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Mangiamo was a very familiar term to all of us; it translates to "let's eat!". One of the hardest things to adjust to was the eating schedule!. Breakfast would be at 7:30 am, we would never know when we were eating lunch, and dinner would be at 8 pm! So of course a bunch of us were constantly hangry... aka me! I challenged myself to eat everything that was put in front of my being. I tried not to alter the dish (or drink) too much; I added pepper to some of the food and didn't add any sugar to any coffee drink I had. Below are all the photos I snapped of most of the dishes I ate; I will also do my best to describe the dish... Sometimes I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture...
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Torremaggiore is a gorgeous little town, tucked away in the Province of Foggia. It's divided into Old Torremaggiore; the historic original town, and New Torremaggiore; the area built around the historic part of the city. I was blessed to be welcomed into this town with open arms for about a week and half. And let me tell you, a week and half was not long enough; I can't wait to go back and visit! I could have fun getting lost in the streets... looking for stray dogs (don't worry, they are fed and taken care of). The Castello Ducale is an absolutely gorgeous castle, that was conveniently at the end of our street. We stayed at the B&B Cavour with Signore Grassi and his wife and they were utterly delightful! During our stay at the B&B, I roomed with Katie, Amanda, and Sydney... and of course we had the best room with very low wifi signal! But all in all it was a special treat to room with such lovely people, it's a friendship that will last a lifetime. Every single day was jam packed with teaching, social events, and activities for us to participate in. This is where my thought process on writing a blog every day went horribly wrong. On a normal day, breakfast would be served at 7:30 am and it would consist of hard boiled eggs, bread with butter and jam, and a good old cup of coffee; I ate this every day for 1.5 weeks and it was blissful (I still miss the coffee!). After breakfast, we would be at the school between 8 and 8:30 am; our cohort was divided into two different schools and I got to walk a good half mile (one way) to my placement! Walking everywhere was liberating, although my feet were sore and I missed driving. We would be at school from about 8:30 am to 12pm, running through the halls trying to keep up with which ever classroom we were teaching in that day. We did have a "home classroom", Mary and I were lucky enough to teach an amazing group of 9 and 10 year olds! Our teacher, Miriam, is the sweetest woman you could ever meet; she always helped us translate and made sure we were fully caffeinated with espresso (a goddess, really). Our kids hold a special place in my heart... as I'm writing this now I wish I were back there teaching music and getting hugs every day! At 12 pm, we would get plucked from our classes and normally have a little tour of the school or a neighboring school (middle and high schools). And after that would be my favorite time of the day, Siesta. For about four blissful hours, everything in Torremaggiore closes and the townspeople go home and have a big lunch with family and relax. In the later evening, stores would begin to open. This was definitely one of the harder things to adjust to because we live in such a fast paced world where you go to work or school all day and don't have a break until dinner that night. Siesta was refreshing for people like me who really dig a nice nap during the afternoon! I felt refreshed and ready to go for the evening activities they had planned for us. Which were a lot. Every night was something new; we toured the castle, we walked around the old part of the city, we toured a winery, mozzarella cheese farm and factory, and an olive oil factory. The amount of pride and joy the citizens of Torremaggiore have for their town is enormous and heart warming. They were so excited to share the history of the town and show us how proud they are of all of their achievements to date. They really did welcome us with open arms and treat us like family. At then end of the day, we went to bed with full bellies and full hearts, ready to tackle the next adventure ahead of us. I feel like so much happened in our time in Torremaggiore, that I don't even know what to write about. Maybe keeping it pretty simple is the way to go. And writing it all out is very difficult. If anyone has questions about anything please reach out! Let me start off by saying this. I really, whole heartedly thought I could write a blog every day during my trip... but I won't lie to you... it was too hard to stick to that thought. I knew by day three in Rome that I wouldn't be able to keep up on blog posts every day. Our days were jam packed from dawn until dusk. So my thought now is to write about Rome, and then in one VERY large post I will sum up my week and half in Torremaggiore, and the last post will be about our little excursion on the coast! I will definitely elaborate more on how busy we were in my Torremaggiore blog! But while I'm here... let's finish up our little discussion about Rome. Day Three of Rome was the best by far for me. It was a beautiful Monday, temperatures in the high 50's and sunny with a small breeze. This was our roommate day. During my stay in Italy, I had the pleasure of rooming with three other gorgeous ladies who I got to grow close with and form a beautiful friendship. I knew two of my roommates already because they are fellow music education majors... hi Amanda and Katie! But our fourth roomie and I shared a name, Sydney! She was a beautiful addition to our cooky family and we were coined "the Syds". So the four of us ventured out on own... away from the group and supervision! We had tickets to go into the Roman Colosseum and wow it's more amazing than you think. If you ever read reviews that say "waste of time... there's nothing in there!" they are 100% wrong. I highly suggest if you ever get the chance to go inside the Colosseum, just go! There's a huge museum inside that showcases ancient artifacts, sculptures, and paintings; and it seems endless! And just the sheer size and energy of the Colosseum is insane. Here is a bunch of my favorite pictures of the day... and hopefully a video of the Colosseum as well (if I can finesse the technology). There's a funny story behind this photo above of me meditating. If you know me, I don't meditate. I find it very hard to focus. But during this trip I found it quite blissful to strike this pose in as many locations as I could... try to keep count throughout the blogs! After our trip through The Colosseum me and the girls sat right outside of it and enjoyed a very large and long lunch in the sunshine. We all shared food and laughs and even tried to communicate to the man sitting next to us... unfortunately non of us are fluent in Spanish... Amanda was the best at it and Sydney had a full conversation over Google Translate (our bff).
Now take a look at the beauties with Katie's professional camera! These girls taught me what it's like to have sisters and to be a sister. We broke the comfort barrier on day one, shared clothes, shared a large bed together, spent countless hours worrying about each other, and loved every moment we spent together. Thank you to the best roomies I think I could've ever asked for. Thank you for sharing life with me and teaching me to know how an unbiological family, that has barely known each other, functions. Ciao Bellas <3
Day two of Rome was most definitely better than the first day. Amanda and I both slept about 10 hours, so we were well rested for the day ahead of us. Breakfast was served at 9:30 AM in our little common room in the hotel; I had a cup of cherry yogurt, a peach jam filled croissant, and a cappuccino. Breakfast was to die for! I am such a fan of the coffee here. I also made a vow to just experience the food and coffee here; to try everything even if I don't like it. After breakfast we headed out to the Trastevere Market, about an hour walk away from our hotel. For my Buffalo friends, the Market is comparable to the former Super Flea on Walden Ave, but maybe a little nicer! While we were there we rummaged through the racks of 10 euro clothing (which were amazing!) and bought stereotypical key chains and trinkets. After the Market, we had a wonderful lunch in the neighborhood close at a small cafe on a winding back street tucked away between the buildings. I ate a tradition type of pizza that is proscuitto and cheese... no sauce! It was different for me but extremely tasty!! After lunch, a bunch of the girls and the professors of the trip went made our way back to the hotel... but shopped all the way back! We also took a ton of cute pictures and sight saw as we went! Soon dinner time came and the entire cohort sat down to an intriguing group dinner. We were served lukewarm pasta and a what seemed like a Tyson chicken patty... as underwhelming as the dinner was it was nice to sit down with everyone and eat a group meal. After dinner the kids of the group decided to go out for the night and let me tell you... we had a blast. First we went to the Ice Bar which was essentially a small room that was about 21 degrees and the walls were made of ice and ice sculptures. It was the coolest thing I think I have ever seen. The drinks were amazing and the pictures turned out even better! After the Ice Bar we went to the Irish Pub down the block from our hotel and danced the night away! They let us play whatever music we wanted and it was insanely fun!
I'm going to say it. I love Rome! I would never leave if I could. The last three days have been so exhausting but oh so fun! Our cohort consists of 16 Americans running around taking pictures and screaming about how excited we are as well as trying to say "Grazie!" as best as we can. We landed in Rome on Saturday the 4th at 9 AM. We learned quickly how fast aggressive people drive in Italy! The drive into the city was underwhelming at first, but you cannot see the beauty of this city by driving, it's all seen through walking around. we started at our hotel, Hotel Orlanda, and took walked to the Colosseum. When we got there we took A TON of photos and videos. Our cohort is really into boomerang videos which I am so into! Here are a couple of photos of my favorite photos from the Colosseum... (I apologize in case the photos are wonky I'm working out user errors!)
We ate lunch inside the Vatican City, unfortunately I didn't get the name of the Restaurant. I actually found it challenging to get the names of the places we ate because most of the time we were just too hungry to notice. I had my first Italian pizza and wow! The pizza here is delicious but really it needs bleu cheese!! After we ate lunch, Dr. Renzoni took us on about an hour long walking tour through the city and back to our hotel. Along the way we stopped at three major locations; the first was a piazza (an open area between buildings normally with a fountain and seating area), the second was the Pantheon and the third was the Trevi Fountain. This walk was a beautiful bonding experience for a bunch of the girls of our cohort, we took lots of pictures and laughed a bunch. The sun began to set as we started our journey and it made it all the more magical, you'll see in all the pictures! But I got to spend quality time with my best friends, Katie and Amanda <3 As you can see in the picture of the Pantheon, we didn't make it inside on day one because they were holding a mass inside and weren't letting tourists in, hence the large line of people in the photo. And in the photo of me at the little fountain in the piazza, I was fascinated by the bird that joined me... I still am fascinated by animals. As day one came to a close we had walked about 22,000 steps, our calves were burning, and our hearts were full. While I was at the hotel I had a hard time connecting to the WiFi to be able to post a blog. Within the next couple of days I will have the blog updated with days two and three in Rome and our first day in Torremaggiore. I'm starting to feel homesick and I really miss Nate! I can't wait to hear from family and friends!
Today is December 20th, 2019. Christmas is approaching, which leads to New Years celebrations, and then our flight to Italy on the 3rd of January. I am nervous, I will not lie. I really think that I am most nervous about forgetting to pack something! But I will be fine! I am excited to begin our journey though. I'm excited to be in a new country and excited for first time experiences. I'm excited to make new and lasting friendships with the group of people I am traveling with and even people in Italy. Do you have any suggestions for places to see or things I should do in Italy? Also, do you have any tips and tricks for a first time traveller? I suppose I should start to think about packing; my suitcase is small and I don't own a duffel bag! I'm packing super light!! I think I will post one more time before we go... I can't wait to see how the feelings and emotions change as I get closer to our departure date. So, I'll keep you posted!
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AuthorI am in my junior year at Buffalo State as a Music Education major with a concentration in voice. I received an associate’s degree in Music Performance from a local community college and, during my time there, participated in vocal jazz, a madrigal choir, and an a cappella group that went the ICCA Quarter Finals. I participate in the Buffalo State Chamber Choir and enjoy working as a barista at Starbucks and spending time with my fiancé, Nathan. My dream job is to teach choir in high school! Archives
February 2020
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