Midterms/Pompeii/Naples (formerly Midterms/Pompeii/Naples/Halloween)

So, I should never have to have four topics in one headline. I remember a day when blogging came easy as breathing to me... but I guess it's not entirely tragic that I've gotten past that haha.

Anyway, yeah, preceding the Pompeii/Naples weekend we had our midterms and, well, they were midterms. Not a whole lot to say. They were pretty easy, I prepared, took them, did pretty well... it's like a fleeting memory at this point. Then we celebrated by hitting up Pompeii and Naples.

Now, I'm not sure if I've mentioned our dear old Claudio before, or if so if I was able to properly depict him. He is the Roman Emperors/Mediterranean Archeology professor, and, like all of our staff, he is extremely knowledgeable and an expert in his field. And he wants nothing more than to be able to share this expertise. And he finds it very difficult to determine the point at which perhaps he's divulging too many details to the point where we can't really maintain interest in the subject anymore. And while he's quite competent with English, he doesn't understand our questions entirely all the time. And he's very spacey. All of these factors combined have resulted in more than one very extended, sometimes tedious lecture, but we've learnt what to expect, and have even come to love him for it to an extent... or at least derive a bit of humor from time to time.

Despite the informational email stating, "Be at the school at 8 30. Promptness is appreciated," our dear Claudio didn't make his appearance until ten past 9. He kept us entertained with stories of how dangerous Naples was... how he was robbed at knifepoint once, and when held up at gunpoint moments later, he responded that he gave all his money to a mugger already. The new assailant laughed and issued him a little advice: You always have to have to keep a little for the next! But it wasn't knives or guns that were our biggest concern... Claudio also told us to be wary of the really sneaky muggers who walk around with syringes and say, "I have AIDS, if you don't give me your money I'll stab you with this syringe." While amused, we also started to feel slightly concerned for our safety on the trip.

We arrived (late, obviously) and started out our stay in Pompeii with a museum that was... alright. Saw some ancient artwork and other items that were excavated from the ruins, such as a fossilized (but entire) dog, bread, rope, and glassware. Grabbed lunch at the actual site of the ruins (where some people were surprised by a 21 euro pricetag on a side of veggies and some pizza), and after a long and seemingly misguided (we wouldn't have been surprised with Claudio) walk, made it to the back entrance and began our walk through Pompeii. I was there 7 years ago, but it was cool getting back, especially with the weather we had. It really is amazing how the ash preserved the city... right down to the human bodies forever preserved in their writhing positions. That was certainly the most impressive thing, for me anyway. There were some nicely maintained mosaics and frescoes as well, especially in the brothel which obviously kept us entertained for a second. Due to our initial lateness and Claudio's less-than-efficient course through the city, it was dark before we got to the Villa of Mysteries, unfortunately, because apparently the frescoes there are really magnificent.

It was about 2 hours to our hotel, which was in a town further towards the Amalfi Coast, and we actually had a cute view of the sea from it. We got some good pizza then decided we wanted to take Claudio out for a drink. We thought Absinthe would be funny, but they didn't have it at the place across from our hotel, so somehow we convinced him that a Long Island Iced Tea would be good. He was reluctant, but finished well before anyone else and indulged Brendon and me in tales of his family history and his affinity for "must," a highly sugary biproduct of wine production.

In the morning was Naples. Like I said, everyone was a little worried about picking up the "package" (as I guess it's called on the streets these days... thanks R. Kelly! I feel so hip.) while there, and while Claudio assured us the mafia was responsible for protecting the bus, there was always concern over the best location for our belongings. Well I had been to Naples before too, and didn't remember ever really feeling too sketched out. Thankfully, the man who led us around (Alberto) was a Naples resident, and he really wanted to make a point of trying to convey a new impression of Naples to us. Aside from our nice weather, we were extremely fortunate in that it was a "Green Sunday;" no one was allowed driving. Which of course meant that there were some people driving, because traffic laws (and laws in general) carry much less weight in Naples than just about anywhere else. In any case, we were spared the tremendous amounts of traffic that are known to plague Naples under normal circumstances.

We took the Funiculare to the top of one of the hills, where we got to explore Castel St. Elmo and get some nice views of the city. As we headed back down Alberto gave us a synopsis of the mafia situation there and tried to make us see that things were never clear cut, that obviously the mafia does bad things but how so often it's for the protection of the little guy that the government historically had done little to nothing to protect... you get the point. The rest of the day was spent walking down the old Greek road that divides the city, a pizza stop, a coffee stop, and then wrapping up the day at a Limoncello producing shop. The pizza was obviously terrific, I got a canolli with my coffee which was good, and Limoncello's always a winner in my book. And yeah, Naples was dirty, and people were driving crazy (when they weren't supposed to be driving at all), but I enjoyed it as a city. It had a lot of character, and character is important. Spending an extended amount of time there would be quite an experience I think.

Made it home at a decent hour, then met up with Ben (and later Scott, Tom, Carly, and Kathleen) at Scholar's Lounge to watch the Patriots/Skins game. Pretty embarrassing performance on the Skins' part, but I like the Patriots too. I mean, Tom Brady's still hot. I mean... Hey remember when the Red Sox won the World Series again? Good job Boston sports. Yeah and I'll spare you the Halloween entry til later, this is getting long.