The Journey to Rome

I, Mary Ogilvie, am proud to announce the Junior and Senior class's arrival in Italia.  It hasn't been an easy process, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. Currently we are on our giant coach bus headed for Rome, surrounded on all sides by the gorgeous landscape of rolling hills and groves of olive trees. Beautiful. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First I should begin with how we got to the gorgeous country of Italy.  Last night we boarded a ferry in Patras, Greece that would take us across the sea to Bari, Italy.  The boat was nice, and the view was even better. Once settled into our small, somewhat cozy, cabins, everyone went to the upper deck to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous. The sun was a vivid orange, only enhanced by the blue water and hazy mountains surrounding us. We all spent our night differently, even though most of us were bored to tears due to the sheer lack of things to do on the boat.  This morning we ate breakfast on the ship and soon after docked in Bari and got on the bus to head for Pompeii, where we met out new bus driver Antonio!  The entire group spent just around 3 hours examining the Italian countryside. Wait, I take that back; a lot of us were sleeping....but hey, this trip's itinerary doesn't have much sleep scheduled in.  We take what we can get! On our way into Pompeii, which is right by Naples, Al proclaimed that the first to spot Mount Vesuvius would get a free ice cream.  Needless to say, I lost due to the fact that I was fast asleep.  However, I am extremely jealous of whoever won.  Gelato is heavenly!  So anyways, we got off of the bus and embarked on our journey into the well-preserved city of Pompeii.  It was quite a sight to see.  I felt as though I was in ancient times; surrounded by Roman shops, homes, temples, and roads, half-expecting to see someone walk by me in a toga.  No luck there though.  However, there were many painting of people in togas...does that count?  After spending roughly two hours inside, we were forced to board our bus in order to keep on schedule.  Most students proclaimed that they could spent weeks examining the city, and two hours was just not enough; I being one of them.  Now I sit here on my little seat in this giant bus, looking over the Italian countryside, counting my blessings, and reflecting on the fact that in approximately two and a half hours I will be in the magnificent city of Rome. Wow.