No picture, article or description could have prepared us for what Pompeii was like. We walked many miles exploring this ancient city that many of us only had the chance to read about before. It was amazing to truly realize that the Romans actually lived lives like we do today. 



We learned about classism in Ancient Rome as we looked at many examples of domūs (town houses) that had various aspects to publicly display wealth. We saw various houses with elaborate mosaic work that the only the very rich Romans could afford. Although many of us had weak ankles from walking on ancient Roman walkways made of inconsistently large rocks, we were very fascinated with Pompeii from start to end. 




After Pompeii, a large group of us went out to lunch. All of us utilized this opportunity to order pizza in Italian. It was exciting for all of us to use what we have been learning from our tour guide along with Duolingo. The servers were also somehow happy to hear us butcher their language but that made us more willing to do so and continue practicing. 

After lunch we took a bus to the site of Mount Vesuvius and then continued to spiral up most of the mountain with the bus. At a higher point, we began hiking up Mount Vesuvius to learn about its famous eruption is 79 AD. It was rocky, gravely and really steep so it was quite a challenge to climb. Once reaching the top we took many pictures—none of which could do the site justice— and read over one of the main primary accounts of the eruptions from none other than Pliny the Younger. We then translated the paragraph into English and observed the massive crater along with multiple steam vents. We then went on a exhilarating hour-long bus ride back to the hotel as we talked about the experience.



When we reached the hotel a group of us had our first Italian gelato (amazing!) and then headed to dinner and had some beautiful Italian food. Overall the day was very educational, helpful and tiring but fun for many students who loved practicing their Italian.


Ciao e buona notte!
Melina and Jason







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