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Reflecting…
Teaching in the Italian schools gave me experience that will be very valuable in my future career as a music educator. If you are a prospective educator looking into this trip, please take advantage of it. This was a trip of a lifetime and I benefitted so much from these experiences. Being challenged to communicate with people who do not speak the same language as you is so humbling in the best way possible. I believe this trip will make me a more culturally responsive educator as I took advantage of the skills that the Italian students possessed and built on them. I have never flown before and fell in love with the feeling of being in the sky. There is something about having a change of scenery that is very motivating and inspiring. The Italian culture is nothing like our culture in the United States. The people are full of love, the food is delicious, and it is so beautiful there. I truly did not want to come home. I noticed that the students are very rhythmically proficient, so I knew that teaching them English words and songs by focusing on the rhythm of the words would most likely beneficial and it definitely was. I was most successful teaching songs when I broke the them into smaller segments and made the children say each word rhythmically. The students were able to say the English more clearly which then allowed them to sing it more clearly! Some advice for future IPDS members… I have never travelled for that long so I certainly over packed. For example, I wore only three of the five pairs of pants I brought to teach in. I only wore one of three dresses I packed. Just try not to over estimate the amount of clothes you actually need. You can rewear sweaters and dress pants more times than you think. Leave room in your suitcase because YOU WILL WANT to buy everything and bring some wine and olive oil home with you. Some things you may want to bring…
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The last few days in school…
I spent most of my time during the last few days with 4th and 5th grade classes. During our last few days together my partner Ella and I attempted some more hands on activities which the children enjoyed despite the challenges. I was always able to fall back on music and teaching them English words through rhythm. Dr. Renzoni and I were asked to lead a music class with ALL of the elementary school students. There was solidly over one hundred students in that room. It was such good experience trying to keep them engaged but also implementing musical content. I was teaching with a microphone and my ukulele. The night before the big music class Dr. Renzoni and I typed out a plan of all of the songs we would teach. She would lead some activities and it was super helpful to see her teaching elementary students. On our last day in the schools one of the classes I was teaching surprised me by singing “Mr. Golden Sun” because that is one of the songs they struggled to sing the English. It was a moment I will never forget. I had tears in my eyes. This trip has shown me what the prize is and how gratifying it feels to be appreciated by the students you are teaching. It opened my eyes to the fact that I am definitely doing the right thing with my life and that the struggles of music school will pay off the second I am back in the classroom. After teaching excursion… Woo hoo! We finished teaching! After all of our hard work we travelled to Pompeii and it completely surpassed my expectations. There are no words to depict how truly impressive it is that the history has been so well preserved. I could not wrap my head around how they built such impressive structures such a long time ago. It was almost unbelievable that people used to live there. It was a very humbling experience and a great place to do some soul searching. I got a kick out of seeing the amphitheater, and thought about the concert that Pink Floyd did there. After Pompeii we went to a beautiful lunch and I got to sit at the table with our bus driver (Salvatore), tour guide (Mario) and his wife (Rita). None of them speak good English so we communicated best through the Italian songs I have studied in school. Mario also knew some French songs! We sang songs together as we ate lunch. Sometimes even the server came over and sang a little tune. A truly authentic Italian lunch! After lunch we drove to Sorento where we would stay for two nights. This town has lots of boutiques and an exceptional amount of orange and lemon trees. We got to Sorento in the evening so we walked around for a little while and then ate a delicious dinner. The next day we hopped onto the bus to drive to Positano and the Amalfi Coast. These were the most beautiful places I saw on the whole trip. It was truly like a movie scene. After a winding and bumpy bus ride we had a few hours to do some shopping. The plan was to buy some souvenirs and spend some money, but everything in this area was very expensive. Rachael and I told the group we would see them in the next shop but accidentally wandered to the most perfect place. We came to a dead end and saw a stair case and almost did not go down it, but I told her that my gut is saying that we should. At the bottom of the stairs was a very quiet beach. Her and I were both in complete shock at what we were seeing. The sound of the waves, the water misting us, and the feeling of the sand beneath our shoes. We decided to explore the beach area and sat on a rock for over an hour talking and watching the waves come in. In the moment I was making effort to be fully present because it was an experience that I will not have again for awhile. I have never seen the sea and the water was so blue and beautiful. The water was a bit rough but it made the waves very intense and interesting to watch. I would call this experience at the beach in Positano with Rachael a core memory for sure. After leaving the Positano/ Amalfi Coast area we went to get lunch and see some sights on our bus ride back to the hotel. We went to Ravello to scope out where the hold the classical music festival. Attending that music festival is now on my bucket list. Just driving around Italy is so incredible because there is always something beautiful to look at. We did not get back until late in the evening so had to run around Sorento for last minute purchases before dinner. We had a delicious dinner. I have been surprising myself with the things I enjoy that are not usually cooked for me at home, like fish or mussels! After dinner everybody in the cohort went out to a karaoke bar and we had so much fun! The next morning we set sails back to Rome. On the way we stopped at the Palace of Caserta for a tour and it was so large and beautiful! After our tour we went out to lunch and then continued to Rome. We did not get back to Rome until 6pm and at this point I was feeling exhausted and generally unwell. I had to go to the designer mall to pick up my sisters gifts from YSL and Gucci. I also got myself a pair of earrings, but after that I knew I needed to rest so that I felt better when we had to fly the next day. We had a smoother flight home but I was a bit sad to get off of the plane and go back to reality. I fell in love with Italy and can not wait to be back. Saturday 1/14:
In the morning we visited the middle school and those children are even more exhausting than the littles! We visited four classes. In each class the students introduced themselves in English (so that they could practice) and shared a little bit about themselves. I was with Alexa for every class and they enjoyed hearing us introduce ourselves as well! They had a ton of questions and A LOT of energy! In one of the classes a student mentioned that he thought the schools were a lot better in the U.S., which turned into an interesting conversation about the school system in the United States. Although interesting, it was exhausting but it was an important conversation to have with the students to compare and contrast our education systems. I enjoyed hearing the middle schoolers speak and answering all of their questions! In the evening we went to the castle near our BNB to hear a presentation about Sacco and Vanzetti, Italian immigrants who were wrongfully convicted of a crime that they did not commit. Nicola Sacco was from Torremaggiore, so the people of the town are very passionate about the social injustice that occurred. I found it very interesting to learn more about this historical event. At the event I was interviewed on the Italian news about what my biggest takeaways are from this trip! So cool! I will post the link tomorrow as it goes live in the morning! I am so grateful for the headmaster, Mateo Scarlato, for arranging the cultural events that we have been attending. My appreciation for the history of Torremaggiore is astronomical and I am so glad to be learning about their culture. He has been so supportive of our cohort and we would not be learning and having this much fun without him. We went back to the BNB and had a delicious dinner with Senor Grassi! I had trouble falling asleep afterwards but got to talk with my mom and my boyfriend Mikey on the phone for a little while. I am starting to miss home a little bit but I am soaking up the last week of this trip. Sunday 1/15: A chill day at last! We had breakfast at 9 am today which was a luxury after a long week of teaching. After breakfast I took a cat nap afterwards. When I woke up, I went to do some laundry and went to lunch with Jen and Rachael in between washing and drying. I am so glad my laundry is clean! I was running low on shirts. Thank goodness my mom got me the laundry bag I mentioned in my pre travel blog! Nobody else has one... hehe... At night we got to watch an authentic classical music performance. There was a pianist, violinist, cellist, and a vocalist. It was amazing for me to see a real Italian singer as that is what I study so much of back at Buffalo State. This made me a little emotional because I was so immersed in the moment. It was so special because it was a dream come true. One of the pieces the vocalist sang was Caccini's Ave Maria which is my favorite arrangement of Ave Maria. She sang it so beautifully that it brought a tear to my eye. Talk to you soon. :) Thursday I started the school day with kindergarten (ages 3-5). Dr. Renzoni, Ella, Rachael, and I did an hour and a half of music activities with them. It is so exhausting working with the smaller children! It takes so much energy to be giving it your all and doing facial expressions to keep them engaged. I really do enjoy working with the toddlers because they are so cute and get so excited to be engaged in musical activity. My ukulele is like a magic tool to get the students focused. I spent the afternoon with the same fifth grade class from the past few days. They are very rhythmically proficient and impressed me with their ability to read duple rhythms. The class had a blast doing rhythm play along videos. We did "The Entertainer" and "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from the Nutcracker. I went through sea animals in English and had them chant the words back to me. I know it worked because I caught a student saying "sea turtle" to another student in the duple rhythm chant, just how I had taught it to them. After school we went straight to a winery for a wine tour, it was my first wine tour! It was interesting to find out about how the wine is made and inspiring to know that it was a family business in Torremaggiore. After the winery we went to an olive oil factory (Torremaggiore is famous for it's olive oil!) I got my mom a bottle of olive oil so please pray that it does not break in my luggage on the plane ride home. Friday I started with the same fifth grade class and they are starting to get comfortable with my partner and I so they got a bit rowdy. I found it challenging to keep them engaged but found that if I start strumming my ukulele they stop talking and start listening. Music is a wonderful tool to refocus the students. I found a video online called "musical fruits" which went through fruits in English using duple rhythms. They were able to speak the English very clearly and sounded like they had a very good grasp on the fruits in English! Teaching English language learners in rhythm is beneficial. We did the rhythm play along videos again because they had so much fun with it! On Thursday they struggled to sing two lines of "Mr. Golden Sun" so I encouraged them to practice it. Some of them definitely did because it was greatly improved! Thank goodness after school we had free time to rest before going to the high school to listen to a presentation about the Italian school system. I have been so tired but fighting through it. We walked back to the BNB and had dinner. I am so grateful for Senor Grassi. He cooked us seafood tonight which was a huge step out of the box for me but I actually enjoyed every single dish! Others went out tonight but I am way too tired after a long day of teaching and learning. Ciao! Monday We met the mayor of Torremaggiore in the morning and then walked over to the school where we were greeted by every student in the school in the gymnasium! The energy in the room was incredible. There were three musicians who were playing the U.S. national anthem and the Italy national anthem. One of them was the middle school music teacher. While in the gym he approached our group and asked who the singer was. We then jammed out to "When the Saints Go Marching In." It was such a special moment and I got a little emotional. It was a warm welcome for us and reminded me why I am in Italy in the first place. After we got a tour of the school! It was an easy day. Tuesday Tuesday was the first day I taught the content I prepared. I was very nervous in the morning before we got to school but once I was in the classroom everything flowed naturally. I started the day with two kindergarten classes. In Italy, kindergarten starts between ages 3-5, so I was working with very tiny children. Fortunately, Dr. Renzoni was able to be in the classroom with me. She let me start with the "Ciao ciao" song and the children were excited to hear my play my ukulele. It was my first time ever teaching with a ukulele and the more I played the more comfortable I got. I also sang "You are my Sunshine" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Dr. Renzoni suggested we did "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and the kids loved it. After we sang it with them in English they sang it back in Italian which I thought was super cool. Dr. Renzoni showed me a few songs that she likes to use while teaching in Italy in the classroom with the kindergartners. One of them was called "Piccolina Esabina" and the children held hands in a circle and walked while they sang. This got the children moving and engaged. She also introduced a roller coaster activity and the kids had a blast pretending to be on a roller coaster ride. Dr. Renzoni is a master of elementary music education, therefore she had a lot of feedback to give that helped me improve from the first class to the next. When I was finished with the kindergarteners we went up to a fifth grade class. Dr. Renzoni was not in the room so I was on my own. I taught them the "Ciao ciao" song. I sang it to them in Italian and then had them join in. When they sounded confident with the Italian, I then demonstrated the English version and had them sing it phrase by phrase until each sounded strong and confident, then we put the whole song together. I took a class this past fall to help me prepare for this trip to Italy where I was assigned a partner to create a book about one of the 50 States. My partner Ella and I chose California and we included facts about California, including its distance from Torremaggiore, the state bird and state flower, three of the national parks in California, and other cool facts. After we read each page in English the teacher translated it to Italian so that the students could understand clearly. After "Ciao ciao" I read the book to them. Since I am only in my second year of my degree, I have not yet learned about classroom management and what to do when things start going off of the wall, so I struggled a bit with that. After things went crazy while reading the book I thought it would be a good idea to calm them down with music, and it worked! I sang and taught them a few songs, including "You are My Sunshine", "Kumbaya", "Are you sleeping?", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (which they then sang back to me in Italian), and another called "Little Bird." I have such an advantage being able to take up time in a productive manner with music!!! My partner Ella and I thought of a getting to know you activity where we had students draw a circle and draw/write things that were important to them. We were helping them translate Italian words to English to ensure that we are helping their language development skills. The children seemed to enjoy this a lot. We had extra time left so I created a rhythm activity off of the top of my head. I had the students clap a steady beat and improvised duple rhythms to them. I then went around the classroom pretending to hold a microphone and sang each student a rhythm and had them echo it back to me. They seemed to be very rhythmically proficient and enjoyed this activity a lot! At the end of class I sang them the "goodbye song" I have been using since my senior year of high school just to end things smoothly. It was my first time teaching without a teacher right behind me and I am so proud of myself for how naturally everything flowed. After school we went to a teachers house to have lunch and dance! It was a blast singing with the Italian teachers. When we got back to the school we changed our close and went straight to the castle to learn traditional Italian dances! It was so much fun but so exhausting. When I felt tired and like I did not want to dance anymore, I made sure to make myself present again and tell myself that I will never have this experience again. I will never be 19 years old dancing with Italian grandmas, other future teachers, and my professors in the castle of Torremaggiore again. Wednesday I started the day with the same fifth grade class from Tuesday. We sang the Ciao ciao song to start the class. Then we had students create an acrostic poem and they had a lot of fun thinking of words. Ella led an activity which consisted of the students building a house out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows, they struggled a bit but were still able to be creative with their designs. She then did an activity called "stop the bus" where she wrote the alphabet and students raced to write words on the board. We tried to have them write only English words but they did struggle with harder letters like X Y and Z. When they finished the alphabet, the bus was stopped. It was a hit and the kids liked it so much they wanted to do it a second time! We moved over to a fourth grade class. It is crazy how each class has a different energy. Working with different students requires different energy levels. This was a new class for us so we sang them ciao ciao, went through the book, and did the board race game. I made effort to have them say English words rhythmically and it seemed to solidify the words much quicker than if I spoke them arrhythmically. These students were very excited to get to know us and to let us get to know them. After school I went to lunch with five other girls and then went back to the hotel to get ready for our tour. We saw two churches of Torremaggiore, learned some history about the town, and then saw the towns local library located in the castle very close to our BNB. Walking around was very tiring but I was glad to see these sights and learn about the history. I was glad to return to the BNB and to eat dinner with Senor Grassi. I apologize for the very long blog but there is no way I could make it any shorter! I did my best :) Torremaggiore is the most beautiful place that I have ever seen. It feels like home. The streets are quiet and beautiful. There are plants everywhere you look! I noticed that they grow a lot of aloe vera here in Torremaggiore. All of our rooms have at least one aloe plant on the balcony! Our bed and breakfast is so charming. The room that I am in has two balconies overlooking the street. I like to go out there and watch the people. Yesterday (Sunday), was our first full day in Torremaggiore and we had the day free to pick our own activities. I went to church with a few girls in the group and it was so cool to experience a full mass in Italian. I expected the music to be played by an organ, but to my surprise the music was played by a speaker and sounded like pop music! It took a lot of restraint for me to not start dancing. We witnessed a baptism which was something I have never seen before in real life! Nobody really questioned us being there which was very nice because this town is so small and we obviously stand out. After church we decided to roam the streets! On Sundays lots of businesses are closed so we had a hard time finding somewhere to eat. We went into two cafes but one of them did not have a menu and the woman working did not speak any English, and the other was closing in 5 minutes because they take a siesta from 2-5 pm in the South of Italy. All of the sudden a beautiful Italian girl approaches us speaking PERFECT English. It has been the only time I have heard good English in Torremaggiore. Before this, I saw her near the supermarket and she did not say anything to us. We were near the center of town when she approached us to talk! Her name was Carolina. She studied languages at university and works at a museum! She said she has lived in Torremaggiore for her whole life and was walking with her mother and brother. We told her that we were having a hard time finding a place to eat lunch, so she called a restaurant for us and made reservations. Instead of just giving us directions she walked us there and took us inside! She was speaking with the staff (who did not speak much English) and told us it would be 3o euros for a four course meal! How could you say no to that?! After we were settled she left us to enjoy our meal! I was so impressed with the amount of food we were served. Cold appetizers, soup, a pasta dish (ravioli), and desserts! Our server was using Google Translate and was so patient with us. Her patience enhanced the experience for us. We were all so full by dessert it was incredible. Unfortunately, we finished at about 4 pm and had another four course dinner happening at the bed and breakfast at 7:30 pm! Don't worry, I packed it in at dinner too, I could never disappoint the owner of the bed and breakfast. The owner of the bed and breakfast is named Senor Grassi and he cooks us breakfast and dinner everyday. His cooking is INCREDIBLE and reminds me of my Nana's. He is a stereotypical Italian man and I adore him so much. He has made us feel so welcome here and his BNB is absolutely gorgeous. Today (Monday) we woke up early and had breakfast. I love Senor Grassi's eggs. We ate fairly quickly because we had to get ready meet the mayor! Torremaggiore and Buffalo are sister cities so it was very cool to see his office because there was an Erie County flag in there! They told us about the people who helped make Buffalo and Torremaggiore sister cities! It was a cool experience and his office was incredibly fancy. There were two school teachers in the mayors office with us, so when we finished up with the mayor we walked over to the school!!! They walked us through the school and into the gymnasium where the whole school greeted us waving flags while the American national anthem played. Then they sang us the Italian national anthem, it was adorable! There were three musicians playing the songs. After the national anthems they came over to the group and asked who the singer was... its me... and he requested I sing a tune with him. I was nervous at first but it was "When the Saints Go Marching In" so I was able to jam out. I had tears in my eyes because the children had so much energy and were so excited to see us! They were hugging us and saying ciao! They were adorable! After that we took a tour of the fifth grade classes where we will be teaching tomorrow. The kids are super excited to have us in their rooms and I can't wait to start teaching them! We stopped for a snack on the way home from school and I got a Nutella waffle and a cappuccino. It was delicious. It was 18 euros for the four of us to eat at the cafe, so cheap! We walked back to BNB and I am typing this blog to you. I apologize for it being so long but I could not possibly tell you how awesome it is here without elaborating this much. I will keep you posted about Senor Grassi's cooking and my experience in the schools! Don't forget to slide through the photos attached to this post. :) Ciao! This morning we travelled from Rome to Torremaggiore! We expected to leave at 9:45 am but our van was running late so we stood outside of our hotel until 11 am when he arrived! We drove for about 30 minutes before he made a stop at a rest station because he drove from Torremaggiore to Rome with no break after picking us up. When I finished in the rest station I went back to the bus while our driver got a sandwich... All of the sudden the Polizia pulls up! He walks onto the bus and I did not know what else to do or say besides give a nervous "ciao." The police officer wanted to speak with our driver (who was happily in the rest station enjoying his sandwich.) In Italy they are very strict about documentation with vehicles. There was a little machine that looked like a radio that printed out information about the vehicle (speed, location, maintenance, etc.) Unfortunately that machine was not working properly so it took him and the Polizia about an hour to figure it out. Everything ended up being okay! On the ride I listened to music and took a nap curled up into a ball on two bus seats. The scenery was breath taking and photos do no justice. I saw vineyards, sheep, and thousands of olive trees. I have been especially with the plants that they are able to grow here. I saw cacti on the side of the highway! I noticed that Italians in Rome and Torremaggiore have a lot of plants you would traditionally see as houseplants in the United States as plants to decorate outside. They love the aloe plant! I have also observed an abundance of pineapple plants in both cities! Some of the pineapple plants are big and others were smaller, I just have never seen a pineapple plant outside before! At home people purchase them as houseplants! I am fascinated that these plants can grow outside at this time of the year. It is January and they have flowers and plants all over the place in Italy! Then, FINALLY, at around 4:30-5 we ended up in Torremaggiore! My roommate Alexa and I moved into our new home until the 18th. We easily got the biggest and best room! The owner of the bed and breakfast said we are the lucky ones. We have two balconies, a big bed, and a towel warmer! It is very different than Rome because there are less people and places to shop at. After we moved in we walked over to the owners restaurant next door where he served us four courses. It was THE BEST meal I have ever been served. We had pecorino cheese with bruschetta bread that had olive oil on it, next was tortellini, after we had scaloppine limone... which is veal... a very big step out of the box for me. When he served it to us he (as a joke) said it was crocodile so I was very thrown off. I knew I had to at least try it and ended up enjoying it a lot! For dessert it is common that fruit is served so I enjoyed an apple. It was the most filling meal I have ever eaten and I am looking forward to seeing what he cooks for us for breakfast and dinner tomorrow! Today was a day for traveling and we also have tomorrow free! Stay tuned to find out what I end up doing tomorrow! Would you have been nervous to eat the scaloppine limone also? Ciao for now. Photos attached, be sure to click through them all! :) Ciao a tutti! Today was our last night in Rome and we certainly maximized our day. We started off at a small cafe where I got minestrone soup, it was not like home but it gave me the energy I needed for our 3.5 hour tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. I walked ten miles today. Our tour was amazing! Our guide was an archaeologist who personally digs and does research at the Colosseum. She was so knowledgeable and had the answers to all of our questions! We started at the Roman Forum. I can't believe all of the remains from over 2,000 years ago kept in very good shape. I was especially impressed by the Arch of Titus. I just can not wrap my head around how they were able to build such a beautiful structure with such precision in the first century without the technology that we have today. The Colosseum is huge and photos do no justice of the size. I was not familiar with the history of the Colosseum or how it was built. I knew the things that took place on the stage were bad, but I did not know it was THAT bad. She said that they would sacrifice humans to the tigers to let them have a meal?! I learned so much about the history of Rome today. Our tour guide made the tour so much better. We had purchased a pass that allowed us to skip the line and the lines were atrocious today because it was the last day of the Epiphany. That tour is the highlight of my trip so far! On the way home I got a cannoli. Life changing. After the tour we came to the hotel to sit down for about an hour because we were from 10 am until 5 pm. Then we went to dinner and I got pennette all'arrabbiata! It was kind of spicy but was certainly my favorite dish of the trip! After dinner we went to an ice bar and it was sooooo cold but super fun. After that me and two others walked back to the hotel and now I am typing this for you to read. On the way we took a detour to see the Colosseum at night, I facetimed my sister Taylor and she was so happy to see it. I can't wait until she comes to Italy for herself. I am exhausted. My feet hurt even though I wore comfortable shoes. There are a lot of pictures attached to this blog so make sure to check them out! I DEFINITELY came, saw, and conquered. See you again on January 20th Roma! Buona notte miei amici. Wow. Holy cow. I have experienced so much and learned so much about myself as a traveler and it is only our second night in Rome. The flight from Buffalo to Atlanta was smooth sails. It was my first time flying since I was a baby so I had no idea what to expect. I loved the feeling of taking off into the sky. In Atlanta we had a layover and it got delayed an hour and half. That flight was questionable. It was an overnight flight but I was unable to sleep. :( I have been too excited to even think about my exhaustion. When we arrived we changed clothes and went out on the streets of Rome. Just seeing everything and the people is so liberating. After a very challenging semester with many bumps in the road I was not sure if I would make it. I am full of gratitude and elation simply by just being in this city. We started walking and when we left the hotel nothing felt real. I had to keep realizing that I was actually in Rome. Everything is so beautiful, the city is full of lights and the buildings are breath taking. I wish I could depict in words to you how truly amazing it is. Our first night we saw the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and many historic building that are just absolutely stunning. I had tears in my eyes when walking in the Pantheon, knowing how old the building is and thinking about how many significant people walked there before me is super cool to think about. I had Caico e Pepe pasta the first night and it changed my life. Today, our second day in Rome, we did a "hop on hop off" bus tour and saw the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, the Colosseum (we have a tour booked tomorrow), Circus Maximus, Vatican City, and ended up by Trevi Fountain again where we had lunch. I had 4 cheese pizza (again, life changing). There was so much to look at today and I kept stepping back and taking it all in. We did not have coins the first time we were at the Trevi Fountain so I got to throw mine in while on FaceTime with my mom after lunch. It was super special and I got a little emotional honestly. I made a very special wish. After lunch we went to an extremely cool roof top bar and enjoyed ourselves and the view. It was nice to sit down after a long day of walking. From there we walked to the hotel where I am currently writing this blog from. I have been emotional in a good way. I am ecstatic about all of the things I am seeing and experiencing. I did not think I could ever make it this far without my mom at my side. Fortunately she prepared me well enough that I can be independent with confidence. I miss her and my sisters (and pets!) and it has only been a few days since I have seen them. Formal shoutout to my sister Taylor. I never would have made it here without her help. I owe her the world. Everything I see here I know she would just love so much. She truly helped me so much with preparing and packing. The students I am traveling with have been so helpful and supportive. We have an amazing cohort that supports each other and accommodates to what ever one person may need. I am so tired. I wish I could carry you all around with me in my pocket so you could see this too. It is December 29th and we leave in 5 days! I am so excited but very nervous for traveling. This is my first time traveling abroad and the last time I was on a plane I was a baby, so I do not remember being in an airport or on a plane. It will all be very new to me! My mother and I planned to get more done last week but the big Buffalo storm got in the way of our shopping! After the snow cleared we went shopping for everything I will need while in Italy. I am so grateful for my mother as she got me a lot of travel essentials for Christmas and is also ensuring I do not forget anything important. She is helping me make sure I am prepared and has been putting me at ease these past few days. My mom got me all sorts of gifts that will come in handy... like a travel blanket that folds up into a small bag, a neck pillow that squeezes down super small, a laundry bag with the world map (how would I have gotten my laundry to the laundromat?!), and so many other useful things for when I am traveling. My sister gave me a very special gift and bought me a Beis brand carry on for my trip. It is so fancy and has so many useful compartments. It can slide right onto the handle of my suitcase so that I do not need to carry it. I can also use it for when I am in the schools of Torremaggiore! There is a spot for my laptop, notebook, and plenty of space for the blanket and neck pillow from my mom. At the bottom of it there is a shoe compartment (that comes off.) I am not fully packed so I do not know what will end up down there as I might be able to fit my shoes into my checked bag. We will see! :) Stay tuned and check back to this website every few days to see what I am up to in Italy! Ciao for now. -Cam |
AuthorCiao ciao! I am currently a sophomore in the Music Education program with a focus in voice. This is my first time traveling abroad and I am on the moon about the experiences that will come my way! I am looking forward to being pushed outside of my comfort zone and gaining skills that will be valuable in my future classroom. I hope you enjoy following along with me on this journey. ArchivesCategories |