Room with a balcony and a view in Nice

The second chapter of my European Extravaganza has now begun!!!! I am here in lovely Nice to study and enjoy the scenery. It was sad to say goodbye to M. Cabanillas, Andrea, Cassie, Melissa and her mother Bonita yesterday at 4AM. They are now at home back to normal life. We did have the most amazing end to the trip, however. The highlight was definitely Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Southern Italy. We visited the ruins at Pompeii. There were so many. It was sad to see a few casts of the people who were covered by the ash from the volcano in the first century. One seventeen year old boy was holding a handkerchief over his nose. One pregnant girl was lying down. Our guide, Giovanni was hilarious!! He kept referring to us as his grandchildren.

On Friday night, the Ohio teacher decided to take those who would like into the city of Sorento to try out the Discotheca or local club. When the 28 of us arrived, two boys who spoke English told us to wait until 11:30 and then they would take us to a great club. We all met downtown and walked over. They let us all in for free and we made quite the scene. Nobody was on the dance floor when we arrived. They were all drinking quietly at the tables. Well, we changed that up very quickly. We all got out on the floor and started dancing. Before long, the floor was filled with people. There were lots more guys than girls at this club, so we all felt so popular. The Italian dancing style is more intense than our American style, however. I met the cutest Italian guy, Joseph, 28 years old, but he spoke no English. He couldnt pronounce my name, so I changed it to Carlotta. He was very sweet and not as all-over-the-place as some of the others. We had a fun time trying to communicate with actions. He is in the Italian military and kept doing a salute. Then he would shout, Viva Bush!!! Viva USA!!! for us. The time flew by.

The next morning we were all tired as we had to get up early. We took a ferry to the island of Capri. I thought I was in Paradise!!! This island is only for pedestrians, no cars, and it is filled with flowers. We took a small boat ride around to see all over the island--the caves, the blue-green water, the cliffs....I would definitely recommend anyone who goes to Italy visit this place. Words cannot describe its beauty.

Yesterday was a long tiring day all by myself with my huge pink suitcase. I had to walk from the hotel to the metro, asking for directions in broken Italian all the way there. Then I had to figure out how to drag that suitcase into my train. I had a 2 hour wait in Genova. This little old lady came up to talk to me. I tried using French and Portuguese to understand her Italian. She was very sweet and complimentary. She wanted her husband to watch my suitcase while I followed her downstairs to check on the status of my train. As soon as I got down there, I panicked. I thought that it was probably a trick to take off with my suitcase and I was so ignorant to let a stranger watch my bag. I ran away from here, but then got lost underneath the metro. I couldnt find where I had left my bag. My heart was beating so fast. Then I spotted the old lady again and she brought me back up to meet her husband...the suitcase was there and everything was fine. I breathed a sigh of relief. She was actually a nice, helpful old lady after all. Still----
Wont let that happen again!!!

I arrived in Nice at 8PM. My host mom and her dog, Taquila, was waiting for me there. It was so nice to see somebody. She took me to her apartment on the 7th floor of downtown Nice. She showed me my room. It is beautiful!!! I have my own walk-out balcony. I love it!!! I am going to be very happy here. This morning, I just took my placement test at the school. I am waiting for the oral part. There's my name.