Final Italy post!

Sorry for the tardiness of my last Italy post! It's just been such a crazy time my blog slipped from my mind! Let's see...where did I leave off?

The last week had its ups and downs. The major down was that I got sick and it was rather miserable for a while. It was the worst cold I've had in years. My teacher sent me home early on Monday and Tuesday so that stunk, though it was nice to get some extra sleep. Monday night Mikel taught us how to make real Italian pizza at the dorm. It was a lot of fun! I didn't handle any of the real food because of my illness but we did get to use some "fake" dough ("play"dough ha!) to practice making the pizza pie/crust so that was cool. Lauren and I were a team and she did our pizza very well! It was a 5 hour process from beginning to end! Pizza is no joke over there! In the end I was bummed because everyone was raving about how AMAZING the pizzas were but I couldn't taste a darn thing....I would rather not know what I was missing out on! But it was still a lot of fun and Mikel was a hilarious teacher.

On Wednesday Carolina called in sick and Paige was on her choir trip so Lauren and I were the music program for the day! It was fun but exhausting! I only had one class to teach (4th grade) and I taught them recorder. It was fun but man is it painful listening to 13 kids play recorder at the same time for the first time haha. Overall it was very successful though so that was good! After school Miranda and I went to the Colosseum because neither of us had gone inside yet. After walking around in there for a while we tried to go to the Roman Forum but it was closed already :( Then we tried to call Whitney and Lauren to meet up for dinner (they had gone to the Pantheon) but Miranda's phone wasn't working....we tried a pay phone and that wouldn't work....so we embarked on an adventure! We walked around the Colosseum looking for Americans to ask them how they called US numbers (so we could do it on the payphone). It was rather awkward asking random people if they were American. After asking a few people with no luck we started listening to people talk, listening for some American accents. After a few minutes we heard a young guy saying "Just SMILE!" so we hovered for a while waiting for them to finish their picture. Well that took a while. Eventually they finished and I asked them if they were American and we explained our purpose (how creepy did we seem??). They were really nice but they didn't know. The guy had a US phone and it was international so he just used that. We started talking to them. The guy had been studying abroad in Madrid all semester and his mom and brother were visiting before he went back to the US. They were from Missouri and it was oddly comforting listening to some southern accents. They were really nice and let us text Whitney with his phone. Well after waiting and chatting for about 45 minutes with no reply we were going to call real quick. It was then that we realized the number was one digit wrong.....oops! So we texted the real number and they said they had just gotten on the tram to go back. So Miranda and I took the bus to Trastevere and had a lovely dinner before heading home.

Thursday was our last day so we had to live it up as much as possible! School was good and Carolina took me to lunch at this LOVELY little place down the street from school. Apparently it's also a bed and breakfast. The food was amazing and it was just a beautiful setting for my last Italian lunch. What I love about Italian food is that it is all so fresh and delicious. They don't use preservatives and all that junk. It's fresh, REAL food and it's just amazing! It doesn't taste bland or anything....it's simple and fantastic! After school Lauren and I rushed downtown so I could go to the Pantheon and we had to do some gift shopping. We got to the Pantheon (remember, the first time I went it was closed because of the holiday) and it was CLOSED! It was closed for Mass! I was so bummed!!! I wanted to cry! The Pantheon was something I REALLY wanted to see in Rome and here it was, my second time there and it was closed again! I took what pictures I could from the door and begrudgingly walked away. Lauren and I did our shopping and I got my last gelato :( As we were going to head back to the dorm to change for our banquet I looked at my watch and realized the mass was ending then. So we walked quickly to the Pantheon and I got to go in! YAY!! It was incredible!! To think they built such an architectural marvel 2,000 years ago with no machines was just mind blowing! I was able to leave Rome happy now! The one thing I didn't get to see was Vatican City....so I guess I'll just have to go back! We took a 45 minute bus ride (standing the whole time with no air conditioning) and arrived at the dorm at 7:30....our dinner was at 8 and was a half mile walk! We quickly cooled off in our room, changed, and ran to the restaurant. We made it right at 8. This dinner was for all interns and our cooperating teachers. Paige was still on her choir trip but Carolina was there. It was so much fun! It was great because the internship was actually over so it was very relaxed. No one was stressing about lessons and observations....we just ate, drank, and enjoyed each others company! I had a pasta dish and I can safely say this.....I did not eat one dish the entire trip that I didn't enjoy. Everything I ate there was delicious. Italy is my kind of culinary location!

Upon arriving back at the dorm (at 11pm) Mikel was there and wanted to take us to MoMo for drinks! A few of us went and it was a blast. I knew I had to get up at 5:30am but I figured "it's my last night in Rome....I don't need sleep!" I had been to MoMo's once with Lauren and Carolina but it was fun to go for drinks with everyone. We got back to the dorm at 1:30am and I still had to pack!! I didn't get to bed until 3:30, took a 2 hour nap and got up to head home!

We all (5 of us) made it up for the 6:15 shuttle to the airport and waved good bye to Italia! I was not sad to leave Il Faro behind but I was VERY sad to be leaving Italia behind! I had a 3 hour flight to London then a 9.5 hour flight to Atlanta, then FINALLY an hour flight to Tampa. I bought a watch in London (I needed a new one and it was for sale....and I needed SOMETHING from London!). As we were coming in over London I snapped some shots and caught a picture of Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the House of Parliament. I was impressed with myself! I'm glad I went to London to switch to Delta for the long flight home because it was MUCH more comfortable than Alitalia and much less crowded. I had a window seat and no one was next to me so I stretched out! I got a little sleep on that flight, then I was in Atlanta for 2 hours before my last flight home. It was nice but weird to have my phone back. I got used to having no phone for 3 weeks! I landed in Tampa around 10pm and my parents were there to greet their weary traveler. It was 4am Italy time so I was pretty out of it. They took me down to the beach house for their last night of vacation. My sister, bro-in-law, niece, and nephew were there and I saw them in the morning. I slept SO well that night! From the time I left my dorm to the time we arrived at the beach house it was 24 hours. Sleeping in a real bed was fantastic!!

Sine being back it has been nice to have the usual comforts of home but I still really miss Italy. I am 99% sure that I want to apply for an international job after graduation and I'm thinking I will focus on Italy. I don't think I want to focus on Rome (it's so dirty, big, and populated) but a smaller city would be lovely. Florence was a perfect size for me! I will probably just stay at home and make as much money as I can until next summer and then hopefully make the move across the ocean! Most jobs would be a 2 year contract and then who knows what I'll do! Maybe I'll want to stay there, maybe I'll want to move elsewhere, and maybe I'll be ready to come back to the States and settle down somewhere. I am ready for a fun adventure, though, and I think moving to Europe for a while is quite the adventure! The students were wonderful and a pleasure to teach! I may have found my calling! Now to get through a summer working in Gainesville and then I get to move home (love you, Mom and Dad!) and start my internship! I'm SO excited about that! I feel ready and I think it's going to be a great experience. I can't believe graduation is coming up (FINALLY!) at the end of this fall semester.

I think I may keep this blog going for anyone that is interested. It's nice to have this little outlet, even if no one continues to follow it ;) I am now back in Gainesville and actually at work right now! Ciao, for now!

Week 2/Florence/Tuscany

I’m so sorry to be MIA all week! Everyone has been bugging me to update but I’ve just been so busy! I’ll try to get everything in from the past week but be prepared….this will be long!

Ok, so school was good all week. It consisted mostly of dance rehearsals. Tuesday night we had our dinner with everyone in the program. It was a lot of fun. We ate at a great restaurant down the street from our dorm and it was great food with better company. Wednesday night Paige Short (one of the music teachers) had a party at her house for all of the interns. The food was INCREDIBLE! I can’t even explain how amazing the chicken was so I won’t even try. Just imagine the best chicken you’ve ever had…..but better! We did a little sing-along around the piano (as is tradition with Dr. Robinson around) and that was great fun! We then headed back to the dorms and were faced with much drama. I will not disclose details in this forum but I will say that it was not a pretty sight. Thursday was the dance festival and that was chaos! It started at 9:30am and we were running all over the school all morning trying to make sure everything was in order. Lauren had to get all the music together and we didn’t even have time for a sound check….which is never good. The first group came out to dance, took their places, we hit “play” and nothing happened….awkward! We were trying to figure it out, hitting random buttons, etc until something worked. When it did come on it BLARED out of the speakers. After that it was only minor mistakes (playing the wrong song, not stopping in time, starting the music too early, etc) and we got through the whole thing. In one dance I had to be a boy so I had to scrunch up my dress under my blazer and wear a top-hat and cane. I also towered over the other kids so I didn’t stand out at ALL! Then I had to run outside and be an elegant lady with the 6th graders. In the end it was fun, but hectic. The only problem with it was I had a massive migraine all morning through the whole thing. Carolina said I could have the afternoon off for all the hard work I did and I took her up on that because my migraine was out of control by then. I went home, took my medicine and slept it off. That evening Carolina took Lauren and I out for dinner and drinks at this place called MoMo. Conveniently it was right down the street from our dorm. That was great fun! We ate all kinds of delicious food and had a bottle of sparkling wine. Yum! It was a great stress reliever now that the dance festival was finally over! Friday was fairly easy. We had a few classes and mostly reflected about what the festival meant to them. Monday I get to teach the choir again and Dr. Robinson is observing me: EEK!! :)

After school we went straight the the Roma Termini (big train station downtown). The problem was that public transit decided to go on strike THAT DAY! How annoying! So very few buses were running and we had to take a taxi to the Termini from school. Luckily the trains were still running so we made our train….the problem was that half of our group was meeting us there. We did not have a specified meeting place so we assumed we would find them at the platform. They were not there. We got on the train...not there. The train pulled away...still not there! We were on the fast train so it only took an hour and a half to get to Florence. Once there we got some food and I got on facebook to find out they were on the next train and coming in shortly. We somehow missed them and they missed the first train. In the end it all worked out. We then figured out how to get where we had to be for our driver to pick us up. We had to take another little train to a town called Vaiano. We got there around 11pm and were thrilled to see our driver there! 9 of us crammed into his little jeep and up the mountain we went! Lauren, Kat and I were in the back and I felt like we were going to fall out a few times! We were going straight up the mountain and it was pitch black! It was terrifying for a while but we just laughed the whole time. Finally we pulled into the villa but we couldn’t see much! He showed us our accommodations and we all passed out. In the morning we woke up, opened the window and saw the most amazing sight: a wall of trees! The mountains were GORGEOUS!!! It was everything we hoped for and more! We ate breakfast and then relaxed around the pool/patio for a while. It was the most perfect day! No clouds, no traffic, warm but not hot….just amazing! In the afternoon Lucca (the guy that ran the villa) drove us to the station and we headed to Florence. By the time we ate lunch we just had a little time to look at the market before Miranda’s family had to catch their trains to Rome and we had to head back to Vaiano. We had a relaxing evening at the villa and Lucca gave us a little tour of the grounds as it got dark. He showed us the olive grove, the bees (they were sleeping but he made some wake up and we could see them walking out of the box...he makes his own honey!), the chickens (who sleep in the trees) and told us a little about the property and Tuscany. The farmhouse we were staying in was built in 1100….that’s almost 1,000 years old! It was restored in 1530 and then Lucca restored it again in 2011. I couldn’t believe it was so old!! He restored it well and it was very nice...but still quaint and beautiful. He bought the property in 1982 and he was the third owner! In 1,000 years only 3 families have owned it!! Blows my mind!

This morning we ate another delicious breakfast (and he fried some eggs for us from his chickens….SO GOOD!) and Lucca drove us to the station to head to Florence. The problem is that today is Sunday and Mother’s Day so apparently everything is limited today (story of our trip)! The train wasn’t coming for nearly 2 hours so we sat in Vaiano until then. We had to switch trains in Prato but when we got off the train there was some kind of big event going on. There were a bunch of people with flags and signs screaming and singing and throwing smoke bombs and colored powder. They were blocking the staircase to go to the other platforms so people started running across the tracks. As we were about to do the same some police grabbed us and told us no. We had to go through the screaming mob….we were terrified! We think it had something to do with soccer so they were probably harmless but they were drinking and screaming...it was scary. We were glad to get through that! Then we had to wait 45 mins till the next train to Florence….ugh! We FINALLY got to Florence and we wanted to see the Boboli Gardens so we bought bus tickets and waited for the 36. An old couple at the stop told us that the 37 would take us straight to Boboli and that’s where they were going too….so we believed them. A 36 drove by and they told us to wait. So we did….we got on the 37 with them and it started driving...and driving...and it kept driving! We knew it was only about a mile and a half to Boboli so something wasn’t right. Finally the lady said it was time to get off! So we did….and started walking up a hill. We knew it wasn’t right and we found another younger couple and asked them if this was Boboli. The lady looked us with big eyes and said “Noooooo!” Apparently the old couple led us to a CONVENT!! It was pretty but not at ALL what we wanted! So we went back down and waited for 40 mins for the next bus to come by. Finally we got on it and about 30 minutes later made it back to Florence. By then we had 1 hour to do something before our train left for Rome. We went to the open air market and bought some fabulous things. I got an amazing leather purse, some beautiful scarves (some heavier and some lighter for the summer) and a leather bracelet. We then got some McDonalds (my first since being here) and RAN to catch the train. We made it just in time and are settled in. We took the slow train this time (because it’s only 17 Euro, instead of 45) but it takes nearly 4 hours. Time to nap! I’ve had enough adventure for one day!

Ok, I think that’s about it from the week! I’m impressed if you read through all of that ;) In other news, I woke up with a sore throat this morning and keep feeling crummier all day...so hopefully it’s nothing but I’m hoping to get to bed at a decent time upon our arrival. I hope everyone has been having a great week/weekend! I know my family is now at the beach on Anna Maria Island and I wish I was there with them!! I can’t believe I leave in 5 days! It will be SO sad to leave but I’m glad I’ll get to see Chris, Brian and the kids before they leave Saturday. There are a few things I will not miss….like all the dog poop on the sidewalks and the massive amounts of cigarette smoke everywhere! I will REALLY miss the food and gelato, though!

Ciao!!

Weekend # 1

So Saturday was a lazy morning. Lauren was finishing a paper and I slept in. I finally caught up on sleep since arriving in Italy. We've been going non-stop all week and it felt good to recoup a little bit. We actually have to work/teach all week so I can't completely burn out already! Lauren and I decided to attend La Traviata (an Italian opera by Verdi) at the Chiesa di San Paolo in the evening. Now that we knew where we going we left with plenty of time. We got to the church, bought our tickets, and went to an Irish pub next door. I got a pizza with mozzarella, ham, and egg....it was AMAZING!!! I'm going to start making egg pizza at home! Don't judge me..... So after dinner we attended the opera and it was incredible! The soprano was absolutely breathtaking. No joke. She gave us both chills. Usually I don't like sopranos very much because they sound shrill and shriek a lot....but her voice sounded effortless and just beautiful. I'll try to attach a video to this post. It was just amazing to be sitting in a church in Rome watching a real Italian opera by real Italian artists. They did not have English subtitles so I didn't know exactly what was going on (I just read the synopsis) but I didn't care. It was incredible anyway. After the opera we returned to our lovely accommodations at Il Faro.

This morning we had every intention of going to Tivoli (a little town about 45 mins away from Rome that houses some beautiful villas with fountains and gardens). We slept in and got up around 10:45 and started getting ready. We left around 11:45 and headed downstairs to ask Cleopatra the easiest way to get there. As we were downstairs I was reading my Rome travel guide and it mentioned that the villas are closed on May 1 (it's their Labor Day).....so that sucked! Cleopatra then suggested Ostia Antica, a little town about 25 mins from the city that had some beautiful ruins from during the Roman empire. It was a gorgeous day so we figured "why not??" So we took a bus (that everyone, including a guy at the bus stop, warned us about saying it was a hot spot for gypsies to steal your things) across town to the Piramide train station and then took the train to Ostia Antica. We got there and didn't see much of anything so we followed what looked like a logical route. We found the ruins but it was CLOSED!!!! My guide book and even Cleopatra said it would be open today! We were bummed! By this point we REALLY needed lunch so we kept walking towards the town. Before we got to the main road we found a sign that said "La Kucina - 800 meters this way" and pointed down a country dirt road....so we followed it! The walk was stunning. There were fields and farm animals, little houses, etc. It was beautiful!! After walking nearly half a mile we kept following the arrows to this restaurant. Turns out it was in the back of a farm house or something. We walked up with 9 people and they were able to seat us. Well, their Sunday special was 30 Euro/person for appetizers, first course, second course, dessert, two bottles of wine, and water. We didn't want to spend that much and didn't need that much food so they made a special deal with us....20 Euro each for appetizers, our choice of first or second course, wine and water. We accepted and waited for the food.....and then the food came. It was probably the most epic meal I've ever had. EVERYTHING was just fantastic. It was WELL worth 20 Euro and we all left stuffed and happy! Then we walked back to town, got our daily gelato (1.50 Euro for 3 scoops and whipped cream!) and then headed back to the train. We finally arrived back home to Il Faro at around 6:30. It was the perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon. Even though we didn't get to see the ruins we had a truly authentic Italian meal on a farm in the middle of nowhere. We couldn't have been happier!

Next weekend 9 of us are going out to Florence and staying in a villa in Tuscany. We are still working out the details and have no yet nailed down which villa but it is going to be epic. I am hoping to come home with some Tuscan wine and I hear the shopping in Florence is fabulous! We're going to Florence Friday after school and either staying until Saturday night or Sunday afternoon. I am voting for Sunday afternoon so we can really enjoy all of it but if we come back Saturday night then maybe we can go to Tivoli on Sunday. There is just SO much to do and not enough time to do it all! We still haven't toured the Colosseum, Roman Forum, or the Pantheon! Hopefully we can do those on nights after school during the week.

Tomorrow I get to teach the middle school choir for a bit! I'm introducing a new song to them so that should be fun! This is the stuff I love to do! I'm tired of rehearsing for this dance festival :( And Lauren and I have been recruited to dance with the kids at the festival on Thursday so that will definitely be interesting....we're the giants next to the students! haha. It will be fun, though :)

Time for bed before another great week at school!

Ciao!