100 days of life in Israel!

The third leg of my Israel trip has passed without a post..Im guessing you guys are alittle antsy for it then. This past month has been the shift, I feel, from just studying abroad to feeling like i'm living in and being a part of Israel. All the things that made Israel feel temporary now make it feel like home and even though I miss alot, I am truely having the time of my life.

The easiest way for me to recap is to just go by "chapters" rather than by days. So the next couple Chapters I'm going to devote to Spring Break:

Chapter 1 -- Getting to Italy
My flight left Thurs at 3 pm, getting to Rome by 6. However, my morning was: Hebrew at 8:30 and midterm at 10. I was hoping the midterm wouldnt go the complete time until 12...but it wasnt really short. After writing aloott of essays about conversion, circumcision and Reform vs Orthodox (did I mention its a Contemporary Jewish Issues class), I ran to the grocery story to pick up a few snacks to show Italians what Israeli food is about. I packed poprock chocolate, a bag of freshmade pita and some barackas into little crevises in my suitcase so they could go through.
But I was still running late..so I hopped in a cab but lucky for me Haim was not only a speedy driver, but he had the nicest cab ever and he was very very freindly. He actgually gave me 10 of my sheckles bakc cuz he liked me! haha We talked alot in Hebrew and English. So I get to the airport with some time to spare and have the easiest time getting through security that I've had yet (all 2 flights..). Still the lady just let me straight through without having to go through my bags. Waiting in line for tickets I was joking around with hte man in line in front of me. He knew Hebrew, English and Italian. Finally on the plane, I was seated next to a Parisian orthodox family - very interesting and I tried to sleep on an Alitilia plane which isss not easy haha.
Italy is a very green country. Flew over sooo much green. Alitalia's chairs were green! So i'm happy butt I land in Rome and my phone doesnt work! Turns out that while Verizon has capitable carriers in Israel; it has NONE in Europe..so I had no connection to the outside world!!!
Luckily again, while waiting in line for my baggage I saw my friend from the ticket counter, Deddy. He was Israeli born but moved to LA and spends alot of time in Italy. Basically a great person to talk to and he showed me to the train and helped me buy a ticket since "Jews stick together" haha. He also let me call my friend so I could actually meet someone and not wander the huge Roman trainstation aimlessly.

Chapter 2: Jews in Rome Part I
So I got into Rome and back to my friends apt just fine..getting a mini tour of the area and how to travel it like a true study abroader. We went out to watch the game and I ran into a friend from TLV!! we had a very long 1.5 hr walk home --- did I mention that Rome is HUGE? We passed alot of diff sights - including one we thought could have been the colleseum (it wasnt..it was the jewish quarter) and St. Peter's Basilica which looks amazingg at night!

So Friday my SB team is quadroubled by the addition of more SBers visiting Rome. A team of a bunch of spanish study abroaders from school unload their stuff in the apt too; happy reunion; then we're off to see Rome. Stops: Pantheon, nice shopping district, the different piazza with fountains and painters (too many similar ones), Trevi Fountain (where we stopped to sit, throw in sheckles and sip on a beer) nd Piazza del Popolo which has a fantastic park onto of all these staris with some good views that we just chilled on. So the group of us are getting Gelato at the best place in Rome ( 2 euros - 3 flavors) and I was upset alllll day cuz my best friend Ariana is in Italy and I cant meet up with her cuz my phone doesnt work...when all of a sudden she calls one of the guys phones! I left her lots of messages and we agree to reunion for dinner...happiest reunion ever!! Yummy pasta dinner and I get to meet her girls from Study Abroad in BCN.
The group of us go out together and I slept at the girls sweet hotel.
Saturday -
Woke up and got delicious pizza outside the Vatican - its cool because in Italy they just cut off slices from abig piece and weigh it to get the price. We met up with a group of U of Iers and dub today what I like to call "The day 8 Jews went to the Vatican". We went to the Vatican museum and were prob a little clueless about some of the things we saw. However- some of the paintings were amazing and we learned alot by following english tour guides haha. There was one mummy that was open faced so you could see the small little dark body - very creepy. Also - we learned that the average ancient roman was only 5 ft tall and lived till 37. One tour guide told her tour (and us?) about Michaelangelo's relationship with the Vatican and all the pain he went through painting.
So then it came-- the Sistine Chapel!! I was really excited to see it..but you have to be silent and whenever people would talk the security guards would sush everyone - it kinda ruins the atmosphere. It also looked different than I always imagined. Still ..how lucky am I to get to see it up close?
After leaving the Vatican a couple hours later, we saw it was drizzling a little around Rome. So we took a hike up to a great look out point and saw the whole city. Then it was our friend Halley's turn to show us HER fav gelato restaurant and we ate dinner in the Trestevre area of Rome, seeing really authentic and local food places and bars. After, we went to Campo de Fiore which is a bunch of cool restaurants and bars surrounding a square. Alot of Americans hang out there and we ran into even more friends. After was the NBA playoff game which we watched in an Irish Pub..followed by late night karoeke. Rome has so many hidden little spots which are so cool to discover, its a huge city!
SUN-
Colleseum and Forum. We opted for a guided tour which proved to be helpful. Our guide in the Forum had a voice IDENTICAL to the man from "Vh1's Fabulous Life" so everytime he talked or enunciated something, we burst out laughing. Both were awsome to see though I wish I could have seen it all lit up at night. We took anice walk and saw the green area which used to be the ancient prison/ where they killed people. We saw the "wedding cake" aka tomb of the lost soldier and finally arrived at the Jewish ghetto. Everyone raves about the food in the Jewish ghetto so we tried a meal there..but it was nothing too spectacular I think. Then again I'm living in Israel haha Everyone was absolutely exhausted from a busy and funfilled weekend so we went to a local restaurant for dinner. Though it turned out that they forgot about us and put all our orders in for 2 hours! All the food was really burnt and we all passed out, defeated.

CHAPTER 3: Ladies take on the South
All visitors dispersed monday morning - towards florence, or like me - down to Amalfi coast. Since I didnt have a phone I hoped that me and Ariana would be able to meet outside of the train to Naples. Luckily I found Ariana and her 2 girlfriends and we all boarded the train for a 2 hour trip. Some people say Napoli has the best pizza and is something not to miss..others say its the dirtiest city. We didnt see too much since it was just outside of the trainstation to a bus..but it was like a crack street; very disgusting. We got really lost and confused searching for the bus but once we arrived our luck changed! We needed to take a bus to the port and then a ferry to the island of Capri. On the bus, we met a nice man who was a police officer in Capri and he told us which stop to get off of and which ferry to board.
Upon boarding the boat, we tried to go outside but the security told us that we cant go out there until the boat leaves the dock. We're sitting on nice seats watchign the water when all of a sudden the man comes to us and tells us to follow him. He then opens up a rope and leads us UPSTAIRS to the ViP section of the boat - where no else could go!! We met the captain of the boat and took us into the cockpit where everyone was steering. What were they doing in the cockpit? Listening to Snoop Dogg! haha what else would you listen to when driving a boat? He also took us out on the deck so we could see everything - Mt.Vesuvias, Sorrento, Capri, Naples - gorgeous!! We were very lucky!
Capri is the island but our hotel was located on the innerland on Anacapri. While Capri looks like a typical beachfront, Anacapri is very authentic. We took this tiny shuttle bus up the windy mountains. There is no way it could be legal in America. There were 20 of us crammed in the bus - working our muscles and holding on for our life as this little cab nearly missed other buses and people walking. Still it was beautiufl to look down on the water. Anacapri is very quaint and authentic. When we arrived the clouds were so low it was foggy! We explored and picked up the side roads quickly. The hostel was the cutest thing ever..decorated in Grecko design with baby blue and gold and lots of greek statues. The owner gave us a map and told us main sights to check out. We wandered up and down checking out the side cafes and touristy shops and desided on a restaurant. One of the guys working there was really cute but an older lady was our server instead. Baked pasta I soon realized is THE thing to get in Italy - the way they bake the cheese is irreplacable. Towards the end of the meal, our server (who spoke English pretty well) told us that her nephew (the guy) was new in town and would we mind going out with him later and exploring the city? Sweet! So we waited for the shift to end and met up with Johnny (the nephew) and his friend (who knew more English). It was kidna of hard to speak to eachother but we explored the city anyway - they took us to see a really nice panorama view of the city from the top of a church. Turns out everything closes in this sleepy Italian town so even though we saw where the one Anacapri club is, it is only open on the weekend. We wound up just sitting overlooking a good view and attempting to make conversation. Communication wasnt so easy so us girls spoke Spanish and hoped it would be similar enough to Italian. On our way back to the hotel, we were escorted home by a dog - who we fondly named "Chello" - after the Lemocello drink native to Italy. Unfort it was so dark that none of us to this day remember what Chello looked like - some say he was light..other that he was dark. So for the rest of our Anacapri trip, we called every dog we encountered, Chello.
In the morning on Tuesday we decided to check out some famous sights. Me and the girls were waiting for the shuttle bus to take us down to the west coast when we saw a car roll passed and stop. IT WAS OUR POLICE OFFICER FRIEND FROM THE BUS! even though he just came from the direction, he picked us up and took us down to the Grotto Azura. He was telling us how safe it is in Anacapri - no problems, no crime. The coast was gorgeous and so blue..of course so was the Grotto Azura aka the blue cave. Though 10 euros was a bit of a rip off, we got taken into this cave where the water GLOWED! It was so bright blue! After our boat trip, we hiked the coast and found some rocks to lay out and sun on. A couple Italian locals had the same idea and were cliffjumping. Was so fun and free. Back in the town, Anacapri had turned froma sleepy town to tourist central! It was intersting that we got to see the same streets in 2 different persecptives and just added to the interesting factor. We lay out on the deck of our hotel, which happened to lay over a field of sheep! How much more peaceful and isolated can you get? At night we watched the sunset from a local neighbor's lemon grove. EVen though the family came home, they didnt mind us sitting on their stoop. The sun set over the water, with lemons in the background - it was seriously the most relaxed I've been.
Wed - we checked out of the hotel and decided to see the rest of the coast. Ariana and her friends had a midnight train to the cinque terre and I was headed back to Rome. Unfort, the first shuttle bus we took took us to the center of Capri, not the port..so we squished onto ANOTHER death cab down to the beach. Still, these little buses gave us the best views of the island and I really feel like I saw alot of it. Our oceanliner back to Sorrento wasnt as eventful as the way there, but the town of Sorrento was so cute! It looked straight out of Disneyworld - pastel houses, lots of porches, the cutest little vilalge. Unfort we climbd so many stairs to get onto the mainland! Ariana and crew wanted to catch a bus onto the beach but I was worried about time and needless transportation so I bid them goodbye and hustled onto a train from Sorrento to Naples. While it was a dirty, weird train it yielded the best observations. I people watched Italian locals - including lots of Italian teens. I also saw the Italian green countryside and Pompeii and Vesuvious up closer. Finally after an hour I arrived to Naples and took the train back to Rome, trying to sleep as much as possible on the way.

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Wooah quite the catch up but more to come!! I just figured maybe everyones eyes might need a break :)