Submitted by Arianna Schiller on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in Italy sponsored by the Department of English…
Yesterday, we went to Pompeii and Naples. It’s a very odd story of how I came to be so fascinated with Pompeii. I was probably 9 or 10 and my family was on vacation in Busch Gardens. I was that crazy kid who loved roller coasters, so I was having the time of my life. My sister, on the other hand, is afraid of heights and refuses to do anything fun. To appease her, we all agreed to go on the log flume ride. It was called Escape from Pompeii. I can remember it like it was yesterday. You go through dark tunnels in a little canoe type boat, fire shoots up from the sides and it ends with a big drop where people can stand to get sprayed by the water. From that day forward, I knew if I ever made it to Italy, I needed to go to Pompeii. Unfortunately, our program is in the middle of the winter and my classmates did not share the same passion for the history as I did; sadly, we did not get to hike Mt. Vesuvius. Nonetheless, we got to spend four hours just wandering around the city.
There are two train stops in the town of Pompeii, one that goes straight to the ruins and the other that drops you in the town. By accident, we took the wrong train and ended up in the town of Pompeii. Though it caused slight panic, we were only a 15-minute walk from the ruins, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. As we ambled around the town, we found the cutest little coffee shop with pastel colored walls and pastries I’ve never even heard of. We ordered Nutella croissants and cappuccinos before we started our adventure.
To some people, old buildings are just old buildings. If you are a person who thinks that, Pompeii is not the place for you. Upon entering the front gates, the first thing you see is the Amphitheatre of Pompeii. This is the oldest surviving Roman stadium in all of Italy, perfectly perserved since the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. There are kitchens, courtyards, statues, paintings, all perfectly intact as well as a few bodies in glass cases in the exact place they were covered by the eruption.
Though it might not look like much, these ruins helped the world understand so much about the culture of the time. Even things in America that we consider old, are not that old. It was difficult to picture people living in this village, but seeing something so simple as a vase or a frying pan made it easier to connect with.
