Nearly Every Major City in the Country

When Sarah arrived, it was as if no time had passed. We had a sleepover at my host family's where we stayed up all night and caught up on the past few weeks. I was even first exposed to Sarah's creepily accurate Golem impression during the middle of the night. Frightening!

The next day was spent planning our week. We booked our hostels, wrote down train times, and called Alyssa, just to make sure we were still going to meet her in Firenze. The following day, we packed our bags and were on our way to Venezia!

We arrived at the train station, walked out of doors, and were greeted by the beautiful view of the sweet Venetian river. We dropped off our luggage in what was probably the smallest room in the city (I actually think our room was a cleaning closet before they shoved 2 beds in there. There was barely even any room for our suitcases!) We took a map and wondered on our way. Most of the day was spent taking photos and getting lost in the city, but we also found a beautiful Venetian mask shop, ran into some sailors by the cruise ships, and bargained our way to a 20 euro gondola ride (at least 30 euro cheaper than it should have been). While waiting for food, we played a game that Sarah called "MASH BUGS," which supposedly tells your future. According to the game, I'm a sexy pilot with 12 kids that lives in a love shack with Hugh Jackman and drives a red Ferrari. Not such a bad life :)

Masquerade Shop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it90zhcIGGg

Gondola Ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XBXtqDm4OU

Around dinner time, we realized that we had only about 20 euro left between the 2 of us, and in this expensive city, that's barely enough for a first course. We made our way down the main strip, checking each menu as we went. We made it to the last one, and to our disappointment, all we could afford on the menu was spaghetti without any kind of meat. We were about to walk back when the owner of the restaurant came outside and motioned for us to sit down. He signed him back that we didn't have enough money, and he told us to sit down anyway. He let us order what we wanted for our 23.something euro, and I was even given a free 1/2 bottle of wine.

We Have No "Money Food": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbWRKHx1wTQ

After dinner we headed back to Piazza S. Marco and sat down to listen to the music while Sarah sketched a bit. We encountered a magician who tried to steal a few pecks from Sarah, and then ended up getting a few drinks with 2 of the musicians after they finished their shift. The next day we wiggled our way out of our closet of a room and picked up the train to Firenze.

We met up with Alyssa at the train station, chatted there until we could check into our hotel, went to the hotel, and stayed inside the rest of the day catching up in our super king-sized bed. The next day we walked around my favorite city, and bought a few souvenirs (including items from this beautiful authentic leather shop). We spotted a little water rat along the river which we named Steve, and references to him ensued for the duration of our time together.

Ponte Vecchio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSaPKLXl85U

Steve the Water Rat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5B608DYOTQ

One day we took the train to Lucca, where my Conformation saint, Gemma, lived. Actually, we had to run to the train. The last of us jumped on it right before it started moving. The other 2 like to blame it on me and the time it took me to get ready, but I knew we'd make it and led us there in just enough time. We all just happened to be wearing the same outfit that day, black shirt and kacki shorts, so we referred to ourselves as Charlie's Angels. One man even asked to get his picture taken with us. Of course we obliged, being such camera hogs.

It was like a treasure the entire day, trying to track down St. Gemma, and at every stop finding out so much more about her. We first saw the chapel that she attended everyday (which was closed and I was forced to climb up the wall to peek in the window), saw the outside of the house where she received stigmata, and then wandered into a church where her teacher was preserved under the alter. There we spoke to a nun and she told us some great stories about Gemma and her teacher, some extremely unique tales about the Church itself, and where we could find where Gemma's body was preserved. We tried to enter the Shrine where St. Gemma was buried, but unfortunately had already closed by the time we got there. It was a bit disappointing, but that gives me a reason to return at some point.

The next few days we stayed in Siena at an adorable Bed&Breakfast. At this point in time, we were getting really low on money that we were willing to spend. I was in the mood to eat Chinese, so we wandered around forever trying to find the only Chinese restaurant in the city. The food was so cheap and delicious, that we ordered a ton and pretty much bought out their stock of beer. We found a nice step on the side of a Church and feasted. The food was so good that we ended up doing the same thing the next night.

At the Plaza: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epJIlSobkA8

At this point, Alyssa was leaving for Alba, Sarah was going to Rome to catch her flight home, and I was SUPPOSED to be going down south to visit the family. They both left the B&B early in the morning and I was going to rent the room for one more night. However, the woman said that they were all booked, and I had nowhere to stay. I realized that Sarah's train wouldn't leave for another 20 minutes so I literally packed my bags in 5 and booked it down the hill. I had to hold on to my hat as I ran towards the station, and a few cars honked as I bolted by. I must have looked so silly, but thank goodness I had a 4-wheeler suitcase, or I might not have been able to make it. I bought my ticket, surprised Sarah, and had 4 minutes to spare before the train departed for Rome.

While in Rome, we found this really nice restaurant with live music. As we had almost finished our meals, we started talking to the 2 men sitting next to us. Apparently the one next to me was an Italian politician named Josef, and we bonded over our mutual friend Joe Biden. Josef gave me a photo of him and Biden and he even signed it for me. The following day I spent at least 7 hrs in lines and metros trying to get my bus ticket down to Villapiana. Utterly ridiculous - I have never been in a city where transportation was so unreliable.

Spent one more night with Sarah in our hotel, and then I began the 8 hr journey to Villapiana. Southern sun, here I come!

Castellavazzo

The morning of my travels, I woke up with a profound, burning in my eyes. I could barely open them, and they were red and watering like crazy. And then I realized that I accidentally slept in my contacts. So before my train departed, Marcella took me to the pharmacy to pick up eyedrops.

My new camp director and family must have thought that there was something wrong with me because they continually asked if I was OK. “Oh yeah…I’m fine…the food’s delicious!” as tears were streaming down my face and I was blowing my nose nonstop.

The next day, my eyes still felt like they were making me go blind, so my family took me to the emergency room. I’ve never been to an Italian hospital before, and they thought I was insane for being so excited to go.

I didn’t have to wait long at all before I was called. They asked for my symptoms, had me lay back on the recliner, and then put a drop in each eye. The first one burned so badly and made me feel like I instantly went blind. However, the 2^nd drop instantly cured everything. I swear, it was like a miracle. They sent me home with a prescription, and I was good to go.

This week is my final camp, and I was hoping for a nice, easy one. However, this was not the case. I had some of the most unruly children on the face of the planet. Individually, they 3 boys (Alessandro, Paolo, and Enea) were fine. But when placed together, all hell let loose.

Let’s start with Paolo. He would do the work just fine when I separated him from the other 2, but if one or both were in the room, it’s as if I became invisible to him. He had the loudest, most high pitched voice for a 12-year-old that I’ve ever heard. And he liked to talk. Even his older brother kept telling him to shut up. When he was on his rants, he would stare past me, even if I got directly in his face. When I was finally quieted him down, I’d take a breath to speak, and he’s start up again.

Then there was Enea. He was very bright and helpful when I asked him to be, but he had a mean streak. He and Alessandro were best friends, and on the first day they swapped their names just to mess with me. I later called them out on it.

But the worst of them all was Alessandro. This child would not participate in anything, would throw things when I turned my back, jumped out of windows, and would often run away for periods of time throughout the day.

I had to come up with different ways to calm them down (ex. Competitions against each other, letting them be class DJs, giving out chocolate for participation, etc.) but they were still manic.

One day the 3 of them caught a lizard and brought it into the classroom. “Cool, a lizard! What’s its name?” Enea gave me an evil look. “Jessica.” Well I was just about to strangle them right then and there. A glimpse of that scene from Mean Girls at the watering hole flashed through my mind. But instead I played it off as if I were flattered. “Aww, Little Jessica! How cute. We should make a house for her.” I grabbed some boxes, paints, scissors, markers, and glue, and plopped it in front of them. “What are the 5 rooms in a house?” As they numbered them off, I wrote them on the board. “Now Little Jessica needs things in her house. She wants a couch, a car, doors, etc…” The boys were so excited that I let them finish the house during the whole 2^nd lesson.

They started getting carried away with the project and decided that Little Jessica wanted friends. They went out and caught 3 more, and named them Alessandro, Paolo, and Stifler. Well what do you know, I guess it is a good thing to have a lizard named after you.

During lunch, Alessandro ran up to me with a frantic look. Little Jessica was gone! We looked around the classroom for her, but to no avail. After lunch, however, they restocked the box with a Little Jessica II. After that, they boys kept watch over the lizards like hawks, even barricading off the younger students so that they wouldn’t smush the class pets.

My brats

The final show this week sucked because my kids, for the life of them, would not memorize their lines. Of course my 4 youngest girls were great, but the older ones just wouldn’t do it.

It was a bittersweet moment packing up my desk on the last day. I don’t know if it’s because I realized that this could be the last ever camp with ACLE, or because I survived the week and was so happy to be rid of the brats.

Harry Potter Final Show

Angelica and I

Since I had no camp the next week, my host family offered to let me stay a few extra days to figure out my next move. They took me hiking in the mountains on Saturday, and because we wandered too far, we had to hitch-hike our way back to the car. Definitely a fun time.

Stranded on the side of the road: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QegsPXvAONo

Plans are still uncertain for the next few weeks. Sarah from Alba and Bistagno is coming up to my host family in Longorone, and we might meet up with Alyssa from Alba. As of right now, I’m just extremely looking forward to my first few weeks of vacation.