Time is Flying

I cannot believe how fast time is flying. We are in our last week of practicum and I am honestly getting so sad that I must leave Rome so soon. This has been such an incredible and inspiring experience from going to Marymount to going on all of our wonderful vacations. I feel that I have grown so much from studying abroad and would not trade it for anything. 

I only have two more days of practicum at the school and I am going to miss my students so so much. They are truly the best. I am so thankful that I have chosen teaching as my profession, it is such a rewarding job. Just getting a little sentimental looking back at all the experiences and memories I have made in the last couple of weeks. 

Ciao for now!

Isola d'Elba!!

What a beautiful place! 

This weekend was great! The weather wasn't exactly on our side but we made the best of it and the island of Elba is absolutely gorgeous. It was quite a journey getting there. We left our residence at around 6:00am and got to Elba around 12:00pm. We walked to the train station, took our train, took a bus to the ferry, took the ferry to the island, and took a car to the hotel. WOW. That was an experience in and of itself haha. But we made it and we were so excited. The view from where we were staying (Cala Di Mola) was fabulous!

Once we got to our place we were ready to head to the beach! We had been looking forward to seeing the beach since we arrived in Rome. The water was so blue and beautiful. Also, the beach was not that crowded which was definitely a plus. Many of us passed out on the sand. Dana and I went on a walk on the beach and found these rocks to sit out and just enjoy the wonderful view in front of us. 

We all then headed home where we had a three course meal waiting for us! Yeah, that was pretty nice. A few of us then decided to go out and see how Elba was at night. We went to this place called The Village that had the cutest shops and a beautiful view, especially with all the lights at night. We then headed over to this little dance/bar place that was so much fun!

On Saturday we were all ready to go back to the beach and were ready to go by 9:30am. The weather was still a little iffy but we didn't mind as long as we could put our toes in the sand and in the sea water.  It took a while to get going even though we were all ready to leave but we finally arrived at the beach, a different beach from the day before. This day was so much fun. Many of us once again passed out but eventually we all made our way to the bar for some tropical drinks. We had a blast! 

The rocks!

Kara and I on the beach

JMU in the water!

On Sunday, we wanted to lay out at the pool all day, which we kinda did I suppose. It was actually quite cold and cloudy but we laid there anyway and got some much needed rest. We then had another wonderful meal and had to get on our way back to Rome!

View from the drive to the ferry

Such a beautiful weekend.

Venezia!

Venice is incredible :)

Venice has definitely been my favorite place so far. It was so beautiful, peaceful, and adorable. We stayed in the cutest hotel with chandeliers and velvet bedspreads! On Friday after we checked in and got settled we went to lunch at this wonderful little outdoor restaurant. I ordered one of the best pastas I have had so far. Penne alla vodka. YUM

After lunch, we decided do a little shopping. I honestly think I bought the most random items in Venice but I am so happy with them! Friday night we walked around and found this nice little bar where we met the nicest couple visiting from Holland. They were so friendly and gave us great advice on what to do while we were in Venice. On Saturday, we went to the island of Murano. The glass island!!! It was amazing. 

When we first got off the water taxi we went straight to the glass shop to see a demonstration. It was so interesting to see how they make the glass. We saw two demonstrations, one man made a vase and the other made a horse. How fabulous! The second guy then blew this huge glass bubble and scared us to death by popping it on the ground. We then went shopping all day! All the shops were pretty much the same but we went in a ton of them anyway. The glass was so unique and pretty. 

Saturday afternoon, Jo Elle, Kyle, and I went on a gondola ride around Venice. AH so cool. Got a little scared that we were gonna tip over a few times but thank goodness we didn't. Our gondolier man had been doing gondola rides for about 30 years! He was a little quiet but he showed us where Marco Polo lived and where Cassanova lived too. It was so much fun to see the city from the water. It was a much better view than just walking through the streets. 

On Sunday we wanted to go see St. Mark's Square and go up in the bell tower so we would be able to see all of Venice. It was an awesome decision to say the least. It was breathtaking. 

YAY FOR VENICE

Pisa!!

One last blog for the day! On Sunday we had a free day to do whatever we wanted in Florence. A bunch of us decided to go with Kyle (professor/supervisor/trip leader) to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa! We were so happy we decided to go even though it wasn't the nicest day out. It was hilarious seeing everyone trying to get fun and interesting pictures with the tower. But my computer is being extra slow so I just put these three pictures up! 

Now I'm hopefully off to bed soon to get some sleep! 

Firenze

Holy moly. I do not even know where to begin. Florence was absolutely stunning. This past weekend was definitely one of the best in my life. I do not think I have ever been somewhere so beautiful. We left for Florence on Friday morning around 7:30am (yikes) and got into Florence around 10:30 or 11:00am. I'll just say all of us were just a little bit tired. We had a little break once we got there to try to rest and get lunch. We had a tour booked for an art museum for the afternoon. That was definitely an experience to say the least. We were around some of the most beautiful art but could barely keep our eyes open at all. Oops. We were just a little too happy when that tour was over.

The art museum

We were all just so exhausted that we decided to save our energy and not go out on Friday night because we had an amazing day planned for Saturday. It definitely lived up to our highest expectations! It was incredible. We went to this old castle in Tuscany where we were able to taste extra virgin olive oil, wine, and we were able to help make our own pasta and sauce from scratch. 

The Beautiful Castle

 Dana and I

 Pasta!!

This was literally some of the best pasta I've had. We had meat sauce pasta and vegetable pasta. We were all obsessed with the vegetable pasta. It was absolutely delicious. There were fresh cucumbers, zucchini, and carrots. 

 The Vineyard

We were able to walk down into the vineyard and see all the baby grapes growing on the vines. So fun!

 Tuscany

The view was so amazing from the castle. We were able to sit, relax, and take in the view for about two hours after all of our adventures in the castle. 

 With my beautiful best friend!!

After our amazing day at the castle we were able to go out and enjoy Florence at night! All of the girls went out together again and we had so much fun. :)

First Week of School

Sorry it has been so long since blogging! I never thought this adventure would be so exhausting. But of course it is so amazing. School was so great last week! I honestly feel like it was a complete blur probably because we have not been sleeping at all but when in Rome right? I love my teacher! She is actually from New York and her husband is Italian. They met in Greece, how cute is that? She has been letting me do so much in the classroom and I am so grateful. The students are the sweetest and I love getting to know them more and more each day. I know this week of school will be fabulous and I am going to be leading the morning activities for the rest of the time I am here ! Hopefully I start getting some more sleep because I have definitely been looking like a zombie coming into the classroom in the morning. I'm surprised the students aren't scared of me. I'm planning on going to bed earlier so maybe I will be able to function a little better during the school day. 

First Day at School!

Oh my goodness. Today was so exciting! My third graders were absolutely the best. They all have the cutest Italian accents and they are so welcoming. My teacher (Mrs. Zappia) is so great! The school, Marymount International School in Rome, is so much more relaxed and easy going than in the United States. I was actually able to go on their field trip with them to the Vatican. We went in St. Peter's Basilica and it was so beautiful. I don't even think words can describe it. 

We were able to touch a statue of St. Peter and rub his foot. Apparently it is a tradition; the toes are no longer visible because so many people have touched it. All of the art and statues inside were magnificent. We were told a ton of information from our tour guide and I can't remember more than half of it...oops. The third graders definitely did not have the attention span for that. It was so incredibly crowded, so that was a little nerve racking with about 45 third graders. We were then able to go to this mosaic shop (one of the student's dad owns it!). The students were able to see how mosaic pictures are actually made and then we were able to eat. We had a hamburger patty and fries, it seriously made me laugh. There was no bun and I had no idea where to find ketchup, so I ate all of it with nothing on it. Then we were able to get granitas or gelato. Granitas are basically like a type of slushie. I decided to get coffee gelato and it was a little too strong tasting for me. But no worries after school a bunch of us went to get gelato at this place called Old Bridge. It was by far the BEST gelato we have had so far. I got chocolate, cookies, and nutella. YUM YUM YUM :) 

Hopefully tomorrow is just as awesome as today was!