Hi all! It’s been a few days and I have so much to share. I’ve spent the last 3 nights/4 days in Naples, Italy and I’m obsessed.

When I first arrived in Naples, I somehow, someway got on the correct bus to take me to the central train station so I could catch a different train to get to my new hostel. I ended up buying the wrong train ticket twice, getting on one wrong train that took me the complete wrong way and had to buy a third ticket so I could backtrack. I don’t speak Italian and I asked multiple people for help at the train stations but I couldn’t find someone to speak English. I was completely lost. At the last train station, I was showing my phone where I needed to go to the man who worked there. He kept asking me questions in Italian and I kept saying, “what?” and I stressed that man out so bad that he had to sit back in his chair and shake his head. We did eventually figure out a solution and I got on the correct train. Getting off the train in Naples, I was the only one at my stop. I was immediately concerned and my spider senses were going off. There was not a single soul around. There was graffiti and trash everywhere. The only people I saw were those driving in cars. I didn’t feel good about it. I had a 25-30 minute walk to my hostel with all my bags on my back. I called my mom to talk to me on the phone until I got to my hostel. That poor woman. I arrived safely after a long trek in the 100 degree heat with my heavy bags on my back. I check into my hostel, tried to relax for a second in my non air conditioned room, and ventured out to try to find some food as I haven’t eaten yet up to this point.

I start walking down the empty streets when I start to pass a gas station. Outside of it, I only see a group of grown men standing by their motorcycles. They start hollering at me, making kissing noises, and whistling at me. I was terrified. Why can’t men ever just leave things alone and mind their own business. Like I’m starving and now I have to turn around because you’re disgusting and make me feel unsafe. So I once again call my mom to talk to me while I walk back. I showered and just waited for the pizza place right next to my hostel to open up at 6 pm. I was ready to leave Naples. I absolutely hated it because I felt so unsafe. I started looking for the next train out and where to go next. I was just trying to come with some sort of plan to get me out of there as soon as possible. While I was outside trying to figure out my next move, two girls from Ireland sat down and we started chatting. Their names are Emilie and Leah. They’re incredible and we hit it off immediately. They start teaching me about the history of Ireland and what it’s still like living there today. Back in the 1800’s, England came over to Ireland and took their land. They took over the Irish homes and basically forced them into famine because they took all the food that was available. That’s why Ireland is currently so pro-Palestine- because they had the same exact thing happen to them. The Irish eventually fought back to the English. Even so, the English still have taken over northern Ireland as of this day. They also treat the Irish from the south poorly.

They also have something called gypsies in Ireland. These gypsies take over people’s land. They just live in some sort of RV or whatnot and can come camp on your land. If you try to tell them no, they will fight you and it can get really aggressive and bad. After 3 years of staying somewhere, they have rights to the home. The gypsies have their own rules, laws, and their own community. They just hop from land to land and that’s how they spend their life.

I finally ate and enjoyed an aperol sprit with my pizza. It was probably the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life. So I was feeling better. I decided to walk down to the beach which was just a short walk from my hostel. It started storming. It was incredible and so beautiful to watch it rain over the ocean. I love that. I walked back and all my hostels mates were hanging out outside. I joined, we all became friends very quickly, and the rest is history. From that moment, we did everything together.

Also that night, I met an Italian local named Luca. He invited me to share dinner with him and his family. He made home cooked carbonara and it was the best pasta I’ve ever had in my life. The son and I were bonding over Fortnite and we laughed so much together. The little girl even offered me up her spot at the dinner table, which I didn’t accept of course. The family didn’t speak any English and I don’t speak any Italian but we had the best time together. It was an experience that meant the world to me and one that I will never forget. This is when I got my first glimpse at how welcoming, kind, and giving the Italians are.

My hostel mates and I got up the next morning and visited the Herculaneum. It’s this ancient town that was buried and destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The eruption caused a massive pyroclastic flow, burying the city under layers of ash and volcanic material. This event preserved the city’s structures and artifacts remarkably well, offering a unique glimpse into ancient Roman life. Over 300 people in the town died during this event! It was incredible and so fascinating. What a heartbreaking event. They even had photos that were painted on the walls. I wish I could see photos of the town before it was destroyed.

After Herculaneum, we decided to go down to the beach. This day was an Italian holiday called Ferragosto and the Assumption of Mary, so a lot of businesses were closed down and locals were out. We met this incredible, fantastic local Italian family at the beach. They came over to us and offered us their home cooked meal and celebratory items. They had liquor infused cake that pairs with some sweet liquor that I don’t even know the name of. You take a bite of the cake, then a sip of the liquor, then another bite of the cake, ect. That’s their holiday custom. They also had homemade sandwiches with fresh bread, meat, a delicious sauce, and some other toppings. They also offered us starfruit. I’ve never had it before or seen it! The food was SO good and they were so kind to share with us. Only one of them out of the group spoke a little English. She said that it’s the Italian way. They share with others when they can and they do not waste food. Another incredible experience with the locals that show how wonderful and caring they truly are. I made sure to get a photo with the family! I will never forget them or that experience either.

We spent a lot of time at the beach swimming and just hanging out. It was my favorite day in Naples. We then went out to a pizza place for dinner and out to a cocktail lounge that served fantastic drinks. It was so fun getting to know everyone on a personal level. Every single person in that group was fantastic. The worst part of travel is that you’re always saying goodbye. You develop these authentic and deep connections with people from all over the world and then you are forced to go your separate ways.

The next morning, a couple of my hostel mates, Annabel and Felix, and I were heading to Sorrento to spend the day at the Almafi coast. While on the train, I suddenly could feel my heart racing. I got light headed & told my friends I had to get off because I was going to pass out. They got off with me at the next stop which was thankfully right then. I knew I was in SVT because it happened to me 3 years ago & my healthcare experience. We got off and I asked them to please call an ambulance because I needed care immediately. None of us knew the 911 number in Italy so my friends looked it up. They dialed the emergency line multiple times and couldn’t get through to anyone. I was able to Google an emergency room near me and saw it was a 6 minute walk but only had 1.9 stars on Google. Nice. I was going to die here. But what other option did I have?? So we started the trek towards the ER. I had my friends write down my mom’s contact information to call her and I had them write down my medical history and what treatments I wanted done just in case I wasn’t conscious by the time we made it there.

We get there and there are SO many people in the waiting room that they were standing and crowding the doors in the hallways. You could barely walk through. This really scared me. I looked at my friends and said, “if I have to wait in this room I am going to die here.” Annabel turns to me and says, “you are not waiting”. We moved through the crowd to reach security. Security took one look at me and pulled me through and everyone quickly moved out of my way. I was rushed back to the room. I could barely breathe. I told the nurse I’m in SVT, I have a history of it, and that I was going to pass out soon. Meanwhile Annabel is giving the other staff members my name and information that I gave her. The nurse hooked me up to the EKG. Rates clipping along in the 230s-240s. I told her that if they’re going to try to cardiovert me that I am requesting sedation. She nodded her head yes. I wasn’t sure if she really understood or not, though. She immediately started an IV and then rushed me back to the ER room.

This room was full of local Italians and it was the scariest ER room I’ve ever been in by far. The room was massive and there were so many beds lined up against the walls. There were no curtains. We were all just together and watching each other’s treatments. The patients were mainly elderly and were not very responsive. They were all curled up in ways I’ve never seen before. They were so sick and the room smelled awful.

Everyone was yelling in Italian and pacing around me and I couldn’t understand a single thing they were saying. I was so hypotensive (low blood pressure) that they couldn’t get a blood pressure reading and I had no radial pulse. The nurse that was with me spoke a little English so that was helpful. They took off my shirt and did another EKG. They just left me naked like that and the other patients were staring at me and I felt incredibly uncomfortable and exposed. The last capture of my EKG was at 237 BPM and in SVT (supraventricular tachycardia). I watched the doctor pull out his Italian paddles to shock me and I was crying and literally begging and pleading him to not shock me. I asked if you’re going to do that please sedate me, please don’t do this to me while I’m conscious. He was shaking his head and yelling at me that this was too dangerous and there wasn’t enough time. He came forward at me with the paddles and I put my arm out to him, begging him to please try medication first and I asked for Adenosine. The nurse relayed my wishes and he shook his head and finally agreed. I was stressing that man out big time.They quickly drew some up and gave it to me right away. I could literally feel the electrical activity in my heart stop. It feels like an elephant is sitting on your chest, like you’re suffocating, you can’t breathe and you’re going to die. I knew this as I had Adenosine last time and I’ve given it to multiple patients. I remained calm, waiting for it to be over. It is the worst feeling in the entire world. My rates immediately came right back up. They did a second dose. I felt it again. Better. Sitting in the 120-130s. After they restarted my heart twice, they were trying carotid massages and valsava maneuver by making me blow hard into a syringe and then they all grabbed my legs and tipped me completely upside down. I’ve never seen anything like that before. They had a difficult time getting my rates to stabilize. I got sent to the cardiology floor for a consult for an ablation and an ECHO. No ablation was needed today as my echocardiogram results were okay. I was then in observation for quite awhile and was receiving normal saline fluids.. They released me after they were able to consistently stabilize me. They recommend me to go in for an ablation as soon as I return home because they said this will keep happening until I do.

I also have realized that I’m the worst patient in the entire world. If I had a patient who was that unstable I don’t think I would’ve let them talk me into not cardioverting them.

It was the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me. Being in a foreign country, without my friends or family, and having a life threatening emergency like that. I had no idea where I was, couldn’t speak their language, didn’t know what their healthcare was like and didn’t know their scope of practice. Couldn’t get ahold of an ambulance. The doctors were using google translate to speak to me when the nurse wasn’t around.

I truly felt scared that I may die. It was the most terrified I’ve been in my entire life I think.

So thankful for my friends/hostel mates who stayed with me and wouldn’t leave me. The doctors wouldn’t let anyone in the room back with me but they didn’t continue their journey without me and came to get me when I got released. Felix even went to the grocery store and got candy he thought I’d like for when I got released. Annabel was great at calling my mom as soon as they took me away in the back because I wasn’t able to call her.

Also very thankful for the staff at the hospital in the the emergency department and the cardiology unit. The nurse and doctors were incredibly kind to me, competent, and were even making jokes after I was okay that I should’ve chose the paddles because they have a much better “shock” in Italy. I was still crying afterwards because I am severely traumatized from that event and the doctors were so sweet to me and trying to make me feel better. I was really impressed with their beside manner even with the language barrier.

It was the craziest thing because I was sitting by the doctor as he was writing my discharge paperwork because we needed the Google translate and I was waiting for them to charge me soooo much money. Not a single dime. Didn’t even ask for my card information. In America that would’ve been a $10,000 emergency visit.

I am so thankful to be safe and be okay. Since the episode, I haven’t quite felt like myself but I’m trying to take it easy. I had to catch a train to Rome the next morning and carry my heavy bags on my back straight up an incline for a half hour plus stairs to reach the train station and I was so nervous that I was overdoing it, but I did it.

Fun fact: the cardiologist that was caring for me on the cardiology floor requested to be my friend on Instagram and Facebook. He then messaged me on Instagram with his phone number and saying I can reach out anytime. He has been messaging me some since. I was really surprised to see he found me online.

On my train ride to Rome, I was sat next to this lady, her 8 year old daughter, and her husband. They all seemed very nice. They ended up missing their stop because the lady fell asleep. She was SO angry that they wouldn’t open the doors for them to get off the plane that she spent the duration of the train ride banging on the train doors and yelling in a foreign language at the top of her lungs. Security closed down that portion of the train so no one could walk through. She was so loud that everyone was staring at her and I had to turn my headphones all the way up to drown out her screams. It was very unpleasant and anxiety inducing.

I arrive in Rome at the train station, and I’m carrying my stuff out when all of a sudden I hear a man yelling. I look over and he’s running as fast as he can down the escalators, yelling and pointing at a man running in front of him. He had been pick-pocketed. Right there in front of me. The crowd was able to stop the man who was running. The other man snatched his belongings back and was yelling at the man. I saw security surround them and I’m not sure what happened after that. I did read online and hear multiple times to be careful with your belongings in Italy because they pick pocket so often here and are very good at it.

It was the first hostel I’ve been in so far that had true AC and was a cool temperature. I spent the whole first full day resting. My hostel mates are nice and invited me to come down for drinks and dinner, but I was so exhausted from the cardiac event that I just needed to sleep.

I’ve had a really difficult time sleeping since my cardiac event in the ER. I keep jolting awake as I’m about to fall asleep, feeling like I’m dying and having nightmares that replay the events from that day. I even have had to get up a few times in the night and walk myself to the bathroom to calm myself down and say that I’m okay. It gets so bad that I’ve gotten dizzy from the feeling. I think I’m just having a bad trauma response to that day.

The next morning in Rome, I woke up and walked 35 minutes down to the Colosseum but they were already sold out of tickets for the morning. So, I walked another 25 minutes over to the Trevi Fountain and Spanish stairs. They were incredible. So very beautiful. They said they collect on average 3,000 euros per day at the Trevi Fountain and it’s emptied out each morning! That is wild. I walked around for a long time and stopped in at some shops as well. I found a healthy spot to grab some lunch. I had an acai bowl topped with granola and fruit and it was 10/10.

Last night, my mom treated me to a massage after all my body had been through recently. I had a Thai massage and it was the best one I’ve ever had in my life. She was incredible. She sat on my back with her entire body and pushed each muscle in all the best ways. My mom also treated me to a nice dinner so I found a super cute dinner spot and sat outside. I had grilled swordfish with a side salad and a glass of wine. I met the most amazing and kind couple from Australia that had been traveling around Italy for the last 8 weeks together. We talked for a long time. I had a really good time chatting with them!

After I was finished, the waiter came over with a glass of cold Limoncello. I asked what for and he said it’s on the house. I drank it, then went inside to pay my bill. The waiter grabbed me and took me to a spot where there was no one else in the area and had me sit on a couch. He told me to wait there and poured me another glass of the pure Limoncello liquor. I told him multiple times that was okay and I’ve had enough. He said it’s his treat and I’m in Italy and that’s what they drink there. He told me to stay sitting and drink it but I told him I had to use the bathroom. I tried to take my drink with me so I could flush it down the drain as I was getting super weird vibes, but he told me he would hold onto my glass for me. Damn it. I came back from the bathroom and he had me sit down again and finish my drink. How do I tell this man no and that I just went through a severe cardiac episode two days ago when I can’t even speak his language. He then started speaking Italian to his other waiter friend and his friend grabbed my hand and kissed it. I needed to get out of his ASAP because something awful was going to happen. I saw two girls walk in by the cash register and I stood up and bee-lined it towards them. The waiter grabbed me and tried to kiss me on my lips. I was starting to feel weird and I turned my cheek towards him and walked out. I was terrified and this is why I hate men. I was just trying to enjoy a nice dinner my mom treated me to after going through such a serious cardiac emergency and men have to ruin every single thing.

I came back from dinner and games with my hostel mates on our room floor. It was fun getting to know them.

I woke up this morning not feeling super great so I’m trying to take it easy today. I extended my stay in Rome since I’ve been having to take it slow and I still want to see everything else. If I start feeling better, I’m going to walk to some other sites to see.

And the journey continues forward.

Until next time.

xo,

Kals