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Well, it’s been almost a week since we returned from Italy, even though it feels like it was just yesterday. I wanted to wait to write this blog until I had settled back into my normal routine and had time to properly reflect on my experience. Now that I have, I’m ready to share my thoughts.
First, I want to express my thanks and gratitude to the IPDS program, Buffalo State College, Dr. Ceprano, Dr. Shea, Dr. Tredo, and Dr. Renzoni. You have all given me an experience that I will never forget and I am so thankful that I was chosen to be a part of this program. Last Monday, when I woke up at 3 in the morning to start our journey home, the first thing I thought of was not how ready I was to go home. It was the friends I had made in Torremaggiore. I thought about how welcoming and kind everyone was, and how they all opened our homes to us and made us part of their families. They treated us like their own and helped to make their town feel like ours. As I thought of these friends, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude that, even though we may never meet again, I was able to share part of my life with them and will carry them with me through whatever I do. As I was driving through my town the other night, it felt almost foreign, because I knew that I had a new home on the other side of world. I will be honest. Going into this experience, I was not excited. I did not want to leave my home and my life for 3 weeks. But I knew that I needed to do this, and I am so glad that I did. I have grown so much as a person and as an educator. I needed the perspective of seeing a different part of the world in order to stop thinking of my small little bubble of New York as the only thing I’ll ever need. I live in what I call a “snowglobe town.” It is the kind of quiet, picturesque town that you would find inside of a Christmas snowglobe. Nothing really changes here. I knew that I needed to get out and find some place that was different and that changed. Returning home was bittersweet. The obvious reasons being that I was reunited with the ones I love most, but I had to leave my new friends. But the more subtle reason was that I returned to the town and city that shaped me, but it will never feel the same. And for that, I am eternally grateful. Ciao Ciao, a tutti quanti. Ciao Ciao, a tutti voi.
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On Thursday Jan. 18, we went to the mayor’s office at City Hall in Torremaggiore to meet the mayor. We all exchanged kind words and he showed us the documents declaring the relationship between Buffalo and Torremaggiore. He even dedicated an entire corner of his small office to the union between the cities. I felt so honored to be a part of a such a special relationship that means so much to the town. After we left City Hall, we were given our final send off from San Giovanni Bosco. The kids all came out into the courtyard to sing to us and cheer and say goodbye. It was a very emotional moment for all of us because we had spent the last 2 weeks forming a bond with the kids and the teachers and we were shown such kindness, and we didn’t want to leave them. We learned so much from them in such a short time. I can only hope that we had as much of a lasting impact on them as they did on us. Being able to work with students from a different culture and share some of my passions with them has been rewarding beyond measure. Later that night, we said what might have been the hardest goodbye in Torremaggiore. Signore Grassi is the man who owns the bed and breakfast we stayed at. He cooked us all of our meals, bought us medicine when we needed it, and even bought us the special biscotti we loved so that we could take some home. He treated us like family and it is safe to say that this trip would not have been as special without Signore Grassi. He is someone that I will always cherish and remember. On Friday, we woke up bright and early and set off for Pompeii. I’ve always been fascinated by Pompeii and visiting the ruins was something I always wanted to do. As we were driving along, our bus driver suddenly pointed out Mt. Vesuvius. It was huge! Also, I never realized how expansive the city of Pompeii was. I imagined it to be a few streets and houses, but it really was an entire city. It was also very interesting to find out that they still haven't uncovered it all. Because of the lack of oxygen and moisture underneath 10 meters of volcanic ash, the entire city was essentially preserved (as well as anything 2,000 years old can be preserved). One thing that was especially well preserved were the bodies of the citizens. After the corpses decayed away, nearly perfect impressions were left in the ash and researchers were able to fill the impressions with plaster to create casts showing the citizens’ last moments. Archaeologists were able to learn so much about ancient Roman life from the ruins of Pompeii. I was so glad that I was finally able to visit a place I had dreamed about for so long. This morning, we were preparing for a day at the Isle of Capri, and went down for breakfast at the hotel, and I had bacon and cereal for the first time in 3 weeks. It was pretty awesome. Anyways, we took a really fun boat ride to Capri, and upon pulling into the harbor, I finally understood why Capri is considered “the most beautiful island in the Mediterranean.” The water was perfectly blue and the town looked so quaint. The view of Sorrento was unbeatable. We walked on the shore for a bit before taking a boat tour around the island. While I will agree that it was definitely the best way to see the entire island, it was a very bumpy ride! There were a couple of scary points, but we all made it back in one piece, although one of my friends did get quite sea sick. Afterwards, we had some lunch and spent some time shopping and finally made it back to the hotel, where I am eagerly awaiting a good night’s sleep before a long day of travel tomorrow. Buona notte!
Yesterday (Jan. 16) we had the opportunity to teach another pre-k music class. The children were ages 3-4 and ended up being the same children we saw last week. They were immediately responsive to us and it was exciting to see them again and their growth in such a short period of time. We used almost no verbal instruction because there’s really no point in talking when they can’t understand you, and that’s why being expressive is so important. After our lesson, the kids made shakers out of beans, rice and lentils in plastic cups and were having such a great time just running around and shaking their shakers. We ended up teaching the “Let’s Go Buffalo!” chant and they loved it! Everyone was dancing around the room chanting “Let’s go Buffalo!” and it was almost like being back home at a Bills game because everyone shared the same excitement. After the music class, we were invited to the high school to watch a production about the works of Shakespeare. The students acted out short versions of many of his plays, but also added a modern twisted, such as using pop music. The students also did the entire production in english just so we could understand it. I know it must’ve been really difficult for them and I really appreciated their endeavor. Later, we were taken on a tour of the churches in Torremaggiore. It was amazing how, in such a small town, there are such history-filled and ornate churches. The church of St. Anne (who is also my patron saint from my confirmation) was one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen. It was so small and intimate. The status looked so realistic, and the image of the crucified Christ was modeled after the Veil of Christ. It was breathtaking. The rest of churches were equally beautiful. However, I must say that my favorite part of the tour were the 2 dogs that followed us the whole way. We have seen these dogs many times around town, and they are always together and they love to walk with us. We ended up naming them Winston and Churchill. I wish I could take them home and give them the love they deserve. Yesterday was also a day that homesickness hit me really hard. I’m not sure exactly what caused it, but I’ve been feeling it for a few days and it all culminated yesterday. I don’t want to come off as ungrateful, because I know that I have been very lucky to have had this opportunity, and I really have enjoyed my time here. But I am ready to go home. I miss my friends and my family and the little things that I never really thought about before, like just being able to communicate with the people around me. I have pushed myself so far outside of my comfort zone during this trip and I know it has made me a better person, but it’s exhausting. I miss home. Today was our last day of teaching in San Giovanni Bosco elementary school. As soon as we walked in, a little boy ran up to me and began reciting the words to our Hello Song. I could also hear students singing the song under their breath. It was such a good feeling to know that they enjoyed having us there and loved singing with us. We got to observe what their typical “music class” is like, and it is very different than music class in America (at least the ones I’ve seen). The teacher told us that they would be learning about rhythm today, and she put on a recording and selected certain students to come to the front and play instruments (they only had a few). The students were supposed to either clap along, or play along. Since the teacher is not trained in music education, some of the activities were not always developmentally appropriate, but I still commended her for engaging the students and for making music and important part of the classroom.
It was very bittersweet leaving the school today. It was such a joy getting to know the students and the teachers and seeing how much they enjoyed having us. I can only hope that we made an impression of the students and that they will continue to be curious about music and about english and want to further their studies in both. I also hope that one day, the teachers can travel to Buffalo to see what our daily lives are like, and so that we can show them the same kindness they have shown us. On Thursday (Jan 11) the music ed students (myself included) had the opportunity to teach in a 17th century castle! All of the 5th grade classes from the elementary school came to the castle and all gathered in a room that is also used for town meetings. There were probably around 60-70 students. We started leading them in our Hello Song, and the students were hesitant to join us. It was only when their classroom teachers told them to participate that they started singing. This seems to be a continuing trend here. Anyways, we continued on with our lesson and taught them some American songs, including a song about Thanksgiving and This Land Is Your Land. When the lesson was over, all of the kids swarmed us. Literally. They all wanted our autographs! They especially loved Brianna, she had a huge group of kids around her. It was almost overwhelming! Now I know what is it like to be famous. That night, we were invited to dinner by the Torremaggiore-Buffalo Association. We got to meet people from the organization who have either studied abroad in the US or in Buffalo. I met one guy who lived in Buffalo for 2 months! It was really interesting to see how two seemingly unrelated parts of the world can be connected. On Friday, we had another lesson at the elementary school. The kids couldn’t wait to sing the Hello Song. Almost all of them sang their name without assistance, which is huge! My partner did a vocab activity with them where the kids had to identify the words “city” and “travel” from the book we were reading. They all did pretty well, considering that they do not know much english. In the afternoon, we were treated to a tour of Old Torremaggiore, which is essentially the oldest part of the town. It contained buildings and relics of the town before it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1627. It was amazing to me that people just casually lived in these ancient buildings. In America, if something is 200 years old, then we think of it as “old” but so much of this town was built before America was even discovered and it’s just a part of peoples daily lives. It puts into perspective how much more history other countries have compared to ours. Even later that night, we went on a tour of a wine cellar, which was interesting in itself, but then after the tour was over we went into the next room and there was a party! The town had thrown us a party complete with dinner, wine, and a band! It ended up being the most fun I’ve had on the trip so far. We all got to dance together and just have some fun. It also happened to be Jessica’s 21st birthday, so they band brought her up on stage to sing Happy Birthday, and she given a cake and a bottle of wine. She definitely had a birthday to remember! On Saturday, we all went to a high school in San Savero, the next town over. There were some things that immediately stuck out to me. First of all, smoking inside the school is tolerated. The whole smoking culture in Italy has been an adjustment but this was truly shocking to me. Also, the students have much more freedom in school than I ever did. Students would just get up and leave class or just roam the halls for as long as they wanted. It was very different. We were all split up and we moved from room to room to the students could ask us questions. To be completely honest, this experience was very overwhelming for me. Everyone looked at us like exotic animals and they were constantly shouting at us. I could hardly answer any questions because everyone kept shouting. Also, some students treated us like we were there for entertainment. In one class, the students put on karaoke of American pop songs and expected us to put on a concert for them. It was pretty embarrassing, if I’m honest. I think the students were just excited to learn about American culture, but I wish the day had gone a little differently. Maybe high school just isn’t for me (I already knew that though).
Yesterday (Jan. 9) was our first day teaching in the school! My partner and I were assigned to a first grade classroom, and they combined 2 classes for our lesson. Before we arrived at the school, I was the most worried about the language barrier and communicating our lessons to the children, but as soon as I stood up in front of the class I wasn’t nervous anymore. I was in “fake it til you make it” mode and I was ready to make it. As soon as I started singing our Hello Song, all of the kids joined in right away and were so excited to sing! Since our song is in both English and Italian, it took a few repetitions for them to really get the hang of the words, but they were all willing to participate and that’s the most important part! My partner read her book about NYC to the kids and they loved looking at the pictures of a big American city. They kept relating it to Milan. After school, all of the teachers took us out for lunch and it was delicious! There was so much food and we were so stuffed that we had to ask our B&B owner to make us a very small dinner because we couldn’t eat anymore. The worst part is that there’s so much great food offered to us but we just can’t eat it all. It’s a nice problem to have, though. Today, we went back to our classroom for our next lesson. The kids must have been excited because they cheered for us when we walked in. I started with the Hello Song and the kids sang right away. When it was time to sing everyone’s name, I modeled once and the kids all sang their names. It was amazing to see them all remember the song from yesterday. We moved on to the part of our lesson where we read the book and we had planned to teach some vocabulary. The normal classroom teacher was sick today so there was a substitute, and the children were definitely testing the limits of the sub. The students were distracted and very chatty, and I could tell that my partner and the classroom teacher were struggling to keep everyone engaged. It didn’t help that adults kept walking in and out of the room so they students kept getting distracted. At this point, my professor came to our room and pulled me out to help her teacher a music class for the pre-k students. Dr. Renzoni, Krissy, and I went to the “gymnasium” and had 2 pre-k classes come in. We started with the Hello Song and we were modeling a movement for the kids to do, but they weren’t joining in. They only started moving along with us once their teacher told them it was okay. It was surprisingly easy to communicate what we wanted them to do. Dr. Renzoni went right into her rollercoaster activity and they automatically knew exactly what to do. When it was time for me to teach my song, I modeled certain actions like walk, run, jump, and stop. I was afraid that the kids would run all around the room instead of staying in their spots, but they all behaved beautifully. It was so much fun to communicate through actions instead of words. It was very interesting to see how the kids will not do anything unless they get permission from their classroom teacher. They kids were very strong at chanting and rhythm, probably due to their strict curriculum that is based around repetition and chanting. Tomorrow we get to teach another music class (in a castle!) to 5th graders so I am looking forward to that!
Yesterday we said goodbye to Rome and had a 4 hour bus ride to Torremaggiore. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting the town to be like, but I was definitely not expecting it. Since we came into town in the late afternoon on a Sunday, everything was closed. There were no people or cars on the street. It seemed like a ghost town. I was a little nervous that this was what life was going to be like for the next 2 weeks. We arrived at the Bed and Breakfast and were shown our rooms and I immediately took a big sigh of relief. Our rooms are so big! And so nice! It was such a nice change from our small hotel in Rome. The owner was so kind and accommodating, even though he doesn't speak English at all. Only his daughter is fluent in English. Anyways, we had some time to settle in and unpack, and then we took a walk around the town. We saw the school where we'll be teaching and explored the town. It really came to life at night! There was a band playing in the square and lots of people were walking around. We came back to the hotel for dinner and, oh man, it was AMAZING. Fresh, homecooked, authentic Italian food with ingredients that they make themselves. I was in heaven. Today, we had breakfast (again, amazing) and went to the local market in town. It's kind of like a flea market and a farmers market all in one. At first I didn't know what to think of it, but then I realized that all of the food they were selling was so fresh. All of the meats and cheeses and produce looked so good, and I realized that this is how people must do their grocery shopping for the week. No wonder all the food tastes so good! After the market, we went to the school for the first time to meet the teachers and the kids. When we walked up, we could see everyone standing outside with balloons and pom poms. They had a "welcome" banner and all of the flags were being presented. When we walked into the courtyard, everyone cheered and played music. I felt like a celebrity. It was overwhelming how kind and hospitable they were. We all felt so welcome and special. We visited all of the classrooms and talked with some of the children. The older ones were so excited to show off their English! They can speak the phrases they know very well. Only some of the teachers can speak English, though, so communicating with them will be interesting. After our afternoon siesta, it was finally time for dinner again and we were all so excited to see what was on the menu tonight. Once again, our hosts did not disappoint. We started with fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and olive oil on a fresh baked piece of bread. Then we had a pasta dish with orecchiette with a green leafy vegetable that's a cross between broccoli and spinach. The next course was beans and sausage in a sauce over a piece of bread, and we finished with fruit for dessert. Everything was absolutely delicious. I'm so excited to be eating authentic Italian food! It doesn't get much better than this. Well, except for maybe a chicken finger sub.
After a very scary elevator ride and finally getting settled in our hotel, we began to explore the wonderful city of Rome! On our first day here, we visited the Fontana di Trevi and the Spanish Steps. While these were absolutely beautiful sights to see, I felt as if I couldn’t fully enjoy them because I was so exhausted from the plane ride and was just simply overwhelmed by the amount of change I had experienced in the last 24 hours. That night, we all had dinner together with some really great pasta and some really questionable chicken. Some of the people in our group decided to walk to the Colosseum afterwards to see it all lit up at night, but a few of us simply had to tap out for the night.
The next day, after a good night’s sleep, we were offered a small breakfast at the hotel and then set out for the Vatican. We bought a bus ticket and hopped onto a double decker tour bus and, of course, sat on top so we could enjoy the 60 degree “winter”! Sitting on the bus was the first time I truly felt excited since we arrived. It was really cool to see all of the different monuments and the architecture around the city. When we finally arrived at the stop for the Vatican, we hopped off and were immediately informed that the Vatican was closing early at 10:30 due to the Epiphany. It was 9:45. So we splurged for the skip-the-line tickets and made it just in the nick of time. First we saw the Sistine Chapel. I never realized just how detailed the Chapel was and how much work went into it. It was so amazing to see it in person instead of just pictures. Next we moved on to the line for St. Peter’s Basilica, which wrapped around the entire square. It moved quickly though, and in a little over an hour we were finally inside. It was honestly one of the most profound and humbling experiences of my life. Seeing the relics and the monuments for all of the saints and popes was amazing. It’s honestly really difficult for me to put into words just how meaningful this experience was and what I was feeling. Afterwards, we hopped back onto our bus and decided to get off at the Colosseum. We had dinner at a restaurant right next door, so we had the amazing view of the Colosseum at night for our dinner. Dinner. Was. AMAZING. It was honestly one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I got spaghetti with a cheese and pepper sauce and had chocolate lava cake for dessert. Yum! On Saturday, we set out for the Colosseum to take a proper tour. When we got off the bus, we were kind of wandering around, looking completely lost, and a nice lady came up and told us where to buy tickets. Come to find out, she worked for a tour company and was trying to sell us her tour for both the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It was a decent price, so we agreed. The Colosseum tour was great and we got a lot of great pictures! It was so crazy to learn that the Colosseum was built in just 8 years and is still standing to this day. Our tour guide told us where to find our next tour guide for the Forum, but when we went to meet her, she was no where to be found. We were convinced that we had been swindled. After all, it seemed too good to be true. But, we found the original ticket sellers and asked them where our guide was, and they took us right to her. It turns out she was just in a different spot, and she ended up being so incredibly knowledgable and helpful. We felt so bad that we thought they had scammed us. I had no idea how big the Forum is! Seeing all of the ruins and fully intact buildings from as early as 3 A.D. really helped solidify in my mind how powerful the Roman empire was. Next, we were all starving so we found the nearest restaurant for lunch. I had a panini was HUGE chunks of fresh mozzarella. It was so good! I also keep forgetting that ordering water at a restaurant in Italy is not free. It’s kind of a bummer. We spent some time shopping around for souvenirs and by 9 o’ clock we were ready for dinner. We just went to a restaurant near the hotel. I wasn’t entirely impressed. Hopefully the food in Torremagiore lives up to my standards! We leave tomorrow and I’m excited to see what the rest of the trip holds! Thank you for a wonderful time, Rome! P.S. I have a lot of pictures, but the wifi is not helping me out with uploading them. Hopefully I’ll have a better connection in Torremaggiore! Well, tomorrow is the big day. Never mind the fact that there's a blizzard in Buffalo right now. Let's just pretend that isn't happening.
This will be my first European excursion, and my first big international trip (sorry, Canada, you don't count in my book.) I want to be really excited! But I'm just not there yet. There's too much to think and worry about. I'm a very "But what if..." traveller. "What if our flight is delayed? But what if the bus breaks down? But what if I'm invited to tea with the Prime Minister?" I know it'll all work out in the end. I just need to get on the plane first before I can start being excited. I've also never been away from home for this long before. I don't dorm at college so I've never had the experience of being separated from my loved ones and having to fend for myself. I know I'm traveling with a great group of supportive people, but nothing beats home. All in all, I know this will be a rich and rewarding experience, and I'll get to eat some really great food along the way! Everything is better with some really great food. Plus the wine doesn't hurt. |
AuthorSenior music/early childhood major who is excited/nervous to experience a new culture! ArchivesCategories |