This past weekend I traveled with a few friends by train to Sorrento and the island of Capri nearby. To think I almost didn't go! It was by far the best experience I've had in Italy yet. Photos and words cannot describe how absolutely breathtaking the water is.

We had some interesting experiences with waiters while we were there. Our waiter for lunch randomly told us we were all feminists and explained why feminism will never work. He told Anjali she should know about the state of feminism in India. He then tried to explain that "When a man asks a woman to spend time, she think he want to go to bed. But I do not want to go to sleep." He wanted to ask Rachael to spend the evening with him, but we managed to pay the bill and leave before he got the chance. We went to an English pub for dinner for a change of pace, and I wanted to get something I'd never had before so I ordered a "Chips Butty" sandwich: fried potatoes on white bread:Our waiter told me that the beer I ordered would make me "feel like a bull", and proceeded to grope Rachael's pony tail every time passed our table, exclaiming "lovely, lovely!" Not to mention there was some Italian movie on the t.v. next to our table where a woman kept having sex with a poltergeist--not easy to ignore while you're trying to make conversation.The next day in Capri, however, more than made up for the awkward experiences in Sorrento. We started off by taking the 10 Euro motor boat to the Blue Grotto. When we got there, we saw tons of smaller row boats just floating outside the cave, waiting to pick people up and take them in. We then transferred from our larger motor boat to a small row boat in groups of four, rowed over to a different boat to pay the 9 Euro for the entrance to the cave, and sat outside the three-foot wide entrance until the waves died down and our boatman pulled us in on a chain attached to the wall. Once inside, the sight was unbelievable. The water literally glows a neon blue color from below: "This is due to another opening to the grotto, completely submerged, and the limestone bottom. It allows in sunlight to truly light the water from below" (wikipedia). Everything inside is pitch black except for the breathtaking glow of the water.

Then some of the boatmen start singing in Italian, which echoes off the walls and adds to the overall experience. Once out of the Grotto we took the boat back to Capri and had lunch next to the chairlift (thanks to a recommendation from Rick Steves).

Four of us then paid about 7 Euro to take a chair lift up to the top of Annacapri. On the ride up, I remember thinking "This probably won't be worth the money. It'll probably just be similar to Cinque Terre: a lot of pretty buildings surronding by nice cliffs and coastlines, and that's it." But when we got to the top, all four of us were speechless. The water by itself was stunning. You can't get a more perfect definition of blue than the water there:

So we spent a good 25 minutes up there just saying "wow" over and over again and taking a ton of pictures from different angles. Then we headed back down and waited an hour and 15 minutes for the bus (which never came), took the fenicular down to Capri, took the motor boat back to Sorrento and took the bus back to our hotel. I feel like I should be a star in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles."

It's taken me two days to try and complete this post so I'm going to cut it off here. Hopefully soon I'll be willing to write more about my personal experiences at home and dealing with culture shock. No promises, though.