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Well, I've been a little MIA from my blogs. We were on the go, go, go with our final days in Italy and when I planned to sit down and write a blog, I left my laptop on our plane. But, I did get it sent to my house so all is good!! Once we left Torremaggiore our first stop was Pompei, where we had an amazing experience learning about the amazing history that laid there. The most interesting part to me was that the citizens had no idea there was a volcano there until it was too late. We experienced so many beautiful remains and it was honestly such a cool experience. Our next stop was to our hotel in Sorento. We got to see the most beautiful views of the sea when we were driving. Once we arrived to our hotel I went out with a few people to explore our sights. It was a very cute town with lots of shops. For the first night, I didn't buy much. But, we also only had about two hours before we had dinner so I didn't have too much time to shop around. The next day we took a boat ride over to the Isle of Capri. This was the most walking we had experienced on our whole trip in my opinion. We walked down a huge hill to take such wonderful photos of the scenery and we had a photoshoot. But, the walk back up was ROUGH. But, it was surely worth it. After we finished our scenic root we went to lunch and had some pizza. And after that it was time for shopping. It was definitely the place where I spent the most money. A lot of places were closed since this wasn't the season where a lot of celebrities come for vacation so most of the big brand named stores were closed. Our adventure to Capri was probably one of my favorite adventures. After we left Sorento the following day we went to Naples, where we spent most of the day there. We went on a small tour around the old part of Naples, which was interesting but I was definitely too tired to truly absorb what was being said to me. We also went somewhere for lunch which wasn't my favorite meal but it was still pretty good. Naples was a cool experience but it wasn't that great to me. It was another big city. BUT I did buy some really rad sneakers that I was really excited about, and so was our tour guide, Mario. Once we left Naples we shot our way over to Rome to spend our final night there. We got there by around 8:30, back to our original hotel. Our room was changed to the third floor but it was still a really nice room. By the time we sat down for our final dinner it was nearly 9:30. But, my final meal was the Bucatini All'Amatriciana, which was my favorite pasta dish I had on our trip. We went for one final gelato run and then it was off to bed for us before our flight home the following morning. I have officially been home now for two weeks and every time someone brings up Italy I get so sad because I wish I could still be there. I had such an amazing time and I had a great time meeting new friends and rooming with three fabulous girls. This trip was such an amazing experience for me. I didn't think I would grow as a person on this trip but I truly did. I met amazing people, taught the most wonderful students and experienced a new, beautiful culture. I truly truly loved my time in Italy. I would absolutely go back in a heart beat. I'm so grateful for everyone who followed my journey but also everyone that supported me while I was 4,500 miles away. Thank you for following my journey and thank you for all the love and support.
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Torremaggiore has been a wonderful experience so far. It's grown me so much into a new, adaptable person. I am VERY type A, so having to be able to switch plans on the fly has definitely been something new for me. I'm still growing, growing and growing at it, but it will definitely help me in the future. We have been going to the primary school nearly everyday (Monday-Saturday) and I've either been observing music classes, visiting the younger children or teaching in my own class. A few days ago we did take a bus over to the neighboring town, San Severo and we visited the high school there. The school system in Italy vs America is so different but it's so interesting to see the difference. First of all, the art students are insanely talented. This specific school also splits up the floors of the school based on the subject/field of it. So arts/music is on one floor where as science and math are on another. We also ended up having the students of the school who are in an unofficial band together perform for us. They are SO TALENTED. They also asked us to sing one song together and it ended up being nearly five different songs. But, it was so cool to sing with these talented kids. Sydney, Syd and I ended up going back to San Severo the following day hoping to get tattoos. We got there by 1pm and found out the place didn't even open until 4pm so we did a bit of walking around while all of the shops were closed. But, when it hit 4pm we were directly outside of the shop and we were taken in right away. For anyone concerned, the shop has a 4.7/5 rating and was very clean. But, we all got the same thing, Ciao Bella. So, this is officially tattoo number six. Last night we had an evening at the castle right next to our B&B. We had a historical tour of the museum and library. We also got to watch two films about Torremaggiore, watched a Violin, Cello and speaker concert. And finally, had a HUGE dinner served by local shops and many items made by the teachers of our primary schools. It was a really cool night and I got the opportunity to learn more about where I'm staying. Today, was our final day teaching at our primary schools. We had to say our goodbyes to both of our classes, which was honestly very hard. We also had to say goodbye to both of the teachers we have been spending nearly everyday with which was really hard to do as well. I had the most amazing opportunity to be able to go in and teach these kids and they were so so smart and so amazing. They wrote Brittany and I many cards and drew us so many pictures. They also got to write and sign the back of our books and we have pages and pages filled with so many wonderful words from them. I am so blessed to have been given the chance to teach these children music for a short period of time. I'm so grateful for the time I got to spend in my school and I hope I can come back one day to do it again.
Torremaggiore has been such a dream. Everyday we spend here I have been falling more in love with it. We have been teaching nearly everyday and it just proves to me how much I love to teach. A few days ago we went to visit the two middle schools in town. The one middle school, Padre Pio, performed a concert for us. The instruments that are offered for their school are guitar, flute, percussion, piano and choir. It's a very selective group of students that are allowed to continue to play through out their middle and high school careers. We also performed a medley of popular American songs for the students to hear. It was wonderful experiencing another cultures music program. We've been getting different tours of the town as well. Everyone here has been so nice and kind to us and have only wanted us to feel comfortable. We toured some old churches, the cemetery and learned about a lot of history of the town. Today, we got to visit the school we've been teaching at and then we had a huge food tour. We had our first stop at a Buffalo Cheese Farm, where we got to see how cheese is made but we also got to visit some Buffalos. They were so sweet and nice but I was so nervous because they're so big. And of course, we got to sample some cheese! Our second stop was at a wine tour. We got to learn about how wine is produced from grapes and we also got to sample. And we maybe had a small photo shoot as well. Our final two stops were at two different olive oil farms. The first one was a more modern one that was open for 20 years. The other one is the oldest olive oil farm in the town. Both were awesome places to visit. I enjoyed our whole tour and I have been loving it here so much!!
Torremaggiore is the most wonderful town I've ever experienced. I absolutely love it here and it reminds me a bit of home. The residents here are really friendly but the language barrier is definitely huge here compared to Rome, hardly anyone here speaks English. But, overall my experience here has been amazing, Yesterday we went to the two schools in Torremaggiore to meet the teachers and students. We were welcomed by a huge parade with patriotic music and the students waving American flags. We also had some students sing the Italian and European anthems. We also had a nice, light lunch provided by the teachers that included many different traditional Italian desserts. We also got to visit the mayors office and got to meet some people who help run the town. Today we got to meet our accommodating teachers and students we will be working with. The teachers my partner, Brittany and I get to work with are really amazing. The one teachers speaks no English and the other is an English teacher and can speak it pretty well. I didn't have much of an issue communicating with anyone in my classroom and I've actually been doing pretty decent with speaking and understanding Italian. We did a few different activities but took over the class for about four hours today. I taught our Hello Song in both Italian and English and we also read the book Brittany and I wrote for the students. We had an all about me type of thing organized already and had the students do their own as well. And our class is really advanced they can read, write and speak English very well for only being in 5th grade. I really enjoyed being with them for the day and I'm so glad I get another week here!! Our last day in Rome was yesterday and it was definitely the coolest day there. It was our only day that my roommates and I went off on our own in the big city, which was definitely interesting. We tried to take a metro that would take us to the Colosseum, and that took a while. We struggled to figure out which terminal would lead us to the right direction but eventually we got there. The Colosseum was AMAZING. It was by far the most beautiful place I had seen in Italy and it was such an amazing experience. There was a museum first and then we got to walk through the different levels. We also had a video guide that told us many different facts about the Colosseum that I would have never even guessed was possible. For example, they used to fill it with water and have naval battles there. It was definitely wild and I was so glad to have gone. After we visited the Colosseum we went for lunch with a beautiful view of Colosseum. I had the most amazing Gelato there as well and found my new favorite flavor: Creme Caramel. It's so amazing and I love it so much. I ended up getting it three times within the last 24 hours. Extreme, but necessary. Our final destination on our outing was to an observatory and then shopping. At the observatory we took some wonderful photos and we got to see such a beautiful view of Rome. There was also a rooftop bar where I got a nice iced cappuccino and sat for a while. After our whole day I had dinner with some of the girls on my trip! We went to this little restaurant around the block from our hotel that was owned by a family. The man who owned it didn't speak any English but it so nice there. It was very cheap and ended up being the best meal I had while staying in Rome. We left Rome this morning and traveled to Torremaggiore, Italy. We had to cross the country horizontally and we ended up being in a van for probably five hours. It wasn't that bad and when we finally arrived I knew I would love it here. Rome was amazing, but it definitely wasn't me. This is a small town and it's more my style. Rome was just overwhelming and crowded and I prefer something a little more lowkey. We have only been here for a few hours and when we arrived it was already dark so we haven't seen much. But, our B&B is adorable and the man who runs it is amazing. He reminds me of my Papa. We had a four course dinner, which is a nightly thing we will get at our hotel. I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle all of those courses but it was really fun to try some new things! Tomorrow we will be visiting the mayors office and then having a meeting with the teachers at the school we will be teaching at. Thanks for following along so far!!
Ciao! I've been in Rome for two days now! The first flight we had was only an hour and it was definitely a rough flight. It was the smallest plane and definitely the hottest flight I'd ever been on. I absolutely hated the first flight but since it was only an hour it was fine. The second flight was much better even though it was eight hours long. It was the largest plane I'd ever been on and there were free movies! I ended up watching half of Mamma Mia and I ended up being so exhausted that I passed out. I didn't sleep that great since it was on a plane but I ended up getting about four hours of sleep. And we flew over the Alps when the sun was rising and it was the most beautiful sight! Once we landed we checked into our hotel and went out practically right away. We have done so much walking over the past few days I'm so sore but it's been worth it. We hit some huge tourist spots over the past few days which was crazy to see in person. We also did a bunch of shopping and even hit a flea market and it was so fun. The only part that I'm not a big fan of when it comes to Rome is that it's just like NYC where they try to sell you everything and it's pretty annoying because they don't understand no. But other than that it's been pretty amazing being here. I'm still hoping to do a pasta making class but here are some photos from my trip so far!
I officially leave this Friday for my first ever study abroad trip. I'm feeling two very strong emotions regarding my departure; nervous and excited. Granted, those both seem pretty normal for this type of situation. I think once I get past the flight I'll have excitement completely settle in by until then, but for now my nerves are quite high. I've also never left home for more than three days before so that's also weighing on my shoulders.
I started gathering everything I'm going to pack today too! For the most part all of my clothes are organized and everything else is in bags because I've been buying them overtime. I feel pretty good about packing, which is kind of surprising to me since I've never packed for a journey quite this long. Overall, I feel ready to go and explore a new country with some new and old friends. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be traveling with and I'm so excited to keep everyone updated on my trip through this blog! |
AuthorI'm currently a junior music education major with a concentration in Voice. My secondary instrument is Viola, I play in the Buffalo State Philharmonia. Other ensembles I have participated in are the BSC Chamber Choir, BSC Chorale, BSC Vocal Chamber Ensemble, Amherst Chamber Orchestra and the Cheektowaga Community Orchestra. I also teach voice, piano and strings at a local music studio in Amherst. Hobbies I enjoy include cross stitching, and baking. ArchivesCategories |