Under the Tuscan Sun Day 1

Friday: May 18th
Public transportation is so annoying. We met at 7am to catch a 7:29am metro to the train station where we were supposed to catch an 8ish am train to Florence but we were on the wrong platform without realizing it until it was too late. We all boarded the train, put our bags away and got comfy in our seats, and then people started coming who had duplicates of our tickets. That's when we saw our train pulling out of the station... So we got off and Steve and Kyle were figuring out what to do and they told us to just get back on the train and sit in empty seats because the train wasn't full. But it's a pain to "squeeze" 25 extra people onto a train. I sat beside some random strangers and the man next to me had horrible breath and I was getting motion sick and was just completely nauseated. I was so miserable when we finally made it to Florence and we trucked about a mile to our hotel with our luggage and then couldn't even check in yet. The hotel was on the second floor of a building, called Hotel Colomba, and the people running it were so nice. We had free breakfast in the mornings which was really yummy and the rooms were really spacious. It was so homy, kind of like staying at a bed and breakfast. Anyway, so when we got there we left our stuff with the hotel people and they said they would watch it and a group of us went to lunch- me, Lori, Alissa, Kelsey, Mariel, Laura, Mary Katherine, Katie C., Katie S. I got spaghetti which was delicious and a Pepsi. The bread was free in Florence but it didn't taste good. It was stale and bland. Rome's bread is delicious though, not free, but so worth it. I felt so much better after eating. We got cappuccino and then headed back to the hotel to get our rooms.

At 2:30 we had a tour of La Galleria Degli Arazzi. It's an art museum in the heart of Florence with famous works of Michelangelo, DiVinci, and other famous artists that I wasn't as familiar with. Our tour guide was so incredibly boring though. We were all so exhausted and just weren't into it. She was so knowledgeable about everything, but assumed too much of us. She thought we were like art history majors or something so she did a crappy job "guiding" us. It was all completely over my head. And it sucks that I didn't get more out of it because I was genuinely excited to see work from famous artists that I've heard about my whole life. Oh well :( Oh and there were people all over the streets posing as full out statues and I don't even know what...they were so creepy and weird.

So the day hadn't been too great as you can tell...but after that dreadful tour it got a little better. Our group broke off into smaller groups and me, Lori, Katie C., Lauren, and Mariel went to Zara's. It was my first Zara's experience..I had been hearing a lot about it so was excited to check it out. It's basically a huge department store but only in Europe and maybe one in NYC? Some of it was pricy but other stuff was more reasonable. I got a lacy shirt. After that we found a little cafe for dinner and ate outside. It was so good, and better yet, cheap! I was craving a sandwich, like a real sandwich, and sure enough, this place had them! I got ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato AND mayonnaise on foccocia bread! Mmm it was the first sandwich that I had gotten in Italy with lettuce and some sort of sauce!

Since we were so exhausted and we had an early day Saturday for the castle tour (which we were all pumped for) we all wanted to good night's sleep, so we were in bed by like 10 and it was the best sleep ever.

STATUE OF DAVID

A Whole New World

First off, I just want to say that I love love love my practicum teacher, Mrs. Raftery. She is from Ireland, moved to London after college and worked as a banker, hated it, went back to school to get a teaching degree in London, met her boyfriend there who is from Rome and moved to Rome with him just this year. She is the cutest, sweetest, funniest person, and I love just listening to her talk because I'm obsessed with her accent and her humor.

Even though it is an American/English curriculum, and therefore the schooling is similar to what I'm used to, the children that go to Marymount are like from a completely different world than kids that I'm used to. First of all, these families are incredibly rich. Tuition for Marymount costs like two times more than my college education. And not only are the parents rich, but they are important. Part of the reason there is security at the gate of the school is because some of the kids are "high profile" because their parents have top secret government jobs. There are children of diplomats, ambassadors, famous Italian actors, the owner of Colgate and the owner of Fendi (jewelry), pornstars (that's just awkward and embarrassing for the kid I think), a famous soccer player, plastic surgeons, and there is even a girl in my class that is technically the Ethiopian Princess (her grandfather was the dictator in Ethiopia in the 1970s so her family is royalty in Ethiopia...crazy! And she acts like a princess too...). The kids wear uniforms to school, but I can only imagine the things that they wear outside of school and some of the things they own--some of the girls talk about Gucci and Armoni and all these other ridiculous things. They all have nannies which they call "ta-tas"and the nannies practically raise some of these kids. A boy in my class, Ricardo, and his brother each have their own ta-ta. A lot of the kids also have personal drivers. Ricardo is an example of a child who is being raised by his nanny..his parents are always traveling or working, and they have him so involved in extracurricular activities and summer camps. Ms. Raftery said she emailed his mom something about a field trip one time, and the mother said she would just forward it on to Ricardo in an email...what?? You have to forward an email to your nine year old son? And he is so cocky and in to himself because his nanny probably boosts his ego so much to make up for the lack of attention he gets from his parents...he is always starving for attention because his parents probably hardly give him the time of day..it's sad. I just can't even fathom these kids' lifestyles and what their homes must be like. Oh and the Ethiopian Princess, Clarissa had her tenth birthday party on Thursday and apparently is was something that could've been on MTVs "My Super Sweet 16"...ridiculous. Ms. Raftery said that most of them are so spoiled and are used to getting whatever they want the second they want it, and she said it is a problem during class discussions sometimes because they talk over each other and are so impatient because they aren't used to having to wait for anything. These kids have everything handed to them, and I'm sure their parents love them, but I think they express their love through buying them things instead of actually being there for them. Even though their lives are glamorous, I wouldn't want that and wouldn't change my life for the world...I'd rather be surrounded by love then by things.

The first day, I was introduced to the class during their silent reading time and Ms. Raftery had them come to the carpet for a morning meeting where I introduced myself to them and they introduced themselves to me. Almost all of the kids are Italian and from Rome, but there is a boy from Spain, a boy from China, the girl from Ethiopia, a girl from Czech Republic, a girl from Sweden, a boy from Sardonia (an island off of Italy), and two girls from US (one from Michigan and one from Fairfax County, VA--again, small world!). The boys all love soccer and a lot of the girls love to ice-skate, which apparently is pretty popular.

This is my first time in an older elementary grade and I love it. I've always thought I would only do the really little ones, but I love my fourth graders. Fourth grade is really fun too--they're still cute and sweet and love their teacher and want to impress you, but you can also actually have real conversations with them and I love that there is so much more teaching. I realize now how much just classroom management and basic skills consume pre-k and kindergarten, and I love that in upper elementary there's more actual teaching, which is obviously what I want to do!

I can't believe how cultured and worldly these kids are. They know so much more than I did at their age and they are ALL bi-lingual if not more! I almost feel ashamed around them that I only know English. 

Despite their lavish lifestyles, most of them act like normal kids and they aren't to the point where they are snobby. They are sweet kids and they have welcomed me so much into their class and are so excited to have me and want to impress me, and it's so cute and I feel so blessed.

  

Marymount

Last week was my first week of practicum at Marymount International School in Rome and I absolutely love it! 

About the School:

• Marymount International School in Rome is a private, Catholic, co-educational day school. 
• Marymount offers students:
• A values-based education modeled on an American curriculum with international standards and benchmarks.
• An American high school diploma, with accreditation from the New England Association of Colleges and Schools and Council of International Schools.
• International Baccalaureate (IB) program, which provides students with a competitive advantage for admission to colleges and universities in the United States, Europe, and around the world.
• Access to the latest technology in and out of the classroom, including state-of-the art computer labs, fully equipped libraries, and wireless technology throughout the campus (They have SmartBoards that are like ours in the States but they call them CleverBoards! They also use EdLine, which I had in middle and high school and it's similar to BlackBoard.)
• A physical education program throughout the school with varsity-level teams in soccer, basketball, volleyball, track and field, cross country, and tennis.
• Extracurricular activities, including music, drama, dance, Model United Nations, National Honor Society, private music and language lessons, and myriad after-school programs.
• A student body that represents more than 50 nationalities and diverse religions (You don't have to be Catholic to go here).
• A beautiful 40-acre campus within easy reach of Rome’s historic center and protected by 24-hour security (The elementary school and middle and high school are in separate buildings, there is a separate building for the cafeteria and the early childhood program, several playgrounds and soccer fields, all in its own gated community).
• A network of Marymount schools that stretches throughout Europe and the Americas founded by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary.
• Grade levels: Early Childhood (3 years old) to Grade 12
• Year founded: 1946 
• Since it is an American curriculum, it is only English-speaking. Parents send their kids to this school not only for the exceptional education, but also to be more worldly and completely fluent in English. The teachers are from English speaking countries such as the UK, Australia and the United States. There are also teachers who speak English and are from Italy and other European countries too. The religion teacher lived in Virginia and went to Mary Washington! Such a small world. 

The beautiful Villa at Marymount which is the main office for the school.

Mamma Mia

On Sunday we toured the Colosseum, one of the seven hills of Rome, the Emperor's Palace, and the Roman Forum.

The Colosseum is definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. It's just so incredible. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. It held 50,000 people and it was used for events for entertainment. There were gladiator contests, animal fights, dramas, and much more. Every Good Friday, the Pope leads the "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the colosseum.

It was another long day of walking.. Federica was our tour guide again and she is just so funny. After our tour of the Colosseum, we walked up one of the seven hills of Rome, Palatino, and from the top of the hill, it was a beautiful view. We also toured the ruins of the emperors' palace and the ruins of the Roman Forum, which was the center of town and the marketplace in the ancient Roman Empire. Now the city center of Rome faces the opposite side, away from the ancient side, which I thought was interesting. Mamma Mia, it was another hot day, and trucking up those hills and stairs and what not was exhausting. But afterwards, we went to an awesome pizza place and for dessert we had Stromboli with Nutella and cream cheese stuffed inside, topped with chocolate syrup and powder sugar...yumm!! But I think even with all the carbs, I might even be losing weight because we walk miles a day!

We Came, We Crawled, We Conquered

Saturday was an early start--we met at 7:30 and ate breakfast at Bar Danielle (bar is a cafe and pub is a bar in Italy) and I had my very first cappuccino!

Then we took the metro umm somewhere that led us to a longgg road to the catacombs. We toured the catacombs of San Callisto and San Sebastiano. These catacombs are underground burial places that stretch over 30,000 miles and are dated back to the 2nd century! All the bones are disintegrated because the marble stones placed over the graves were stolen. Being Christian was illegal back then, so this was a way for Christians to bury their loved ones in secret. Many families were buried together and nine of the Popes were buried in San Castillo. I liked our first tour in San Callisto, but I didn't really like the one in San Sebastiano because the tour guide was boring, hard to understand, and talked sooo fast I couldn't even process the words he was saying--but the gist is that Saint Sebastian's tomb is in that catacomb. That catacomb is underneath a church. I thought it was so cool--I can't even begin to wrap my mind around how long ago that was.

We stopped by a church on our way to the long walk to the second catacombs. There was a marble carving of the impressions of Jesus's footsteps, and the real impressions were in the church above San Sebastiano catacomb (apparently they're real). 

I decided to light an offering candle even though I'm not Catholic and I didn't know what I was doing. So after struggling to light the candle, I blew out the weird thing we used to light it, and being the idiot that I am, I blew in the direction of the candles and blew out like six people's candles. womppp. I then proceeded to relight them and then once again, being retarded, I did the same exact thing! I was so embarrassed, like really, how stupid can you get? And of course, the lighter thing wasn't cooperating so it took forever to relight them for the second time, and then finally, I had some sense and turned away from the candles. Nuns were in their praying the whole time this was going on. I'm probably going to Hell, right? I mean blowing out people's offerings to God must be sacrilegious. Yeah I'm going to Hell.

Saturday night our entire group signed up for a pub crawl. We saw an advertisement for it on our maps and googled it and signed up for the Colosseum pub crawl. We met the organizers of it at the metro station by the Colosseum and they led us to this sketchy bar in the back of a building with no sign (at least I don't think so haha) and we paid 20 euro and got a ticket for a welcome shot which was lemoncello, a ticket for a shot of tequila, a ticket for a drink, and a ticket for a t-shirt at the end of the night. We got there at 9:30 and it was open bar until 10:45. After we had the two shots, we got a drink of our choice and when we finished it, we went to the front to get another drink ticket. I tried "sex in a bush" and "jack sparrow" which were really good (I need to try to find out how to make them)! Our pub crawl "tour group" consisted of mainly the twenty of us, but there were also some people around our age from Germany and England which was really cool. At 10:45ish they led us through residential neighborhoods and everyone was really rowdy and they kept trying to quiet us down, but really? We finally made it to this strip of bars and walked right into this nightclub that one of the pub crawl tour guides was part owner of, but the drinks were 10 euro..boo. They were playing sucky house music, but then we discovered all these other rooms that were playing the popular songs that we hear at parties in America and it was really fun! A lot of creepers though haha. Actually the whole thing kind of sounds sketchy, but it was definitely a unique and fun experience, and everyone made it home alive! Hey, and I got a t-shirt!

Love at first sight

   
     So everyone drinks wine like it's water with meals. We ate lunch at 11:30 and I had red and white wine and only like a sip of water. Water isn't free by the way, and neither is the bread that they bring to the table. But it's so good. The water is really good and fresh too, but you don't get enough--they conserve a lot more than we do. I didn't think I would ever drink out of a communal water fountain, but when you're touring for seven and a half hours in 85 degree weather, you'll do whatever you can to get water so you don't pass out.... It was actually really cold and refreshing.

     We ate lunch at Da Vito E Dina and tried a variety of dishes including spinach ravioli, mac and cheese, lasagna, and another noodle dish that was delicious. Then they brought out dessert which consisted of a fresh fruit cup, tiramisu, flan, and a creamy thing with raspberry on top..mmm.

     After lunch, we began our tour with Max (our landlord who is so sweet and planned out everything for us to do) but the bus drivers went on strike today so we walked miles and miles, but we saw a lottt. Definitely going back to some of the squares we walked through to go shopping. We walked through a pretty park with a beautiful lookout of the whole city, and a pond where you can canoe. It led us to the Borghese, the art gallery we toured. The Borghese had tons of famous paintings and sculptures, mostly the work of Bernini. Outside of the gallery was my first communal water fountain experience. Our tour guide was hilarious and we all looked like tourists because we all had the headsets so we could hear everything. She also led us on our other adventures...

     We went to the Trevi Fountain!! Our tour guide said "When you see a bunch of Koreans, you know you're getting close to the Trevi Fountain!" And she was right, there were a lot of Koreans and it was packed! I held a coin in my right hand and tossed it over my left shoulder, which means that I will return to Rome one day! If you toss two coins it means you will return to Rome and fall in love with an Italian man :) but don't worry Shawn, I only threw in one! ;)

   
      Then we went to the Pantheon, which was beautiful. The first two kings and Rafael were buried in there, and our tour guide said that Rafael's tomb gets more attention than the kings's haha.

   
 We ended in Piaza Narvona, which had a beautiful church and fountains, and tons of art was being sold right in the middle of the square.
        After that we went to a gelato shop, Fridgadarium, which was the best I've had thus far...I got staccilleto or something like that which tasted like chocolate chip cookies and cream, with chocolate shell on top...so good.

     Long and busy day, we didn't get home until almost 8, but I saw a lot of awesome sights!

Pizza, Pizza!

My first meal in Rome was Margherita Pizza at a little cafe. The crust was so thin and crisp, and the mozzarella cheese and tomato was so fresh. It was delicious! You eat a whole pizza by yourself, but it's so fresh and light, that it's actually the perfect amount of food. And only 7 euro- I could get used to this as a meal :)