with a situation without it (for this length of time). This has made me more aware of the cultural differences here and back home. For example, I am going to the grocery store almost every other day. Food doesn't last for a long time here so you only really buy what you going to eat right away. Also, most of the time I am going to multiple different places just to make one meal, because although there are supermarkets here, there are also different shops for things like meat, fish, cheese and produce. Sorrento is very walkable (which I enjoy), but every time I need to go get something or leave the dorm it's probably going to be at least a 20-30 minute walk (round trip). That being said I'm getting ~15,000 to 20,000 steps a day. Anyway, I guess my point is that after having to walk all around town to buy food, pretty much every other day, I have come to notice convenience culture (and the lack of it here).