Back in Firenze!

Ciao a tutti!
I'm back from break safe and sound. It was a wonderful break to say the least and now I think I need another break just to recuperate. To my eternal relief and gratitude, I met up with Mike in the train station with minimal issues. We made it to Sorrento on a gorgeous, if chilly day and had dinner at a pizzeria. It then proceeded to rain. And rain. basically, the whole week it rained with minor intervals of cloudiness and an afternoon of sun. So keep that in mind. The pizza in Sorrento was AMAZING. Very different, most definitely, but delicious. It was thicker than the super thin crust of Florence, but still thinner and crispier than American. The pasta in all of Amalfi was second rate compared to Florence, but I guess you get spoiled living in Tuscany. I'm quite excited to get some high quality pasta now that I'm back in Florence because to my everlasting surprise, I missed it.
On Tuesday Mike and I explored Pompeii which was really, really cool. It was the coldest/rainiest day, so I don't have as much to say about it as I wish I did, but it was definitely a crazy experience. It seems surreal to think that you're walking through a town that was just minding is own business, and then an hour later was completely decimated by a volcano. The degree of preservation is definitely eery. Wednesday we had a sunny afternoon so we took a boat to Capri and hiked around. We found a trail to the Arco Naturale (Natural Arch) which is this amazing rock formation that Capri is known for. It's a gigantic rock arch, as the name suggests, and depending on which side you're standing on you can either see the sea and the rest of Capri, or the sea and the Amalfi Coast. The sights were unreal- I'm so thankful that we had some sun so we could really appreciate the beauty of the island and the water. The sunset over the water that followed was also one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.
Rome was pretty jam packed. Our first evening there we saw the Colossuem, the Forum ruins and a bunch of monuments to kings and rulers of Rome/Italy. Then yesterday we walked across town past the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, across the Arno, past the Castelo Sant'Angelo, and to the Vatican. Whoa. We spent the afternoon in the museums and saw the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's. It was beautiful, and the Pieta lost nothing on second sight. That evening we hit up my favorite pizza place in Rome and saw the Trevi Fountain at night. The Trevi Fountain is a beautiful monument during the day but is pure magic at night. I'm speechless every time at how beautiful it is. Today was a travel day, well sort of. I only had an hour and a half train ride and then spent the afternoon hanging out in Piazza Signoria (the piazza outside the Uffizi) and soaking up the sun that decided to come out minutes after Mike left the country. Typical.
I'm exhausted so I think I may go take a nap, or at least rest a little. I'm crashing at a friend's tonight, so I've still got one more night of couch surfing before I move back into my homestay tomorrow. I'm not really excited for classes to start again, because who ever is, but it will be nice to be back in a place that's sort of mine and to return to a more regular schedule. A regular schedule which is only going to be my norm for another 6 weeks. Wow. Talk about how time flies when you're (finally) having fun!