Some of you may or may not know that last week I was able to accompany second grade students on a school trip! It was called Buona Terra, or good earth in English, which translates to a farm! It was for three days and two nights. The students were very excited because it was most of the students' first trip away from home by themselves. I was surprised that these young students did so well- we didn't have a single student get homesick or cry! The farm was beautiful; it was up in the mountains about a three hour drive away from Rome. There were ladies who ran the farm and did all sorts of activities with the students. It was quite a shock though when I realized they only spoke Italian....I literally relied on 8 year olds to translate for 3 days. Haha! Luckily, none of them told me false info ;) I did learn a lot of new words in Italain this way- including cheese,. farmaggio and they say "allora" all the time! It is kind of like saying um, like, or now to begin a sentence or to string words together. I go to make cheese and milk a goat! The best part though was the scenary and getting to know other kids that are not in my class! I had favorites by the end :)
We got back to Rome from the farm on Friday at 3:20. I had a train to catch at 4:05. Luckily, I made the train and I was on my way to Bologna! I went to visit Marissa and Rebecca, two American student teachers that I might a few weeks ago! They live in the same apartment and it was really nice! We discovered that that weekend, there was a festival of some sort going on and it involved having 350 lamborghinnis in the center square, or piazza! haha So many pretty cars in one pretty setting of Italy! We went to dinner at a local pizza place and it was the best pizza I had in Italy! The crust was more fluffy like I like, not as thin and crunchy.
The next morning, we woke up and caught a train to Lucca! We missed the first train, because we are a little incompotent at checking the board of departures, but in any case, got on the next one :) We arrived in Lucca around lunch time and it was about a 2 hour train ride from Bologna. We spent our day shopping and walking around the city! It was very fun and I made a few purchases, but not as many as I did last weekend thank the lord. We had a nice dinner on Saturday night and went to bed.
On Sunday, we rented bikes! Lucca is known for bike riding and they have so many bike renting shops. We went to the one by the train station because they held our luggage for us! Lucca is one of the only cities in Italy that is still surrounded by a the fort wall. On the wall there is a nice path for people to jog, ride bikes, walk or roller blade. It goes around the whole city! We spent two hours riding our bikes with baskets and we stopped in town for a sandwhich and had a nice picnic!
We caught a train to Pisa and arrived in town about 3. Pisa was a lot more touristy than Lucca, so it was a different change of pace. Street vendors were selling everything and anything and begged you to buy it! I bargained for a purse that was super cute! We took the typical pictures :)
Overall it was a great few days! I still cannot believe that this is my life. I was thinking about it when we were riding bikes- Is this real that I am riding a bike around a small town in Italy right now? I wonder if it will ever sink in!
Yesterday at school, a teacher was gone and they don't call subs here because its a private school and it costs them money, so Jo needed to cover for a teacher next door. It was great because this has been the first time ever that I have had a class all to myself for the entire day! I can tell today, just a day later that they see me as more of a teacher than an assistant! Hopefully this week will go fast! I cannot wait to go glamping this coming weekend for Jo and Claire's birthdays! ( glamping is glamorous camping AKA in huts on the beach :) )
Love and miss you all!
Ciao for now.
xoxo Katie
Glad you are keeping busy :) I miss you Katie and it's great to hear about all of your adventures!
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