"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." --Oscar Wilde
Oct. 8 - 16
This semester, our educational fieldtrip was to Sicily, the largest island on the Mediterranean sea, located just off the southern coast of Italy. The first three days consisted of doing volunteer work with an anti-mafia organization in Corleone. We stayed at the organization's HQ, going out during the day to help farmers who had recently reacquired land stolen from them by the Mafia in previous years. We also traveled around to different museums and churches and even got to visit the house of Peppino Impastato, a political activist who spoke out against the Mafia and was killed in 1978. It was truly fascinating, learning about the Mafia's history of manipulation and control over that area.
The rest of the week we traveled around the different provinces, staying at different hotels and resorts, walking through beautiful towns, swimming the different seas, and visiting many famous landmarks. We got to walk through the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento and host a dance party in the disco of our resort. We completed the week by hiking to the top of Mt. Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, where we practically froze our butts off due to the wind and snow. All in all, a fantastic week!
Naples, Pompeii, and Ischia
Oct 29 - 31
Fieldtrip #2 was to the ruins of the ancient Italian city of Pompeii, destroyed in AD 79 by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. We got to walk through the city and see the preserved buildings and bodies. It was like going back in time! We also hiked up the volcano itself and got a panoramic view of the surrounding country. For the latter part of the trip we sailed out to the island of Ischia, where we spent an entire day at Poseidon resort, going into all the different-temperature hot pools. It was the perfect way to relax after so much traveling! A very fun and beautiful experience.
Dublin, Ireland
Nov 2 - 7
This past week was our "long weekend", in which we had Wednesday through Sunday off. I traveled with 9 other friends to Ireland, and it was by far everyone's favorite trip yet! We had a BLAST touring the city, shopping, pub-hopping, visiting castles, and drinking the drink Ireland is known for - authentic Guiness. It was nice being somewhere so like home, where they speak English and have hamburger restaurants and normal stores and STARBUCKS! I got to have my first white chocolate peppermint mocha and carmel frappucino in 2 months!!! And I got to go to the movies cuz guess what - they're in English there! ;) We stayed in a world famous youth hostel in the center of the city, which was fantastic, and got to enjoy all the pre-Christmas preparations throughout the famous and beautiful Grafton Street. We also took a bus tour up the northern coast and explored a haunted old castle. It was cold and rainy the whole time, but somehow our spirits still soared (thank God for rain boots). All in all, a week full of great fun, great food, and great friends. It did, however, make me very homesick. The Irish were some of the nicest folks I've ever met and I loved being able to really communicate with people again.
Aah! Home in a month!
Much love.
xoxoxoxo
Liz
"God is giving you little miracles all the time. The more you look for them, the more you will see." -Anonymous
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