Cliff Jumping? I'm In!

Day 2 in Amalfi. We started the day bright and early and were greeted by sunny 75 degree weather. Perfection. We got to the black sand beaches of the town of Positano and it was absolutely gorgeous. After basking in the sun for a few hours, we headed out with the group for the highly anticipated cliff jumping excursion. About 100 students all headed out with the group to test the cliffs. The guide had us first climb up to the lower cliff which was about 10 feet high. Piece of cake right? Laura was being a little daredevil and I didn’t want her to show me up so I decided it would be a really good idea to show off my diving skills after years of acquired practice at Farmington. The line of people behind me was close to all 100 students so I attempted a front flip as gracefully as possible. Fail. Right as I came out of my tuck to enter the water in a perfect pencil, I lost control and continued to over rotate and managed to land in a perfect belly flop. The line of students simultaneously cried “Oooh, ouch” as I surfaced and immediately turned bright red. Smooth, Em.

After our guide thought we had gotten sufficient practice on the lower cliff, he led us up to the top one. We were barefoot and wearing nothing but our bathing suits while climbing between these huge cliffs. We got to the top of the 32 foot cliff and I decided just to stick with a pencil jump on this one. I successfully landed but many of my friends were not so lucky. Marissa still can’t sit right and Ally ended up having to go in an ambulance after having the wind knocked out of her. Laura also thought it would be a good idea to back dive off the boat without looking behind her and dove right on top of an innocent swimmer. The necks crunched against each other and she came up with a bloody nose. Che disastre.

Saturday night we hung out at the hostel with the rest of the crew for dinner and drinks. Their special that night was Mexican food and after dining on sub-par quesadillas in tacos with spicy marinara served as salsa and thick milk for sour cream, we all agreed that we can’t wait to go back to the states for “real” Mexican food. Tacos el Norte anyone?

Sunday morning we went to Pompeii to see the ancient ruines from Mount Vesuvius’ eruption 2,000 years ago. Looking at all the petrified bodies and the town that was dug up from ash was cool but I’m glad I opted out of paying for the guided tour since it was getting to be quite hot and I am all toured-out after four months in Europe. I need at least a six month recovery process before I ever step foot in a museum, ancient landmark, church or any other cultural tour again.

Overall, this was one of my favorite weekends in Europe. I know I say that after every trip but this was just the perfect final weekend to my semester abroad. Only two more blog entries left! Sono triste!!