Napoli...:(

When we finally rolled into Napoli (Naples, Italy, our 2nd port) around 10PM, one of my greatest fears came to life.  We left the train station aware of the fact that Napoli is known for its immense mafia action and shadiness.  Everyone we met along our journey didn't like the fact that we were headed there.  When we left the station, we were looking for our hotel.  Needless to say, finding it was more difficult that we had anticipated.  As soon as we stepped out onto the sidewalk, I didn't feel safe.  I had never had that immense feeling of hopelessness and terror.  I felt like everyone was staring at us and like anyone could've been trying to hurt us.  We started walking in the direction that we thought the hotel was in and couldn't find it.  We asked an Italian family if they could help us, but because of our lack of Italian we really couldn't understand what they were trying to tell us.  Eventually, we were even more lost and I was more scared than ever.  We saw an older couple and another woman along the street and asked them if they could help us.  They knew where it was and told us that they would give us a ride.  At first we were all hesitant and the man could tell so he said was okay with that and started walking to show us.  But we decided that we felt comfortable with them and by the grace of God they took us to our hotel.  When we got out and were thanking them with one of the only Italian words we knew, "Grazie", we're pretty sure they were scolding us for walking where we were, but all I could really hear was, "No, no no no no" and they were shaking their fingers at us.  Finally, we got into the hotel in a rather zombie-like state and crashed.

 

In the morning, Aeriale and I had to get up early to go meet the ship at 8AM so that we could go on our Vesuvius hike trip.  When we go to the port there were some other students standing there waiting, but the ship was not fully docked and the security wouldn't let us on.  We finally got on there about an hour late and rushed to get our stuff rounded up to get to our trip.  On the bus ride, I couldn't help but fall asleep after the lack of sleep I had been experiencing and the fact that I didn't have a legit meal for almost a day.  As we were driving up the mountain, it was littered with garbage, hotels, restaurants, tourists, and souvenir shops...not exactly what I expected.  We got to a certain point where they told us we would start hiking from.  We all realized pretty quickly that we were less than in shape.  The hike was hardcore.  When they said strenuous activity, they weren't messing around.  After awhile, we made if up to where we could see down into the volcano.  It definitely wasn't what I had expected it to look like.  I'm not sure why, probably because when we think of volcanoes we think of giant mountains with smoke and lava streaming out of them.  It's pit was huge and open and we could see everything.  After a little bit, we started hiking around the top of the mountain.  This was definitely the hardest part.  It was a really steep climb on very unstable soil, but after we got up there it was more than worth it.  We were able to climb a little ways down in it where one of the tour guides showed us the geyers and the fact that if you blow cigarette smoke into them it will instanly rise.  Since I'm not in the geology class, I didn't really pay attention to the speeches they would give, so I'm not sure why exactly it did that.  At the top, through the fog, you could see all of the cities below.  It was amazing to stand up there and feel the intensity of what was surrounding you.  It was hard to grasp the fact that we were standing at the top of a volcano that last errupted around 1944 covering and killing many areas and people.  I was simply awestruck by the fact that we hiked the mountain.  The climb down was relatively uneventful, and 2 bus loads of very exhausted kids headed back to the MV Explorer.

 

Aeriale and I came back to the ship quick just long enough to grab our stuff and head to pick up Jenna at the hotel.  We decided since it was light and we had a map that we would try walking there.  Needless to say, I didn't even feel safe here in the day time.  We walked for awhile and I realized that I had no clue how to get there, so we hailed a taxi.  Unfortunately, we didn't get lucky with the driver because he hit on us the whole time.  He told us we were beautiful and he asked our names.  Not being stupid, we made up other ones, but when we got to the hotel he said that it was 5euro and Aeriale handed him a 20 and he was saying something about change so then I figured that he didn't have the change to give her 15euro back so I handed him a 5 and he handed me a 10 back.  I'm not so hot with math, but I'm pretty sure we got taken advantage of with our taxi fare.  But he was creepy and I just wanted to get away from him so we went inside the hotel.  When we got to Jenna we decided to go grab lunch because we were all starving.  Unfortunately, we went out after most places had either closed fo siesta or just completely for the weekend.  We were planning to go to Pompeii after on the train, so we tried to find somewhere close to there.  We found a little, caffe/pizzeria and got food there that turned out to definitely not be very good pizza and what Aeriale thought was pasta was some kind of seafood.  Even sitting there eating I felt extremely uncomfortable and just wanted to leave.  We went back to the train station to see a sign hanging in the window of the ticket booth saying that there were no tickets to Sorrento, Pompeii and some other place.  Just our luck.  After standing there trying to figure out what to do for awhile we decided just to go to the hotel and hang out until we had to be back on the ship.  We went back and talked and had a good time talking about why our Naples experience has been so awful thus far.  Around 8, Aeriale and I came back to the ship with a somewhat less creepy taxi driver, but he didn't take us to the right place so we had to walk a good way to get to the port.  I can't explain to you how big of a relief it was to get to the ship again.  We have been trying to unwind all night and projected our view of this city to our friends as they tried to convince us to celebrate the 4th with them at the bars.  Needless to say, there was no way Aeriale and I were stepping foot off this boat after dark, so I'm hoping and praying that they all stay safe tonight.

 

I hate Naples.  I can't stand it here.  It is dirty.  There is trash everywhere along with wall after wall after wall of grafitti.  It is filthy and disgusting and completely unsafe.  On top of that, the directors of the ship warned us repeatedly about how unsafe Rome was, yet never said a word about this place.  I hate that we can't even walk around in broad daylight without feeling safe.  The guys standing around are all pretty much perverts and it's especially difficult when you can't communicate with anyone.  I really hate the fact that we came here and didn't just stay in Civitavecchia.  I don't understand why it happened like this, but apparently there's a good reason.  I'm really thankful that we didn't stay here the whole time like we were supposed to.  Most of the people I've talked to are rather upset about the fact that we're here and how unsafe it is, but they don't even understand because they haven't been out at night whatsoever.  I seriously was jealous of Jenna today, getting to go home, because more than anything this city makes me homesick for my safe little town in Clarion County and the comfort of my home with my parents.  I'm hoping my comfort level goes back to normal once we get to Croatia, but I have no idea what that encounter will be like.  I'm just really thankful that we were able to meet some nice people who helped us out a lot and that God was on our side the whole time.  We're trying to go to the island of Capri for the day tomorrow before we have to leave, but I just can't wait to get out of this scum hole.  Lack of sleep is definitely catching up to me, and will continue to do so for the next few weeks because of the constant ports that we have.  Tomorrow we have to be on the ship at 6 and there is a 4th of July BBQ around 530 or so that we're looking forward to.  The ship is supposed to leave around 8, we have class on the 6th and then we're in Croatia for a few days.  I can't wait to get out of here...did I say that already?  Well, I can't...I never want to come back to this place and I hate the fact that I went from a utopia to one of the most sketchy places I've been in.  I can't wait for the countries to come that I've heard stories about...hah. Not.