▶ News ▶ GEOGRAPHY: An Italian voyage of discovery

GEOGRAPHY: An Italian voyage of discovery

Year 10 geography students enjoyed a fascinating trip to Italy, taking in Rome on foot, the island of Capri, the preserved ancient Roman city of Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius and the coastal town of Sorrento - while finding time to make pizzas along the way. PADRAIG RUSSELL reports. We hope you enjoy our photo gallery

DAY ONE

WE boarded the coach for around 0:15am. Whilst it was extremely early, the bus had a relaxed, but also buzzy atmosphere. While some chose to sleep, others talked to their friends.

Once we arrived at the airport we had some free time to go get breakfast. It was the first taste of the generous periods of time we were given to ourselves, and it was nice to have so much freedom. By the time we landed in Rome, most people had enough energy for the day from resting on transport. I unfortunately didn't, and left my suitcase behind, but thankfully a watchful teacher noticed and gave it to me!

We spent the afternoon in Rome, where we saw the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. We then walked up to the Colosseum. After all that, we were all very tired, and started the trip down to Naples where our hotel was. Once we arrived at the hotel, we unpacked before dinner, and then went to the beach. It was a lovely little beach just down the road from the hotel, and there was a quaint little ice cream shop nearby. Once we had our hour of beach, we went back up to the hotel for an early night.

DAY TWO

On day two, we went to the Isle of Capri. It wasn't too much of an early start, and everyone was fully ready for the day. We took a boat and spent the day there. We enjoyed a boat tour around the beautiful island, and saw many geographical landscapes. We then got about two hours of free time to walk around, buy ice cream and pizza, along with souvenirs, and just generally relaxed. Capri was a lovely place, with very friendly locals and a lot of lemon-themed souvenirs. In the evening, we had a period of free time, before dinner, before the beach, then got ready for bed.

DAY THREE

On day three, we went to Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius. We spent the morning in Pompeii, with some fantastic tour guides that showed us the small things that you wouldn't typically notice. It was a surreal experience, being in such an old and well-preserved place. In the afternoon, we went up Mt Vesuvius. We walked up roughly a third of the volcano, which surprisingly wasn't as tiring as you would think. We then got given a talk by a local, who told us all about the geographical nature of Vesuvius. The one thing that surprised me was that in the crater of the volcano, there was not lava, but trees and grass! That evening we were allowed to go down to the shops during our free time if we wanted to, and enjoyed free time, beach and rest.

DAY FOUR

This day happened to be my birthday, and it also happened to be my favourite day of the trip. For the morning we went to a farm, where we did a pizza-making class. It was a fun experience and I enjoyed making and eating the pizza. The animals were also very interesting to see, they even had some peacocks! During the afternoon we had a couple of hours of free time, which I used to buy far too many souvenirs. We then went to an ice-cream shop, where we got free ice-cream, before we saw how the ice cream was made, and made some ourselves. It was an amazing experience, and the ice-cream there was fantastic. During the evening the teachers got me a birthday pie, which was a lovely surprise. During the beach visit, a simple water-gun fight I had with other students which ended up turning into a water-gun fight with the teachers. I won.

DAY FIVE

On day five, we went to Herculaneum. Herculaneum is similar to Pompeii, however it is even better preserved, albeit it is smaller. We got given a scavenger hunt sheet, and told to find certain things around the town. It was nice, being able to explore without a tour guide, which made it different enough from Pompeii to be very enjoyable. Similarly to Pompeii, it was something else being able to explore such an ancient, and even more well-preserved place. The teachers then bought us all pizza for lunch, then it was back to travelling. The teachers had supplied us all with snacks and food for the journey, and we had a great time. Once we arrived to the airport and had gotten through security, we got some free time again, mainly for dinner. The flight was smooth and we landed on time. We then began the coach journey back home. It was an incredible experience, and I thank all of the teachers who were on it, especially Mrs Wainwright who organised the trip.