5/1/12 In Memory of Paolo Barucchieri

A couple of weeks ago, Paolo  Barucchieri passed away of cancer in Rome.  Today was his memorial at the airport in Castiglion Fiorentino.  Now you are probably wondering why I am writing about this person passing away.  He is the one who started the Santa Chiara program as well as opened an airport, started another study abroad facility, and a facility for the physically disabled.  The Santa Chiara program is a facility in Italy where students come from all over the United States to stay while studying architecture, art, education, and much more.  Without this man, my life would not be the same.  Through this program, I have changed so much and experienced many great things.  Not only has he changed my life, but he changed many people’s lives.

Unfortunately, I was not able to meet Paolo because he was in the hospital in Rome the whole semester.  During the memorial, I had the opportunity to know how much of an impact Paolo had on people.  Pretty much the whole community, family, friends, and former and current students of the program came.  They expressed how enthusiastic Paolo was about life.  He loved to fly his airplane and take students in it.  He loved talking about art and was a great artist.  He talked to each student in the program individually and taught them about how to live life to the fullest.  He was an adventurer and not afraid to take risks.  I want to impact people like he did.  I know he would have been someone that I would have looked up to during my time here.  I wish I could have met him, but I am thankful for the program that he made.

Thank you Paolo for everything that you have done.  You have made a true impact in this world.

Ciao

4/28/12- 4/29/12 Verona

Verona  4/28/12-4/29/12

Sorry this blog is super long, but it is totally worth reading about what I did in Verona.  This was my last big adventure before going home to Texas.  It ended with a bang in a town that I think represents Italy to the max.

Verona is by far one of my most favorite places I have been this trip.  When I picture Italy and ancient Rome, Verona is what I see in my mind.  Verona has a castle with a city that is surrounded by a wall.  It has a drawbridge and everything!  Verona is where Shakespeare got his inspiration for Romeo and Juliet.  Verona also has a Roman Theatre where I am sure many Shakespearian plays have been performed!  It is so awesome!

When we arrived, we had a little issue.  We on the bus at the wrong bus stop to get to our hotel.   It took us two and a half hours to get to our hotel on this one bus.  It took us through the city center, the country side of Verona, and much more.  Delaney and I decided that we got the cheap bus tour through Verona.
When we got to our hotel, we checked in and went to start our tour of Verona.  Let me just tell you, Verona at night is AWESOME!  Verona is a night city.  Everything is open late and does not open early.  We saw part of the castle and drawbridge, the coliseum, a couple of churches, and pretty buildings.  Some of the buildings were really spooky at night.  Just look at some of the pictures I took.  The park right in front of the coliseum is where everyone hangs out at night.  There were teenagers playing games, old couples chilling on park benches, and just people having a good time.  We decided that we wanted to get food, but everything was so expensive.  We saw this hole in the road kabob place.  Tad bit sketch.  The panino kabob was the best thing I have ever eaten.  It was so good, and I did not get sick!

The next day, we went to see all the places that Shakespeare was inspired by in writing Romeo and Juliet.  I do not know if you have seen Letters to Juliet, if not watch it because it explains a lot of what we did.  First, we went to Juliet’s house.  This is where, in the movie, you can write letters to Juliet and touch the boob on Juliet’s statue for good luck.  They recreated this scene in the movie because it looked nothing like the actual Juliet’s house.  My friend Delaney and I wrote letters to Juliet, but I forgot to put a return address… oh well.  We also got a picture of us touching Juliet’s boob.  We also saw the actual balcony from the famous balcony scene. “But, soft! What light through window breaks?  It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!”  How awesome!!!  There were locks everywhere representing people’s love.  There was also graffiti of hearts with people’s names inside of them. We also saw Romeo’s house.  We saw the graveyard where Juliet and Romeo died.  This graveyard was so cool.  It was like mini castles built for someone’s tomb.  Check out my pictures when I put them up.  Super cool!

Then we went to the Roman Theatre.  I loved this.  Everything I saw is what I think about when I think of ancient Rome.  I cannot describe it with words.  You will just have to look at my pictures.  It is truly awesome.  The view of Verona is also very pretty from the Roman Theatre.  Like I said, you will have to look at my pictures.  I was sad to go home, and I will definitely visit Verona again.  It is only an hour away from Venice if anyone is planning on heading to Italy!

On our way back to Castiglion Fiorentino from Verona, we sat next to this very interesting man.  He is from Libya.  We were chatting, and then we got into his life story.  His father died in the war that they had last year along with many other people fighting against Gaddafi rule.  He said that he really wanted to learn English, but Gaddafi banned everyone from learning English because he did not want the people to rebel.  So he went to London to learn.  He is now getting his masters in English in Italy.  He speaks four languages and has traveled all over the world (besides the United States).  He showed us his passport, and I really wanted to take a picture.  Then I figured that would be weird.  It was really cool to meet an awesome person who has an awesome story.  We did not exchange names or anything.  We talked, and created a memory.  Now we have moved on and will never see each other again, but it will always will be an awesome story to tell.

Ciao!

Venice/Lido 4/27/12- 4/28/12

When we were in Florence, on our way to Venice, these Italian girls asked where we were from.  We said that we were from the United States.  They asked where from the United States.  We said Texas.  They were so excited to meet someone from Texas.  They started to ask us a ton of questions.  It is like we were celebrities.

When we arrived to Venice, we took a water taxi to Lido.  Lido is an Island across from Venice.  That is where we were staying during our visit.  On the water bus to Lido, we started a conversation with ladies from Jersey.  They asked where we were from and we said Texas.  They immediately said where is your Texas accent?  Delaney and I were caught way off guard.  We said well we say y’all.  It was funny.
When we got to Lido, we put our bags up and headed out to explore.  We walked down the main rode in Lido.  There were a ton of shops and pretty houses.  It kind of reminded me of Florida.  We walked up and down the Lido beach.  It was so pretty.

Then we went to explore Venice.  We went to St. Mark’s Square.  That was super awesome.  Then we just walked around Venice without a destination.  The canals and gondolas were really neat.  There are not any cars that you have to worry about while walking.  We also jumped on a water taxi and rode it around to see all the sights by the water.  Venice is a really romantic city and I would recommend this for a honeymoon spot.  Nighttime in St. Mark’s Square is especially romantic.  They have people playing classical music.  They have about four booths set up with professional musicians performing.  There were couples doing the waltz and the fox trot.  It was a really neat sight to see.

The next day we started off in St. Mark’s Square.  Then we started to make our way towards the train station which is only supposed to be a 40 minute walk.  Delaney and I saw a really cool art gallery and decided to go in.  This was such a great culture experience.  I have never been to an art gallery.  I have been to art museums, but it is not the same.  This type of art gallery is where all the rich people go to art gallery parties and buy paintings.  We tried to guess what the artist was trying to portray through the painting.  It was such a great experience.  Delaney and I felt like rich Europeans.  Then an hour later we felt tired and homeless.  After the art gallery, we walked about 30 minutes trying to find the way to the train station.  I saw a really cool statue that I wanted to take a picture of.  Then I realized that I did not have my camera.  My last picture was right next to the art gallery.  We hauled booty back to the last place I saw it with all of our bags because we had to check out of our hotel.  Thankfully a shop owner found my camera and gave it to me.  I almost cried of relief that I found it!  Then we kept walking and kept getting lost.  We found a place on the side of the road with shade and sat down in the road.  People were definitely looking at us funny because we had our backpacks and looked like hot messes.

Two and a half hours later, we made it to the train station.  Delaney and I decided that it was a good walking tour of Venice.   We sat by the canal and waited for our train to Verona.  While we were sitting, boys came up to us and asked if they could have a picture with us.  This is like the 5th time during my time in Italy wanting a picture with my friends and me.  No lo so (I don’t know in Italian).

Ciao!

4/20/12- 4/21/12 Cinque Terra

For my journey this past weekend, I went to Cinque Terra.  I know I probably say this after every place, but Cinque Terra is by far my favorite place.  I have never seen anything like it.  The ocean is gorgeous!  I am so thankful for the perfect weather.  I read a couple of days earlier that it was supposed to rain the whole weekend.  Instead it was sunny and warm!

When we got there, we changed and went straight to the beach.  There was a tall rock that we climbed that was in the sea.  I felt like I was on top of the world when I was on top.  The vast sea spread before me with mountains behind me.  I read on the beach and hung out with my friends for the rest of the time till dinner.  There is a restaurant on the sea.  It had really good food with the best view!  This is when we received awful news.  We found out that there was a train strike on Sunday, the day we were planning on going home.  This means that none of the trains are going to run that day.  Which also means that we have to leave a day early.  It meant that I had to leave the most gorgeous place that I have ever seen early.  So instead of leaving Sunday, we had to cancel or hotel reservations and leave Saturday.

After dinner, we went and changed for our night out on the town.  As we were walking to the pub, we skipped and sang the do ra me song from Sound of Music.  Stephen was in the lead being Julie Andrews.  It was greatness (and the locals enjoyed it themselves).  When we arrived at the pub, the whole top floor was empty.  The pub was playing awesome music and of course all 20 of us were getting krunk!  We sang “We are Young” together and it was awesome because we are young and wild and free!  I love the group so much!  I do not know what I am going to do without them when we come back to Texas!
When we were back at the hotel, one of the girls that I was rooming with turned 20 at midnight.  We threw balloons and shot off poppers.  She was so surprised!  Let me just say that this was a start to a great birthday for her.

The next day, we woke up super early to get done everything that we wanted to do before we had to leave.  Cinque Terra means five islands.  There are five islands and we were staying on the island Montorosso.  That morning, we took a train to Vernazza to hike all the way back to Montorosso.  In October, there were major mudslides that ruined a lot of the islands.  In Vernazza, you can see a lot of the devastation of the mudslides.  A lot of the travel agents tell people not to go to Cinque Terra right now because of it.  So the islands are not getting enough money to fix the devastation.  I took a picture of a website that you can donate to, to help the cause.

We hiked for two and a half hours to Montorosso.  I have never seen anything like this.  It was beautiful!  We climbed up waterfalls, hiked on tiny paths, and took super pretty pictures.  I looked good in almost all my pictures because of the background.  I was actually sweating and looking like a hot mess from climbing up super steep steps.

I love this place and really wish I could go back!  I would definitely recommend going here if you ever had a chance.  If you are married, they have a lover’s lane hike, which is supposed to be really cool.  I did not have time to go on it.  The beach is really nice as well.  It is such a wonderful place!

Ciao

4/19/12 My experience here

I would like to use this blog to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for this opportunity.  How many people can say that they taught in another country?  Not a lot.  This opportunity will definitely look good in my resume.  That is definitely not the only reason I did this.   I have learned so much from this experience.  I learned that Americans are very arrogant.  We expect that everyone should be able to speak English when they come to our country.  We do not take the time to explore different cultures or try to learn the language.  When we go abroad, we still expect everyone to speak English.  In the small town of Castiglion Fiorentino, barely anyone speaks English.  It has been so hard to not be able to communicate.  I am now sympathetic towards people who come to our country and do not know a word of English.  Just trying to buy food or wash my clothes is a challenge.  The students in the Italian school that I teach at speak as many as 6 languages!  That is crazy!! I know one language and I am 20 years old!!!  This opportunity has given me many ideas on how to teach and how to run my classroom.  I know how to communicate with people that are not able to speak English.  This will be helpful since we have many immigrants come to Texas schools.  It is going to be difficult going back to the United States and actually understanding what people are saying.  Sorry in advance for talking Italian and using many hand gestures when I get home.  It has become a habit.

Today, my group and I were interviewed by the Castiglion newspaper.  We were talking about the differences between American schools and Italian schools.  To tell you the truth Italian teachers do not care whether or not the students learn.  They teach and the students have to choose to listen or not.  The Italian teachers do not baby their students like we do in America.  Surprisingly most of the students are willing to learn.  They are excited to come to school!  They go to school Monday through Saturday from 8:25 to 1:25.  They do not have a lunch break.  They are very smart!  I observed an Italian math class and they were learning things that I learned in high school.  High school in Italy is very different than America.  Italian high schools are like college.  You pick what you want to do and take classes that have to do with the career.  They have different high schools for each career.  I really like that because students can get a feel of that career before college.

Now I am going to talk a little culture.  Italians are VERY laid back.  Meeting at 7 means meeting at 7:15.  You will know when you are having a school holiday a week in advance instead of a semester before.  They canceled a poetry reading that some of our students were participating in that day because the handouts were not printed.  I LOVE this life style!  Italians even have a nap time!  All the stores close around one and open again at four.  I could see myself living here for the rest of my life.  The scenery is so amazing.  The bathroom window at the school has a better view than the best view in Texas.  I love to go out, sit on the ledge looking over a gorgeous valley, and read.  Forget TV, phones, and computers.  I have survived 2 months without them and I am perfectly happy.  I will just go sit on my ledge and read.  I only use my computer now to submit reflections and talk to friends and family.

Tomorrow I leave for Cinque Terra.  I am very excited!! Next week is my last full week of teaching.  Then next weekend I go to Venice and maybe Milan.  After that weekend, we put on the play Wizard of OZ.  Then it is time to go home .  Don’t get me wrong, I am excited to see everyone!  But I really do love it here and I love everyone on this trip.  We have become one big happy family!  Saying goodbye at the airport will be very hard for us.  Saying goodbye to Italy, my temporary home, will be very difficult as well.  I love everything about it!  Such an amazing place!  If anyone is going I will go with you in a heartbeat!

Ciao

4/14/12 Bologna

Today I went with my friend Abby to Bologna.  We found out that we had to take 3 different trains to get to Bologna when we got to Florence with just a regional pass.  When we got to the first stop, which was in the middle of nowhere, we missed the train because of a little girl on crutches.  The next train did not come till 4 hours later.  We could take the inner city train straight to Bologna, but we had to pay extra.  That is what we did.

Bologna is an awesome city.  There is a ton of awesome shops as well as ruins.  We saw a castle, Neptune fountain, and other cool buildings.  I had the best meal I have had from the whole trip.  Bologna is known for their tortellini.  It was amazing!  I also had the best red wine I have had this whole trip.  I think the name was Lambrosta, but I am not quite sure.

After lunch, we went to two really old towers.  One tower is leaning more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  It was really neat to see.  After the towers, we went to the oldest university in the world.  I have not been in a more ghetto place than this, and every time I get lost I end up in the ghetto.  There was not a wall untouched with graffiti.  There were sketchy looking people everywhere!  We even saw a man pick an ice cream cone out of the trash can and eat it!!! Gross!!   Let me just say we made our trip to the university very short!  After that we went shopping and went back to Castiglion.

Kirsten’s birthday was this weekend and tonight we went out to celebrate it.  I had so much fun!  We went to one of the bars and every time we walk in, they start playing music.  We danced and had fun.  Then we went to another bar called the Velvet Underground.  They had a DJ playing old school rock music.  They were having mosh pits and everyone was rockin’ out.  It was so much fun!!  I think this is the best night I have had in Italy!! Everyone here is so great!

Ciao!

4/13/12 Montepulciano

4/13/12
Today was a very crazy/ fun day.  We went to Montepulciano.  When we tried to go there, we missed our train.  Then we had to wait for the next train.  We had to stop in Chiusi to switch trains.  Then we found out there was not another train to get to Montepulciano.  So we had to take a bus to get there.  Talk about barf.  I felt so sick when we got off the bus.  When we got there it was raining, but the Tuscan landscape was so beautiful.

We went to a pizza restaurant and ate my favorite pizza that I have had so far.  Then we walked around and saw the plaza where New Moon was filmed.  I did not realize that the plaza was where it was filmed till I saw a sign about it.  I need to watch the movie again to see it in the film.  Then we went to a fortress.  We saw a torture museum which was really interesting.  They showed all the different torture devices.  When we got there it was raining pretty hard.  Since we missed our train that morning, we did not have much time there.  We wondered around the town until we got to the information place to find the train and bus schedules.  At least we made it back for dinner!

Ciao!