Latin class in Action

Vesuvius over the city
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After a night out with friends I received a rude awakening at 5:20 a.m. on Friday morning. Somehow I pulled myself together and made it to the bus stop where I met up with other bleary eyed students preparing to travel. We all climbed on the bus and settled in for the six hour ride that was to deliver us to Pompeii. I fell asleep immediately.

Three hours later I awoke to find us at a gas station somewhere in the middle of Italy. I guess it was more of a rest stop than a gas station but it was intense! This place had turnstile entryways and lines everywhere for different foods, drinks or snacks. It was a shock to the forty American students who entered to see Red-eyed and flashily dressed Italians running around in search of their morning caffeine fix. I did a quick run-down of the joint and made my move…I darted through the crowd, got the attention of the barista and ordered fast... once my order came up I bobbed and weaved back into open air; success!

A man frozen in ash
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After escaping the circus of a rest stop we drove on for about three hours and after a nice Italian traffic jam found ourselves in Pompeii. This is what I had been waiting for! Since sixth grade when I first began taking Latin, everything I learned about was in Pompeii…the characters in my books, Caecilius, Grumio, Matella and of course the faithful dog Cerberus were all residents of that doomed city. Our bus parked alongside about thirty other coaches and let us all out into the tourist center of Pompeii. Everywhere you looked someone was trying to sell you a trinket or overpriced postcard! This was not the Pompeii of my imagination.

Ruins
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Finally we entered the grounds of the ancient city and caught sight of the outer walls. Our tour guide began briefing us on the basics… “Pompeii was destroyed in AD 79 when Mt. Vesuvius erupted…” I was a little antsy since I already knew this information inside and out, I wanted to see the real city. Finally we got inside one of the original theater areas. This was what I had imagined. Granted it was filled in with grass, but the columns that lined the entry way were meticulously ornate and the circular bleachers seemed to keep going into the sky. Those bleachers were tempting us to climb their steep steps, and so we did! At the top I saw something amazing. The whole ruined city of Pompeii extended out before me with Mt. Vesuvius towering in the background. It was so surreal. The beautiful mountain that looked so peaceful against the blue sky had wreaked havoc and destruction on this unsuspecting city.

Our tour continued without much pertinent information from the tour guide. I however enjoyed seeing the old houses, the baths, the palaestra (gym) and one of the original temples. I could just picture the characters from my books ambling along the streets and being cleaned with strigils in the baths.

Our tour of Pompeii concluded and we ate a quick but overpriced lunch and piled back onto the bus. The next stop was Sorrento, a town which I knew nothing about.