Coastal weekend: Sorrento

There were numerous highlights this weekend, so many that I almost want to believe that it really wasn't a weekend at all...that it was more like days or weeks or months that have passed and that I have enjoyed each and every minute of it...because even though it was really just a weekend, it was more than that. It was an experience...an eye opening adventure and one I will never ever forget :)

It all started at about 2:30 pm on Thursday, June 10 when ninety students, waiting on the train platform, pushed and shoved their way into the train--making an attempt to cram everyone in before the doors closed--just to find that all the seats were taken. At that point, the five hour train ride did not look like it would be an enjoyable experience. Luckily, I jumped into a private room with 4 girls who had found seats and one very unfortunate Italian man who had to listen to us the entire ride chatting in a language he didn't understand. However, he was nice enough to give us his phone number at the end of the ride...just in case we needed anything...uhhh....I think I'll pass, thanks though mister.

The ride went more quickly than expected, and despite the non-pressurized cabin that resulted in numerous ear-plugging/unplugging experiences, the train ride was much more relaxing than those on the bus. Upon arrival at Sorrento, an adorable small town on the coast of Italy, we walked from the train station down one very very very long flight of stairs that led to a small beach tucked away under a cliff and left our bags there. I enjoyed a dinner of a calzone with tomato and cheese with tap water on the side (I have learned that that is just about the only free thing in Europe). We, all 90 of us, eventually made our way back to the beach in small groups, myself and friends taking an alternative route down the long flight of stairs. Rather than walking outside, we made an astonishing discovery! First, let me try to give you a visual. The main road on which the train station, shops, and various dining establishments were on was about 5 stories above the windy road which led to a ferry dock, which had a curving path through beach changing rooms and an open-patio bar, behind a couple rocks that eventually opened into the small incove with a beach on which we slept that night. A HUGE rock wall that jetted above the windy road was about 5 stories tall and by looking at it, you'd never know there was anything inside. However, there was a tavern inside that we walked though, enjoying various live bands and music along the way on our return to the beach. It was perhaps the coolest bar I have been in so far, and I have to be honest that I think I would have much rather slept in the hammocks they had in one of the rooms rather than the sandy beach. :)

So we made it back down to the beach, walking down the 5 flights of stairs (give or take a few) through the tavern, and slowly found our way back to the beach we were sleeping on. I walked around the corner just to find that my backpack had been chosen for a special mission: leaning up against the wall that separated the sidewalk from the beach was my backpack...now dripping with water. "What happened?" I asked myself. And there was only one answer from a multitude of people, but "onlookers" and "bag of water" were the only things I heard. I rushed over to my bag and sleeping pad that I had so carefully laid out in a 'safe' place to find that everything was soaked. But I think that I was a trooper and wiped off my bag, turned over my sleeping pad and got ready for bed.

Lying in bed looking at the stars all cozy and warm on the sand, I was almost asleep when I heard a commotion. Keep in mind that this commotion was above the student drunks (yes, part of our group) and the noise of the ocean...I sat up, wondering what it was when I heard a girl exclaim in horror "It is a cockroach!!". So just picture this situation: I am on a beach, quite small in size, hidden behind the rocks and below a 5-story cliff, all cozy in my sleeping bag that rests on my soaked sleeping pad when I hear that cockroaches also have decided to set up camp with us for the night. Would YOU sleep well the rest of the night?? (hint: probably not)

In addition to the small visitors that joined us for the night, we also had another visitor--the second time not so small. It was one of the guys, intoxicated-as-could-be, who made the monumental decision to join our line of sleepers at the last moment. He grabbed his sleeping pad and bag and squeezed his way into the middle of two people in the sleeping line...which made for quite a cozy night with more people than you can believe wedged into a space meant for not as many.

I slept well though, and woke up to the sunrise...and the sun shining directly in my eyeball. But I was on the beach and everything was okay :)