May 23rd, Friday!!

May 23^rd, Friday!!

Today we don’t have class, but it is still a busy day!! Tilling our program finishing in one more week. It’s time to planning to packing and returning trip. I am planning to go to Pairs with Sydney S. and Rebecca before going back to Seattle. But I had struggling with storage luggage in which place while I will be Pairs because my flight come back from Pairs is at 23:30 in the night, and my flight going back to Seattle is in the next day morning at 7:00am.  There is no place I can storage and pick up in 24 hours. So I was worrying where to put my luggage, and finally I found there is storage agencies in Rome, which have 24-hour picking up and delivery service. Today I went to their store, which near Rome termini and make a reservation. They will delivery my luggage to FCO airport in 2am to me. They are the only one agency in Rome serve 24-hour delivery, and I am so appreciate for them.

It is no time to waste here in last weekend, and I already felt miss Italy.  However, there are lots of works left and we have to be done in this weekend: last week reflection paper, research project, final presentation, and preparing the Italian exam on Monday. Hope all of us will enjoy the last week.

Julie^^

Thursday, May 22nd.

Today was just another sunny day in the beautiful city of Rome. Early in the morning, Sydney S. and I went to the coffee shop next to our apartment in order to productively work on our projects for a couple of hours. After we got a good amount of work done we went to Piazza San Cosimato to buy some fruits from the local market. Around twelve o'clock most of us headed out to Tor Piggnatara for the service learning. When Lorraine and I got to Pisacane we found out that the classes that we do service learning at weren’t in school today. I still went to the garden to say hi to a few second-graders that I play with every time I come to Pisacane. The kids were very happy to see me and asked me to go to their classroom today since my regular class wasn’t there. I went to their class with them and enjoyed helping them with their crafts during an art lesson. I was really impressed by the amazing skills and the creativity level of these children. Some of their artwork was absolutely astounding. Also, I never leave service learning empty-handed. The lovely kids always give me all kinds of flowers, bracelets, their drawings and today I even got a pen. J These are the most precious little gifts that I’ve ever gotten. After the service learning Lorraine and I headed to Via del Corso to do some shopping. We went to some of our favorite stores including Zara, H&M, and Brandy. Once we were exhausted from shopping we headed to Rione Monti to get some gelato and walk around in that lovely neighborhood. Soon later we got hungry and decided to get dinner at our favorite restaurant in that area. When we were taking a tram back to Trastevere we met some cool people from New York who were visiting Rome for a week and were able to recommend them a few of our favorite places. Tomorrow many of us are leaving to different places for the weekend and then we are on to the last week of our study abroad journey. It is definitely a bitter-sweet feeling. Have a great weekend everyone. Be safe and have fun!

Wednesday, May 21st

Wednesday, May 21

I think today was the hottest day we have experienced while in Rome! It was a beautiful, sunny day.  We had our last Italian and Education classes, as we prepare for a final exam and projects.  Today, we met writer Igiaba Scego, and she spoke to us about growing up as a Somalian 2nd generation Italian.  We read her short story, Sausages, before she came and it was a major point of conversation.  We commented that her character that purchased sausages to eat was balancing her Somalian identity and religion, which forbids the consumption of pork, with her Italian identity.  As food, especially pork, is a prevalent piece of Italian culture, Scego's character had an internal war to wage in deciding whether or not to eat the sausages.

After class, Rebecca, Veronika, and I walked to the Vatican because our chances to see beautiful places are becoming limited.  On the way there, the highlight of my afternoon was purchasing a terrific sandwich salame, grilled peppers, and pistachio sauce.  When we reached the Vatican, we decided not to go in, as long lines in the heat suck.

In the evening, I grabbed a few beers with a friend, and we sat on the Tiberina island for a few hours and watched as the sun faded into the river.  I am going to miss these days in Roma!

James Norris

Tuesday, May 20th Blog

Tuesday morning, I got up and took a nice cold shower because our water heater YET AGAIN has failed me. I got ready quickly so  that Lorraine and I would have time to get breakfast at our favorite bar. After a cappuccino and a croissant, we went to the market by our apartment to buy some peaches and bananas. She left me to catch a bus to her service-learning site, and I returned to the apartment to drop off our fruit. I then met up with Rebecca and Claudia to head to our service-learning site. On the way to the bus stop, an American girl approached us with a free cup of gelato promotional card to Old Bridge Gelateria. The three of us took a quick detour to retrieve our free gelato at our favorite gelateria, and also signed up to win a trip to Prague! After we scarfed down our ice cream, we caught the H to Termini, and then the 105 to Iqbal Masih. The bus rides never fail to amuse me! When I arrived at my school, my students were outside playing “jump the rope” at recess. I joined in. They asked me to be the one who spin the rope in the center so the rest of them could jump over without stopping the rotation. After about 15 minutes of spinning around, we went upstairs to their classroom for a geometry lesson; I helped Paula, the head teacher, teach the lesson in English. It was very gratifying, and after class today, I concluded that I wanted to teach English to non-English speaking students. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face yesterday afternoon. It was rewarding to see a light bulb go off in my students’ heads when something registered and they were able to make an Italian and English connection. For the first time, I felt like my class could understand me, and I was able to communicate with them. After service learning, I returned home to the apartment where I met up with my group to discuss the order of our final presentation. Then, we left to dinner with the program. We ate at a wonderful restaurant, Pizza Re, and were able to spend up to 20 Euro per person. I ordered a pasta dish, side caprese salad, and a chocolate cake for dessert! I was too full by the end of it! After dinner, some of my friends and I went to a mini mart to buy something to drink and then we headed back to the apartment. I took a short nap and then Claudia, Veronika, Shontia and I went to Scholar’s Pub to sing our hearts out at karaoke night! We had a blast and returned back to our beds early in the morning. All in all, it was a good day, with good company, and good food. Ciao!

Sydney Staples

Monday, May 19th

We had Italian class this morning from 9:30-11. I left my apartment a little early to get a couple apples from the market outside and also stopped to get a cappuccino and a croissant. I'm going to miss these Italian breakfasts! During our lunch break we walked around, went to the cafe Stephanie took us to where they have delicious fresh juices and beautiful coffee art.

During our class in the afternoon, we reassessed our frames of references since we've gotten here. This is an assignment we did at the beginning of the quarter, its purpose is to identify our own perspectives on the world, to understand why we see the world the way we do and to learn about our peers as well. We all took turns sharing, and it was really interesting to see how people have changed over the past two months. I think we've all grown and matured a lot, so it was really nice hearing how everyone has think they've progressed.

We also had a guest speaker, Marco Wong, who is a second generation Chinese-Italian who is running for city counsel. It was really interesting to hear about his experiences growing up as a Chinese-Italian in the 60's and 70's. One thing that stuck out to me was that a lot of people assumed he was adopted.

After class, a couple of the girls and I went to this local cafe with wi-fi to work on our projects. They had aperitivo also, which is when you buy a drink (I got a soda) and then get a plate for the buffet. So I had endless food while doing some research. ;)

Sunday May 18th!

I spent Sunday in Barcelona!! Shontia and I had such an amazing time enjoying Barcelona's beauty! This day was full of adventures! We started off our day by going up a tower to watch a great view of Barcelona! It is such a beautiful city and very different from Rome! As I was walking through the streets of Barcelona it was refreshing not running into people smoking cigarettes! So I'm glad that I took a break from that. Also, I was so happy to be able to understand everything and everyone. I got to use my Spanish and interact a lot with the locals to find more about their lives and about Spain in general. We found a very nice restaurants to eat where the staff were so nice and friendly! I really liked the environment and the people. In one of the restaurants we got free slices of cake for dessert, free glasses of wine, free appetizers and we got our entree discounted! It was great! I plan to go back to Barcelona next year so I will definitely go back to that restaurant to eat their delicious plates and visit the staff who were so nice to us.
We also rented a bike in order to get a better tour of Barcelona and that was such a big highlight of Sunday! I hadn't ridden a bike in years so the kid in me came out as I was bicycling through the streets of Barcelona. Even though I was struggling at first to ride the bike in a straight line and almost bumping into people, it was so much fun! We rode our bikes all the way down to the beach. The beach was beautiful and such a fun atmosphere. Later on that night our hostel staff invited us to go out and see a Flamenco show which is a form of Spanish folk music and dance. It was great! I had always wanted to experience watching that and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to do so.
Our stay in Barcelona was marvelous! It was a weekend full of adventures and new experiences.

Hola from Barcelona!! Jessica, Madeleine, and I had the most wonderful day here in Spain! We woke up early to get a head start on the day! We got to the beach at around 11 and were there until around 5 pm...needless to say we got enough sun. Jessica is currently holding a water bottle on her back to help alleviate the burn. Oops!! The beach was the most wonderful place. It was perfect weather, not a cloud in the sky and mid 70s. We went swimming, met some French people, and ate Paella! I think we have all fallen in love with Spain. The air is so fresh, the people are so welcoming, and the scenery is to die for. We are now off to Park Guell for sunset and have heard amazing things! Can't wait! Adios! Xoxo Natalie