yesterday was a free day, and because we were so much closer to Naples and Pompei in Rome than we will be in Siena, I decided (with a few friends) go to down there on the train and look around the ruins for a few hours.
Natalia loves going running early in the morning and since she was coming with Rachel and I to Pompei, I decided to go with her. so our day started out at 5:45 running. I've never run in such humidity before, and it was kinda really surprising how gross it got so quickly. but it was nice that I wasn't that out of breath as we ran. I ran basically the whole way, except for when we walked up the stairs. I think that must have been my "rest" period because I was getting a little tired before that but when we started again I was fine.
Well we had decided the night before to meet up at 7:45 to go to the metro and take it to Termini. I had looked up as much as I could of how to get to Pompei, but I hadn't really gotten much farther than figuring out we had to get to Termini and then take a train to Napoli Centrale where we would get on another tram to take us to the Pompei entrance. Perhaps we should have looked up times for the trains because by the time we figured out how to buy tickets and where to go to get on the trains, we just missed an 8:37 train. it would have given us more time at Pompei, had we wanted it. But we figured out how buy tickets to a later train, and then had some time to waste while we were waiting. So since I'd never been above ground at Termini, we thought we'd explore the area a little bit. I was ravenous and Rachel had to use the restroom, so we found a McDonalds (I feel like the have been the savior of our trip because you don't have to pay to use the bathroom) and I bought a croissant. It had creme of some kind in the middle of it and was yummy, although if it had just been fluffy all throughout, I would have liked it even better. By the time we were done with all that we decided to go back to Termini and try and figure out where to catch our train. It was a little confusing because we couldn't really read what the tickets said and we couldn't understand what the signs were saying. Luckily Natalia was there to talk to people because Rachel and I don't actually know any Italian at all, and we would have gotten hopelessly lost and missed our train.

I have decided that trains are infinitely better than airplanes. for one thing, they give you more room: more leg room, more seat room, more room to walk around if you want to. The other thing that makes them so much better than airplanes is the constantly changing scenery outside. There is always something different to look at, even if it's really similar to the things you saw a few miles back. Clouds are gorgeous but get old after a little while. We were on the train for 2 hours and I would have been totally fine had we had a longer ride (well except for the fact that I wanted to have loads of time at Pompei).
It was a little hard to figure out what we wanted to do once we got to the station in Naples. We didn't know if we were going to take a train or a metro to Pompei so we didn't know where to buy tickets. Plus we didn't know if we should buy return tickets to Rome right then or figure it out later. We decided later for tickets home, and asked someone where to get Pompei tickets. the people we asked had obviously been asked many times before because a patronizing smile came across their faces as they pointed us in the right direction. but at least we got tickets and headed on our way.
when we finally got to Pompei I was so excited! seeing that first road up was just spectacular! I was definitely ready to see what a Roman city looked like and all the art in it and all the roads and maybe even some people in the houses or something. I guess if I had really thought about it, it would never turn out like that, since the bodies were pretty fragile to begin with and tourists were basically allowed to go anywhere they wanted. But at least they showed them at all. Just not in the houses that you could walk through. I think the thing I was proudest of was figuring out about the crosswalks on the streets all by myself. There were sidewalks that were a lot higher than the streets were, but there were stones strategically places on corners and such so that one could step across those without having to step down into the dirty road. We later heard a tour guide telling their group that, but I was feeling pretty awesome that I figured it out by myself. My favorite part of everything we saw was the Villa Misteria, or something like that. It had roofs, mosaics, and even some epically awesome frescas! Plus there were a few bodies in glass that you could walk right up to. It was interesting seeing their facial expressions and the texture of the clothing they were wearing.
When we were done with Pompei we rode back to the station to buy a ticket. the type of ticket we bought was just a general ticket, not one for a specific day or train. it was weird and we were a little freaked out about how to get a ride. But we figured we were hungry so we would go eat pizza in the best place in the world to buy and eat pizza. and man was it good!
one of waiters was hard core hitting on Rachel basically all throughout our meal, and it was kinda funny to watch and listen to. but the best part was at the end of the night when we were saying good bye. he shook her hand and then kissed her on the cheek. and then I think so it wouldn't make it that awkward he did the same to Natalia and I as well. first Italian kiss of the trip :P
The ride home on the train was uneventful: we just sat and chatted. however once we got to Termini, it became eventful again. the Metro closes at 9, so we couldn't just ride home like it would have been easy to do. We started to look at the buses, and there was one that had a Barbarini stop, which was closer to where we live than Termini. We got on and it went crazy far away from where we wanted to be. But we found out that there are a few buses that were taking the place of the metro while it is closed. We finally figured it out how to get to the Metro station Chipro, which is the closest to our apartment. It then only took like a half an hour to get home. which meant we finally got home at 1:30am. The man at the front desk was surprised to see us in so late, and told us next time we should use a cab or call them to figure out another way to get home fast. Evidently when we went all the way heck out there on the bus it was a bad part of town, so I'm glad we just stayed on the bus. but still a little scary to realize.

I'll have to try and catch up on what we did today tomorrow, but I took a few hours to write this, so I'd not have time to write about today without getting too tired and going to sleep. yesterday was a really long day (20 hour day! and I was walking and traveling and supposed to be conscious the entire time) and we had to wake up early today. although, at 8 when we were supposed to meet, Prof. Stanford came to our apartment and told us actually it would be 8:45. I was disappointed I hadn't known that earlier so I could sleep in a little more.