Sorry this entry is so long, I've waited too long to write! Feel free to just look at pictures if the text becomes overwhelming. Hopefully these descriptions give you ideas to plan your own trip to Italy. Move over Rick Steves, here I come! hehe.
Paestum: connecting to ancient peoples
This city was a suprise to me! I had never really heard of Paestum before, which is incredible considering the content of the site. The entire complex, probably....maybe the size of the KSU campus perhaps...was filled with the entire bottom half of an ancient city from around 500 A.D.!! There are still beautiful mosaics inside the floors of houses, columns with inscriptions, doorways, and three gigantic temples! (Sorry for all the exclamation points, everything is so amazing, periods just don't seem to be doing it justice). The day we were in Paestum was gorgeous as well, the sky was blue with huge puffy clouds and the suns rays would stream through them. Plus it had rained the day before maybe so everything was lucious and green. It was hard to believe that I was walking on the floors of someones home that lived not hundreds, but over a THOUSAND years ago! The fact that they could build such impressive spaces, especially such tall and monumental temples, just blows my mind! Paestum really brought these people to life for me.
Mosaic on the floor of an ancient Paestum house
A view of the city of Paestum and the ruins
Pompeii: one day that changed their lives forever
Now here is a city we have all heard of - the city suddenly completely destroyed when the volcano Vesuvius erupted (note the picture of Pompeii with Vesuvius in the background to the left of this text). The city was also incredible! Ruins of houses, streets, shops (including counters and spaces for sliding doors), theatres, all these still exist in here. The story is also fascinating, bringing to life these people even more. The volcano erupted, and the people fled the city, leaving their slaves (about 2,000 slaves were left), to protect their houses and their valuables. It is the slaves, then, that faced their ends at Pompeii. The cloud of dust blown over the city by the wind, fell rapidly enough that as the slaves dug through house walls to find ways to escape, they could not find any way out, and were buried under the ash. I have pictures of the skeletons and molds of the spaces left in the ash after the bodies disintegrated, but I will spare you those scary images. They actually creep me out pretty bad. Anyway, I admit that I actually wondered if the city was destroyed due to wickedness, however, because there were "red light" districts (I think that is the right term) in the town. Reguardless, It was amazing to see the houses and streets and such still intact. 
Streets of Pompeii. Notice the large stones in the bottom right. These are stepping stones that lead across the road. Why? Because, in order to clean the roads, the Pompeiians would flood the street. In order to cross at these times, they stepping stones were used. It is amazing, because in between these stones, you can see the indents made bye the wheels of the wagons used to transport through the city. If you look , you can see them in this picture as well.
This is a set of stairs inside one of the hosues in Pompei. I included this to show how intact the spaces are.
Almafi: is this the meaning of beauty?
Now we leave the world of ancient ruins and enter the world of luxurious Italian beaches. Yes, I am in fact getting school credit to sit on the beach, hehe. Suddenly the long semesters of no sleep seem worth every minute. The water of the sea is the most beautiful part, I think, of all of this. The water is a pure, deep teal, and clear all the way to the sea floor. The sea is backed by the city, which is backed by steep stone cliffs. Our hotel was built directly into the cliff, sticking out from the cliff to below. The view from this vantage point was incredible! We spent the day playing on the rocks, the beach, and touring the local Duomo (every city has a large main church, called the duomo). We told the man inside that we were "Studenti di architectura" and he got very excited to show us everything inside. For one meal, we ate at this amazing pizza restaurant where a performer came in and sang and played the guitar while the restaurant owners, and some guests, sang along. It was really cliche Europe, and I loved it. For the other meal, we decided to save some money and use the kitchen in the hotel. Unfortunately, this kept turning the power off. The meal, of an alfredo-like pasta, was sooo good. We were able to watch the sunset and sunrise in Almafi...both spectacular. 
A group of us on the beach
The duomo of Almafi
Movie of the restaurant
Capri: tropical paradise
Capri actually suprised me. I expected extravagant beaches. There were beaches, but the main event was the tropical hike through the island hills. The beauty is that we were able to get lost and just hike for hours, with no concern for time or location. There was green all around us, and there were constant views of the blue/green ocean and the rocky cliffs. We also toured the Villa San Michele, which is a beautiful villa on the hill off Anacapri with gorgeous gardens, sculptures, and an amazing Italian house. I think of all the places I have seen here, Capri is the most beautiful. However, if traveling to Italy, remember that the beauty of the island is spent hiking through the island. 
View of part of the hike
Naples: hmm...
So I will not put much of Naples, because honestly, Naples did not live up to my expectations. I hear that the people are wonderful, but the city was run down and covered in graffiti. I didn't even get pizza...but its all good, there is so much pizza in Italy!
Sunday: a spiritual pick-me-up
Last, but not least, I would like to update on my church experience here in Italy. Actually, Sundays are probably my favorite days. The Urban family, a local family, is so sweet; they travel to pick me up and drive me to church. This Sunday, they brought along their 23 year old daughter who came home from Utah. She goes to a school in Utah, and has not been back to Italy for a long time. She speaks English first and foremost, and has no accent, but also speaks Italian fluently. Anyway, she was soooo sweet and I loved meeting her and spending time with the family again. Since I have not discussed this much yet, I will debrief you on Brother and Sister Urban:
Sister Urban is a nice woman, probably in her early 50's, and she is Italian. Her English is very good, but she does have a very noticable Italian accent, which really makes her all the more cute, hehe. Brother Urban is an American man (now Italian by location), and he is so sweet. He is so full of smart/funny comments and jokes, he always makes me smile. They treat me just like a daughter, the Urbans, and I feels so at ease. "Are you sure your not Italian, you get along so well with us," Sister Urban said to me, which made me so happy, I felt so loved!
At church, I am getting to know the members. In the past, I have had people translate for me (one man who translates for me, Emmanuele, reminds me of the guy from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," he and his family are awesome!) during the meetings, but I feel bad because the translation disrupts people around us. Consequently, I decided to forgo the translators today and just feel the spirit of the service. Usually, I can get the main gist of the conversation based on words I know and the scriptures we read, and the spirit is very powerful.
The Urban's daughter, Narina, and I during our Sunday outing
Anyway, during the meetings, I've met a few people. Paolo is the institute director, and he is wonderful! He always calls to make sure I have the opportunity to attend institute and sets up transportation for me and everything. This Thursday I will finally be able to attend! Marco is an architect who is one of the people in the I Am a Mormon ads. Him and his family are also great people, and, who knew, he is a beekeeper! I also I met a girl, about my age, who is getting baptized on the 10th. She is from the Czec Republic studying languages in Perugia, so her English is good enough that we can communicate and I absolutely love her! I told her that I would go to her baptism, and she gave me a huge hug and was so happy! I immediately wanted to be her friend since she was so kind to me. Her name is Margharita. There are so many more wonderful people, I could go on forever, but I will move on for now.
Speaking of kindness, its funny how happy any kind of interaction at church can make me. The Relief Society president asked me, in Italian, to go get five hymnbooks (cinque libro) to bring upstairs, and I was just so happy that I understood her and that she had enough faith in me to ask this of me, that I was probably over excited to complete the task hehe. Another lady decided to tell me a story from her experiences that week (she did this in English), and she just talked to me so easily, I was thrilled to be let into her life. Italians are very touchy feely too, so she did the common thing of kissing both of my cheeks when she said goodbye afterwards, as do all the Italians once they are comfortable with you. All the Italians put their arms around each other, hug each other, rub each other's arms to express support, etc, even to me right off the bat. We stopped at some friends of the Urban's on the way home and they overwhelmed me with hugs and putting their arms around me, and inviting me to dinner, they are all just so friendly! Meeting them and going to church renews my desire to really learn Italian, since I want to badly to return the sentiment with more than gestures and just a few words. I hope I follow through.
Then after that visit, the Urbans took me to see another town in Italy which had such beautiful old world charm. We drove through the mountainside and viewed the valley below, from which we could even see where part of the movie "The Gladiator" was filmed. I really enjoy these trips through Italy with the Urbans.
Anyway, so overall, this trip was incredible. Italy never ceases to amaze me with the sights, smells, stones, and so many experiences. I am thankful to be experiencing a whole new lifestyle from my own, and I hope that I can take from these places and experiences some lessons that will influence me forever.
Ciao!
Jessica
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