Lots of singing and dancing for the last week at Marymount!

My last week at Marymount was very bittersweet. It was filled with days of the kids coming up to me saying "please don't go Ms. McCarty" or "Can't you stay just one more week?" and even "can you come back next year and be in fifth grade with us?" They were all so sweet. But the whole week was dedicated to preparing for the students' big diversity concert; which so perfectly happened on Thursday (my last day there!) The concert included the students singing songs from different countries (my favorite of course was Waka Waka) and they spoke in different languages (chinese, arabic, french, portuguese, and italian) about how they accept diversity, and they performed dances from different countries. Some boys did a Russian dance and the kids in my class were assigned to American theme. It was very funny! The girls did a New York jazz routine and the boys did a break dance. It just made me chuckle what things they chose to symbolize America. So the whole week consisted of them practicing for the concert. On Monday, they practiced in the morning from 9-11 and then it was time for lunch and then they practiced again after lunch! I felt bad for them because I could tell that they were really exhausted. Then on Tuesday, I was not at school because I went to the audience with the pope! Although it was very hot out, it was needless to say amazing. The pope rode right past me in the pope mobile (he was standing up and waving) and he looked me right in the eye! It was so crazy!! That evening, Logan (who was with the other fourth grade teacher) and I went out to dinner with our teachers as a thank you to them. It was so fun being out with our teachers in a normal setting! It was fun talking about our students and learning more about our teachers. Then on Wednesday, they again had practice from 9-11. So, my last week there was not much teaching going on. But I was glad I got to experience that because I know as a teacher, there are going to be times when you are going to want to get things done but other "school activities" take priority. I saw how hard that was to deal with as a teacher because you kind of have to take a backseat which must be so difficult when all you can think about is how much more curriculum you want and need to get covered. Thursday was the day of the big performance!! The students performed it once in the morning for the entire elementary school; this was more of a dress rehearsal in that they were still figuring out the lighting and curtains and sounds. Then the students had lunch and then it was time to perform for the parents. The students did an excellent job! I was so proud of them! :) Oh, and before the performance for the parents my students and teacher had a going away party for me. My teacher had me sit outside the classroom after I brought them in from recess. Then when I was told I could come into the classroom, they all shouted "we are going to miss you Ms. McCarty" it was so adorable. Then on the side table there was a huge card that said "Ms. McCarty you are..." and then in the inside each student wrote a different adjective in different languages. Then also inside there were small little cards written by each student saying thank you and why they are going to miss me. They were so cute! And we also had cupcakes which were more like chocolate and vanilla muffins but they were delicious! I got a special one that was the shape of a heart! It was a wonderful last day! I loved every moment at Marymount and I am definitely going to miss all my students and my teacher!

Here I am with the students and my practicum teacher! 

Here they are at their performance!

And this is the adorable table they had set up for me. With muffins, water, and an adorable card. 

A few clouds and sun in Elba!

Greetings after a weekend in the wonderful island of Elba! It was a very beautiful island and it really actually reminded me of Kiwa. Due to the mountains and then beaches. We left Friday morning at six and we arrived in Elba at 12. We basically took every form of transportation. First we took a train, then a bus, then a boat, and finally a car! The train ride was a scary experience. Laura, Kelly, Kelsey, and I were all sitting in a car separate from everyone else (but I could see some of our girl's bags from the window from my tram). But any who the car smelled BEYOND terrible. It was a combination of smoke, dirt, throw-up and gasoline. The guy sitting with us had two face piercing. One above his lip and one below his lip then he had ripped up and torn up jeans and his one pant leg had gunk on it that looked like throw up. Then I glance down by my feet and see a little pile of something that looked a lot like throw-up. So needless to say, I was not able to sleep until that mysterious man left. The ride took about two hours. Then we hopped on a bus to head to the ferry station (named Moby...I thought that was very ironic) and then we took the ferry to the island. Once we got to the island, Steve and Kyle rented cars for us to drive to the resort. We got to the resort and it was beautiful! It looked like a Greek island to me! The color scheme was orange and white! So nautical and I loved it! So we all changed into our bathing suits and then went downstairs to eat lunch! We had a delicious lunch and then headed to a beach! (our place wasn't exactly on the beach) and boy oh boy was that an experience! We saw many naked babies, topless women, and men in speedos. It was quite the experience! We had trouble controlling our giggles, but I just had to keep reminding myself that it is part of the culture. We all fell asleep on the beach because of our long day, and when we woke up the beach had cleared out and it was time to head back to our places for shower and dinner. We figured out after we were in the shower that all of our water heaters were connected, so we all took freezing showers! Then we headed down to the main area and had a wonderful dinner. (all of our meals included veggies and bread as appertivo,  then we had pasta, then we had our meat/seafood, and then we had dessert. After dinner (which was at 8-9) we finished and then headed to bed! We were exhausted!

 Look at how beautiful it was! 

 Here we are the "Rockets" 

We woke up the next morning at around 7:30 to get ready for a day full of the beach. The resort had a wonderful breakfast ready for us. And we actually got eggs!!! The first time in a long time! Then we all packed into the cars and headed to the beach! When we finally got there (it involved a drive full of razorback turns up and down the mountain) it was not as populated as the beach the previous day! So we claimed our spot and right where we were all laying there were tons of boulders. So Laura, Dana, Katie, Alissa, and I decided to climb them! It was such an adventure! We were all climbing barefoot and I told them that we were being very "true to ourselves" haha! We got to this one perfect spot and it basically like in the Lion King at Pride Rock! It was so fun!! It was wonderful listening to the waves crash against the rocks! It really was a blast!! Then we headed back to the beach and decided to get drinks at the bar since it really wasn't that sunny! :( It was so relaxing! After a while the sun finally came out!! So we all got warm and decided to jump into the water!! Who else can say they have been in they Tyranian Sea!! How cool!? And there were these slides stationed in the water that we got to climb up on and slide into the water! After our full day at the beach, we headed back to the hotel to get showered and ready for dinner! Before dinner, we drove to this restaurant down the street for apertivo (a yummy pizza) and spritz (which was not very good!). Then we headed back to the hotel for a late dinner and then we packed up a drove to a little village! Man was it a happening place at 11! There were tons of people out and there were DJ's on the street and vendors! It was so cool, but you know how the sun really drains you so I was kinda ready to head back to the hotel at around 12! We got back to the hotel and I hit the hay likidysplit!
We woke up the next morning at around 8 and we leisurly got up and changed and headed to breakfast. Then we laid around the pool all day. It was very relaxing but it was still kinda cloudy and cold but we did all get some color. It was funny to look around at everyone laying in our lounge chairs wrapped up in our beach towels (which we bought there...mine was of a topless hippo! haha) Anything to catch a few rays of sun! So typical! Then we had to pack up and get ready to catch the ferry back to the main island. We had a long commute back. And we arrived in Rome at around 9:15!
We are about to enter our last week at Marymount! It is hard to believe that it is already time for that!! Time is just flying by!

What I did the week of the 27th

Welcome to my third week!
On Monday, we did the normal things. I got gelato at Old Bridge and I got banana and pistachio. I don't know why I hadn't gotten banana sooner! It was amazing!! I am definitely going to get it again! We went to the grocery to stock up on food and then just relaxed. And Dana and I tried to do Insanity. I am not sure I really like Insanity. It had too much jumping around. Needless to say, it only lasted for about 20 minutes and then we ended up doing other workout videos. Then on Tuesday after school, Dana and I went for a run. We ran to where we watched the beautiful sunset a few weeks ago. We ran for 30 minutes and then took showers and went out to dinner with Kyle, Steve, and Steve's family, and Kelly, and Alissa. We went to another pizza place and it was really good. One that Max had recommended. I got a mushroom pizza. And a rice ball for an appetizer; I had never heard of these until Dana talked about them! After dinner we walked to Frigidarium. While we were there we had an awkward encounter with an American man with a blonde buffont who was sitting outside eating. He popped his head into where we were standing to order and goes "the melon is really good." So strange! And then after we had gotten our gelato he stands with us and goes "I noticed no one listened to my advice." Yikes. We just wanted him to leave. Also while we were standing there, Kyle begins to smell his ice cream and he is making this strange face. So of course I went over and was like oh no what's wrong and he proceeds to tell me that his ice cream smells kind of strange. So naturally I say oh let me smell, so I lean in to smell the ice cream and he smashes the thing against my nose. And then I shriek because it was so not expected! It was very funny! On Wednesday, I decided to skip gelato and take a nap! My first one of the trip and man it felt great! more to come with the rest of the week! :)

Week 3 at Marymount

Ah! I just look so forward to going to school every day! The kids are just so adorable and so silly. This is definitely showing me that I definitely want to do the older kids. My favorite part of the day is reading to them. We are reading Tale of Desperaux. It's cute! It makes me think that maybe I want to be a librarian later in life! hehe! Today, Monday, during social studies we were analyzing quotes for Confucius. And my teacher and I really had no idea what one of the quotes meant and of course these kids are just so brilliant and they told us what they thought it meant and they were so on point! Today I also got to watch a DRA for a student who really struggles with english and reading. He was really good at the oral reading but he really struggled with comprehension. Part of me thinks that maybe he understand things when he reads them out loud, but doesn't understand it at all when he reads to himself. I found that very interesting. I also gave them a spelling test and I graded them and they did very well! But I do notice that the boys are very aggressive with each other!
On Tuesday, my teacher did a huge nonfiction reading lesson. She follows the Lucy Cawkons book. The main point of this book is that you, the teacher, model the thing you want the students to learn, then you do it together with the class, then you send the students to their seat to do it on their own, (while they are doing it on their own you are suppose to go around and make sure they are on track), and then you bring the class back together and get someone to show how they were able to successfully do it. For her lesson, she was showing the students that when they read nonfiction they become like "little teachers." They all did a great job! During math, we were learning how to draw an angle for and obtuse, acute, and right angles. Then we worked on polygons and perimeters. I really like how my teacher puts a quick review on the board each afternoon to check to make sure the students know what they learned the previous day! That is something I definitely would want to implement in my own classroom. I also did a DRA with one of my lower level reading students. When the student was doing the oral reading part, I think he was really focused on speed because after he finished he kept asking me "how fast did I go." Sometimes I wonder how accurate some of these literacy test really are. I just don't understand how students can all around the world can be ranked in a certain number. Although I do think they are necessary because students need to be placed in accurate reading level. Hmm...I dunno...clearly I am still forming opinions about these tests.
On Wednesday, my students had a orchestra recital. It was adorable! There were all different skill levels but they all did a wonderful job! There were violinists, pianists, and a trumpet player and singer! Just the fourth grade classes were there and there parents of the kids who were performing. Following the recital, the students worked on letters and they continued to work on their news reports about an event from school. They have to get quotes from various students and teachers. I think this is a very cute idea. I also think it would be fun if they ended up placing them in a newsletter format just for the class! Then we played "Sporkle" This is a game to learn their spelling words. The students are standing in a circle and then I give them the spelling word. The first student says the word, the second student says the word in a sentence, then each student around the circle says one letter to spell out the word. I love this activity and students get really into it! Then during math, we worked on cylinders, spheres, triangular prisms, square pyramids, and triangular pyramids. We were finding the faces, edges, and vertices.  Then I got to make a math test for the students! That was really fun, and it made me get a real feel for what it is like to be a teacher to make a test!

Pooped on, Bones in my mouth, and Gondola Rides

Welcome to my weekend in Venice!

Just riding on the train was soo cool because once we arrived to Venice it was just surrounded by water! I was in shock the whole time I was walking around and noticing how water basically surrounds everything! I just couldn’t ever imagine living there and thinking oh let me go to work…and getting on a boat to get there! There are no cars there! That’s something I am not use to! 

So we got to the hotel Perone Gerone (I think) to set our luggage down and then we were off to find a place for lunch! On they way there we walked through a fish market and we were going on our merry way when a seagull came flying by kind of low. And next thing I know I had poop on my shirt and on my new purse! It was disgusting! Dana also got pooped on at the same time…I am pretty sure it was going everywhere! Of course everyone stood around and took pictures of us freaking out about getting pooped on and I have yet to see those photos! But supposively if you get pooped on you are suppose to get lucky! So hopefully this is true! Then we made it to this cute restaurant called Osteria  Trattoria. It seemed pretty hipster. Like the menus were handwritten on recycled paper. We ate outside underneath a tree and lanterns! It was really very cute and so peaceful! I got the Max pizza which had gorgonzola and sausage on it! (Another side note about the birds….there are pigeons EVERYWHERE! And they legit will just walk right up to you. Like at lunch, there were pigeons just under our seats!) Then after the relaxing lunch we went to a jewelry shop that had beautiful glass jewelry! I got two pairs of earrings! Then we decided that we wanted to go find this little bakery that we had seen as we were trying to navigate through the tiny streets to find the hotel. (Another side note: there are so many turns and little tiny streets all throughout and all of the building are so close to one another!) So we got to the bakery and I got a cream puff…it was alright because it had a chocolate inside and I was really hoping for just cream. But oh well!) Then Alissa, Dana, Kelly, Kara, and I just wandered around by the main canal and we decided to just pop a squat and watch boats go by. So we first sat down on this dock and then some of the girls got worried that they were getting a splinter in their bottoms so we changed spots! We stayed there for a long time just relaxing and soaking up the views of Venice. Then we decided to take a little gondola for fifty cents across the canal to get to the other side. This was very interesting! Because once we got to the other side, the gondola guy taking our money fell in love with Kara. He was like “stay with me” as he was holding her arm and then he started to fake kiss her arm. It was really very strange and all we could do was laugh! But after the adventure with the gondola man we went into lots of shops. We went to a mask shop called Ta Kala, and then we went to stopped at this cute stand selling paintings of Venice. It was such a perfect afternoon! Then we successfully navigated back to the hotel and we changed and went out for dinner. We again sat outside (basically we couldn’t get enough of the wonderful weather) and we got these veggie pizza roll ups and we got Belini’s. (which supposivly Venice is known for!) They were both very good! Then after dinner we went to a jazz bar. There really was no jazz to be heard and there were bras hanging from the ceiling. But the bar was supposedly known for having great mixed drinks…but I didn’t get one.  Then I headed back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep because I knew I was going to get up early the next morning.

            On Saturday I woke up at 7:00 because I was going to go to the Doge’s palace. I went to get a great breakfast. Yogurt and a roll with cheese and actual American coffee! Yah! Then I left with Alissa, Kelly, and Kyle to the palace. Since we left so early, they was no one there! St. Marc’s square was empty!! It was really very cool to come out of the museum and see if filled with people. We walked around the palance and saw many rooms! Every room had really gaudy ceilings with paintings and the walls all had fabric on them. We learned that there was a fire throughout the building during the 1500’s  and many of the rooms were ruined and many of the paintings had to be redone. To complete many of the new paintings there was a contest to see who would get to be commissioned to do the work. We also saw the largest oil painting in the world! It was HUGE!! There were many rooms throughout the palace that really had no purpose. How would that be to be so wealthy that you can build rooms and not have a purpose for them. I was also amazed by the massive fire places. Then we got to go into the prison which is basically attached to the palace. I thought that was strange to have a huge prison connected to a massive palace. And we walk through the bridge of sighs; this was where the prisoners would get one last look to the outside world and they would look to their family on a bridge across the way. This was a very interesting experience! When we got out of the palace there were tons of people there! It was around 11 so we headed back to the hotel.  Outside our hotel there is this huge market of people selling fruits and veggies! It looked so good!! So we decided to all get some for lunch that day! It was great to be eating fruit! I had forgotten how much I love summer fruits!

             Once we met back up with the group, we were off to find a water "bus" to take us to the glass island of Marano. Being on the boat was a great way to see the beautiful city of Venice! It was kind of a long process getting to the island just because the boat had to make stops so people could get off at certain places. Once we got to island is was very small and all the shops had the exact same things in them! So I kind of had mix feelings about it...it was beautiful and cute but I just can't believe they all had the same stuff (necklaces, wine stoppers, glass figurines). When we first got there we watched a glass blowing demonstration. They made a beautiful vase and a horse. And then for the finale, they guy was blowing up the glass until it popped and shattered. The ending was very shocking! haha! We wandered around the island and got lots of gifts for friends and family. Then we stopped for lunch. Lots of people shared a pizza but Dana and I shared a Carazi salad. We didn't want to eat too much because we were saving up for our delicious fish dinner that we had planned! Paying for our group lunch was very interesting because everyone split meals and we all had to pay with coins. We ended up counting the money like seven times and we ended up leaving a mound full of coins. The waiter was probably not too happy to get that! After lunch we took the water bus back to Venice and we all got ready for our fish dinner we had planned. (we had seen this cute little fish restaurant when we were wandering the streets and we were determined to go back to it!)

          Dinner was an experience. First off, we walk in and the waiters and waitresses all have on tuxes. So that got us a little worried. Then we get to our tables and it has a tall red candle, flutes of champagne, and a red rose. Then we were REALLY worried! Everyone was staring (not that that is anything different!). Then we really didn't know what to get from the menu. I got grilled sole. I figured since it is a white fish I would be fine....so the food comes out for four of the people at my table. Katie and I were forgotten about I am pretty sure. So by the time everyone finished we received our meals. Then I took my first bite sole and was FULL of bones. It turned out to be o.k. I felt very healthy eating it so that's a good thing! But the funniest thing happened when the waiter came to pick up by dish. He said "how was it?" and so I replied "good but kinda boney" and he responds "thank you" and walks away. Clearly he did not understand what I was saying! So since it was basically just the fish we decided to get taramasu to split. That was delicious!!! I couldn't get enough! haha!  After dinner we went to this little square that was such a happening place below our hotel! It was very fun and we ended up getting drinks for free! And we got to meet some cute Italian guys! But we left them to go hang out by the water. After hanging out by the water we headed just upstairs to go to bed! That was such a busy day!
      Then on Sunday, we all got up at around 9 and were up and out the door by 10:30/10:45! Gotta soak it all in! This was such a relaxing day! And it was so nice to be in the sun all day by the water. It really just made me feel like it was summer! The day consisted of Kelly, Dana, Kara, Alissa, Jo-Elle, and me wandering around the shops that we wanted to go back to. Then we headed to St. Marc's square and just sat by the water and watched people, boats, and gondolas. I got a huge TOM'S tan. haha! We also bought little ham,pizza rolls and we decided to sit on some steps at St. Marc's square. So we were almost done with our food and then some man who patrols the area came up to us and told us that we couldn't sit there. haha good thing we were almost done! Oh and I forgot to mention that in Venice there was a huge rowing race on Sunday! People from all over were there! People from France, Switzerland, Holland, Ireland and many more! It was so cool to see them row by! So we watched them for a lot of the day! But after relaxing by the water we headed back to the hotel to head back to Rome! We left Venice by 4:15 and we made it back to Rome by 9:30! 

Venice

Oh my goodness! Venice is amazing!! It is just so strange not seeing any cars and how all of the buildings are basically surrounded by water!
My first day here I hit all the stops! I rode a gondola ride, I bought glass jewelry, got pizza and had a belini! more to come for later....I am too busy now!!

What I did on the week of May 20 outside of school!

This past week was soooo rainy!! Supposedly the Italian aren’t really accustomed to having this much rain so early in the summer! So when we got home in the afternoons from school we pretty much just stayed inside! On Monday, we went to the market to stock up on groceries and we decided to make a chicken stirfry. I decided that I would make the rice since I eat and make it all the time at home. But it proved to be a little more difficult that what I thought. Due to our tour burners it was kind of hard and the rice ended up getting crunchy and not too good but we used it anyway! It kinda looks like tapioca in the pan. The chicken the veggies were much needed and tasted delicious! It was fun roomie bonding!  But on one night, Tuesday I got to meet up with the Giannasi’s. We went out to dinner (I got lasagna and it was delish!) and then I took them to Old Bridge! Jeff ordered lemon and he said the guy looked at him like “are you serious?” and after Jeff took a bite we could tell why! He said it was just like a war head! It was fun to see them in Rome! How cool!? Friends from elementary school and here we are in Rome! They gave me a lot of tips on things to tell my parents about the tour of the Vatican! Like the fact that it is worth it to pay the money for the Vatican museum tour because then they take you to two other churches! Then on Wednesday, we went to Campo di Fiori for dinner with four other JMU guys who were traveling around Europe and we met up with they guy who was backpacking (Aaron).  I shared eggplant (according to Dana it was “homestyle eggplant”) and ravioli and shrip risotto. We went to a fancy restaurant, so they put us in a back room but I guess that was good because we got pretty loud! The best part of the evening was when Aaron knew who JMU was simply by the fact that we beat Virginia Tech! haha! It was fun to meet up with him again and I am pretty sure we provided him with a lot of entertainment! Then we all went to Frigidorium (the gelato place). I think we are finally starting to figure out our way around the big city of Rome! Then on Thursday, we went as a huge group to the pasta place we went to the first big dinner together. We had delicious bruschetta and fried (do you believe it? Fried!) potatoes, rice balls, and something with an olive. Oh and their house wine is delicious! It has a little bubble to it! Then we had three different types of pasta. Carbanra with regattini, Regitoni with tomatoe and pork and Penna with pork and mushrooms. They were all delicious! Just like we remembered! While we there four police/military guys showed up and they were all very attractive! So we enjoyed trying to take sneaky pictures of them! Then it was time to leave and Dana and I were just rubbing our stomachs and then this guy walks up to us and says “Ciao where are you from?” So strange!! Luckily he quickly left! Then Alissa, Dana, Kelly, Kyle and I went to a bar  and we just drank it outside and then we ended the evening with gelato!!!! My new fave is Dolce Late and Caramel….mmmm….I want some now just writing this! Then we headed home for bed and we have an early wake up time at 6:20! 

Week 2 at Marymount!

So I have just completed my second week at Marymount! We can now successfully get to Marymount without any assistance from our leaders (Kyle and Steve)! The kids are become more used to having me around and I am actually doing a lot!! And I really like my teacher! She is so kind and I love that she lets me do so much! On Monday, I taught a lesson the Qin Dynasty and the Great Wall of China. First we sat on the carpet and I read to them this book called The Great Wall of China, they seemed to really enjoy it! Then they went back to their seats and glued into their notebooks a little thing I had typed up about the Qin Dynasty and The Great Wall of China. We read it aloud, and then I assigned them a writing assignment. They were suppose to image that they were pulled from their jobs as an artist, musician, criminal, or teacher to build the Great Wall of China. They all got really into the assignment which made me so happy! Then the time was over. Most students were not able to complete it all way so they were going to work on it another day! But I had one student come up to me and say “Ms.McCarty can I work more on this at home?” I loved how excited he was about it!  On Tuesday, I taught a Math lesson about rotations (1/4 = 90 degrees, 2/4=180 degrees, ¾=270 degrees, and 4/4= 360 degrees of a full turn). This seems like it would be so easy to teach but it actually proved to be a little more difficult than I thought! I guess because you basically just have to memorize those facts. But we drew circles and arrows in their notebooks to show the turns. I hoped they were understanding the material but I wasn’t too sure, but my teacher asked them some questions about it at the end and they all got the answers right! So I guess I did what I was suppose to! This was my first math lesson ever, so I was happy when she said that I did a good job. On Wednesday, they had a May Day mass and it brought back so many wonderful memories of St. Bridget’s! They all brought it flowers and crowned Mary! I love that mass! And then they placed flowers all around the statues of Mary around the school. I didn’t really see the kids that day because of the mass and then they had specials and lunch, so that wasn’t too eventful with the kids! Thursday proved to be an eventful day at school, one of my students pulled down the pants of another student at recess…yikes! And I had my observation lesson. I was teaching the Silk Roads and the Han dynasty. I started off the lesson by just sitting on the carpet and talking to the students about what they think it might feel like to have no communication with the outside world. They gave all the answers I was looking for! Then we did a web diagram of why is trade important. And again they were literally just spitting off the things I wanted them to say without even me having to try. Like one little girl said “Ya like all of the things that say ‘Made in China’” and another girl just said “I know China trades a lot of silk.” I couldn’t have asked for a better moment. I just love how intellectual the students are! Then I read to them part of a book about the Han Dynasty. Then they went back to their seats and we did the same thing with the Han Dynasty (read the paper I had written and glue into their notebooks) and then the same with the Silk Roads. Then I gave them all a map and we traced the route of the Silk Road. Then I asked them so questions orally. They got a little rambunctious after this, but I feel like that should be expected since I taught at the end of the day! Overall it was a very great lesson! The only suggestion that Kyle gave me was to try and let the students figure out if they are write or wrong. Because at one point I asked them if beliefs can change through trade and they said no and I think I made a face that showed that I thought they should change their answer, so of course they did! So I need to work on not showing my emotions and let them figure out their own answers. I need to work on playing the devils advocate. But overall I would say it was an excellent lesson! Then it was time to go for the weekend! I am very excited to see what next week brings! 

Florence

This past weekend we went to Florence! It was amazing needless to say! It felt a lot more like a small town! It was very quant and it was so easy to navigate! No getting lost for us! hehe! finally!
We left Friday morning at around 7:15 (it was a little hard to get up since we went to Campo di Fiori the night before!). We got to the train station and were waiting for our train and then we realized that we missed it! Yikes! But then luckily we walked up to another train and it just so happened to be going to Florence as well! It was our lucky day! It was very interesting being on the train because our ears kept popping! There were four people sitting in a section, and we were all yawning to get our ears to pop and the one man sitting with us was not doing it! So we asked him if his ears were popping too and he said yes "the train not perfect." So we get off the train and walk in a line through the markets of Florence with our big suitcases. I am sure it was a sight to be seen. Then we arrived at the hotel (Hotel Colomba), but the rooms weren't ready yet! So we dropped all of our luggage off in two rooms and then we were off! (for the LONGEST day of my life). We went to the Uffici museum. Our tour guide was really in to giving us the entire background of every painting we looked at, so it was kind of long since we were so tired. It was very amazing though seeing The Birth of Venus byBotticili. But sadly we weren't able to take any picture. After the tour we headed to dinner! We ate at a nice restaurant outside. I split bruschetta with Kelly (the tomatoes here are divine!) and I got a pasta with salmon! It was so nice to just relax outside and eat our dinner and enjoy each others' company. We asked our waiter where to get good gelato  (because Florence's gelato was not very good compared to Rome) so he sent us to Panchea-No. (sp?) It was o.k. but nothing compared to Old Bridge. I got this fluffy ice cream that was strawberry (I didn't really care for it!) and then I got a cheese flavor of ice cream and that was pretty good! Then we went home and we all retired for the evening by around 10:30! It was great we all definitely needed it!
Then on Saturday, we had the best day ever!! We woke up and had a great continental breakfast. I had yogurt, kiwi, cereal, and a great cappuccino. We all wore sundresses and boarded a bus to go to a castle in Tuscany!

When we got on the tour bus, we had the hottest bus driver. (so we got a picture with him of course!) Then we drove for about 45 minutes and arrived in the countryside of Tuscany. It was so beautiful and everything was just so green! We arrived at the castle where we had a tour of the castle and winery, and extra virgin olive oil tasting. At the oil tasting, the oil was placed in little plastic cups and we had to put our hands around then to heat the oil up and swirl. Then we were told to smell the oil. (At one point I smelled a little too hard and I ended up snorting some olive oil…not a pretty sight!) Then to taste the oil you had to get a lot of saliva and swish it around with the olive oil and then swallow. Very interesting experience to say the least. Then we made our own pasta! (The grandmother who owns the castles showed us her ways in making pasta…needless to say she had to show us a few times the tricks of the trade!) And then we got to eat our pasta and taste several different wines! With our first wine, we had bread with crushed up olives, bread with crushed up tomatoes, a piece of salami and a piece of cheese! They were all delicious. Then came our two pastas and another type of wine! (When wine tasting I learned that you need to compare the color to your napkin, and then you need to look at the “legs” on the glass…so to be able to get a good look you mustn’t grab the glass at the round part). The two pastas we had were a meat spaghetti and one was a veggie spaghetti with an olive oil sauce with carrots, zucchini, and celery. We even got the recipe! Definitely going to try making it at home!! Although it probably won’t have the same feel because I won’t be eating it in Tuscany in a beautiful castle! Haha! After we finished our spaghetti, we got a dessert wine with biscotti. The dessert wine tasted like whisky! It was so funny to watch people take a big gulp and then have a look of disgust on their face! We learned that we are only suppose to lightly dip our biscotti into the wine…that made it much better! After the meal, we all took tons of pictures around the vineyard! And we bought some wine! There were so many pretty views! We said our goodbyes to our tour guide (the cutest shortest Italian man) and then we got back on the bus with the hot driver and headed back to the hotel. On the way back to the hotel, it started drizzling a little bit but we didn’t let that stop us!

Dana, Kate, and I left to hit the markets! Because you know Florence is known for its leather! It was so fun looking at all the purses, wallets, scarves, and leather jackets! Everyone was legit a salesman! By the end we learned that we could barter them down a little bit! So that was good! I ended up getting a new sidesatchel and a scarf! I am very happy with! But when I got back to the hotel and saw everyone’s new leather jackets it made me want one so bad!! (maybe I will get one when I go back with my parents!) Anyway, while Dana, Kate, and I were out we also went to this store called Zara (it is pretty big here in Italy!) and there were so many corals so naturally I wanted them all!! But I held off! Then on our way back to hotel, we stopped in for a slice of pizza (I got mushroom) and then  we headed to Hotel Columba!

We just relaxed back at the hotel  because we have legit have had no down time. Then it was time to get ready for the evening! I had friends studying abroad in Florence right now…so I was hoping to meet up with them…but nothing really seemed to be working since I didn’t have my computer and since we don’t have phones it becomes kind of difficult! So we decided that we were going to go to this place called Astro. So as we are on the way there we see a guy with a group of friends pop out of this restaurant. The guy had a shirt on that said “the commons” which is an apartment complex at JMU so we decided to yell JMU!!! And of course they turned around and turns out he was with one of my friends and they were heading to the same place!! How crazy is that!! So we ended up heading with them to Astro, and they had decided that they were going to do a pub crawl…so we were like what the heck! SO we did it too! It was way more fun this time because there were so many JMU people and it just seemed less sketchy. It turned out to be a fun filled evening!

            We woke up the next morning and got a wonderful breakfast again! Then we were on our way Pisa (simply to take the photo with the leaning tour). We took the train there and we ended up sitting next to this guy who had been backpacking all around Europe since April. (wow!) and he only had one little tiny backpack (not even a backpacking backpack…just a little school one) We were in shock!! He turned out to be a really cool guy from Seattle who had just graduated and is planning on going to law school in fall. I feel like he knew he was going to have no life in law school  because you have to study all the time so he probably wanted to take advantage of the freedom! Then when we got to Pisa, we walked to the leaning tower. On the way, there were two girls going in between our group with their umbrellas. And it seemed a little fishy to me! Turns out that they were trying to pickpocket some of us! But luckily nothing was stolen! One girl felt her bag being touched so she whipped around and caught them! And another girl turned around only to find her wallet half open! Yikes! I was lucky cause I had my satchel inside my rain jacket! (it was a pretty rainy day! L) I was so thankful that nothing got stolen! Then we made it to the Leaning Tower! (by the way…Pisa seems kind of dingy…not like anything I have seen in Italy!) Then we took our pictures holding it or pushing it! It was such a touristy site! It was hilarious seeing people pretend to hold it up! Because obviously at some angle when I was looking at them I couldn’t see it being held up but the person taking the picture could see it. So It was just so funny to see people holding their arms out! We got lunch there (I got a calzone!) and then we headed back to Florence! Then while we were waiting for our train in Pisa, they guy comes up to Logan and goes “are you girls from James Madison University” so turns out he is from JMU and just graduated from grad school this past semester! Crazy! Florence turns out to be such a place to make connections! Haha! Then we heading back to the hotel. Then Alissa and I really wanted to go to the top of the bell tower by the Dromo. So we trekked the rain to the bell tower. We only had to pay 6 euros to do this! And it was AMAZING!!! There were four levels and each level we went up we got to see more and more of Florence! It was soo cool! So we were on the third floor (where the bells are located) and they started going off! I almost started crying I was in so much awe! Here I was standing in a bell tower while they are ringing and I was looking out over all of Florence! God does some amazing things!!  (the only sad thing is that my camera was dead…so I wasn’t able to capture any of the wonderful views of all of Florence. But Alissa’s was partially working. We would turn it on and take a few quick photos and then it would say “battery exhausted” and then we would go the next level and snap a few photos and then it would turn off again. It was actually pretty funny!) It was actually harder to climb down we felt like because our legs kept getting shaky! I was so happy that I did it though! That was definitely my highlight of the weekend! Then we got Subway (sad to say but we were just craving a legit sandwich) then we went back to the hotel and then it was time to head back to Rome! We got on the right train and we made it back to the hotel by 12! This made waking up Monday morning very difficult! 

Day 2

Today was just as great as yesterday! Once again we rode the buses to get to the school! We were all a little tired this morning so we stopped at "the bar" at the school for capacchinos. They are only one euro! what a steal! The kids were a lot more calm today and they were actually in the classroom more! Something that touched my heart was the fact that this morning, over the PA system they had a morning prayer. In the opening prayer they were praying for moms for the month of May (so cute!).  Then we went outside with the kindergardeners where we watered a garden that the school made! The kindergardeners were paired up with the fourth graders. The best part of the day was when the students circled around me on the carpet and I introduced myself and told them a few facts about myself. Then The students all told me their names and where they come from and which languages they speak! Wow! talk about impressive! They can all speak at least two languages and some even three or four! One little girl asked me "how are you enjoying your experience in Rome?" how mature of her? And they loved that I played soccer in high school...all of the boys raised their fists with excitement. Today I also got to read to them some of The Tale of Desperaux. And they were so well behaved compared to my 1st graders from practicum. I also got to watch the DAP testing that my teacher did for two of the students. She timed them read a passage orally and then they had to respond to the prompt: "what are three things you thought about while you were reading" and "what are three questions they had" I saw two really good students do this so I am interested to see how the weaker students do. When we went home I had to get throat lozenges and I went to a pharmacia and the lozenges were not even out; she had to get them from behind the counter. I thought that was strange! Then I came back to the apartment and then got ready to go on a run (oh I went on this run yesterday and it was amazing but it was much longer than the one today). But it is this huge park! It is marvelous!! There are trails everywhere and tons of people running and biking (it reminds me of a central park kind of feeling). We found castles, churches, and a rose garden! Rome never ceases to amaze me! Then I came back to the apartment and had pasta and a salad with tomatoes (that were soo tasty! Everything was soo fresh!) Then we went on an adventure throughout Rome to find the Trevi Fountain again! It was a little struggle. But it was so fun! We eventually found it! And there were TONS of people there! Still!  It was a fantastic day!

The First Day!

Today was the first day of Practicum! It was sooo cute! All of the children were adorable! But I am getting ahead of myself. So we woke up and left to get the bus at 7:45 and we walked across the Vatican and there was hardly anyone there. I just felt like I was up and out with the working world. So we rode two buses to Marymount International School. And these buses were crammed!! We were all holding on to our purses very tightly needless to say! So we got off the bus and walked up this long hill to Marymount! It is has a beautiful main building and then two little side buildings! Then we met the vice principal and she gave us a tour of the building. I got dropped off at my classroom and all the students were staring at me and smiling and in awe! haha! So once I got there, they had to go to P.E. so it was pretty hectic! During this time, I was able to talk to my teacher! Her name is Ms. Lavery and she is from New York and she went to St. John's College! And she is lovely. She told me it had always been her dream to live in Italy, so she did everything she could to live here. Getting a working visa is really hard to do here, so she figured out that she had great grandparents that lived in Ireland and she was able to become an Irish citizen. So she has a passport from Ireland and an American passport, but since she has the Ireland passport she is able to to travel and live in other countries in the EU. I found that all very interesting! Then right after P.E. (which is in a very small room-nothing like a gymnasium) my students had to take a reading test in the computer labs. This reading test is an assessment that they take in the beginning and end of the school year to see how they have progressed. It had very difficult things on it four fourth graders. Like the word brazen and explaining a bias. My teacher expressed how difficult this would be for the students since english for most of them is their second language. During this time I graded their spelling tests. They were struggling with the words: women, woman, women's, woman's. (All very confusing!) For lunch most of the students buy; the lunch consists of the normal Italian meal (fruit, pasta, meat, veggie, and dessert). I asked one of the students (Zoe) to tell me what to do so I would know when I buy my lunch! And of course she was more than willing to. I brought my lunch and ate with my fellow teacher friends which was good to check in and see how everyone's day had been going. They have a very long lunch break...45 minutes! After lunch we work on the Social Studies- the Shin Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty. I was very impressed with how they talked; for example one student said "I have to disagree with them because" I don't know many 9 year olds that say I have to disagree! But after that the students had Italian. The native speakers go to another classroom and the students that don't primarily speak Italian stayed in another classroom. I decided to stay with the students who don't normally speak Italian because I thought maybe I could learn some. But they were conjugating the verbs that deal with dressing. Some of it I was able to catch on to due to my french studies like mettions means to put on just like met means to put on in French! (Just a little side note, it has been so hard not to respond to people in French...I think my brain is just functioning in the language side of my brain and I have trouble thinking in English! Kinda weird right!? Like just the other day at the supermarket I kept replying "oui, oui" hahah I guess that just means I need to go to France to practice my french!) But after Italian it was time for everyone to go home! It was very chaotic just like it is in America. Some students took the bus and some students get picked up. Then on the way home we stopped for gelato at this AHHHHMAZING gelato place. The best I have had yet! It was called Old Bridge gelato. I can't wait to go back! What a great afternoon snack!!
But I also need to tell you about how famous and wealthy the parents are at my school.
Some of the jobs include: 1. part owner of Colgate 2. Brazilian soccer player 3. Fendi owner 4. owner of a store in the vatican 5. porn star 6. actress  (and her face was on billboards around Rome) and I am sure much more!

Catacombs

Today, 12, we went to breakfast across the street from the Residence. We had cappuccinos, a donut, and fruit juice (I had pear!) and we ate it outside! Very pleasant! Then we rode the train and then a bus to the catacombs S. Callisto! This was so amazing and our tour guide was soo cute and sweet! These catacombs were established around 200 AD. They are 75 feet deep and they were four floors. There were 500,000 tombs and they cover 51 acres (but we only saw 2% of it)!! So crazy! This is when I realized how old Rome really is. There are holes in the walls and this is where the tombs were. The bodies were wrapped in sheets and then their family members placed a marble sheet on top of them; however all of the marble had been stolen when people raided the tombs. Also in the catacombs they have mass to honor the martyrs! I was really floored by these! But we all kept thinking what if someone were to pop out of the tombs like in a scary maze!  Then we walked along the side of the road to another set of catacombs. But along the way, we stopped to figure out where we were going and this man comes out of his restaurant and tells us to check out his tombs....so we went into his cute outdoor restaurant which was surrounded by tombs! Very cool but also a little strange!  These were the catacombs of St. Sebastiano. When we went on a tour of these catacombs, the man talked with no breath in between his sentences and so basically everything blended together and it was so hard to concentrate on what he was saying. So I didn't really get too much out of him! :( But we did see a foot print of Jesus' feet! So that was really cool! and we saw the tomb of St. Sebastian (hence the name). After our tour...we had an adventure figuring out the buses to get home. We had to take a total of three! Then after the second one we all split up for lunch! The restaurant I went to I had Bruschetta and saute zucchini! It was all very good! But once again...they hand out bread and then charge you for it! So we need to remember to say that we don't want the bread! Then we walked  through Rome back to our apartment! It was a long walk but it was so worth it! I am trying to figure out how to navigate throughout the city! and it is beautiful out! Tonight we are going to do a pub crawl! So I will let ya know how it goes!

Yesterday I arrived in Roma! It is unbelievable! I am in such disbelief that I am actually here! My flight was on air L'Italia which was in Terminal one and I had some trouble finding it. I had to ask three people for directions. But I eventually found it! When I arrived there there was a security guard that asked me if I was going to Munich, and of course i replied no. And he proceeded to say "are you sure" to which I replied yes and then he replied, "Well you look very German, so well we will see!" I am not sure how I feel about this! Meanwhile I was on the phone with mom.  The flight was very long and I barely slept! But I did watch Midnight in Paris, it was very good and it got me into the mood of being abroad. I was sitting next to a German man and he was very sweet but I of course struggled to hear what he was saying. But he was going to a small area near Florence. On the plane I got, fish with veggies, bread, fruit, and some sort of ham stuff. Then for the morning we got, a hot croissant, yogurt, coffee, Milano cookies which I dipped in the coffee.  So once I arrived I got my room all situated and then I just wandered around with one of the girls I flew with. We are just down the street from the Vatican! It is crazy! It is just so hard to belief that I have seen that in so many pictures and there it was right in front of me. And then I got my first gelato! It was called Tre Tre and I got teremisu gelato (But according to Max ...our  leader... it was not legit gelato!) Then I came back and all my roommate were here! They are amazing and soo sweet and nice! Then it was a girl named Mariel's birthday! So we went out to dinner to Taverna Giulia. We all got wine and pasta! And they brought us out a pizza and none of us ordered for that! And I am pretty sure they just knew that we didn't know what we were doing and charged us for it. But It was delicious. But the problem is...you have to pay for water! Yikes! But the good news is that there are water fountains everywhere with just natural water flowing from them! So crazy! But anyway for Mariel's birthday they brought us all out almond cookies (they smelled like dog food!) And then we were going to go out but we were wayyyy too tired! So we all came home and relaxed and then it was bed time!
I slept like a rock though! I was so tired because I didn't nap when I got here! But also our room is basically a cave. There was only one widow and it leds to a ally to needless to say it was super dark!

Today, May 11, was such a long day!! We got up around 10:30 and we returned to the apartment around 7:30! Talk about busy!  And we walked all around because the buses were on strike until 5! First we walked as a group to Hosteria Pizzeria "Da Vito e Dina" and we all shared our dishes. We had lasagna, spaghetti, ravioli with white sauce and ravioli with spaghetti sauce, and carbonara! They were of course delish! And we all got to split dessert which included teramasu, flan, creme and rasberry, and fruit! My favorite was teramesu...it had espresso on top! After lunch we walked to Lady of the Water which I am pretty sure is in the Boghese gardens (which seems like the most perfect place to have a relaxing afternoon!) After that we went to the Gallaria Borghese...which was the Borghese families house for just their artwork (how the heck does someone have money for just a house for artwork!!) We had a wonderful tour guide and unfortunately I was not able to bring my camera in there but I got to see work by Bernini including Apollo and Daphine, Pluto and Prosepina, and a David (the one with the stone)! And I saw some work by Raphael! I was soooo happy to see work of Raphael in real life! After my long project on him my sophomore year of high school! Then after the Gallaria we walked to the Trevi Fountain...along the walk we saw the walls that established the boundaries of Rome in the olden days and the U.S. Embassy (hopefully I won't have to go there!). And the strangest thing...in the middle of the sidewalk are restaurants with glass surrounding them! crazy! But back to the Trevi Fountain! We learned all about the tossing in of the coins (you have to do it with your right hand and through it over your left shoulder...one coin means you will come back to Rome. two coins means you will marry an Italian man. and three coins means you will marry an Italian man in Rome) So of course we all tossed in our coins! We were kind of rushed for time there so I think we will end up going back! And it was packed with tourists...so we all held on to our purses tightly! The Trevi fountain was much larger than I thought it would be...wow! And I learned that the four statues at the top are representing the four seasons. After the Trevi fountain we walked to the Pantheon. We got to see the huge dome and the circle! And Raphael's tomb was in there! So obviously I liked that! After the Pantheon we walked to Piazza Navona. I really liked this area! There were tons of artists painting and there is a huge fountain by Bernini that has huge sculptures. And each sculpture represents a large river...like one represented the Nile...and I can't remember the rest. But the funny thing was that across the way there is a church and the sculptures on the church that were done by the enemy of Bernini and all of the sculptures are sculpted so that they are not looking at Bernini's fountain. One of the statues on the church was St. Agnes (so naturally I thought of Mom). Then one of my favorite parts...the GELATO! according to Max, we went to a legit place today called Frigidarium. I got crema and raspberry and of course like everything else it was delicious! Then we took the pickpocket bus (64) back to the Residence! What a fun day!!

Getting Ready!

So I leave for Rome in three days! It is so hard to believe that it is almost here! So during the school year, I talked to my friend Stephanie Phillips who went on this program last year and she gave me many tips and things to remember! So I thought this would be the perfect place to write down all the things she told me!
Things to Bring:
1. reusable bags for groceries
2. lunch box
3. some shorts and yoga pants
4. TOMs (especially for the walking tour when we first get there)
5. sundresses
6. light short-sleeve sweater
7. clothes that your knees and shoulders are covered (for churches)
8. pack of construction paper
9. Tupperware
10. Ziplock bags
11. Water bottle
12. bathing suit
13. pair of jeans
14. wedges
15. notecard with the address of our location
16. close pins and wire
17. band-aids for blisters
18. allergy medicine

Then she told me about places that I should go:
1. Spanish Step Bar Crawl
2. Gustos: buy drinks with lots of appetizers (It's across the river)
3. Old Bridge Gelato (http://oldbridgegelateria.com/) (and I need to get Nutella and Creama)
4. Campo de Flori (good place to go out!) (http://www.drunkenship.com/info/)

Well, that's all I have from her!

Anticipation

I am getting very excited for my study abroad trip to Rome! I leave for Rome on May 9th! And I am basically over all my classes...all I want to do is leave!! I am currently attending a class each Monday in preparation for my trip! I have already gotten my plane ticket! Sad to say I will be waiting in the airport for like six hours! But I just figured out some of the girls from my group are on my same flight which is amazing! At least this will give me some good people watching time! hehe! I will be staying at San Pietro Residence right outside St. Peter's square! Here is a link to the place I am staying!  I will be going to Marymount International School from Monday through Thursday! I am not sure what age I will be with yet! But I am sure they will be cute no matter what! I met with a friend last week who went on the trip last year and she gave me so many informative tid bits!She told me things I should bring and clothes to wear and her biggest piece of advice was to EXPLORE! and get lost! All you have to do is look up and head towards St. Peter's square! I will include a post about all the information she has given me!! So I can remember! :)